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City Slicker in Quito

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:54 GMT

WHY VISIT?

When East met West: How Germany became one

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:53 GMT

AFrench writer once mused, "Germany? Ah yes ..." before adding, with all the catty wit at which his compatriots excel, "... I love Germany so much, that I'm delighted there are two of them." And in the immediate aftermath of a war, inspired by Germany, that had left a continent in rubble, anyone who didn't happen to be German almost certainly agreed.

Stay the night: Le Gray, Beirut

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Le Gray has finally opened in Beirut – one of the most eagerly and long-awaited hotel openings of the year. It's been an uphill struggle for hotelier Gordon Campbell Gray, hampered by civil unrest and two wars. "Everyone was really weary after the Israeli attacks two summers ago," he says. "But we refused to let it throw us off course and bashed on."

Finding peace and quiet on Phuket

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Ronnie, my four-year-old son, is confused. "Why is there a tree growing in our house?" he asks, pointing to the thick trunk reaching up and out of the bathroom ceiling through a carefully crafted hole. It's a good point, but we've just arrived at our villa in Sri Panwa, on the south-east tip of Phuket in Thailand, after a 14-hour journey with two small children and, feeling slightly frazzled, an intelligent response escapes me.

Consumer rights: Holiday insurer's small print left my sister out of pocket

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Q. My sister paid £74.79 for travel insurance for a trip around Europe. After leaving Budapest, all her travel documents (InterRail ticket, passport, health card etc), as well as cards, money, and photo cards were stolen and she was stranded. Her travelling companion lent her money to get back to Budapest to get a report from the police and to go to the consulate about her passport. She stayed there until a new passport was issued.

Snow report: 08/11/09

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

When belief in climate change hit the media's "tipping point" two years ago, a couple of examples of evidence were cited. First, an international report which announced snow levels in the Alps were set to rise, with Kitzbühel, as a low ski area, the highest-profile victim. Second, the small French resort of Abondance, said it would not open for the 2008-2009 season, which the Associated Press seized on as proof it was a climate-change victim.

Tips and deals: 08/11/2009

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The guide

Make recharging your body a breeze in the Canary Islands

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:59 GMT

You'd think the year-round sunshine and the fresh sea breezes of the Canary Islands would be enough for anyone feeling the need of some holiday pampering. But then why leave anything to chance? For a full body recharge, you may well require the attentive services and luxurious surroundings of a spa resort – and here Gran Canaria is ideally placed.

The culinary delights of La Gomera

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:54 GMT

Talk of different regional cuisines sounds out of place on an island 15 miles wide but, as I coaxed my hesitant little rental car around the precipitous hairpin bends that separate the dusty sun-baked coast from misty interior forests, it quickly became apparent that La Gomera varies wildly over a small area. Island gastronomy mirrors the geography and the rugged remoteness also tends to keep everything firmly off the beaten track and old-fashioned. But in the context of today's trend for simple, fresh, local, organic and free-range food, things have travelled full-circle, with island cookery now highly fashionable.

A tradition of wellness on the islands

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:47 GMT

The long menu of options at the luxurious Mare Nostrum Spa in Tenerife includes hydrotherapy, aromatherapy and chocolate therapy. How very modern, you might think. After all, we're living in a time when no major hotel worth its Dead Sea salt seems complete without some kind of treatment centre. Don't be fooled into thinking that this penchant for pampering is a newfangled fad, though. In the Canaries, wellness tourism is as old as tourism itself.

A wealth of cultural history to be uncovered in the islands

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:40 GMT

Visit Candelaria on the east coast of Tenerife and you may run into a posse of tough-looking men, stripped to the waist and armed to the teeth. Happily, they're harmless. Cast in bronze, they're big statues of the Menceys – warrior chiefs who ruled the island's earliest known inhabitants, the Guanches.

Take in the Canary Islands' spectacular scenery

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:31 GMT

Aren't the Canaries better known for their beaches?

Certainly, but the islands also have some strikingly beautiful inland scenery – and more and more visitors are cottoning on. For the energetic, it's all about enjoying the great outdoors; others just love the idea of sampling a simple, peaceful alternative to the bright lights of the resorts.

Find real serenity in Gran Canaria

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:20 GMT

As mountaineering triumphs go, it was a decidedly minor one. I didn't need crampons for the ascent to the base of Roque Nublo; just a hire car, a good pair of trainers, and a bottle of water. The 64-metre basalt sentinel rises to 1,813m above sea level and is considered something of a symbol of Gran Canaria, not least because on much of the island you only have to look up to see it – it's clearly visible from as far away as the beach at Maspalomas, an hour or so to the south.

Simon Calder: Why Walsh is turning to Spain to relieve BA's pain

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

"We'll take more care of you," the British Airways slogan used to run. "Fly the flag." These days, within Europe, many more of us fly the harp (Ryanair) or the orange splodge (easyJet). BA's chief executive, Willie Walsh, has many burdens to shoulder, from strike-prone cabin crew to a ballooning pension deficit. But at the core of BA's startling loss of £16.50 for every passenger it carried during the summer is the traveller's changing perception of value.

Travel Agenda: Vinopolis; Zambezi Queen; Lumiere festival; Mandarin Oriental

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Today: For the Caribbean closer to home, make for Vinopolis in London, where the Caribbean Tourism Organisation is hosting a showcase with food, music, drinks and an appearance by Levi Roots (caribbean.co.uk).

Travel challenge: A New Year trip to Malaysia

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Every week we invite competing companies to give us their best deal for a specified holiday. Today: a two-week holiday in Malaysia over New Year. Prices are for two people travelling together and include flights from Heathrow on Malaysia Airlines, transfers and 14 nights' accommodation.

Something To Declare: Puerto Rico; Qatar for football fans; cheap trains in Scotland; Wall fall in London

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Simon Calder: No car trouble in the land of the Autobahn

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

By Monday evening, you'll be fed up with people telling you where they were on 9 November 1989, the night the people of East Germany were finally allowed to travel to the West. So instead, let me tell you where I was on 10 November 1989: at the West German ambassador's residence in London's Belgrave Square.

My Life In Travel: Frank Gardner

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Frank Gardner is the BBC's security correspondent and is speaking today at The Luxury Travel Fair at Kensington Olympia, London. Tickets from 15 (luxurytravelfair.com).

A natural wander: Discovers the delights of Cape Town's Disa Gorge trail

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

I thought I knew Table Mountain. After five years as a foreign correspondent in South Africa, I thought I had rambled and scrambled over pretty much all of this rocky wilderness half a mile in the sky above Cape Town. Then a friend said: "Ah, but you haven't been up Disa Gorge. You've missed the best bit."

Something To Declare: Puerto Rico; Qatar for football fans; cheap trains in Scotland; Wall fall in London

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Puerto Rico

My Life In Travel: Frank Gardner

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Frank Gardner is the BBC's security correspondent and is speaking today at The Luxury Travel Fair at Kensington Olympia, London. Tickets from 15 (luxurytravelfair.com).

Writer's bloc: Simon Calder returns to East Germany

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

For a citizen of one of the most ludicrous nations ever invented East Germany there was one sure way to get across the fearsome frontier dividing the German Democratic Republic from West Germany: die.

A natural wander: Discovers the delights of Cape Town's Disa Gorge trail

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Traveller's Guide To: Lapland

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Christmas is coming and I want to see Santa