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Travelling from Kyle of Lochalsh to Iverness by train is Britain’s most scenic rail journey, writes Adrian Lawes
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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This section is reserved for our travel related rants and moans. We’d love to hear what’s bothering you too so feel free to add your thoughts!
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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
Nguyen Minh Tuan, The Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel & Spa’s marketing & communications manager, tells CD Traveller why he loves Hong Kong, wants to travel to China and Bali and believes that Vietnam is on the up
This morning the Dept for Culture & Oddities issued its 52 page document on its plans for tourism. These will affect all of us that holiday, take day trips or visit friends because tourism is so involved in what we do. Go to shops outside your local community? That contributes to tourism. Use the roads or trains? That affects tourism. Eat cornflakes? Well no, that doesn’t affect tourism but they are mentioned in the report.
So how will this affect you?
In just six short years, Format has established itself as one of the most appealing international photography festivals. Is it in some exotic photoshoot destination replete with natural wonders of staggering beauty and jaw-dropping sites? No, its based in Derby.
Up until 9th March, Air France is giving you the chance to win one of 2 pairs of tickets it is giving away every day. Access is via their facebook page ( we’ll give you the weblink in just a moment) and all you have to do is to guess where the daily photo is. Then you could win a round trip of your choice from the destinations they fly to. And given how big Air France’s network s, that gives you a fairly wide choice. So click on www.facebook.com/airfrance and good luck. You can enter each day as long as you can identify the photograph. And if you win, let us know where you chose to go to and why for the benefit of the rest of us who may not hve been so lucky!
After yesterday’s fuel surcharge announcement by Thomas Cook comes a similar announcement from TUI, owners of Thomson and First Choice Holidays. I suppose it was only to be expected. The airlines have been increasing their surcharges and it was probably only a matter of time before those tour operators with their own airlines would soon follow.
So how much might this cost you?
CD Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world. This month the future looks red hot for Virgin’s cabin crew but gap years could be on their last leg…
Both the UK and Ireland have identified the importance of the USA as a source of visitors. New York has more flights to the UK and Ireland than any other destination in the country. Both Visit Britain and Tourism Ireland have offices in New York. Why, then, was there so little representation from either country at the New York Times Travel Show?
Xian – the former capital of the Tang Dynasty and the starting point of the Silk Road – should feature high on every traveller’s China itinerary. Here we let you in on five things to see and do in this essential destination – those that get stuck at home in front of their computer, only have themselves to blame…
Starting today, in a number of cities throughout the UK you will see the traveling bus promoting Menorca. Menorca has been one of the big winners in attracting us to visit them this year as concern grows about a North African holiday are heightened by media pictures. But Menorca is not leaving anything to chance and its bus to “battle” for our bookings is the way it has chosen.
Some might have have thought it too earlier to notice a rebound in people looking for holiday in Egypt but one supplier is finding that t has started already. At The New York Times Travel Show I found that Zak Fouad of a US tour operator called Signature Getaways was noticing that he was getting more enquiries about escorted tours there. And the enquiries were turning into orders.
Next Tuesday is the day when Welsh across the world will celebrate their Welshness maybe not with the same marketing skills that has seen St Patrick’s Day take over the world on the 17th of the month but with the same fervour at least. David has been a saint, as recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, for 991 years and March 1st seems to be the date when he died 1,422 years ago
Amsterdam, the biggest city in Holland is very cosmopolitan as Holly White showed in her take on the city where she lives which appeared earlier this month. It has restaurants of all types of cuisine, indeed down some streets you can find a Burger King followed by a KFC and then a Macdonalds. There are lots of signs in English and English is widely heard because there are so many tourists. On the trains coming in from Schipol to Amsterdam Central you will hear the train guard in four different languages. So is Amsterdam typical of Holland or like many big cities, internationalised? To judge how representative it was, I took a trip half an hour away to the city of Utrecht.
Yesterday I went to the Five Lakes Hotel, Country Club and Spa – to give it its full title – for the tourism and leisure show that was mentioned a couple of days ago. Why? To see what people thought of their local show and how the exhibitors reacted to it.
