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The Victory Column is an enormous tower in old West Berlin. From the top you can see right down the StraBe des 17 Juni towards the Brandenburg Gate, Berliner Dom and the TV tower. Be prepared for a long walk up the many steps though!
GroBer Stern
In the middle of the Tiergarten and situated to the west of Brandenburg Gate. The nearest S-bahn station is Tiergarten
To get a great experience of NY, jump on the Staten Island Ferry. It gives you a great view of the downtown skyline, Brooklyn and the Statue of Liberty. Also, it's free, runs every few minutes, and real New Yorkers will be alongside you. Once you get to Staten Island, get right back on a return ferry and enjoy the fab experience again.
To get a similar view, you could take the Statue of Liberty Ferry, which is not cheap and usually has a long queue. Only take that if you want to tour the Statue of Liberty, which is usually full of kids and queues.
Battery Park, which is very downtown; the end of Manhattan. The park and ferry terminal are very well sign posted.
If you've got a car and need to go along the N98 road towards Nice - try and aim to arrive for dusk. The place looks absolutely magical from there at that time.
A winery in the Stellenbosch area. Slightly off the beaten track, in fact virtually at the top of a mountain. Wines, especially the sauvignon blanc are fantastic but pale in comparison with the views from up there.
It is signposted on the Stellenbosch wine tourist trail
A short trip from the centre of town is Cape Point - where two oceans (the Atlantic and the Indian) meet. Amazing views over some of the roughest and most feared seas in the world. Plus, at some times of year, whales can be seen.
Ridley Scott's 1982 sci-fi epic broke the cinematic mould with its bleak depiction of early 21st Century urban dystopia. But Blade Runner is already with us. Drive through Shanghai some night after a cloudburst; take one of its elevated highways and soar above the streets below. With the neon fireworks of distant skscrapers reflected in the wet tarmac, you'll see what I mean.
Available on DVD across Europe and North America, yet strangely hard to find in Shanghai's pirate DVD stores. "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain..."
A beautiful Italian restaurant, with a very scenic view (the restaurant lies directly next to a bridge which spans the picturesque Landwehrkanal - very romantic in the evenings!!).
It is a busy, but nevertheless charming restaurant which tends to attract younger people who like to enjoy genuine Italian cuisine. The menu is simple (antipasti, pasta, pizza, dolci), but everything (and I mean everything: we went up and down the menu) is of extraordinary quality and taste. Try the desserts and don't forget to make a reservation!
Il Casolare (Trattoria-Pizzeria)
Grimmstraße 30, Ecke Planufer
10967 Berlin-Kreuzberg
U-Bahn: Kottbusser Tor (U8+U15)
Tel.: 030-69 50 66 10
Well, it's a museum housed in a former synagogue and is one of the tallest buildings in Turin. BUT, the actual museum is pretty average, verging on poor. However, you need to go in the glass lift (yes GLASS) to the tower where you get some stunning views of Turin. Worth the entrance fee, and if you are a fan of fake Darth Vader masks, then you'll get a Brucie Bonus too...
Mole Antonelliana Via Montebello, 20 - Torino
Ride the Stadtbahn (express local trains - not the U-Bahn) from Zoologischer Garten to Berlin Ostbahnhof station for a rooftop view of the many different characters of the city. Start in the heart of the old west and travel via the Tiergarten, new Berlin central station, government district, Freidrichstrasse, Museum Island and Alexanderplatz, ending up in the old East Berlin. Cheap, very frequent and clean. A good alternative is BVG Bus route 100, which links most of the same major sites and sights.
Zoologischer Garten station, just off Kurfurstendamm/Tauentzienstrasse or any S-Bahn station en route, see www.bvg.de for details of Berlin public transport
The TV Tower (Fernsehturm) was built in the late 1960s and features a spherical revolving restaurant and viewing gallery at the top. The period decor and fittings were still intact when I visited in 2001, and hopefully this is still the case! The food is good too. Ideal for Saturday lunch before a walk around the city.
Adjacent to Alexanderplatz.
Once you take the Star Ferry from the main port, you (a) get THE most fantastic view of Hong Kong (aim to come back at night - and get your camera ready), and (b) realise how small the place is. Once you get on Lantau, take the bus to Po Lin. You get to see a snapshot of real life on the island, which is amazing, and then once you get to the monastery AND that seated Buddha - well it's awe inspiring.
I went for a meal at the 'worst looking' but tastiest restuarant on the island, about a ten-minute hike from Po Lin (avoid the large dogs). The food was good, as I was starving.
Po Lin Monastery, Lantau Island
Fantastic tower in old East Berlin. Take the lift to the top and sit in the revolving restaurant to see the city. Go early to avoid queues.
To add to Luke Harding's tip about avoiding the queue, you can also book at the restaurant on the roof and go in the disabled entrance. The food is good and the view (especially if you get into the glassed-over section) is wonderful.
An impressive mountain on Hong Kong island, either walk up it (takes about one hour or more) or take the funicular railway. Queues for the rail can be harsh though, especially at the weekend - make sure you get there early. Once you get up to the top you have a fantastic view of Hong Kong and over to Kowloon on the coast and surpass tallest building on the island, quite exhilarating!
Hong Kong Island, buses go to the funicular regularly from the harbour station
Torcello is the island at the north of the Venetian lagoon that might have been Venice, and that Venice might have been. In their early days they were equally populous, but Venice prospered and Torcello dwindled; as a result, you can find quiet and contemplation on Torcello that sometimes eludes one in Venice itself.
Especially noteworthy for church junkies is the Ciesa Santa Maria Assunta, with its mosaics of the Last Judgement and of the Virgin and child, heavily Byzantine influenced but with some North European influence too.
Take a vaporetto to Burano, a picturesque little island in its own right, and then the Traghetto to Murano.
Great views of the whole of Paris
Opera is the nearest metro. Once there, go into the Galleries Lafayette store, walk through the departments and make your way to the stairwell that leads to the roof.
Barely out of the crowds of Princes Street, this peaceful spot is blustery enough to chill your bones at times, but is a great bit of greenery with great views of the Firth of Forth and Edinburgh city centre, and some weird architecture to puzzle over.
Calton Hill, central, near the North Bridge.
For eating, drinking & a great gallery in The Baltic. It's not necessary to use the Quayside Link as the walk from Grey's Monument down Grey Street and Dean Street to The Side passes some of the finest architecture in Britain, never mind England. There are also a few good pubs and some excellent restaurants on the way to the quay and at the bottom on the right-hand side you will find the wonderful "Side Gallery"
Take the tram to Santa Tereza, travelling over the aquaduct. Fantastic experience and gives a great (and safer) view point of Santa Tereza district. Take the tram at around midday and watch all the school kids clambering on around you (it's a free ride if you hang off the side!) Fantastic but watch your wallet.
Near to the modern cathedral
The ferry between Darling Harbour and Circular Quay gives you one of the best views of the Harbour Bridge as you actually sail under it. It is a fitting end to a visit to the Australian Maritime Museum. This free museum is well set out and has plenty to keep children interested while still being fascinating to adults. It includes some naval vessels such as a submarine but there is a charge for going aboard.
Pyrmont Wharf, Darling Harbour
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