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# Culture Explorer: Travelling the globe, seeking culture in all its forms

## Sitemaps
[XML Sitemap](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/sitemap_index.xml): Includes all crawlable and indexable pages.

## Posts
- [Briggs & Riley ZDX expandable spinner review: Expensive but worth it](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/briggs-riley-zdx-expandable-spinner-review/): Created with both leisure and business travellers in mind, the Briggs & Riley ZDX range is a collection of soft-sided luggage that combines durability and expandable design with the brand’s signature lifetime guarantee.
- [Where to get cheap theatre tickets in London](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/cheap-theatre-tickets-in-london/): Whatever you’re looking for, here are some of the best places to find cheap theatre tickets in London.
- [Packing for summer: Everything you need for those hot weather holidays](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/packing-for-summer-hot-weather-guide/): If you can't handle the heat either then use my tips for packing for summer to make those hot weather holidays a little bit more comfortable.
- [I’m a travel expert – here’s my packing list](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/travel-expert-ultimate-packing-list/): I still use a packing list though, because every trip is a little different.
- [Osprey Ultralight dry stuff pack review: It’s my go-to day bag](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/osprey-ultralight-dry-stuff-pack-review/): The Osprey Ultralight dry stuff pack is easily the most expensive backpack I’ve ever purchased.
- [Best things to do in Vancouver on your first visit](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/best-things-to-do-in-vancouver-city-guide/): So whether you’re planning a trip or are already in the city, here are my picks for the best things to do in Vancouver.
- [This is the best Vancouver Chinatown food tour](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/best-vancouver-chinatown-food-tour/): Aside from eating my way around this historic neighbourhood, I heard personal stories from someone who grew up here - an extra connection that made this the best Vancouver Chinatown food tour.
- [This is the best Stanley Park tour in Vancouver](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/best-stanley-park-tour-vancouver/): I did the 3 hour Stanley Park Bicycle Tour with Cycle City Tours*. Here’s why it’s the best Stanley Park tour to book when you’re in Vancouver.
- [How to get to Vancouver: Your trip planning guide](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/how-to-get-to-vancouver-trip-planning-guide/): Vancouver is one of Canada’s most liveable cities, a destination that combines all the best things you’d expect from a city break with easy access to the great outdoors.
- [Azur Legacy Collection Hotel, Vancouver, review](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/azur-legacy-collection-hotel-vancouver-review/): Azur Legacy Collection Hotel sits in the heart of the financial district of downtown Vancouver and is well placed for exploring the city on foot.
- [Fairmont Waterfront, Vancouver, review](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/fairmont-waterfront-vancouver-review/): Facing Vancouver’s busy cruise terminal, Fairmont Waterfront is a top pick for those staying in the city before or after a cruise.
- [Best things to do in Shaoxing for a slice of authentic China](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/best-things-to-do-in-shaoxing-china/): One of the most interesting places I've been to in China was Shaoxing. It's a small city, about half an hour by train from Hangzhou in the east of the country.
- [Hotel Atala, Paris, review](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/hotel-atala-paris-review/): Hotel Atala, 10 Rue Chateaubriand, 75008 Paris, France | hotel-atala.com
- [Ambassador Ambience review: Affordable cruises and great theatre](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/ambassador-ambience-review/): Ambassador Ambience is Ambassador Cruise Line’s flagship vessel and the first ship to join its fleet when the company launched in 2022.
- [What to pack for a cruise: A complete guide from a cruise expert](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/what-to-pack-for-a-cruise/): So whether it’s your first ever cruise or you’re trying a different style of cruising, here’s what to pack for a cruise.
- [Best travel sim and cheap esim for roaming](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/best-travel-sim-cheap-esim-for-roaming/): It’s hard to imagine not having access to the internet while travelling these days.
- [Best debit and credit card for travel](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/best-debit-credit-card-for-travel/): For one, there’s more choice than ever if you need a debit or credit card for travel. 
