Recipefiesta

Islands and mainland towns south of Lefkada are perfect for a relaxed mooch between idyllic beaches and pretty port towns

There’s this place I know. It’s at the southern end of a flamingo-flanked canal winding through the wetlands that separate Lefkada from the Greek mainland. The canal is unremarkable, but bear with me. You cruise past the wading birds and the old guys fishing, through the channel markers, by a ruined Venetian fort. Look ahead, breathe it all in. This spot, for me, holds a promise of adventure.

To port are the Acarnanian Mountains, looking barren and beautiful. Before you, the Ionian islands are lush and green from winter rain, their edges white with sand and lapped by turquoise sea. The sailing here is forgiving: the conditions are moderate, there’s a reliable afternoon breeze, shelter is plentiful and the water is as clear as glass.

There’s joy to be found in the darkest winter months, and people living in cold places use a variety of rituals to celebrate the lack of light – and its eventual return

These long evenings at the year’s turn, when dusk seems to fall just after lunch, take me back to the extreme polar night I spent on a small, rocky island off the west coast of Greenland a few winters ago. The inhabitants of the Upernavik archipelago have no sight of the sun from late November to January. When I received the email inviting me to work in the artist’s “refuge” at the island museum – described as the most northerly in the world – I was offered a choice of summer or winter. “Contrary to the summertime,” wrote the museum director, “the darkness of the winter to many southerners seems like a terrible and nasty time lying in wait. But when one gets accustomed to the darkness it allows an interlude for thought that one usually lacks.”

It was true. As I acclimatised to the continuous darkness, I learned to appreciate the nuances of light: the clear constellations, the changing moon, or the lamps shining from my neighbour’s window. Other senses came to the fore. I heard the howls of sledge dogs echo from a distance, the crunch of a child’s feet in tiny snow boots. While the great icebergs on the horizon gleamed faintly in moonlight on their passage south, I experienced more intimate journeys in the shelter of my cabin and laid some old ghosts to rest.

We pick top sites in the French capital that show off the great engineer’s genius. And who knew that it’s thanks to him the Statue of Liberty didn’t fall into New York harbour?

Gustave Eiffel, who died 100 years ago today, is best known for Paris’s most famous landmark, the tower that bears his name. But over a long and prolific career, the Dijon-born civil engineer also built dams, bridges and lighthouses as far afield as Russia, Senegal, Vietnam and Brazil. He worked on an early attempt at building a Panama canal, and while there was charged with misuse of funds and imprisoned (though later acquitted).

Around Paris itself, Eiffel’s legacy extends to many surviving structures and artworks. And while none is as stunning as the tower, they show off the sheer, giddy breadth of Eiffel’s genius and impact. Here are some to look out for in the capital.

A new documentary, Wild Water, celebrates a hardy group of enthusiasts who hike up boglands to swim year-round in a remote mill pond built during the Industrial Revolution

Gaddings Dam was built as a mill pond in about 1833, when the Industrial Revolution positioned West Yorkshire and the north of England as the centre of the developed world’s cotton-spinning and weaving mills. It sits above the market town of Todmorden, out of sight on the moor of Langfield Common, with a sandy beach that claims to be the highest in England.

The Gaddings Dam Preservation Company bought the deeds to the reservoir in 2001 for £1,500, on the condition that it was preserved for the people of Todmorden. These days, with restricted access to water in lakes and reservoirs, Gaddings has become a much-valued and popular local swimming spot.

The Gaddings Dam Preservation Company bought the deeds to the reservoir in 2001 for £1,500 on the condition that it was preserved for the people of Todmorden

Which country drinks the most tea? Where did Rishi Sunak go on holiday? There’s a shipwreck on which national flag? Test your knowledge with our quiz for all travellers (including armchair ones)

1 Where did Rishi Sunak, below, go on his “first proper family holiday” for years this summer?

Holidays for skiers, hikers, skaters – and those who’d rather just relax in a luxury spa

​One of the most picturesque villages in the Tirol, Alpbach is not the place for a rip-roaring après ski scene, but its clutch of classic wooden chalet hotels, traditional stube restaurants and quiet bars make it a great choice for a restorative mountain break. Alongside the perfectly groomed pistes accessed by the Wiedersbergerhorn gondola, are easy snow-shoeing trails, a 7km toboggan run and torchlit hikes. Mountain huts dot the Alpbachtal-Wildschönau valley, serving käsespätzle (Tirolean macaroni cheese) and spiced gluhwein. Stay at the Post, a charming, family-run hotel in the heart of the village – and the best value in town.
Doubles from £138 B&B; hotel-post.co.at

Walk through a North Yorkshire spa town, then pop in to the Victorian baths before a pint and top-notch food at this festively renamed old pub

Few towns wear their Christmas ornaments with the charm and panache of Harrogate. Perhaps it’s the mass of wonderful gritstone buildings and all the Victorian shop windows that seem from a bygone age. My end point will be the Coach & Horses on West Park – which has changed its name to the Sleigh & Reindeers for the festive season.

