Russia may rank among the top 15 countries by the number of World Heritage natural and cultural sites but tourism accounts for just three per cent of the gross domestic product. “The number of tourists coming to Russia fell last year by seven per cent to 2.1 million, whiles the number of Russians visiting foreign [...]
It would be a crime to come away from Bali without appreciating the ritual ceremonies of the Balinese and getting to know some of the age-old customs adhered to by this vibrant pinprick of humanity. Landing at Denpasar airport, visitors head for the beach resorts of Legian, Seminyak and Jimbaran Bay, which are full of [...]
Underground cities, labyrinthine rooms deep under the earth’s surface, secret palaces carved high into mountain sides…You read about them in fantasy tales, but these mystery places did exist hundreds of years ago and still stand in central Turkey’s Cappadocia city. The underground cities are believed to have sprung up around 2000 BC or even earlier, [...]
Of late, Egypt has been in news for all the wrong reasons. But it isn’t easy to ignore the art, architecture and history of the country. Here are some places that are a must in any itinerary. Pyramids of Giza, Sphinx and Cairo Museum: Any trip to Cairo is incomplete without a visit to the [...]
We are sitting at an outdoor table at the Jewish restaurant Ariel in the Jewish district of Krakow, Poland called Kazimierz. The witty waiter has worked on large cruise ships and regales us with stories of Indian guests on board. Inside the restaurant is a Fiddler On The Roof ambience with paintings of bearded rabbis [...]
Hong Kong is many things to different people. Some carve a space for themselves in its crowded tenements, and others take comfort in the transience it embodies; the moneyed elite tout its wide offering of high culture, while the cultured scoff at how shallow it is. Even as thousands join the world’s biggest domestic exodus [...]
When I was a child, my elder brother got me to believe that Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda were Punjabi swear words. Years later, when I became aware of these three countries lodged in the heart of Africa, the stories and articles spoke overwhelmingly of expulsions, genocides and violence. Travellers viewed them as tinder-boxes best given [...]
It’s early in the morning. The land, silent for hours has begun coming to life with the screeching of birds. As the spearing orange light from the rising sun slowly takes away the white mist shrouding the verdant surrounding, a soaring stepped pyramid, said to be the world’s largest Buddhist shrine, majestically unveils in front [...]
Over three hundred years ago, there was a place in Taipei, where trees did not grow and the earth boiled. The local aborigines called it Patauw — the home of the witches, a place of sorcery with a pungent smell and thick fumes in the air. The name morphed in to Beitou and today it [...]
The holiday season has come and gone, and with it the stress of ensuring everything runs smoothly. With the kids back in school, consider taking your own ‘reading week’ away from it all. To get you started, Travelocity.ca’s Brian Simpson provides his top five vacation getaway ideas for parents looking to take some time for [...]
