From snorkelling with sharks and swinging across Snowdonia, to a luxury spa retreat or a day at the races, you’ll win brownie points by booking one of these days out......read
Living the high life: Bracing winter walks, cosy farmhouse snugs and a climbing adventure in the Lakes
Lulled by luxury in the Lake District: Hiding away from the world at Gilpin Lake House
The dream tickets for 2014: The top spots to visit this year, from Mauritius to Majorca
A home full of Swallows & Amazons: Self-catering in Arthur Ransome's house
LATEST TRAVEL NEWS
- Tourists warned as Goa taxi protest turns violent
- Parliament to debate cost of term-time holidays
- New Brazil yoga retreats for World Cup widows
- Outer Hebrides boasts stunning airport approach
- Lewis Hamilton to star in Top Gear festival
- Thailand set to lose £1.6bn in tourism revenue
- 14% of Brits abroad refuse to speak local dialect
- Egypt bombing: New FCO advice to UK tourists
- India to cut red tape and issue visas on arrival
- Qatar Airways' new all-business class flights
- Rise in British travellers visiting Germany
- Brits rate cuisine as essential part of holiday
- London to Glasgow train to host comedy gig
- British sounds in £2.5m tourism advert
- Two-fifths of parents would risk term-time trip
Wonders on our doorstop: You'll be tickled by the best of British entertainment
Explore the many spectacular sides of Britain with one of the specialist operators that offer a wide range of entertainment breaks at the best prices....read
Beatrix's Cumbria: Where the original Potter worked her literary magic
Dive in to nature's finest! The best places to indulge in the age-old art of wild swimming
Only the hardiest of swimmers would have braved the great outdoors this spring but, now that the sun has finally made an appearance, splashing about in a river, lake or loch is starting to look a lot more appealing. Daniel Start, the author of new book Wild Swimming, reveals his favourite locations in UK to take an al fresco dip…
Stamp of approval: How Postman Pat helped me love the Lake District
Why we do like to be beside the seaside: A crop of England's best coastal resorts
Jean-Christophe Novelli on travel, fine food and where to find the best meal in Paris
The celebrity chef talks travel with Chris Leadbeater, revealing why he'd like to go to the moon, where to go in the French capital and how to get over the conundrum of an over-packed fridge at Christmas....read
The literary Lakes: Joining Beatrix Potter and her cast of adventurous animals
Beatrix Potter fell in love with the Lake District during childhood holidays in Cumbria, so much so that she eventually set her children's books there and even put down roots herself, discovers Claire Bates.
My golden holidays: Olympic star Rebecca Adlington on Disney and NZ
She is the smiling champion of the British Olympic team, the celebrated swimmer who brought two gold medals home from Beijing. But what does Rebecca Adlington do when it comes to holidays?
Website Of The Week: www.hotelhaiku.com
Our latest Website Of The Week covers that rather niche market - hotel reviews written as poems. Short, Japanese-style haikus, in fact. Strange? Overly brief? Fred Mawer reports.
Boats, babies and beauty: Taking to the (Ulls)water in England's lovely Lake District
Liz Neale has a confession. Despite visiting the Lake District many times she had never found herself on its shimmering waters. And she was determined to set this right on the banks of Ullswater.
To fell and back: Conquering a Lake District peak with children in tow
Fred Mawer's family weren't brimming with enthusiasm about their family walking break but it turned out to be a hugely successful and life-enriching experience...
Hotel review: Checking in at Temple Sowerby House Hotel, Lake District
The 18th-century Temple Sowerby House Hotel, where classic luxury and understated hospitality are the orders of the day, is just outside the Lake District National Park.
Awesome autumn: Where to catch the UK's trees in their full glory
A near-rainbow of colour is currently visible on trees around the UK. From Kent to Cornwall, Mark Hughes-Morgan picks six locations where you can witness autumn in all its glory.
Whicker's World: My favourite places on the planet, by the travel legend
As war reporter, television presenter and travel journalist, he has criss-crossed the planet. Here, globe-trotting icon Alan Whicker reveals the places that have touched him most.
The Lake District's Ullswater Steamers are back in business
The cruise company may have had to suspend business due to flooding in November, but, despite the setback, the historic Ullswater Steamers are ready to tour some of England's most beautiful scenery once again.
Best UK spa breaks: From cheap deals to luxury getaways for posh pampering
Christmas has passed, you've let out a couple of notches on the belt and you're back to work. What to do? Head for a UK spa - and sharpish - says Sebastian Lander.
