A popular Spanish city that was once bustling with tourists is now “dead” as Brits have allegedly ditched the destination to holiday elsewhere, and it’s not the first time Spain is said to have been quiet this year
09:26, 07 Sep 2025Updated 09:26, 07 Sep 2025
The once popular city is said to be “dead” (stock image)(Image: Prasit photo via Getty Images)
A once bustling Spanish city is now “dead” as Brits have reportedly abandoned the destination for other holiday spots, marking another quiet period for Spain this year. Footage has surfaced online showing the area’s completely deserted streets.
Laura, who goes by lauratravelvlogs on TikTok, has been chronicling the stark changes in Barcelona this year, having resided there herself for over two years. She noted a significant drop in visitor numbers and, for months, she’s been posting videos of Spain‘s vacant streets, silent roads and empty beaches – all to illustrate the drastic shift in the country’s tourism landscape.
Laura mentioned that there are still some tourists “for now” at popular spots, but claimed spending is at an “all time low”. She has noticed a substantial change over the past two years, and is astounded by how tranquil the city has become.
In an earlier video, Laura highlighted how deserted the city centre was during the summer because “tourists don’t feel welcome”. She suspects the protests that have occurred in Spain have deterred people from visiting altogether.
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Hundreds of people have responded to the footage since it emerged online, with many eager to voice their opinions. Their reactions were quite split.
One viewer commented: “One by one businesses from all sectors will start to close – that’s the sad thing.” Another chimed in with: “There’s already a lot of smaller towns that have fallen into despair.
“So many people have lost their jobs due to the drop in tourism. It’s madness – they’ll be begging people to go back in a few years.”
A third responded: “Tourism is Spain is 40% down. The south coast of Spain was eerily quiet last week.”
Meanwhile, a fourth also remarked: “Spain is old news – there are far nicer countries to spend your money in.”
Some viewers questioned what time of day the footage was captured though, with others suggesting it’s not entirely doom and gloom. One individual said they visited in March and there were “hundreds more” people about, even though some Brits believe the resort is “finished” when it comes to tourism.
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Overall, it’s been documented that Spain has been deserted by numerous holidaymakers, with eateries and coastlines appearing virtually deserted. Areas of the nation have been witnessing a drop in visitor figures for the first time since the pandemic, alongside years of anti-tourist demonstrations by residents.
In August, images from Benidorm showed a multitude of vacant seats outside various establishments and rather deserted beaches. This is particularly unusual for major holiday hotspots during the summer period.
Miguel Pérez-Marsá, the head of the nightlife association, previously told Majorca Daily Bulletin: “The tourists we’re interested in are being driven away; they don’t feel welcome and are going to other destinations.” The impact is also being felt by tour guides.
Pedro Oliver, president of the College of Tour Guides, disclosed that excursion sales have plummeted by 20% this summer. “If you generate negative news, which has repercussions in other countries, tourists opt for other destinations when choosing their holidays,” he stated.
“We are sending the message that we don’t want tourists and that everything is too crowded.”
Tourists visiting France needn’t speak perfect French, but these seven essential phrases can make all the difference in the kind of holiday you experience abroad.
It could change how locals treat British tourists(Image: Daria Kulkova/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
A French cultural advisor has unveiled seven essential phrases that could completely change how locals treat British tourists visiting France.
MaryAnne Sparkes, cultural advisor at cruise company European Waterways, says British visitors needn’t speak perfect French but must master a handful of crucial phrases to avoid being dismissed in the globe’s most-visited destination.
Sparkes counsels British holidaymakers planning journeys across the Channel as she says: “Locals don’t expect fluent French but you do need to say Bonjour and a couple of other key words to avoid offending. In some places one word is your ticket to being treated like a local.”
The cultural advisor explains French etiquette remains hidden until violated, particularly in scenic regions where life follows a customary pace.
The simple phrases can change your holiday experience in France(Image: Lord Henri Voton/E+/Getty Images)
“In France etiquette is invisible until you get it wrong. Skipping a simple greeting can instantly brand you as an outsider especially in the prettiest parts of the country” she says.
According to Sparkes, the most vital phrase is “Bonjour” which should never be omitted when entering shops, restaurants or any social environment. “Bonjour isn’t just a greeting. It’s a sign of mutual respect” she points out. “It’s how you announce that you see and acknowledge someone.”
The expert emphasises six additional indispensable phrases British visitors should master before arrival, which include “s’il vous plaît” (please) when requesting anything from café orders to directions. Sparkes observes courtesy operates as social currency in France, with minor pleasantries creating a substantial impact on how residents react.
“Excusez-moi” (excuse me) comes third on the essential list for navigating crowds or making enquiries, followed by “Comment ça va?” (how are you?) which demonstrates genuine concern even during fleeting interactions.
The cultural expert also suggests perfecting “Merci beaucoup” (thank you very much) for any kindness from opening doors to serving meals.
For unavoidable tourist blunders, “Je suis désolé(e)” (I’m sorry) preserves social peace.
The concluding expression “Puis-je…?” (May I…?) should be employed when seeking approval in official circumstances.
The specialist emphasises these expressions prove most effective when spoken with genuine intent rather than flawless accent. “French etiquette isn’t complicated but it is expected. These phrases make the difference between being tolerated and being truly welcomed”, she says.
The advice emerges as statistics demonstrate approximately 17 million British nationals travel to France annually despite its standing as one of the most discourteous nations globally. As increasing numbers of British holidaymakers explore beyond conventional tourist destinations into countryside villages, these social signals become progressively vital.
Whilst fluency remains unnecessary, grasping fundamental cultural standards opens the door to friendlier, more genuine encounters across the nation. Sparkes emphasises that modest linguistic attempts demonstrate respect for French culture, which residents recognise and value.
“You don’t need perfect French. Just showing you’ve made an effort with these few phrases opens doors to genuine connections with locals” she says.
For British holidaymakers planning French getaways, European Waterways recommends practicing these expressions beforehand, observing that even flawed efforts generate favour from residents.
The cultural advisor concludes that learning these seven expressions enables tourists to discover authentic France beneath the tourist veneer.
An aiport, which is set to become one of the largest airport hubs in the world is currently underway – and it offers cheap holidays for sun-seeking Brits looking for a getaway
The huge airport is set to be one of the biggest in the world(Image: Heerim Design Architects)
The huge £9.5 billion mega airport Long Thanh, in Vietnam is set to open next year after being under construction for years and it offers a cheap destination for travellers. Despite the multimillion pound construction, Vietnam is often overlooked compared to nearby popular location Thailand, it’s far cheaper than most places in South East Asia.
Located in Ho Chi Minh, the largest city in Vietnam, it’s proving to be a dynamic hub for the country. The airport, costing VND336 trillion (£9.5billion), is hoped to attract more tourists, and will become the country’s largest airport.
The interior is set to be pretty impressive with a glass roof resembling a lotus flower(Image: Heerim Design Architects)
The new airport will feature some pretty impressive design elements, including the main concourse, which will have an 82m glass roof in the shape of a lotus flower and is expected to replace the current Tan Son Nhat International Airport with international flights, leaving Tan Son Nhat to just handle domestic and short-haul flights only.
A fourth terminal and the fourth runway also hope to be built by 2035. It’s expected to eventually welcome up to 100million passengers a year, making it one of the largest hubs in the world, taking on airports in Atlanta and Dubai.
The new airport also means transfer waiting times will reduce, as currently it can take up to five hours for connecting flights. Vietnam is an appealing place to visit for those looking for warm temperatures, as the climate remains above 30C throughout the year.
