I found this interesting website about the historic port city of Portsmouth, with many great photos. The site is quite informative for visitors (it lists accommodation, food and drink apart from the tourist sights) but what makes it special is the way it is presented and the beautiful pictures. Makes you want to go now.

discoverportsmouth.co.uk/

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Red Pif is a wine shop, wine bar and restaurant, tucked away in the crooked streets in Betlémská, in Prague Old Town. An urban feel establishment, Red Pif is quite modern in terms of Czech vinny bars (wine bars) and offers an interesting blend of Czech and French influences.
As well as a long and detailed wine list, Red Pif offers a daily food menu including varied meat and fish main courses as well as charcuterie plates for sharing.
Not the cheapest place to drink in Prague (many wines are around 60 czk for a small glass, and there is a corkage charge of 100 czk for drinking in-house), but certainly one of the most trendy. Book ahead – Red Pif only has about 10 tables for diners, and is deservedly busy throughout the week.

www.redpif.cz
Betlémská 267/9, 110 00 Praha-Staré Město, Czech Republic
+420 222 232 086
Nearest metro: Narodni Trida
Nearest tram: 17 or 18 (to Karlovy lázně)
Google map: bit.ly/KXPPBO

* Helen is our Been there local for Prague. Her page is here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/prague-local-helen-ford.jsp and she has her own blog here: czechingin.wordpress.com/

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Riva d'Arno is a new wine bar/art gallery on the banks of the Arno, a few minutes from Ponte Vecchio. It's beatifully designed with great views, fabulous food and wine and a new centre for art. It's a peaceful place to have a drink after walking around the city, a nice lunch overlooking the river or a supper as the sun goes down. It's definitely worth a visit.

www.rivadarnowinebar.it
Lungarno Soderini 7r
+39055280223
Google map: bit.ly/KhVLIc

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It's a cafe, restaurant and bar with a terrace with great views facing the Hudson.

www.boatbasincafe.com/
West 79th Street, New York, NY, United States
+1 212 496 5542
Google map: bit.ly/Jr3mlC
It's where W79 St meets the Hudson. Take a 1 train to 79 St and walk west (downhill), or take the M79 bus a block or so. Walk under the West Side Highway and keep going. You don't see it till you're there.

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Comala, known as “White Village of America” is a little Municipality of the State of Colima on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. It has a beautiful square and around it there are the "Portales of Comala", restaurants of a kind where you ask for a drink and they put the food ("Mexican antojitos"). You can eat with the "mariachi music" and with Colima's volcano and pass a good time. You have to taste the local drink "the Ponche of Comala"

www.comala.gob.mx/
Google map: bit.ly/KODN06

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China Club is a private members club owned by Sir David Tang housed over three floors in the former Bank of China Building (the new Bank of China Building towers sleek and angular across the road - you can’t miss it, look for the glossy black building with criss-crossing white lights). Although you usually have to be or know a member to get a reservation, most hotels should be able to get you a booking with enough notice and Black Amex Card holders can get Amex to book for them. The grey, brightly-lit street level entrance appears unimpressive but ride the Old Master Q cartoon lined lift up to the thirteenth floor and prepare to be wowed.
As the lift doors open you’re greeted by a lobby crammed with striking modern art, dark wooden floors and a wrought iron Art Deco staircase curving upwards to your left. The extensive Chinese art collection deserves a mention in its own right, and alone justifies a visit to the China Club. From Yu Youhan’s diptych of Whitney Houston next to Chairman Mao hanging on the stairs to Liu Jianhua’s porcelain fish bowl in the lobby - home to five pairs of protruding, disembodied legs as well as several live goldfish who casually swim around the scattered limbs. The restaurant is designed to resemble a decadent 1930s Shanghai club and everything from the ceiling fans to the lamps conjure a bygone colonial era.
Start with aperitifs up on the 14th floor in the Long March Bar, a glamorous slice of art deco opulence. After you gin & tonic, head back past the shoe-shiners and an enormous pair of wooden shoes to the main dining room. Slip into one of the red leather and dark wood booths and get your chopsticks at the ready for the Cantonese feast to follow. Be sure to order the Peking duck, I think it’s the best in Hong Kong. While you eat, if the people watching doesn't keep you entertained enough (Victoria Beckham visited on her recent trip to Hong Kong), prepare to be wowed by the chef who spins ribbons of noodles right in front of your table and the waiter with the watering-can-like teapots who serves your tea with a side of drama. After dinner, decamp upstairs to the elegant terrace for nightcaps under the stars overlooking the city lights.

