Hedonists may be enjoying a love affair with Croatia’s clutch of summer music festivals, yet its clusters of central islands, from alluring Hvar to the blissful tranquility of Murter, are timeless landscapes of lavender fields, limpid waters and strange geology.
Newcastle is the ‘hipster capital of the North’ and the UK’s best short break destination, says the latest travel poll. Can this post-industrial port town really deliver a top-notch long weekend of culture, arts and outdoor activities?
The remote, luxury lodges of the Kimberley are now linked by air. Sarah Barrell flies to the final frontier
I’m scanning the ground for signs of life. So far, an hour into the flight from Broome to Australia’s remote north-western coast, I haven’t seen a thing. The ground below looks unreal, like a topographical map – globular layers of browns on greens on blues, and not a settlement in sight. The land doesn’t so much end here as fragment, gradually dissolving into the sea, before puckering up again in the shape of Indonesia, the next landfall, some 500 miles away. Sydney, meanwhile, lies 2,100 miles to the south.
Singapore is slinging out its safe old image and ushering in an era of cutting-edge design and culinary delights.
From the air, Singapore looks like a castaway’s paradise. The island state sits within a patchwork of perfectly circular islands scattered in the South China Sea, each haloed with a ring of tropical sand. But as the plane lands, the massive cargo ships lurking in its waters and the forest of skyscrapers become visible. Singapore may be unveiling its own version of the Eden Project at the end of this month, but it’s a city that is determinedly urban.
A family guide… from finding La Dolce Vita, in Italy, to Feather Down Farming, getting the most out of Olympic London to tips on booking that last-minute summer break
Follow a new 110-mile walking route, the Channel Islands Way, to discover the secrets of this wild and surprising archipelago that’s not quite French, not quite English but completely charming.
Visitor numbers to the ancient Khmer ruins of Angkor are rocketing, so a successful visit is all about timing. Sarah Barrell sets her alarm clock
A derelict chapel has been transformed into a luxurious holiday let, and now it offers every possible comfort, says Sarah Barrell
It takes quite an event to bring our family to church. A wedding or funeral, perhaps. Or, in this case, the conversion of a 19th-century chapel just outside Dartmouth into a high-end holiday rental. It began and continued its life as a United Reformed Church 140 years ago, subsequently serving as a shop, storeroom and boathouse. The chapel was bought in 2009 by the Imlah family, who restored the near-derelict structure to its original elegant form, adding a level of comfort not always associated with places of worship.
National Geographic Traveller: Life on Canada’s Arctic frontier, the Yukon, is deeply entwined with its timeless landscape of glaciers, mighty rivers and dominating mountains. Once the target of a gold-rush stampede, this little-known region of myth and legend will inspire and mesmerise.
Sarah Barrell 