Following Rome’s introduction of an accommodation tax, Florence has decided to do the same. The difference is that Rome gave people a bit of notice. Florence has given just a month. From July 1st all visitors (except children under 10) staying overnight will have to pay €1 per night. But it gets worse. You also pay a euro for each star category of accommodation you stay at so a 5 star hotel will attract €5 per night per person.

Lanzarote is more than just an all-year beach destination. Jane Egginton takes us on a quick tour to find good food and drink.

This weekend sees the re-opening of one of the most important sites in Scottish history – the palace at Stirling Castle. To celebrate this Historic Scotland is putting an extra effort with festivities and events.
On Saturday, the splender kicks off at 11.45 with a royal procession whih will include Mary, Queen of Scots and Mary of Guise and the rest of the “royal” party to be welcomed by cannon fire.

Last week, The Mersey Partnership tourism awards were announced. Tate Liverpool and its Picasso exhibition last year walked away with two of the main awards, the Tourism Marketing Initiative of the Year and the Cultural and Heritage Experience of the Year.

Aaarh Jim lad!
Every boy of a certain age would play pirates and use that expression rolling the “aarh” sound to last as long as they could. It conjured up a big, black bearded scoundrel with a sword in one hand and a flintlock in the other. It was based on a real life English pirate –Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard.

With the bank holiday and half term break starting in most places today you may fancy enjoying the sunshine by visiting a beach near you. How do you choose? By selecting the closest? The one you’ve always gone to? Or perhaps you take note of the Good Beach Guide and pick one that is in the Good Beach Guide?

CD Traveller speaks to Sean Simms – the man credited with creating some of the Caribbean’s lushest landscapes

The last part of Frederic’s journey on the Golden Chariot takes him from the delights of Hampi to the beaches of Goa and back to Bangalore

Frederic continues his journey on the Golden Chariot, distracted only by food, markets and the heritage of India!

This year the Irish seem to have been working overtime in trying to persuade us to visit them. Not only has the government lowered the APD duty and introduced a lower VAT rate for tourism related businesses, Tourism Ireland has launched an innovative competition on Twitter and Facebook.

sunrise at KanyakumariYou’ve got to southern India. Now, facing you, is another world; a world of warmth, colours, smells, and exciting discoveries.
“Splendour of the South,” the name of the east tour, leaves Bangalore in the early evening and, after a night trip, you reach Chennai (Madras), this vibrating crowded town lying on the shores of [...]

Frederic starts his four part story of a trip on one of the luxury trains of the world, the Golden Chariot with a desription of the train and his journey.

Today, in Wakefield, a new tourist attraction opens. It’s called a gallery for the visual arts but to most of us it will probably be thought of as a sculpture gallery since it will house works by some of the most well-known and influential modern sculptors. Named after locally born and bred sculptor, Barbara Hepworth it will contain 44 of her own works in addition to works by another local, Henry Moore and Jacob Epstein. But there isn’t only sculpture. Contemporary art is also on display from the Wakefield Collection.

Yesterday the judges announced which would be the final four museums left in the competition to win this year’s £100,000 prize.
They are the British Museum in London, the Polar Exploration Museum in Cambridge, the Roman Baths in Bath and the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway. Rather than these museums being selected for being just what they are, they have gone through to the next round because they have created something which, in the view of the judges, is exceptional.

Cathrene returns to the tip of Cornwall with Poppy to explore more of this great holiday destination

In Cardiff Bay, not far from the Millennium Centre is what you might consider an oddity, a church. What’s so strange about that you might say, Wales is full of churches and chapels. The difference is that this is a Norwegian church which tells a story about Cardiff that many people don’t know. And today, Norway’s national day, it re-opens after seven months spent on refurbishment.

New York is awash with restaurants. And delis. And take-aways. You’re spoilt for choice. Even if you don’t go into any of the stores you can still get food on the street corners from hot-dog vendors and pretzel sellers. So it’s nice, once-in-a-while, to have something different.

This is more of a reminder than a story. Remember that it is this weekend that museums up and down our countries open in the evenings. Not only do some museums seem different at night, many of those participating have laid on special events as well. Take your pick from over 300 places. Some start tonight, some start tomorrow.

Perhaps the best indicator of how confident we are about taking holidays comes from the recently released half yearly figures from TUI (owners of Thomson, First Choice, Falcon, Crystal, Citalia, JWT, LateRooms.com and Austravel amongst other brands) and Thomas Cook (who own Airtours, Direct Holidays, Neilson, Club 18-30, Sunset and other brands.) Between them, these two move about 9 million holidaymakers per year so what they report is a pretty good guide given their dominance in the holiday market.

Fingerprinting for Malaysian Visitors
If you have flown into Malaysia in the last week or so, then you might have found it takes a little longer to get through passport control. This is because the authorities have introduced the fingerprinting of both index fingers as part of the checking of who is entering the country.

Looking for the perfect beach break? Look no further. Your definitive guide to the Costa Dorada’s best beaches (and beyond) starts here

just ten years the number of Britons and Irish who take a cruise holiday has doubled. But, you might say, wasn’t the number quite small a decade ago? No, even then 776,000 went on a cruise. Now, says the Passenger Shipping Association (PSA) in their 2011 Cruise Review, over 1.6 million of us took a cruise last year.

One of the great sites of Venice is the Bridge of Sighs. For a little while its impact has been greatly reduced as much of it has been hidden by awnings as restoration work takes place. Almost a year ago, as the picture shows, the awning carried advertisements for a watch manufacturer. Now a reader who visited it last month has sent us a picture of the new advertisement. It is for Toyota.

CD Traveller reader, Tom Rumboll, takes us on a tour of his favourite destinations

With its sprawling desert bush, thick rainforests and white sandy beaches, Australia is an exciting and fascinating holiday spot. But how do you see as much as possible in 10 days? Laura gives you a busy itinerary to see as much as you can

As the great day approaches, 594 Guardsmen and 33 Officers from 3 Guards Regiments have been rehearsing at London’s Wellington Barracks. They are “Street Liners” in the Mall and in front of Buckingham Palace. In the meantime, like Joseph Woosnam, lots of us will be on parade at street parties up and down the country and across the world.