I start at the railway station and head north, passing one of the country’s great cafes, Bettys. Peering inside I can see a dazzle of polished woodwork and brass, plus platoons of prim staff dressed as if to serve Charles Dickens with cakes that carry names like ginger tart and fat rascal. It always pains me to pass such treats, but it’s too early in the walk to stop.

It’s not only better weather that takes visitors south in winter, it’s also the quieter beaches, museums and restaurants. Our tipsters explore cities and towns from Porto to Athens

After some gentle winter sunshine to warm your skin and soothe your soul? Take a trip to Gozo, an island with wonderful coastal scenery a short ferry ride from Malta. Walk along the coast to admire the Azure Window; swim in untouched waters on secluded beaches and admire the neo-Romanesque architecture of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Ta’ Pinu. Spend the evenings eating freshly caught fish with a glass of Maltese wine, which rivals its Mediterranean neighbours in quality.
Laura B

The city’s Christmas markets and baroque architecture will revive even a flagging festive spirit, while its steampunk street art is an edgy pick-me-up

When I was eight, Christmas was ballistically exciting and worth dragging my parents out of bed at 4am for. Over my 32 years since, a combination of atheism, credit card bills and John Lewis-branded Venus flytrap monsters has made me more cynical than excitable about the holiday.

But I feel my humbug attitude slowly dissolve as I walk between the Christmas markets of Dresden, passing a man in an enormous polar bear costume by the grand baroque Frauenkirche building. Finnish Lapland may officially be Santa’s home, but Dresden, in the state of Saxony, southeast Germany, is for many Europe’s capital of Christmas, thanks to its huge network of outdoor Christmas markets.

A walk threading through the city follows in the footsteps of the Yorkist king vanquished in 1485, whose remains were found – beneath a car park – in 2012

Standing on a frozen ridge at Bosworth Field, my feeling is that there are certainly less attractive places to draw one’s last breath. On this frigid December afternoon, I’m looking out at a mist-shrouded hinterland of crisscrossing fields as a milky orange sun sinks behind a distant smudge of cloud. Somewhere out there on that bleak horizon in August 1485, King Richard III died a violent death, made all the more visceral by the gaudy array of spiked weapons hanging on a wall inside the nearby Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024.

It’s one of several upcoming anniversaries related to the last English king to die in battle, and the next morning I’m tackling the new King Richard III Walking Trail around the epicentre of Richard lore, Leicester. After the headline-grabbing discovery of Richard’s skeleton beneath a council car park in Greyfriars in August 2012, Leicester now seems entirely inseparable from the last Plantagenet king, as if a long-lost lover had returned in a blaze of glory after 500 years.

Our slow travel expert visits historic towns and a vast unexpected wilderness on a Dutch rail journey

There are train journeys where one just gazes at hills rolling by beyond the carriage window. I love such routes, be they in the Alps, Iberia or the Balkans. Things are different in the Netherlands, where pancake-flat landscapes dominate. Yet even in the flatlands there is often visual drama. The rail routes skirting Dutch heathlands around Apeldoorn are wonderful. And there is a subtle beauty, especially at low sun angles, to the secondary railways which follow the River IJssel downstream from Zutphen to Zwolle.

Zwolle makes a fine base for exploring the north-east Netherlands, all the more so if your budget extends to a night or two at the excellent Ter Borch in Zwolle (doubles from €175) right by the station. From Zwolle, one might strike north to Friesland or take the short branch line out to the pretty town of Kampen. Or explore the Netherlands’ newest mainline railway (completed in 2012), the Hanzelijn, which runs west from Zwolle through the province of Flevoland. The Hanzelijn opened in 2012 and traverses a land of far horizons, much of it below sea level. All thanks to the far-sighted ingenuity of engineer Cornelis Lely (1854-1929) and the hard work of Dutch dykers and drainers who have created an entire new province from the sea.

This corner of Ireland has been bucking the trend of rural decline for decades, and continues to draw in creative types in search of a more sustainable way of life

One summer, many years ago when I was 17, I met a Dutch girl in a pub who was backpacking around Ireland. She said she was staying in hostels and was off to Doolin in County Clare the next day. Somehow, I hadn’t realised it was that easy to strike out and see the world. The next morning I took the bus to Doolin and began a lifelong love of independent travel and the open road. I never saw the Dutch girl again despite a full search of every pub in the village.

North Clare and the Burren blew my 17-year-old mind. I still remember the extraordinary quality of the light as it burst through the tapestry of clouds looking out across the limestone fields to the Aran Islands. There’s an air about the place. The area attracted woolly hat-wearing traditional musicians and every village seemed to have a pottery studio. The next summer I got a job pulling pints in a hotel in Lisdoonvarna and days off were spent hitchhiking the backroads of the Burren, taking in the majesty of the rocky landscape.

