It is set on gently rolling hills set around a broad sandy bay. Cannes was originally a peaceful little fishing village and was “discovered” as a tourist destination by the British aristocracy in the mid-1800s.
Many of the grand and opulent 19th- and early 20th-century palace hotels on La Croisette seafront promenade hark back to those days, although now the resort is better known for the glitter of the film festival in May and as a popular watering hole for the international jet set. The compact town centre fans off from the 1¾-ml-long La Croisette, with the glitz and style falling away quickly so that, within just 100 yds of the luxurious Carlton Hotel, mass production in food, clothes and tourist accommodation takes over. Here, Cannes is a brash, youthful resort with traffic jams, beach balls, fast food and the traditional Mediterranean odours.

During peak season, Cannes can be very crowded; the resort’s resident population of around 70,000 doubles in July and August, and during the film festival. The town’s principal tourist assets beyond celebrity spotting are its beautiful beach, some enchanting winding streets in the old town and a harbour packed with gleaming luxury yachts.

Cannes also attracts a substantial number of business travellers, with the vast Palais des Festivals (Festival Hall) attracting massive trade conferences.

Cannes suits all market categories, from upmarket to backpackers, with a range of amenities to match.

Accommodation here is virtually all the grandiose monuments on La Croisette are 4-star luxury hotels but in the busy retail area behind and towards the railway station are numerous 2- and 3-star alternatives. There is around 5 miles of almost unbroken soft sand.

On La Croisette, most sections are privately owned by the grand hotels but are open to the public for a fee; these offer recliners, mattresses, sun umbrellas etc and often other amenities like a bar and restaurant.

Cannes offers plentiful water sports, but not much swimming: bathers here are more concerned with posing and people-watching. For public beaches, Midi and La Bocca to the west of the town are small, family friendly and free of charge.

La Croisette houses the chic designer boutiques and jewellers; the mass of mid-range and functional shops huddle around Rue d’Antibes while west, around Rue Meynadier, you’ll find some traditional shops offering local produce. Various markets, including an antique market at Marche Forville every Monday.

During the daytime there is a wide range of water sports (arranged at the marina at the E end of the bay) including water skiing, windsurfing, kayaking, diving and sailing. There is also facilities for beach volleyball and go-karts. There are several golf clubs, facilities for tennis and squash. For the culturally minded, numerous art galleries and museums, including an exhibition of paintings by Bellini.

The nightlife here offers several casinos and a wide selection of discos, bars and eateries; a particular buzz around La Croisette, Rue du Dr Monod and Rue St Antoine, and many venues stay open late into the evening; other entertainment focuses on the chic bars of the big hotels; variety of cinemas, offering special film seasons; bowling.

There is a wide choice of top-quality, gastronomic restaurants, mostly in the palace hotels. There are vast numbers of mid-priced restaurants around the port and more atmospheric, romantic bistros in the old town. Seafood is a popular option.

Sadly, there are drawbacks. Chamonix’s skiing does favour more advanced skiers. Beginners might feel left out. It is also disjointed, made up of a series of smaller bus-linked resorts; getting about can be a right pain if you’re without a car. It is very popular, so traffic can be terrible, while lift queues still vex the most relaxed (notably the top half of the Grands Montets cable car). It is also expensive, with shopping nearly toppling skiing as the favourite pastime, plus a lot of the skiing requires a guide (most of whom are excellent).

Even so, Chamonix is one of the great resorts, one that attracts the best skiers – people who really want to challenge themselves. It retains a special aura – one that only a few resorts in the world manage to create. If you want the thrill of pushing yourself to the limits, go to Chamonix – hang out with the pros and the bums, see some of the best skiing and boarding around and, best of all, boast to your friends about skiing on ‘real mountains’.

Chamonix forms part of a region known as Chamonix/Mont Blanc, comprising half a dozen neighbouring villages and hamlets (notably Argentiere, Les Bossons and Les Houches).

