Travel

Rooms with a view. A hotel is a hotel is a hotel? Not in this collection of 100 heavenly hideaways. When travelling for business, (read more)

Rooms with a view. A hotel is a hotel is a hotel? Not in this collection of 100 heavenly hideaways. When travelling for business, modern man and woman often prefer hotel rooms of the same type in London, Paris, or Shanghai.

It's just more convenient. A different set of rules applies when they search for a place to celebrate a special family holiday, a weekend with a new lover, or a few days of blissful solitude with some great books. Suddenly a balcony with postcard-worthy views counts more than the number of TV channels, a sumptuous bed with a heavenly mattress and hand-ironed linens more than Wi-Fi connection in every nook and cranny of the hotel building.

That's where this new Taschen collection comes in. A compilation of 100 hotels on all continents, in countries from Argentina to Vietnam, the two volumes make it a breeze to choose where to relax next. The gamut runs from dream castles like Villa Feltrinelli on Lake Garda (right) to the glass-fronted hipster chic of Juvet Hotel in Norway; from Mediterranean pensiones with nostalgic flair and moderate rates to the pricy-yet-worthy desert glamour of Amangiri resort in Utah's canyon county (top). (hide)

For centuries a great variety of immigrants and visitors have come to the Rio de la Plata, making it one of the most diverse and (read more)

For centuries a great variety of immigrants and visitors have come to the Rio de la Plata, making it one of the most diverse and contradictory cities in the world. Dictatorship and protest, wealth and crisis, street art and opera, shopping malls and autonomous groups: the capital of Argentina is a never-ending journey of historical and cultural discovery, much more than tango, football and beefsteak. A floating supermarket, a secret tunnel, a monument to Red Riding Hood and an emerging vegan subculture - in this book Buenos Aires will surprise you 111 times over.

Published:27 Jun 2018 (hide)

ith its picturesque villages and ports, sandy and rocky beaches, and its impressive ancient buildings, Malta offers a wonderful variety (read more)

ith its picturesque villages and ports, sandy and rocky beaches, and its impressive ancient buildings, Malta offers a wonderful variety of experiences in deceptively small spaces. The main island of the Maltese archipelago, Malta is the economic and administrative hub of the island group. It is known for its crystal clear seas and hours and hours of sunshine.

Its 7,000-year history of shifting between East and West has made Malta a very unique nation in the Mediterranean. Whether you are a visitor or a long-term resident, 111 Places in Malta That You Shouldn't Miss will take you exploring through Malta's historic secrets and little known nooks.

Published:27 Jun 2018

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If you've ever dreamed of completing an epic car journey, The 50 Greatest Road Trips is for you. Packed full of the most exotic, (read more)

If you've ever dreamed of completing an epic car journey, The 50 Greatest Road Trips is for you. Packed full of the most exotic, exciting and iconic road trips across the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa, it showcases the ultimate in car adventures. Sarah Woods is a veteran of road-tripping, having driven the iconic 19,000-mile route from North America to South America's tip, completed several dusty voyages in the Australian outback and scaled towering Saharan sand dunes in a 4x4.

Readers are sure to feel the urge to climb into an old Chevrolet, crank up the tunes on the stereo, flick the sunroof open and settle back for one heck of a ride on the open road ...

Pub Date:07/07/2016 (hide)

Acclaimed travel writer Anthony Lambert presents his selection of train journeys with real character, sublime scenery, a sense of (read more)

Acclaimed travel writer Anthony Lambert presents his selection of train journeys with real character, sublime scenery, a sense of history, a well-appointed train, or even the opportunity to enjoy a meal with proper napery, silver and glass...Some journeys are well-known, such as the Glacier or Orient Expresses, which combine glamour, outstanding cuisine and service and colourful history. Others less so: the train from Inverness to -Wick and Thurso traverses some of the wildest country in Britain; or the coast-to-coast journey through the chestnut- and pine-clad mountains of Corsica, crossing one of Gustave Eiffel's glorious viaducts of gossamer steel. From the modest line through North Yorkshire's Esk Valley to the Trans-Siberian; from a narrow-gauge web of lines in the Harz Mountains to the train that crosses Australia's barren Nullarbor Plain in a dead-straight 478km, Lambert's is an unmissable selection for any lover of travel that is as delightful as the destination. Pub Date:05/05/2016 (hide)

The 500 Hidden Secrets of Berlin is the perfect book for those who wish to discover the city, but avoid all the usual tourist haunts, (read more)

