Huw Oliver

There are good restaurants to be found just about everywhere you look. Travel 30 minutes from your front door and I guarantee you’ll stumble on at least one brilliant mom-and-pop operation quietly going about its business, serving honest and delicious plates of food. Making a list like this – a round-up of the very best restaurants in the UK – is difficult because there are simply too many to choose from. There are good spots dotted all across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland working tirelessly to create dishes that will, yes, fill you up but also provide you with napkin-stained memories that you can carry with you for the rest of your life. This list is about those places. These aren’t the 15 best restaurants in the UK, but they are 15 of the best restaurants in the UK. Eat up.  RECOMMENDED: The best things to do in the UK

If you’re after a quaint, picture-postcard foil to gritty, cosmopolitan Glasgow, you’re in the right place. This edifying city may be less cool, but it’s no less fun – especially when the centre is transformed during August’s Fringe season. Because visitor footfall is so immense at peak times, it can be hard choosing where to stay, and options may be limited, of course. So to help out, here’s our pick of the absolute best hotels in Edinburgh.  Many live up to the Scottish capital’s history and innate sense of drama. There are some in historic buildings, with suites stuffed with antiques, rooms designed to the hilt and views to swoon over; others have spas attached; others have Michelin-starred restaurants and bars. Heck, Prestonfield House even has its own parkland. We say treat yourself – but do get out and explore the city while you’re here.  Looking for Fringe inspiration?  Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022: the ultimate guide The best jokes and one-liners ever told at the Edinburgh Fringe This article includes affiliate links. These links have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, click here.

Without meaning to state the obvious, Paris is a big city. Very, very big. Where to stay in Paris? That could well be the million Euro question, although that might be somewhat of an overreaction as we’re about to dissect the best parts of the city for your benefit. Every option in Paris seems like a good one, but it is undeniable that some neighbourhoods are better than others when it comes to restaurants, others for bars, nightlife, shopping, history and all the rest. The French capital is a collection of towns within a city, a very big city (did we mention that?), and these are the best places to stay in Paris. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to the best hotels in Paris

For a small city, Oxford packs some serious cultural punch with its museums rivalling anything you might find in London. Best of all, many are free to visit and all are within walking distance of each other, so put on some comfy shoes and dive right in. Take in some Ming dynasty pottery and pre-Raphaelite masterpieces at the Ashmolean, North African astrolabes and the original penicillin culture at the Museum of Science, or tribal tattoo kits and a Siberian Shaman’s apron at the Pitt Rivers. You’ll also find a homage to childhood wonder at the Story Museum and work by some of the world’s leading artists at Modern Art Oxford. Of course, there’s far more to the city than its museums. Just check out our pick of the best things to do in Oxford, and when you’re in need of a reboot, we’ve also got top tips for the best restaurants in Oxford. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to the best things to do in Oxford

Oxford’s culinary credentials have come a long way in the last few years with a host of new bistros and restaurants ramping up its reputation for eating out. You can feast on Tibetan momos, Slovak goulash and Keralan curries, all finely spiced and served to perfection, or opt for heavyweight haute cuisine from master chef Raymond Blanc. The best restaurants in Oxford aren’t all expensive either; with a sizeable student population, you can easily dine exceptionally well on a tight budget. And while there’s plenty of choice in the city centre, some of the city’s most interesting new foodie venues make it well worth venturing to Cowley, Headington or Summertown. After a day checking out the best things to do in Oxford, scroll down for a handy guide to the city’s hottest tables.

Sure, Cambridge is known the world over for its architecture, its natural beauty and, obvs, its community of boffins. But did you know it’s also a foodie hotspot? Once you’re done punting down the Cam or pitching your way through the rooms of the Fitzwilliam, Cambridge has plenty of top-notch restaurants to choose from.   Whether you’re in the mood for Italian pasta, Middle Eastern falafel or just some quintessentially English grub, Cambridge’s culinary choices boast fabulous scope and diversity. For when you’re done ticking off everything on our list of the city’s best things to do, here are all the refuel options you’ll need: the best restaurants in Cambridge right now.

Despite what they say, Italy can never truly be done. How could it be? From the top to the bottom, this famous country is packed with iconic cities, gorgeous towns and villages, incredible beaches and all the rest. The food? Yeah, you know about that. Italy is the sort of place that offers idyllic beach breaks one year and rural vineyard holidays the next. To paraphrase a millennial concept, Italy is a country that does both.  It can be overwhelming, choice often is. Put simply, these are the best places to visit in Italy right now. Safe travels, and buone vacanze!  Discover Italy: 🇮🇹 The best things to do in Italy🏨 Stunning hotels in Italy😍 Italy’s most beautiful villages and towns🏖️ Brilliant beaches in Italy to visit right now

