- watch the world go by
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Italian owned (and staffed) coffee house and pizza/pasta place halfway along Byers Road in the West End.
Go there for the best pizza and coffee in the city, friendly and efficient service and a great perch to watch some of the weird and wonderful locals amble past.
Great to take a friend or sit with the papers and watch the world go by.
Plaza del Triunfo is a great square sandwiched between the Giralda and Alcazar Gardens to sit on a warm sunny day with a good book watching the world go by. If you follow the Cathedral wall you come to Plaza Nueva where Seville's elite gather in the evening. The square is surrounded by boutiques and nice eateries and bars and is a good place to get a taxi.
Beware of the restaurants surrounding the Cathederal and Giralda as they are over-priced and will produce a different menu for the tourists!
Try and visit the cobbled winding streets of the Santa Cruz quarter where you will find traditional tapas bars, senors playing the guitar and flamenco dancing.
Seville is all in all a beautiful place to visit.
This section of the city is amazing. It has a real Middle Eastern feel combined with far east. There is one main street next to the ancient city wall which you can turn off to reach the Great Mosque. The street is alive with people and the perfect place to sit and enjoy the unique Chinese Muslim culture and food of spiced meats, noodles with a type of bread dough and delicious spicy flatbreads. I enjoyed many a beer here watching the world go by.
City centre
The morning after a big night out, head down to Dam Square to take it easy, watch the world go by - and maybe partake of a local beer to ease your headache.
The oldest cafe in Skala, the port of Patmos. Relax with the whole family and watch the nice view of the small bay. Recommended if you're waiting for a taxi, a boat or the bus to take you up to the monastery of St.John.
A view to brighten up even the dullest day. Great to run to in the early morning to free your mind. Stunning on a sunny day when chilling out on the grass with friends and family. Bracing on a wild and windy day. Strangely magical on a wet and blustery day! Always something to see, always something to do and plenty to think about. A great space to chill out in or to be active in.
PL1 2NZ - approximately
Everyone identifies Angkor, and indeed Cambodia, with Angkor Wat, but in my view the piece de resistance is The Bayon.
Famed for its dozens of carved faces looking east, west, north and south, The Bayon is perhaps the most enigmatic ancient relic in the entire continent of Asia. Don't forget to examine the story-telling murals that encircle it either.
Even after a few hard days of wat-hopping in the heat and dust, The Bayon is one place that will draw you back to consider its mysteries one more time.
Dead centre of the ruined city of Ankgor Thom.
I love Cafe String. It's a really cosy retro-cafe with huge windows made for people-watching. And all the things in there, furniture included, are for sale.
Cafe String, Nytorgsgatan 38, Stockholm.
Tel : (00 45) 8 714 8514.
www.cafestring.com
Friday and Saturday nights, the Quadrilatero area (north west corner of the city) is full of life and locals....the area 'piu trendy' in Torino...but in an authentically italian way! Go there for the best alfresco dining and people watching.
Singaporeans are proud of their gleaming city - but don't often mention that the hard labour is done by an army of migrant workers imported from around the region. On their (rare) days off, each nationality gravitates to a different part of the city, where you can find great food, cheap CDs and other products from their homelands, and some crazy karaoke-disco bars.
For Burmese stuff, head for Peninsular Plaza; for Thai, hit Golden Mile Complex. The Phillipino maids have made Lucky Plaza their own, while the Bangladeshi construction workers descend on Little India in their thousands on Sundays to chat and shop and eat.
Peninsular Plaza: 111, North Bridge Road
Golden Mile Complex: 5001, Beach Road
Lucky Plaza: 304, Orchard Road
Little Dhaka: around Veerasamy Road
...and for more info on migrant workers: twc2.org.sg/
The ghats are the main reason to visit Varanasi, but once you've done the standard tour and the boat trip, if you have time then simply pick a ghat you like and sit there for a day or so.
This is by far the best way to capture the essence of the city. You'll never get bored, there's too much going on, and you'll learn so much more about India and its people just by quietly observing the daily life and rituals of the Ganges from sunrise to sunset.
Walk along the banks of the river and pick a ghat that appeals: then find a spot to settle down and go with the flow.