The 500 Hidden Secrets of Berlin is the perfect book for those who wish to discover the city, but avoid all the usual tourist haunts, as well as for residents who are keen to track down the city's best-kept secrets. In The 500 Hidden Secrets of Berlin Nathalie Dewalhens shares 500 must-know addresses in the German capital, like the unexpected authentic coffee bar around the corner of Checkpoint Charlie, or the apartment where David Bowie stayed when he composed some of his best songs. And how about a cool little restaurant serving hotdogs with a Japanese twist? Or set out to discover the boutique of an unconventional fashion designer with Iranian roots, or a peaceful lake outside the city, where you can enjoy a drink sitting on the wooden boardwalk, or a hip food market on the banks of the Spree? Berlin has so much to offer, and this guide will help you decide where to begin. (hide)

A Singapore-born young colonial Dutch boy, whose father suffered and died as a Japanese prisoner of war building a railway in Sumatra, (read more)

A Singapore-born young colonial Dutch boy, whose father suffered and died as a Japanese prisoner of war building a railway in Sumatra, escaped from Java with his mother and arrived as a refugee in Australia in 1942. Educated by Jesuits and then at the University of Western Australia and at Oxford, he had a career with ICI initially as an engineer, ending in 1993 following senior executive and Board roles in Australia, England, Canada and finally in the United States. His life from childhood in European colonies in Asia, spanned major changes in technology and the chemical industry.

With his wife and seven children, he experienced and adjusted to a wide range of cultures and societies. During the twenty years of retirement in Melbourne, he has been active in mental health research at the University of Melbourne, Newman College, in support of palliative care, homelessness and refugees - the latter being where his story began.

Published on 31/10/2016 (hide)

Over the summer of 2011, Dervla Murphy spent a month in the Gaza Strip. She met liberals and Islamists, Hamas and Fatah supporters, (read more)

Over the summer of 2011, Dervla Murphy spent a month in the Gaza Strip. She met liberals and Islamists, Hamas and Fatah supporters, rich and poor. Used to western reporters dashing in and out of the Strip in times of crisis, the people she met were touched by her genuine, unflinching interest and spoke openly to her about life in their open-air prison.

What she finds are a people who, far from the story we are so often fed, overwhelmingly long for peace and an end to the violence that has so grossly distorted their lives. The impression we take away from the book is of a people whose real, complex, nuanced voice has rarely been heard before. A MONTH BY THE SEA gives unique insight into the way in which isolation has shaped this society: how it radicalises young men and plays into the hands of dominating patriarchs, yet also how it hardens determination not to give in and turns family into a towering source of support.

Amazon UK comparison price - £12.08 (plus any postage cost). (hide)

If you had to pick two things you wanted - if you had to - what would you pick?' I hesitated. This was a bigger question than usually (read more)

If you had to pick two things you wanted - if you had to - what would you pick?' I hesitated. This was a bigger question than usually got asked at these post-match debriefs. 'I suppose the honest answer would be,' I said, still accessing the last pieces of required data from a jumbled mind, 'meeting my soul mate, and finding an idyllic house abroad somewhere.' Inspired by breathtaking views and romantic dreams of finding love in the mountains, Tony Hawks impulsively buys a house in the French Pyrenees.

Here, he plans to finally fulfil his childhood fantasy of mastering the piano, untroubled by the problems of the world. In reality, the chaotic story of Tony's hopelessly ill-conceived house purchase reads like the definitive guide to how not to buy a house in France. It finds him flirting with the removal business in a disastrous attempt to transport his piano to France in a dodgy white van; foolishly electing to build a swimming pool himself; and expanding his relationship repertoire when he starts co-habiting, not with an exquisite French beauty, but with a middle-aged builder from West London. (hide)

Mont Blanc, or 'Il Bianco' as it is sometimes known as in Italy; The White One. It sits, regally, upon pleated glacial folds gathered (read more)

Mont Blanc, or 'Il Bianco' as it is sometimes known as in Italy; The White One. It sits, regally, upon pleated glacial folds gathered together around a timeless, grey-rock body, high above the French town of Chamonix, lord of all that it surveys. It beguiles, bewitches and charms the lesser folk who seek to frolic and play amongst the buttressed foothills of its ancient frame, but exudes also a sense of foreboding; a warning to the one hundred or so climbers that die each year attempting to reach the gleaming, domed summit of this great snow-encrusted mountain.

Framed by the cobalt blue sky and golden alpine sun, Western Europe's highest mountain has held a certain allure over explorers and hikers for centuries, playing host to the likes of Hannibal, Napoleon and the early pioneers of alpine exploration. In a muddy field somewhere in Cornwall on New Year's Day, two men make a pact to tackle it. Call it a mid-life crisis, with not only his daughter about to leave for university but also the rapidly approaching prospect of his fiftieth birthday to consider: walking 170 kilometres across a mountain range seems the perfect antidote. (hide)