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It's a simple but quite nice budget hotel in a very lively Parisian area - the Oberkampf quarter. Very cheap with Parisian standards and the area is really great. It's a youthful hotel in a youthful quarter, with friendly and helpful staff.
15, rue de Malte
75010 Paris
www.marys-paris-hotel.com/
Melbourne is Australia's secret city. Visitors from abroad are awestruck by Sydney's habour and opera house, but often fail to see Melbourne's charm. Melburnians however, all know that if you know where to look, the city is full of secret hidden spots.
Murmur bar is a fine example of a truly hidden secret Melbourne bar. Tucked away at the back of an alley way, off a small side street, up a flight of stairs and you find an atmospheric cocktail bar where you can while away a pleasant evening sipping new and innovative cocktail creations.
Think dim lighting, jazz music and attractive thirty-somethings drinking quirky cocktails.
Bit on the expensive side, but worth it!
Murmur bar is on wharburton lane in the Melbourne CBD. From the junction of Little Bourke st and Elizabeth Street walk west on Little Bourke (towards the Telstra Dome), Whatburton lane if off Little Bourke on the left side. (03) 9640 0395.
www.murmur.com.au/
Google map: tinyurl.com/pdnkff
This is a secret restaurant operated from someone's home in central Berlin - a sort of underground restaurant. Brilliant food and a really cool idea!
Upstairs at the Bull - a lovely boutique hotel in the heart of Bridport - there's the Venner Bar, an establishment that feels more like a swanky private club in London than a watering hole in rural west Dorset. It has chocolate brown walls, leather sofas, dimmed lighting and a long bar presided over - when we went - by a depressingly good-looking Spaniard. I love pubs down here but occasionally a metropolitan injection is needed.
34 East Street
Bridport
www.thebullhotel.co.uk
Bar Saloon is a broom cupboard of a drinking den in the Old City, with just a handful of tables and chairs. The look is - quite by accident I suspect - straight out of the pages of Wallpaper, with exposed fake timbers, dark walls, fairy lights and a couple of topless pin-ups. It’s presided over by a genial, rotund man who sits at a tiny bar under shelves loaded with bottles and boxes of yet more bottles. He fixed my dad a vodka and tonic and brought me an Al-Maza, a crisp Lebanese beer. Staring out into the darkening street, a bowl of nuts on the table, we couldn’t have been happier. And if you think the bar's size is Lilliputian, be sure to check out the loo.
Straight Street
Betty's on St Helen's square is a Yorkshire institution and rightly so. Sitting in the Art Deco glazed dining room watching the world go by is a rare treat. Rare because the outdoor queues can be most off putting.
If it is windy and raining I recommend a trip round the corner to Little Betty's, located on York's prettiest medieval street - Stonegate.
The food, service and quaint ambience remain in Little Betty's but the queues are shorter and indoors. The upstairs rooms even have one extra special treat - open fires.
Sandwiches and cakes are available to takeaway from shops in both tearooms.
Betty's, St Helen's Square
Little Betty's, Stonegate
There are wonderful unspoilt beaches all around the West Country coasts, with no 'facilities', no development and few if any visitors. To find them, get a large-scale Ordnance Survey map (1:25,000) and look for beaches with no parking and no road nearby.
Providing you have to walk for 30 minutes to reach your beach, often down an old smugglers' path flanked by tall hedges alive with birdsong and wildflowers, at the end you should find, if you have chosen well, a little sandy cove surrounded by rocks and cliffs, with barely a soul in sight.
Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset
Starting from Anakena beach, it is possible to walk around the base of Mount Terevaka to Hanga Roa. It is a five-six hour walk and takes in a large number of ahus and moai, all with well preserved village remains and caves nearby.
The walk is ignored by 90% of tourists and is thus devoid of people most of the time - leaving the sites empty and silent. Perfect for getting to know the soul of the island. Take at least two big bottles of water.
Walk west along the coast from Anakena parking lot. And keep walking.
Three hours by land from Saigon (or less than two hours by ferry and bus). Quiet and cool beach area with great seafood. Cute cabanas in Palace Hotel resort with swimming pool. Palace Hotel is 100 years old, built by the French and used in modern times as a reception place for French embassy.
To find the best beaches, that is the most remote and unspoilt, go to the west and north sides of the Gower peninsula rather than the south.
From Worms Head to Whiteford Point, Gower, South Wales.
Do Mori is simply not to be missed. It's a little hard to find, but is near the Rialto market, and worth the hunt. You should only find locals here - it's where the market traders go from mid-morning for their 'ombra' - a glass of wine and perhaps some ciccheti (little snacks).
