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Invasion of the jellyfish: Mediterranean on alert as hundreds suffer from stings
As thousands of tourists head to the Mediterranean, the spectre of jellyfish ruining holidays looms large after French emergency services received more than 500 calls for help in a single day along a 10-mile stretch of coast from Nice to Cannes.

Interviews cancelled as passport staff strike
 British travellers making a last-minute dash to get a passport could face disappointment as passport workers began a three-day strike on Wednesday over pay and office closures.

The Ten Best Travel Books

Still not booked up? Then how about the first $1m holiday?
If you've spent the past few weeks desperately scouring holiday websites or Teletext for a cheap last-minute deal to somewhere sunny, look away now. A luxurious seven-star hotel yesterday unveiled the world's first US$1m (£500,000) holiday.

Please adjust your watch to Calabrian time
Goats and motorways rarely combine well – except, that is, on the sun-kissed trunk roads of Calabria. Every afternoon, the Pizzo intersection of the A3 autostrada that shuttles Alfa Romeos and juggernauts along the length of the mountainous region that forms the "toe" of Italy's "boot" is brought to a halt by a herd of 200 goats moving from pasture to an adjoining dairy.

This is Summer: kids' days out

The simple steps that can stop your holiday heaven turning to hell
As schools break-up this week the great summer getaway will soon be on. For millions of Britons this is the main event of the year – a time for some much-needed R&R. But, unfortunately for too many travellers, the holiday that's meant to be a little slice of heaven turns into hell, with a myriad of potential spanners in the works – from overbooked flights to lost or stolen luggage.

Don't mention the war. It's time to build on the peace
The resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme, Montenegro, is examining a section of the massive 15th-century walls of Dubrovnik. "That's a good sign," he says, somewhat mysteriously. We are at the Pile gate of the medieval citadel and, in truth, Garret Tankosic-Kelly is commenting not so much on a sign, but the absence of one. Here, the municipality of Dubrovnik had pinned a map showing the extent and location of the damage suffered by the Unesco world heritage site during the bombardment by Serbian and Montenegrin forces in 1991. The frame is empty; the map is missing.

Get your (green) wellies on, we're off for dinner in the Cotswolds
The Cotswolds is not only one of the most beautiful parts of England, but it is also a culinary hot spot with some of the best dining in the country.

Tips & Deals for Travellers

Close to 'The Wire' on the mean streets of Baltimore
I'm standing on the corner of O'Donnell and Linwood Street in Baltimore's hip Canton area with Proposition Joe, the city's most notorious drug dealer. We've just finished lunch at Mama's on the Half Shell seafood restaurant and, as we wait for our other dining companion to finish his cigarette, a passer-by on the opposite side of the street stops in his tracks, breaks into a broad grin and shouts, "Yo! Prop Joe."

Are We There Yet?
School's out for summer in many places – which means thousands of sun-starved, cash-strapped parents are scrabbling to get a decent last-minute deal outta here. And I've found three great new deals that offer a taste of something different.

Take a walk in the Brecon Beacons
My dinner at Peterstone Court Hotel finishes with clotted-cream ice cream and a summer pudding of blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. I'm in the heart of the Brecon Beacons. The milk chocolate brown humps I can see from my window are interleaved with valleys of lush pasture. I hear that the fruit in my dessert is all local.

Around the UK
1. Hadrian's Wall will be ringing to the sound of singing today. In a unique combination of archaeology and performance, Singing in the Bath will see choirs amusing visitors in the Roman bathhouses along the wall from 2pm-3pm (<a href="http://hadrianartstrust.org" target="new">hadrianartstrust.org</a>).

Hotel Of The Week: Myhotel, Brighton
What a relief! A modern hotel with contemporary styling that doesn't rely on a palette of browns, creams and variations on those tones. No colour is too vibrant for myhotel's latest opening, in Brighton – but that doesn't mean it's gaudy.

