Plan perfect UK breaks with Rough Guides UK Staycation guidebooks

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.

Colourful Australian slang, or strine, has its origins in the archaic cockney and Irish of the colony’s early convicts as well as the adoption of words from the many Aboriginal languages. And for such a vast country, the accent barely varies to the untutored ear; from Tasmania (“Tassie”) to the northwest you’ll find little variation in the national drawl, with a curious, interrogative ending to sentences fairly common – although Queenslanders are noted for their slow delivery.

Taken from the new Rough Guide to Prague , here's our guide to Czech beer – and where to drink it.

Hushed voices, the scratch of a bamboo whisk, then a bow, a nod and a bowl of steaming matcha is handed around. Any delicate sounds in the room are amplified by the formality of the occasion – so quiet you can hear people holding their breath – which heightens the sense that something very important is going on. This is a tea ceremony in full swing: the ultimate in Japanese hospitality.

In late 2018, we launched Rough Guides tailor-made trips, a unique travel marketplace where we connect you to local tour operators in over 70 countries worldwide. These local experts create a travel itinerary and book personalised trips for you, packed with personality and stimulating adventure.

This feature has been made possible by Homestay.com, an accommodation marketplace connecting guests to local hosts in over 150 countries.

This feature has been made possible by Homestay.com, an accommodation marketplace connecting guests to local hosts in over 150 countries.

Today, we are delighted to announce the launch of our brand new travel podcast, The Rough Guide to Everywhere.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is one of the world’s most incredible natural wonders – it’s the largest structure ever built by living things and is visible even from space. For millennia, this glorious underwater world has blazed with colour, sheltering some of the earth’s most spellbinding ocean-dwelling creatures. But the unnaturally rapid increase in the earth’s temperature is putting this vast ecosystem under increasing threat.

OK, it’s now time for Rough Guides to get a little, er....rough. On 29th September, over 400,000 men, women, masters, slaves, subs, bears, dominatrixes and more will all descend on San Francisco for the city’s annual Folsom Street Fair.

Rough Guides writer Greg Dickinson has hitchhiked in seven countries, flagging down over fifty cars, vans and lorries over a distance of 3000 miles. Here are some of his top tips on how to make the most of a hitchhiking adventure.

Always wanted to be a travel writer? Well you’re in luck. Last year we ran our travel writing competition and the winner, Steph Dyson, has become one of our regular contributors. This year, we’re opening it up again to seek out the best untapped travel writing talent.