Surabaya eats like the halal-majority port city it is: bold, petis-heavy, and built around a few genuinely famous local dishes rather than imported cuisine. Here’s what to actually order. Rawon: the signature, rated the world’s best soup Rawon is a beef soup blackened by ground keluak (kluwek) nut, built with garlic, shallots, candlenut, turmeric, and galangal, and served over rice...

Most visitors do the castle, the bridges, and the market and call it Ljubljana. The city rewards a second layer of walking, and because it is small and flat (Slovenia’s capital, not Slovakia’s), the quieter spots are all within reach on foot or a short bus. Here are the overlooked corners worth your extra hours, most of them free. Plecnik’s National and University Library (NUK)....

Nice photographs well because the light is soft and the palette is consistent, ochre and pastel against a blue bay. The trick is less about finding secret spots than about timing the obvious ones. Here is where to shoot and when. Castle Hill viewpoint (golden hour) The definitive Nice shot: the whole sweep of Vieux Nice’s roofline, the curve of the Baie des Anges, and the port, all from one...

Melbourne’s neighborhoods each suit a different kind of trip, and where you base yourself changes how much you rely on trams versus walking. Here are the seven worth choosing between. CBD Inside the Free Tram Zone, so short hops cost nothing, and everything from the laneways to Queen Victoria Market is walkable. This is the easiest base for a first visit. The historic Hotel Windsor and QT...

Antwerp is relaxed and English-friendly, but a few local customs are worth knowing so you read as a considerate visitor rather than a clueless one. Here is what matters. Speak Dutch, not French The single most important point: Antwerp is in Flanders, and the local language is Dutch (Flemish), not French. Greet people with “dag” or “hallo,” say “dank je” for...

Quebec City’s food identity leans hard into French-Canadian comfort cooking: poutine (fries, cheese curds, gravy), tourtiere (a spiced meat pie), cretons (a pork spread), and pea soup traditionally flavored with a ham hock and a touch of maple. Expect to see all four on menus across Old Quebec and well beyond it. Aux Anciens Canadiens For a meal inside real history, Aux Anciens Canadiens...

Melbourne mixes street art, water and a genuine skyline, which makes for a varied photo list without leaving the city core, from a historic pier at one end to an 88-floor skydeck at the other. St Kilda Pier Sunrise or sunset both work here, with the pier, the beach and Luna Park’s old-world skyline all in one frame; the little penguins that come ashore on the nearby breakwater at dusk need a...

You do not have to leave the city to find green space and open water in Nice. Between the hillside parks, a couple of formal gardens, and 7km of coast, the outdoors is woven through the centre. Here are the calm, low-effort spots, for the proper trails see the companion hiking guide. The park on Castle Hill The Colline du Chateau is more than a viewpoint. It is a full hilltop park with shaded...

Using Antwerp as a base for Belgian day trips is easy, but a few logistics are worth knowing before you start buying tickets. Here is the practical side of ranging out from Antwerpen-Centraal. Everything leaves from one station Every train to Mechelen, Ghent, Brussels, Bruges, the coast, and Lille departs from Antwerpen-Centraal, so stay near it and each morning is a short walk rather than a tram...

Melbourne’s green spaces sit inside and just around the city itself, no day trip required. These ten are worth the detour on a city-focused visit. Royal Botanic Gardens Free to enter and home to thousands of plant species around a central lake, with a separate Aboriginal Heritage Walk offering a different way to see the same grounds. Shrine of Remembrance grounds Next door to the Botanic...

Nice is flat along the seafront but hemmed in by hills, so you can go from a level coastal stroll to a real climb without ever renting a car. These are the walks worth lacing up for, from easiest to most ambitious. Castle Hill (Colline du Chateau): the easy win The obvious first walk. A short, steady climb from Vieux Nice, or the free public lift if the heat has beaten you, gets you to a hilltop...

Trondheim is small enough that almost anywhere in the center puts you within walking distance of the cathedral, but the 3 main options each have a slightly different character. Midtbyen: the classic first-timer base Midtbyen, the historic center on its river peninsula, is where most first-time visitors end up, and for good reason. Nidaros Cathedral, the Torvet main square, museums, and shops are...

Melbourne itself is flat and built for walking rather than hiking, but the surrounding hour or two of Victoria has real trails, from easy forest paths to a genuine mountain range. Only the Dandenong Ranges are reachable by public transport, on the Metro line to Belgrave; everything else needs a car or an organised tour. None of these need technical gear, but check the weather and carry water...

