Travel in county Kent

Taiwan, the place the Portuguese once called the “beautiful island”, has long been Asia’s forgotten country. And yet it is home to a trove of national parks, historic cities and far-flung islands. Mike MacEacheran travels cross-country to find out what we’re missing out on.

During World War II, America’s Greatest Generation did its part for the war effort – including Walt Disney and the studio bearing his name.

Made famous by the painter John Constable, and more recently, by singer-songwriter, Ed Sheeran, Suffolk’s rural landscapes and quintessential British seaside resorts make for an alluring destination for those seeking a holiday in the UK.

Step into the world of Jane Austen, Downtown Abbey, and Bridgerton, by planning a tour of some of Britain’s most historic sites and beauty spots.

This week in Düsseldorf, Germany, ProWein celebrates its thirtieth year of leading trade show programming for the wine and spirits industry. It’s a massive undertaking in the “mini city” of the Messe Düsseldorf fairgrounds, with some 50,000 trade visitors and 5700 exhibitors from 60 countries.

You can circumnavigate the world in just 24 days, if you’re willing to pay six-figure prices for the privilege. Here’s why more travelers are signing up.

Nestled in the homeland of William Shakespeare, Billesley Manor Hotel and Spa is a 16th-century quintessentially British country house hotel just five miles north of Stratford upon Avon.

When you have a partner obsessed with architecture, you can’t expect to go on holiday without a detour to see some building or another. So if it’s a city break, that usually means a walking tour of the architectural highlights interspersed with visits to art galleries.

Eurostar could face fresh rivalry on its cross-Channel train route.

There are some cafés with such great names, you just have to eat there. So, in spite of grey, drizzly skies and a stiff breeze, we head to Goat Ledge in St Leonards – set on the seafront with tables on the shingle – for breakfast. One of the town’s new breed of hip cafés and eateries, Goat Ledge is a brightly painted beach shack, with bookable huts for dinners of freshly caught fish or crab-loaded fries, and lip-smacking breakfast baps, washed down with Coldblow coffee, hand-roasted just over the border in Kent.

Pavyllon London is the latest restaurant from the prolific French-born Yannick Alléno, the superstar chef who’s been awarded an impressive 15 stars across 17 restaurants in Paris, Courchevel, Monaco, Dubai, and Seoul. That puts Alléno on a very short, elite list of Michelin’s most-awarded chefs comprised of himself, Joël Robuchon, Alain Ducasse, Gordon Ramsay, Pierre Gagnaire, and Martín Berasategui.

Taiwan is a breeze to visit, with easy-to-navigate transport systems, handy convenience stores at every turn, and endless restaurants that just hit the spot. 

When my partner and decided to renovate a house in a small town in Sicily, Italy, I knew I had to take advantage of the country's Lidl locations. 

As a child I can remember trying to swim out to a wrecked fishing boat off the beach at Camber Sands on the Sussex/Kent border. I stared at the horizon until the whole universe felt blue. It felt like the most exotic place on Earth. The south-east coast clearly made an impression, as I later settled in Kent and I am raising my own family here.

Touring New England in search of autumn’s changing colors has become so popular it has sprouted its own subculture of “leaf-peepers.”

In earlier eras, notables such as Theodore Roosevelt, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Thoreau, Emerson, Sinclair Lewis held court on the grounds of Troutbeck, a private estate since the 1700s in the eastern stretch of the Hudson Valley. These days, since reopening as a resort in 2017, the property is still a cultural gathering place on its 250 acre, Lower Berkshires spread but now the guests are mostly serenity seeking New Yorkers up from the city a two hour drive or train ride away. (Out of staters also fly into Stewart International Airport an hour away). And there are new additions and others in the works to attract them all.

The road trip is synonymous with American travel culture, and there’s no better place to explore the natural beauty of the United States by car than in the beautiful state of Maine.

For ultra-wealthy travel lovers, six-figure getaways continue to trend ever upward. Encouraged by the pandemic’s wake-up call to maximize life’s positive experiences, these vacationers are engaging luxury outfitters to brainstorm off-the-beaten-path itineraries that illuminate exclusive, eye-opening, one-of-a-kind adventures. Among the best of the best tour-planning companies, Abercrombie & Kent — founded in the 1960s by visionary safari pioneer Geoffrey Kent — just announced its latest pinnacle, Around the World With Geoffrey Kent: An Inspiring Expedition by Private Jet. Limited to 46 participants, this epic 26-day transit (October 13 to November 7, 2024) will touch down in Japan, India, Malta, Senegal, Saint Helena, Uruguay, Easter Island and French Polynesia. Kent, who will accompany the group from start to finish, explains to Forbes: “It’s true that the world is well-traveled, but there are still unexplored spots. My goal is to take A&K guests to places of immense beauty and rich culture, but where others rarely venture.” Indeed, many of the destinations are dazzlingly remote with unique behind-the-scenes encounters. To smooth this far-flung journey en route: a chartered Boeing 757, featuring all lie-flat, first-class seats, with a dedicated crew and executive chef. Price: $184,950 per person; see below for further details. (Perhaps you may be inspired by these highlights to tuck one or two intriguing ideas onto your DIY wish list.)

Just when travelers thought that travel disruptions seen earlier this year may be easing, in May 2023 the European Union plans to introduce new fingerprint and biometric checks at external borders for third-country nationals that could lead to significantly longer wait times.

Having battled political instability and economic crisis, a resilient tourism industry in Sri Lanka now waits for the government to do its bit to communicate to the world that the country is open to tourists.

Former National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, Alastair Humphreys is the pioneer of the microadventure. Greg Dickinson caught up with him to discuss walking around London’s M25, cycling around the planet and the joys of sleeping in a bivvy bag.

Tim Chester, Web Editor: From the Turner Contemporary gallery to the proliferation of other indie art spaces, retro shops and cute cafés in the Old Town, Margate now offers much more than its beautifully dilapidated seafront. Dubbed “romantic, sexy and weird” by local girl Tracey Emin, this gem on the Isle of Thanet constitutes one of the highlights of the forthcoming Rough Guide to Kent, Sussex and Surrey for many good reasons.