Chamonix itself was once a small village but has grown steadily as the surrounding mountains (the most famous of which is Mont Blan) attract more and more visitors. It now measures about 2 mls by ½ ml with a permanent population of around 10,000. Much of the development is sensitive to the region, although the town centre is rather commercialised, you can still conjure up its village origins in the cobbled streets of the extensive pedestrianised area around the central square. It is a popular year-round base and its size and valley location mean it can get excessively crowded in high season (Jan to March and July to Aug); it is generally quiet mid to late spring and mid to late autumn.

Locality:

Chamonix is situated in E France, 3 mls N of Mont Blanc tunnel, 20 mls N of Swiss border, 21 mls E of Megeve, 62 mls SE of Geneva (Switzerland) and its airport, 80 mls NW of Turin (Italy) and its airport. Chamonix lies roughly SW to NE along a long, fairly wide valley with high slopes on either side, many wooded at the lower levels and set far enough back to allow plenty of sunshine. Magnificent Mont Blanc towers above town.

Sophisticated and expensive, Chamonix attracts a high proportion of well-heeled visitors from USA, Japan and Europe. Plenty to keep intermediate and advanced skiers happy; not best suited to beginners.

Chamonix has a huge network of lifts but quite spread out, being on opposite sides of town. Principal lifts are the Brevent gondolas and the Aiguille du Midi cable car, which offers cross-border excursions into Courmayeur (Italy) or the 12-ml descent down the Vallee Blanche Glacier (not for the squeamish).

Some outlying villages, including Argentiere, have their own lifts. Nursery drag-lifts can be found at Le Savoy, below the Brevent peak, and at Les Planards, adjacent to the toboggan run. A number of small ski-schools exist, but the biggest is the Ecole de Ski Français (ESF); it can be found in the town centre, but instructors usually come to hotels daily to arrange classes. All have English-language instruction.

Accommodation here consists of a broad choice of hotels and equal number of rented apartments and chalets. Hotel quality and prices range widely but are well above average ( the rates often considerably higher than elsewhere in France).

Shoppers are greeted with the usual array of designer boutiques, sportswear, supermarkets and sundry souvenir retailers, mostly confined to the pedestrianised zone in the resort centre. Many other radiating roads are also closed to heavy traffic until late afternoon. Saturday morning market offering examples of local delicacies.

Entertainment and activities in the winter include a full range of winter-sports including the famous artificial luge (toboggan run); indoor sports centre; indoor and outdoor ice-rinks; sleigh rides. In summer, hiking, mountain biking, lake swimming and golf are all close by and popular.

By night the options are as simple or sophisticated as you wish with a host of bars, bistros and discos; casino for those feeling lucky; and a cinema. Local excursions consist of a half day trips to: Aiguille du Midi cable car (12,605 ft) to view Mont Blanc, eat at restaurant and visit ice tunnel; Montenvers railway to Mer de Glace (ice exhibitions and departure points for walking trails). Full day options include Martigny (art exhibitions); pretty lakeside town of Annecy; Geneva for shopping.

This area is favoured by the majority of visitors to Cuba probably because of its reputation as a “safe option”. Plenty of sun, sea, sand and water sports; the closest major resort to Havana. Lots of Italians, Spanish and Canadians.
Accommodation offers a frequently encountered mix of older properties in prime positions but past their sell-by date and newer smarter hotels farther from the centre: some, indeed, are positively isolated. Many are “all-inclusive”; others can’t make their minds up and offer both options. It is worth checking the tour operators’ brochures carefully with regard to “all-inclusive” promises, as “luxury” items such as motorised water sports and imported drinks are often excluded. More upscale resorts are cropping up towards the end of the peninsula. Generally, 3-star properties will be fairly basic, probably dated and well worn so may disappoint; 4-star is likely to be the minimum acceptable for most people other than real bargain hunters. Without fail, all hotels offer a full entertainments programme, day and night.

Locality:

Varadero is situated on the N coast, 14 mls NE of its own international airport (20 mls NE of Matanzas, the provincial capital, 10 mls NW of Cardenas, the nearest town, 87 mls E of Havana and its international airport). Though commonly referred to as a peninsula, this is in fact a long, flat island, linked to the fairly flat agricultural mainland to the S by 2 bridges towards its W end. The Atlantic Ocean lies on the island’s N shore, and Cardenas Bay on its S shore.