It is seven hours ahead of the UK and Brits don’t need a visa for holidays lasting 45 days or less, but your passport will need to have at least six months left on arrival.
It’s expected to welcome 100million passengers a year(Image: Heerim Design Architects)
It was also named one of the cheapest places by the Post Office in 2023, naming Hoi An as the most affordable beach destination and last year, the country was named the most affordable place according to the Expat Insider survey.
It comes as a brand new huge airport is currently set to be built in Europe, and will rival London Heathrow and Dubai as one of the biggest airport hubs in the world. Designs for Centralny Port Komunikacyjny airport, nicknamed CPK, have finally been accepted, with building work starting in 2026, costing a whopping £25billion.
The terminal design reveals two phases of development with the first set to open before 2032, and will be almost three times the size of nearby Warsaw Chopin Airport’s passenger terminal.
At least 15 people were killed when Lisbon’s Gloria funicular railcar derailed and crashed, emergency services said.
Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa shared his condolences with the families affected by what he described as a tragedy.
The Portuguese government has announced a day of national mourning, while officials in Lisbon have declared three days of mourning in the capital city.
What happened in Lisbon?
At about 6:15pm local time (17:15 GMT), a carriage on Lisbon’s world-famous funicular electric railway derailed and crashed.
Witnesses said they heard a loud noise before one of the trams sped down a steep slope in the city, apparently out of control.
“It hit a building with brutal force and collapsed like a cardboard box; it had no brakes,” a witness told the AFP news agency.
Photos showed the tram carriage toppled on its side along the narrow road it usually travels. The sides and roof of the carriage were partly crumpled by the impact after it appeared to have struck a bend in the road at speed.
Local media reported that emergency crews responded quickly, deploying 62 rescuers and 22 support vehicles to help survivors trapped in the wreckage.
An accident involving a funicular railcar caused several deaths and serious injuries in Lisbon, Portugal, on Wednesday [Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP]
Authorities said it was too early to determine the cause of the accident.
The Lisbon Firefighters Regiment reported that the crash was caused by a “cable that came loose” in the funicular system.
At least 15 people were killed and 18 others injured, five of them critically, according to the National Institute for Medical Emergencies.
Police and firefighters work on the site of the Gloria funicular accident in Lisbon [Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP]
What is a funicular railway?
A funicular is a type of cable railway built to carry passengers up and down steep slopes.
It operates with two counterbalanced cars attached to opposite ends of the same cable: as one car ascends, the other descends, and the weight of the descending car helps pull the ascending car, making it highly efficient.
Funiculars are commonly found in hilly cities and tourist destinations where conventional trains or buses would struggle with steep gradients.
The Gloria funicular was opened in Lisbon in 1885 and electrified three decades later. It can carry 43 people, seated and standing. It is commonly used by the capital’s residents.
The driver of the Lavra funicular waves while steering it downhill through a narrow street to downtown Lisbon, Portugal [File: Armando Franca/AP Photo]
Where exactly did the crash happen?
The crash took place on a popular tram line in the centre of Lisbon that connects the city’s downtown area near the Restauradores Square with the Bairro Alto (Upper Quarter), which is known for its vibrant nightlife.
The funicular derailed and crashed on Rua da Gloria, a well-known street in central Lisbon.
Gloria is one of three funicular lines operated by the municipal public transport company, Carris.
Carris said in a statement that “all maintenance protocols have been carried out”, with the last one taking place in 2022, and there were daily inspections.
According to a report by Spanish newspaper El Pais, workers had complained on several occasions about “poor maintenance” on the Gloria line.
The Gloria line transports about three million people annually, according to city officials.
O Elevador da Glória descarrilou e tombou esta quarta-feira, junto à Avenida da Liberdade, em Lisboa. Segundo os bombeiros sapadores, o acidente provocou “muitas vítimas”, incluindo feridos graves. pic.twitter.com/ADWpR5c8oe
Translation: The Glory Elevator derailed and overturned this Wednesday, near Avenida da Liberdade, in Lisbon. According to the municipal firefighters, the accident caused “many victims”, including serious injuries.
What do we know about the victims?
Portugal’s Ministry of Health said there were local and foreign surnames among the victims in the crash, but that their nationalities were not yet known.
There were no children among the 15 dead, it added.
In total, 18 people were injured. Of those, nine were taken to hospital, five of them in serious condition. A child was also injured.
The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that two of the injured are Spanish citizens, according to Europa Press.
What is the latest on the ground?
According to local reports, all victims were taken to hospitals by 8:30pm local time (19:30 GMT), and by 9pm (20:00 GMT), police and emergency personnel had cleared the crash site, where an investigation into the cause is under way.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the streets around the crash site filled with news media and hundreds of tourists stopping to capture images of the wreckage.
Lisbon’s City Council shut down the city’s other streetcars and called for urgent inspections, local media reported.
Police and firefighters at the site of the Gloria funicular railcar accident in Lisbon, on September 3, 2025 [Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP]
A restaurant in Spain has shared a photo of a receipt with a huge €63,000 (£55,000) bill racked up on it – and people are desperate to know who could have paid it
A lavish group of holidaymakers racked up an eye-watering bill during one meal at a Majorca seafront restaurant(Image: Getty Images)
A Spanish restaurant has shared of a receipt showing an eye-watering €63,000 (£55,000) bill, that a group of tourists unbelievably walked away from.
The eatery teased that the party might have featured a well-known American sporting celebrity. Situated in Palmanova, Majorca, the waterfront establishment appealed on social media: “Whose bill is this? Tag them below, please – we’d like to talk..”
Sharp-eyed observers noticed that a massive chunk of the total was splashed on “various fish”. With such an astronomical sum, punters in the replies have been desperately attempting to identify who could possibly fork out this much at a restaurant.
A fierce discussion has erupted in the comments section as people scramble to determine who would blow this kind of cash at the venue.
Majorca is the largest of the Balearic islands(Image: Getty Images)
The establishment later revealed that 18 guests were accommodated at the table and suggested the party might have featured a well-known American sporting celebrity, according to Majorca Daily Bulletin.
The mystery diners didn’t just splash out on grub but also shelled out a fortune on premium beverages.
Another entry on the receipt shows valet parking, which forms part of the venue’s upmarket offerings.
The Instagram post exploded online with countless users desperate to uncover the identity of the enigmatic customer, reports the Express.
It has now become the hottest topic across Majorca as residents attempt to crack who splashed out on one of the island’s priciest ever dinners.
Majorca stands as one of the biggest islands in the Balearics and serves as a beloved getaway destination. The island boasts crystal clear waters and breathtaking beaches, making it a must-visit destination that draws in two million Brits per year.
The number of foreign visitors to the United States continues to decline, as a range of policies put forth by the administration of US President Donald Trump has made tourists wary of travelling to the country.
In July, foreign visits to the US decreased by 3 percent year-over-year, according to recently released preliminary government data.
That decrease follows a trend that has been seen almost every month since Trump took office in late January. For five out of six months, the US has experienced a drop in foreign visitors.
“Everyone is afraid, scared – there’s too much politics about immigration,” Luise Francine, a Brazilian tourist visiting Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera.
Experts and some local officials say Trump’s tariffs, immigration crackdown and repeated jabs about the US acquiring Canada and Greenland have alienated travellers from other parts of the world.
Ryan Bourne, an economist at the Cato Institute, told Al Jazeera that the decline in tourism was tied to both Trump’s rhetoric and policies.
“[The decrease] can be put down to the president’s trade wars and some of the fallout about fears about getting ensnared in immigration enforcement.”
