Travel
Porto’s Pink Line Year
Four new stations are being tunnelled under the historic centre, the nightly tax is three euros, and the Ribeira has become largely somebody else's photograph.
5 min read
Travel
Travel
The light does the work: walking and photography trips for 2026
Volunteering on a Faroese footpath, a permit system on Mount Fuji, and the southern-hemisphere window that shuts in April.
5 min read
Travel
Two weeks in Oaxaca or on the Ring Road: how much of the budget is spent before you leave
One trip is booked almost entirely in advance; the other is barely booked at all. That difference, not the scenery, is what a solo traveller should weigh.
5 min read
Travel
Slovenia, Marrakech and Cape Town ranked by friction, not by scenery
For a first independent trip, the question is how much the destination asks of you. These three sit at very different points on that scale, and the gaps are large.
6 min read
Travel
Mexico City Is Arguing About You
Anti-gentrification protests, a fourteen-point city plan, a 180-day ceiling on short lets and World Cup hotel rates up by four figures. How to visit a capital mid-backlash.
5 min read
Travel
One is drowning in visitors, the other is arguing about car parks: the Highlands and Kyoto in autumn 2026
Kyoto raised its lodging tax tenfold at the top end in March. The Highlands are still consulting on 5 pounds a night. Two overtourism stories at completely different scales.
5 min read
Travel
Marrakech at 4.86 Million: The Medina’s Success Problem
Morocco took a record 19.8 million visitors in 2025 and Marrakech absorbed almost a third of the country's bed nights. The strain shows in rents, in water and in the souks.
5 min read
Travel
Marrakech, Porto and the Scottish Highlands in winter: the only fair way to compare them
Off-season is where these three become genuine alternatives for a short European break. Daylight, rain and hassle sort them faster than any list of sights.
5 min read
Travel
Going alone for the first time: countries that make the opening week easy
First solo trips rarely come unstuck on safety. They come unstuck on the midnight transfer, the table for one, and the day nobody speaks to you.
5 min read
Travel
Lisbon, Lake Bled or the Ring Road: start by deciding whether you want to drive
A city break, a lakes-and-mountains region and a 1,300-kilometre loop are not rivals. They are three answers to one question about how much of the holiday is spent behind a wheel.
5 min read
Travel
Bled’s Timed Gorge and the Pass That Counts Cars
Vintgar sells ten-euro timed tickets and caps entry, and from 15 June 2026 Vrsic suspended summit parking and put counting barriers at both ends. Slovenia is rationing quietly.
5 min read
Travel
Lisbon Without Its Funiculars
Sixteen people died on the Elevador da Gloria in September 2025 and the heritage funiculars stayed shut. A city that sells its hills has been climbing them the hard way.
6 min read