Tourism
How cartomania captivated even Queen Victoria
The craze for photographic cartes de visite that swept Victorian Britain was further boosted by the Queen’s own enthusiasm for the format
Tourists are the new pariahs
Think of Majorca and what do you picture? Maybe it is elegant tapas bars in the Gothic quarter of Palma,…
How dangerous is it to fly by helicopter?
Crime without borders How many nations are signed up to the International Criminal Court? – 124 signed the Rome Statute…
The perils of Prague: Parasol Against the Axe, by Helen Oyeyemi, reviewed
Three women with a criminal past meet for a weekend hen party – but any hopes of enjoying themselves are soon dashed
How Monte Carlo went to hell
I now find resorts more fun out of season. Civilised tourists are as rare as an intelligent Hollywood movie, so…
Scotland is open – and desperate for English tourists
Scotland is open – and desperate for English tourists
Mother Nature is giving us her middle finger
Gstaad I have never experienced such a long, continuous blizzard, and I’ve been coming here for 63 years. The ski…
I found a confused elderly man in my bedroom
There are several cave houses built into the cliff. Ours is the highest and can be reached only by a…
An elegy for Vienna
Vienna Somebody once described Vienna as a top opera performed by understudies. The remark was unquestionably witty, but utterly false…
How often has a general election been held on a Monday?
A Monday poll? The government was considering a general election on 14 October — a Monday. This raised eyebrows because…
The UK’s best beaches – according to Spectator writers
Tom HollandTrevone, Cornwall Pretty much every summer, my family and my cousins head for a farm in north Cornwall,…
How to be a tourist in Europe
Last week, I was in the Florence Baptistery by 8.30 a.m. That used to be early enough to avoid the…
The salty charms of Leigh-on-Sea
I have fallen in love with the c2c, a whisker of a train that is never delayed. It operates between…
Wild life
Laikipia Ripping up the black cotton soil on the farm’s high savannah I get a sense of what it must…
Low life
I got off the plane at Changi still pleasantly sedated by Xanax, passed through the ‘nothing to declare’ channel, and…
Dover
When people come to Dover, it’s usually to pass through. The magnificent castle on the cliffs may be a tourist…
High life
I’m in Venice for the film festival that just ended and, as an American humorist once wired his paper: ‘Streets…
Holidays with Hitler
We don’t usually think of Hitler’s hated henchman Heinrich Himmler, architect of the Holocaust of European Jewry, as a comic…
Exodus from Gambia
A ticket to paradise comes very cheap in Gambia — as long as you’re headed in the right direction. Thomas…
Warning: there’s a plague of fake blue plaques
One of the great distinctions and pleasures of British life has been devalued by cheap imitations
What on earth was the girl from Taiwan doing in my bedroom?
After a tense two week stand-off, the Balham Airbnb Crisis has been resolved. My upstairs neighbour and I have drawn…
I have seen the future of tourism, and it’s designed to keep you out
We’re going to ruin every perfect place – unless we find ways to reserve them for a fortunate few
The heart of Los Angeles feels like somewhere else entirely
There’s a certain kind of Englishman who falls hard for Los Angeles. Men such as Graham Nash, who swapped the…
The price of a cathedral – and how deans pay it
Deans are facing tough decisions to keep their beautiful buildings in good order
Courchevel – from pickled cockles to the height of luxury
The last time I stayed in Courchevel it was in a tatty roadside chalet a long way down the mountain.…