Travel research firm Tourism Economics predicted last week that the US would see 8.2 percent fewer international arrivals in 2025 – an improvement from its earlier forecast of a 9.4 percent decline, but well below the numbers of foreign visitors to the country before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The sentiment drag has proven to be severe,” the firm said, noting that airline bookings indicate “the sharp inbound travel slowdown” of May, June, and July would likely persist in the months ahead.
While the July 2025 figures don’t account for neighbouring Canada and Mexico, Canadian visitors in particular have been plummeting in number. One-quarter fewer Canadians have visited the US this year compared to the same period in 2024, according to Tourism Economics.
In a major U-turn, more US residents drove into Canada in June and July than Canadians made the reverse trip, according to Canada’s national statistical agency.
Statistics Canada stated that this was the first time this had occurred in nearly two decades, except for two months during the pandemic.
‘Visa integrity fee’
Mexico, by contrast, has been one of the few countries to see tourism to the US increase. Overall, US government figures show that travel from Central America grew 3 percent through May and from South America 0.7 percent, compared with a decline of 2.3 percent from Western Europe.
But countries that have typically sent huge numbers of visitors to the US have seen major dips.
Of the top 10 overseas tourist-generating countries, only two – Japan and Italy – saw a year-over-year increase in July. Visitors from India, which ranks second, dipped by 5.5 percent, while those from China dropped nearly 14 percent.
India has seen previously warm relations sour under the Trump administration, amid steep tariffs and geopolitical tensions, while a trade war and Trump’s (since-reversed) broadsides against Chinese students have raised concerns among Chinese tourists.
Deborah Friedland, managing director at the financial services firm Eisner Advisory Group, said the US travel industry faced multiple headwinds – rising travel costs, political uncertainty and ongoing geopolitical tensions.
Since returning to office for a second term in January, Trump has doubled down on some of the hard-line policies that defined his first term, reviving a travel ban targeting mainly African and Middle Eastern countries, tightening rules around visa approvals, and ramping up mass immigration raids.
At the same time, the push for tariffs on foreign goods that quickly became a defining feature of his second term gave some citizens elsewhere a sense that they were unwanted.
A new $250 “visa integrity fee”, set to go into effect on October 1, adds a hurdle for travellers from non-visa waiver countries like Mexico, Argentina, India, Brazil and China. The extra charge raises the total visa cost to $442, one of the highest visitor fees in the world, according to the US Travel Association.
“Any friction we add to the traveller experience is going to cut travel volumes by some amount,” said Gabe Rizzi, president of Altour, a global travel management company. “As the summer ends, this will become a more pressing issue, and we’ll have to factor the fees into travel budgets and documentation.”
International visitor spending in the US is projected to fall below $169bn this year, down from $181bn in 2024, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.
In May, the group projected that the US would be the only country among the 184 it studied where foreign visitor spending would fall in 2025. The finding was “a clear indicator that the global appeal of the US is slipping”, the group said.
High-end wellness resorts, clinics, and spas are part of ambitious national development programs in Saudi Arabia and its neighbors.
According to the medical journal The Lancet, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, along with the rest of the Middle East and North Africa, will lead the world in youth obesity by 2050. The GCC region would not seem an obvious candidate to lead a global drive in wellness tourism, then. Right?
Think again. The GCC wellness tourism market is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 17%, reaching $1.4 trillion by 2027, according to projections by the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), a Miami-based nonprofit. The Middle East, including the GCC, accounts for only about 2% of today’s booming global market, which is expected to surpass $1 trillion this year, but it is the fastest growing region for wellness tourism spending, the GWI calculates.
GCC governments see wellness as a good fit because it brings together two fields they are betting on for fast growth: tourism, and biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and medical innovation. On the tourism side, they are already building several large-scale projects, including Saudi Arabia’s AlUla, its Red Sea project; Diriyah, Qiddiya, and NEOM. Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are all pursuing similarly ambitious initiatives.
Vivek Madan, partner, Strategy & Middle East, PwC
While not all related to wellness, over 600 hotel projects with 140,000-plus rooms were under development in the Middle East in early 2024, according to “The Future of Wellness: 2025 Trends,” a reported published recently by the Global Wellness Summit (GWS), a sister company of the GWI.
Ambitious national development programs launched in the last decade, such as Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, the UAE’s Vision 2031, and Qatar’s National Vision 2030, are driving the stunning numbers, experts say. Designed to reduce dependence on oil and gas and encourage economic diversification, these programs help channel investment into target sectors.
Priorities vary, but most include tourism, health care, sports, and cultural heritage.
“Tourism has become a central pillar in national diversification agendas, particularly in countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar,” says Vivek Madan, partner, Strategy & Middle East, part of PwC’s global strategy consulting business. “These governments are investing heavily in infrastructure and destination branding to reduce reliance on hydrocarbons and unlock long-term, sustainable economic growth.”
Before its diversification drive kicked off, Saudia Arabia was already receiving considerable inflows of religious and business travelers.
“You have an ecosystem in place” that includes international operators and a talent pool, says Oussama El Kadiri, head of Hospitality, Tourism, and Leisure Advisory for the MENA region at Knight Frank, a London-based global real estate consultancy. “It’s low-hanging fruit to attract additional players to the game and open the country to the leisure part. It seemed like the immediate path towards diversification.”
The GWS report notes, “Saudi Arabia’s wellness market alone is valued at $19.8 billion, with wellness tourism growing at an annual rate of 66%.”
Wellness As Import Substitution
The wellness travel market is increasingly split into two distinct segments, albeit with some cross-pollination. “Softcare” tends to be less expensive, simpler and slower, according to GWS. Think nutrition programs, alternative therapies, meditation, fitness classes, health assessments, and stress management programs. “Hardcare” means high-end, high-tech medicine, such as biohacking and longevity clinics. Most GCC countries are investing in both.
In addition to attracting foreign visitors, state-of-the-art centers are also designed to cater to high-end locals who would previously have traveled abroad for high-quality treatment: the health and wellness industry as import substitution.
“People from the Middle East like to go to health and wellness clinics in Switzerland and Germany,” observes Corina Goetz, founder and CEO of Star-CaT, a London-based business consultancy specializing in the region. “Of course, it makes sense to partner up [with foreign investors] so you can keep the money in the country.”
Oussama El Kadiri, head of Hospitality, Tourism, and Leisure Advisory for the MENA region at Knight Frank
The range of projects on the softcare side is varied, reflecting its ambitions.
SHA Emirates will open next year as an outpost of the Spanish wellness clinic, the GWS report notes. “Billing itself as the world’s first ‘healthy living island,’” the resort will include 100 residences and combine “clinical care with mindful living.”
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Project has captured the imagination of locals and foreigners alike, thanks in part to promotional social media posts by the Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, made during a break from representing the local side, Al-Nassr FC. Tourism boosters “actually created a whole program around him,” says Goetz. “You can do the Ronaldo experience at the Red Sea, and you can do exactly what he did.”
The development, which Madan says, “integrates wellness into ultra-luxury resorts like Desert Rock and AMAALA,” spans 28,000 square kilometers, encompasses over 90 islands, and is targeting 150 million visitors a year by 2030 for a $5.3 billion contribution to Saudi GDP.
With a price tag topping $500 million, Therme Dubai promises to become the world’s tallest wellness center when it opens in 2028. In the spirit of Ski Dubai, the desert city’s famous indoor slopes, the center will feature the world’s largest indoor botanical garden, three 18-meter waterfalls, and a water park in addition to a myriad of spa facilities inspired by ancient traditions from around the world. Capacity will be 1.7 million visitors a year.