- [How to claim compensation for delayed flights](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/claim-compensation-for-delayed-flights/): Here’s what you need to know about claiming compensation for delayed flights.
- [How to claim compensation for cancelled flights in the UK](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/claim-compensation-for-cancelled-flight/): With that in mind, here’s how and when you can claim compensation for cancelled flights in the UK.
- [10 of the best places to visit in the world](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/best-places-to-visit-in-the-world/): So to help you travel beyond the ordinary, this list of the best places to visit in the world is all about the destinations that will make you go, “wow, this is really different”, and the ones that you’ll want to go back to again and again rather than tick off and forget. 
- [One-week Kentucky Bourbon Trail road trip itinerary](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/kentucky-bourbon-trail-road-trip-guide/): The best way to experience this slice of Americana? The Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
- [Best day trips from Paris](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/best-day-trips-from-paris-france/): With that in mind, here are five of the best day trips from Paris.
- [Best things to do in London on your first visit](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/best-things-to-do-in-london-city-guide/): With that in mind, here are some of the best things to do in London from unmissable sights to must-visit attractions - plus some of my favourite spots.
- [How to get to London: Your trip planning guide](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/how-to-get-to-london-trip-planning-guide/): I’ve been living and working in London since 2010.
- [Best things to do in Paris](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/best-things-to-do-in-paris-guide/): Meanwhile, here are my picks for the best things to do in Paris.
- [How to get to Paris: Your trip planning guide](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/how-to-get-to-paris-trip-planning-guide/): Paris draws visitors from all over the world with its architectural icons, world-class museums and art galleries and design-led boutiques.
- [How to pack your suitcase for any trip](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/how-to-pack-your-suitcase-for-any-trip/): So if you find packing a struggle, here's how to pack for any trip.
- [Travel go bag: How I speed up packing](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/how-to-speed-up-packing-luggage-go-bag/): Fortunately once I get started it takes just 30 minutes, and it’s all thanks to a travel hack that helps to speed up packing for me: the go bag.
- [Loews Chicago Hotel, Chicago, review](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/loews-chicago-hotel-chicago-review/): Loews Chicago Hotel is the luxury brand’s downtown property; there’s another one at Chicago O’Hare Airport.
- [Radisson RED V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, review](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/radisson-red-va-waterfront-cape-town-review/): No. 6, Silo Square, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa | radissonhotels.com*
- [Carry on essentials I pack for every flight](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/carry-on-essentials-for-every-single-flight/): With that in mind, here’s the whittled down list of carry on essentials I take on every single flight to maximise comfort.
- [Ten food reasons to visit Abruzzo](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/ten-food-reasons-to-visit-abruzzo/): Located on the eastern coast of Italy, Abruzzo is the meeting point of northern and southern Italy.
- [On the booming tea industry in Asia](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/on-the-booming-tea-industry-in-asia/): This is a piece I wrote for Momentum Travel, first published in 2016. It's reproduced here as Momentum has since folded.
- [How to find cheap holidays in the UK](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/how-to-find-cheap-holidays-in-the-uk/): From 12 April, staycations can officially restart, which is perhaps even more exciting than the tentative, maybe, possibly of foreign holidays.
- [Find cheap holidays during the shoulder seasons (and days)](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/find-cheap-holidays-during-the-shoulder-seasons-and-dates/): The most obvious way to save on holidays is to travel during the shoulder seasons - basically avoid the school holidays and any other times of the year when a lot of people take their planned breaks.
- [Why you should always carry cash in Berlin](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/why-you-should-always-carry-cash-in-berlin/): I'm the sort of traveller who always carries a credit card with me while I'm away, and rarely any cash - for most destinations, there's simply no need for it.
- [The food markets every traveller should visit](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/food-markets-every-traveller-visit/): Every self-respecting "foodie destination" likes to promote its food markets. It's natural since much of what we eat is inspired by the ingredients around us.
