European Destinations

With wonderful memories of the Christmas markets in Salzburg some years ago, I already had high expectations for Innsbruck. I was not disappointed. The markets in Innsbruck were just as traditional and Christmassy as...

When you think about Christmas Markets one of the first images that springs to mind is wandering through an array of traditional wooden market stalls in a picturesque market square with the snow falling...

After a difficult couple of years, and with no travelling outside the UK, I finally took to the skies again in early 2022 to resume my love of travel. 

One thing I have been thinking about more and more in recent days recently is my bucket list. My original bucket list was quite short and many of those things I have now managed to achieve, and this made me feel that I needed to set some new goals.

These are extremely turbulent times that we are all currently facing, regardless of where we are in the world. A pandemic known as COVID-19 has effected almost every part of this world, halting almost all air traffic, closing restaurants, hotels, any kind of leisure or social facility as well as all non essential shops and business, in an effort to stop the spread of the virus.

Italy is a country I find myself returning to time and time again, I don’t necessarily go back and visit the the same city every time though. Don’t get me wrong, I have been to both Rome and Venice more than once, but I do like to explore some of Italy’s other fantastic cities. For this trip I decided to visit a brand new city and found myself booking a Bologna City Break.

This year I decided that I was going to visit the Salzburg Christmas markets, which I’ve been wanting to visit for a while now. I also decided that I would make a second Christmas market trip so that I could re-visit the Dusseldorf Christmas market to remind myself just how wonderful my first Christmas market experience was.

This year I decided to visit two Christmas markets, one which I have visited before and also a brand new destination, Salzburg. Salzburg came highly recommended to me by a family member who had visited the Salzburg Christmas market a few years ago, and I thought a destination in the Alps would make a fantastic Christmas market location.

The shorter days and colder nights can only mean one thing… it's nearly time for the Christmas Market season to begin. Over the next few weeks we will see the streets and market squares of the beautiful European cities come alive with Christmas spirit. Each year during the run up to Christmas I try to visit at least one European Christmas Market, but this year I have planned to visit two cities.

Picturesque blue domed churches and white-washed towns and villages perched on a cliff-top, high above the vivid blue waters of the Aegean Sea could only be one place; Santorini. For a long time now...

Over the past two years I have visited Gdansk in Poland three times, and during each visit I fall in love with Poland a little more. I love the city of Gdansk and the cuisine. My three trips have inspired me to explore more of Poland, so when some friends asked me to join them on a Krakow city break I didn’t hesitate at all.

After looking at all the fantastic options available to me I decided to book a trip to Newcastle as it’s somewhere I’ve been wanting to visit for quite a while. Newcastle is known for its lively nightlife, amazing bars and fantastic culinary scene, so I was quite looking forward to sampling some of this during my Newcastle city break.

Anyone who knows me will know that my main passions in life are travelling, food and fine wine. I do have another guilty pleasure though, and that is Gin, so when I was asked by friends if I would like to go to a Gin cocktail masterclass at the Bombay Sapphire distillery in Laverstoke I jumped at the chance.

Reflecting on all the wonderful European city break destinations that I have visited in recent years, I was surprised that Berlin was one of the destinations that I hadn’t yet visited. Just over a year ago I decided to take a trip to Berlin to visit the annual ITB Berlin travel trade show.

For a long time I have been intrigued by the beauty of the Portuguese island Madeira, from its striking rugged coastlines to its vibrant countryside and beautiful ornate botanical gardens. This year my birthday conveniently fell on a Saturday, so I decided to book a three night Funchal city break so I could explore this unique Island.

When driving from northern to southern Spain the most direct route is from San Sebastian to Madrid then on to the Costa del Sol via Granada, which is the route that I have taken on all my previous trips. However, on my must recent trip with my father to southern Spain we decided to take the Autovia Ruta de la Plata, in English this means the Silver Route.

One of my favourite foods in a Gdansk is Pierogi. Pierogi are a small polish dumpling, which visually are a cross between Japanese gyoza and a small Cornish pasty. Pierogi can have many different fillings, and the texture and look of the Pierogi can vary massively. On my most recent trip to Gdansk I set out to find the best Pierogi in Gdansk.

Prague with its striking gothic architecture, ornate squares and imposing castle is famously known as Europe’s fairytale capital city, a fantastic location for a magical Christmas market. I have visited Prague a few times...