Tansen is not only a medieval hill town but it represents a typical traditional Nepalese town. It’s located in the Palpa district and became an important trade route between India and Tibet (now occupied by China). Newari traders and artisans famous for their metal and dhaka (cloth) industry would stop in Tansen’s market centre to sell their goods. Tansen was also submitted to the UNESCO Tentative List during 2008.

Tansen is situated at an altitude of 1372 meters overlooking the Kali Gandaki River and surrounded by hills and mountains of the Himalayan region. The town itself is too steep for cars and made up of narrow, winding lanes which adds to its charm.

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One Great Reason to Visit Tansen

One great reason to visit this travel destination, I’m sure would be for a sense of adventure!

A Tour of Palpa

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Lake Garda in Northern Italy is the largest lake in the country and one of the most popular. Its turquoise waters are ringed with mountains, beaches and ancient cobbled towns, lying halfway between Venice and Milan. The northern part of the lake is quiet and serene, while the southern section boasts a theme park and sandy beaches, so Lake Garda holidays offer something for every kind of traveller.

1. Explore ancient towns, castles, and hot springs.

Holiday resorts share waterfront with ancient towns all around Lake Garda. Start off with the picturesque cobblestone lanes of Sirmione, a fortified Roman spa town in the south. It is situated on a peninsula in the centre of the lake, offering unrivalled views and photo opportunities. After a morning visit to the healing sulphur springs, explore the 13^th century Scaliger Castle and stop into the many restaurants and bars for a bite to eat. If you have more time, catch a ferry to explore the islands in the lake and spend a day at the popular Gardaland theme park as well.

2. Eat well.

The best part of holidays to Italy is surely the food and wine. The shores of Lake Garda are famous for their produce, particularly wine, olives and lemons. Catch a ferry to the colourful hillside resort of Limone, which is named for the yellow fruit. Stroll the waterfront promenade and stop into a café for a meal of fresh fish from the lake, or a hearty polenta dish cooked with local olive oil and a glass of Bardolino red wine which is grown in the area. Finish off with a tipple of limoncino for a totally local experience.

3. Get outdoors!

Lake Garda is a fantastic place to be active and get outside. The northern part of the lake is perfect for windsurfing and sailing due to the steady breeze coming out of the mountains, and there are many watersport centres that offer lessons and rentals. Explore miles of trails on foot or with a mountain bike, and you can even go rock climbing.  For families, peddle boats are available to rent in marked areas with lifeguards.

4. Take in the view.

The best view of the area is from the village of Malcesine in the northern section of the lake. Take the cable car 1750 meters up Montebaldo, a peak in the Italian Alps, for stunning views of Lake Garda below and the Dolomites behind. After taking pictures drop into the mountain-top restaurant or rent a mountain bike to explore the area.

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One Great Reason to Visit

One great reason to visit this travel destination is to find that Lake Garda offers something for every kind traveller!

Exploring Lake Garda

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What do Kos, Faliraki and Malia all have in common? That’s right; they have for a number of years been the top places for young and lively crowds to head to for some fun in the sun. But what are they really like? Where is the best place to visit if you have to choose and which one is more suited to your needs?

Once these three destinations are put side by side and compared in terms of the main needs and wants for people aboard, it becomes clear that they each have their own stand out features.

Best Beach: Malia

All three destinations have their fair share of beaches, most of which are busy and bustling full of people usually recovering from the night before. For these reasons, if you want a bit of peace and quiet it can become a bit of a challenge. However, Malia has a stretch of beach which is largely free from the commercial side of things and offers visitors the perfect place to laze in the sun. Potamos Beach is around 500 metres from the bigger beach where the vast majority of holidaymakers and travellers spend their time. If you want a quiet afternoon, Potamos Beach is the place to head to is you want a bit of peace on holidays in Crete.

Best Nightlife: Faliraki

All three of the destinations can claim to have the best nightlife, but many would agree that Faliraki just about comes out on top thanks to the fact that it has actually become less rowdy as it was back in the early 2000’s. The local authorities clamped down on the over the top antics which once upon a time were common place, with these days the bars being frequented by slightly older patrons just looking for a good time. Club Street is the aptly named strip of bars and clubs which most people head to and there is plenty to keep you entertained throughout the night and into the early hours.