The 50 Best Camping Essentials - Backpacks

Serene dream: Ruby Wax thinks big in Thailand and Laos
My dream was always to go to Laos before it got Starbucked to death by my people, before a great deluge of tourism washed over its enchantment. I was told to get there fast, before the crowds came. But you can't reach Laos directly from the UK, which was how I found myself in Chiang Mai – a city in northern Thailand that, I'd heard, was also fairly untouched. Wrong. Chiang Mai, whatever anyone tells you, is a nightmare: a beehive of dishevelled bamboo shacks on stilts filled with plastic, giant-headed cats and insanely grinning tin Buddhas, as well as over-lit restaurants that seat 800 people.

Trail of the unexpected: The Grand Old Ditch
Lives, fortunes and hopes: all were squandered during the tortuous construction of America's finest bike path. That might sound absurd – but the real folly is the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, a waterway that swerves gracefully through the modest, misshapen state of Maryland, and whose towpath provides an ideal cycle-trip. In three days you can ride through benign woodland and rolling hills, with diversions to locations crucial to the history of America, and end in the nation's capital.

Simon Calder: It's time to put an end to the idiocy of 'ghost flights'
 Luckily, no one was watching. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, California time, I found myself talking to a woman while sitting naked in a San Diego hotel room with a duvet over my head. Fortunately for her, she was 5,000 miles away. The only thing more ridiculous than this tableau was the subject we were discussing.

Something to declare: Ryanair fees; the sound of France; Bob Dylan's world
Warning of the week Ryanair fees take off

24-Hour Room Service: Kempinski Duke's Palace, Bruges, Belgium
At the end of a narrow cobbled street in the heart of the Unesco city of Bruges towers a cream and red-brick turreted palace that has recently opened as Bruges's first five-star hotel. It is the latest incarnation of the Prinsenhof, built in 1429 by the powerful Duke Philip the Good – then the richest man in Europe – to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal.

Five literary hotels

Don't look down: the 'Saxon Switzerland'
 The steps began to obsess me. Our arrival in "Saxon Switzerland" – the region of Germany that lies between Dresden and the Czech border – had coincided with a heatwave. The adventurers who explored and mapped this territory, which is filled with curiously formed cliffs, table-shaped outcrops and solitary pillars, had done so in style, by constructing stone staircases, flights of wooden steps and metal rungs at every juncture. As we sweltered in temperatures of 39C, I counted them as a diversion from the heat.

Applecross peninsula: the end of the road
 At Sand Bay, a few miles from Applecross, there's a sand dune that stands at least 100ft high at the back of the beach. And whenever I'm there, in a kind of ritual, I climb to the top. As I start my agonisingly slow ascent, my mind starts to wander and I'm reminded of the classic film The Hill, in which a young Sean Connery is tormented by an army drill sergeant who forces his men to climb an ever-shifting mountain of sand over and over again.

My holiday in Barbados: Roberta Hides, aged 12

My life in travel: Paul Young

Copenhagen, Denmark

The Complete Guide to Italian art towns
Why not 'art cities'?

Family travel: 'Can you find us a good seaside town in France?'
Q: We are planning to go to the South of France this summer with our 18-month-old daughter and three-and-a-half-year-old son. We'd like to stay in a small coastal town with child-friendly beaches, in a gîte or family-run hotel. Where do you suggest?

Ryanair cuts down on winter flights
 Budget airline Ryanair announced substantial cutbacks today in its number of flights from Stansted airport next winter.

The march of tourism (and a threat to the Maldives)
They have become the short-hand for a tropical paradise. A nation of islands off the southern tip of India, the Maldives are the home of cobalt-blue seas and white-sand beaches. Every year the country attracts up to half-a-million tourists in search of a picture-perfect getaway.

This is summer: kids
 This Sunday 20th July don't miss the final part in our four-part series - a free kids magazine

This is summer: Travel
 Who cares about the strength of the euro against the pound when there are plenty of reasons to holiday in the UK this year Fantastic hotels and restaurants, inspiring cultural venues, fun day-trip attractions and exciting events can be found close to home, whichever part of the country you live in.