Most visitors do the Promenade, the old town, and one museum, then leave. Nice rewards going one layer deeper. Here are the corners that stay quiet even in a busy summer. Rauba-Capeu, the viewpoint everyone walks past Between Port Lympia and Vieux Nice, a clifftop terrace holds a 32m WWI memorial carved straight into the rock and one of the best free views in the city, back toward Castle Hill and...

If you are basing in Ljubljana and heading out across Slovenia (the country bordering Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia, not Slovakia), the season matters more than any single festival. What is open, swimmable, or skiable changes month to month across the lakes, caves, coast, and Alps. Here is the country’s calendar as it affects day trips, with the genuine seasonal traditions worth timing...

Antwerp is compact, so no neighbourhood leaves you stranded, but the area you pick does change the trip. Here is how the main options compare, and what to weigh before booking. Compare current rooms on Booking.com . The historic centre and Grote Markt The most atmospheric base, and walking distance to almost everything worth seeing: the cathedral, Het Steen, the Scheldt quays, and the restaurants...

Old Quebec’s walls Start on top: walk a stretch of the ramparts that still ring Old Quebec, first inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, and pass through one of the four surviving gates, Saint-Louis, Saint-Jean, Kent, or Prescott. This is the only fortified city north of Mexico with its walls intact, roughly 4.6 km end to end. Chateau Frontenac and Dufferin Terrace The Chateau...

Beyond Federation Square and the MCG, Melbourne rewards a slower look. These ten spots sit just off the main circuit, mostly free, and mostly a short tram or train ride from wherever you’re already staying. AC/DC Lane Hosier Lane gets the crowds; AC/DC Lane and neighboring Duckboard Place carry just as much rotating street art with a fraction of the foot traffic. Merri Creek A quiet trail...

Surabaya packs an independence-war monument, a 1911 heritage hotel, a walk-through submarine, and two of Java’s biggest volcanoes within day-trip range. These are the 9 things worth building a Surabaya stop around. 1. Stand at Tugu Pahlawan and the 10 November Museum The 41-meter Heroes Monument, inaugurated in 1952 by President Sukarno, marks the site of the old Dutch courthouse where...

Nice runs on a seasonal rhythm, and timing a trip around one of its set-piece events changes the whole feel of the city. Here is what is worth planning for through 2026. Winter: Nice Carnival (February 11 to March 1, 2026) The Carnival is the anchor of the low season and one of the biggest in France. The 2026 edition carries the theme “Vive la Reine” (“Long live the...

Greetings and a Few Phrases Always greet with “Bonjour” (or “Bonsoir” in the evening) before asking anything, standard French retail etiquette that’s noticeably enforced in small Vieux Nice shops. “Merci” (thank you), “L’addition, s’il vous plaît” (the bill, please), and “Socca, s’il vous plaît” work fine at any...

If day trips are the whole point of your Antwerp stay, where you sleep matters more than usual, because every train to Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, Mechelen, the coast, and Lille leaves from one station. Here is how to base yourself for a week of easy day trips. Compare current rooms on Booking.com . Stay near Antwerpen-Centraal For a day-trip trip, this is the clear winner. Hotels cluster two to...

The Blue Chairs on the Promenade des Anglais The simplest, most iconic shot in the city: the Promenade’s blue chairs against the curve of the Baie des Anges. Best in the soft light of early morning or golden hour before the crowds build. The chairs were fully removed for restoration in spring 2026 and reinstalled in stages from May 2026, so confirm they’re back in place before building...

Trondheim’s sights cluster tightly around Midtbyen and the Nidelva river, so a first-timer can cover the essentials on foot in 2 to 3 days. Here are the 7 things worth building a visit around. 1. Climb into Nidaros Cathedral Nidaros Cathedral is the world’s northernmost medieval cathedral and Norway’s national sanctuary, built over the burial site of St. Olav. High-season entry...

Nice has its own kitchen, not generic “French” or even “Provencal” food but a distinct Nicoise cuisine with deep Ligurian roots, a legacy of nearly 500 years of Savoy rule before the city became French in 1860. Eat the street food first, and eat it in the old town rather than on the seafront. Socca, the one to get right Socca is a thin chickpea-flour pancake baked in a...