- [Spring in Richmond Park](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/spring-richmond-park/): Spring is one of the best times of the year to visit Richmond Park, the largest of the royal parks in London.
- [A long weekend in Liguria](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/a-long-weekend-in-liguria/): It's been a while since I was in Liguria. Almost a year in fact. But I still vividly remember its beautiful coastline and the rusticity and authenticity of its food.
- [48 hours in Bohuslän, West Sweden](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/48-hours-in-bohuslan-west-sweden/): On a surprisingly warm weekend in October this year, I took my mother for a short break to Bohuslän in West Sweden.
- [Get active in Durban](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/november-get-active-in-durban/): In a country which is already fitness conscious (Virgin Active began in South Africa), Durban stands out with its special blend of sports and wildlife.
- [Baltic Herring Fair in Helsinki](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/october-baltic-herring-fair-helsinki/): Helsinki's annual Baltic Herring Fair has been going strong since the 18th Century and it's as popular as ever.
- [Yacht hopping in Monaco](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/september-yacht-hopping-in-monaco/): For Monaco, September is one of the busiest seasons; the annual Monaco Yacht Show returns to its coast each year and draws in a most fabulous crowd.
- [Wine travel in Stuttgart](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/august-wine-travel-in-stuttgart/): Despite being inside a well-known beer loving nation, it's actually wine that dominates Stuttgart. This is thanks to a local count who banned the production of beer so he could sell the wine he produced centuries ago.
- [Sip tea in Chengdu’s parks](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/july-sip-tea-in-chengdus-parks/): For around RMB$20, you can spend a whole day nursing a constantly replenished cup of loose leaf tea, play mahjong or read under the cooling shade of the dense foliage overhead as the cicadas sing their brave song.
- [Barrio Bellavista, Santiago’s open air gallery](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/barrio-bellavista-santiagos-open-air-gallery/): What lured me to Bellavista wasn't its night life but rather, its street art. Every available space, it seemed, was covered in graffiti.
- [Six awesome sights around Tunisia](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/six-awesome-sights-around-tunisia/): I went digging through my old photographs from Tunisia and, well, it's still as hauntingly beautiful.
- [A little gallery of Dominican Republic’s northern shores](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/little-gallery-dominican-republics-northern-shores/): The month of June is the beginning of the rain season for the Dominican Republic. But situated in the Caribbean, its temperatures doesn't fall by much.
- [Santo Domingo, a city of American firsts](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/visiting-santo-domingo-city-american-firsts/): Perhaps it's the heat and the humidity. Or maybe it's the spirited beat of the Merengue. Or it could even be the talk of fresh cigars being rolled against the thighs of young Dominican women. Whatever the truth, Santo Domingo has a distinct Latino flavour and the air is rich with it.
- [Meandering through San Gimignano, Italy](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/meandering-san-gimignano-italy/): It was there, on that mapless exploration along a mud trail outside the town wall, that I encountered the most beautiful view of medieval Tuscany. It's almost magical.
- [Perfume making at Molinard, Grasse](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/perfume-making-molinard-grasse/): It's easy to picture it; a small historical town surrounded by endless fields of lavender and their intoxicating fragrance. The lilac buds, swaying left and right in the warm, gentle breeze under the enduring mid-afternoon sun.
- [Four surprising graffiti moments](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/four-surprising-graffiti-moments/): When you're on the road, you're never getting the full experience of a destination. It's only when you get back and reflect on your trip that you get a whole different picture. Grafitti has been like that for me.
- [Six free travel apps to help you navigate Chengdu](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/six-best-free-apps-help-navigate-chengdu/): Rather than being daunted, I sought out some free apps that helped me navigate the city like a local. Incidentally many of these apps are also great for navigating other Chinese cities too.
- [Slowing down in The Hague](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/slowing-hague/): The canal courses through the city where the buildings are old and imposing. At the very heart, cycling is the only way to travel – it's faster than being a pedestrian and the terrain is almost completely flat.
