Stanfords Blog

Girona has a quiet charm and a placid air about it. The best way to observe this is by walking the ancient city walls, stopping for contemplative rests at the intermittent observation towers. The views from here can be mixed – one glance throws up ugly cranes and scaffolding, the next red roofs and the soaring towers of Girona’s religious landmarks – but it is well worth the effort.

Further serenity can be found in the labyrinthine streets and steps of the old town, the Call (the former Jewish quarter, where there is a small museum documenting the history of Catalonia’s medieval Jewry before their 15th-century expulsion from Spain), and the squares, gardens and promenades that follow the River Onyar through the city. From the bridges that lead between old and new towns, you can observe eccentric buildings that line the banks of the river.

A useful guide for maps and inspiration is Triangle Postals’ compact guide to Girona, which also suggests trips and tours in north-eastern Catalonia. For a more detailed map, try the city plan by Telstar.

Easily accessible by coach, the national parks near Girona (try the volcanic Garrotxa National Park) and the rugged coastline leading up to the French border offer glimpses of Catalonia’s natural beauty. On the Costa Brava, you could always try visiting the resorts that are so popular, but you definitely shouldn’t miss the quiet fishing villages, coves and spectacular views to be found in some of the more remote places like Calella de Palafrugell, south-east of Girona.

If you have the energy, try walking some of the GR92 coastal path, which will take your breath away and may also leave you breathless. For excursions such as this, you could refer to the Catalan survey(see their excellent topographic atlas) and the Rough Guide to Spain. Walking Maps of Spain by Editorial Alpinaare also very useful due to the fact that they come with booklets to help plan walks and outdoor activities.

Browse our collection of travel guides and maps to Girona >

Browse our collection of travel guides and maps to Costa Brava >

Author: Tim Cleary

For a good mix of history, culture, food and relaxation, Hungary offers its fair share of attractions for tourists. My trip to Hungary took in quite varied pleasures, from relaxing in the Turkish baths of Budapest (try jumping from a boiling hot sauna into a pool of cold water) to intrepid quad driving through the beautiful, verdant fields and woods of the north-eastern Kisalföld region.

The Kisalföld offers not only nature, but also the pretty city of Györ and the historically rich Pannonhalma Monastery, perched on a hill with fine views of the surrounding area.

Budapest was an inspiring city to visit. The architecture along the banks of the gorgeous Danube is radiant both in the daytime and at night, and walking the banks of the river was a refreshing way to start my visit. Walking the streets of the city throws up pretty squares, historic buildings (try Europe’s largest synagogue in Pest), proud statues and outdoor cafés, bars and restaurants. Late-night revellers might enjoy a trip to an outdoor club in Buda, where you can dance in the warm air and sample fine lagers and the peculiar Unicum, which is a dark, herbal Magyar spirit.

After the capital, my excellent hosts took me to visit Lake Balaton. A gorgeous milky blue lake, Balaton offers not only relaxed bathing, but also delightful small towns on the northern shores where you can visit museums, palaces and climb up to the ruins of a hilltop castle on the Szigliget peninsula. Life in this area seems very relaxed, especially while you recline in a dimly lit winery, sip red wine and listen to live violin performed by a Roma gypsy band.

Other, more random activities included enduring a concert by the long-established Hungarian rock band EDDA and a trip to an ice-cream factory. Here, I participated in a company table-tennis tournament, bowing out in shame after being challenged by a former national champion. I consoled myself with a tour of the factory, tasting the ice cream and seeing how the flavours are created by scientists in a Willy Wonka-style setting.

Any gastronomes should bear in mind that Hungary is a nation of meat-eaters – meat is eaten in copious amounts even at the breakfast table – and goulash, spicy stews and cold meats are a staple. But this need not put off any vegans or vegetarians, since you’ll find dishes with glorious combinations of ingredients you never would have dreamt of. As a vegetarian, my favourite meal comprised of a fruit soup, followed by a cherry strudel and a shot of lethal plum brandy (pálinka).

