This year, Thai New Year – Songkran – falls between April 13 and 15. Water is at the heart of this three day festival: it symbolises starting the New Year with a clean slate as well as helping Thai people to beat the stifling April heat.
Can’t afford to take a trip to Thailand for a water dousing? Why not celebrate the Thai New Year with a culinary feast of flavoursome Thai dishes courtesy of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. Over the next three days we’ll be running a few of Gordon’s favourite Thai recipes: prepare to treat your taste buds!

The Big Apple has been mesmerising visitors for years. Its pleasures are eternal but the particulars of where to stay, eat and play are ever in flux. CD Traveller breaks out their little black book…

As Beijing’s Olympic glow shows no sign of fading, CD Traveller spoke to Sarah Keenlyside –a long term resident in the Chinese capital – about one of the 21st century’s most exciting destinations

CD Traveller unleashes their inner rock star at The Sanctum Soho

Pack your tent and head for the countryside this Easter – camping has become cool
Cast aside any preconceptions of camping being the preserve of pensioners and hippies for in recent years this type of holiday has undergone a renaissance and shaken off its boy scouts and budget holiday image. Thanks, in part, to celebrity campers such as Sienna Miller, Jodie Kidd, Kate Moss, Jamie Oliver et al camping is now cool and it’s hip to be seen erecting a tent.

The Isle of Man may be best known for business but the tax haven is too beautiful to be left just to bankers and businessmen. Local resident, Jessica Crowe, reveals why we should cross the Irish Sea and discover the sleepy island for ourselves

Tired of taking mediocre photos? Relax – with travel snapper, Panos Kostouros, as your guide, memorable photographs are well within your reach. Happy shooting!

Ahead of the London International Dive Show that is taking place at Excel this week-end, CD Traveller gives you the low-down on diving holidays

Whether you’re staycation-ing or vacationing, CD Traveller tells you what’s happening in the travel world

CD Traveller talks travel with Wendy Wu – founder and principal of Wendy Wu Tours: the UK’s leading China specialist tour operator

Is there something about tourism that encourages attractions and destinations to attract us with offers of drink or is it just coincidental that some events this week offer us this lure?
In the town hall in Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire, the annual Camra Beer Festival starts tomorrow with free entry. After that it can cost you between £2 and £5 depending on when you go. Complementing this, in the market place there will be a background to the brewing heritage of the town including what is called a “taster” of the new National Brewery Centre. But Burton isn’t only about beer. The National Forest is nearby and Burton acts as one of the gateways to it.

Sarah-Jane Goodall, senior sales and marketing manager for Namibia Tourism Board, chats to CD Traveller about swimming, sightseeing and the rewards of a holiday in Namibia – one of Africa’s youngest countries.

Planning a week-end away in Wales but not sure where to stay? CD Traveller has done the hard work for you. We’ve selected five chic retreats from Alastair Sawday’s new book Special Places to Stay Wales.

Alastair Sawday has a knack for picking out stylish, well-run places – the sort the CD Traveller team would choose for a short break ourselves. To give you a flavour, we’ve picked five of our favourites from Sawday’s new book Special Places to Stay Wales.

Whether you’re staycation-ing or vacationing, CD Traveller tells you what’s happening in the travel world

Sick of the sleet and snow? CD Traveller asked four top travel journalists to share their ‘hot spots’ for 2010. Get ready to top up your tan

Now that no-frills airlines like Ryanair and easyJet charge you for placing luggage in the hold, people are looking for ways to save money on all the extra things that make a cheap fare, expensive. Many experts felt that customers would just put up with it but now comes evidence from a US company that suggests this may not be the case (no pun intended!). Suitcase.com is an American retail company which sells any variety of different types of bags and cases. It asked 21,000 people about their luggage purchasing habits and it has thrown up some interesting results.
Now Americans have had to put up with all these extra charges for longer than we have and even have to pay for luggage on the main carriers as well.

Last month CD Traveller reader, T Fleetwood, wrote in for some recommendations on what fifty somethings should see and do Down Under. Always aiming to please, we asked the experts –Tourism Australia and Tourism New Zealand –for a few ideas. Here’s what they had to say…

Whether you’re staycation-ing or vacationing, CD Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world

Everyone wants to make the most of their time on earth and Rough Guides’ new compact sized book, Make the Most of Your Time on Earth, tells you how to go about it. We’ve handpicked five of Britain’s best travel experiences to whet the appetite

Lawrence Bate, director of Tourism Ireland in Great Britain, spoke to CD Traveller about his love of South Korea, loyalty to Lonely Planet and, of course, the Emerald Isle

Holiday accommodation can be expensive but the range of choice is wide. Beginning with hostels, campsites, caravan parks you can consider B&B’s, guesthouses and hotels of an increasing number of stars.
But have you ever considered university accommodation?
Obviously it has its drawbacks, not the least of which is you can’t stay there when the students are around. So you’re limited really to holiday times such as Easter, July through to the end of September and over Christmas. But those are also the times when other accommodation carries a premium price. And universities are in some of the most popular shortbreak and citybreak destinations. Take Cambridge for example. Trying to find accommodation there can be a real problem in summer when overseas tourists visit

There’s one thing you can guarantee in the wake of the attempted plane bombing above Detroit in December: we’re all going to spend a lot longer at airports. CD Traveller profiles the capital’s four main airports to see how they measure up

Aidan Lawes gives us the low-down on Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sa Pa – the final part of his journey around Vietnam

Aidan Lawes shares his experience of Hué and Hoi An in central Vietnam with CD Traveller

Aidan Lawes shares his experience of the Mekong Delta with CD Traveller

With Waitangi Day (New Zealand’s National Day) just around the corner, CD Traveller lets you in on 10 things we love about The Land of the Long White Cloud

Aidan Lawes ventured to Vietnam and quickly fell under the country’s spell. Read about his oriental odyssey all this week exclusively on the CD Traveller website