Venice: gondolas passing beneath the Bridge of Sighs, which connects the Doge’s Palace with a former prison When I told my wife that I had planned three days in Venice, she looked at me in surprise. ‘Why three days? One day is enough,’ she said. She had been there before and knew what to expect: crowds around Piazza San Marco and the Rialto, expensive food, hot weather, and a maze of narrow streets with vibrant shopfronts. A gondolier taking visitors along the Grand Canal, Ve

Discover how to beat the tourist rush with this early morning, self-guided Amsterdam walking itinerary. Explore historic medieval canals, see the iconic Damrak architecture, and witness the famous leaning houses before the crowds arrive.

A boat navigating one of Giethoorn’s canals (traditional houses, gardens, and footpaths line the waterway) Giethoorn is a small village in the Netherlands located roughly 120 kilometres northeast of Amsterdam. Before I visited it, my expectations of the place were shaped by photographs, which were invariably always the same elements: narrow canals cutting past houses, small boats gliding through calm water, wooden footbridges connecting the banks, and green lawns lining the c