“It’s like a tropical wellness concept,” says El Kadiri. “You will be in this place where they will recreate tropical weather conditions,” bestowing the associated wellness benefits.
In contrast to ostentatious Dubai, Oman is developing coastal, mountain, and thermal spring attractions, “leveraging its natural assets to attract eco-conscious wellness tourists,” in the words of Alwaleed Alkeaid, founder of Fitlee for Corporate Wellness, a Riyadh-based corporate wellness service provider, and former CEO of the Saudi Boxing Federation. The Omanis want to focus on “quiet luxury” and “authenticity,” El Kadiri notes. Nearby heritage sites are to be combined with wellness offerings to emphasize cultural travel, he adds.
Qatar’s Zulal Wellness Resort by Chiva-Som, a Bangkok-based wellness resort operator, aims to become “the region’s first family-wellness offering,” Madan says. The project “signals a shift toward scale and sophistication in wellness infrastructure. It is one of the largest wellness destinations and the first and only full-immersion resort in the Middle East, founded on traditional Arabic and Islamic medicine (TAIM).”
Dubai and Abu Dhabi lead the region in hardcare. Last year, Dubai inaugurated a Longevity Hub by Clinique La Prairie in partnership with the renowned Swiss longevity clinic. In April, Abu Dhabi launched the HELM Abu Dhabi cluster, a hub for research and development in health, endurance, longevity, and medicine. It is projected to contribute $25.6 billion to the emirate’s GDP, create 30,000 new jobs, and bring in $11.5 billion in investment by 2045 by tapping into a global health care market projected to reach $25.3 trillion by then.
“While the wellness tourism push and the HELM cluster initiative are distinct efforts, they do share complementary goals,” says Sami Khawaja, partner at PwC’s Strategy& Middle East. “The HELM cluster has a broader focus that includes advanced biotech, pharmaceutical manufacturing, digital health, AI integration, and precision and preventive medicine: all supported by cutting-edge infrastructure.”
Upscale mega-projects command most of the attention, but there are early indications that the wellness economy may be spreading to average GCC citizens.
“These [big tourism] initiatives not only attract international visitors but also promote local wellness cultures, fostering a more health-conscious population,” the GWS report argues.
Locals and resident expatriates are packing newly opened fitness clubs. From around 100 two decades ago, Saudi Arabia now boasts 2,100 and counting.
Passengers from China, India, the Philippines, the Middle East and the US were on board the bus when it crashed at full speed.
Five people were killed and many were injured when a tour bus returning to New York City from Niagara Falls with 54 people on board crashed and rolled on its side on an interstate highway, authorities said.
A police spokesman said the bus left the road on a highway about 40km (25 miles) east of the northern city of Buffalo on Friday.
An investigation into the cause of the crash is under way but police said they suspect the driver, who survived, became distracted, lost control of the vehicle at “full speed”, and oversteered, causing the bus to flip over and come to a rest in a ditch.
Authorities have ruled out mechanical failure and driver health issues, and said no other vehicles were involved.
According to police, bus passengers were from China, India, the Middle East, the Philippines and the US. Translators were sent to the scene to help communicate with the victims.
The Mercy Flight medical transport service said its three helicopters and three more from other services transported people from the crash site to hospitals in the area.
More than 40 people were evaluated and treated for injuries ranging from head trauma to broken arms and legs.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to New York to investigate the crash.
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul said her team was coordinating with state police and local officials “who are working to rescue and provide assistance to everyone involved”.
Blood and organ donor network Connect Life issued a call for blood donors to come forward in the wake of the crash.
“I’m heartbroken for all those we’ve lost and all those injured and praying for their families. Thank you to our brave first responders on the scene,” senior US senator from New York Chuck Schumer said.
The bus was returning from a day trip to the popular tourist destination of Niagara Falls – towering waterfalls that span the US-Canada border – when the accident occurred.
Graffiti mars the crumbling walls of the main thermal baths in one of Europe’s oldest spa towns, Baile Herculane.
Yet after decades of neglect, a dedicated team of young architects is working to revive the picturesque Romanian resort that once drew emperors to its healing waters.
“Someone once said that if you drink water from the spring from Herculane, you never leave,” said 31-year-old architect Oana Chirila.
“I was struck by the beauty of the place,” she explained about the town in Romania’s southwest, nestled among mountains and bisected by a river. “And at the same time [I was] shocked by its condition,” she added, referring to the dilapidated state of the historic thermal baths.
Chirila first visited Baile Herculane eight years ago entirely by chance, she said.
Her group’s restoration project represents one of several recent civil society initiatives launched to safeguard Romania’s historic monuments.
Approximately 800 such monuments have deteriorated to an advanced state of decay or risk complete collapse. Some already pose significant public safety hazards.
Constructed in 1886, the Neptune Imperial Baths once welcomed distinguished guests seeking its warm sulphur treatments.
Among these illustrious visitors were Austria’s Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Elisabeth, commonly known as Sisi. Franz Joseph himself described the town as Europe’s “most beautiful spa resort”.
Today, the baths stand closed, their interior walls defaced with graffiti, floors littered with debris, and rain seeping through the ceiling.
Despite the deterioration, tourists regularly pause to admire and photograph the long, rusted facade, with some attempting to glimpse the interior through broken windows.
Currently, Chirila and her volunteer team can only perform conservation work on the baths’ exterior structure. Full restoration remains impossible until legal conflicts between authorities and private owners are resolved, she explained, adding, “There’s always this fear that it might collapse.”
“Most of the historical monuments are in their current state – meaning constant decay – because they are legally blocked,” preventing utilisation of public or European funds for restoration.
For now, along one side of the riverbank, visitors can enjoy three sulphur water basins – what Chirila calls “little bathtubs”.
Her team refurbished these basins and constructed changing booths and wooden pavilions, one of several projects they have undertaken throughout the town.
In recent years, Baile Herculane, home to 3,800 residents, has experienced a steady increase in tourism, according to local officials. Some 160,000 tourists visited in 2024 – up from 90,000 in 2020 – many seeking spa treatments, but also hiking and climbing opportunities.
“The resort has changed,” Aura Zidarita, 50, a doctor, told the AFP news agency. She remained optimistic that it could reclaim its status as a “pearl of Europe”.
The Greek island was once a “model of co-existence” but has been left with “nothing but bars” as tourism has sucked the life out of it, a local has claimed
The island of Syros’ beautiful Foinikas beach.(Image: Getty)
A stunning Greek island once “teeming with children and shops” has been left with nothing but bars due to tourism, according to a local resident.
Speaking to the publication during a stroll through the neighbourhood, Stefanou lamented that whilst the island’s capital Ermoupoli had previously been “self-sufficient”, it now “only has bars — in summer, it’s crowded with people; in winter, it’s dead”..
The academic previously viewed the island as “a model of co-existence. A mother would hear her neighbor’s baby crying and would run there first”, but properties now sit empty for months whilst their proprietors are elsewhere, he said.
“Now most houses are closed for most of the year because they’ve been bought by foreigners or Athenians,” Stefanou explained, according to the Express.
“Fortunately, most of them respected and saved the houses. Many of the locals think about easy profit, which is why only bars have sprung up recently. They don’t understand they’re cutting the branch they’re sitting on. They see Mykonos on the horizon and envy it, but they don’t learn from its current state.”