Every year, we quiz thousands of city-dwellers worldwide about life in their hometown right now. We want to know about the restaurant scene and the bar circuit. The theatre and the art galleries. The nightlife and the dating apps. What the neighbours are like and which neighbourhoods are actually cool. The idea is to create a global snapshot of city living, and point people in the direction of the places locals are really raving about. And now... the results of the Time Out Index 2022 are in! As ever, we’ve crunched all that data and used it to come up with our annual ranking of the world’s greatest cities. For the past two years, the list has focused on how cities pulled together through the pandemic and made life (just about) tolerable during lockdowns. But now, after two years of travel curbs, the world is opening up again, and we – like you – are itching to get back out there. So while things like community spirit and resilience were two of the most important factors last year, in 2022 we’ve added extra weight to the things that make cities great places to visit as well as to live. Our top cities this year are the ones with thriving nightlife, amazing food and drink, and art, culture and museums galore. We’ve highlighted places that aren’t boring or overly expensive or overrated, and we’ve ensured that our top picks also score well for practical stuff like walkability, good public transport and safety, as well as sustainability. We’ve also tapped into our global network o

Italy is beautiful. We all know this, right? The glamour of Rome, Venice, Florence and the rest is well documented. The cities of this stunning country get plenty of attention, but the most beautiful towns and villages in Italy are this country at its very best. Pretty much all the choices are great, but some are greater than others.  Fortunately, the excellent ‘I Borghi Più Belli d’Italia’ (Italy’s Most Beautiful Towns) publishes an official list of Italy’s most special places with fewer than 15,000 inhabitants, a club of quality over quantity, all killer, no filler. They are all magnificent, but these 10 deserve special mention.

If you’re new to Edinburgh, it can be hard to know where to start. From a castle in the middle of the city to a palace a mere mile away, it can feel like there’s something worth exploring everywhere you turn. Even for locals, it’s sometimes easy to forget exactly what’s on your doorstep, whether it’s museums and art galleries packed with history, penguin parades or tea with waterfront views. So here’s our pick of the best attractions in Edinburgh – whether you’re a first-time visitor or if you’ve lived here all your life. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to the best things to do in Edinburgh This article includes affiliate links. These links have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, click here.

There are fascinating stories and anecdotes in every nook and cranny of Edinburgh but the city’s museums, attractions and galleries do a fine job of bringing all of this knowledge together. Whether you’re looking for tidbits about local legends or inspiring tales of innovation, you’ll be sure to find something to keep your interest piqued. Some institutions will teach you about topics like science, nature and geography but elsewhere in the city, there are museums dedicated to everything from harpsichords and childhood toys to optical illusions and medical artefacts. If you’re ready to do some learning, here’s our pick of the best museums in Edinburgh. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to the best things to do in Edinburgh

No matter your preferred museum genre, you’ll find something in Stockholm. Do you want to immerse yourself in the grand history of a fascinating museum? Sure, history can be heavy now and then, so maybe some incredible art is on the schedule? Okay, fine, we’ll meet you at the ABBA Museum to celebrate the magic of harmony and melody. The best museums in Stockholm come in all shapes, sizes and styles.But what else would you expect from the Swedish capital? Stockholm is one of the most impressive cities in Europe, after all, a buzzing hive of activity with brilliant restaurants and exciting bars around every corner. The museums are right up there with the best.  

What do you think the path to heaven looks like? A cobbled alleyway lined with smiling pals, past and present? A technicolour highway fringed with waving Maneki-neko cats? A cool, alluringly lit staircase filled with bottles of only the nicest wines? Maybe. Just maybe. Because in this new dining space at the top of a pub in Fitzrovia, you’ll find just that, opposite the toilet. Head down the corridor, tipsy, mid-meal, and you’ll feel almost like you’re about to ascend to the promised land. The charcuterie platter: moreish, every last bit Much else about this place is dreamy. It helps, of course, that the food is excellent. It’s no surprise when the kitchen is led by chef James Knappett, who’s known for running two Michelin star restaurant Kitchen Table. The food is less fancy chef’s counter diner experience and more top-shelf pub grub. The charcuterie platter: moreish, every last bit. The juniper steelhead smoked trout: an abundance of flavours, perfectly matched. The Cornish lemon sole with brown shrimp and mussels: just the right amount of buttery. The steak tournedos rossini: three layers of brown that don’t look like much but taste formidable, so good in fact that you can almost forgive yourself for accidentally ordering foie gras. Any place that prides itself on serving up ‘the best of British’ is inherently a bit annoying, but these lot smash it.   And these lot, it turns out, are a friendly bunch. And they’re super-attentive to annoying things like a coeliac coming in

If you’ve ever floundered when asked to tell a joke off the cuff, you’ll feel Roman’s pain. Except he has it much worse. He has to weave an entire story. All night long. Surrounded by 200 jeering prisoners nicknamed things like ‘Half-Mad’ and ‘Petrol’. Not ideal.The real name of this new arrival isn’t Roman – that’s the title assigned to him by the Dangôro, named Blackbeard, the supreme master who rules over this prison in the Ivorian rainforest. It’s a place of superstition and folklore, evocatively captured by Philippe Lacôte in this meandering movie which blends myth and reality, fact and fiction, with a generous sprinkling of song and dance.A guard describes the place as the ‘only prison in the world run by an inmate’, but the real power in Night of the Kings lies in their beliefs. One is that whenever the leader falls ill, he must kill himself. Another, which Blackbeard (Steve Tientcheu, playing a frailer version of his mayor in Les Misérables) uses to distract rival factions vying to topple him, is that whoever he assigns as Roman must tell a story that lasts the duration of the red moon. If he doesn’t, he dies too.So the basis of this story is another story: the ruminations of this young kid (Koné Bakary, fear and anxiety welling in his eyes), whose real name we never find out. Through his narrative, we learn of the period when royals still reigned over the Côte d’Ivoire. The civil war that shook the country in the mid-2000s. And a certain gangster called Zama King.Wit

