It’s official: Switzerland is the world’s happiest country. Deservedly smug, the country has just topped the well-regarded World Happiness Report. I’m curious to find out why, taking a scenic rail route around some of the crassest cliches.
Read MoreMay is the time for making a meal of the Med. The Riviera’s ritziest restaurants come out of hibernation and serve concoctions as inspired as the arty settings in the hot, sweet south.
Read MoreLake Como has been a retreat since Roman times. If Bellagio, its loveliest resort, feels like a refuge, it’s because it is, in both peacetime and wartime. During the Second World War, Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni faced down the Italian Fascists’ wrath to offer sanctuary to Jewish families.
Read MoreLondon’s burlesque scene is divinely decadent. From Soho to Mayfair, the tease is being put back into striptease. Don't forget your bedroom eyes or chainmail basque.
Read MoreWallowing in wintry Tallinn reveals a city on the cusp of change. Come for moody medieval battlements and Baltic charm. Stay for the contemporary buzz, the eccentric museums and Modern Estonian eateries, along with the Soviet throwbacks and hipster hangouts.
Read MoreThis Champagne route from Reims to Chalons means conjuring up black magic with a red mullet so is not a classic wine and food tour. But as Champagne acts as a bizarre barometer of French health and happiness, these bubbles are always about far more than fizz.
Read MoreAn East End food safari turns into a story of London immigration, a tale mostly told through street food. If this is `hanging out in the hood’, I’m all for it. Faux gangsterism aside, the journey from East End boozers to bagels and baltis is compelling food history.
Read MoreA taste of Cilento, south of Naples, Salerno and the Amalfi Coast, with a Slow Food trail centred on the sweetest figs, figs that are helping revive a sleepy region. The Unesco-listed Cilento National Park is also famed for the magnificent Greek temples of Paestum and the untarnished coast.
Read MoreIn Cilento, the buffaloes, the best mozzarella di bufala and fine wines are keys to unlocking the hedonistic Southern Italian character. The enigmatic Ancient Greeks have a lot to answer for.
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