Flying solo: Don't ruin a perfectly good holiday by taking your partner
This month, I am off to Cornwall for five days without my husband. Next month, my destination will be Scotland, but again I will be spending five days without him. It's nothing personal, you understand – even though my husband is widely agreed to be one of the most annoying men in England, I still enjoy his company very much. It's just that this increasingly seems to be the way that things are working out for married couples in 2008.

Pull up your bar stool for cocktails at 35,000ft
Taste the difference. In my right hand I have a glass containing a few ice cubes, a big slug of gin, a slosh of tonic and a slice of lemon. In my left is a glass full of ice, with a more restrained measure of spirit, lime has been squeezed in the glass and rubbed around the rim, and the drink has been topped with tonic and served with a sprig of rosemary. Which do you think tastes better?

Food of the Week: Ah, this cooking is a breath of fresh air
Nothing adds savour to a meal quite like fresh air and sun. So make sure you include al fresco dining in your travel itinerary this summer.

Hotel of the Week: Slow down. Taste the good life
Informed foodies have long known there's more to the historic market town of Ludlow than its well-preserved Norman castle. It's also home to the UK headquarters of the Slow Food movement and one of the UK's leading annual food and drink festivals. Not bad going for a town with a population of just over 10,000.

See Italy – from the wheel of a Ferrari
 Ten hot, fast kilometres into our journey along the Cassia road to Siena, sun glinting off the windscreen and a warm Tuscan wind rushing through what little hair I possess, I pinched myself.

Even at the age of 400, Quebec's still young at heart
A breaching whale is not an uncommon sight in coastal Canada. But this one blows spume high above the city of Quebec, so there is a collective intake of breath from the thousands of spectators gathered along the waterfront.

Taiwan - the little country with big ideas
There's big and then there's Taipei big. I've just spent the morning at the top of the Taiwanese capital's Taipei 101 which, despite an unfinished tower in Dubai, remains the tallest completed building in the world.

Simone Kane: Around the UK
1 Fans of 'The Lord of the Rings' and The Chronicles of Narnia should head for the Royal Armouries in Leeds, where Arms and Armour from the Movies has 230 handcrafted props of weapons and armour that have never been shown before (royal armouries.org).

It's not easy going green, but we tried
Oh, we had such good intentions. What do you do when you're on a green holiday, in a green place like the southern tip of the Isle of Wight, where the beaches are untouched and the farmland rises to the downs? You cycle, of course. Even when there are only two adults to supervise a nine-year-old and three five-year-olds.

Families: 'Is Hong Kong any fun for children?'

Simon Calder: What would your Arctic island discs be?
Karen Carpenter, get out of my head. Right now, I am aboard a polar expedition vessel just 10 degrees from the North Pole. I'm on top of the world, looking down on creation, and the only tune that's whizzing around my brain is The Carpenters' 1973 hit, "Top of the World".

Something To Declare: America by rail; Boris country; congested traffic in France

Five city beach hotels

Lyrical charm in Capri

24-Hour Room Service: Fowey Hall Hotel, Cornwall
Ten miles north of the neat Cornish seaside town of Fowey lies a vast Victorian house called Lanhydrock, which the National Trust has frozen in time. Visitors will discover that back in the late-19th century, its owners Lord and Lady Robartes had a room for just about everything: sitting, smoking, playing billiards, churning milk, storing servants. Also, that Lady Robartes did some churning of her own, with a mighty output of 10 children between 1879 and 1895. The kids got their own wing to live in, with all mod cons – ie several nannies – but being a progressive type, her ladyship would occasionally allow them downstairs for an hour, where they would sing dutifully, or recite verse. Ah, those were the days...

