Europe Travel - Holiday trip and tour advice

Turin, Italy, with snowcapped Alps in the background. Photo: Getty

48 hours in Turin – winter walks, hot chocolates and lots of hotel beds at weekends

Florence is steeped in history and culture

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An art-lover’s dream in magical city of Florence

It was Mark Twain who said Florence was a “sight to stir the coldest nature”. It’s hard to know where to start when visiting such a magical place. The city of lilies, as it is known, is home to almost a third of the art world’s Unesco-designated treasures. As a first-time visitor, I was determined to see as many of them as I could.

Exploring Lake Maggiore with Asconautica sailing school

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Setting sail: The area around Lake Maggiore is best experienced from the crystal-clear water

As mornings on lakes go, this one is almost perfect.

Kraków hosts one of the most popular Christmas markets in Europe

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10 magical Christmas markets in Europe to visit in 2022

When you want to get into the Christmas spirit, nothing does the trick like a wander around a festive market. And after two years of Covid-related closures, the 2022 season will be the first time some of the European favourites return.

The start of the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Picture: Dan Istitene

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Grand Prix getaways – how can you travel to see Formula 1, and what’s the experience like?

You will hear a Formula 1 car before you see it. You will feel it before you see it. There’s almost a sense of foreshadowing, of air being sucked back down the track. The high-pitched scream rises, eats into your eardrums until suddenly, in a visceral release, it rockets past.

Polignano al mare, Puglia. Deposit Photos

‘Spellbound sleepiness’ – Puglia makes a great off-season escape in Italy

We cycle back to the hotel in a neat line, spokes whirring, weaving through a patchwork of silver-green olive groves.

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‘Misted windows, hot chocolate, heart-warming food, frosted pavements’ – the joy of Genoa in winter

It’s 9.30am on a Saturday in November when Andrea Azzinardi bounces in through the door of my hotel, all smiles and bursting with energy. Andrea is my walking-tour guide for the morning and from the moment we meet until we part some four hours later it’s all go, go, go as we wend our way, walking and talking, through the ancient streets of Genoa, north-west Italy.

The medieval town of Caiazzo, Italy. Photo: Getty

Forget Naples – why pizza-lovers should stay at its under-the-radar neighbour

While any pizza lover worth their sauce will have chewed over the pros and cons of Neapolitan pies, visitors contemplating the hallowed yet hectic port city should skip Naples and head directly to the mediaeval town of Caiazzo for a slice of the action.

Skiing après-Covid: everything you need to know to get back on the slopes this year

Ski-resort bosses are exploring ways of fighting the energy crisis this winter.

Taverna Anemos Sunrise in Agios Minas, Karpathos, Greece

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‘I was offered the chance to run a Greek taverna for a summer. Here’s what happened next...’

Lifting the fresh bread rolls out of the oven, I couldn’t resist tearing one open to release the delicious steam and devouring it while it was still hot — just to test the batch, of course.

Queen Elizabeth: Two birthdays, 15 PMs and an Arsenal fan – 9 unusual facts about the Queen

When Queen Elizabeth II died aged 96, she was Brtitain’s longest-reigning monarch,

You can’t visit Funchal and not take a trip on the cable car up to Monte

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Sweet Madeira – Portuguese island develops a taste for high adventure

You tend to remember precisely where you were when you see your daughter visibly swoon and fall hopelessly in love with a man for the very first time. The following evening, you’re very present as you notice she just happens to have picked out her favourite dress and new shoes, dressing to impress at dinner.

Roman amphitheatre Arena di Verona and Piazza Bra square panoramic view, landmark in Veneto region of Italy

In fair Verona: Walking in the footsteps of Maria Callas

It’s a hot and humid day early this summer and here I am, a woman on a mission as I tramp with intent through the streets of Verona in search of a church. Not any old church, but a rather specific one that I know is somewhere close by.

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Enchanted Princess: Join the cruise club on a Nordic adventure

"So, how many cruises have you done?” I asked our new-found friends Kris and Paul from the Isle of Man.

Russian soldiers patrol the area of the Azovstal steelworks, in Mariupol, which was destoyed by Russian attacks. Photo: AP Photo, File

Mariupol FC in vow to rise from ruins after club destroyed by Russian bombs

For the month before Andriy Sanin escaped the siege of Mariupol, the 48-year-old football club vice-president was reduced to melting snow and scrounging food to keep his family alive.

Picturesque port towns such as Mundaka are a delight

Basking in the very best of eco-friendly Basque Country

Imagine plonking the Alps by the shores of the Cantabrian coast so that the feet of their verdant hills and valleys are lapped at by the blue Atlantic.

Hiking in the Los Picos de Europa national park. Photo: Simon Dubreuil

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Hiking trail in northern Spain has all the elements of a sublime tableau

From the dormitory window of our mountain hut the breaking dawn is a symphony of colour – pumpkin, saffron and pale purple – blazing in the eastern sky. As the sun slowly emerges, it unfurls a salmon pink carpet across the limestone. That’s when I see it for the first time.

Sarah Marshall on the Gorge Alpine Via Ferrata. PA Photo/Barbara McCarthy.

Why climbing a 4,000m mountain as a woman in my 40s was a game-changer

Anyone familiar with Nineties comedian Harry Enfield will remember his skit, Women: Know Your Limits, a spoof 1950s public broadcast announcement putting daring ladies in their place.

Kathryn Thomas and her two children in Greece

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Kathryn Thomas and family enjoy a Greek odyssey in Halkidiki

There was only one place that I wanted to go post-Covid... apart from my local pub, obviously.

Trondheim is the capital of Trøndelag the European Region of Gastronomy for 2022. PA Photo/Mykola Ksenofonto.