Though not so central as Nieuwmarkt, Leidseplein and the other well-known hangouts, if you want to avoid the crowds head here for a quiet night out with a local flavour. There's five or six authentic little brown cafes to choose from, and a couple of restaurants too. The scenery's not bad and there's few if any lary stag-nighters.
Just off Prins Hendrikkade: from Centraal station, cross the road and walk east for fifteen minutes, it's opposite the old sailing ship at the Scheepvartsmuseum. Try also bus 22 or trams 9 and 14.
Buy a slice of pizza and a bottle of wine, then sit on the steps looking down towards the shimmering moonlit cathedral and watch everyone come and go, the couples slow dancing to the string quartets dotted around the bars and restaurants. It's wonderful, and as good as free. Be prepared, however, to fend off approximately 400 rose sellers an hour.
St Mark's square
On the site of the old city walls, this park defines the boundaries of the pear-shaped Old Town. In spring and summer it’s a pleasant place to sit and relax, but it has a reputation for being less pleasant after dark.
Old Town (Stare Miasto)
Parallel to the Ramblas, but miles away from the crowds, La Rambla del Raval is the result of the demolition of a section of slum housing in Raval to create an open street. There are plenty of benches where you can sit and watch hippies juggling fire and men clandestinely selling beer cans.
La Rambla del Raval is definitely very seedy but in a good way. It boasts some of Barcelona's best kebab shops, notably King Donner. The area is becoming more trendy, there are some nice bars up and down the street, including OmBar at the bottom.
It's a nice place to sit out drinking late at night, people watching, and in the summer there are music events staged here. There is a good but pricey market every day but Sunday.
There are occasional demonstrations here too.
Nearest metro: Sant Antoni
Ortaköy is an area of Istanbul on the European side of the Bosphorous just under the first bridge.
There are many cafes and little shops in which to poke around but they are a little more expensive than the norm.
Despite this you can sit with a drink, watch the boats glide past, and admire the bridge which is lovely by day or night. Heaven!
Ortaköy is very easy to get to from any central area. Buses or minibuses going up the Bosphorous coast road all pass through it and a taxi from Taksim will cost about 10 lira. Ferries go there and if you cannot get one to Ortaköy then go to Beşiktaş and get a minibus for the remaining 2 km.
If you've ever tried to imagine what Angkor Wat might have looked like when it was first put up, look no further.
Inaugurated as recently as November 2005, every inch of this stunningly constructed complex is packed with carvings. No less than 15,000 artisans spent four years chipping away and the result is exquisite, if a little over the top.
The main temple is surrounded by a mammoth frieze depicting the elephant in mythology and folklore; the interior is a virtuoso display of religious art; and there are fountains and gardens too. And that's just the free part - there's a host of other exhibitions and film shows to keep you occupied for an entire afternoon, at least.
If the time, effort, money and sheer organisational skill that went into this were to go into sorting out the rest of New Delhi, it would become the world's number one city by next week.
Quite a way out to the east, over Nizamuddin bridge. Tuk-tuk drivers might be a bit reluctant to venture this far, so bargain hard, but it shouldn't be more than 100Rs from Connaught Place. Once inside, entry is free though the extra exhibitions cost 125 Rs a pop and the security is tight.
www.akshardham.com
In the summer, watch the world go by at Frontier Field. Tickets are inexpensive, and you can sit pretty much wherever you like. Even if you aren't interested in baseball (the Red Wings) or soccer (the Rhinos), this is a great place for people watching, and one of the few places where you can sit outside, soak up the sun, and drink beer all at the same time. After the game, cross State Street and head over to the High Falls.
1 Morrie Silver Way; tel: 585 423 9464; www.redwingsbaseball.com
Old-fashioned buzzy bar on the edge of the square where at weekends you can watch tango and browse the flea market. Speedy service from the ageing waiters... grab a table outside if you can, order a chop and watch the comings and goings in the square.
Plaza Dorrego, San Telmo
The caffeine fueled all night heart of Soho. It's a small place inside with a giant clanking old till and great coffee, best consumed at the outside tables where the full colour of Soho can been seen passing by.
22 Frith Street, Soho, W1D 4RF, near junction with Old Compton; 020 7437 4520
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