An Amsterdam canal with boats and historic waterfront buildings — Photo: Airam Dato-on / Pexels

TRAVEL NOTES

The details make the difference.

Planning a city break or a day at a famous sight? Find advice on getting around, what to bring and the details worth checking before you go.

Start planning

Before you go

Guides for every destination →

Merton Street and college buildings in Oxford

Walking route · Oxford

Radcliffe Square to Christ Church Meadow: a short Oxford walk

This route moves from Oxford’s best-known university buildings to quieter lanes and open meadow paths. Keep college interiors optional and enjoy the contrast between Radcliffe Square, Merton Street and the river.

Historic Oxford street under a cloudy sky

Museums and culture · Oxford

Rainy Oxford: choose art, natural history or the Pitt Rivers

Oxford has enough indoor collections to rescue a wet day without booking three museums back to back. Choose the Ashmolean for art and archaeology, or make the Parks Road museums a linked outing with a shared entrance.

The Louvre pyramid and museum façades in Paris

Art and heritage · Paris

The Louvre and Tuileries: book one collection route, then step outside

Make the Louvre the main event of the day, with a garden walk afterwards. A focused collection route leaves more room for looking, lunch and security checks than an attempt to combine every famous painting with another major museum.

A Montmartre street with Sacré-Cœur above it in Paris

Art and heritage · Paris

Montmartre beyond the viewpoint: artists’ studios and Renoir gardens

Use Montmartre’s quieter northern streets to connect its artists’ history with a garden break. The museum on rue Cortot gives the hill more depth than a quick photograph from the steps.

The former station nave inside Musée d’Orsay in Paris

Art and heritage · Paris

Musée d’Orsay: a focused art visit and the right entrance during works

Make Musée d’Orsay a focused visit to nineteenth-century art in a remarkable former station. Current entrance works make it especially useful to read your ticket before arriving.

Art and architecture · Paris

Paris’s Panthéon: the nave, the crypt and the closed panorama

Give the Panthéon a focused visit: watch Foucault’s pendulum, then explore the crypt. The dome remains part of the experience from below, while panorama access is currently closed.

Place des Vosges with its fountain and brick façades

Walking routes · Paris

The Marais from Place des Vosges: arcades, museums and a real lunch stop

Start a Marais walk at Place des Vosges and give its arcades time before heading into the smaller streets. A current museum café or a falafel lunch makes the outing more useful than a long list of places to photograph.

Pärnu Beach’s sand, outdoor exercise structure and red lifeguard tower on a summer day

Outdoor days · Pärnu

Pärnu Beach: promenade views, resort buildings and a planned meal

Give Pärnu’s promenade a manageable seaside walk, with the Beach House and Rannahotell as architectural anchors. Swimming, seasonal terraces and restaurant service remain separate choices.

A clock above a summer view of the crowded sand and sea at Pärnu Beach

First visit · Pärnu

A first Pärnu weekend: Old Town, the Red Tower and a beach day

Spend day one around Rüütli Street and Vallikäär, with an optional Red Tower session. Give the beach and resort buildings their own second day, with named meals and off-season service checks.

Pärnu’s whitewashed Red Tower and red conical roof viewed through its narrow courtyard approach

Visit planning · Pärnu

Pärnu’s Red Tower: medieval walls, panoramic cinema and Old Town

Visit the Red Tower at Hommiku 11 for its small museum and panoramic history film. Limited capacity, narrow stairs and a seasonal calendar make the ticket and access details worth checking before the outing.