10 of the Best Plantation Stays in India
India 13.02.2017
Imagine waking to the sound of birdsong, a shaft of angled sunlight scything through a gap in your curtains, without a single car horn and diesel engine to disturb the stillness outside. On the veranda of your colonial-era bungalow, your br…
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February Festivals in North India
India 08.02.2017
This month marks the start of India’s ‘shoulder season’ – the period after the Christmas–New Year rush has subsided, when visitor numbers fall and the weather starts to warm up slightly. There’s another good reason to visit India at this t…
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Up the Misty Mountain: Qing Cheng Shan
China 15.12.2016
Travel writer and photographer, David Abram, searches for vestiges of old China amid the forested slopes of a sacred Daoist peak outside Chengdu, Sichuan. A road train seems to me an inauspicious way to approach a holy peak, but this is my…
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Roads Less Travelled
Uzbekistan 09.12.2016
While Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan attract a steady flow of visitors, neighbouring Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan see comparatively few. There’s a simple explanation for this: none hold the poster-piece ancient monuments of the Silk R…
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7 Highlights of Central Asia
Uzbekistan 08.12.2016
Encompassing some of the least explored mountain and desert regions on the planet, the former-Soviet states of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan (collectively known, for obvious reasons, as ‘the Stans’) – have…
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8 of the Best Museums in Southeast Asia
Thailand 01.12.2016
Amidst all the ancient and grand delights of Southeast Asia, museums are often not given a second thought by visitors. You’d be pleasantly surprised at the wealth of antiquities and astonishing tales that lie within the walls of these galle…
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Flowers, Lakes and Mountains: Hokkaido in Summer
Japan 01.12.2016
The island’s fresh, maritime breezes and uplifting scenery offer the perfect escape from Honshu’s heat and humidity in the summer months. Its quiet roads also make it ideal for a self-guided, fly-drive holiday – a great adventure offering a…
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Top 10 Boat Trips in Southeast Asia
Thailand 17.11.2016
Southeast Asia has a delightful richness of waterways to rival any region in the world. Staying aboard a traditional cruise for a few nights is the most appealing way to visit these unique places, yet if you’re short on time or prefer to st…
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World of Willow & Flowers: Geishas in Kyoto
Japan 02.11.2016
It comes as a surprise to many visitors to discover that the rarefied, arcane world of the Japanese geisha is still very much a living part of the country’s cultural scene, and nowhere is this more true than in Kyoto, where these elaboratel…
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Exploring Tokyo's Districts
Japan 01.11.2016
As the epicentre of the world’s largest and most cutting-edge conurbation, Tokyo is where the nation’s heart beats fastest. If there’s a new gadget or fashion accessory out, you’ll see it crossing the Ginza intersection first. Being squashe…
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Michael Wood: My Favourite Places in China
China 26.10.2016
The historian, author, broadcaster and long-time Sinophile shares his top travel tips for a country he first visited over three decades ago. I first got hooked on China in my teens reading Penguin translations of Chinese poetry, which open…
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Meeting the Eagle Hunters
Mongolia 14.10.2016
Dressed in full-length Kazakh coat with a fur-trimmed hat and boots, a horseman rides across the frosted lower slopes of Mongolia’s Altai mountains. A light covering of snow dusts the surrounding peaks. He squints, scouring the hillsides fo…
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