Waterside Paris

Wisconsin: Hog heaven
Thunder will shake Wisconsin today and Milwaukee, the state's biggest city, will be at the eye of the storm. I'm not there, and I haven't heard a weather forecast, but I'm confident of my prediction, because Milwaukee is where the Harley-Davidson motorcycle company was born, and this weekend the world's first Harley-Davidson museum opens its doors in the city. Thousands of bikers will roll – or rumble – into town for the opening. When Harley Davidson celebrated its centenary in 2003, upwards of 250,000 riders made the trek to Milwaukee. By all accounts it was loud.

The Complete Guide to: Connemara

Plate With A View: Le Grill, Monte Carlo, Monaco
The swankiest hotel in Monte Carlo is without a doubt the Hôtel de Paris, with its Alain Ducasse restaurant, the three-Michelin-starred Le Louis XV. What people often forget is that up on the roof is a perfectly good one-star restaurant with the most wonderful views.

My Life In Travel: Penny Smith

An Arctic voyage: White nights
Captain Valery Beluga moved in for the kill with the kind of forensic precision you expect from an officer trained in the Soviet Baltic Fleet. His 6,000-ton ship crunched across a patch of the Arctic Ocean that was only one-10th open water. Chunks of sea ice the size (and, occasionally, shape) of London buses groaned and squealed as her reinforced hull jostled them aside.

Another US obstacle on Britons crossing Atlantic
 British travellers hoping to visit the US will face yet another bureaucratic obstacle next year, under new laws due from the country's Department of Homeland Security.

We're all going on a British holiday
The critic who declared that where people went on holiday was an infallible register of the national psyche always seemed to me to be on to something.

Euro MPs target 'hidden cost' airline ads
 Laws banning hidden air fares costs are expected in force by the end of the year following final approval from Euro-MPs today.

The Ten Best Travel Games

Cape Ann: where the cod have had their chips
Take a piece of paper. On the left, mark rising increments of money, indicating profits. Along the bottom, mark decades starting, say, in the 1790s, when the British first used the word "seaside" for a coastal place of recreation, and continue into the 21st century. Make two lines. One would start near the top where the money denotes profits from fishing. The line would steadily decline as it crossed the page toward our times. The second line, indicating coastal tourism, would start low on the page, when people went to the coast reluctantly for health cures, then rise steadily.

Times are tight – but there’s always cash for a holiday
Credit crunch, economic slowdown, whatever we dislike to call it, the current gloomy financial climate has not seemed to dampen British spirits as much as predicted – at least when it comes to booking our holidays.

Food Of The Week: Cultural fine dining is quite an art
There's no need to go hungry when sating your cultural appetite. Check out these top-notch restaurants in galleries, theatres, concert halls and museums around the world.

Hotel Of The Week: Elbow Beach, Bermuda
With long sandy beaches, lush vegetation and glorious sunshine, Bermuda could be part of the Caribbean. But this pretty British colony with its famous pink sands is further north, a seven-hour flight from London. It's a great destination for an indulgent few days – especially at a hotel with a spa.

This Weeks Tips For Travellers

Leave the clubs behind, this is the other Algarve
What's that on the horizon? A hill topped with a tumble of white cubes. Is it one of those Moorish "white towns", like in Andalucia? Do they have them on the Algarve? "No," confirms my friend, "it's a golf resort."

Are We There Yet? Breakdancing is back, and it's big
Ever since that nice young lad won 'Britain's Got Talent' with his breakdancing routine, my kids have developed happy feet. Along with thousands of other pre-teens across the country, they've been practising their "moves". Yes, breakdancing is back, and it's big.

Around The UK
1. If you're struggling for solutions to school holiday boredom, head to the Kids Fun Ideas Show today, 10am to 4pm, at Manchester Central – a day of entertainment and workshops aimed at children aged two to 12 (<a href="http://kidsfunideasshow.com" target="new">kidsfunideasshow.com</a>).

