There has been a lot written recently about the alarming numbers of tourists crowding into some of Europe’s most alluring historic cities, including Barcelona, Florence and Prague. Venice in particular has been singled out because of the scourge of large cruise ships. On a bad day, five or six cruise...
Italy is home to nearly 4000 museums and galleries, 240 archaeological areas and 48 UNESCO World Heritage sites. Yet three sites – the Colosseum, the archaeological site of Pompeii and the Uffizi galleries – account for more than 10% of all annual site visits. That’s about 12 million visits per...
There are few things more annoying than paying for something, thinking that other people are paying less for exactly the same thing. The single supplement, an additional payment that single travellers pay for joining a group tour, seems designed to penalise those who, by choice or through circumstances, choose to...
A recent article in the New York Times has us thinking about packing again, a subject that’s never far from our minds here at Academy Travel. Fold or roll? Packing cubes or not? Carry-on only or checked luggage? We’ve canvassed for opinions, learnt from your on-tour suggestions, and without further...
We all know about the Empire State Building and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but what about the Fraunces Tavern or Sagamore Hill? Academy Travel tour leader Dr Matthew Laing used his comprehensive knowledge of New York’s history, his love of modern art and design and his fondness for a...