I freely admit that one of my favourite pastimes when travelling is people – watching and it doesn’t get much better than during a day trip to Monte Carlo. When you happen to be anywhere on the French Cote d’Azur you should not miss out on this European day trip. Contrary to common belief, it [...]

Some months ago my French neighbours, who have never been outside of France before and do not speak a word of English, asked me if I would take them to London. Of course I would, not realising that passports needed to be applied for before any Europe travel planning could be done. Once all official [...]

Austria is a great destination for Summer holidays and Austria Tourism has just released some videos presented by travel writer and broadcaster Matt Carroll, as part of the Hidden Treasures promotion. Most people associate Summer holidays in Austria with hiking but there are plenty of other activities on offer too.  Our recent Europe travel tip [...]

With the Royal Wedding between Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling just having wrapped up here in Stockholm, I spent the day with some of my visiting family out at Drottningholm Palace. There are plenty of ways to get to the palace from Stockholm, but the boat trip is by far the most scenic.  Boats [...]

I’m afraid to say that my usual opinion about the German city of Frankfurt is that it’s a place you can’t really avoid if you’re flying in to Germany from outside Europe, but beyond that there’s nothing too special about it. That’s why I was surprised the other day to see that a touring art [...]

Visiting Switzerland is a dream come true! Getting a chance to mingle and become one with the nature – streams, mountains, lakes, woods – each moment there has to be savored. If you are really thinking of spending your vacation in the heart of Switzerland amidst the Alps,  then Oberried am Brienzersee near Interlaken is  my recommendation. This [...]

The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park is a popular London attraction. I’m not sure that I’d describe it as a fountain, it’s more like a very solid oval channel, which at first sight looks as if it’s constructed from concrete, when in fact it’s made of Cornish granite. It lies on [...]

I stayed at the 4 star Pestana Chelsea Bridge Hotel for 2 nights in June 2010 on a complimentary basis arranged by lastminute.com.  The hotel opened recently and is located a few hundred metres from the Battersea side of Chelsea Bridge, opposite Battersea Park.  It takes around 20 minutes to walk to the hotel from [...]

I spent 5 days in London in June 2010.  Before my trip  I asked for tips on things to do in London, on Twitter and Facebook, as well as the Europe a la Carte Blog, to help plan my London sightseeing itinerary.  Below are the London travel tips I received, plus some from me. The [...]

I stayed at the 5 star Langham Hotel for one night in June 2010, on a complimentary basis arranged by the hotel recommendation engine site Gekko.  The hotel is located a 10 minute walk from Oxford Circus and a 15 minute walk from Regents Park.  The Langham was the first grand hotel to be built [...]