Best Backdrop: Malia

There is a belief that these types of resorts are all the same, and let’s face it, a bit bland. But visitors to Malia may be a bit surprised when they drop by as the Old Town is a fantastically traditional place which offers an insight into how the area looked before mass tourism took over. The tight winding streets lead to all sorts of unexpected sights including hidden churches and small taverns. You could easily get lost here for a day or so – even if you spend the majority of your time elsewhere, make sure you head to the Old Town at least once on your visit.

Best Food: Kos

If you manage to drag yourself away from the local McDonalds, the resorts of Malia, Kos and Faliraki have some lovely restaurants with dishes made from the freshest ingredients on offer. The pick of the bunch are found on Kos though, where there are plenty of options open to you. Tigiaki has a number of budget friendly but vey well respected restaurants where you can try the local cuisine, which in typical Greek fashion centres on fresh fish, local vegetables and lugs of olive oil. The best thing to do is to avoid the restaurants which are geared towards the tourists and take to the side streets. Here you’ll find locals eating for usually a fraction of the price and in much more traditional surroundings.

All three islands have their attractions and in many instances it is hard to separate them. If you want a holiday destination where you can get all of the luxuries from home, you’ll be hard pressed to find places better than Kos, Malia and Faliraki. All three have their good bits – it is just a case of deciding whether you value beaches, nightlife, food or places of interest higher when on cheap holidays to Greece!

Guest post written by Ricky Durrance for Beat the Brochure.

Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art

If you’re heading to Scotland’s biggest city for a weekend away, there are certain things you won’t want to miss. Follow this guide to the best things to see and do in Glasgow:

Culture

Named the European City of Culture in 1990, Glasgow has since strived to maintain its status as one of the most culturally rich cities in the world. It attracts over three million tourists a year from the UK as well as the rest of the world.

Most of Scotland’s national arts organisations are based in Glasgow, including the Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet and the National Theatre of Scotland. These organisations offer world-class events and performances at local venues such as the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, the Theatre Royal and the Scottish Exhibition and Concert Centre.

Glasgow also has its own Poet Laureate, a prestigious title in the literary world, which was first held by Edwin Morgan and now belongs to acclaimed writer Liz Lochead.

Museums and Galleries

Cupola at Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art

The most famous of Glasgow’s museums is the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which houses one of Europe’s great civic art collections. Located in the West End of the city, it has one of the largest collections of arms and armory in the world and a vast collection of natural history.

The gallery is home to European masterpieces by the French Impressionists, Dutch Renaissance and Scottish Colourists, as well as the world-famous ‘Christ of St. John of the Cross’ by the Spanish Surrealist, Salvador Dali.

Other galleries to visit include the Gallery of Modern Art and the Burrell Collection, a purpose-built gallery that opened in 1984 to house a collection donated to Glasgow by Sir William Burrell.

Food

Glasgow is home to many incredible eating establishments, from Michelin-starred restaurants to cosy cafes. Most serve fresh local produce and elegant brasseries to their hungry guests.

Chardon d’Or is run by Brian Maule, who is the former head chef at Le Gavroche, a Michelin star London restaurant. Maule opened his delightful French bistro in the heart of Glasgow with the full backing of the Roux dynasty, and fuses traditional techniques with Scottish ingredients.

The French Mediterranean dishes of La Bonne Auberge are an excellent way to round up a night out in the theatre district. Light and airy, La Bonne Auberge offers views over the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, alongside excellent service and menus created by head chef, Maurice Taylor.

For a more traditional feel, Maggie Mays offers a contemporary Scottish menu, combined with an elegant wine bar. In the evenings the place transforms in to a theatre and music venue, with bustling entertainment all year around.

Booking a Trip

Glasgow is an excellent place to spend a weekend and there are regular flights to and from the city from major UK airports and abroad. Scotland is also accessible by car, train or coach if you’re travelling up from England.

Accommodation in the city centre can book up fast so reserve apartments for your recreation stay in Glasgow as far in advance as possible. Trying to book a hotel on the day can be expensive and stressful. Instead, why not go online and book holiday apartments via Wimdu who offer accommodation in Glasgow and many other worldwide cities.

