Walks
Rio before the beach wakes up
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil · August 12, 2026 · 7 min read
Santa Teresa at seven, the tram down, and a coffee counter where nobody is on holiday. The version of Rio that made me stay two extra weeks.
Read the storyA slow travel journal · Six destinations
Notes from small towns, early mornings and long lunches.
Stories from Brazil, a long Euro summer, Iceland, Mexico, Amsterdam and London — where to walk, where to eat, and the rooms worth waking up in. No sponsored stays.
Rio de Janeiro · Paraty · Ilha Grande · Salvador
Brazil
Rio hill neighbourhoods, colonial Paraty and the long green coast between them. Loud, warm, and much slower than it looks.
Slow travel · Paraty, Brazil · 6 min read
Four days in Paraty and nothing to do
Cobbles that flood at high tide, a boat with no schedule, and the cachaça distillery up the dirt road. How to spend a week doing very little well.
Portugal · Spain · France · Switzerland · Monaco
Euro Summer
The classic long summer: Portugal and Spain for the coast, France and Monaco for the riviera, Switzerland when the heat gets silly.
Slow travel · Puglia, Italy · 6 min read
The case for sleeping inside the old town
Cheaper rooms sit ten minutes out. Here's why the extra €30 a night for a room above a narrow lane still wins — and how to tell a quiet lane from a loud one before you book.
Coast · Côte d'Azur & Monaco · 8 min read
The riviera on a normal budget: Nice, Menton and Monaco
Sleep in Menton, day-trip the rest. Free beaches, the €2 train, and where to eat in Monaco without pretending you own a boat.
Mountains · Switzerland · 6 min read
When the south gets too hot, go up
Two nights in the Berner Oberland as a mid-summer reset: cold lakes, cheap half-board guesthouses, and trains that actually leave on time.
Reykjavík · South Coast · Westfjords · Highlands
Iceland
Black sand, moss, weather that changes its mind hourly. The Ring Road, plus the fjords most people skip for time.
Road trip · Iceland · 9 min read
Driving the Ring Road with the weather against you
Six days, four seasons a day, and the wind that took a car door off. What to reroute, what to skip, and where to sleep between the empty stretches.
Local life · Iceland · 5 min read
Skip the Blue Lagoon, swim where Icelanders swim
Every town has a geothermal pool costing about €7, open at 6:30am, full of locals arguing about football. The best nine I found.
Mexico City · Oaxaca · Puerto Escondido · Mérida
Mexico
Oaxaca markets, Mexico City neighbourhoods and the Pacific coast — food-first, and cheaper than everyone assumes.
Food · Oaxaca, Mexico · 8 min read
A week of eating your way through Oaxaca
Tlayudas at midnight, a mezcal palenque up a dirt track, and the market stall queue that's worth its forty minutes.
Stays · Mexico City, Mexico · 7 min read
Mexico City by neighbourhood, not by sight
Roma Norte is not the whole city. San Rafael, Coyoacán and Escandón — where to stay in each and what a day there actually looks like.
Jordaan · De Pijp · Amsterdam Noord · Haarlem
Amsterdam
A city best done at bike speed. Canal-belt mornings, brown cafés, and the neighbourhoods a ten-minute ride from the queues.
Walks · Amsterdam, Netherlands · 6 min read
Amsterdam at bike speed, canal belt to Noord
A loop that starts in the Jordaan at eight and ends on the free ferry to Noord. Where to park a bike, and where absolutely not to.
Food · Amsterdam, Netherlands · 5 min read
Brown cafés: the ones locals still use
Sticky ceilings, a cat, no music. Six old-school cafés where a beer is €3.50 and nobody is filming anything.
Bloomsbury · Hackney · Borough · Hampstead
London
Endless, expensive, and full of free things. Market breakfasts, Georgian side streets and pubs worth crossing town for.
City · London, England · 8 min read
Three days in London on almost no money
Free museums, market lunches under £8, Hampstead swims and the bus routes that beat any sightseeing tour.
Food · London, England · 6 min read
The pubs worth crossing London for
A Georgian back room in Bloomsbury, a canal-side terrace in Hackney, and one that still has a piano nobody asked for.
Little-known finds
Hidden hotels, unmarked tables, and the tricks to get in
Stay · Near Ostuni, Italy
A four-room masseria with no sign
Call, don't email. Ask for the corner room with the arched window; it's the same price as the others.
€95–130 a night
Table · Graça, Lisbon
The tasca that never put up a menu
Go on Friday for bacalhau à brás. Cash only, and don't ask for the wine list — there is one wine.
€11 for lunch, wine included
Place · Cádiz, Spain
A rooftop above a 16th-century cistern
Arrive forty minutes before sunset and bring small change for the honesty box by the door.
Free, a coin if you can
For readers
Take the trips with you
Three of these journeys are written up as free day-by-day itineraries — Lisbon, Porto and Puglia. Download them, follow them loosely, ignore the parts you don't like.
Free itinerariesAlso, quietly
I photograph the places in these stories — and take on custom trip planning
Boutique hotels, hostels, Airbnbs and private homes rented to travelers. A small side of the journal, for hosts and readers who ask.