TOP STORIES IN TRAVEL
- The reward for dicing with death: Stormchaser's eye-popping images of tornadoes taken as he pursued them for thousands of miles across the US
- How the other half camp! Luxury mansion with a NIGHTCLUB in the basement is available to rent at Glastonbury for £14k... or you could glamp in a chic 'tenthouse suite'
- Young Brits abroad aren't as wild as you think: New research shows they actually prefer holidays full of culture NOT partying
- 'I am mother of seven children and Vladimir Putin will kill you:' Video captures moment drunk woman causes chaos on Paris to Moscow flight and is removed by security
- Hilarious footage captures the moment llama spits in woman's face after she leans in to give it a kiss at petting zoo
- Rock solid relationship: Amazing pictures show daredevil duo taking romance to new heights to brave vertical cliff faces, skydiving and bungee jumping together
- Would YOU be brave enough? Incredible video shows bikini-clad revellers flying off gigantic 'Royal Flush' water slide in Texas
- Beat the Glastonbury traffic in rock-star style: Taxi firm Addison Lee takes to the skies with PRIVATE JET service to festival for £612
- Thought you needed to be a billionaire to own a slice of paradise? Stake a claim to the world's first crowd-share island in Belize for as little as SIXTY PENCE
- The hotels you'll (probably) never stay in: The ultra-exclusive five-star resorts where you need an INVITE to check in
- The party's over: Police in Magaluf ordered to punish badly-behaved Britons as by-laws aimed at curbing drinking, nudity and urinating finally enforced
- 'I didn't read the small print, the tax was a disgrace': Woman sings sarcastic ballad about Ryanair's fees for punters in pub
- Are these the ugliest airport carpets of all time? Website documents the crushingly dull designs that have somehow achieved cult status
- Hard to stomach? Now you'll be able to put PURPLE sauce on your breakfast buttie
- British tourists waste £350 MILLION a year on holiday... because they don't have the maths to cope with currency conversions
- Tourists spark security scare in Milan after crashing remote-control drone into famous cathedral
- Taiwan-based EVA Air voted the world's cleanest airline, with the rest of the top 10 also Asian-owned
- Barcelona police hunt holidaymakers who stole tour bus while driver was in the loo... and crashed into car on dangerous joyride
- Incredible pictures show extreme adventurers bungee jump off a 150-foot-high ledge at the spectacular 'Eyes of God' Bulgarian cave
- Airport immigration officers in the future will be ROBOTS: Machines unveiled at Paris Air Show that ID criminals at lightning speed
- Infographic chronicles how air travel transformed the British family holiday over six decades
- Los Angeles is the best place in the world to find a hot holiday date, claims poll... followed by Rio de Janeiro, Paris and Miami
- Ready, steady, camp: How I was converted to life under canvas by Ready Camp - the getaway where everything is done for you
- JetBlue erects hilarious interactive advert and surprises unassuming New York locals with FREE flight tickets
- 'The little Wales beyond Wales': An Argentina with a different accent - the small corner of Patagonia that is forever Welsh
- Crawl intentions: Marauding caterpillars take over a Lake District park bench and cocoon an entire tree nearby
- Italian taxi driver charges 24 stone passenger more than double the fare after blaming puncture on man's weight
- Revealed: How, when and where to get your summer holiday money (and why Europe and Australia offer the best value right now)
- 'I'm prepared to do just about anything on this road trip': Budding filmmaker plans to travel across America guided purely by internet requests
- Hilton is the hotel Twitter users hate the most, according to new study that analyses posts for negative language
- Safety first? Try a holiday in Iceland as it's officially the most peaceful country in the world... while the UK ranked only 39th and the US 94th
- Boom in holidays to places made famous by TV and film with tourists flocking to locations for Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings and Broadchurch
- Fears for British holidaymakers in Greece: Government draws up contingency plans in case debt crisis leaves tourists stranded
- The ultimate stycation: Guests at Welsh farm can stay the night in a PIGSTY (and unsurprisingly, it's dirt cheap)
- End of the line for European sleeper trains? Protests as night services are cut amid fierce competition from budget airlines
- Why you should NEVER put your passport in your back pocket: Over 20,000 are stolen each year, shock new figures reveal as Government warns holidaymakers
- 'We can drink like a fish': Passengers chug £800 bottle of 'aphrodisiac tiger bone wine' at airport checkpoint to avoid binning it
