The Independent

Le Roi des Belges: Set sail for the Southbank

10 February 2012 11:30 AM

A boat-shaped holiday let on the roof of the Queen Elizabeth Hall is a bold addition to London's landmarks, says Stephen Bayley.

A touch of frost: camping in the snow at Wowo

Winter camping: And you think you're cold...

08 February 2012 12:00 AM

Never mind the snow and ice – winter camping is a chance to enjoy the British countryside at its most serene, as Tracey Davies discovers from a yurt in Sussex

<p>1. The Mournes Walks by Paddy Dillon</p>
<p>£7.99, obrien.ie</p>
<p>Walks in the Northern Irish Mourne mountains that take in the rugged coast and beautiful forest parks.</p>

The 10 Best walking guides

08 February 2012 12:00 AM

1. The Mournes Walks by Paddy Dillon

£7.99, obrien.ie

Walks in the Northern Irish Mourne mountains that take in the rugged coast and beautiful forest parks.

Charles Dickens: Old curiosities with a new twist

05 February 2012 12:00 AM

Broadstairs in Kent was once Dickens's holiday retreat. As the bicentenary of his birth arrives, Hilary Macaskill pays a visit

Frank Meadow Sutcliffe's image of Whitby's upper harbour, c1880

On the waterfront: Frank Meadow Sutcliffe's Whitby

04 February 2012 12:00 AM

People flock there now for its perfectly picturesque seaside and Rick Stein's fish and chips, yet in Frank Meadow Sutcliffe's day, Whitby was a place of Bram Stoker stories, gambolling urchins and an endlessly photogenic sea.

The addition of Greenwich brings the total of 'Royal Boroughs' to four

Travel By Numbers: Greenwich

03 February 2012 12:00 AM

To mark the Diamond Jubilee, Greenwich has been given 'Royal Borough' status, with celebrations taking place this weekend. Laura Holt figures it all out.

And so to bed: Blackloch B&B in Perthshire

Bed and breakfast – and yoga and cookery

01 February 2012 12:00 AM

The British B&B has undergone a transformation. Now, you're just as likely to find a host of amazing extras as you are a warm welcome.

Being Modern: Center Parcs

29 January 2012 12:00 AM

Center parcs is an indubitably modern part of our domestic travel industry. We know that because of the way it's spelt. Center, as if it's American. And Parcs, as if it's French. Because nothing says modern like trying to make people feel like they fit in. Only Center Parcs is neither American nor French. It's Dutch. Perhaps Piet Derksen, the man who came up with the idea in 1968, was just a poor speller. We'll never know. Probably. And it DOESN'T MATTER!

My favourite place: MPs select tourist spots

29 January 2012 12:00 AM

The drive is on to tempt the extra visitors expected for the Games and Diamond Jubilee out into the wider country. Matt Chorley reports

Travel Challenge: A Valentine's break in the UK

28 January 2012 12:00 AM

Each week we invite three companies to give us their best deal for a specific holiday. Today: a two-night Valentine's Day break in the UK. All prices are per couple, for stays commencing Friday 10 February until Sunday 12 February.

To see Ramsgate as Turner did, you would have to be out on a boat

On the trail of Turner: Revisit the scenes in Kent that inspired the landscape artist

28 January 2012 12:00 AM

The best known story about Joseph Mallord William Turner is that he had himself lashed to a mast, brush in hand, to capture the full force of a storm at sea. Like many art anecdotes, this one probably isn't true: other, lesser painters are known to have had themselves tied to bits of shipping while they worked, and one of their stories has barnacled itself to JMW. He was, after all, Britain's greatest living artist, and so by definition the most heroic. The truth may come as a disappointment, or, if you are taking the Turner Tour, as a faint relief. At least it can be done without water wings.