Sandy beaches, glorious vistas and a bustling high street add to the charm of this pretty seaside town just half an hour from Edinburgh

The first surprise is that a half-hour trip by train from Edinburgh to North Berwick is really as far as you need to go for a taste of Scotland that is elemental and remote, a place of windswept beaches, stunning coastal walks and panoramic views. The West Coast and the Highlands may be more extreme, but then so is the journey to get there. This, by contrast, is an easier but no less enjoyable adventure.

We take a sleeper train from London’s Euston, tip out on to Edinburgh’s Waverley platform from our couchette, a little crumpled but refreshed. Checking in our luggage at the station, we give ourselves a couple of hours to wander along the Royal Mile, ending at the National Gallery where we lose ourselves in a maze of rooms, the standout being the death masks in the phrenology collection, including Voltaire and Keats; each eyelash and nose pore preserved in morbidly fascinating detail. After a delicious vegan breakfast in their café, we’re back on the train by midday.

Piedmont town near French border is now best budget ski resort in Europe for adults, figures show

The ski resorts of Bulgaria have long been seen as the best option for British skiers hoping to hit the slopes on a budget. Borovets and Bansko might not have the glitz of Verbier, the after-ski buzz of St Anton, or the picturesque villages of the Trois Vallées, but as the solid, wallet-friendly option, Bulgaria has been unbeatable for more than a decade.

All that has changed, however, with the Bulgarian resorts this year being eclipsed by an unlikely budget rival: Bardonecchia in Italy. The Piedmont town, 96km from Turin and a few minutes’ drive from the border with France, is now the best value ski resort in Europe for adults, according to research.

From a Finnish archipelago to a tranquil lake in Albania, our tipsters have unearthed beautiful beaches, lively cities and wild, atmospheric places

Fans of Finnish author Tove Jansson will love the idyllic Pellinki archipelago, where she spent her summers on a tiny island, Klovharun, described in several of her novels. About 50 miles east of Helsinki, Pellinki forms part of a group of islands, linked by bridges and a delightful ferry, which you can explore by boat, car, bicycle, bus or on foot. Walk through the woods to reach one of the quiet beaches, hire a boat to fish or just tootle around the beautiful bays and stay in a traditional, wooden cottage with a matching sauna set among the trees where the only sounds you’ll hear are birdsong and the gentle putter of a small boat passing by. Finnish people know a lot about the importance of connecting with nature and this is a place where you will quickly find yourself reflecting on what really matters in life.
Christine

Our slow travel expert checks out what’s new in the European train timetables unveiled this month

Warsaw has just moved closer to Munich, Berlin nudged towards Paris, and Aachen slipped nearer to Salzburg. These are just three examples of city pairs that are newly linked, as of this week, by direct night trains. None of these city pairs currently has direct daytime trains, so the overnight options create a web of opportunities. As always in December, rail operators across Europe are introducing new schedules, along the way creating tantalising links where none existed before.

In Britain the changes ushered in with the 2024 timetables are hardly dramatic; many services have just been tweaked by a minute or two here and there. There are extra trains on weekdays between Nottingham and Birmingham and some thinning out (yet again) of TransPennine Express schedules.

This newly-crowned Unesco City of Music in south-west France has historic and innovative cultural venues, and superb regional cuisine to boot

From rubbish comes rhythm, trash turned into tunes. At La Halle de la Machine in Toulouse, I watch Ignacio Herrero, one of La Halle’s staff members, make music out of recycled bits of junk.

This hangar-like space in the southern district of Montaudran is best known as the home for the giant animatronic Minotaur Asterion and its equally enormous spider companion Ariane. However, exhibits demonstrated by staff also include a makeshift orchestra: old klaxons turned into an organ, a huge pinwheel of abandoned guitars, a cascade of battered drum cymbals, an accordion powered by a contraption that in a previous life operated windscreen wipers. The ingenuity, innovation and whimsy of it all are enchanting – music and engineering harmoniously coming together in a way that would have had Heath Robinson bursting into song.

Would a stay in a remote off-grid cabin – with phones locked away – be respite from the madness of the Christmas season for this young family?

It was at the M6 toll plaza that I realised just how much I relied on my phone. An old-fashioned paper poster read: “No phone payments, card only.” I hadn’t used my physical bank card since before Covid. Cue me causing a major hold-up at the barrier, as I raced round to the car boot and rummaged through bags trying to find it.

I was on my way to try out a three-night “digital detox” in an off-grid cabin in the Cheshire countryside with my partner and three-year-old. The idea was to escape from the madness of the Christmas season. Unplugged has a selection of traditional, insulated cabins around the country, but until now they have been aimed at solo travellers or couples. After visitor feedback, though, this particular one (Luna, between the villages of Tarporley and Kelsall) had been enlarged with a single bed for a child.