There are no tables here and no waiter service, so simply go up to the counter of the little dark bar, choose your wine, choose some snacks and enjoy a taste of real Venice. Don't expect service with a smile, but do expect to feel part of the real city.
San Polo 429 - Entrances on Calle Galiazza and Calle Do Mori, In San Polo, Venice
Although millions of tourists visit the west bank at Luxor every year the area is so rich in archaeology that it is not difficult to find quiet and equally spectacular monuments away from the hordes.
Just across the road from the bazaars and the coach-park at the Hatshepsut temple a jumble of mud-brick remains marks the cemetery of el-Asasif, site of some of the largest and most spectacular tombs anywhere in the country.
Three of its tombs are open to the public: that of Kheruef of the 18th Dynasty, and those of Pabasa and Ankh-hor of the 26th. Their subterranean ‘sun-courts’ are unique to this area, and each of the tombs preserves beautiful relief decoration of varying styles.
I would highly recommend taking a walk from here back to the road through the crumbling remains of tombs yet to be investigated; at the road I recommend hailing one of the local service taxis and riding back to the river with the locals for a few piasters, rather than taking a private car for 100 times the price.
Egypt decided some years ago that it was relatively unsafe to allow tourists to travel outside the established tourist centres; as a result several isolated, but nonetheless spectacular sites in between Cairo, Luxor and Aswan are infrequently visited.
For those looking for archaeological adventures away from the hordes, I highly recommend making arrangements (in hotels or with taxi drivers) to join the daily convoy down-river (north) from Luxor to see Dendera and Abydos. The former is the site of one of Egypt’s best preserved monuments, the Ptolemaic and Roman temple of Dendera, with scenes of Cleopatra VII (the Cleopatra) and her son Ceasarion; at the latter the atmospheric temple of Sety I and his son Ramesses the Great features some of the most beautiful relief decoration anywhere in Egypt.
The drive is fairly lengthy but provides an excellent opportunity to see the Egyptian countryside.
If you’re heading east from Paris and you’ve got some time to kill, there’s a quiet little park hidden away about 20m from the Gare de l’Est, but not that easy to find.
Stand with your back to the station and head down the road on the left, to the corner. Look for a green metal gate down the side of the rather imposing stone building. It leads into a small ornamental park with a great kids’ playground, and public toilets and baby change on the far side of the park.
Directions to one of Paris’s best-kept secrets: Take the Metro's Line 5 and get off at Laumière. Climb up Rue Laumière until you reach the main entrance of the most beautiful Parisian garden: Les Buttes de Chaumont.
Climb up the hill around the lake, up to the view point. Now the real secret: if you happen to be there on August 30th at about 8.20pm, you'll see the sun setting right behind the Sacre Coeur and the Montmartre hill, now that's a view that will stay with you for a while.
You can enter the street by the 9 Quai Saint-Michel along the Seine, and 29 metres later, you will end up in the lively and colourful Rue de la Huchette.
Measuring 1m80, it is said to be the narrowest street in Paris. If you feel that the city is too big for you, then have some rest in this old, quiet and dark street. You’ll be able to imagine yourself in the Paris of the middle ages for a while.
This little gem which chronicles the lives of George Sand and Chopin is tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the capital. Lovely autre epoque atmosphere with a delightful period tea room. Worth discovering.
16 rue Chaptal , Metro St. Georges
Paris' constant drone of traffic noise can be wearying for the footsore tourist, but if you are near to the Opera Bastille you can make an instant escape by walking up a few steps on to the Promenade Plantee.
This little heaven away from the roar of the big city is actually a reclaimed elevated railway line, 4.5km long and planted with thousands of gorgeous flowers and shrubs. Instant relaxation guaranteed, instant slowing down of pulse, and another - somewhat secret - addition to this wonderful city's delights.
Tennis lovers will want to visit Roland Garros – the museum is wonderful and you can often get close to French stars as they train. But Paris has a tennis secret, the Standard Athletic Club.
This sport and social club was set up by a group of young British businessmen in the nineteenth century; afternoon tea is still served under a picture of the Queen.
Along with swimming pool, squash and gym, the club has eight tennis courts (five clay) and a cricket pitch. Membership is easy to obtain and reasonable, but the club is also generous to guests. Members may invite you to play, and most weekends guests are welcome, by appointment, to try the facilities.
Route Forestière du Pavé de Meudon, 92360 MEUDON-LA-FORET, www.standac.com
For jazz lovers, the grave of Adolphe Sax (November 6, 1814 – February 4, 1894), a Belgian musical instrument designer and musician (clarinetist), best known for inventing the saxophone is in Cimetière de Montmartre.
Montmartre cemetery, 37 Avenue Samson.
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