A local of a beautiful island says it’s no longer ‘self-sufficient’ due to tourism.(Image: Getty)
Local music teacher, Aristos Vamvakousis, told the outlet: “We are fighting, and as long as such efforts exist, Syros won’t become just a tourist destination.”
In addition to his school, he said “there are many theatre groups, dance groups, sports clubs, and groups of people who fight to provide variety and stimuli during the months outside the summer season. That’s what saves us, life in the winter.”
Vamvakousis expressed concern that graduates from his music school struggle to find places to play traditional music, with many rembetiko venues now shut.
“After October, you can hardly find a taverna to eat in,” he revealed to the outlet. “The reason is that catering businesses are now owned – after the Covid pandemic – by non-locals who don’t care about keeping the shops open during the difficult months.Syros major Alexandros Athanasiou has been contacted for comment.Popular Greek holiday spots like Mykonos and Santorini are among the most impacted by overtourism in the country.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made a commitment in June to address overcrowding and manage the number of visitors on the islands, including limiting the number of cruise ships allowed to dock.
Throngs of tourists in Santorini(Image: Getty)
Mr Mitsotakis acknowledged that the Cycladic Islands were “clearly suffering”, amid complaints from locals about the effect on their daily lives and the cost of living, according to Bloomberg reports.
The Greek Prime Minister has highlighted Santorini as the “most sensitive” to overcrowding, with around 800 cruise ships docking last year, closely followed by Mykonos with 750 in 2023.
In April last year, Athens was rocked by furious protests, with demonstrators reportedly shouting: “They are taking our houses while they live in the Maldives”.
Anna Theodorakis, a local resident, told France24 about being forced out of her home in the Metaxourgio neighbourhood of Athens, stating: “I think the answer is to go in the streets and block everything and just not do something because people are losing their homes. It is very depressing.”
Ms Theodorakis criticised the surge of Airbnbs in the city for “wiping out the traditional places”, expressing that she felt like “a foreigner in my own country”.
Meanwhile, Dimitri, a property developer converting a former warehouse into Airbnbs, conceded that excessive tourism was causing harm to Athens.
A group of reportedly Jewish tourists sparked anger in the UK after dismantling a hillside cross made of stones to create a Star of David. Local media in Wales report residents have reassembled the cross they say had been there for 50 years.
Many Brits fly to Greece for their summer holidays – and one woman who visited the European country shared one thing you should avoid doing if you visit too
A British holidaymaker learnt one thing people don’t do in Greece (stock photo)(Image: Getty Images/Westend61)
It’s well known that summer is the peak season for traveling overseas, particularly because children are on school break and many destinations enjoy their warmest weather during this time. Brits regularly travel to European favourites, including Spain, France, Greece and Italy, to enjoy seaside breaks and outdoor activities, like watersports.
Whilst these countries sit relatively close to the UK, they have distinct cultural customs and practices that might catch tourists off guard. So Alexa, a British holidaymaker in Greece, took to TikTok to share a useful piece of advice for fellow travellers heading to the southeastern European destination.
Alexa added the on-screen text: “God forbid a girl makes a dinner reservation at 6.30pm in Greece.”
The clip shows her surrounded by lots of empty tables and chairs throughout the venue. In the caption she wrote: “We’ve learned our lesson but still.”
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The video has gained two million views, attracted more than 100,000 likes, and sparked hundreds of comments, with most people agreeing that 6:30 p.m. is too early for dinner in Greece.
One local explained: “At 6:30pm in Greece we’re having our afternoon coffee. Dinner is after 20:00.”
Another chimed in: “The earliest we eat dinner here is 8pm.”
A confused European resident exclaimed: “6:30??? As a European that is diabolical! I’m surprised it was even open.”
Another person, familiar with Greek dining habits, added: “My family in Greece eat dinner around 9-10 PM lol.”
A fourth viewer quipped: “Pretty sure that’s not legal… people still at the beach girl..”
Other holidaymakers confessed in the comments section that they were also unaware of the later dining times typical in Greece compared to the UK.
One shared: “The first night we got here we went for dinner at about 7 and it was empty besides one American family.”
A second echoed: “Girl same we were super early.”
However, another viewer saw a positive: “The lesson here is keep booking for 6.30pm so you don’t have crowds lol.”
Travel agent Greeka suggests that locals may have their last meal as late as 11pm, especially during summer when sunset is around 9pm.
Many Greeks prefer to wait until nightfall before having dinner, as they spend much of their day outside soaking up the sunny, warm climate, with temperatures climbing to 35°C.
According to the travel guide, lunch is typically served between noon and 5pm while restaurants see their busiest dinner hours from 8 to 10pm.
It’s certainly a lifestyle that feels quite different!
Europe outpaces the US in military support to Ukraine. Donald Trump wants to lead in diplomacy and end Russia’s war.
Europe is now pledging more military aid to Ukraine than the US. Meanwhile, Washington is negotiating the nation’s future. President Donald Trump has held talks with the Russian and Ukrainian Presidents in a bid to end Moscow’s war. If no peace deal is reached, US support to Kyiv could shrink further, putting even more of the financial burden on Europe. If a deal is struck, the question shifts from who gives more aid to who will pay for rebuilding what’s left.
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A Briton who moved from the UK to Barcelona in 2017, has said that locals are frustrated by the influx of foreigners and that things have gotten worse since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic
16:34, 19 Aug 2025Updated 16:34, 19 Aug 2025
A British expat has spoken about how life has changed in Barcelona(Image: SOPA Images, SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A British expat living in Barcelona has said that locals are becoming increasingly frustrated with the transformation of their neighbourhoods.
Gemma Askham relocated to the popular Spanish city in 2017 due to her half-Spanish husband’s work and has resided there ever since.
Whilst the first six years were relatively uneventful, a surge in expats, coupled with anti-tourism sentiment fuelled by the Southern Europe Network Against Touristification (SET) movement, has altered the local area.
Due to the influx of foreigners and tourists to Barcelona, the economy has shifted to cater to their preferences and requirements, rather than vice versa. Gemma noted that this dynamic between expats and their adopted country intensified following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Expats say things have gotten worse since the pandemic(Image: Getty)
In an article for Grazia, she stated: “In 2023, a street pedestrianisation project aimed at improving community life was completed. But there are now eight English-named brunch cafes within two blocks.”
She also said that her 69-year-old neighbour, Toni Fontclara, is puzzled by people lining up at 11am for avocado on toast “a dish not from the region, served at an unheard-of eating hour for the Spanish, with a menu in a language he doesn’t speak”.
Gemma isn’t alone in noticing the changing face of Barcelona, which has seen a decrease in tourists following years of anti-tourism protests.
Another Briton, also residing in Barcelona, revealed that certain parts of the city had become significantly quieter, as visitors are being deterred from travelling there.
Some expats Barcelona has quietened down due to reduced tourist numbers(Image: Getty)
Laura, who has called the city home for two-and-a-half years, turned to social media to share footage of deserted streets earlier this month, capturing just how eerily silent they remained throughout the day.
She said: “Day one of recording how quiet Barcelona is now the tourists don’t feel welcome. The businesses must be feeling it The streets are so quiet now. These businesses last year used to wake me up in the morning. One has just recently been renovated.”
Laura’s footage shows just how successful some of the demonstrations have been, though opinion remains split on their intentions.
While some demonstrators have been demanding tourists leave, others maintain the protests stem from a wish to safeguard locals, rather than alienate visitors.
Professor Marina Novelli explained: “Places like Lisbon, Venice and Barcelona are increasingly reduced to lifestyle backdrops where locals feel like strangers. The SET movement is about cross-border solidarity. Ultimately, it’s not anti-tourist, it’s pro-resident.”