Switzerland is not the most affordable place to ski, but the Jungfrau area – with super-fast pistes and long toboggan runs – is a happy exception

I’m a budget-conscious skier, so Switzerland is rarely on my radar. Sure, resorts such as St Moritz, Zermatt and Verbier are world-class, but I’ve always assumed they have sky-high prices to match. My last ski trip was to wallet-friendly Andorra. A quick check of the Post Office’s annual ski resort report confirmed my suspicions: Switzerland is consistently the priciest destination in Europe, while Bulgaria, Italy, Austria and Andorra offer more affordable skiing.

But then I heard about Interlaken. This lakeside town, better known as a summer destination, is the gateway to the Jungfrau ski region. It is a much cheaper place to stay than the region’s ski resorts, Wengen and Grindelwald. And, since December 2020, it has got a lot easier to reach the slopes from Interlaken. A short train ride from Interlaken Ost station connects with the shiny new Grindelwald Terminal building (where skiers can rent and store equipment). From here, it is just 15 minutes to the pistes on the new state-of-the art Eiger Express cable car – 47 minutes faster than before.

Twinkling lights, communal feasting and beer delivered by horse-drawn wagons bring festive cheer to the Danish capital

To be in Copenhagen in December is to experience truly exhilarating tastes of Christmas. The air is heavy with the scent of caramelised almonds that are sold in red and white striped paper bags, while stalls on the harbourside at Nyhavn are dispensing glögg, mulled wine with almonds and raisins. And there’s Julebryg, Tuborg’s Christmas beer, delivered to bars across Copenhagen by horse-drawn wagons.

Danes also head to their iconic amusement park Tivoli (tivoli.dk). In gardens created in 1834, you’ll find giant pirate ships, a Chinese pagoda and more than 1m glowing lamps. Denmark’s Queen Margrethe personally designs the costumes for the ballet performances that Tivoli holds each Christmas; this year it’s The Snow Queen, based on the fable by Hans Christian Andersen.

These epic winter rail trips are only the start of the adventure – taking you to small ski resorts, mighty fjords and romantic cities

Listed as a Unesco world heritage site since 2008, the Bernina line is one of the highest railways in the Alps, promising four hours of panoramic views from its glass-domed carriages: frozen lakes, rivers crashing down canyons and forests heavy with snow.

Share details of a winter walk in the UK – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break

It may be tempting to hide indoors in the darker months – but there’s nothing like a stomp in the great outdoors to blow away the cobwebs. So we want to know about your favourite places in the UK for an atmospheric winter stroll. Whether it’s a bracing coastal hike, through woods sparkling with frost, over snowy mountains or a ramble to a lovely village pub, tell us what you love and why to win a holiday voucher.

If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words that will be judged for the competition.

A week conquering a new winter sport across three magical mountain ranges is both challenging and exhilarating – with hot springs and hikes providing the icing on the cake

‘You lift one foot and you put it down,” says Alf, my guide. “Then you lift the other foot and you put it down.” For the newbies in our group – me included – these simple instructions are reassuring. At least snowshoeing has no complex manoeuvres to master; no vertical take-off, double-twist snowplough, or whatever it is that skiers get up to. You just strap on your strange footwear and walk. Phew.

The strapping on part has its challenges, though. As I crouch in a squall of windblown snow, my gloved fingers struggle to adjust the ratchet clasps. And when I finally get to my feet, I tread with one snowshoe on the rim of another and immediately hit the deck again. Alf hands me my poles. “Better not use the loops,” he says. “You might break your wrist.”

Boats, trains and buses lead to a hauntingly beautiful side of the Lake District, bursting with wildlife, culture and relics of the past. While dark-sky canoeing makes for a magical night

The ripples are deep gold in the sunset light as we paddle across Coniston Water towards Wild Cat Island. Officially known as Peel Island, this is where the children camp in Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons. The canoe glides between rocks into the hidden harbour with its pebbly beach, and we climb, excited as kids, up through bronze-leaved oaks and tall pines to explore the clifftop clearings.

This morning, I took several trains and a bus, each journey more lovely than the one before, to reach Coniston in the Lake District. Tomorrow I’ll catch a boat to visit Brantwood, once home to the Victorian writer and artist John Ruskin. A champion of art and nature and an early observer of the damage that human activities were doing to the environment, Ruskin might not have approved of all my transport choices. He loved boats, but saw railways as part of industrialisation’s “frenzy of avarice” and complained, with characteristic paternalism, about the “stupid herds of modern tourists” who “let themselves be emptied, like coals from a sack, at Windermere …” Ruskin, writing before cars swarmed across the landscape, recommends hiring “a chaise and pony for a day”.