Tempting though it would be not to leave the resort, there are several excursions that are available, including a visit to swim with dolphins. The Delfinario has several dolphin shows a day and the dolphins are kept in a natural setting, rather than a constructed theme park as found in similar attractions around the world.

Another must is the day trip to Havana. Havana is known for its vibrant atmosphere, street life, crumbling baroque architecture and the amazing classic cars that seem to keep going despite the odds. Old Havana has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982 and it’s the part of the city that tourists really want to see.

Cuba’s privileged geographic position, it’s broad continental shelf (70.000 square kilometers, with edges almost totally covered by carefully preserved coral reeves), and its crystal clear waters (underwater horizontal visibility of 30 meters, or 98 feet, and tempatures usually higher than 24 Centigrade) make the island an ideal site for diving and snorkling.

The Rumbos Tourism and Recreation Group runs a dolphin sea-quarium that is located 11 km of the Autopista del Sur (the highway connecting Matanzas city with Varadero) and which, in addition to three daily shows, offers the oppertunity of swimming with these graceful, harmless sea mammels. And the Gaviota Marina includes in some of it optional programs a visit to Rancho Cangrejo, on the bay of Cardenas, where the visitor can also enjoy a swim with dolphins.

So even though most hotels have party halls, piano bars, and excellent tourist animation programs, a cheerful, excited crowd can be seen filling the night places, something that the visitor is encouraged to also do.

When the evening comes, the look and the pace of Varadero change, and the more than one hundred exciting discotheques, bars, and night clubs open for the enjoyment of those in search of good time out. So even though most hotels have party halls, piano bars, and excellent tourist animation programs, a cheerful, excited crowd can be seen filling the night places, something that the visitor is encouraged to also do.

In town, the small shopping centre opposite Cuatro Palmas Hotel is as good as it gets, with half a dozen shops and a bar. Out of town the overpriced Plaza las Americas centre between the Melia hotels is a little bigger, with a couple of European designer clothes boutiques and a supermarket stocked with foreign produce, but will not set shopoholics’ pulses racing. Other local shops may have the necessities but little else. Several tourist markets in town for T-shirts, handicrafts, hats and general tat. Cigars (see our comments in the Havana resort description) and rum are the things to buy.

With its 21-kilometre strip of dazzling white sand overlooking the northern coral reef, Santa Lucia is well known for the quality and variety of its dive sites, with romantic names such as Valentina and Poseidon. Hotels and resorts dot the island, which is connected to the mainland by a causeway.
Dating back to 1514, Camaguey has been wiped out several times by battles and pirates (led by Henry Morgan). When it was rebuilt, its streets became a labyrinth, as if to confuse any future invaders. Today, these winding streets lined with rainbow-coloured houses are a delightful treat.

Santa Lucia is for those mainly those seeking sun, sea, sand and an escapist holiday, but the reef attracts serious scuba divers.

A handful of low-rise hotels all in a line on the beach. Mostly “all-inclusive”.

Locality:

Santa Lucia is located on the N coast of Cuba, 400 mls SE of Havana, 70 mls NE of Camaguey (Cuba’s third largest city and nearest major airport). Santa Lucia has its own small airstrip, 3 mls E. The area is set on a NE-facing strip of flat, featureless coast backed by a brackish lagoon and facing the world’s second largest coral reef.

The area is haven for beaches and scuba diving attracting mostly those after a secluded type vacation.

A couple of local eateries are in the area, 1 fast-food joint, plus a la carte restaurants in some hotels. Lobster and other seafood at Coco Beach. Food everywhere in Cuba is restricted in choice and often of comparatively poor quality, so it is definitely not a destination for gourmets.

During the daytime activities are mainly beach orientated plus snorkelling, diving and various water sports, including jet-ski. The area also has horse riding.

Hotels all provide comprehensive activities programmes for those so inclined.

The nightlife consists of open-air and enclosed discos. A few local bars. All hotels provide evening shows, cabarets and entertainment.

Popular attractions include:

Parque Ignacio Agramonte : At the centre of this colonial “town square” stands the statue of hero Ignacio Agramonte on horseback. It was sculpted in 1912 by Buemi.

