Cultural

Many a travel destination has a reputation written into popular perception in indelible ink. And perhaps nowhere more so than the Canary Islands. This much-loved Atlantic archipelago – with the biggest member of the group, Tenerife, sitting at its heart – renowned as a haven of winter sunshine, basking in temperatures which hover at around the 20C mark just as continental Europe is coping with the worst weather.

Follow in the footsteps of Bob Marley (and Winston Churchill, James Bond and Noel Coward too) and wing your way to Jamaica, to enjoy marvellous music, fabulous food, wonderful watersports and beautiful beaches.  No matter what you like best about the Caribbean, you are likely to find it in Jamaica. This former’ Spanish, then British, colony is not only one of the largest islands (there is 4,000 square miles of it) but one of the most diverse and without doubt one of the liveliest. Few would dispute that Jamaica is also one of the most attractive of the Caribbean Islands.

Northern Ireland is full of striking landscapes and rich farmland. Its people are no less unique: hospitable, laid-back, the perfect hosts. What’s more, Belfast and the Causeway Coastal Route were voted best in Travel 2018 by Lonely Planet.

San Francisco is a city with an abundance of historic charms. The Golden Gate Bridge, steep streets lined with colourful Victorian-era homes and the city’s iconic cable cars are a powerful reminder that you’re in one of the most culturally important cities in the USA.

Foodie focus

In addition to this city’s rich heritage, the Northern Californian metropolis continues to innovate and inspire, with a pioneering farm-to-table restaurant scene, legendary covered food market and all-compassing eco vibe.

Take in the scents of tulips as you fly over colourful flower fields; gaze at historic heritages that reveal magnificent stories; feel the wind in your hair as you glide over water-wonderful landscapes that show the eternal Dutch struggle with water: you will feel as free as a bird at THIS IS HOLLAND. This brand-new experience in the Northern heart of Amsterdam utilises state of the art technology to take you on a unique journey across history, the present, but above all the beauty of the Netherlands.

New England looms large in the imagination of many travellers to America’s east coast. It bringing to mind pristine Ivy League college towns, the preppy sailing clubs of fashion photo shoots, shucked oysters from quaint shacks, awe-inspiring mountains and auburn-hued forest. Yet it’s possible to combine all the majesty of the mountains and idyllic beaches with breaks to two of America’s most captivating cities: New York and Boston.  Why settle for one city, when you can see New York and Boston in one visit?

With the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death last year, interest in one of her most frequent haunts, the spa city of Bath, was rekindled. With attractive Regency architecture at every turn, genteel tea rooms aplenty and the centrally located Jane Austen Centre, it's the perfect place to indulge in one's inner Mr Darcy/Lizzy Bennet fantasies. But this is a tale of three cities: the Georgian masterpiece, the Ancient Roman retreat and the trendy, modern city. A weekend break means you can take in all three sides.

In Mexico you discover new worlds through timeless connections.  There are cities here that haven't been populated in over thousand years, and yet when you visit you come to know the people who lived there, from their art, their hopes for corn and rain, their plans for harvests and burials.  There are Colonial centers where you can trace globalization from Persia to Arabia to Africa to Spain in the arabesque of a balcony, the pomegranates in a sauce, the gold lavished on a church.  But these cities are showcases of the New World: its native craftspeople and farmers, its unfathomable wealth, its artists who decorated alters with angels as their forebears had with feathered gods.  The heritage sites of Mexico tells a story; come, let us share them with you.

Being driven around the bustling, cobbled streets of Havana in an ancient, but beautifully preserved 1950s Cadillac, Chevrolet or Oldsmobile, you feel like you have entered a different era.  It’s not just the unusual combination of grey Soviet-era brutalist architecture juxtaposed with gems such as the Gran Teatro (lit up at night it is a marvel).

CUBA is one of the world’s fastest growing tourist destinations – and with its diverse mix of vibrant urban nightlife, relaxing beaches and spectacular natural vistas, it’s not difficult to see why.  The country is attracting more visitors than ever before and even the Kardashians gave the island (the largest in the Caribbean) their seal of approval when they drove around capital Havana in a hot pink convertible Cadillac. Havana, the countries capital, with a population of two million,  recently got its first luxury hotel, the Grans Hotel Manzana Kempinski, which occupies an entire city block.