Just a bit higher in Edinburgh
The Pentland Hills nudge up against the southern boundary of Edinburgh, forming one of the most glorious backdrops to any city in Britain. Stretching for some 25,000 acres through ancient rolling hills of sandstone, basalt and siltstone, this is a slice of wilderness, surprising for its location just six miles from the city centre.

Have you heard the one about Spike Milligan's Mallorca villa?
Sun, sea, sand and Spike. It was only after we returned from Mallorca that we discovered the villa we stayed in had been a favourite holiday home for Spike Milligan. "We drove down dark, sinuous paths and suddenly we came to this wonderful place like a Roman villa going back 2,000 years," Milligan said of his first visit. "There were marble floors, pieces of beautiful pottery, even clay down-pipes and no phone, thank God."

Five Villas on the Adriatic

Simon Calder: When is a fake banknote not a fake?
The search for a perfect murder is the constant quest for crime writers; but for petty villains in South America, it appears that the quest for the perfect scam for relieving travellers of their excess cash has reached a perfect conclusion. It relies upon the large number of forged bank notes in circulation, but is far more subtle than simply handing over fake bills in change.

Something To Declare: New York for less; on your bike; Settle to Carlisle line

Malta and Gozo: Easy rider on the med
I sat waiting, focused ahead. The cross-traffic started thinning out. I gave a twist with my right hand, just a touch, till I felt the bite. The lights changed to green. I gave it a bit more. The automatic clutch caught, and I was rolling. More with the wrist, and I was going fast enough to lift my feet and tuck them on board. Sheer bliss! Like the best bits of flying and skiing rolled into one.

24-Hour Room Service: Tschuggen Grand Hotel, Arosa, Switzerland
Alpine ski resorts that lack the year-round pull of an Eiger or Matterhorn often become ghost towns when the snow thaws, their hotels shuttered and all the ski instructors off to teach at surfing schools. But the threat posed by climate change to the future of low-lying resorts is forcing them to broaden their appeal and think of ways to attract visitors year-round.

Belfast, Ireland

Trail Of The Unexpected: Super shopper
 Three children swaggered out of the Build-A-Bear Workshop variously hugging a cuddly moose, a pink-skirted teddy bear and a grinning groundhog. They were palpably proud of the creatures they had helped to make. In their wake came their shopping-laden grandparents. Would the kids like to ride the Log Chute rollercoaster? Yes, they chorused. And then, they suggested (while the grandparents wearied visibly), they'd like to visit the aquarium to meet the stingrays. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the Mall of America.

The Philippines: Tales from a distant shore
A familiar scene of velvety highlands and soft moor unfolds as the plane approaches the far north of this island nation, entering a proudly independent province where a resilient people guard their distinctive language, dress and culture. But I'm not touching down in Scotland, as the thousand-metre volcano at the end of the crumbling runway confirms: this is Batanes, the Philippines' last frontier.

My holiday in India: Noah Jones, aged 8

Families: 'Where can we honeymoon with a baby in tow?'
Q We are getting married this summer and our first child will be three months old. Before the unexpected arrival we had hoped for an exotic adventure holiday but are now reluctant. We want some privacy and some activity (likely to be walking now) but don't want to go long-haul and want it to still feel special. Usually our holidays are independent and involve climbing mountains or cycling so we are considering a villa somewhere with hills nearby. Do you have any suggestions? We are completely stuck for ideas. J Sinclair-Gieben, via email

My life in travel: Sadie Frost
First holiday memory?

The Complete Guide to: Estonia

Rwanda: Hope in the hills
 Guideline No7 on my sheet of gorilla-tracking protocol advises: "Do not beat your chest at the silverback." I wonder what moment of idiocy prompted this warning; Rwanda seems an unlikely destination for a stag weekend.

Valencia: New horizons
 I'm just sitting down with Helga Schmidt when the news breaks that Santiago Calatrava is in the building. The arrival of the great architect generates excitement and apprehension in equal measure. "There are things he is still not happy with," says Mrs Schmidt, the intendant of Calatrava's extraordinary Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia.