Melbourne’s calendar is dense enough that accommodation prices move around several fixed points each year. Here’s what to plan around, with the 2026 dates that matter. Australian Open (January) Melbourne Park hosts the year’s first tennis Grand Slam every January, and the whole city fills up around it. St Kilda Festival (February) One of the country’s largest free community...

Using Venice as a base for the Veneto works well, but the logistics are their own skill. These tips cover getting out into the region and back without wasting a day. Know your two hubs. Trains for Verona, Padua, Vicenza, Lake Garda and Ravenna all leave Venezia Santa Lucia. Buses to the Dolomites, and any rental car, start at Piazzale Roma. Both are at the same end of the city.

Nice is the unofficial capital of the French Riviera, a seafront city of roughly 340,000 people (closer to a million across the metro area), France’s fifth largest city and its second most visited destination after Paris. It earns that ranking honestly: nowhere else on this coast pairs a genuine old town with a world class modern art pedigree, a 7km curved seafront, its own Ligurian rooted...

Old Quebec is compact enough to see on foot in a couple of days, which leaves plenty of room on a longer trip for the countryside just outside the city walls. Here are the five day trips worth the drive. 1. Montmorency Falls About 15 minutes east of downtown, Montmorency Falls drops 83 meters, roughly 30 meters taller than Niagara Falls, even though Niagara carries far more water. A cable car runs...

The Beaches: Pebble, Not Sand Twenty-two free public beaches line roughly 7km of Nice’s coast, and every one of them is pebble or shingle, not sand, so bring water shoes and a proper mat rather than a thin towel. Castel, Bambou, Galion, Forum, Poincaré, Carras and Sainte-Hélène all hold Blue Flag status in 2026. Coco Beach and the Plage de la Réserve, east of the port, are quieter,...

If you are treating Venice as a base for the whole Veneto, the first real decision is whether to sleep in the lagoon at all. Staying in Venice is magical and gives you the city after the day trippers leave, but it is the most expensive option and means dragging luggage over bridges. A mainland town can be cheaper, easier and just as well connected. Here is how the main bases compare.

Antwerp gives photographers a rare mix of grand architecture, a working river, and an Art Nouveau quarter, and the day-trip towns add canals on top. Here are the strongest frames in the city and a few worth the train, with timing notes. Antwerpen-Centraal The single best interior in the city. The 1905 “spoorwegkathedraal” pairs a stone-domed waiting hall with a vast iron-and-glass...

Nice packs a genuine lived-in city and a Riviera resort into one walkable seafront, which is exactly why a first trip can feel scattered. Here is the short list that actually matters, in the order most people should tackle it. 1. Walk the Promenade des Anglais. Seven kilometers of curved seafront, free and always open, funded originally by the English winter colony in the 1820s. A 20 to 30 minute...

Melbourne’s food scene runs on multicultural neighborhoods and markets rather than one central strip, and the city’s coffee culture is a genuine point of civic pride, not just marketing. Queen Victoria Market The 1878 market is still the place to start, with produce stalls, a deli hall and the seasonal Night Markets adding food trucks and live music after dark. South Melbourne Market A...

Ljubljana packs a lot of programming into a small capital (Slovenia’s capital, not Slovakia’s), and the calendar shapes when you should visit. The single best recurring event is a food market; the summer belongs to two long-running arts festivals; and winter turns the riverbanks into one of Central Europe’s better-kept Christmas markets. Here is what runs when, so you can time a...

Mont Boron: the Best Real Hike Inside City Limits A forested hilltop park east of the port, with a 16th-century fort, Fort Alban, at its summit. The standard route from the Vigier park entrance is a moderate 1.5-2.5 hour round trip, free including parking, rewarding you with views stretching from Cap Ferrat in the east to the Esterel massif in the west, arguably a better, quieter panorama than...

Venice photographs itself, but the wider Veneto gives you landscapes, hill towns and mountains the lagoon cannot. Here are ten frames across the region, with notes on when the light works. Verona’s Arena. Shoot the Roman amphitheatre from Piazza Bra in the early evening, when the stone warms and the cafe tables fill. Opera nights add drama on the steps. Verona from Castel San Pietro. Climb...

Rauba-Capeu and the WWI Monument aux Morts A free clifftop war memorial and viewpoint wedged between the port and Vieux Nice, overlooked by most Promenade-focused visitors. Climb up for a harbor-and-sea view that costs nothing and draws none of Castle Hill’s crowds; it doubles as an underused sunset spot if you time it right. The Cemeteries Atop Castle Hill Most visitors climb Castle Hill...

