Friuli with frills: a weekend tour of Italy’s white wine heartland

This north-eastern corner of Italy has bounced back from Covid, as a short food and wine break revealsThe Picech family’s cosy B&B, known simply as Casa Picech, sits at the top of the sleepy winemaker hamlet of Pradis. It looks down over the historic Mitteleuropa town of Cormons, unofficial capital of Friuli’s Collio region, where some of Italy’s...

21h

10 of Britain’s most peaceful retreats

Feel like getting away from it all? Here’s where to seek splendid isolationNo phone or television signals, no neighbours. This cottage in Eskdale is reached along a track that even a 4WD would struggle with. There’s no proper bathroom in the former cow byre, but it is surrounded by enormous beauty, with uninterrupted views down the valley and around...

1d

Greek revival: how Corfu’s 14th-century ghost village came back to life

Old Perithia was abandoned by its inhabitants in the 1960s. Now they are back, thanks to a unique project that has turned it into a spellbinding attractionThe corniche road that winds along Corfu’s north-eastern coast takes me past forested coves and dreamy beaches that draw thousands of tourists each year. But while most visitors base themselves in...

1d

A local’s guide to Perugia, Italy: five great things to do

The ancient walls, papal fortress and creative quarter of Umbria’s 2,500-year-old capital make a happy haunt for flâneur Gianluigi BettinA writer and walking guide living in Perugia for 12 years, Gianluigi Bettin is co-author of the Via di Francesco guidebook (Terre di Mezzo, €20). Continue reading...

2d

Jump in and chill out: 10 of Britain’s best affordable retreats

From an ice-cold plunge to a Finnish sauna, treat yourself to massages, steam rooms and scrubsThe “banya” is the Russian cousin of the Finnish sauna and Turkish hammam, and the one at The Bath House, opposite Buckingham Palace, is a great place for a day off. Warm up in steam rooms decorated with mosaics of traditional banya scenes, cool down in an...

2d

A great walk to a great pub: The Wallace Arms, Rowfoot, North Pennines

A walk through an area once populated by murderous clans leading to a cosy pub in rural NorthumbriaStart The Wallace Arms, Rowfoot, HaltwhistleDistance 4½ milesTime 3½ hoursElevation gain 215 metresDifficulty Moderate and potentially muddyThe connection between William Wallace and Tynedale is as gory as a Sam Peckinpah movie. In 1297, Braveheart and...

3d

Travellers to England able to take lateral flow Covid tests from 24 October

Requirements for a PCR test will be dropped for vaccinated people arriving from non-red list countriesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageFully vaccinated international passengers arriving in England from countries not on the red list can take a cheaper and quicker lateral flow test from 24 October instead of the PCR version,...

3d

‘Beautiful buildings wherever you look’: Germany’s best towns and villages, by readers

Monastery brews, medieval squares and castles loom large among our readers’ picks from Bavaria to the North SeaWe arrived in Görlitz, Germany’s most easterly town, to find it packed with peasants swilling beer from pewter mugs and devouring sausages to a background of drums and pipes. It was the annual medieval festival, and they take the past seriously...

4d

Offa’s Dyke Path at 50: an ancient earthwork still shrouded in mystery

This mighty monument, running 177 miles along the England-Wales border, offers breathtaking views and walks that entice you to keep goingWe come up a steep hillside, stepping past twisted trees laden with lichen and scarlet berries, all dripping with rain. A mob of ravens clack overhead. Then, as we come out on the top, I understand at last what the...

4d

EU says it will recognise NHS Covid pass ‘soon’

Constant Covid testing when travelling from the UK to countries such as the Netherlands should soon be a thing of the pastTrips to Europe over October half-term could become easier for British travellers after Brussels said a technical tie-up with the EU ensuring the NHS Covid pass is recognised across over 40 countries would be “going live soon”.In...

5d