La Merced Church : Restoration has begun in this magnificent 18th-century church with its decorated ceiling and statue of Jesus. In the church, art work commemorates the death of a villager in a duel.

This area suits real escapists seeking tropical-island solitude, bird-watchers, those with committed eco-interests and scuba-divers. Also popular with honeymooners. Although Cayo Coco island covers around 230 sq mls in total, the resort area is concentrated midway along the north east coast and, unless possessing a special interest, there is little to tempt the tourist away from the superb beach and hotel amenities. Apart from pockets of development, the terrain is flat and sandy with lagoons and mangrove swamps.

The island does have the largest flamingo colony in Cuba as well as lots of other migrating and resident birds and, if you look really hard, you may see an iguana; but cattle, goats and horses are more common, often wandering in the road.

The accommodation here is mainly self-contained all-inclusive hotel complexes, all of a similar category. Check the tour-operator’s brochure carefully with regard to “all-inclusive” promises as “luxury” items like imported drinks and motorised water sports are often excluded.

There is 17 mls of archetypal Caribbean beaches of near-white, fine coral sand sloping very gently into warm, clear water. 2½-ml-long Playa Pilar on Guillermo boasts the highest dunes in the Caribbean.

There is no shopping outside what is on offer in the hotels themselves.

During the daytime the activities are almost exclusively beach-based activities with virtually every water sport imaginable, there is scuba diving at a dozen or more offshore reefs. Great area for bird-watching, and there is also the El Bago Nature Park.

The nightlife here offers nothing outside the hotels which offer full entertainment programmes.

For food there are a few options including a local restaurant in a cave which caters for tourist parties, there is a handful of barbecue bars but otherwise it’s the hotels again. Locally caught shellfish are well worth trying. Food everywhere in Cuba is restricted in choice and often of comparatively poor quality, definitely not a destination for gourmets.

To Columbus it was also the best: he called it “the most beautiful land yet seen by human eye”. Cuba means different things to different people. For some, the name stands for revolution and communism, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. For others, it conjures up retro images of 1950s American cars and glamorous cocktail bars.

The island’s history as a haven for gangsters and gamblers has given it a reputation as a macho country – think Ernest Hemingway, deep sea fishing and dusky maidens rolling cigars on their thighs. And then there’s its colonial heritage: all those crumbling Spanish buildings and sugar plantations.

In the 1990s Cuba suddenly found itself musical flavour of the month, thanks to the success of the Buena Vista Social Club film and CD. Now it has really taken off as a sunny beach destination, with brochures raving about its idyllic silver sands, swaying palms and turquoise seas, as glorious as any in the Caribbean.

The truth is that you can find a bit of all those things – and more besides. One of the most fascinating things about Cuba is its people. A blend of races and cultures, African, Asian, and European, they’re friendly, easy-going and welcoming, despite the fact that rationing and restrictions are a constant part of their lives.

The Cubans’ love of music is legendary, and many towns have a regular weekly party night, when everyone gathers in the streets to eat, dance and make merry.

The towns themselves have kept most of their beautiful old buildings (mainly, it has to be said, because there weren’t enough funds to knock them down and build new ones), and many of them are now being renovated from their former crumbling, dilapidated state. The faces and facades alone make for a photographer’s dream.

Outside the cities the attractions are just as appealing. Hikers can trek through beautiful mountain ranges covered in tropical forest. Ornithologists will be drawn to the marshes and mangroves of the Zapata peninsula, home to more than 160 species of bird.

Snorkellers and scuba divers are lured by the coral reefs that surround most of the island, attracting a wide variety of fish, in perfect viewing conditions.

There are two main peaks, Ol Donyo Lesatima (3,999m) and Kinangop (3,906m) separated by a long saddle of alpine moorland at over 3,000m. From 1947 to 1956, the misty and rainy forests in the range served as a hide for the Mau-Mau guerrilla. The park was gazetted in 1950 with an extension of 584 km², but was afterwards enlarged to 770 km², making it the third largest park in the country.

