Travel
Things to see in Florence: Uffizi Gallery, Michelangelo, Ferragamo’s shoes
Come for the fashion, stay for the art: a visit to Florence to attend the Pitti Uomo menswear shows is an opportunity to see the best of the Italian Renaissance city, including Michelangelo’s David.
Beach clubs in Bali: from ‘a little slice of heaven’ to big business
Bali has taken from Ibiza, Spain, the title of beach-club capital of the world. However, the Indonesian holiday island is not the only place in Southeast Asia with a thriving beach-club scene.
Pakistan’s Karakoram Highway: an unforgettable road trip with downsides
A road trip along Pakistan’s 1,300km-long Karakoram Highway promises mind-bending mountain scenery and warm hospitality. But there’s instability here, and not just of the kind that leads to falling rocks.
Destinations known | World’s 10 most welcoming cities? How does Booking.com know?
The 10 most welcoming cities on Earth, according to Booking.com, include places from India to France, most of which you, like Destinations Known, have probably never been to.
How Paris’ ‘Chinese Chinatown’, Belleville, has much to offer tourists
Paris has one Chinatown, but another is fast rising in bustling Belleville. As the city gears up to host the 2024 Olympics, visitors should consider including the neighbourhood in their itineraries.
The sound of silence: Nyepi Day, when Bali comes to a standstill for 24 hours
Nyepi Day, the Balinese New Year – falling on March 11 in 2024 – will see 24 hours of silence, restaurants and public transport shut down, and nobody leaving their homes. It’s Bali at its most peaceful.
Marine conservation at secluded Thai resort on Phi Phi island sets it apart
Guests who stay at SAii Phi Phi Island Village, on Thailand’s Phi Phi Don island, can be reassured bamboo sharks and clownfish are among the species benefiting from their custom.
The good, the bad and the ugly of the Maldives, famed celebrity holiday spot
A holiday spot for celebrities from Taylor Swift to Tom Cruise to Britain’s Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Maldives has plenty to love about it – though Indians might presently disagree.
Aceh, Indonesia’s strict Muslim province, 20 years after Boxing Day tsunami
Aceh offers visitors encounters with orangutans without the crowds, great coffee and now even ATMs to draw cash from, two decades after devastation visited Indonesia’s strict Islamic province.
Destinations known | As Thailand rolls out the red carpet for Russians, not everyone is happy
Russian tourists are looking increasingly eastward and Thailand is excitedly wooing them, but with so many heading to Phuket, locals are not best pleased with the island’s transformation.
Sauces, tea bags, noodles: the comfort foods travellers can’t live without
Some travellers can’t live without their comfort foods, from instant noodles and beef jerky to soy sauce, fish sauce and chilli flakes, favoured by Asians to liven up food they think of as bland.
Shake, rattle and roll: the highs and lows of a train trip through Europe
Magnificent architecture and menacing reminders of war sharpen the senses on a journey around Europe by rail, from London to Brussels to Budapest – as does the arrival of thieves in the night.
High, wide and handsome: drone photos of trains in China’s varied landscapes
A peripatetic drone photographer has focused his passion on documenting China’s vast rail network from a bird’s-eye perspective.
Destinations known | What is a B Corp and which Hong Kong hotel led the way in Asia?
B Corp Certification signals companies that ‘walk the sustainability talk’ and Hong Kong has 25 of them – but only one hotel. Why aren’t more falling over themselves to get the big ‘B’?
Beyond Lunar New Year: global festivals from Rio to Oktoberfest
A guide to some of the world’s biggest celebrations – the Rio Carnival, Oktoberfest – and some more eclectic events, including a mud festival in South Korea and a sardine festival in Portugal.
Destinations known | China expects a record 9 billion domestic trips during Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year in China means getting together with family, and with 9 billion domestic trips expected, it seems everyone in the nation will be on the go during the holiday.
Seeing Bangkok’s canals on a boat powered by solar energy shows its potential
A cruise on the waterways of Bangkok in a boat powered by solar energy offers a tantalising glimpse of a quieter, less polluted life. Might more boat owners in the Thai capital embrace its potential?
7 of the world’s most spectacular sporting venues, from Italy to China
From Europe’s highest football pitch to a Unesco heritage site in Italy and the world’s longest golf course, in China, these sporting venues boast scenery that matches the action they host.
Book extract: new thinking about Marco Polo’s China travels, often doubted
With his outlandish stories of the East, Marco Polo has always drawn scepticism. But historian and author Christopher Harding’s latest book makes the intrepid Venetian’s travels harder to doubt.
Destinations known | Where is Asia’s longest escalator and will Malaysia challenge the title?
No, it’s not in Hong Kong – Asia’s longest escalator is in mainland China, but a new effort planned for Malaysia’s Batu Caves, packed with people this week for the Thaipusam festival, might come close.