Travel News from Times Online

A Scottish monastery retreat

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:58 GMT

Yoga retreats? Light- weight. Spa breaks? Mollycoddled. I am kneeling on a cold stone floor, surrounded by shaven-headed men in hooded white robes.

Escape to Vietnam's secret coast

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:47 GMT

This isn’t quite the relaxing journey to the airport I’d hoped for. I’m wading thigh deep through the flooded streets of rush-hour Ho Chi Minh City, my suitcase slung over my shoulders, praying I’m going to make my flight home. It is the rainy season, and it has rained. A lot.

New York's top 10 new hotels

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:02 GMT

1 Crosby Street

Jersey: our adventure playground

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

My two sons and I have clambered up a rock face on the right of this pretty bay in our wetsuits and helmets. After wading through a cave we reach a deserted sandy beach backed by high grassy cliffs. This, experiencing the inaccessible, is a big part of the appeal of coasteering — working your way along a coastal route by any means necessary.

A slow, ponderous journey up the Mekong

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

I am standing in the grounds of an elegant French colonial building in the middle of Luang Prabang, Laos. It’s 1pm, the sun is pressing down heavily on my head and the tropical humidity is bringing an unladylike sweat to my upper lip. I’m exchanging pleasantries on the immaculate lawn, but struggling to maintain my composure.

Visit Berlin’s brave new world

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

The coolest sight in Berlin is also the most chilling. It looks as if it has been left there by mistake but, this being Germany, it is there entirely on purpose. It is a listed building on Erna-Berger-Strasse that doesn’t appear on many maps, although is not too hard to find.

20 great trips to use up 2009 holiday

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

One day left

The world's 10 weirdest things to eat

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:37:59 GMT

View a gallery of the ten below. Tell us the worst thing you've eaten and why (or alarming food that isn't so bad) using the comment form at the end of the article.

A female going solo in Tajikistan

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:58:29 GMT

Tajikistan may not have reached the top of most people’s ‘must-see’ destination lists quite yet, but this remote country is doing its best to attract tourists and to compete with its neighbours, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, both of which see quite a lot of tourist traffic.

Ottery St Mary Tar Barrels in pictures

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:58:27 GMT

See a gallery of 22 shots from the event below

The six best UK foodie breaks

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:39:18 GMT

It’s the perfect recipe for a lip-smacking weekend break. Take six top British chefs. Sprinkle generously across the country. Then grill them for an hour about their favourite destinations for a gastro-themed getaway, garnished with appetising places to stay, a tasty restaurant or two and lots of spicy suggestions for sampling the freshest local produce. Finally, add stock details: all the costs and contacts you’ll need to sample these lovely foodie regions for yourself. And serve?

Instant weekend: Damascus

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:54:13 GMT

Okay, let’s admit it up front: Damascus is a stretch for a simple two-day weekend. If you can wangle the long variety, though, there’s no more satisfying place to spend it. With 4,000 years of continuous habitation, that’s a millennium’s worth of history to explore for each day of your Friday-to-Monday stint. And now’s the time to do it.

Confessions of a cabin crew

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:39:03 GMT

Tell us your stories from 39,000 feet using the comment form below...

Italy's secret ski resort

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:26:36 GMT

Very few people have heard about Moena, or even know the Val di Fassa in which it’s set. But if you want your skiing smooth, your mountains crinkly and a deluxe holiday for the price of a cheap chalet in the big-name resorts, then listen up.

The 8 best tourist trap alternatives

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:20:30 GMT

Choquequirao: The alternative Machu Picchu

Safari like Prince Harry in Botswana

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:42:20 GMT

Through my mosquito net I watched dawn break over the Okavango flood waters. I had been awakened by the sound of hippos harrumphing in the river. Now, as the coucals cried from the reed beds, I looked over our stern to a horizon so flat and so wide I could sense the curve of the earth as it rolled through space to meet the rising sun.

Twilight fans descend on Forks, the US 'vampire town'

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:01:00 GMT

“Fangs whitened here,” said the sandwich board along Highway 101. It was the first sign of our approaching destination. As the tiny two-lane highway rolled on, the blood-sucking puns increased. Finally, on the town’s outskirts, a plastic banner said: “Now entering the Twilight zone.”

Abu Dhabi: the arty antidote to Dubai?

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:01:00 GMT

His Highness is a phrase that you hear often in Abu Dhabi. “His Highness built this,” “His Highness built that”, or in the case of the city’s tourist attractions: “His Highness is planning to build that.”

Dig Northumberland on an archaeology break

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Septimus the legionnaire was sharpening his short sword in the Northumberland countryside one evening, 1,700 years ago, when he was ordered to patrol Hadrian’s Wall, threw his whetstone to one side ... and stupidly lost the thing. Almost two millennia later, crawling around during a holiday for amateur archaeologists, I found it again.

10 cosy British inns

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Anchor Inn, Lower Froyle, Hampshire

Mexican beach and Mayan adventure

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:58:37 GMT

From where I’m sitting, this could be Barbados. The sun is high in a cloudless sky, the sea is brochure-blue and the sand is the stuff of dreams.

Chalet Chef 2010: The final shortlist

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:53:34 GMT

The votes have been counted, the mathematical formulae applied and brows scratched by our judging panel. We have now come to a decision.

11 reasons to visit Bangladesh

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:45:37 GMT

Buy the Bradt guide on Amazon for £10.99 (rrp £15.99)

The 80 best days out in the UK

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:22 GMT

This lot should keep you busy this autumn. We've pulled together the 80 (give or take) best ideas from The Sunday Times, The Times and Times Online, for fun, quirky, easy - and in many cases free - days out in Britain and Northern Ireland.

50 years of the London Waterbus

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:41:13 GMT

In the age of Nintendo Wiis and high adrenalin theme parks, it's hard to believe that a gentle canal boat trip in London could still be pulling in the crowds.