For any trip to Hungary, I would recommend some decent books and maps. The Rough Guide to Hungary was extremely informative and the Bradt Travel Guide to Hungary gave me inspiration and interesting facts (particularly about Hungarian naming conventions and a history of the Rubik’s cube). For travel literature, you might enjoy reading sections of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s Between the Woods and the Water, which recounts his walk across central and eastern Europe in the 1930s. The Insight Fleximap of Budapest offers clear mapping of the key tourist destinations. And if you’re hoping to explore other areas of the country in more depth, particularly if you are hiking or trekking, you could try Hungary’s own mapping from Cartographia. But before any of this, try acquainting yourself with the strange and beautiful Hungarian language – for this, the Rough Guide Hungarian phrasebook served me very well.

Browse our collection of maps, guides and travel literature:

> Hungary travel guides

> Hungary road maps and atlases

> Travel literature inspired by Hungary

> See all our maps and guides to Budapest

Author: Tim Cleary

The travel supplements have long been asking, ‘Where is the new Prague?’ (My vote would be for Ljubljana, the Slovene capital). Today the question should be, ‘Where is the next Croatia?’ Croatian tourism has really kicked off in recent years, and the coast is saturated from Istria down to Dubrovnik. And yet, just a few miles south of Dubrovnik is a beautiful, secret country, crying out for tourists.

Montenegro was the smallest Yugoslav republic, and the last to break away from big brother Serbia as recently as June 2006. Until then, Montenegrin coastal resorts, such as Budva and Herceg Novi, relied on Serbian tourists. But since the split, Serbs have got the hump and Montenegro’s hoteliers and guesthouse owners are crying out for new guests.

The coast is just as beautiful as Croatia, but with a more spectacular mountain backdrop. It’s up in the mountains where Montenegro’s soul lies, particularly in Cetinje – the ancient capital – with its Ruritanian royal palaces and long-deserted embassies. It’s so much prettier than the modern capital, Podgorica (formerly Titograd), down on the plain.

Another unique feature of Montenegro is the Bay of Kotor (Boka Kotorska), the biggest fjord in the Mediterranean. Here the coast and the mountains come into direct contact, and deep in the chasm lies Kotor, a walled Venetian city dwarfed by the towering walls of the fjord.

There are no cheap flights to Montenegro’s Podgorica or Tivat airports (yet), but that is irrelevant when Dubrovnik airport is just 18km from the border. Or you can do as I did – get a boat from Bari in Italy to the Montenegrin port of Bar. I could give you the address of a good guesthouse owner there – she’s my mother-in-law!

The Bradt guide to Montenegro is the only guide to the country published in the UK. As a series, they are highly personal guides that cover countries overlooked by other publishers, including all the Balkan nations.

Lonely Planet’s Western Balkans covers Montenegro. Hungary’s Gizi Maps do a national map of Montenegro, while Slovenia’s Geodetski Zavod Slovenije (GZS) 100k map of the Montenegrin Coast (Crnogorsko primorje) is excellent. Don’t rely on any locally produced maps.

Browse our collection of Montenegro Maps and Guide books here >

Montenegro travel information >

Author: Guy Bristow

‘Pozdravi iz Maribor’ – Greetings from Maribor! Ryanair’s latest destination, which personally I’m very happy about, because since I left Stanfords’ employ, I have been living and working in the Maribor area.

Slovenia’s second city is not much more than a small town, and consequently Maribor Aerodrom is much smaller than Ljubljana’s Brnik Airport. There is no luggage carousel, for example, just a table where your baggage is handled.

So, a second front has been opened on the tourist invasion of Slovenia. Ljubljana and Lake Bled are already overrun with easyJet weekenders, but Maribor is still mostly tourist-free. A proud city, and rival to the capital, but is it prettier than Ljubljana? Well no, but it’s not without its own charm. Its best feature is the riverfront. The River Drava wends its way slowly from the Austrian Alps down to the Danube in far off Serbia. The Old Town is a cluster of red-roofed mediaeval buildings on the left (north) bank, although the best views are from the right (south) bank. Particularly from the terrace of the Europark Shopping Centre, the only place you don’t have to look at this monstrosity. Continue reading Maribor, Slovenia