What does the colour pink mean to you? Forced femininity? Rose-tinted positivity? For Sylwia (Magdalena Koleśnik, magnetic), it’s both. She’s a fitness influencer and wears a lot of the stuff. In bougie Warsaw, her job gets her loads of freebies. Through her videos, TV appearances and workout demonstrations, she remains poised and professional. Occasionally she feels liked – but she wants to be loved. Her eyes betray anxiety and unhappiness. Loneliness, too. Sweat, assuredly helmed by writer-director Magnus von Horn, follows Sylwia in the build-up to a chat show interview. By the end, she’s hit breaking point. She’s misunderstood by family. Misunderstood by her 600,000 followers. Misunderstood by men. And then there’s the small matter of the stalker parked by her flat. As she tells her family, there’s a dark side to what she does. There are good days and there are bad days. But the cleverest thing? The film also poses the question: is she really so unhappy, or is that a performance too? Von Horn’s second feature is a sharp critique of the influencing world and the nefarious impact it can have on its practitioners. It could so easily have been patronising, but it feels honest. The direction is sharp, the camerawork in-your-face, and the lilting synth score by Piotr Kurek recalls Drive – as do Sylwia’s neon outfits. And through it all, Koleśnik gives a remarkable performance that nails the public/private schism at the heart of Instagram celebrity. In UK cinemas and streaming on

Danger has many flavours in Those Who Wish Me Dead. Ferocious fires rage across the Montana wilderness. So do nightmarish storms. And most unsettlingly of all, so do two damn suave assassins: an unlikely duo, played by Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult, who’ve been charged with hushing up a big political corruption case.Unhappily for the protagonists in this impressively silly yet gripping western thriller, they will slay pretty much anyone who gets in their way. That even applies to Connor (Finn Little), a wise-for-his-years kid whose dad is a forensic accountant. He knows stuff he shouldn’t. They flee to the forests, Connor ends up lost and alone. And then, fortuitously, running along a creek, he meets Hannah (a fierce, assured Angelina Jolie), a ‘smoke-jumping’ firefighter who surveys the picturesque woodland from her watchtower.It’s immediately apparent she is traumatised by a recent blaze. She blames herself for failing to save three boys who were caught up in it. And so – with pacy, stylish direction from Taylor Sheridan (Sicario, Hell or High Water), who also co-wrote the script with author Michael Koryta – Those Who Wish Me Dead tracks Hannah’s attempts to save this other young kid. Ridden with flashbacks and with a punchy orchestral score, it’s a thoroughly improbable story of her internal redemption. And it’s largely pretty great.The plot abounds in ridiculousness. Twice – twice! – Hannah is struck by lightning. For some reason, the assassins start a forest fire thems

The Place Charles Dullin, in the lower reaches of Montmartre, is one of those Parisian squares that is always so damn busy it feels like its own self-contained world. People come and go, kids hang, there’s always a spot waiting for you at the café-terrace. This sprawling quartier acts as the stage for Suzanne Lindon’s debut feature Spring Blossom: an age-gap romance that sweeps you up in the joys and disillusions of youth.Making us all feel like underachievers, 21-year-old Lindon (daughter of actors Sandrine Kiberlain and Vincent Lindon) directs in a confident and cheerily brisk style – while also playing a version of her 16-year-old self. This Suzanne is bored. She doesn’t fit in at parties, the conversation is crap. Her parents (Florence Viala and Frédéric Pierrot, particularly loveable) are a little too sweet. Everything – and everyone – is embarrassing. Then she meets an actor at the local theatre, Raphaël (a moody and rugged Arnaud Valois), who somehow seems just as fed up with his lot. He’s 35, which makes their liaison questionable, but the film avoids overt sexuality in favour of simple emotions that make you long for the fun and freedom of early adulthood. It helps that everything is seen from her perspective. She’s fleetingly enamoured. Who is this bloke with a motorbike who parks up outside the theatre? She engineers another accidental meeting. And another. Their affinity is their ennui, the sense that their life is on pause – even if it isn’t, really. Creepiness s

