Google “Norte Sur” and you get a subtitled Patrick Swayze pressing himself against the heaving bosom of Lesley-Anne Down in “North & South”, a very missable period drama. I hope this post launches Norte Sur, the distinctly unmissable Madrid tapas bar, to pole position where it belongs. This is a bar where the Spanish interior […]

Lalbenque is no ordinary little French village. Squirreled away in the hillsides of an empty part of the Lot department, it’s also the world capital of the black truffle, and its winter truffle market has to be seen to be believed. Everything about the market is odd: the produce, the prices, the people, but most of all […]

At the two opposite extremes of Burgundy are the best two chateau hotels in France: Chateau de Bagnols in the Beaujolais, and Chateau de Vault de Lugny in the Morvan. Sandwich your wine-drinking time in the Côte d’Or with a stay in each for a truly rich time (in every sense). These are two truly […]

Thanks to a splendidly mis-spent youth, I am addicted to hiking on Mediterranean islands. There are islands to party on, and islands with beaches; islands for honeymooners and islands with Greek temples. Here are some islands that are just great for taking a stroll. First up, in Greece—the tiny island of Symi in the Dodecanese. […]

After a steady 10 year relationship with Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, I cheated and had a torrid affair with the Maconnais. I have no regrets at all. Normally you’d consider it bad wine-making luck to grow up in the awesome shadow cast by Burgundy’s Côte d’Or; but this is the only reason I can think of […]

Corsica is in a sense France at its finest, although that phrase would no doubt make any self-respecting Corsican pull out his vendetta knife and stick you like a wild mountain pig. The Corsicans view themselves as an entirely different (and superior) people from the French, and are famously and fiercely independent. It’s more or […]

Sometimes when I’m hungry and wondering what restaurant will suit for the evening, I don’t go to a restaurant. I go to a Cave. A favourite blog tells me that everything cool in Paris was made popular by Americans and is mostly manufactured by the Chinese. That really made me laugh. But while it may hold true […]

‘The Pic du Canigou is my Eiffel Tower’, a winemaker in Roussillon told me; it overlooks the whole scene like the beacon of French Catalunia. The slopes and valleys around this famous Pyrenean peak make up one of my favourite areas in France to explore. And that’s saying something. The best time to pop down […]

Forget the crumbling ruins of Ancient Greece. Modern Greece is alive and kicking at the all-night-long bouzoukia. A night out at a Greek bouzoukia is like a high-decibel mixture of ‘Zorba the Greek’, ‘Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat’ and a gun-fight at a carnation farm. Sound horrible? Just try not to enjoy yourself… A bouzouki is the name of […]

What qualities are hardest to find in Parisian restaurants? Reasonable prices. Service with a smile. Flexible opening hours. Chez Casimir has them all—and they serve brunch! You’ll think you’re in America. Until you taste the food, that is. Vive la France! In fact I’m talking about two places: the side-by-side Chez Michel and Chez Casimir, […]

You’d have to be a real stick in the mud not to enjoy a weekend in one of Un Lit Au Pré’s safari-style tents, pitched uniquely in selected organic farms around the UK, France and Holland. Known as Feather Down Farms in the UK, this is a company that has the art of roughing it […]

Christian Constant is to bistro cooking what James Brown is to soul. Trace the lineage of his sous-chefs and their sous-chefs from his time as chef at the Hotel Crillon, and you’ll find all the best 40 EUR meals in Paris, scattered around in some of the most unlikely places. If things go well, I’m […]

Deyrolle is Paris’ famous taxidermy shop, where luminescent green Polynesian butterflies line the walls and stare down on stuffed jaguars and polar bears (all of which are for sale). And it famously burned down in February 2008. Thanks to a public auction and a very wealthy owner, but mostly due to the fact that the shop is as dear […]

It turns out billionaires haven’t changed that much. I’m 24 years old, I’m richer than God and I want a massive house. François 1er’s Chateau de Chambord in the Loire Valley is as Californian as architectural folly gets. The guide books will tell you otherwise, but if you really want to understand the chateaux of […]

Some of the best themes for trips come from our clients. Case in point, one of our favourite expeditions we worked on recently was set in the teeming streets of the UK capital for some history buff clients of ours. These particular clients are seriously interested in the great Henry VIII and we wanted to […]

One of the things I love about Paris is that it simultaneously manages to be both conspicuous and coy. In a sense, it’s the world’s most obvious place—glaringly gorgeous and positively popping out of its Haussmannian dress. And yet, it’s a city that keeps plenty secret, holding you slightly at bay which, of course, keeps […]