El Bulli: Cooking in Progress, a mouth-watering documentary about the Michelin-starred Spanish restaurant is available to watch here. The HD stream of the movie is available to watch on a pay-per-view basis for £3.99. The film will be available...
Category Archives: Travel
Spring walks: readers’ tips
Hedingham Castle, Essex. Photograph: Gordon Scammell/Alamy Winning tip: Hedingham Castle, Essex In the village of Castle Hedingham not only can you explore the magnificent castle but you can walk round the beautiful daffodil and bluebell-filled grounds. There are lots...
Travel news: photography tips in Andalucía and a new club for Ibiza
David Montgomery will be offering insights into image-making at a course in Andalucía. Pictured are his classic shots of Terence Stamp and Monica Vitti, and Christine Keeler. Photograph: David Montgomery/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Escapism Photographer David Montgomery, renowned for his...
Cool cottages in Derbyshire – in pictures
Orchard Cottage, Holmesfield Unlike so many so-called orchard cottages, this one (which sleeps two) does sit in its own orchard, with hens wandering among the windfalls. The interior has a mezzanine bedroom at one end and a powder-blue Rayburn...
Passport service has taken us for a ride
Readers are unhappy after using a third-party website to apply for passports. Photograph: Gary Roebuck/Alamy My girlfriend is going abroad in a month and realised yesterday that her passport had expired. She searched online for a way to renew...
Grand Canyon: readers’ tips
Witness the dramatic transformation of the Grand Canyon at sunrise Photo: Alamy This week's winning tip White Water The only way to get to know the Canyon properly is to explore it by joining a rafting trip and follow...
Balthazar: restaurant review
Pale reflections: other brasseries pip Balthazar for classics such as baked snails and crème brûlée. Photograph: Sophia Evans for the Observer 4-6 Russell Street, London WC2 (020 3301 1155). Meal for two, including wine and service: £120 Woo hoo!...
A new Amsterdam – and a new Rijksmuseum
Going Dutch: the remodelled Rijksmuseum. Photograph: Michael Kooren/Reuters At the medieval heart of Amsterdam is the Oude Kerk. The church, founded in 1213, is the city's oldest building, a stripped back Calvinist beauty with pearly light pouring through its...
Travel tips: grab some sunshine in Mykonos, stay in a stylish hostel, or book yourself in for a spa treatment
Getting the hang of it: San Giorgio hotel, Mykonos. Photograph: Angelos Zymaras/Stereosis Take me there: San Giorgio hotel, Mykonos Combining style, sunshine and liberal doses of hedonism, the San Giorgio hotel on Mykonos is the perfect antidote to this...
Pompeii is hottest ticket for British tourists fired up by new shows
Wall painting of the baker Terentius Neo and his wife, Pompeii. Photograph: British Museum Forget the Dordogne, Puglia and the sun-kissed beaches of Croatia – this year's hot summer destination for Britons has been inspired by a hit exhibition...
Restaurant: Ametsa with Arzak Instruction, London SW1
Ametsa With Arzak Instruction, London SW1: Is the food any more palatable than the name? Photograph: PR shot Above our heads are what we're told are more than 7,000 test tubes full of spices – turmeric and cumin and...
Taiwan’s Sun Moon Lake
Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan. Photograph: Getty Images/Flickr RF "Why Taiwan?" friends had asked. They were clearly imagining a giant and monstrously productive factory. Few knew much about Taiwan, or had heard of either its former name, Formosa ("beautiful" in...
Exploring Cyprus: mountain biking around the Akamas peninsula
Mountain bike riders in Cyprus. Photograph: Alamy Spring in Cyprus is usually a time for positivity: after a short, cool period the island's intense blue skies and warm temperatures return (it's 23C and sunny this weekend) and the tourist...
At The Chapel, Bruton, Somerset: hotel review
Give thanks for … At The Chapel's bar and dining area. Click on the magnifying glass icon to see a picture of one of the hotel's bedrooms Bruton seems, at first, a typical, quaint English town, with its scattering...
Spring holidays in the sun
Hot but cool … El Quseir beach, Egypt. Photograph: Alamy El Quseir, Egypt May high: 33C El Quseir, an old port city on the Red Sea, is ideal for divers who would prefer to avoid built-up Sharm el-Sheikh. There...
Taiwan: Howard Marks’ return to an old haunt
Howard Marks back in Taipei, ready to take on the city's food scene and nightlife. Background photograph of Taipei by kokoroimages.com/Getty Images/Flickr. Photomontage by GNM Imaging The seaside road was throttled by traffic heading towards Dog Temple, and cars...
Hitchhikers’ guide to the web
Hitchhiking: the traditional and the modern way. Photographs: Alamy/Corbis Car pooling is not just for commuters. Finding someone who is going your way and catching a lift is an increasingly common way to save some cash while travelling. If...
Festival radar: Off Plus Camera, Krakow, Poland
Kino Ars in Krakow, Poland, one of the venues for Off Plus Camera. Photograph: James Howard/guardian.co.uk Festival name : Off Plus Camera – International Festival of Independent Cinema Location : Krakow, Poland Website : www.offpluscamera.com Dates : annually,12-21 April...