- [Florence, the perfect Renaissance](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/florence-perfect-renaissance/): Florence was as beautiful as it could have been.
- [Inspired by Tunisia](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/inspired-tunisia/): While northern Tunisia spoke of constructed cities and greenery, southern Tunisia was sharply contrasting with pockets of green oasis amidst salted sand terrain; each with its own charm.
- [Antwerp: not a diamond in sight](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/antwerp-not-diamond-sight/): Stepping off the train, fresh from National Day celebrations in Luxembourg, my breath was taken away.
- [Finding serenity, in Bruges](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/finding-serenity-bruges/): Here, it was green, lush and spacious. And so peaceful. It's the sort of place you walk through and immediately envisage being able to draw, paint and produce poetry at length.
- [Jersey shore, closer than you think](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/jersey-shore-closer-think/): Within about an hour of my flight landing at Jersey airport, I was on the beach raking for cockles with Louis Jackson from the Fresh Fish Company.
- [Sète, a place for joie de vivre](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/sete-place-joie-de-vivre/): As the early morning sun slowly ascended, the light flickered and shimmered until it became a perfect beam, reflected by the mirror of the Setois canal into my hotel room at Hôtel de Paris.
- [Four foodie things to do in The Hague](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/four-foodie-things-to-do-in-the-hague/): The Hague, or Den Haag in Dutch, is best known for the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
- [Gastronomic Ghent: a rising star for food](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/gastronomic-ghent-rising-star-food/): Ghent on the map seemed full of cathedrals and museums. And it was. Out of the blue, it seemed, there was this food movement.
- [Celebrating National Day in Luxembourg](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/celebrating-national-day-luxembourg/): A day, I found, was just enough to walk around the historic Luxembourg city. In that time, you could leisurely explore everything from the fortresses and Petrusse Casemates to the palace and the Pfaffenthal.
- [Beirut – sharp contrasts to fall in love](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/beirut-sharp-contrasts-fall-love/): The thing about Beirut - it gets pretty uncomfortable. When you walk along the streets of the old city, there are bullet marks in the buildings and disrepair following bombings.
- [Looking for Abruzzo](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/looking-abruzzo/): In my mind, I've always seen Italy as this great place for Renaissance architecture although I think in reality, it's often very far from the palazzos that I imagined.
- [Travels with Chefs, a postcard from Cornwall](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/travels-chefs-postcard-cornwall/): Sitting on top of a tree, encapsulated in five layers of thermals and still being chilled to the core, is not that fun. Especially when there’s no deer in sight.
- [Geneva: A City of the World](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/geneva-city-world/): It’s hard to pin down the kind of place Geneva is. A city of luxury? A city of watches? A city of science?
- [Reminiscing Balfour Castle, Shapinsay](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/reminiscing-balfour-castle-shapinsay/): As temperatures slide towards the single figures, my mind turned back to my time at the world’s most northerly castle hotel, a place I was very sorry to leave.
- [“Catch and Cook” in Torbay with Simon Hulstone](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/catch-cook-torbay-simon-hulstone/): A short while later, we stop in the middle of the bay in a seemingly random spot. The crew promises that there is mackerel to catch.
- [When in Cornwall: Surf, don’t run](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/cornwall-surf-dont-run/): After a restful night to the lull of the rolling waves, I am woken early by the gulls outside. Already, at 8am, there are surfers paddling out determined not to miss a single wave.
- [To Georgia, religion, wine and beyond](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/georgia-religion-wine-beyond/): In Georgia, you can't help but feel that each breath you take contains a slice of history.
- [Business & Pleasure: 48 Hours in Aberdeen](https://culture-explorer.co.uk/business-pleasure-48-hours-aberdeen/): “What’s in Aberdeen?” That’s the first reaction I received on mentioning that I was heading up to this Scottish city for a weekend.

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