You will remember that Hastings Pier was devastated by a fire a last October. Piers are regarded with some nostalgia as things from Victorian times and our childhood. They don’t quite have the same number of followers as steam trains, but followers there are. So from the ashes, so to speak, an appeal is about to be launched to raise money to renovate the pier and bring it back into use. The sum required is relatively quite small at £800,000 and with the backers it has attracted, this should be attainable.
They are just some of the prizes on offer tomorrow at The Travel & Leisure Show which is taking place at the Five Lakes Resort in Maldon, Essex. It’s free to go to the show and the organizers even provide a free bus collecting you from Witham station from 9.30 onwards. You can see the web link in our events column.
Airport time is dead time. There’s nothing much to do other than wait and lose hours flying through time zones – or gain more depending on which direction round the earth you’re flying. But in the end, it’s all dead time. My time was lost flying to Brazil from Heathrow.
This morning BAA announced its financial results for 2010. It made a loss but the chief executive calls this “robust” and confidently expects to present a “strong increase in profits” this year.
Now let’s get down to the important stuff. How is BAA going to treat its passengers in the future?
Swap Britain’s chills for beach thrills. Now is the perfect time to head to Nha Trang
Back last autumn you would probably expect that Egypt and maybe Tunisia would have been hot spots for tourist bookings this year. After the removal of the Tunisian president in January, it was to be expected that there would be a downturn in bookings at least until things had stabilised. The same could be said about Egypt. But as the disruption continues in North Africa and the Middle East, will, tourists be deterred from going to the whole area?
In the US holidays of a week are common. Here the week or fortnight is more like the norm. In winter some seniors go away for a couple of months. But how do you fancy a year long holiday? All in the one place.
One of Sydney’s Sunday newspapers, The Sun-Herald, has reported today that a couple, Chris and Sally Allison, from the Sydney suburb of Mosman liked the place so much that they have booked accommodation for a whole year at a B&B in Rhyl in North Wales.
Yet another survey.
Its theme is that we only use travel agents sparingly to research holidays for us. Well what a surprise. Half the fun of choosing a holiday or a trip is sitting down and dreaming of some of the places. Only those with no time, no gumption and no sense hand it over entirely to a travel agent.
Our China correspondent on the pros and cons of using a guidebook in Beijing
One of the earliest of gardening events on the calendar happens this weekend in the west Wales town of Landysul. Having attracted so many people from quite a distance, Llanysul will probably become a firm early season fixture for people anxious to get out and do something in their gardens but handicapped by the weather we have had.
There was no call last night. But we shouldn’t be greedy. Seeing the lights over 4 nights – particularly the wonderful display of the night before last – is more than many tourists get. One Norwegian, a regular traveler on the ferry, said that he hadn’t seen such a display on some many evenings for a good while.
Today we reach Bergen at about 2.30pm and the journey will be over.
According to the new Lonely Planet edition of its guide to the South west, this region has overtaken the rest of the UK for its culinary appeal. Only London can rival it the guide says. Those of us who have been regular visitors to Cornwall, Devon and Somerset have long known that good food was there to be found in abundance. And not just in Michelin starred restaurants either although the guide tends to highlight these.
The last but one day of our journey.
When this saga (a good Scandinavian word) began eleven days ago, it was with the hope of seeing the northern lights. To have seen them for 4 nights in a row when so many see nothing of them is great. That we have cameras inadequate to the task of capturing pictures of them is annoying. But then, the colours that the camera show isn’t what the eye sees.
You have until September to visit the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth where you can see what might be the oldest birch bark canoe in existence.. After then it will be going back to Canada where further research can be done on its origins.
From the website:
“The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is a commercial state-sponsored company which was established on 1 January 1994 to provide air navigation services in Irish-controlled airspace, and to regulate safety standards within the Irish civil aviation industry through…”
It’s what Harry Potter fans around the world have been waiting for: on March 31, the hugely anticipated Warner Bros Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter will open at Watford’s Leaveseden studios.
Like London buses, when one comes along, it is accompanied by another. So Venice, on Wednesday this week, decided to introduce an accommodation tax just like Florence.
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
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