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Boutique hotel experts Mr & Mrs Smith have sifted through the schmaltz to find Valentine’s packages that will really set hearts aflutter (and won’t involve soggy petals clogging the plughole). Here are 10 hot properties that offer something a little bit different…
Read the full story »America or Asia? Sardinia or Spain? St Andrews or St David’s? Better bars or better beaches? Whatever you’re planning, our suggestions will help
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Contains information on changes that might affect both short and long term travel plans, plus all the latest travel news and views
For those who have been lucky enough to get tickets the London 2012 Olympics, the next challenge for most is going to be finding a place to stay. Richard Hirson from onefinestay has some suggestions
With the London Olympics just around the corner the attention of the lucky few that have tickets, is now turning to where they are going to stay. With many of London’s top hotels holding their rooms for big group bookings visitors are being forced to look elsewhere for a place to stay. However, this is no bad thing as many of London hotel rooms are small, soulless and could be in any of the world’s major cities. In a city as diverse as London, there are many different and exciting alternatives places to stay which are more interesting a dull hotel.
A Room for London
Perhaps the most unique bedroom in London is Living Agriculture’s A Room for London designed by David Kohn Architects, in collaboration with Fiona Banner. This temporary structure is part hotel room, part boat and is perched on top the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre. With just one bedroom on offer and as it is only available for a short time,all the spaces were sold out within ten minutes of being online. This is truly unique alternative to any hotel room and its 360 degree windows give you views that are only rivalled by the London Eye.
With just two rooms, 40 Winks is likely to one of the smallest boutique hotels in the world but what it lacks in beds it certainly makes up for in character. Designed by David Carter this quirky resting place is ideal of anyone who is looking for an eccentrically English hotel in the heart of London. The hotel is also great who people who are just looking for a day out as they offer old vintage afternoon tea parties and glamorous pyjama parties to passers by. Its unique combination of high fashion and shabby chic have made this hotel a favourite for celebrity and fashionistas.
Live it up like a local through onefinestay
For travellers who are looking to experience the ‘real’ London then the only option is to stay in a home of a true Londoner. This has been made possible by the launching of a series of new companies who allows guests to stay in in upscale homes while the owners are out of town. Being in the home of real local means that tourists can avoid all of the queues which are typical of a tourist hot spot such as London. In recent years there has been a large increase in couchsurfing, but this is most effective for solo travellers. This new idea of home rentals allows whole families to stay in upscale family homes which have more space than only hotel room. All onefinestay holiday rentals also come with all the amenities that you would expect from a top hotel.
For further information on Onefinestay - a London based company which allows visitors to live like a local - please visit www.onefinestay.com
If you are flying to France this coming week be aware of a four day strike.
From Monday till Thursday, 6-9th February striking pilots, cabin crew and ground staff will be protesting…
The CD-Traveller team dug ours out days ago, but if you haven’t already done now is the time to start searching for your scarves and thermals. Forecasters have warned that snow is on its way this weekend, as Arctic conditions tighten their grip across the country
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ordered TripAdvisor to rewrite some of its marketing claims following complaints by a whole host of hotels that the site had said that its holiday reviews could be “trusted”.
Claimed your complimentary tickets to Destinations: The Holiday & Travel Show? Don’t miss out on the following talks, food and dance demonstrations and workshops at the Show which is taking place in Earls Court until 5th February.
California vies with Florida as the most important destination in the US for us to visit. Lately, California has been outdoing its bitter rival and one reason is because it has more to offer.
The transport unions are at it again. It’s a new year, but the same story: despite being generously paid as it is, they want yet more money.
Tube staff have been offered a bonus of £500 – or an extra £20 per shift – to work during the Olympics but have rejected it as wholly inadequate.
Every destination whatever its size seems to have a Facebook page, tweets regularly and is connected to LinkedIn. How useful is this to us? Is it having an impact on the way we decide?
CD-Traveller reader, Kirti Sharma, is seething over the cost of downloading an app abroad. Read her rant and tips on how to keep the cost down, here
When I first went to Los Angeles many years ago it was a city of the car. Highways seemed crammed with cars ravelling slowly because the one in front was blocking it. That’s changed.
A survey by ABTA has revealed that at least 12 percent of Brits are looking to escape on holiday, in order to avoid once in a lifetime events such as the London Olympics and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
As I type this, I am watching Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal face off in the tennis season’s first Grand Slam final. The rivals are serving us up yet another tennis classic – the pair have been playing for almost five hours and the quality has just gotten better and better.
Three times yesterday I was on the receiving end of a scam purporting to come from American Airlines. Don’t open the e-mail, just delete it.
Devon is having a moment. The South West county was recently praised by director Steven Spielberg who shot his latest movie, War Horse, in the Devonshire countryside.