This short is a starburst of immaculate Almodóvar. The emotions are big and histrionic. Alberto Iglesias’s soundtrack is punchy and opulent. The set is drenched in rich, kaleidoscopic colour. The Human Voice is the Spanish director’s first English-language film and you’ll inevitably go away yearning for more as soon as the half hour is up.An outlandishly attired actress (Tilda Swinton) is pacing about her apartment. She’s on the phone to her lover, who has now eloped with another woman. The movie, ‘freely based’ on the play of the same name by Jean Cocteau (also an inspiration for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), follows that conversation through despair and anger and indifference before finally reaching some form of muddied closure. She monologues on their relationship, her career, her morbid fear of knives. They appear to speak for hours. The film dips in and out, showing her journey from meltdown to catharsis. But what does she do? What does she say? And what does she simply think? The woman readily admits that much of what she tells him is made up. Maybe some of the things we see – the pills, her swinging a literal axe into a suit he’s left behind – are made up too. Pedro Almodóvar makes The Human Voice a comment on artifice and theatricality: Swinton’s glances break the fourth wall and the woman’s technicolour flat, it transpires, is a soundstage in a film studio. We say – and see – unreal things in the throes of heartbreak. Swinton acts out this idea perfectl

That night by the fire. Wine, giggles – then what happened? He seemed sweet. She knew him well. It must have been a drunken slip-up. And just like that, rape-revenge horror Violation dexterously exaggerates and exposes your prejudices before summarily dismantling them. The aftermath is unforgettably brutal. You actually see the act of revenge before you see what triggered it; the two events are woven together in a muddle of memory. This daring and disturbing debut, by Canadian directing duo Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli, cuts back and forth between the night of trauma and the subsequent dismemberment, exsanguination and burning of the perpetrator. Perhaps that’s why you didn’t necessarily side with Miriam (played by Sims-Fewer, fantastically physical and ambiguous) in the first place.There is little plot to follow, instead a complex jumble of flashbacks – you’re processing that night just as she is. Miriam and husband Caleb (Obi Abili) were visiting her younger sister Greta (Anna Maguire) and brother-in-law Dylan (Jesse LaVercombe). The former relationship is tired; the latter fizzes with sexual energy. But then, one night, Miriam and Dylan – long-time friends – teeter on the edge of something else too. While the rape scene is suggestive rather than explicit, the ensuing violence is anything but. The attacker is stripped, beaten and strung up – a rare reversal of horror’s typical gender roles. She even grinds his bones and sprinkles it in ice cream. (A darkly com

This is a story ostensibly about a love affair, but really just about Hélène (Laetitia Dosch), a divorced lecturer from Paris who is lost in infatuation. It’s a subtle and exquisite performance. The object of her desire is Alexandre (ballet star Sergei Polunin), a Russian diplomat and hunk with little substance beyond being able to explain the provenance of his tattoos. They couldn’t be more different. And yet this imbalance enhances the film’s central message. He likes fast cars, Putin and Dior suits. She likes the seventeenth-century English playwright Aphra Behn. But still, they are together – secretly, on snatched afternoons, consumed by their thirst. Particularly her. In one scene she goes to the cinema to see Hiroshima Mon Amour, Alain Resnais’s French new wave classic. Not a fan. It’s a male fantasy run wild, she says, the camera lingering far too long on a beautiful, lusted-after woman. And so here is another kind of film, based on the 1991 autofictional work by Annie Ernaux, in which the female gaze gets sumptuous free rein. Directed by Danielle Arbid (Parisienne), Simple Passion brims with close-ups: cheeks, ears, thighs. Time appears to slow as the camera observes Alex hazily, blearily, just as she does. There are many intense sex scenes. These are candid, realistic, unglamorous. And their relationship goes no deeper than that. They rarely speak to each other outside of her bedroom – and when they do, it’s in a broken franglais. He circles freely in and out of her

Michael describes himself as ‘a guy who used to do stuff, but doesn’t do stuff any more because he’s in a bar’. He shaves in the loos. He even sleeps on the sofas. The other regulars are his family. Today the Roaring ’20s is closing for good – and he doesn’t know what he’ll do without it. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets is a document of that final piss-up: a diverse bunch of Michael-like eccentrics getting plastered over the course of one very long and very hilarious night. Things quickly get messy. Conversations go in on the weighty questions du jour – the time is around the 2016 US election – but wind up going off on tangents like: ‘Senses – now that’s something I appreciate.’ There are a lot of heartfelt deep and meaningfuls and even more hiccupping. Boobs are flashed. Arguments sizzle. Two of the barflies take an acid trip. And the jukebox? Well, it’s never not on. It all feels brilliantly chaotic and immersive and so compellingly real. Except it’s not. This so-called ‘documentary’ was shot in New Orleans, not Las Vegas. Most of the cast had never met before filming. Michael, the supposedly out-of-work central figure, is a professional actor. And yes, they’re all tearing up over a bar that isn’t actually their local and isn’t actually closing.Directors Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross have had you, basically. The brothers, known for their documentaries, auditioned hundreds of barflies from around the Big Easy, chucked them in a ‘bar that looked right’, and let them get as mashed a