12/F, The Old Bank of China Building, Bank Street, Central, Hong Kong Island.
+(852) 2521 8888
Google map: bit.ly/IQcv85

* Natalie is our local for Hong Kong. You can read all about her here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/hong-kong-local-natalie-robinson.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/natalierobinson
She also has her own blog at: www.3badmice.com/

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New York has the Statue of Liberty and Central Park; London has Big Ben and Trafalgar Square; Paris has the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe; and Hong Kong has Victoria Harbour. Lots of my tips so far seem to feature the harbour in one way or another but that’s because it’s pretty spectacular.
Whenever I have visitors in town I always kick-off with some harbour view drinks on the Island side (mainly because I'm lazy and live on the island but also because I usually then do a set of light show drinks from the Kowloon side - see my Light Show tip). Whatever the time of day, it’s a great introduction to the city.
For the luxe drinks with a view option, head to Sevva in the Princes Building in Central. I've never eaten at Sevva but all reports seem to be along similar lines, disappointing and overpriced. I suggest sticking to liquid refreshments, sinking into one of the white-cushioned, comfy rattan sofas on the fabulous wrap-around terrace and imbibing while marvelling at the views across the harbour to Kowloon and back across the city on the island side. Service is erratic and the drinks are pricey, but with views like these, it's worth it.

For all the views without the hefty drinks bill, I have the perfect insider's tip for a budget option. Red Bar on the rooftop of the IFC mall is located on a big terrace facing onto spectacular harbour views. But here's the great bit - the rooftop is officially classed as public space, so although Red Bar has furnished the terrace, you're perfectly entitled to nab one of the tables even if you're not ordering drinks from the bar. I suggest popping into CitySuper, an international supermarket on level one of IFC mall, grabbing a bottle of wine and some nibbles from the delicatessen counter and then heading on up the escalators to bag your prime harbour view spot while smugly saving yourself enough cash to treat yourself to a smart dinner. My only caveat is that you need to grab paper cups while you're in the supermarket too, Red Bar are not particularly fond of people bringing their own wine and then asking to borrow glasses!

Sevva
www.sevva.hk/
6-14A Chater Road, Hong Kong Island.
+(852) 2537 1388
Google map: bit.ly/J5DV93

Red Bar IFC
www.pure-red.com/en/hongkong/index.php
4/f, IFC Mall, 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong Island.
+(852) 8129 8882
Google map: bit.ly/J5E5gN

* Natalie is our local for Hong Kong. You can read all about her here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/hong-kong-local-natalie-robinson.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/natalierobinson
She also has her own blog at: www.3badmice.com/

