Welcome to Europe
Few places pack the punch of Europe. From its Northern Lights to its Southern shores, this drama queen keeps on thrilling, surprising and confusing with her extraordinary wealth of sights, sounds, peoples and parties.
What a history Europe has! As well as the birthplace of democracy in Athens, the Forum of Rome, the renaissance buildings and art of Florence, the graceful canals of Venice and the Napoleonic grandeur of Paris, there’s always the less expected sites such as the Moorish palaces of Andalucía, the remains of one of the Seven Wonders of the World in Turkey, the majesty of a second Venice in St Petersburg and the haunting buildings of Auschwitz in Poland.
But Europe is far from limited by its extraordinary heritage. The continent leads the world in fashion, art, music, architecture and design; just see the street styles and music scenes of London and Berlin, the ground-breaking design in Antwerp, Copenhagen and Stockholm or the amazing displays of contemporary art, well, just about everywhere. Glorious scenery your thing?
Try out the awesome fjords of Norway, the stunning scenery of the Scottish Highlands, the volcanic dramatics of Iceland, the breathtaking Alps of France, Switzerland and Italy, and the lesser-known mountains of Spain, Slovenia, Southern Poland and Slovakia.
For beach life you can fight for some sand on France’s Côte d’Azur, Spain’s Costa Brava or Portugal’s Algarve, or – far more enjoyably – discover your own pristine beach in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania or on the gem-like islands of Greece and Croatia.
So don’t delay – get planning your own European odyssey.
For obvious reasons, Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram is still often referred to by its colonial name: Trivandrum. Most travellers merely springb...
The holy hill of Tirumala is, on any given day, filled with tens of thousands of blissedout devotees, many of whom have endured long journeys to see t...
Kondapalli fort (admission ₹5, camera ₹100; h10.30am-5pm), strategically situated on the old Machilipatnam–Golconda trade route, was built in 13...
Once the Andhran capital and a signifi cant Buddhist centre, Amaravathi is India’s biggest stupa (Indian/foreigner ₹5/100; h8am- 6pm), measuring 2...
Vijayawada is a busy, rapidly growing city and an important port at the head of the delta of the mighty Krishna River. It’s bustling, but it’s als...