Last Carriage

Lonely Planet have announced the release of a number of updated guidebooks:

• British Columbia, 3rd editiion


• China, 10th edition


• Great Britain, 7th edition


• Iceland, 6th edition


• Perth & Western Australia, 5th edition


• Romania & Moldova, 4th edition


• Slovenia, 5th edition


• Sydney & New South Wales, 5th edition


• Wales, 3rd edition

Link: Lonely Planet press release

Some truely amazing photos of Iceland, from omarrun.

Found via TravelMinx.

While most travellers would be very familiar with the huge party that is Munich's Oktoberfest, fewer would know that there are many more similar traditional German festivals held throughout the year in other German cities. One of the larger festivals is Schützenfest Hannover, which opens in four days' time, on June 29th, and runs until July 8th.

So, for anyone thinking of heading to Germany to get a taste for the beer halls and traditional German food, here's a brief guide to Hanover and some of the sights of the surrounding area.

Faro is the southern capital of Portugal's Algarve region. A party-town in peak periods, it's a gateway to Portugal's southern coast and has an attractive old-town.

Faro is easily reached from Portugal's capital, Lisbon, by regular Alfa Pendular trains (3 hours, departing Lisboa Oriente station).

Links:

• 48 hours in Faro, from The Independent.


• Welcome to Faro, at the Algarve Portal.


• 6 days around the Algarve, from Barlaventos Travel Blog

The Guardian treks across Moroccan mountain ranges with nomads.

The New York Times spends 36 hours in Milan.

Antwerp is often overlooked by travellers, caught between the large capital Brussels to the south, the highly enticing Amsterdam further north, and the tourist-meccas of Ghent and Bruges to the west.

Nevertheless, it's wonderful place to visit, with beautiful buildings, great restaurants and a much more down-to-earth feel than its neighbours. There's plenty to do; a look through the enormous Cathedral of Our Lady, wandering around the many diamond shops south of Centraal Station ... or for the really offbeat, take a walk through the art deco St. Anna tunnel, a pedestrian tunnel under the river.

The New York times has an article on Antwerp's Kloosterstraat, a long stretch of cafes, antique shops and restaurants.

It's probably far from the best time to be considering a visit to Fiji, in the wake of a relatively coup, and recent diplomatic incidents between the military government and New Zealand, but that hasn't stopped The Christchurch Press from visiting to see what Suva has to offer. The Star Times notes that New Zealanders remain unfazed by the latest bout of strife, between the two countries.

There are twelve flights a week to Suva from Auckland, four from Brisbane, one from Christchurch, three from Honolulu, eight from Los Angeles, four from Melbourne, eleven from Sydney, one from Toyko and two from Vancouver, all with Fiji's national airline, Air Pacific.

With last week's opening of the new Paris to Basel high-speed TGV railway line, Switzerland is more accessible than ever. Four trains a day run to Basel, taking 3.5 hours; one continues Zurich (Paris, 8.28am, taking 4.5 hours).

stuff.co.nz has an article on the German seaside resort town of Heiligendamm, the host of last week's G8 summit and scene of clashes between police and anti-globalisation protesters.

Heiligendamm is accessible by hourly steam trains on the narrowgauge railway known as the Molli, from Bad Doberan; the trip takes about 20 minutes. Bad Doberan, in turn, is approximately 20 minutes away from the northern German city of Rostock, on a regional express service.

A writer from the Toronto Globe and Mail describes his experiences when he tries to visit as many European countries as possible in 48 hours, by plane.

It's painful enough doing this in several weeks by train - air travel could only make it worse.

Slovenia is one of Europe's hidden gems, where a mediterranean coastline meets the Alps, and the Pannonian plain. The capital, Ljubljana, with its wonderful baroque architecture, is incredibly lively for a city of only 260000 people.

Now part of the EU, Slovenia is the first former communist country to join the Eurozone, and its economy is streaking ahead - faster than a couple of the original EU countries, in fact.

The Trans-Siberian railway has long been a goal for many a dedicated traveller, but has a reputation for fairly poor accomodation standards.

Now, a new luxury service has started, for anyone who has a cool $10000-$17000 to spare.

The Age takes a ride on the new Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express.

Some awesome photographs of Greece, from Patrick Fong.

Ever thought about visiting Yemen? With a reputation for kidnappings of Western tourists, it's not likely to be the first travel destination that comes to mind, but as reported by stuff.co.nz, Yemen is now trying to pitch itself to the tourist market.