- Caught on camera: Violent brawl breaks out on Hong Kong street after tourist is confronted for jumping taxi queue
- United Airlines passengers stranded at Belfast airport for 21 hours and forced to sleep on floor after plane was diverted due to an unruly traveller
- Canadian tourist hit with £285 fine after urinating at top of Florence Cathedral's celebrated dome
- Tour operators slash Greek holiday prices by as much as HALF as thousands of package trips remain unsold amid threat of euro exit
- Now THAT'S a loo with a view! 'See-through' toilet at Glastonbury to provide a glimpse of main acts on Pyramid Stage
- Move over JJ Abrams: Fantasy meets reality in these stunning images of Star Wars ships crashing into tourist sites
- Gentle giant! Heartwarming video shows large elephant falling asleep and even snoring as woman sings a calming lullaby
- After a bloody civil war pitted brother against brother, tourists get on the road to peace to discover the secrets of El Salvador's violent past
- Pilot error blamed after London-bound British Airways plane crashed into building while using wrong taxiway at airport
- Will this revive the fortunes of a classic seaside town? Margate's Dreamland amusement park reopens after a £18m renovation
- The world's largest flower garden... in the last place you would expect: Rainbow-coloured oasis with 45 MILLION flowers is in the middle of a desert
- Towering limestone mountains, unparalleled Mediterranean views... and possibly the best orange juice ever: Inside the Jumeirah Port Soller Hotel and Spa
- A tale of two tepees: Can a bug-phobic Briton find paradise at an authentic Costa Rican wildlife lodge... or will she run for the hills of a luxury eco resort?
- An eyewitness account of Sri Lanka's remarkable recovery from the tsunami of 2004 that saw 90-foot walls of water crash into the coastline
- An Inspector Calls: 'It won't be perfect but it will be warm, relaxing and homely'... go the whole hog at The Pig Near Bath
- The foods to avoid on your summer holiday: Just say no to unpasteurised dairy, raw or undercooked meats and shellfish
- What you should ACTUALLY do if you are stung by a jellyfish (hint, it doesn't involve urine)... and other travel health tips for your summer holidays
- Shocked tourists amazed to discover that new Barcelona 'mid-walk statue' is in fact made of flesh and blood
- Scenic rivers, palaces and the starting point for the Tour de France: Why Utrecht is the perfect place for a biking holiday
- Never get stung with holiday phone charges again: How Wi-Fi hotspots, network 'bundles' and dongles can save a fortune
- Revealed: The places where you CAN pose nude on holiday (without causing a volcano to erupt)
- Is this the answer to airport noise? Schiphol in Amsterdam uses clever landscaping to cut the roar from planes by HALF
- Couple who missed their check-in try to flag down Ryanair plane on the RUNWAY after breaking through airport security in Malta
- Encore, Encore! Adorable moment four-year-old girl bursts into fits of giggles as her father performs hair-raising loop-the-loops in small plane
- Beyonce prefers the Hamptons while David Beckham likes Marrakech: Celebrity holiday hotspots revealed
- Home sweet home! From tipi's to mud huts, infographic reveals just how clever seemingly simple houses really are
- Spectacular airport which will have a giant WATERFALL: Singapore's Changi to spend £726million on indoor forest and hiking trails (so will you even want to board your plane?)
- Tanzania has lost more than HALF its elephants in just six years, shock new figures reveal
- EXCLUSIVE: First look inside the luxury £2.5m ocean front villas in Oman that come with a private swimming pool, panoramic views and a chauffeur driven Bentley (AND parking for your super yacht)
- The best of the best: Uber-luxury safari lodge and and an adults-only retreat in Mexico are among the top hotels in world
- I'm going to need a bigger boat! Stomach churning moment when kayaker tries to feed massive bull shark by HAND
- Why don't cabin crew ID passengers before serving alcohol and what's the age limit on a plane? In-flight drinking questions answered by experts
- Why THIS picture will upset Brits: Survey reveals UK tourists are prudes on the beach finding women in thongs and naked sunbathers offensive
- So can you guess where it is? The idyllic beach voted the best in Europe
- Chaos on Etihad flight as man is strapped to his seat by fellow passengers after 'attacking' attendant... 'because he wasn't allowed to smoke'
- Rolling notes inside lip balm and making iPhone stands with sunglasses: The ultimate travel hacks revealed
- Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water: watch the moment Italian fishermen spotted 'great white shark' headed straight for their boat
- Two gets you a breakfast buffet, five a valet: What hotel stars REALLY mean - and why many say the Burj Al Arab in Dubai deserves seven