Combine a historic spa with the festive pleasures of a Christmas market and you get the German city of Wiesbaden, capital of the state of Hesse. It’s one of the oldest spa towns on the continent, famed for its waters since Roman times. On a cold December day, while many were drawn to the market…
Month: November 2025
Yamanaka – a walk through a gorge and a dip at the onsen
A visit to the onsen is a way of life for many Japanese but can amount to torture for the rest of us. It’s like being boiled alive with no clothes on and we’re just not used to it. With thousands of hot springs across the county, it’s no surprise that locals regularly take a…
Kanazawa – a captivating garden and historic streets
Located in the north-western Ishikawa Prefecture on the island of Honshu in Japan, Kanazawa is a modest city of exceptional gardens, historic geisha and samurai districts and buzzing nightlife. It was my favourite stop on our 2025 Japanese tour. It had long been my plan to visit – even as far back as our first…
Nara – a mind-blowing temple and too many deer
Nara has many claims to fame. It was Japan’s first permanent capital, has one of the largest wooden buildings in the world, boasts a world-class collection of temples and shrines, and is home to large numbers of semi-tame deer. It’s an easy day trip from Osaka by train and a popular stop on the tourist…
Osaka – crowds, colour and an epic castle
Brash, high-rise, colourful and often chaotic, Osaka is a serious rival to Tokyo in the big city stakes and the third largest in Japan. And like the capital, it has some distinctive neighbourhoods with character all their own. The district we called home during our stay, Umeda, is a tangled web of soaring office blocks,…
Miyajima, an island of temples and shrines
Less than an hour across the bay from Hiroshima lies the island of Itsukushima, better known to tourists as Miyajima. The star attraction is a giant red torii gate at the entrance to the Itsukushima Shrine, both of which appear to float on the sea at high tide. It’s an easy, 45-minute journey from the…