France
Paris
A city built for walking, where the distance between two landmarks is usually shorter than the metro ride between them.
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Find your next unforgettable trip.
Discover remarkable places, inspiring stays and unforgettable experiences — with the practical information you need to actually plan the journey.
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Popular destinations
Places worth the journey
Cities and countries we have covered properly — not a list of everywhere, a list of somewhere.
How this works
We write the page we wanted to find.
Every destination here was researched before it was published — when to go, what is genuinely worth the time, and what quietly is not. Where a booking link helps, it is there. Where it would not, it is not.
Photograph: Tania Lyahnovich / Unsplash
Best things to do
Worth building a day around
Landmarks, museums and walks that repay the queue — with notes on when to arrive and what to book ahead.
Barcelona
Sagrada Familia
Gaudi's basilica, under construction since 1882 and still unfinished.
About 2 hours
Rome
The Colosseum
The largest amphitheatre ever built, completed in AD 80 under the emperor Titus.
About 2 hours
Paris
The Louvre
The largest art museum in the world, in a former royal palace on the Right Bank.
About 3 hours
Paris
Musee d Orsay
Impressionist and post-Impressionist collections in a converted Beaux-Arts railway station.
About 2 hours
Tokyo
Senso-ji
Tokyo's oldest temple, founded in 645, at the end of the Nakamise shopping street in Asakusa.
About an hour
Rome
Vatican Museums
Papal collections spanning classical sculpture to the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
About 3 hours
Travel guides
Read before you book
Long-form writing on getting a trip right: what to reserve weeks ahead, what to leave open, and when to go at all.
City breaks
Three days in Paris without queueing for everything
A route that front-loads the timed-entry sights and leaves the walking for when the crowds arrive.
8 min read
Food & drink
How to eat well in Rome without ending up on a tourist menu
The rules are simple, well known to Romans, and reliably filter out the places built for people passing through once.
7 min read
Itineraries
Getting around Japan by train
What the rail pass actually covers, when it is worth buying, and how the IC card fits in.
9 min read
Budget travel
Shoulder season in southern Europe
Late spring and early autumn are cheaper, quieter and in most cases simply more pleasant than the summer peak.
6 min read
Where should you go next?
Paris or Rome?
Two cities side by side, on the things we actually know about them.
France
Paris
A city built for walking, where the distance between two landmarks is usually shorter than the metro ride between them.
Italy
Rome
Antiquity, baroque and espresso stacked directly on top of one another, within a centre small enough to walk.
- France
- Country
- Italy
- April to June, then September to October. August empties of Parisians and fills with queues.
- Best time to visit
- April, May, September and October. Avoid mid-August, when the heat peaks and much of the city closes.
- PAR
- Airport
- ROM
Getting there
Flights for your next trip
Route guides on journey times, which airport to use — and when the train is quietly the better call.
Start planning
Where will you go next?
Every destination here has been researched properly — when to go, what is worth your time, and what quietly is not.