Caviar, cod fish and cow vetch – 'I am in Viking territory on a voyage of culinary discovery'

My journey to food heaven ends in Hell.

How Slovenia went from obscurity to Boris Johnson’s honeymoon hotspot

Although Boris Johnson is famously prone to blunders, it seems even the British PM had the wit to know where he was last week, having popped to a remote valley in northern Slovenia for a belated honeymoon with his wife Carrie.

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My grand tour of ‘Green Spain’, from Cantabria to Asturias and Galicia

Some things are best left to the experts, such as pouring exactly 3cm of cider from a bottle held high above your head into a glass at waist level. In Asturias, trainee bar and restaurant staff have to practise for weeks with water before they’re let loose on paying customers.

A statue of legendary Liverpool FC manager Bill Shankly in front of Anfield Stadium

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One young fan’s bucket list trip to see a Liverpool FC game – and why ‘match break’ travel is booming

“We desperately need a win,” says the guy selling us a £2 fanzine outside Anfield.

Damon Smith meeting Iron Man in the Training Center of Avengers Campus at Disneyland Paris. A Photo/Damon Smith.

Marvel at Disneyland Paris - what it's like to visit the French resort's new Avengers Campus

Self-delusion is my superpower.

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Surf’s up in Ericeira and go with the flow in Sesimbra

The last time I was outside Ireland was pre-Covid (I thought I’d forgotten how airports work but a crash course in queuing soon reminds me). The last time I was in Lisbon was over 15 years ago (I know this because it was for a wedding, and my eldest child was then two; now, he’s at home prepping for the Leaving Cert). The combination of these two ‘lasts’ is a potent one and I feel quite emotional as we drive into the city in early afternoon sun.

25 great things to do in Krakow - from €3 pints to cracking Christmas markets

“Cheap and cheerful” normally means “avoid like the plague unless you’re a skinflint”.

The beautiful golden sandy beach at Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie

Vive la Vendée, our unforgettable, utterly French escape

I was five when my parents packed all four of us into their campervan and drove to the ferry to France. I remember the thrill of those long, dark tunnels along mountain passes, singing songs the entire way (God bless their patience). I remember tyres melting from the incredible heat and the smell of cheese, even at 8am, when my father unwrapped it for breakfast to eat with a hunk of bread.

Hotels too expensive? Here are five hip hostels for a bargain European break

Anyone who’s taken a gap year or backpacked across continents has probably stayed in a hostel at some point along the way.

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A crazy guide to off-radar Kraków

Tired of waiting for a guide who seems to have stood us up, we decide to go for a potter around the market stalls . Kraków is just too beautiful a city to waste any time sitting around. Just as we’re about to make a move, however, a towering figure wearing a white vest, large gold crucifix and green tracksuit bottoms suddenly materialises. He says something in Polish, and then in English, asking if we want to buy something from the vast woven bag he is brandishing. Protesting on our behalf, a waitress intervenes, and with a bit of a deft shimmy, we escape behind his back.

Hiking in Gran Canaria. Photo: Pól Ó Conghaile

Gran Canaria – sun, sea and a surprising ‘miniature continent’ beyond the resorts

‘When things are made with love, you can really feel it,” says Guillermo Bernal, a guide showing me around the island of Gran Canaria.

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Europe

December 2022

48 hours in Turin – winter walks, hot chocolates and lots of hotel beds at weekends

November 2022

An art-lover’s dream in magical city of Florence

Setting sail: The area around Lake Maggiore is best experienced from the crystal-clear water

10 magical Christmas markets in Europe to visit in 2022

Grand Prix getaways – how can you travel to see Formula 1, and what’s the experience like?

‘Spellbound sleepiness’ – Puglia makes a great off-season escape in Italy

October 2022

‘Misted windows, hot chocolate, heart-warming food, frosted pavements’ – the joy of Genoa in winter

Forget Naples – why pizza-lovers should stay at its under-the-radar neighbour

Skiing après-Covid: everything you need to know to get back on the slopes this year

September 2022

‘I was offered the chance to run a Greek taverna for a summer. Here’s what happened next...’

Queen Elizabeth: Two birthdays, 15 PMs and an Arsenal fan – 9 unusual facts about the Queen

Sweet Madeira – Portuguese island develops a taste for high adventure

In fair Verona: Walking in the footsteps of Maria Callas

Enchanted Princess: Join the cruise club on a Nordic adventure

Mariupol FC in vow to rise from ruins after club destroyed by Russian bombs

August 2022

Basking in the very best of eco-friendly Basque Country

Hiking trail in northern Spain has all the elements of a sublime tableau

Why climbing a 4,000m mountain as a woman in my 40s was a game-changer

Kathryn Thomas and family enjoy a Greek odyssey in Halkidiki

Caviar, cod fish and cow vetch – 'I am in Viking territory on a voyage of culinary discovery'

How Slovenia went from obscurity to Boris Johnson’s honeymoon hotspot

My grand tour of ‘Green Spain’, from Cantabria to Asturias and Galicia

One young fan’s bucket list trip to see a Liverpool FC game – and why ‘match break’ travel is booming

Marvel at Disneyland Paris - what it's like to visit the French resort's new Avengers Campus

July 2022

Surf’s up in Ericeira and go with the flow in Sesimbra

25 great things to do in Krakow - from €3 pints to cracking Christmas markets

Vive la Vendée, our unforgettable, utterly French escape

Hotels too expensive? Here are five hip hostels for a bargain European break

A crazy guide to off-radar Kraków

Gran Canaria – sun, sea and a surprising ‘miniature continent’ beyond the resorts

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