Andalucía’s best budget beach hotels
Mojácar may have become a party town but it still has peaceful beach areas. Photograph: Alamy Hotel California, Malaga This old gem is just east of Malaga's town centre, beyond the bullring, in an avenue of once-grand villas. Playa...
Why were hotels full of retired officers?
Snifter time ... Ballard Berkeley as Major Gowen, resident of Fawlty Towers. Photograph: BBC In drama, seaside hotels are usually inhabitated by retired colonels and majors in blazers and dainty eldery ladies. Were hotels really like that up to...
Cine-files: Grand Teatret, Copenhagen
Six screens behind a period facade … the Grand Teatret. Photograph: Kevin Roe This week's Cine-files is another entry from Lorraine Simpson, who runs a monthly film discussion club in Edinburgh. Location Denmark's leading art house cinema couldn't get...
Kreuzberg: exploring the centre of counterculture Berlin
Andreas Schneider shows us Kreuzberg, home of the counterculture scene in Berlin, and once home to David Bowie. Starting from his cult synthesizer shop, Andreas takes us on a journey through a district that narrowly escaped the wrecking ball...
Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse rooftop gym transformed into art space
Park in the sky … the rooftop of Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse in Marseille. Photograph: Mamo "Welcome to my place," says Ito Morabito, perched on the balustrade of the most famous rooftop of any 20th-century building. Behind the young...
How to deal with cellulite: scrub it or forget about it
Cellulite is a subject on which I can speak with authority. Photograph: Dan Steinhardt/Science Faction I'm about to start my long-planned swimming regime. But I've got really terrible cellulite. Should I feel self-conscious about this? Kate, by email "Should"...
10 beach holiday deals: escape to the sun
A boat in Scala dei Turchi, Sicily Photograph: Alamy There was brief respite for some of us at the weekend, as the sun made a rare UK appearance. Sadly, forecasters say we have another fairly grim week ahead before...
Nick Hewer’s North African road trip
Laden cars on the red-earth roads of Guinea I am a bit of a sucker for long and potentially dangerous road trips, but there was a moment during my latest journey from London to Freetown when I wondered...
Cool cottages in the Cotswolds
The Folly, Didmarton Owned by Jo Berryman, an interior designer, the four-bedroom Folly (there’s another bedroom in an outbuilding, so it sleeps 10) looks like your classic honey-stone farmhouse. Inside, however, it’s more Olga Polizzi-meets-Tim-Burton than Old Macdonald’s farm...
UK farm B&Bs and cafe pitstops: readers’ travel tips
The Garlic Farm Shop Winning tip: The Garlic Farm, Isle of Wight Alliumphobic? Take a trip to the Garlic Farm and face your fear. The Taste Experience offers giant baked elephant garlic, breads, dips and chutneys. Visitors can take...
Valencia: a girl’s guide to the best shops, hotels and restaurants
Photo: REX Stay Hospes Palau de la Mar is a refurbished palace, mixing period features, such as a sweeping marble staircase, with ultra-modern luxuries. The rooms are white-walled with glossy dark floorboards, and there’s a spa and restaurant, too....
Country diary: Lake District: Chuffing wonderful views of Windermere and beyond
Chuffing through the Lake District: the Ravenglass to Eskdale narrow gauge railway. Photograph: Alamy Rail passengers alighting in the Lake District this Easter were greeted by golden daffodils, pale yellow primroses, bursts of purple, pink and white blossom, and...
Other Voices festival day two: Villagers and Dexys – video
As the Other Voices festival gets into its stride in Wilton's Music Hall, London, watch Villagers perform at a former power station. Meanwhile, Dylan Haskins talks to Kevin Rowland and Jim Peterson from Dexys Watch Soak, Little Bear and...
Lanzarote: readers’ tips
El Golfo Lago, Lanzarote Photo: AP This week's winning entry Be adventurous To appreciate the true character of Lanzarote, hire a car and explore the countryside, mountains, vineyards and spectacular views. Head for the undeveloped eastern coastal areas...
40 Maltby Street: restaurant review
Cultivated pallets: 40 Maltby Street, under the railway arches. Photograph: Sophia Evans for the Observer 40 Maltby Street, London SE1 (020 7237 9247). Meal for two, including wine and service: £60 Towards the end of my lunch at 40...
The top 10 sun spots to escape Britain’s endless winter
The heat is on: Levrechio beach on the island of Paxos. Photograph: Getty/Lonely Planet We can't go out at the moment, obviously, what with this tantrum of a weather, so what we do is sit on the sofa under...
Travel tips: stay in a converted tobacco factory in Tuscany, or try camping the old fashioned way
The sensitively restored La Tabaccaia on the Castelfalfi estate in Tuscany. Photograph: Nikolaj Georgiew Take me there: Castelfali, Tuscany A tobacco factory in a medieval Tuscan village has been given a new lease of life as a boutique hotel. Set...
