Category: Features

Dispatch

Saudi Arabia is writing its tourism rulebook in public

Six years after the first tourist visas, AlUla has hotels, Jeddah has a restored old town, and an entire industry is being…

August 21, 2026 2 min
Analysis

The quiet spread of the visitor cap

From Venice's day-tripper fee to Machu Picchu's timed circuits, limits are becoming the default tool. They work — but only when the…

August 4, 2026 1 min
Features

Europe’s night trains are back, and they finally make sense

New routes, new rolling stock and a booking system that no longer requires three separate websites. A guide to what actually runs.

July 19, 2026 1 min
Culture

Why half of northern Europe is now swimming in January

Sea pools, saunas and a habit that went from eccentricity to civic infrastructure in about five years.

June 30, 2026 1 min
Features

The conservancy model that changed the safari

In Kenya's Mara and Laikipia, land leased from Maasai and Samburu families now protects more habitat than the national parks. Here's how…

June 11, 2026 1 min
Features

Eating along the Douro, slowly

A four-day route from Porto upriver, with the wine, the tinned fish and the stops that reward taking the regional train instead…

May 28, 2026 1 min
Features

Where to find a genuinely dark sky

Light pollution now reaches 80% of the world's population. These are the reserves, seasons and simple techniques that still deliver a full…

May 9, 2026 1 min
Features

The case for going in November

Lower prices, shorter queues and a version of the city its residents actually recognise. What you give up, and what you get.

April 22, 2026 1 min
Features

Japan by local train, not bullet train

The Shinkansen is magnificent and it skips everything. Six regional lines that show a country the express network cannot.

April 2, 2026 1 min
Features

What reef recovery actually looks like

Coral restoration has become a tourism product. Some of it is meaningful science and some of it is decoration. How to tell…

March 14, 2026 1 min