Tell us about a great pub to eat in – the winner bags a holiday voucher

One of the joys of travel is that moment when you come across something unexpected that lingers long in the memory. It could be a little-known church with stunning stained-glass windows, a backstreet cafe that offers toothsome pastries, a country walk that serves up cinematic views, an offgrid campsite that delivers peace and serenity, or a stopover town that you wished you had more time to explore. We’d like to hear about your best travel discovery of 2023 – but please restrict your tips to Europe.

The year-end holiday travel season is here, and if you’re skipping the airport and hitting the highway for your family gatherings, both Google Maps and Apple’s Maps have apps that can help save you time and money. Sure, online map navigation has been around for years, but if you haven’t used the apps for the long haul lately, both companies have recently improved their tools for modern road-trip concerns — like finding electric-vehicle charging stations or not getting lost in low-signal country. Here’s an overview.

A recent study found that the majority of travelers are hitting the road during the upcoming Thanksgiving and Winter Holiday travel period.

If something goes wrong when you're off the grid, getting help is just a tap away on Apple's latest devices.

It’s a late-October afternoon at Benone Strand on the Causeway Coast in County Derry, and the low sun is collapsing between wedges of dense cloud. There’s empty beach as far as the eye can see, apart from the odd horse-rider galloping through the shallows. My boyfriend and I are in swim shorts on the hard sand, despite the temperature being in single figures. But we’re not shivering. Not at all. We’ve just boiled our bones in the Finnish-style Hotbox sauna perched at the water’s edge.

Italy’s fourth-largest city, Turin, is the essence of la dolce vita.

The beautiful winning images of the 2023 international Nature Photographer of the Year contest celebrating the beauty of nature photography were unveiled at an awards ceremony that took place at the annual Nature Talks Photo Festival in the Netherlands.

What could be more romantic than the sight of a pillar-box red train gliding through a pristine Alpine landscape of snow-capped mountains, frosted fir trees and frozen waterfalls? The answer, of course, is having a seat inside the Bernina Express, cradling a cup of hot chocolate and gazing at a winter wonderland through the train’s panoramic windows as it pulls onwards to St Moritz. Or maybe, it’s pretending to be on the Hogwarts Express as you cross Glenfinnan Viaduct on your way from Glasgow to Mallaig. Or, at this time of year, listening to carols on board the Santa Claus Express from Helsinki to Rovaniemi. Whatever your choice, we’d like to hear about your favourite romantic, dramatic and seasonal railway journey in Europe.

Holiday travelers flying into Seattle’s international airport waited the longest for customs and immigration, making it one of the slowest international airport experiences in the United States. 

The holiday apartment in Alicante, Spain, has been a fixture of Lori Zaino's in-laws' family since her husband's grandparents purchased it in the 1970s. As a baby, it's where her husband took his first steps; he and Zaino have spent their summer holidays there almost every year for the last 16 years – now with a toddler in tow. Their families may look different each time they go, but each visit, year after year, has delivered everything they wanted from a Mediterranean summer holiday: sun, sand and plenty of beach time.

The Cycladic island of Ios is a rocky, mountainous environment of winding roads sometimes blocked by herds of bleating goats and sleepy villages hugging cerulean coastlines. In the 1960s, backpackers discovered the nearly untouched island and it became known as a hippie haven, hosting all-night beach parties, with a handful of cheap bars operating in the Chora (main town). A few decades later, nearby Santorini and Mykonos began to outshine their neighbor, attracting hordes of tourists each summer and investing in new developments. Meanwhile, Ios only got electricity across the entire island in the 1970s and most residents here are goat herders or farmers. Today, Mykonos has taken the nightlife crown and both it and Santorini have become severely over-touristed. Ios on the other hand, remains a quiet, mostly undeveloped paradise.

Customs and Immigration Control officer stamping a passport. (Photo Credit: iStock/Getty Images Plus/FTiare)