How did you spend all those interminable school summers? Hard to say, probably. Nothing really happened; nothing really could happen. Yet back then, time appeared to stretch out to infinity. It felt as if everything could change in a matter of weeks: your friends; what you were into; perhaps even your entire sense of self. It usually either totally sucked, or was totally the best time ever.For Nora (Lena Urzendowsky, understated yet magnetic), the hot Berlin summer of 2018 sways languidly from one extreme to the other, eventually settling somewhere happy-ish between the two. She’s 14 – not a good age, we can all agree – and this is her year of self-discovery and transformation. The slow, meditative, occasionally brilliant Cocoon, the second film from German director Leonie Krippendorff, captures it all before the memories begin to fade.With her alcoholic mum pretty much off the scene, Nora whiles away the summer months peering in her jars of caterpillars, and reluctantly tagging along to parties with her older sister. It’s awkward and intimidating. She feels very much out of place.Then comes her first period, her first love, her first sucker-punch rejection. Romy (a charming Jella Haase), a new girl and another outsider, enters the picture, and after a few drowsy, sunny afternoon snogs, summarily leaves. And so, as in the manner of so many coming-of-age films, Nora realises romance isn’t all it’s made out to be.But she comes out stronger. By the summer’s end, she has a firmer

The main reason I don’t go to the gym is that I’d have no idea what to do with any of the outsize instruments of torture you generally find there. It would be carnage. At best, I’d be laughed straight out the door. At worst, I’d slip up on my pulldowns and, tragically for my family and anyone who has to clear up the mess, definitely die. That’s why I stick to history books and baking.You fear for Simon (Cavan Clerkin, on very relatable form as a meek everyman) when he enters the crazed fray of Atlantis, his dingy local gym. He befriends Terry (a typically boisterous and charismatic Craig Fairbrass), who bullies him into letting him be his personal trainer. Bad move. Whenever anything goes wrong in Simon’s life, Terry reels him in with his horrifying banter and enviable henchness. Girlfriend left you? I’ll keep you company, buddy. Lost your telesales job? Work for me, mate.But Terry is a stalker – and an ex-con. So now Simon has to host hellish drug-fuelled sex parties, hang out with Newcastle’s dodgiest lowlifes, and partake in Terry’s transnational criminal schemes. All because he tried to lift – once. Terrible luck.Part-psychological thriller, part-black comedy, Muscle’s plot is strictly notional. It’s a mood piece where the mood is brooding, intimidating and frankly, to be escaped. Sadly for Simon, escape is not an option. Throughout, director Gerard Johnson (Tony, Hyena) captures the toxic dynamic between these two very different men with humour, poise and plenty of provo

Jarvis is being Jarvis all right. He opens and closes his hands as if plucking his words out of thin air, then flashes a look that suggests he’s surprised at what’s coming out of his own mouth. He spins around, hands thrust towards the ceiling. Then the gawky, magnetic ex-Pulp frontman looks up, freezes: he’s in a cave. Considering how fraught and claustrophobic life in lockdown can feel, it’s apt that this streamed performance of ‘Beyond the Pale’ – the debut album from Cocker’s new band Jarv Is – was recorded inside an actual grotto, known as the Devil’s Arse, in Derbyshire. Somehow, the resulting film from directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, ‘Live From the Centre of the Earth’, doesn’t amplify the sense of being hemmed in. In fact, it’s a mesmerising – if fleeting – ticket out of there. A so-called ‘alive album’ (it’s a bunch of overdubbed live recordings), ‘Beyond the Pale’ feels as though it was made to be consumed this way. The record alone can’t capture the thrill of the live experience, but the band are experimenting with another medium – the concert film – creating a rare example that isn’t an afterthought, a memento for those there. The camerawork by Erik Wilson (‘Paddington’) is full of edgy angles and effects. The lighting veers from dancefloor lasers to glittering galaxies to a burning sun that appears to engulf Cocker entirely. His excellent and unsurprisingly cool band look like they’ve been swiped at random off Stoke Newington High Street. There’s creepy

Shark here, whale there, jellyfish everywhere: we write about these kinds of maritime sightings all the time. But rarely does the story morph into something a whole lot more terrifying. And yet here we are. A woman has apparently been bitten by a blue shark while snorkelling off the coast of Cornwall – the first unprovoked attack on a human in British waters since 1847. The HM Coastguard was called out at around 12.30pm last Thursday to assist a snorkelling team near Penzance. There they found a woman who had suffered a suspected shark bite to the leg and took her to hospital, where she has since recovered. Several different species of shark, including blues, porbeagle sharks and basking sharks, visit the waters off Cornwall each year. But attacks are generally very rare. In fact, the official British Sea Fishing website says only four fatal blue shark attacks have ever been recorded, anywhere in the world. So although it’s just a little bit terrifying that the UK has witnessed its first shark attack in nearly two centuries, there’s basically no reason to panic. None whatsoever! ICYMI: the ‘world’s longest animal’ has been spotted off the coast of Wales. Plus: this majestic bird was once extinct in the UK – but now there are 100 in our skies.