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Each night at 8pm, 40 of Hong Kong’s harbor-front buildings stage the light show. Its official name is the Symphony of Lights and if you believe all the hype you’ll be expecting a magical spectacle beyond anything you’ve ever seen, something crossed between the Aurora Borealis and the Disney World fireworks.
Let’s reset those expectations as a starting point.
Lots of buildings flash and shoot lasers into the sky on both sides of the harbour, if you stand in certain locations (the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront between the Avenue of Stars and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre; the promenade outside the Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai every Monday, Wednesday and Friday night) there’s accompanying music. There’s no real spectacle, there are no fireworks and Cinderella’s Castle doesn’t feature. It is however yet another excellent skyline photo opportunity and, in my opinion, a very good accompaniment to a gin & tonic.
The guidebooks will tell you to head to Felix bar to watch the show. Designed by Philippe Starck and located on the top floor of the Peninsula Hotel, Felix is a nice spot for a cocktail but it’s not an ideal light show vantage point as rather bafflingly, the bar’s windows are obscured by venetian blinds. Instead, I’d suggest heading to the Lounge Lobby bar of the Intercontinental Hotel which affords panoramic views of the harbour through huge waterside windows. The cocktail waiters mix a mean martini, which come complete with a miniature cocktail shaker full of top-ups. A couple of pre-8pm martinis and perhaps the Symphony of Lights will take on a more Northern Lights air after all …

Felix
www.peninsula.com/Hong_Kong/en/Dining/Felix/default.aspx
The Peninsula Hotel, Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.
+(852) 2920 2888
Google map: bit.ly/ICR9fm

Lobby Lounge
www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/locations/overview/hongkong
Intercontinental Hotel, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.
+(852) 27211211
Google map: bit.ly/IjfKnC

* Natalie is our local for Hong Kong. You can read all about her here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/hong-kong-local-natalie-robinson.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/natalierobinson
She also has her own blog at: www.3badmice.com/

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For arguably Hong Kong’s best cocktails in a bar so cool and under the radar that a lot of Hong Kong locals don’t know about it yet, head to 001. That’s if you can track it down. Hidden away in the Graham Street wet market, this Speakeasy is accessed via an anonymous black door sandwiched between a fruit stall and a stall selling paper lanterns. Bustling by day, at night the market takes on an eerie, ghost town nature. Gingerly pick your way around stray tomatoes squashed underfoot by the day’s shoppers and through puddles from where the pavements have been hosed down of fish guts after a day’s trading and turn down Graham Street a side alley off the main market road. Come to a stop outside the unmarked doorway, keep your fingers crossed that you’ve picked the right door and ring the spotlight-illuminated doorbell. At this point I should warn you that a prior booking is essential, I’ve seen a couple who decided to drop in for a spontaneous drink turned away by the bar staff on the basis that the bar was full, on entering the bar this very clearly wasn’t the case. This may sound petty, but as long as you’ve had the foresight to book, giving your name and whizzing straight past the floundering people being turned away is all part of the fun. Once you’ve made it in, you’re greeted with a moodily lit bar full of shadowy nooks which hint at secret liaisons and misbehaviour. Low jazz hums below the burble of the bar's patrons' conversations and waiters glide around proffering silver trays of cocktails and bowls of nuts. The Earl Grey Martinis are legendary and deservedly so. The Elderflower Caipirinha and the Strawberry Blonde come a close second but be warned, the Pear Side Car is deadly. A few cocktails down, order the grilled cheese sandwich and a plate of fries, a deliciously naughty midnight feast. For an elegant evening of liquor and languid lounging, 001 can't be beaten.

LG/F Shop G1 Welley Building 97 Wellington Street, Hong Kong Island.
+852 2810 6969
Google map: bit.ly/KmS1lo

* Natalie is our local for Hong Kong. You can read all about her here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/hong-kong-local-natalie-robinson.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/natalierobinson
She also has her own blog at: www.3badmice.com/

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Ever since the 1960’s, O’Donoghue’s has been associated with Irish trad bands including The Dubliners and the Furey Brothers. Both used to play regular sessions in the pub. Little has changed over the years, including the decor of the pub, which still maintains many of its original features. These days, traditional Irish music sessions take place on a regular basis and are very highly regarded among musicians.

www.odonoghues.ie/
15 Merrion Row Dublin 2, Ireland
+353(0)1 660 7194
Google map: bit.ly/JEE1Z5