Gabriel Morris has been travelling the globe for over 30 years and has managed to visit six continents and 97 countries — but there’s one spot he refuses to go back to
Gabriel has visited 97 countries(Image: YOUTUBE/GABRIEL TRAVELER)
Globe-trotting YouTuber Gabriel Morris has spent more than three decades exploring the world, clocking up visits to six continents and over 90 nations.
To be exact, Gabriel has travelled to “97 United Nations member states plus the three disputed countries of Kosovo, Northern Cyprus, and Taiwan which do not have UN member status.” Yet there’s one ‘soulless destination’ from his adventures that he’s vowed never to revisit.
Boasting 613,000 YouTube subscribers, Gabriel’s travel content consistently draws massive viewership and interaction, with fellow wanderers and admirers keen to hear about his journeys and insights. In his recent upload entitled ‘I’ve Been to 100 Countries – Which Place is the Worst?’, the content creator disclosed that the most disappointing location he’s encountered is the Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf). It comes after one Turkey holidaymaker shares travel warning as he exclaims ‘don’t bother coming’.
Addressing his audience, Gabriel explained: “I’ve seen a fair amount of the world and many of those countries I’ve been to over and over and travelled around a lot. I’ll just tell you at the beginning here, my least favourite part of the world is the Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf).”
Whilst Iran refers to it as the Persian Gulf, the nations situated on the southern and western shores of the Gulf know it as the Arabian Gulf, reports the Express.
Abu Dhabi is one of the Persian Gulf countries Gabriel visited(Image: Getty)
So, why does Gabriel consider the Persian Gulf region his least favourite destination worldwide? The content creator explains: “Now, I haven’t been to Iran, and Iran looks absolutely incredible. And so I’m not including Iran in this. I don’t know that along the Persian Gulf there is anything especially nice to see there.”
Gabriel has explored numerous locations throughout the Persian Gulf vicinity. These include Saudi Arabia – particularly Riyadh and Jeddah, where he hired a vehicle for a day to venture beyond the urban boundaries – plus Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, encompassing Dubai and Abu Dhabi, though none managed to capture his enthusiasm.
He added: “There’s a little bit more to see in the desert outside of the cities, but not very much. Mostly it’s just flat desert. Basically, I am thinking of the main cities on the Persian Gulf, and then including the cities of Saudi Arabia, which aren’t near the Persian Gulf but do border it. I just find these cities to be devoid of anything particularly interesting as a traveller. I find them to be very boring and stale.
“The streets are practically empty of people other than those in their cars. You don’t get the bustling, busy marketplace experience. All of those cities are built in a very similar style of massive skyscrapers. It makes for an impressive skyline, but then you get there on the ground and it’s big, wide streets that can be almost impossible to cross. There’s lots of traffic, massive distances, and not really anything that I want to do there. You can go in malls, you can go to some restaurants. Alcohol is banned for the most part, so that’s another drawback.”
Gabriel is not impressed with the Persian Gulf(Image: Gabriel Traveler/Youtube)
Describing them as “soulless”, Gabriel went on to say: “I just find them to be kind of soulless and not unique in any way. You could drop me in any one of those cities and not tell me which one it is, and unless you had a view of, say, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai or some particular landmark, if you were in a typical neighbourhood you couldn’t distinguish it from any of the others. They’re all built exactly the same and just super boring. Now, they aren’t bad places to live necessarily or to raise a family. They are safe, they’re clean, and they’re hassle-free. There’s no hustling, scams, or anything really to worry about.”
Apart from Qatar and Dubai, which Gabriel places in first and second positions respectively, Gabriel believes that amongst all the destinations worldwide, he has “no desire to go back to that part of the world”, though he acknowledges the culture is “certainly fine”. However, Gabriel believes there’s another factor at play.
He explained: “Most of the people you’re going to interact with aren’t even the local Saudis, Emiratis, Qataris, Kuwaitis, or Bahrainis, because the local populations in all those countries are actually a minority. The majority of people you’ll encounter are workers from South Asia – Indians, Pakistanis, lots of Bangladeshis – who are working in restaurants, malls, hotels, and other service positions.
“I just find them to be kind of soulless and not unique in any way”(Image: Gabriel Traveler/Youtube)
“The locals, as I understand it, receive paychecks from oil revenue and don’t really have to work, at least not in the typical service jobs. Maybe that’s not true in every country, but in general, if they are working, it’s more likely to be in business or professional roles, so you’re unlikely to interact with them as a visitor. That’s just one more thing that makes the experience feel kind of watered down – you don’t really get much of a local cultural experience. So, it’s nothing personal against the people,” Gabriel concludes.
In fact, the digital creator had a rather unsettling experience in Kuwait City when he was stopped and questioned for filming. Recalling the incident, Gabriel said: “I think it was in Kuwait City where I got questioned for filming. I was filming near one of the palaces – or something like that – and I had made a point of not filming one particular place that I thought could be a problem.
“But then I started filming something else, and a security guard waved me over. At that point, you definitely don’t want to run or try to avoid them, because that just makes things worse. So I walked over, and I believe he spoke English. He asked me what I was filming for, asked a few questions, and then let me go. But despite the relatively harmless outcome, it was still a very harrowing experience in the moment – being questioned by an authority figure without knowing how it’s going to play out.”
Reflecting on all the ways the situation could have escalated, Gabriel admitted: “They could easily say, “I want you to talk to my superior,” and then you’re being taken into some office where they’re suspicious of you and start asking more questions. It’s always a pretty traumatic experience, and it basically makes you want to leave. That’s exactly how I felt afterward-I just hoped I could get out of there without any more hassle. So that was one more drawback.”
Brit mum Samantha Cooper was enjoying a two-week sunshine break with her family in Cyprus when she became fed up with the daily scramble to find a spot by the pool
A British holidaymaker has been caught on camera shamelessly stealing towels from sunbed hoggers who were reserving loungers in the early morning hours. Sunbed wars annoyed one holidaying Manchester mum so much that she took matters into her own hand – and her daughter said ‘they deserved it’.
Mum Samantha Cooper was enjoying a two-week sunshine break with her family in Cyprus when she became fed up with the daily scramble to find a spot by the pool. Despite the hotel’s strict rule banning towels being put down before 9am, the mum says every morning was a struggle to bag a lounger – and it wasn’t long before she discovered why.
Samantha Cooper and partner Anthony Earl were enjoying a two-week family holiday, but Samantha became fed up with the daily scramble to find a spot by the pool in sunbed wars (Image: Jam Press/@ellieikin6)
From their hotel balcony, 40-year-old Samantha spotted the culprits sneaking down at 1:30 am to claim sunbeds they wouldn’t use until well into the following afternoon – and by day five, the Manchester mum had seen enough. She strode to the pool and stripped the towels, freeing the beds up for swimmers and sunbathers who would actually use them.
“To be fair, they deserved it,” her 25-year-old daughter Ellie Ikin said.
Ellie said: “They were never down there until at least 3pm. Every morning was a struggle.
“The hotel said they had rules of no one putting towels down until 9am, but no one listened.
British holidaymaker Ellie Ikin said her mum was right to steals towels from sunbed hoggers at 1.30am because ‘they deserved it’(Image: Jam Press/@ellieikin6)
“My mum noticed they were putting towels down at 1.30am from her balcony.
“We were annoyed because the people who were doing it didn’t sit around the pool until later in the afternoon.
“I was happy she pulled them off so other people actually got a chance to get a bed when they wanted to sit around the pool in the morning.”