The last time they set foot in the UK, the Mesolithic era was coming to a close as cave-dwelling Britons discovered farming and started clearing forests for their livestock. Now, 6,000 years on, wild bison have returned to our soil as part of a massive conservation project. In an effort to safeguard the European bison, a small herd of the endangered animals has been reintroduced in Kent. Conservationists hope the bisons’ grazing will also help kill off redundant pine wood trees, create sunny new glades and improve insect, bird and plant diversity in the area. To start with, three females have been introduced (one matriarch and two younger cows), with a male arriving in August. Each of the younger cows is expected to produce one calf per year through natural breeding. The animals are Europe’s largest land mammals and weigh up to a tonne each. They’re expected to kill trees on a former pine wood plantation by eating their bark or rubbing against them. This dead wood should provide food for insects, which will in turn provide food for birds including nightingales and turtle doves. Paul Hadaway, of Kent Wildlife Trust, told The Guardian: ‘Using missing keystone species like bison to restore natural processes to habitats is the key to creating bio-abundance in our landscape.’ The wildlife trust says there are no plans to reintroduce predators such as wolves. But if these enormous bison really do thrive again, who knows? On a wildlife bent? We asked an expert to tell us ten beauti

It doesn’t feel like all that long ago that Eurostar made a big song and dance about launching its first direct trains from London to Amsterdam. But now, after just two years, it seems the service could be put on pause indefinitely. In bad news for everyone partial to nipping over to the Dutch capital for a spontaneous weekend break, renovation works at Amsterdam Centraal station mean the Eurostar lounge, which contains security and passport control, will no longer be available for use. No alternative space is likely to be found, according to Dutch infrastructure secretary Vivianne Heijnen. The work is set to begin in 2024 and could put an end to the London-Amsterdam service for years. In the face of a big public outcry – and Heijnen herself describing the plans as ‘unacceptable’ – Dutch railway management firm ProRail said it would try to find a place for a temporary terminal, and that it hoped it would still be located at Centraal. A Eurostar spokesperson said the company’s agreement with the Dutch railway would allow it to operate the terminal until November 2023. There are a number of potential options after that, with a decision still to be made. The spokesperson added that ‘there is currently no risk that will stop running this service’, but did note that it would be ‘important to quickly have a decision on the destination station in Amsterdam to assure continuity on the route’. Back in October 2020, the Amsterdam connection was hailed as ringing in a new era of interna

Thought the scenes at UK airports were bad enough over the past couple of weeks? Well, it seems things are about to get a whole lot worse. In a leaked letter to airline bosses, EasyJet pilots said that the disruption across its network ‘hasn’t even peaked yet’. The memo, which was sent by the EasyJet branch of French pilots’ union SNPL to chief executive Johan Lundgren, said a ‘frightening scenario’ loomed as passenger demand continues to soar over the peak summer season. In the most blistering part of the letter, which was obtained by The i, the pilots said: ‘Literally hundreds of employees in distress have fed back how chaotic our operations have become recently, to unprecedented levels... we are convinced that our disruption hasn’t even peaked yet and frankly this is a frightening prospect.’ Tens of thousands of passengers have experienced flight cancellations and long delays over the past month, and the pilots say further cancellations are expected throughout the summer. They added that it would not be possible to run a full summer schedule without hiring more planning officers and cabin crew members.  The main cause for cancellations is the large number of staff cut as a result of the pandemic, with airlines unable to hire quickly due to the rigorous checks required in the aviation sector. This has been compounded by IT failures and Brexit making it harder for firms to recruit staff from the continent. If such issues are not resolved, the EasyJet pilots warned that custo

Sure, this whole WFH thing might be working out okay for a lot of us. But with borders reopening and travel back on the cards, would you really want to spend another few months trapped inside that cramped apartment? Well, thanks to things like email and video chat apps, there may be very little need in these bizarre times for many restless former office workers to stay rooted in one place. That makes moving somewhere funner, sunnier or cheaper sound incredibly tempting right now. As nations around the world begin to reopen their borders to travellers, many popular destinations are emphasising longer-term stays over short-term breaks. And at the very extreme end, some are even trying to sell themselves as idyllic WFH spots with new visas that would allow you to live and work there for up to a year (or even longer).Fancy upping sticks to the Med? Malta has just introduced a scheme allowing you to make the island your office. The ‘Nomad Residence Permit’ allows non-EU citizens to work from the country for a year, as long as you’re fully vaccinated and can prove you can work remotely for a company outside of Malta.   Before this year, remote workers in Costa Rica could only stick around for 90 days before having to renew their visa. But a new law means you can now WFH in the Central American nation for up to two years – and you’re exempt from income tax while you’re there, too. The only catch? You have to prove you’re earning more than $3,000 (£2,205 or A$4,212) per month, or $5,

