Features

Exploring Johannesburg: the graffiti capital of Africa

Johannesburg is home to a thriving street art scene. Rebecca Hallett takes a graffiti tour of Maboneng Precinct to discover a different to the city.

A first-timer’s guide to Johannesburg

Cape Town, Kruger National Park, KwaZulu-Natal: South Africa has some big-hitting sights. But a lot of visitors leave the country’s largest city, Johannesburg, off their itineraries. This is a mistake: it’s the best place to learn about South Africa’s past and look to its future. And if you need a break from the city’s size and energy,…

A taste of Tokyo: the city’s best food experiences

If you want to get to the heart of Tokyo's culinary scene, you'll need to go beyond the city's bustling restaurants and best-loved drinking dens. Here's how.

Uncovering Tokyo’s nightlife: a neighbourhood guide

Until recently, running a club in Japan was a risky business. The fueihō laws, created in 1948, put restrictions on any small venue where patrons had to “actively seek out pleasure” – including dancing. Though usually these laws weren’t enforced, any club or bar owners caught by police letting their patrons bust a move could face…

The best places to visit in Iceland this summer

Iceland is famous for majestic glaciers and snow-covered houses, for the Northern Lights and blue-lit ice caves. But visit in summer and it can feel like a totally different country. While there are still plenty of icy natural wonders, you can also party with the locals at summer festivals, hike across flower-strewn moorland or soak in hot…

The truth about tribal tourism

Travelling is all about opening your eyes to new places, people and ways of life. But unfortunately, sometimes we’re so eager for an exciting experience that we can’t see the effects of our choices, and it’s all too easy to stop thinking about them once you’re back home. While tourists are increasingly aware of the…

Go it alone: a guide to solo travel for introverts

There’s a common misconception that introverts are antisocial. In fact, being an introvert simply means that you get your energy from being alone – you might love seeing friends and going to parties, but you need to have some time to yourself to recharge your batteries. This can mean solo travel is particularly rewarding for…

What happens when you blend English tradition with Japanese craftsmanship

In a delicious meeting of two worlds, the most English of drinks has been combined with Japanese craftsmanship to create a premium craft gin, KI NO BI (“the beauty of the seasons”). Made with famously pure Fushimi water, the gin uses a rice-spirit base combined with a range of uniquely Japanese flavours – yuzu, sanshō…

Tokyo or Kyoto: where to visit first

Where first, Tokyo or Kyoto – it should be an easy choice, right? They’re polar opposites, after all: Tokyo is a land of neon and skyscrapers, the archetypal metropolis; Kyoto is full of kimono-clad geisha, temples and tea ceremonies. So just decide whether you want your first glimpse of Japan to be cutting-edge modernity or high-brow…

Sapporo: Japan’s unsung city

Japan is a country that lives up to your expectations. Tokyo is as frenetic and exciting as you’d hope; Kyoto is full of historic shrines and temples; Ōsaka is brash, bright and foodie. But the problem with visiting world-famous cities whose reputations precede them is that… well, their reputations have preceded them. If you really want…

Everything you need to know about Japan’s bullet trains

Surely one of Japan’s most iconic images is an impossibly fast bullet train (or “shinkansen”) speeding past snow-capped Mount Fuji – you know the photo. Clichéd as it is, it captures that most Japanese of phenomena, the seamless blending of the ancient and the modern. Beautiful views aside, the bullet train really is one of those must-do…

Avoid the crowds: 6 ways to get off the tourist trail in northern Japan

Japan is a country full of incredible sights: the ancient temples of Kyoto and Nara; Tokyo’s glittering streets; the floating shrine gate at Miyajima; Beppu’s red, steaming hot springs. The only problem with this list of alluring sights? It completely ignores half the country. So it’s time to look a little further up on the…