On a standard ten-day holiday, you will be able to see a destination’s major tourist attractions, but you won’t have time to immerse yourself in the culture and vibrancy of the people. To experience the full potential of visiting a place, you need to find an activity that will keep you there for longer. Learning the country’s language is a great way to extend your visit and meet more people

Visa and accommodation

If you want to extend your stay beyond a standard holiday, you are going to need a visa and a place to stay. Work visas, which often have elaborate requirements, are more difficult to attain than student visas. An accredited language institute will help you with all the visa and accommodation admin. This perk makes it much easier to settle and to start exploring your surroundings.

Double benefit

Language learning programmes are popular because they offer the two-fold advantage of exploring a destination while learning a new skill. Living in a foreign country as a student allows you to explore further than the touristic safe-zones – meaning that you can scratch deeper than the surface of a country’s culture.

See more, do more

Most students begin their study abroad experience by visiting the standard tourist attractions, but this rarely takes more than a few days. As the language course progresses, you will have several months to explore the city’s unknown museums, bars, music venues and natural sites.

Find local spots

When you are on a short holiday, it’s easy to get caught up in the tourist traps, which locals avoid. Enrolling for a language course gives you the time to work out where the locals prefer to hang out. As your language proficiency improves, you will be able to make new friends and experience life from the perspective of a city’s local.

Many Options

Some people want to visit a certain country, but they want to learn a different language than that which is spoken there. In the past if you wanted to learn German, you had to go to Germany. Fortunately, due to globalisation, this has changed – today, if you’re looking for German lessons London, Zurich and Paris all have great schools with native language teachers.

Teachers as reference guides

At a language school, you will have reference guides at your disposal every day. The teachers, who live and work in the city, will give you honest advice – as opposed to the tourist agencies that only want to make a sale.

Language and culture

Language and culture are interwoven and they develop together over time. When you are studying a new language, you learn about the culture and it allows you to gain a better understanding of the people and the place. For students enrolled in French courses London with St Georges is a stepping-stone to understanding the food, art and culture of France. Many students who complete these programmes are often inspired to see more and explore further once they leave the school.

Keeping the culture in you

When you combine tourism and language learning, you will carry a piece of the destination with you forever. Learning a country’s language is a skill that no one can take away from you. When you hear the language spoken on television or in your hometown, the warm memories of your time in the country will always return.

Visitors enjoy Buenos Aires in the spring (September to November), although its sub-tropical climate has generally pleasant conditions year round. Also in the spring-summer months, the city hosts festivals and sporting events that are popular among tourists, for which a variety of airlines allow you to organise your next cheap holidays.

People from Buenos Aires are known as “porteños”, or people of the port, with European roots that date back to the 16^th Century. A variety of Spanish, German, Greek and Italian influences can be seen in the local architecture. Hence, there are no dominating monuments, but a variety of touches and details that hail from across the world, and can be seen in beautifully preserved 19^th Century houses, majestic churches and opera houses.

Similarly, the city neighbourhoods are unique, with emphasis on local flavour following Argentinian independence in the early 19^th Century. An exception is the Buenos Aires Cabildo, a public building that was once the seat of the colonial council and which now houses a museum. The Palacio de Las Aguas Corrientes, Palace of Running Water, was the city’s water works, built with myriad terracotta tiles and which today houses a museum with antique equipment. The neo-Gothic Palacia Barolo rises up 22 floors and was built as a tribute to Dante’s Divine Comedy, each floor supposedly representing a verse in the Italian poet-philosopher’s masterpiece.

Buenos Aires has a world renowned party atmosphere, not least because of its national dance, the tango. Perhaps best exhibited in the city’s dance halls, plazas, glittering ballrooms and outdoor parks, the tango is both elegant and passionate, combining discreet separation between participants that achieves lasting intimacy. Interestingly, in Buenos Aires, tango-dancing schools were traditionally men-only places called academias, and the dance was only popularised in Paris in the 1920s.

The city hosts the bi-annual Buenos Aires Fashion Week, which displays both national and international designers’ collections, and garners plenty of exposure. It’s held at the La Rural Fairgrounds in February, for fall and winter collections, and in August for spring and summer clothes. In addition to high fashion, Buenos Aires has a reputation as a party city, with bars and clubs of all sizes opening their doors late in the evening and remaining open all night.

