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Bouillabaisse | Martin O'Brien | France, Provence, Marseille
Thanks to a host of second-rate "soupes des pecheurs" and "Bouillabaisses a notre facon" which unscrupulous restaurateurs pass off as the real thing
Cities of the Rhone Alps | Martin O'Brien | France, French Alps, Annecy
Like its neighbours Annecy and Chambéry, Grenoble is an excellent base from which to explore the surrounding countryside. Drive up into the highlands of the Chartreuse, or burrow into the gorges
Corsica | Martin O'Brien | France, Corsica, Corsica
Ancient mountain villages huddle on impossibly narrow ridges or perch on hilltops, with dizzying, twisting roads that spool down from rugged highlands into sun-drenched valleys ribbed with vineyards
England, Scotland and Wales | Martin O'Brien
There was never a country so built for the senses as Britain. The skirl and wheeze of a lonely bagpipe drifting down a Scottish glen; the tug of a Hampshire trout stream pummelling at your waders
Favourite Hotels Outside Athens | Martin O'Brien | Greece, Mainland Greece, Athens
On weekends, the people who know better leave Athens to the people who know no better - usually first-time tourists who haven't read their guide books properly or learned enough about the inhabitants
Favourite Hotels Outside Delhi | Martin O'Brien | India, Delhi, Delhi
After Indira Ghandhi amended India's constitution, putting an end to the power and privilege of the Rajput princes, many of the Royal families' homes - the desert forts built by the moghul emperors
Favourite Hotels Outside London | Martin O'Brien | United Kingdom, London, Sussex Downs
These hotels are something special: they are stately country homes, some of which date back to the 15th century, set in some of the prettiest English countryside you can find
Favourite Hotels Outside Milan | Martin O'Brien | Italy, Lombardy, Milan
Head north from Milan, to where the vast Lombard plain starts to crumple and rise towards the icy ramparts of the Alps. Amongst these forested folds are concealed the real jewels of Lombardy's crown
Favourite Hotels Outside Montreal | Martin O'Brien | Canada, Quebec, Montreal
Montreal is the second-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris. The hotels around Montreal reflect the centuries of French influence on this part of Canada
Favourite Hotels Outside Munich | Martin O'Brien | Germany, Bavaria, Munich
Germany's Upper Bavaria offers luxurious retreats like Murnau's Alpenhof and Aschau's Residenz Heinz Winkler as well as more modest inns and gasthauser
Favourite Hotels Outside Paris | Martin O'Brien | France, Ile-de-France, Paris
It is still possible to find real jewels in the Parisian countryside, private family chateaux which, while not strictly speaking hotels, are happy to accommodate guests
Favourite Hotels Outside Rome | Martin O'Brien | Italy, Lazio, Rome
When in Rome, do as the Romans do: leave the city at the weekend and set out to explore the coast or the countryside. You'll find hotels luxurious enough to meet the most exacting standards
Favourite Hotels Outside Seville | Martin O'Brien | Spain, Andalucia, Seville
Andalucia is the southernmost region of Spain, a sun-drenched landscape of orange and olive groves, of high, parched sierras, teetering hill-top villages known as pueblos blancos- and some truly rewarding hotels
Favourite Hotels Outside Stockholm | Martin O'Brien | Sweden, Stockholm, Stockholm
Resist the lure of the Skargarden, the archipelago of islands sprinkled along Stockholm's coastline, and head inland, along the shores of Lake Malaren and into the country's unforgettable interior
Favourite West Coast Hotels | Martin O'Brien | United States, California, Santa Ynez Mountains
Hidden away in a wooded canyon on the slopes of the Santa Ynez Mountains, a comfortable ninety miles north of Los Angeles along the Pacific Coast Highway, the San Ysidro Ranch is the perfect place
Following India's Textile Trail | Martin O'Brien | India, Rajasthan, Jaisalmer
India has beautiful fabrics by the acre - shawls and jackets, skirts and scarves, wall-hangings and bedspreads. You'll want to haggle and barter for every exquisitely-worked thread in every merchant shop
Getting to Know Her | Martin O'Brien | France, Ile-de-France, Paris
That unexpected park, that special table, that back-street atelier, that view – what Parisians call their petits trésors and keep to themselves
Land of the Big Sky | Martin O'Brien | Kenya, Lake Naivasha, Great Rift Valley
The game-filled plains of the Longonot Ranch and the eponymous National Park that borders it are vast reaches of open savannah, studded with small stony hills called kopjes and ridged with ancient lava flows
London's Canary Wharf | Martin O'Brien | United Kingdom, London, London
Only twenty minutes by Underground from London's West End, this major financial and business centre is moored like some mini-Manhattan in the heart of the Isle of Dogs
Luxurious Railway Journeys of the World | Martin O'Brien
What is remarkable in this supersonic age of diminished distances, when you can fly from Singapore to Bangkok in a matter of hours, is that the magic and romance of traditional rail travel should still endure
Market Day with the Huilloc | Martin O'Brien | Peru, Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu, Urubamba
The Huilloc are mountain people, tough, rugged and resilient, their plump red cheeks patched with black from exposure to sun and wind. Their existence is hard and isolated
Marseille | Martin O'Brien | France, Provence, Marseille
Marseille is a world away from the Provence of the travel posters, light years distant from the glittering promenades of the Riviera. And happy to be so
My Favourite USA | Martin O'Brien
It's not just the size of the USA that confounds, it's the astonishing variety. No matter how many times you return, there's always something new to discover - a fresh landscape, an unknown city
My Perfect Day in Lyon | Martin O'Brien | France, Beaujolais, Lyon
It's Pavlovian. Pure and simple. Say Lyon, and I see snug, wooden booths, steamed-up windows and paper squares diamond-draped over red gingham tablecloths.