Ellie, who was holidaying in Cyprus with her mum, said she was happy the move gave other holidaymakers a chance to grab a bed for a morning swim or some sunbathing. And while there was no drama – the towel owners going back to their old ways the very next day – the bold move made it easier to find a spot by the pool for a while.
The moment she stole the towels(Image: Jam Press/@ellieikin6)
She added: “It’s selfish. I completely understand the need of getting a bed early, but 1.30am putting towels out when you have no intentions of being there in the morning is ridiculous.”
It comes as sunbed wars play out in several other holiday spots across Europe, with another British family caught up in the antics declaring ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’.
And tourists in Spain have also been seen caught up in sunbed craziness way before the crack of dawn, even using torches to secure their sun-lounging spots beside the pool.
A travel influencer and foodie has revealed the three European cities she ‘would have skipped’ after spending time in 17 different destinations across the continent
Travel influencer Sooyeon has had her say on three European destinations she said she’d not visit again if she could go back in time (stock image)(Image: visualspace via Getty Images)
One woman has revealed the three European destinations she’d avoid going to again, having visited 17 different cities last year. Sooyeon, who lives in San Francisco in the US, went on the adventure of a lifetime to visit the continent.
Having stopped off at more than a dozen cities, she found herself disappointed by three locations in particular. On her TikTok channel @soos. foods, she revealed: “These are three cities I probably would’ve skipped,” before clarifying, “Doesn’t mean these are bad destinations, I just didn’t enjoy them as much as other cities.”
Madrid topped her list of disappointments, reports the Manchester Evening News. Despite spending two and a half days there in 2022 following a visit to Barcelona, she confessed that the coastal city won her over far more than Spain’s majestic capital.
She explained: “The main reason is because I went to both Madrid and Barcelona on the same trip, and I feel like Madrid didn’t have as many interesting things to do for me at least, other than the palace and museums.
The influencer said she would ‘skip’ Madrid in favour of Barcelona(Image: Cristi Croitoru via Getty Images)
“…If I were to do this trip again, I would probably skip Madrid and spend more time in Barcelona.” Catania proved another destination that failed to meet Sooyeon’s hopes.
Situated on Sicily’s eastern coastline, the ancient port city initially appeared like a perfect ‘Italian holiday’ destination, yet it didn’t match her expectations. Sooyeon shared: “The city just felt a little run down and not the safest.
“People were also not afraid to stare at you – I’m sure they weren’t trying to be rude or mean, but it felt a little uncomfortable as a female traveller.” Berlin also featured on Sooyeon’s list, though her concerns with the German capital differed from her gripes about Catania and Madrid.
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She recognised Berlin’s ‘welcoming’ atmosphere and its selection of ‘cool cafes, shops and roads’, yet felt something was missing. “Don’t get me wrong, I would love to live in Berlin,” Sooyeon confessed.
“But, as a tourist, I feel like the main attractions are history museums which I personally am not the biggest on, especially because at this point on my trip I was getting severe museum fatigue.”
She also observed that the dining scene was rather international, making it trickier for her to discover genuine local dishes, which remains a priority during her travels.
Sooyeon’s visit to Catania was “a little uncomfortable”(Image: Sergi Formoso via Getty Images)
“The food scene was also pretty international, so I didn’t find as many options for authentic local food, which is something I try to eat everywhere I go. Again, this is just my experience – what doesn’t work for me, could work for you.”
Sooyeon’s honest assessments triggered a wave of reactions on TikTok, with users split over her views on these beloved destinations. One user championed Madrid, declaring: “I will not accept any Madrid slander! I’ve been like four times and it’s an incredible city.”
Others urged travellers not to dismiss Catania, with one comment stating: “Everyone here pls don’t skip Catania,” whilst another user challenged her perception of Berlin’s cleanliness: “Berlin is clean? What girl?”
A beach with no piers, arcades or rides has been named the best seaside town in the UK, beating other well-known places on the list
Aldeburgh has been named the best seaside town in the UK(Image: Getty Images)
A little-known seaside town has been named the best in the UK despite having no arcades or rides.
Big UK seaside towns with entertainment and piers have always been a favourite for Brits looking for a daytrip to the sea or a staycation. But a new spot has now topped the list of the country’s best seaside locations – and this winner isn’t one of the big names most travellers go to on a hot day.
The quaint town was once a site where famous ships were built, including Sir Francis Drake’s Golden Hind, and the area has not forgotten its rich past. It also has links to the Tudor period as Henry VIII himself gave the port town borough status.
History and literature buffs can even enjoy the annual Aldeburgh Festival of music and arts if they want a different type of fun to coin machines and whack-a-mole.
The town is know for its history and Tudor links(Image: Getty Images)
The cute town offers a high street full of clothing boutiques, independent shops and antique stores. Foodies can also enjoy the classic seaside fish and chips while also digging into spots rated by the Michelin Guide. The town’s Aldeburgh Fish and Chip Shop has previously won the title of Britain’s best chippie.
Aldeburgh has even been dubbed “London-on-Sea” due to its location between the River Alde and a stretch of English coastline overlooking the North Sea. The main attractions for visitors are the pebble beach, home to colourful 19th-century holiday villas and a historic watchtower.
The Suffolk beach has pastel homes on the beachfront(Image: Getty Images)
The town’s beach is recognised as one of the top five shingle beaches in the country, winning several national awards including a prestigious Blue Flag. The beach has no kiosks, but there are traditional fisherman’s huts across the sand where visitors can buy some freshly-caught seafood.
This sweet town offers a whimsical escape from neighbouring areas and has been named the best seaside spot by The Times, which said: “The East Anglian coast often seems stuck in a bit of a time warp, and if anywhere exemplifies this it’s Aldeburgh.”
The town is home to antique stores, boutiques and fish and chip shops(Image: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The review added: “Aldeburgh is a vision of the English seaside of yesteryear: wooden shacks and bathing huts, boats pulled up on the shingle, strolls along the prom with ice cream in hand.”
Other places on the list included Oban in Scotland, Cromer in Norfolk, Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria and Penzance in Cornwall. Some more well-known seaside towns also made the list including Brighton and Margate.
The train from London to Aldeburgh is quick and frequent, but you can also get there easily by car. The drive from the capital to Aldeburgh via the A12 takes less than three hours.
The crystal grotto is located inside the grounds of a park within the village, and it’s a real must-see if you’re visiting this summer
Cobham in Surrey has so many great things to do, like a wander around Painshill Park (Image: SeanMcGrae via Getty Images)
The UK boasts a wealth of stunning beauty spots, but one location that is definitely worth a visit this summer is Cobham in Surrey.
It was voted the second most desirable place to live in the UK by the Telegraph last year, thanks to its relaxing atmosphere, gorgeous scenery and wide range of pubs, shops and independent eateries.
This charming village is the perfect place to spend the day exploring, eating and drinking, especially if the weather is nice. Painshill Park is a particularly lovely spot, and it’s home to a famous crystal grotto that is the perfect place to take pictures.
Surrey Live writer Laura Nightingale finally paid it a visit after wanting to go for years, and she was not disappointed. With her husband and daughter in tow, they headed to the park by car and got ready to enjoy their family day out.
She said: “I was invited to the 18th Century landscaped garden to celebrate the start of the school summer holidays, and we headed straight to the grotto.
“We picked up a map from the ticket office and followed the accessible path around the lake, keeping the large open water to our right hand side.”
Laura visited the enchanting crystal grotto in Surrey(Image: Laura Nightingale )
The grotto was a 15 minute walk away, and en route, they passed the Mr Hamilton’s tearoom, a play area and a beautiful vineyard slope.
