Lake Como travel tips

A recent report ten years in the making recently boldly selected The World’s 50 Best Hotels. So what makes a great hotel?

The #1 hotel in the world, along with another 20 on the list of the 50 Best Hotels in 2023, is in Europe.

From harbor-front Hong Kong glam to old-school European luxury, a just-released list of the best hotels on the planet offers a handy guide to traveling the world in high style – or at least assembling a list of dream accommodations. 

While travelling for wellness feels like a modern phenomenon, the Romans were known to travel to thermal baths as early as the 2nd century BC. The earliest spas—the Latin word for which, ‘salus per aquam,’ translates to ‘health from water’—were considered integral to a healthy life. Roman legionaries would sooth their sore muscles in natural spring water and thermal treatments were prescribed to relieve physical ailments. Centuries later and Italy continues to take their spas seriously.

As summer holidays come to an end, 50 Best has compiled its list of the World’s 50 Best Hotels in 2023.

Following the success of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and The World’s 50 Best Bars, 50 Best has just announced The World’s 50 Best Hotels in 2023, marking the brand’s first global launch since 2009.

Tourists visiting Europe this summer are taking to TripAdvisor to bemoan the rising cost of travel. 

In welcome news for travellers who want more from their city breaks, Milan offers easy access to a host of handsome destinations. Interest piqued? Read on to discover the 12 best day trips from Milan. From exploring some of Lombardy's lakes, and discovering Bologna’s gastronomic delights, to revelling in Verona’s romance, this rundown might just leave you longing to extend your trip.

When summer fades, and fall's cool winds roll in, we often daydream about our past sun-filled adventures. Although colder weather might discourage travel, books can take us anywhere. Coffee table books, filled with stunning images and engaging stories, can transport us globally without leaving our couch. Here's a list of striking coffee table books to fuel your travel bug during colder seasons.

In the Gilded Age, Boston and New York grandees flocked to western Massachusetts. They built scores of homes called Berkshire Cottages that were, in fact, cottages in name only. Many of these impressive villas and grand estates are thankfully still there, some thriving under new guises.

It’s hard to know if Milan’s fashionistas are bemused more by my driving or by my vehicle as I stall, splutter and crunch the gears while double-parking the tuk-tuk on Via Monte Napoleone, the city’s swankiest street. Both it and I look comically out of place on a thoroughfare dripping with designer shops and high-end motors. I’ve just seen a Hermès shirt with a €10,500 price tag and spotted the Argentina World Cup winner and Inter Milan star Lautaro Martínez laden with Gucci shopping bags, and bouncing into a blacked-out Hummer with his girlfriend and minder.

Summer brings new perks and amenities to many top hotels and brands around the world. Dozens of new hotels and resorts are opening for the first time this season, but others are adding new features and renovations that repeat guests will be eager to see. From do-it-yourself goodies to eco-friendly changes, here is some of the latest news from the hospitality industry and properties around the world.

The car was dead silent, and I felt panic set in among my group of friends. 

Lake Como, or Lago di Como, is what the Riviera is to France: An area of the country that is so beautiful and serene it has attracted the rich and famous for centuries. (It is no secret that George Clooney has a swanky villa along the lake.) All these wealthy celebrities have managed to create a bubble of luxury around this magnificent part of northern Italy by building immense and luxurious villas along the lake’s shore, but if you’re a non-millionaire traveler who wants in on the action, worry not, there are ways to have a good and affordable time on the shore of Italy’s most famous lake.

Lake Como, located in the Lombardy region of Italy in the northern part of the country, is a picture-postcard Italian vacation destination. The shore of this huge lake, shaped like an upside-down Y, is dotted with charming little towns that you can spend many afternoons exploring — in between long swims in the lake’s turquoise water and sunbathing sessions under the lovely Italian sun, that is. And to make the most of your time around Lake Como, you need to find the right place to stay, whether that’s a five-star hotel on the water or a boutique hotel in one of the aforementioned little towns.

The popularity of The Mandalorian series on Disney Plus is proof enough that the force is strong with this franchise. With plans for more than half a dozen spin-off series announced, it's time we revisit some of our favourite Star Wars film locations.

To celebrate our dazzling European neighbours, we took to Facebook and Twitter to ask our followers to vote for the most beautiful places in Europe – the spots that, quite simply, blew them away. After much debate, here is what our readers and travel experts have whittled down to be the most beautiful places in Europe.