When people travel to the UK there is a natural tendency for the majority of visitors from overseas to gravitate towards the city of London. While the country’s capital does of course have a great deal to offer backpackers, families and couples alike including many great visitor attractions, it is completely wrong to assume that this is all the UK has to offer. Above all else, the country has some highly underrated coastal regions that are great ways of seeing a different side to the countries history and heritage rather than just the usual London based tourist traps.
Amongst my personal favourite places to visit in the UK is Cornwall. The region – based at the countries most south westerly tip – offer beautiful scenery and coastline, great beaches, towns, restaurants and pubs which are ideal for visitors from the UK and abroad. The weather is also generally considered to be amongst the best in the UK, with some very comfortable summer temperatures and high sun levels for the UK making it a great place to stop off at if you are looking for a short summer break.
Younger party seeking visitors and fans of surfing will enjoy the popular destination of Newquay, but there are other great places to visit in Cornwall including Padstow (famous for Chef Rick Stein’s seafood restaurant) and St Ives - which has a thriving artistic community and heritage. If you are a traveler seeking to cut back on costs or enjoy cooking your own food, self catering St Ives can be booked online, but during the peak summer months in the UK can tend to become busy – so book early in order to avoid disappointment. The town also hosts a 15 day arts festival in September that proves very popular and draws a great deal of visitors to the town, so during this period you may also find apartments in St Ives become less readily available. Another option for accommodation could be to stay in a Caravan Park in Cornwall which can offer dog friendly options for people visiting the region.
It’s almost unheard of to have a bad meal whilst in Madrid. The city is very diverse and it’s restaurants, cafés and bars cater to all tastes and budgets. A good way of determining which are the best eating places in Madrid is by finding out where the locals go out to wine and dine. If the locals like the place, chances are that you will love it too.
One place that is certainly popular with the people of Madrid is known as the “Tienda de Comunista”. It is located in Chueca by the square. It is always a good idea to get there as soon as it opens for business at 9pm every night, as it is always packed to capacity with happy diners. I highly recommend it.
If you want to lunch like a true Madrilenian, the place to be is “La Playa”. Having lunch at this place has become a tradition among many residents that has been going on for generations.
If you like to eat well while you take your beverages, then Bar Melo is the place to be. It is a very well-known bar also known for its awesome cuisine.
Do you have a sweet tooth? If you answered “yes” then you definitely need to visit Café del Real. It offers a wide variety of chocolate and carrot cakes, served with some lovely local coffee. It is a good place to hang out on a Sunday afternoon, like the locals do.
On Saturday evenings, many Madrilenians head to La Taberna de San Bernado. This exquisite restaurant is start off on a quieter note but becomes bubblier as the locals begin to file in.
Casa Perico restaurant is a hidden gem, known only to individuals like an insider secret. Upon entering Casa Perico, you may wonder whether you are in a restaurant or not, but do not be deceived because the food there is marvelous.
You maybe be visiting Spain, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t like to have some Asian food made in Spain. If you are not running on a very big budget then I would recommend Wok Chinese Restaurant in Madrid. Yes, you guessed right, the food is cooked in a Wok!
If you would like to partake in history then you will definitely want to visit Restaurante Sobrino De Botin. It is said to be the oldest restaurant in the world, according to the Guinness Book of records. More to this, it offers really delicious food too. However, due to the astounding number of tourists desiring to eat here, you may have to eat your meal in a bit of a rush.
All in all if you travel to Madrid you will certainly not be let down by the huge range of places to eat out!
Apparently, it's not easy going for tourist trap hacks and luxury travel businesses in Italy lately. Blaming the global economic downturn--and suddenly tighter-wadded American tourists--this New York Times article helps a few of the least practical exemplars of travel-related business bemoan the state of their finances.
Whether you're a pointless tourist trap (a cheesy gladiator by the Colosseum no one wants to pay to pose beside, a glum horse-drawn-carriage driver with no passengers) or a pointlessly overpriced hotel or restaurant (the Exelsior bar in the Westin Hotel on Rome's Via Veneto--which went out of fashion 40 years ago--or the lovely but ridiculously priced Hotel Danieli in Venice, which has had to "slash" its prices to a mere $335 a night), no tourist seems to want to crack open his or her wallet and pay for your services.
To which I say: Good for the tourists. The only reason most people assume they can't afford a trip to Italy--which, even in this economic climate, they can--is that msot newspapers and magazines make it sound as if you _need_ to spend $20 for a martini, $150 for dinner, and $650 for a double room.
That's not only wrong, it's elitist and it's ridiculous.
Patronize mom-and-pop hotels and B&Bs and you'll never pay more than $200 for a room (and often well less than $100), eat at family-run trattorie and you can dine like a king on unforgettable Italian home-cooking for $20 to $30. What's more, those prices are even better now than they were just a few months ago, as the Euro has slipped against the dollar from the dizzying highs of $1.60 = €1 during this past summer to around $1.30 = €1. That's like a 30¢ discount on every dollar you spend, relatively speaking. That's money you can take the the bank...and spend in Italy.