* Fiona is our Been there local for Dublin. You can follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/FionaHilliard and read her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/trails/been-there-locals.jsp. She also has her own blog: www.traveledits.com

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The Isle of Wight loves walkers. A favourite is to start at the Botanic Gardens to the west of Ventnor and walk along the coastal path and the undercliff towards Nitin, turning into St Lawrence - where the church is open and welcomes walkers with squash and biscuits. Then head north to reach the Stenbury Trail up on to the downs - where at Week Down the sea can be seen in all directions and you can imagine this is where Tennyson stood on his frequent walks there - then follow the paths back down to Ventnor. Reward yourself with an excellent meal in the art deco Rex Piano Bar in Ventnor with a view out along the coastal path you started on.

www.islandbreaks.co.uk/things-to-do/sports-and-outdoor-activities/walking/walking-routes
www.rexpianobar.com/about.htm
Google map: bit.ly/Ijg7xx

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Interesting bar/cafe in the bohemian Exarchia area of Athens.
The Exarchia area has drawn intellectuals and students into it from the 19th century onwards and the area was headquarters of many left wing organisations.
This establishment on the square looks straight out of 1960s eastern Europe with every piece of furniture actually from the 1960s itself. Relaxed easy going crowd pitch up here.

www.ginger-ale.gr/
Themistokleous 74, Exarchia
+30 210 3301246
Google map: bit.ly/HtI9XD


Nearest metro Omonia

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A cafe for the 'elite' of Athens, it is worth a visit to see that the economic downturn has not affected everyone equally. Quite exclusive shops ring the square.

Τσακάλωφ 1, Athens 10673 Greece
+30 210 3602497
Google map: bit.ly/HDb6Br

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This was a real find just around the corner from the James Joyce pub. The small entrance on Agiou Filippou Street leads onto a rooftop terrace with a great view of the Acropolis, the Ancient Agora and the Temple of Hephestus.
Beers available from €2 and also serves food.

www.poikili-stoa.com/
Agiou Filippou 14, Athens 10555, Greece
+30 21 0321 0431
Google map: bit.ly/HND5ix

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Charlie's Bar is a great bar, full of character. In the winter it has an open coal fire which added to the darkness and really makes for a great atmosphere. Just by the City Hall on the riverside so you can't miss it.
It hosts live music most evenings from rock 'n' roll to blues.
You will find the gigs list on the website.

www.charliesbarcork.com/
2 Union Quay, Cork, Ireland
+353(0)21 4318342
Google map: bit.ly/HCKa8A

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Tucked away on a side street behind Place Flagey you could easily walk past this wine seller and bar because from the outside it resembles a lock-up garage, whose shutters only rise Thursday to Saturday. Perhaps this is a ruse to deter noisy crowds in other bars nearby: I for one wouldn’t want to see this place lose its intimacy! A small group of people know to come on Friday and Saturday nights for ringside seats at concerts of gypsy music. “We never know quite who’s going to turn up; I don’t think even the Patron knows” says a double bassist cum guitarist. Most of the musicians are Hungarians who have been living in Belgium for many years, playing violin, guitar and cimbalom.
When he is not on tour, they are joined by whiskered virtuoso violinist Roby Lakatos , who keeps us all transfixed with his nimble bow work and finger plucking frenzy, while my poor tapping feet can barely keep up. In Lakatos’ hands the violin is variously a percussion instrument, a guitar and mandolin, and he weaves traditional gypsy tunes and then surprises us all with a variation of “La vie en rose”. A good selection of wines is available by the glass or bottle, and there are tapas and desserts so you won’t go hungry. You can be sure that everyone: staff, players, customers, folk dancer, will be having a good time.
If you’re too early for the concert soak up a beer – and witness Brussels’ Bohemian, alternative side at bar Le Murmure, no.18.

www.dapvins.be/index.php
Open Thursday to Saturday from 17:00

14, rue du Belvédère/ Belvédèrestraat, 1050, Brussels
+32(0)2 640 56 10
Google map: bit.ly/H56Pox

