A short hop from two major Latin cities lies the wee port town of Colonia del Sacramento. Just 2 hours from Montevideo (by car) and 1 hour from Buenos Aires (by ferry across the Rio de la Plata), it is easily accessible from these two compelling capitals. Colonia is a UNESCO World Heritage site and […]
Brazil is so darn gigantic that there are many ways to access the confusingly vast Amazon region. Of the four or five main entry points to reach this marvel of mother nature, the most popular one is Manaus. From here you can visit the Amazonas Opera House and take a seaplane to one of the great land-based lodges, like the Anavilhanas. […]
Remote jungle lodge… check. Modern design hotel… check. It takes a certain craziness to mix these two things, and a certain genius to do it as well as they have here at El Otro Lado (meaning the “The Other Side”), a superbly curated space in the Portobelo National Park on Panama’s Caribbean Coastline. At just 90 minutes […]
We have noticed here at Pig HQ that honeymoons seem to becoming more adventurous. While there are still plenty who enjoy an idyll in the Maldives, increasingly we are hearing from those seeking a heavy dose of thrill in with the honey. One such place that delivers this in spades is the wee Central American […]
Henry VIII seems to be endlessly fascinating; there is no shortage of books or programs about his reign and his many brides. Katherine Parr, the last of his six wives, is buried at Sudeley Castle & Gardens—the only private castle in England to have a queen entombed within its grounds. Today visitors can explore the […]
There are some images that simply stop you in your tracks. You gaze, mouth agape, head cocked to one side and perhaps squinting, with an “eh?” emerging from your dry mouth. This happens a lot in the weird and wonderful northwest corner of Argentina. In this particular instance, I found myself dumbstruck by the volcano […]
Ushuaia (pronounced: ush-why-er) is a bizarre town. It is the world’s most southerly city and by anyone’s standards should be a total backwater, lost in the annals of time and beaten into submission by the waters of the fierce Beagle Channel. Yet, it isn’t. In my mind, before visiting, I thought it would have perhaps […]
We’re all about island paradises here at Trufflepig; there is nothing more satisfying than leaving all the work and world behind and retreating to a remote, azure-water-surrounded island. You can feel the city’s slickness slipping away from you. You can feel those hunched shoulders drifting down and your breath becoming slower as you take in […]
I sometimes find it a little strange that graveyards are also tourist attractions. A place where we bury our dead is also, weirdly, a rather pleasant place to walk on a sunny Sunday afternoon. I guess death is very much a part of life, so why the hell not? Things can turn sinister when the […]
Want to visit the moon? Yup, it is a little far, and kinda pricey. We have a compromise, however, in the remote, seldom-visited, northwest corner of Argentina. The kick-off point is Salta, but this area could easily be accessed from Chile or Bolivia. Or by space-ship, for that matter, such is the landscape. This land […]
I like cities. I don’t like to leave them. Frankly, too much green and nature makes me slightly apprehensive. Wide open, verdant space may seem idyllic in many respects, true, but it can hide suspect hazards. Like bear traps. Or vicious moles. Or dogs off-the-leash intent on crotch investigation. A park, however, is acceptable; a […]
There is nothing quite like avoiding the multitudinous crowds when visiting a popular attraction. Something about being among a throng and herded around gets my goat. So it was with some delight that I recently visited the sanctified stones of Stonehenge for an hour with just nine others. There was no herding around, and you […]
There’s another big kid on the block in London’s ever-growing high-rise City. Officially known as 20 Fenchurch Street, unofficially and widely known as the “Walkie Talkie” due to its shape, the building is a gleaming edifice rising over lovely Leadenhall Market. The 37-storey building by world-renowned architect Rafeal Viñoly has a distinctive shape in that it widens […]
On a recent trip to Athens, we had the good fortune to book a tour through those lovely and wise folk at Context. Their learned docent Smaro met us at our wee boutique hotel, The O&B on the edge of the Plaka, where we ventured through lanes and flower-strewn alleys on a sun-dappled late autumnal afternoon (it seems […]
Kochi (or Cochin) is a wonderful coastal town in India’s colourful southern state of Kerala; a smiley, happy spot with rather lovely locals and some of the best curry this side of Manchester. It is a place to park your self for a wee while and soak in the local flavour, strolling the streets and […]
Mendoza’s wondrous wine region has much to recommend it: gorgeous towns with lovely, leafy plazas, marvellous Malbecs, delectable dining, and terrific places to stay. All this and we haven’t even mentioned the Andes, which stretch dramatically in the distance, an impressive backdrop and a useful orientation device. The Uco Valley in the Mendoza region has […]