Scattered across southern Finland are “dozens” of lakeside hotels, many with saunas, self-catering cabins, and “gleaming” steps into the water.
On a four-night road trip from Helsinki to Lake Saimaa in September, I stayed at three, said Annabelle Thorpe in The Guardian – and found the region more beautiful, peaceful and “sunkissed” than I could have imagined.
First came the Radalla resort, with its “chic” cabins, and next, Sahanlahti, which has a “butterscotch yellow”, 18th century main house and an excellent restaurant. Between the two, I enjoyed a “hearty” bowl of elk soup and a tasting of berry wines at the Ollinmäki winery.
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And last came Järvisydän – a 100-room resort with “starkly modern” glass-walled cabins – where I “whizzed out” in a motor boat to pick chanterelle mushrooms and look for rare ringed seals on Saimaa’s islands.
From £749pp, excluding flights, with Discover the World.
An enchanting town in the Tarn
With its charming medieval streets and “mighty” gothic cathedral – one of the world’s largest brick-built churches – the town of Albi in southern France makes for a lovely short break, said Jane Knight in The Times.
Set in the Tarn region, an hour’s drive north of Toulouse, it’s also known for its Toulouse-Lautrec museum, a big collection of works by the famously “diminutive” and dissolute painter, born here in 1864.
Visiting in June, I stayed at Villa Caroline, a pleasant hotel with four “rustic-chic” rooms, and I enjoyed a day’s e-biking from nearby Gaillac, which lends its name to the surrounding wine region, one of France’s oldest. At Domaine Gayrard, I tasted some organic wines made with rare local grape varieties, and visited Cordes-sur-Ciel, a fortified medieval town set high on a rocky hilltop with “sweeping” views.
A venerable paddle steamer turns 80
Launched in Glasgow in 1946, the PS Waverley is the last seagoing passenger-carrying paddle steamer in the world, and this year she celebrates her 80th anniversary.
With two red-and-black funnels and giant paddle wheels, she is a “glorious” sight, says Chris Moss in The Telegraph, and a “nostalgic” reminder of a more “sedate” era when Britain was home to hundreds of boats like this. Named after Sir Walter Scott’s novel, the Waverley was built to operate around Loch Long, replacing a vessel that was sunk by enemy fire during the evacuation of Dunkirk.
These days, however, she plies routes all around the UK. This month, she’ll be sailing mostly around London and the Southeast before returning to Glasgow for her final voyage of the season, on 18 October.
waverleyexcursions.co.uk
