Traveller's Guide: Scuba diving holidays

Treat yourself to a weekend in a European city and you can also cut the cost of a long-haul trip. Simon Calder explains 'cross-border ticketing'

It is four weeks since Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing during a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with 239 passengers and crew on board. Very little evidence has emerged in that time, creating a mystery that has no modern parallel. Simon Calder, our travel correspondent, has been following events closely since the first report of the disappearance of the Boeing 777, and tackles some of the key questions.

Once known as the 'Paris of the East', the Romanian capital is at last rediscovering its former glory. Let John Malathronas be your guide

Simon Calder visits the Olympic gold medallist tennis player's new Perthshire retreat to see what it serves up

Dubrovnik has long been one of Europe's most beautiful cities. There it sits on the edge of the Adriatic Sea, the fabled orange tiles of its slanted rooftops chiming gloriously with the sparkling blue of the water, its famous walls still rearing sturdily above the waves – so very redolent of the era when the city was the great medieval trading power of Ragusa.

Pipless fruit salad and peppermint tea on the menu for Oscar Quine's overfed Jack Russell Billie

Simon Calder reports on double trouble

Mark Rowe samples a section of the Larapinta Trail which stretches from Alice Springs to the West MacDonnell Ranges, through rugged Red Centre scenery.

Kate Eshelby traces the tracks of the old railroad that once connected these tropical islands

Emma Gregg visits the memorials and landmarks that illustrate Nelson Mandela's astonishing life story

The nation's cultural institutions are demystified in a new book