It’s exactly six months to until the Olympics but this landmark date seems to have been overlooked amidst all the fuss about new born babies needing a ticket to the Games.
Can’t make it to The Telegraph’s Adventure Travel Show this weekend? Panic not: you can also find the perfect destination for your next trip at Destinations: The Holiday & Travel Show, which will be held at Earls Court, London from February 2 to 5.
Television presenter Ben Fogle (whose adventures include crossing Antarctica in a footrace to the South Pole and racing 160 miles across the Sahara desert) and adventurer, motorbike enthusiast and TV personality, Charley Boorman, are just two of the celebrities who will be talking about their travel experiences at The Telegraph Adventure Travel Show.
Last week I waxed lyrical about London. The capital, I declared, had entered the most extraordinary and exciting year, with the Olympic and Paralympic Games guaranteeing a summer like no other. Factor in a cornucopia of cultural events like the Lucien Freud exhibition and next month’s London Fashion Show and it’s safe to say that I was definitely looking forward to being a Londoner in 2012.
Wouldn’t it be the most romantic short break to go to where St Valentine lies? Then consider a short break in Roquemaure which is in the south east of France on the banks of the Rhone near Avignon.
Farmhouse Breakfast Week (22 – 28 January 2012) is the time that hundreds of events take place across the country celebrating the most important meal of the day.
Walk around the centre of Belfast and you will see banners hanging from lamp posts all promoting Belfast tourism. Called “Your Time Our Place,” the event’s host, Eamonn Holmes even tweeted afterwards that we should come and visit “our wee country.”
In the aftermath of the Costa Concordia cruise ship tragedy on January 13, the announcements by government ministers from Turkey and Greece that they are introducing measures to give cruising in the Mediterranean a boost couldn’t have come at a better time.
Crissy Rock from ITV’s “Benidorm” opened the Holiday World Show in Belfast’s King’s Hall yesterday afternoon which is sponsored by the Belfast Telegraph. And talking to the exhibitors and visitors after the show had been open for about two hours they were happy.
More than 371,00 immigrants who were admitted to Britain, claimed state benefits in the UK last year, according to official figures compiled by the government for the very first time.
Now that the mince pies and mulled wine have been eaten, it’s time to get back to healthy habits. Need a helping hand? Why not try traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which offers an integrated approach to wellbeing
Hurray! Following the departure of its leader Colin Barrow, Westminster council has decided to drop its plans for off-peak parking charges.
In the wake of last Friday’s Costa Concordia cruise ship tragedy off the Italian coast, you’d be forgiven for being put off booking a cruise this year.
It’s understandable that the unforgettable image of a ship lying on its side will see many consumers shy away from cruises, but the CD-Traveller team won’t be among them.
A couple of days ago, I got offered a job back in Beijing (as regular readers of this website will know, I recently spent a year working in China) totally out of the blue. China is arguably the only country to have emerged from the financial crisi relatively unscathed yet this time around I wasn’t remotely tempted to take up the offer.
From the website:
“The Passport Office, which is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs, issues passports to Irish citizens.
All Irish citizens are entitled to apply for an Irish passport. Services are provided by the Passport Offices in Dublin and Cork and by Irish Diplomatic and Consular Missions overseas.”
In Glasgow on Thursday night, the annual Celtic Connections began with a torchlight parade beginning in George Square. This is the 18th annual Connections and it has found a niche for itself in the often barren cultural attraction time of January. Running until the end of the month, 1,500 performers in 300 plus events will appear in 13 different venues throughout the city.
If you haven’t voted for the Art Fund Prize yet then you have only until the 18th of June to do so. You can vote at www.artfundprize.org.uk/2010/vote/ for one of the final four contenders. The prize, £100,000, will be awarded by the judges after the closing date and your vote will help to influence them. The 30th of June will be the date that the winner will be announced and we’ll let you know as soon as we can which is the lucky museum.
We’ve had lots of different reasons given over the years for transport breakdowns; leaves on the railway lines, a swan on the line at Peterborough, wrong sort of snow but now, from Eurostar, we seem to have the wrong sort of air.
Four trains yesterday evening broke down in the tunnel. One of the possible reasons, (or excuses depending on your cynicism,) is that when the engines of the trains met the warm air in the tunnel after the cold air in France something had to give and so the engines packed up.
Last year, for mother’s day, I treated my mum to a weekend away. She cashed it in June. Poppy, my Cockapoo puppy of just 6 months, came along for the ride.
This is the first holiday I booked with my dog, and so we started slowly. There are many websites around for dog-friendly holidays, holiday cottages, B&Bs etc. What the accommodations don’t tell you is that there is often a restriction on the Number – or type – of dog(s) that you are permitted to take with you.
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