Giulia Conti

Calabria Railway: The Little Train That Climbs to the Sila Through Forests of Black Pine

From Cosenza to San Giovanni in Fiore on narrow-gauge rails: a forgotten journey across the greenest, most solitary plateau of southern Italy.

Flåm

Flåmsbana: Europe's Steepest Railway Through the Fjords of Western Norway

From Myrdal to Flåm in 20 kilometres and 863 metres of descent: the steepest standard-gauge railway in the world, through waterfalls and Viking villages.

Sweden (Mora – Gällivare)

Inlandsbanan: 1,300 Kilometres Across Wild Sweden to the Arctic Circle

Sweden's inland railway cuts the country from Mora to Gällivare: lakes, moose, endless forests and the midnight sun beyond the Arctic Circle.

Pré-Saint-Didier

Pré-Saint-Didier: Soaking in Hot Water With a Mont Blanc View While It Snows

At the foot of Mont Blanc, this small Aosta Valley village hides historic thermal baths where you can immerse yourself in warm water while snow falls on the peaks: winter at its best.

Savonlinna

Savonlinna: the Castle on the Lake Where Opera Resounds Every Summer

In the heart of Finland's lake district, Savonlinna hosts a medieval castle on the water and a summer opera festival unlike any other in the world.

Jokkmokk

Jokkmokk: the Sami Market That Defies the Darkness of the Arctic Winter

In Swedish Lapland, Jokkmokk hosts the oldest Sami market in the North every February: reindeer, Northern Lights and a thousand-year-old culture.

Bornholm

Bornholm: the Danish Island That Smells of Smoked Fish and Granite

In the Danish Baltic, Bornholm guards round Viking-age churches, pine forests and the art of røgeost: an island unlike any other.

Belmonte

Belmonte and the Marranos: five hundred years of clandestine faith

In this village in the Beira Interior, a Jewish community kept its faith secret for over four centuries. Today the story is visible and deeply moving.

Visby

Visby: the Medieval City Suspended Between the Baltic and Memory

On the island of Gotland, Visby preserves its 13th-century Hanseatic walls intact: wild roses among the ruins and a silence that astounds.