Travel Lightbulb

Having spent most of the summer on the beach myself (yes, I'm a lucky girl!), I found some new research about the costs of beaches very interesting. TravelBird's Beach price index ranks over 300 beaches around the world on the cost of spending one day at each.  Vietnam After pricing five essentials (sun cream; water; beer; lunch, and an ice cream) they ranked them to give holidaymakers the information they may want before booking a holiday. The most affordable beaches in the world are in Vietnam, while the most expensive were found in Norway.  Norway The bit that interested me most about the research though, was the beaches in the UK. I sometimes feel for families who stay at home to holiday in the British Isles, but end up spending more money than if they'd gone out of the country to holiday. For instance, the research revealed that the UK's most expensive beach is Priory Bay on the Isle of Wight.  Priory Bay, Isle of Wight So where is the chea...

I started my travel blog to bring some of the wonderful off the beaten track places I've discovered on my travels to other people, and I've recently found someone else who loves doing a similar thing! Vanessa Grail is a London girl who moved to Paris, and has written a book, 'Don't be a tourist in Paris'. The book gives readers some brilliant insider tips, and Vanessa shares her ideas of how to avoid the tourist traps and uncover the real Paris. Below are just a few of my favourite ideas from the book. Old artist studio in Musée de Montmartre  Montmartre is one of my favourite places to visit in Paris, but I had never heard of the Musée de Montmartre. It's inside the oldest building in the area and one of the old artists studios as been restored so you can imagine how it felt for the likes of Renoir to sit and paint in the French capital.  Le Refuge de Fondues, restaurant  So what about eating off the beaten track? Vanessa writes about Le Re...

I know plenty of people who love Italy with its stunning scenery and delicious food, but many of them have never ventured to Sicily, and that's the place I'm featuring on my blog today. Cefalù is a charming fishing town on the northern coast of Sicily, just a forty five minute drive from the island's capital, Palermo.  It's set against a dramatic backdrop of craggy mountains, and is the perfect size to wander round for a week or two and not get bored. If you're looking for the glamour of the Amalfi Coast, then this might not be for you, as it's wonderfully rustic. However if you fancy a change from that glamour, which almost always comes at a cost, then I can't recommend Cefalù highly enough. As well as having a fabulous beach (a great place to watch the fabulous sunsets); the town has lovely little winding medieval streets, a beautiful cathedral and some superb restaurants. The cathedral has some lovely little cafes around it and it's ...

As a proud Edinburgher, it wouldn't be right to blog today without mentioning the fabulous festivals that get underway in Scotland's capital city. The Edinburgh International Festival celebrates its 70th birthday in 2017, and was founded to foster a "flowering of the human spirit" after the second world war.  I don't think anyone realised just how successful it would go on to become. To mark the anniversary, this year's events are expected to be bigger and better than ever, with a grand opening party, and ending with the usual fireworks spectacular over the castle. It's not just the International Festival that runs this month, the hugely popular festival fringe is also on during August, as is the book festival. While you need tickets for the main events, the city is awash with entertainment during August, and you can watch plenty of fantastic street acts running the length of the Royal Mile, and by the city's art galleries on The Moun...