Travel

A European air fare war is looming after Ryanair said it is to cut prices by seven per cent this year. Intensifying competition from air lines such as Transavia, Eurowings, Wizz and WOW air has forced the hand of Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary, who said: "If there is a fare war in Europe, then Ryanair will be the winner". The cuts come after full year net profits fell short of analyst forecasts, with disruption following the Brussels terror attacks taking its toll. First quarter profits...

For a reason unbeknownst to us, Portugal is a hotbed for spa hotels. Probably more than any country in Europe per capita, there are swathes of luxury retreats with promises of R'n'R, coming away a new person, and stepping away from the hustle and bustle of the world. We want all of that. To our room, please. Having last year holidayed in the Portuguese beach town of Cascais, where the sky was cloudless, the veggie food was terrible and the...

Thousands of people turned out to watch the Antonov An-225 Mriya, the World's largest plane, land in Perth this weekend. The 84 metre-long plane was transporting a 117-tonne generator from Prague to the Western coast of Australia with stops in the Middle East and Asia on the way. Plane enthusiasts turned out in their droves to watch its arrival, with roads blocked due to crowding. Watch the landing below:

Have you ever flown in to Gatwick on a clear day and felt rather more upbeat at the prospect of returning to the UK than you might flying over, let’s say, the built-up residential sprawl that lays beneath the approach to Heathrow or City? Well, that’s because this small corner of Sussex is really rather wonderful. Half an hour out of London on a good run, Gatwick is not only a quick and convenient escape to Europe but also an...

You know where you want to go on holiday, but you don’t know what to do when you get there? That is a familiar feeling for most of us seeking to get the most out of our limited time away. Buying a rough guide may help, but surely a smooth guide on the ground who has known the area all their life is what you really need. There is nothing worse than visiting a place and finding out when you...

A city with a cuisine unlike any other.

As the meeting point between the cultures and climates of the East and West, Turkey has a lot to offer on the gastronomic front. Search for typical Turkish cuisine and you might find meze, kebab, kofta, coffee and raki served up as common examples, but the reality is that finding ‘typical’ in a country stretching some 301,384 square miles and bordering one of the most diverse collections of civilisations on the planet (Greece and Bulgaria in the West, Syria, Iraq...

by Beth Roberts, travel writer It’s 11.30pm on a Sunday night in Amsterdam airport - the tail end of a wild weekend, culminating in this most hideous of hangovers. Without warning, our long awaited London-bound flight disappears from the departures screen, cancelled due to the fog and marooning us in the city. Admittedly, there are worse places to be stuck. Yet conscious my boss would likely read ‘stranded in Amsterdam' as 'stranded in coffee shop’ and swiftly realising we had...

Unwary British holidaymakers are falling foul of Spain’s one year time limit for injury claim compensation.  The country’s one year limit sits in stark contrast to other parts of Europe, such as France, where some claims can be filed up to 10 years after an accident. The latest figures provided by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) show that over 60 British tourists are hospitalised abroad each week, with 20% of these occurring in Spain.  These figures also show that...