Nice Carnival 2026: “Vive la Reine!” February 11 to March 1, 2026, one of the largest carnivals in the world. The 2026 edition centres a queen for the first time in its 200-plus-year history, with giant illuminated figures, up to 20m tall, depicting historical and fictional heroines including Marie Curie, Simone Veil and Joséphine Baker. Expect flower-covered floats, corsos...

The Veneto packs an unusual range of nature into one region: a great lake, alpine peaks and their mirror lakes, a huge river delta, and quiet spring-fed rivers, all reachable from a Venice base. Here are the best spots to swap the lagoon for something wilder. Lake Garda Italy’s largest lake sits at the region’s western edge, about 1 hour 15 to 1 hour 30 by train (usually via Verona)....

Melbourne’s reputation as Australia’s culture, sport and coffee capital holds up in practice. These ten things are worth building a city visit around, whether you have 2 days or a full week. Wander the laneways Start with Hosier Lane’s rotating street art, then the cafe lanes of Degraves Street and Centre Place, and AC/DC Lane’s murals. The 1892 Block Arcade has a mosaic...

The single best thing about basing yourself in Nice is that you do not need a car to see the rest of the coast. One cheap, frequent regional train line (the TER) runs right along the shore from Menton in the east to Cannes in the west, with 50-plus trains a day on the busy stretches. Rent a car and you inherit parking and traffic for no real gain. Buy train tickets instead and the whole Riviera...

Antwerp is a dense city, but it keeps more green than first-timers expect, from a formal park near the centre to a beach across the river. Here are the best green spaces to visit, most of them free, all within the city or a short hop from it. Stadspark The closest proper park to the historic centre, Stadspark is a 19th-century landscaped park with a curving pond and mature trees, a quick reset a...

Socca: the Dish Nice Built Itself Around A thin chickpea-flour pancake baked in a wood-fired oven and cut into rough wedges, served hot with black pepper. Chez Pipo, 13 Rue Bavastro in Vieux Nice near the port, has been cooking it in a 300-year-old Biot-stone oven for generations, closed Mondays, roughly 12 EUR a plate. The stalls in and around Cours Saleya do a cheaper, just as legitimate...

Venice itself is flat lagoon, but the Veneto behind it climbs fast into some of the best hiking in Italy. None of it is on the doorstep, so treat these as full day trips or, better, short overnights from the city. The Dolomites The big one. From Piazzale Roma, the bus to Cortina d’Ampezzo takes roughly 3 hours, putting you among the pale limestone peaks of the Dolomites, a UNESCO World...

Walk the Promenade des Anglais Seven free kilometers of curved seafront tracing the Baie des Anges, named for the English winter colony that funded the original 1820s walkway. The beaches lining it are pebble, not sand, bring water shoes. A 20-30 minute walk covers the central stretch; the blue chairs were fully restored in stages from May 2026 after a spring refurbishment, worth a quick check...

Melbourne’s city core easily fills 3 to 4 days on its own, but Victoria’s day-trip radius is what turns a city break into something bigger. All of the trips below run about 1 to 3 hours from the CBD, covering coast, wine country, wildlife, gold rush history and mountains. Anyone planning to build a whole trip around day trips should see our Melbourne, Australia guide , which uses this...

Land at the airport, ride one tram, and twenty minutes later you’re standing on a seafront that’s been drawing people north from Italy and south from Russia for two centuries. That’s Nice’s whole pitch in one move, and it’s a rare city that actually delivers on it. This guide stays inside the city limits on purpose; if you’re chasing Monaco, Cannes, or Eze on a...

Quebec City is the walled capital of the province of Quebec, founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain on a cliff above the St. Lawrence River. Old Quebec, the historic core, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 and remains the only fortified city north of Mexico with its ramparts still standing, roughly 4.6 km of wall and four surviving gates ringing the Upper and Lower Towns.

Beyond the day-trip headliners of Verona and Padua, the Veneto is full of quieter towns and landscapes that most Venice visitors never reach. Here are twelve worth the extra train or drive. Asolo. A hilltop town of arcaded streets and long views into the foothills, long a retreat for writers and artists, calm even in summer. Bassano del Grappa. Set on the Brenta beneath the Alps, with...