Nepal | Martin O'Brien | Nepal, Kathmandu, Kathmandu
Many travellers will ride an elephant through lowland Terai in search of the Royal Bengal tiger, many more will explore the shangri-la valley of Kathmandu
Nuts in Sicily | Martin O'Brien | Italy, Sicily, Bronte
It's late Thursday afternoon and as the day's siesta comes to an end the shutters of this Sicilian hilltown on the western slopes of Mount Etna creak open and the streets start to fill again
Partying around the World | Martin O'Brien
South America doesn't have a monopoly on party time. It may host the world's biggest and grandest carnival in Rio de Janeiro every February, but other countries are not slow to pull on their party clothes
Paxos | Martin O'Brien | Greece, Cyclades (south), Naxos
One of the smallest of the Greek Ionian Islands and still relatively unknown, Paxos has remained resolutely under-developed. Too small and hilly for an airport, with limited supplies of fresh water
Practical Marseilles | Martin O'Brien | France, Provence, Marseille
Marseilles may be France's oldest city but there's nothing retiring about this reprobate Provencal pensioner.
Rarotonga | Martin O'Brien | Cook Islands, Cook Islands, Rarotonga
Climb to any vantage point on Rarotonga and you'll be overwhelmed by a sense of intoxication, set off by views that reach down over lushly green slopes to semicircles of white coral sand and aquamarine shallows
Whoever said that denial is good for the soul deserves all he gets. What's really good for the soul is widening one's horizons, seeking out destinations that put the human condition into perspective
The Bouchon of Lyon | Martin O'Brien | France, Beaujolais, Lyon
The bouchons of Lyon are what Paris' bistros used to be, authentic family-run establishments serving locally-based dishes in surroundings that have changed little since the turn of the century
The Not-So-New Forest | Martin O'Brien | United Kingdom, South West England, The New Forest
In the New Forest it's sometimes difficult to decide whether it's heath or history that's the more seductive
The Pas de Calais | Martin O'Brien | France, Picardy, Pas-de-Calais
I had not come to Nord-Pas de Calais for its towns and cities. Instead I was bound for the countryside, for the great open plains and the crumpling bocage-style landscapes that typify this region
The Pilgrimage of El Rocio | Martin O'Brien | Spain, Andalucia, El Rocio
This is not just a religious festival: the Rocieros also come here to party. Dressed in traditional costume, this is an opportunity to show off their horses and horsemanship, to call on friends, to dance flamenco
The Surajkund Craft Mela | Martin O'Brien | India, Delhi, Delhi
Fifty minutes' drive from Delhi is the town of Surajkund. For the last ten years this small community on the borders of Rajasthan and Haryana has hosted an annual craft fair
The West Country | Martin O'Brien
From its eastern boundary on the wide reaches of Sedgemoor Plain to its rugged, stony tip at Land's End, Britain's West Country has always been a land apart
Top Ten Activity Holidays | Martin O'Brien
For an increasing number of us, travel is more than simply reaching a chosen destination and spreading out a beach towel. More and more we're looking for a sense of adventure and a notion of challenge
Western France | Martin O'Brien | France, Brittany, Brest
I remember someone telling me that if Western France were a bird, it would almost certainly be an early bird since it possessed everything I could ever want from a country
Western France 2 | Martin O'Brien | France, Loire, Amboise
There is simply nothing like it. The fresh-air freedom of cycling the open road, the exhilaration of spinning wheels and wind in the hair and, every day, somewhere up ahead, the softly seductive prospect of a picnic lunch.
Western France 3 | Martin O'Brien | France, Normandy, Caen
Wherever you go in Western France you follow in the footsteps of history, shadowed by myth and legend...