Which place boasts the better beach: Bournemouth or Ibiza? Somewhat surprisingly the Dorset resort has been beaten Ibiza – plus the likes of Benidorm and Gran Canaria – in a list of Europe’s top beaches!

Here at CD-Traveller towers, we suspect that there are two types of people reading this website. There are those who will look back on Easter and say “that was an eggscellent trip” and there are those who will have laid in bed worrying about the recession. If you fall into the second category, then we have some good news for you! There are plenty of places you can visit this Easter, that don’t require you to remortgage the house

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…

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.

Ankara doesn’t come quickly to the mind when you consider city destinations. Istanbul, yes but Ankara? And then just to visit one suburb? But a day in Hamamonu will show you a very different side.

Yesterday evening’s news bulletins all carried the story about the collapse of Holidays 4 UK, the Turkish holiday specialist company that trades under the names of Holidays4U and Aegean Flights. This is no small company and it was concentrating on a growth area, Turkey. So what has gone wrong?

After getting used to Turkey as being one of the best value money for destinations around for the last couple of years, you might be surprised by not only prices this year but availability as well.

Freelance travel writer, Cathy Winston, takes us on a tour of her five favourite destinations

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?

This is the biggest weekend of the summer holiday when supposedly the largest number of people head off. And judging by the state of the M25 yesterday that could be the case. On the Surrey section there were entry speed advisory signs of 40mph and slow moving traffic when I crossed over it. A National Express coach going from Gatwick to Swansea came up from Dorking and headed off towards Cobham in an attempt to try and avoid the traffic, a sure sign of lots of traffic since a regular North Surrey-Swansea link isn’t in the timetable

According to ABTA, about 2 million of us will leave the country to enjoy Easter abroad. And maybe some decent weather after the returning wintry conditions of this week.
It won’t come as a great surprise to many of you that Spanish resorts are doing well with Tenerife and the Canaries leading the way. You could also guess that Egypt and Turkey are doing well and so they are but Tunisia has also picked up a lot of bookings. Going slightly further afield, Florida is attracting the usual school age groups and booking seem to be up despite the fact that the biggest new attraction, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter doesn’t open until June 18th.
The usual places seem to fill the top spots each year for overseas citybreak destinations. Paris, Amsterdam and Dublin lead the pack with Milan and New York not far behind and this is despite the weakness of the pound against the euro and the dollar.
So who is going away?

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

Around here the schools have just broken up and kids are everywhere. But so are cars heavily laden with luggage so it is obvious that some people are leaving tonight for the Christmas break. Maybe they are all trying to travel before even more snow comes over the weekend.

ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) claims that today and next Wednesday will be two busiest days on the roads or at railway stations, airports and ferry terminals as people make the way off for the break. They estimate that 3 million us will be heading away of the Christmas period. This number is about the same as last year so our appetite for a break seems as strong as ever

It may not come as much of a surprise to you to know that more of us are visiting Turkey. As one of the “best value” destinations for us this year, it has drawn visitors away from usual places such as Spain and other countries inside the euro zone. 11% more of us visited it that we did in 2008 and with Istanbul being 2010 European Capital of Culture next year, the numbers will probably continue to rise.

In the travel industry there are only two seasons, summer and winter. Summer ends at the end of October. No figures have come out yet showing what we did this summer but there are some hints.

We didn’t go abroad as much as we did the year before. Maybe the numbers dropped by between 15 and 20%. Europe and North America would have been the worst hit since their currencies were strong and there was less discounting on hotel prices. Unlike Turkey where flexibility and keen pricing will have prompted many more of us to go there

Seemingly around faster than ever, half term is upon us and it usually throws up some surprises as to what destinations we prefer to go to.
But no this year, the choice appears to be pretty similar to those summer places we chose. Last summer you might remember we shunned Spain and many other places in the eurozone and opted for Egypt and Turkey in much greater numbers. Still Spain was the top destination. This time we have done the same. A Spanish destination is top but there have been lots more people heading away to Sharm El Sheikh and Dalaman.

All the schools have broken up now. My local rail carpark is only about half full and the 7.30am traffic jam no longer exists. That means that some of you have already started your holidays.So are you holidaying in this country, having a staycation or are you going abroad after all? We are going to [...]

With travel agencies opening for the first day after Christmas traditionally, today, begins the big booking period for summer holidays. Its cold across most of the country but dry on the whole and it will be bright.Why the weather forecast?Generally if it is raining, snowing or the weather is miserable then summer holiday bookings increase. [...]