* Bec is our Been there local for Brussels. You can view her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/Becinbrussels

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Canyamel is a gem of a place, in a fantastic location, which my cousin says "should be kept secret".
It has two beach bars, completely different in style and ambience but both special in their own way. They serve excellent meals, cold beers and good wine.
One is very modern with moulded chairs and tables, lobster evenings, and food and (sometimes live) music 'till late.
The other is more traditional in style, serving lunches, snacks, cervezas, coffees, pollo and fritas.
Both overloook a tranquil secluded bay beneath the Caves of Arta and Cap Vermell and have the feel of old Mallorca about them.
You can sit late into a warm summer's evening listening to the waves on the shore and watching the lights go out on the villas high up on the cliffs which shelter the bay, while eating lobster or locally caught fish.

Canyamel Playa, Capdepera, Mallorca
Google map: bit.ly/x5KuAw

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A gorgeous historic hotel, actually situated on the beach.
A local place to meet friends for a cerveza or tapas on the terrace. Also has a fine restaurant. The hotel balconies have hammocks to laze on, facing the blue Med. Bliss.

www.voramar.net/
Paseo de Pilar Coloma, 1 12560 Benicasim, Spain
+34964 30 01 50
Google map: bit.ly/zhGOHY

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The Chiringuito-with-No-Name at El Palmar beach, located half-way between Tarifa and Cadiz on the Atlantic coast is my favourite beach bar in all Europe.
This modest, unassuming shanty serves tinto de verano, a refreshing red wine and soda mix, boquerones (delicious deep-fried anchovies) and other tasty snacks. The charm of this secret gem lies in its unspoiled nature and totally undeveloped facilities. El Palmar is a deserted stretch of sandy, wind-blasted beach that goes on as far as the eye can see. There are no high rise concrete hotel blocks, no fancy restaurants, no lager louts demanding full English breakfasts.
Almost everyone in the bar is a local: either a crusty old fisherman taking a break from putting out the nets to discuss the tide and have a cold beer, surfer dudes or youngsters who come to watch the last 'golden ray' of the sunset while listening to local rock bands. It's always very, very windy here and there is little shade from the intense sun, except in the bar!

The bar can only be reached by car on route A-48 (autovia de la Costa de la Luz)

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A short stroll along the beach, heading away from the town centre of Tarifa, leads to the most charming of Spanish beach bars, Gunlao.
Gunlao, Tarifa, sits at mainland Europe’s most southern point. This inviting beach bar offers the chance to really relax in the sunshine; with views of the North African coastline to the left, Paloma Baja sand dunes to the right, with the Atlantic Ocean sprawling out in between.
It is the perfect place to step out of the breeze or wind, depending upon the days weather (Tarifa is renowned for its windy tendencies, attracting windsports junkies from all over the world). Gunloa offers the ideal vantage point to watch the colourful array of windsurfers and kite surfers, dancing across and above the sea. The windswept sand is kept at bay by the short, clear glass walls surrounding the bar, offering the perfect protection, while not detracting from the scenery and surroundings.
The bar itself can best be described as ‘chilled’. An attractive mix of relaxed music, reasonably priced food and drinks menu, together with friendly staff and customers gives this bar an unassuming and unpretentious feel, while still retaining its style and sense of chic.
You will struggle to find a more comfortable area to lounge in, with Gunlao offering what can only be described as seats that are the ideal mix of bed and sofa. The hours disappear once your back hits the cushions, and with friendly table service offered, you’ll be going nowhere soon!
Take your weight off your feet, take a break from your stroll, head in, sit back and enjoy.

Paseo Maritimo Playa los Lances, Tarifa, Lounge Musica Bar,Desayunos,Comidas,Cenas y Show., 11380 Tarifa, Spain
+34 956 68 19 64
Google map: bit.ly/zqG6MH

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