Energy, enthusiasm and a willingness to recreate itself; Buenos Aires continues to earn the accolade of the ‘Paris of South America’. Buenos Aires flights are affordable particularly between October and January, when the weather is warm and the mate, or traditional infused drink, is readily served.

One of the significant places we visited during our Vanuatu getaway, was the Cultural Village located on the eastern coast of Efate. We shared a small taxi/bus with a middle-aged couple who happened to be from Queensland, Australia (this was their first overseas trip) and their enthusiasm was contagious. The bus pulled off the main road which circles Efate and we drove for some 15 minutes along an extremely weathered dirt road. We soon pulled into a clearing, beside thick jungle and in the middle of nowhere, with the driver telling us to all hop out, adding ‘You can leave your bags in the bus!’. I suddenly felt dubious what was happening and was not going to leave bags behind. However, it turned out to be completely innocent.

The six of us headed into the jungle along the path we were instructed to take. It was quiet and beautiful but we were not sure where we were heading. Breaking the silence came the sound of the conch shell and then quite unexpectedly came tribal warriors out of the jungle towards us. Spears in hand, wide-eyed and yelling at us in a foreign aggressive manner, they charged. I got such a fright I swore!

Once they warriors realised we came in peace, we were escorted into the village and welcomed! We were shown how the traditional tribes lived and witnessed food preparation and preservation, fire walking and a tribal dance. The children were wide-eyed throughout. It was a wonderful experience.

Stripping the Coconut

Children in Traditional Dress

Spider

Preparing for the Fire Walk

Evidence of Past Sacrifices

On our recent family holiday to Vanuatu we spent quite a bit of time in the produce market in Port Vila. We had this recommended to us by regular reader Julie. The food is fresh, run by locals for the locals, making it very cheap by Australian standards. The market for most of the time was full of locals with few tourists. We chose to visit on days we knew the cruise ships were not visiting. Apparently on these days not only is the place swarming with tourists but the price of ‘everything’ gets trebled! So we visited on the quieter days and stocked up on tomatoes, pawpaw, mangoes and oodles of bananas. At this time bananas were very expensive at home with much of Queensland (the banana producing State) devastated from Cyclone Yasi. Bananas were a luxury item, so here we gorged on the most divine sugar bananas and one large bunch (bottom photo) was no more than AUD $1.70.

Port Vila is the capital of Vanautu. A cluster of 83 islands located in the South Pacific. Port Vila is situated on the west coast of the island of Efate within the sheltered Vila Bay. There has been a lull in blog posts here and that’s due to a recent 10 day family holiday to Vanuatu. I was determined to take a digital-detox and so no blogging was done whilst away! Only lots of time in the 3D world – sightseeing, swimming, snorkelling and relaxing with the sun on my face!

In and around Port Vila there’s plenty to see and do. We stayed at the mid-range priced boutique resort ‘Poppys on the Lagoon‘ which is an easy and pleasant walk to the town centre. This allows for walking the streets and passing the locals which you are greeted with cheesy grins and a great big “hello”. The people of Vanuatu are known for their happy, friendly ways and we had that confirmed!

Places of significance to visit include the Port Vila markets (I had a ball here), Erakor Island, Iriki Island, Hideaway Island, Mele Cascade Waterfalls, Tanna Coffee Factory and the many eating places offering fresh seafood and French cuisine. I don’t doubt I will be visiting Vanuatu again in the future especially considering it has 83 islands to explore! We were very impressed and highly recommend it as it’s certainly an easy trip from the east coast of Australia.

Lonely Planet Vanuatu & New Caledonia

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One Great Reason to Visit Port Vila

One great reason to visit this travel destination is for the laid back lifestyle and perfect climate. You can’t but relax here!

Vanuatu: Central Markets

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I discovered the Gipsy Kings early in the 1990s and fell in love with their acoustic sounds of Spanish flamenco and salsa. The Gipsy Kings are made up of two families of brothers. They started out as a Gipsy band travelling about playing at weddings, festivals and busking in the streets. Hence, their name the “Gipsy Kings’. They were enormously popular throughout the North Africa, Middle East and Europe. They live anything but the gipsy life now being very well known internationally but they have not forgotten their humble beginning.

Bamboleo – Gipsy Kings

The Best of the Gipsy Kings

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