Deià: Writers' retreat
 In summer, it's impossible to park in Deià. Many of the hotels and restaurants are alarmingly expensive. The high street, being part of the coastal highway, is a traffic jam waiting to happen. There's no room for a tree-shaded plaça where you can drink wine and while away an afternoon, people-watching. Clinging to the dizzy slopes of Puig des Teix, it spends much of the day in shadow. The only beach is small and at the end of a precipitous walk. And the people who put it on every tourist map of the island are long gone.

Something Spanish To Declare: Santander; strikes; car rental

In Search Of: Fins and tails off Tarifa
It is known as the wind capital of Europe – and Tarifa, the most southerly point of Spain, makes the most of it. As well as a booming surfing scene, enormous wind turbines march along the cliffs, standing sentry like giant sculptures. But we weren't here for the breeze. The unique geography of the Strait of Gibraltar, where two oceans and two continents meet, also makes the water around Tarifa very special. My children and I were here to see whales.

Catalonian: Line of fire
 The sun is hot, the air is fresh, the meadows glow with buttercups. Above the 1,000-year-old church, beech woods climb to rugged peaks. Somewhere cowbells clunk. Just 60km from Girona's busy airport, this is the sylvan paradise that the Catalans cannily keep for themselves.

Forget the beach, there's more to Barbados than sea and sand
How can you keep the kids entertained in Barbados? Surely that's a no-brainer. At our hotel, Crystal Cove, on the island's "platinum" west coast, you could probably keep them happily occupied for a whole week without even leaving the premises.

Hi-de-Hi? No de no! Welcome to the British holiday park, 21st-century style
Seven o'clock on Friday night and the weekenders are descending on Elveden Center Parc in Suffolk. The car park is nearly full; most guests have dropped off the luggage at their lodge and dutifully parked up, because at midnight, car access within the grounds is restricted until it's time to quit this rural idyll on Monday morning.

Croatia is just the place to learn the ropes
'Just sign here ... and again here." I did as instructed, and, with a "See ya", and a "Bye Mum", my children were whisked from my sight. We were in Lumbarda, on the Croatian island of Korcula, learning to sail. At least I was hoping to learn to sail. Ruby, 12, and James, 9, had joined the Hot Shots kids' club and had a hectic programme of sailing, windsurfing, kayaking and snorkelling with their instructor, Tom.

School's nearly out, but there's still time to book a bargain before it's too late
UNDER £500

This new spa offers frazzled parents a little slice of Haven
My toes are still tingling from the loving attention lavished on them. "Deluxe", "Zenspa" ... I'll have the lot. After months of bad weather and thick boots, I want sexy sandal feet. Next up, a facial. As the therapy lights move through their rainbow repertoire, she barely touches my forehead and I drift off on a cloud of calm.

Here comes the judge – and he's only six years old
My eldest son, aged six and dressed in a Japanese police uniform, is examining a crime scene with his new colleagues. A stolen wallet has been found, and they must trace the owner. He has reached that pitch of excitement that experience tells me can result in a puddle, so I am watching closely.

Take a trip that doesn't play on your conscience
Inspired by the rallying call of friends who needed help to raise the timber frame on their eco-build in north Norfolk, I decided to extend my trip and take my five-year-old son Inigo to check out Kelling Heath, an environmentally friendly holiday park near Holt.

Turn off that mobile phone! Let sleeping lions lie
My kids have got the giggles, and I'm on the verge of joining them. It's not easy to stay composed when you're bouncing up and down in an open Land Rover in the South African bush looking for elephants. And if the look on the face of the warthog we just passed is anything to go by, we look as silly as we feel.

How to enchant little trolls and ice maidens in Sweden
I've always wondered why so many fairy tales involve creatures from the north; the trolls, ice queens and other inhabitants of my childhood bedtime reading all hailed from the cold, dark lands on the edge of habitation.