To her daughter’s delight, they also spotted a gaggle of ducks, especially as they got closer to the island housing the magical grotto.
Laura continued: “We strolled over the Woolett Bridge (there is another entrance via the Chinese Bridge on the other side of the lake but that was closed when we visited), to reach the naturalistic cave with shimmering, bubbling water, rough rock and stalactites covered in sparkling crystals.
It was a breath-taking sight. We parked the buggy outside on a patch of grass, and ventured inside the incredible man-made feature. Fellow adults stood in awe of the enchanting sight, and there was an eerie silence inside as we were captivated by its charm.”
It’s a haven for Instagrammers, offering countless picturesque spots for capturing the perfect shot. On sunny days, beams of light shine the interior through strategically positioned openings in the ceiling.
Laura inside the stunning crystal grotto at Painshill Park in Cobham(Image: Laura Nightingale)
This illumination causes the crystals to twinkle as it reflects off the coral pools and lake water, which Laura described as ‘simply sensational’.
After exploring the grotto, they retrieved the pram and crossed the bridge to complete the tour around the scenic lake.
They managed to spot the Turkish Tent and the grand Gothic Temple on the return journey to the gift shop. King George III, during his visit years ago, said the view from the building was his favourite.
Raving about the park, Laura concluded: “I thought Painshill Park was a great place to take the kids during the school summer holidays. Not only will the grotto amaze youngsters, the site is just so convenient and easy to get around.
“Parking is free, there are toilets, a café, coffee shop, plenty of places to roll out a picnic blanket (in the sunshine or under the trees), a play park and a clean, flat path to push a pram.”
I’m on a steadily rising road in northern Greece as swallows sweep over the burnished grasses to either side of me and pelicans spiral through the summer sky. Gaining height, the land thickens with oak forests and a Hermann’s tortoise makes a slow, ceremonial turn on to a sheep track at the edge of the asphalt. And then, just as the road briefly levels out before corkscrewing down the other side, a glittering lake appears beneath me – a brilliant blue eye set in a socket of steep mountains. I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve crossed the pass into the Prespa basin on my way home from trips into town, but the sight of shimmering Lesser Prespa Lake – often striking blue in the afternoons and silvery at sunset – takes me back to the summer of 2000 when I saw it for the first time.
A little over 25 years ago, my wife and I read a glowing review of a book about the Prespa lakes region. In the north-west corner of Greece and an hour’s drive from the towns of Florina and Kastoria, the two Prespa lakes straddle the borders of Greece, Albania and North Macedonia in a basin of about 618 sq miles. We’d never heard of Prespa until then, but the review of Giorgos Catsadorakis’s Prespa: A Story for Man and Nature got us thinking about a holiday there, imagining a week or two of walking in the mountains, birding around the summer shores and enjoying food in village tavernas at night.
Footbridge to Agios Achilleios island on Lesser Prespa Lake. Photograph: Julian Hoffman
When the book finally arrived at our London flat, at a time when we were talking seriously about living somewhere else, it took just a single evening (and, to be fair, a couple of bottles of wine) to decide to leave the city behind. Not for a holiday, but to try to make a home for ourselves in the Prespa national park. Twenty-five years later, we’re still in the village we moved to – Agios Germanos.
I park the car near the pass and walk further into the hills on a path worn smooth by shepherds and their animals. It’s high summer and there’s a languor to the landscape. Clouds of butterflies drift on the hot air and a hoopoe raises its magnificent crest in an oak. From up here I can now see Great Prespa Lake as well, separated from its smaller neighbour by a wide and sandy isthmus. These two ancient lakes, thought to be in the region of 3-5 million years old, are almost entirely encircled by a bowl of mountains, making it feel a world apart when you cross into the basin. Although the water levels in the lakes have dropped significantly because of climate change in recent decades, Prespa remains a place of extraordinary vitality.
Looking north over the rolling oak forests, I can see the rough point in the lake where Greece, Albania and North Macedonia meet. Prespa is a crossroads not only of countries but of geologies too, resulting in an extraordinary profusion and abundance of wild species – almost three times as many butterfly species (172) can be found on the Greek side of Prespa than in the whole of the UK (59).
The scarce swallowtail is one of many butterfly species in the Prespa region. Photograph: Julian Hoffman
I look up as a mixed group of Dalmatian and great white pelicans lowers towards Lesser Prespa Lake. Seeing these birds in flight, carried across the mountains on wings that can have a total span of more than three metres, it feels as if you have been given a glimpse into the age of the dinosaurs. Until we read the book that brought us here, I had no idea that pelicans could even be found in Greece, let alone nest on these lakes in large numbers, but then Prespa is full of surprises. In some winters, Lesser Prespa Lake can freeze solid enough to walk across – and there are far more brown bears in the region than bouzoukis. While Prespa is a popular winter destination for Greek visitors, in part because of a ski-centre halfway between Florina and the basin, it’s the quieter spring and summer seasons when the place comes into its own for walking and nature tourism.
There’s a mosaic of cultural riches to explore here too: the remarkable ruins of the 1,000-year-old Byzantine basilica on the island of Agios Achilleios; the lakeside cliffs on Great Prespa Lake, studded with centuries-old hermitages and monastic cells, reached by hiring a boatman from the fishing village of Psarades; the churches screened by sacred groves of immense juniper trees, found on some of the many marked walking trails.
Besides the abundant nature and mountain walking that prompted us to move here, what also makes this place so special is the food and hospitality. There are welcoming, family-run guesthouses in many of the villages and excellent tavernas serving regional specialities, including slow-baked beans in a rich tomato sauce with oregano, fresh carp and sardine-sized tsironia from the lake, grilled florinela cheese brushed with red pepper marmalade, and wild greens called horta doused in lemon juice and olive oil.
I stop to watch the cross-hatchings of light on the lakes as the hum of insects deepens with the heat. A short-toed eagle turns into the wind ahead of me, briefly motionless as it hunts for snakes in the forest clearings. Then it steers northwards and away across the mountains. Beyond those peaks encircling Prespa are the beautiful, traditional market towns of Korҫë in Albania and Bitola in North Macedonia, which, together with Florina and lakeside Kastoria just outside the basin in Greece, help make the entire region one of endless fascination for me.
The Byzantine basilica of Agios Achilleios. Photograph: Julian Hoffman
There are plans to re-open the long-closed crossing between Greece and North Macedonia within the Prespa basin in the next few years, an opportunity to build further bridges between communities and make movement for tourists easier. Another project will establish a cross-border walking route between our village and the neighbouring mountain village of Brajčino in North Macedonia; it will celebrate the cultural and natural heritage of the common watershed while highlighting the importance of low-impact tourism to local economies, particularly at a time when climate change is making itself felt around the lakes and threatening agricultural livelihoods.
It’s almost time to return along the path and head home, but first I sit in the shade of an oak, its leaves rustling in the warm breeze. A steel-blue dragonfly unzips the air and I can hear sheep bells somewhere in the hills. The sound shifts and swirls, just as on the saint’s day festivals of summer, called panigyria, when the wild, soaring music of clarinets and raucous Balkan brass rises into the mountain nights as people gather with food and drink to circle-dance in village squares.
I’ve never thought of Prespa as anything but a shared place, where human cultures and wild species come together and co-exist, a place best experienced slowly and with care. And although Prespa has been my home for a quarter of a century now, when I see that blue water glimmering beneath me as I cross the pass, it still so often feels like the first time.