The park is the highest in all Africa, since most of the plateau is located above an altitude of 3,000 m. The highest peaks in the park are the Kinangop, with 3,906 m, and the Oldonyo Lesatima, “the mountain of the young bull” in the Maa language of the Maasai, with 4,001 m. The landscape is dominated by deeply foggy rain forest, which confers the park a fairyland atmosphere.

Trouts breed in the mountain streams, that burst down spectacular waterfalls, like the Keruru Kahuru of 270 m and the Gura of 240 m in the South area, or the Chania Falls in the central sector of the park. Due to the high humidity, the tracks crossing the park are muddy for a large part of the year.

Aberdare contains a rich botanic wealth, a mixture of equatorial exuberance and alpine vegetation. Above the 2,000 m level, the rain forest gives way to the bamboo jungles, that at 3,000 m become mountain prairies in which groundsel and giant lobelias grow high.

Locality:

The Aberdare range, 160 km long, is located in the Central Highlands, Central Province, west of Mount Kenya and north of Nairobi, serving as the Kenyan Rift Valley’s east wall. The national park comprises a longitudinal strip from south to north, with a projection toward the east denominated The Salient, that runs down to an altitude of 2,130 m, near the town of Nyeri. The Salient has its origin in an ancient migratory route of elephants between the range and Mount Kenya.

Attractions include the Lesatima peak, Kinangop peak, waterfalls, walks in the moorlands, Twin hills, Elephant hills and Table mountains. A variety of animals will be seen & most notibly Elephants, and black rhinos. The Kimathi Hideout and Night viewing of wildlife at the Ark & Treetops are also popular.

The centre has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it demands to be explored on foot, an entire outdoor museum of history and a haphazard mixture of splendid architecture. The city’s cultural scene also features high on the list of things to do in Prague, with classical music concerts, opera and ballet, as well as the many art galleries around the city. It is constantly adding small new museums to its summertime list, often strange but curiously interesting. This beautiful city, a ‘symphony in stone’, built along the river and on the surrounding hills, has never ceased to capture the hearts and imagination of visitors, painters, photographers and poets.

The fairy-tale beauty of Bohemia’s historical capital, locked away for 40 years by the communist regime, returned to enchant the world and became the must-go destination for European city-hoppers in the 1990s.

Perfectly preserved, untouched by development and now benefiting from a free economy buoyed by the traveller’s pound, Prague combines a lively, youthful energy with one of the most historic and atmospheric settings in the world.

Locality:

The capital of the Czech Republic since 1993, Prague lies on the banks of the Vltava River, its mediaeval centre dominated by the 1100-year-old castle of Prazsky hrad.

Prague Castle Prince Borivoj founded Slavonic Fortress Prague – predecessor of today Prague Castle, in 9th century. In the 12th century the Prague castle was re-built to stone Romanesque castle, which contained Church of Our Lady, Episcopal building with chapel of Saint Moritz, rotunda of Saint Vitus, Saint George’s Basilica with monastery and Royal palace.

Prague is a beautiful, sensuous city. This stunning capital of the Czech Republic has become increasingly popular with tourists, and now easily rates among Europe’s most romantic city-break destinations. Its architecture is remarkably diverse and much of it was miraculously undamaged by World War II. Thus, intriguing architectural details and façades can be found on every corner, which makes strolling through Prague’s winding, cobbled streets wonderfully intoxicating.

Some of the best views over Prague are from the famous Charles Bridge – the spot visitors generally remember most after a visit to Prague. Built in the 14th Century and lined on both sides with intriguing black statues, it offers splendid views out over the river and up toward the Castle (especially at night when the castle is floodlit), as well as towards the Mala Strana, the Stare Mesto and the Nove Mesto. Serving as one of the city’s focal points, the bridge always has plenty to amuse, from street performers to students strumming guitars.

Stare Mesto (the Old Town) is full of drinking establishments, cinemas and galleries. It’s a very disorienting area but there are certain landmarks to head for, such as the Old Town Square . The square is home to the 500-year-old Astronomical Clock (the figures of the apostles that pop in and out of it on the stroke of each hour are a popular sight with tourists), the Old Town Hall , partly destroyed by the Nazis in 1945, and the lovely Church of St. Nicholas.