The traffic in all three lanes of the main highway was stationary as we sat in our rented car, travelling from San José – Costa Rica's capital – to Monteverde. It was November, the last month of the rainy season, but it was still hot. The road journey is supposed to take two-and-a-half hours, but it was more like three-and-a-half on both the outwar...

The lights of Costa Rica's capital, San José, appeared below us in sharp contrast to the darkness of the Central American jungles we had been flying over, as our plane descended into Juan Santamaria International Airport. The five-hour flight from Los Angeles via Guatemala City last November heralded our first visit to Costa Rica's capital, an...

Luxury travel company andBeyond is set to launch its first lodge in Asia, with andBeyond Punakha River Lodge scheduled to open in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan in September 2023. Situated on the banks of the Mo Chu River in the Punakha Valley, the lodge will feature six tented suites, as well as a two-bedroom villa with a private pool and a one-b...

Known throughout the world for its fine ceramics, the Dutch city of Delft also has close ties with the Royal House of Orange and it was the home of Baroque period painter and "Master of Light", Johannes Vermeer, for his entire life. Born in 1632, Vermeer began his career in the early 1650s by painting large-scale biblical and mythological scenes, b...

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is expected to reopen for visitors and worshippers at the end of 2024, more than five years after the devastating fire that tore through the roof of the building in April 2019. The restoration project is currently on track to meet the reopening deadline of December 2024 set by French President Emmanuel Macron just afte...

A boat ride along the Mekong River is one of the highlights of a trip to Vietnam and can be combined with a visit to the unique floating markets. Cai Rang is the largest floating market in the Mekong Delta and is located about six kilometres from the town of Can Tho. You can reach the market by boat from Ninh Kieu Wharf in Can Tho and it takes abou...