夏の休暇時の旅行先をうまく予約するのは、主に2つの理由から難しいことだといえる。まず、誰もが同じ時期に旅行に出かけたがる。 そして、おおかたの予想通りに値上げがされるということだ。ではそうした時期をずらしても楽しめる、年中基本的に安く、そして天気のいい場所をどうやって探せばいいのだろうか？ 空港の宿泊情報を提供するParkSleepFlyが、どの都市が晴天であることが（ほぼ）保証されていて、かつ金額の面で無理がないかを調査している。同社では、世界各地の休暇で人気の観光地の日照時間を調べ、それを1泊のダブルルームの平均宿泊費と組み合わせた。 1位になったのは、アルバニアの首都であるティラナ。同地の1日の平均日照時間は9.5時間で、ホテルのダブルルームの平均価格は41ポンド（約6,700円）。つまり、この都市で1時間日光を浴びるのに、（数少ない曇りに当たらなければ）わずか4.34ポンド（約709円）しかかからないのだ。 2位はバリの首都デンパサールで、一日の日照時間は8.6時間、ホテル料金は43ポンド（約7,022円）。3位は南アフリカのヨハネスブルグで、一日の日照時間は平均9.1時間、ホテル料金は54ポンド（約8,819円）だった。 10位までのランキングは次のようになっている。 晴れた日が多い格安バケーション先（ParkSleepFly）※金額はその都市で1時間日光を浴びるのにかかるコスト（1ポンド＝約163円） 1. ティラナ（アルバニア）：4.34ポンド2. デンパサール（インドネシア、バリ島）：5.00ポンド3. ヨハネスブルク（南アフリカ）：5.91ポンド4. ブカレスト（ルーマニア）：6.06ポンド5. ニコシア（キプロス）：7.20ポンド6. フレズノ（アメリカ、カリフォルニア州）：7.23ポンド7. カイロ（エジプト）：7.53ポンド8. ロードス島（ギリシャ）：7.98ポンド9. パナジ（インド、ゴア州）：8.11ポンド10. プーケット（タイ）：8.15ポンド 原文はこちら 関連記事 『世界で最も絵になる公園ランキングが発表』 『野外美術館ランキングが発表、オープンエアで楽しむアートの世界』 『2022年「世界で最も幸せな国」は5年連続でフィンランド』 『世界で最も生活費が高い都市ランキングが発表、大阪がランク入り』 『週の労働時間が最も短い国はオランダ』 東京の最新情報をタイムアウト東京のメールマガジンでチェックしよう。登録はこちら  

Booking a decent summer holiday can be tricky for two main reasons: A) everyone wants to go away at the same time and B) the prices are hiked just as much as you’d expect them to be. So... how do you find out where’s good and cheap and sunny basically all year round? Well, the folks over at airport accommodation firm ParkSleepFly have done the hard work and figured out which city breaks come with sunshine (almost) guaranteed. First they took the number of hours of sunshine different holiday destinations around the world received each day, then combined this with the average cost of a double hotel room for one night. So, which city came out top? That would be Tirana, the capital of Albania. It gets an average of 9.5 hours of sunshine per day and the average double hotel room costs £41 – meaning an hour of sunshine in the city costs just £4.34 (if you’re lucky enough to avoid one of its very few grey days). Second place went to Denpasar, the capital of Bali, with 8.6 hours of sunshine per day and a double hotel room costing an average of just £43. Third was Johannesburg, South Africa, where the sun shines for an average of 9.1 hours per day and a typical double hotel room costs £54. Want to know where else made the list? Here is the top ten in full (along with the average cost of an hour of sunshine in the city): 1. Tirana, Albania – £4.342. Denpasar, Bali – £5.003. Johannesburg, South Africa – £5.914. Bucharest, Romania – £6.065. Nicosia, Cyprus – £7.206. Fresno, California – 

For quite a few months now, the UK housing market has been on the up. In both March and April, average house prices rose by 9 percent year on year. For anyone who already owns their home, that’s great news. For anyone looking to get on the property ladder, it sucks. But now there are signs that the trend is reversing. According to the monthly Zoopla House Price Index, annual growth slowed to 8.4 percent in May. And in one city at least, house prices are falling. The Scottish port city of Aberdeen – admittedly not the cheapest of places anyway – saw house values drop by 1.7 percent over the past 12 months. In every other major city, house prices are still on the rise. Of the three smaller nations that make up the UK, Wales showed the strongest year-on-year growth, at 11.6 percent, with Northern Ireland at 8.3 percent and Scotland at 6.1 percent. Meanwhile, in England, the region with the strongest growth was the South West (10.5 percent), followed by the East Midlands (10.2 percent) and the North West (9.3 percent).  But it’s not all amazing news for homeowners. In London, house prices rose a mere 3.6 percent in May, compared with 12 months previously – perhaps reflecting the fact that many people don’t see themselves sticking around in the capital for long post-pandemic. (It could also be a result of the soaring cost of living in an already very expensive city.) Zoopla, an online estate agent, also noted that the average time it’s taking to sell a property is now beginning t

What’s the furthest you’ve travelled for a night out? Until last week, my record was Manchester or perhaps Liverpool – both two hours or so by train from London. Not very far, in other words. But now I can say I’ve travelled 1,283 miles to one of the most remote places on Earth. And it wasn’t to hike. Nor was it to go wildlife-spotting. In fact, I went to a disco. Þingeyri, in Iceland’s Westfjords region, is the kind of place where news travels fast. This village of around 250 people sits on a fjord fringed by towering basalt mountains. It has a church, a café, a small hotel and, bizarrely, a co-working space. And for two nights only, the town hall hosted Detour Discotheque: the first in a new series of club nights in the world’s most unexpected places. It’d been the talk of the village (and the whole region) for months. Photograph: Visit Westfjords Safe to say they’ll be reminiscing about it for decades, too. Overnight, the population had ballooned to a hefty 400, with visitors travelling in from as far as Los Angeles and Boston. The town hall, usually host to meetings and the odd wedding, was decked out in technicolour balloons and sparkling streamers. A huge disco ball spun from the ceiling. The vibe was school disco, but with a lot more good music (and local Reyka vodka). The first night featured resident DJs (founders Jonny Ensall, a former Time Out staffer, and Joss Bibby); the second an international lineup of Rahaan (a Chicago disco legend), Norsicaa (an eclectic d

In a previous era, Riga was a tourist destination on the up. The Latvian capital was a common stop for northern European cruises, and also a big draw for young people after a cheap night out. But even though the pandemic may have faded, the Old Town is still deserted. Dive bars and souvenir shops are empty, and new openings are struggling for custom. As you may have guessed, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is to blame. We were there last week to take the pulse of the city on Victory Day, which marks the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany – and the start of its occupation of Latvia. This year, celebrations had been banned. Instead, the Latvian government designated it a day of remembrance for victims of the Ukraine war. Antonijas Street, home to the Russian Embassy, was lined with flags, candles and banners, along with five or six police cars. Slabs of blue and yellow lit up the Freedom Monument and Riga Castle. A huge ‘Glory to Ukraine’ concert was held at the National Opera.  But the city still felt more than slightly on edge. Latvia, after all, is a country with strong Russian links. Nearly one in four inhabitants of Latvia is Russian, rising to 38 percent of those living in Riga (compared with 44 percent who identify as Latvian). Some of the greatest names in Latvian culture, from ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov to sculptor Vera Moukhina, were ethnic Russians. And while the majority of Russian locals no doubt disapprove of the invasion of Ukraine, many still tune i

We could all do with a sun-splashed adventure after the horror of the past two years – and for many of us, jetting off to an island paradise is now an actual possibility. As of May 1, Thailand will no longer require visitors to get tested before travelling, regardless of their vaccination status. That means your trip of a lifetime to destinations including Bangkok and Phuket will be just that little bit easier.  As of February, fully-jabbed travellers have been able to enter Thailand without having to quarantine. Visitors who aren’t vaccinated must either take a PCR test (which comes back negative) in the 72 hours before they enter the country, or book a five-day stay at an approved hotel, quarantine and take a PCR on the final day. Easy choice if you ask us... All arrivals also have to hold at least $20,000 (£15,175) worth of travel insurance, and download a tracking app to ensure they comply with the rules. If you’ve done all that, you’ll be free to explore the country as you please.  Previously, a ‘sandbox scheme’ meant that tourists could visit certain islands, but only if they took a series of tests and stayed in particular hotels. Tourists are now allowed throughout the entirety of the country, although Covid restrictions are still in place. In Bangkok, a curfew means the city’s once-hallowed nightlife scene has been subdued somewhat, as case numbers continue to increase across the city.  Under the country’s current ‘visa exemption’ scheme, travellers from the UK, USA

ベネチアを訪れたことがある人なら、この街が何十年にもわたって過密状態にあることを知っているだろう。リアルト橋やサン・マルコ広場周辺の石畳の路地を歩くと、リラックスしたバカンスを楽しんでいるというよりはラグビーをしているような気分になるほど、ピークシーズンには多くの観光客でごった返す。 しかし、2021年から市は「反撃」を開始している。特にターゲットとなったのは、日帰り観光客。彼らは、水平線を遮るクルーズ船からベネチアの主要観光スポットに流れ込むことが多く、街の通りを渋滞させ、街の資源に負担をかけている。 そのため2021年夏には、ユネスコ世界遺産に登録された歴史地区へのクルーズ船の寄港が禁止に。またイタリア政府も、マスツーリズムから壊れやすい生態系を保護する目的で、ベネチアのラグーンを国定公園に指定した。 以前から計画されてたベネチアへ入る際の「入域料」を徴収する取り組みに関して、市政府は2022年6月からの試験的導入を目指し、事前予約をできるようにするための準備を進めている。現在のところ、試験運用は半年続く予定だ。 この取り組みの運用開始後、（少なくとも12月までは）人々はベネチア訪問のための予約が求められる。予約者は取得した「QRコード」を使って、ベネチアの主要なポイントに設けられる改札を通って入域することになる。 入域料はハイシーズンで10ユーロ（約1,390円）、閑散期には3ユーロ（約420円）にまで下がる見込みだ。ベネチアの住民、会社員、学生など、毎日のように街へ往来する人たちには、携帯電話の「バーチャルキー」を使って入域可能になる。 だからといって、改札を不正に通り抜けようとすることはお勧めしない。改札は、市街地に設置された500台のカメラと連携していて、入域料を払っていない「迷子の観光客」を捜索するそうだ。 原文はこちら 関連記事 『ベネチアがオーバーツーリズム抑制のため改札を導入』 『パリ発、環境に優しいモダンな寝台列車が2024年に運行開始』 『浮遊都市は我々の未来になるのか』 『ヨーロッパで夜行列車路線が続々拡大』 『イタリアの食文化を堪能、スターバックス銀座店がリニューアル』 東京の最新情報をタイムアウト東京のメールマガジンでチェックしよう。登録はこちら