La Sultana’s Hotel

An exellent situated fascinating hotel in Marrakech, Morocco, with princely rooms and plenty of luster and flaunt. The hotel’s inner court is a scenic oasis from the hectic Medina with hanging gardens and full grown palms. The colonnaded patio has a pool and is surrounded by Moorish arches, while the hammam has an impressive range of therapeutic treatments. La Sultana’s large roof terrace space offers stunning expansive views over the Medina out to the Atlas Mountains.

The four-hand massage in the SPA is strongly recommended.

There are 21 luxurious guestrooms and suites which are animal-themed. The Crocodile Room features carved antique wood panels, while the Camel Room is caramel-coloured, with bronze camel statues and a bathroomhidden behind immense golden doors.

The Fingal’s Cave

The small island of Staffa (off the west coast of Scotland) is famed for its magnificent and unusual black basalt rock formations. The island’s pillars with their geometric forms were formed by a huge volcanic eruption during the Tertiary Era about 70 million years ago and this is the result of a unique lava cooling process. Today the island is uninhabited and is a National Nature Reserve, where kittiwakes, razorbills, grey seals, basking sharks and dolphins make their home.

Staffa’s most famous landmark is a sea cave – Fingal’s Cave. The cave is huge and you are surrounded by the distinctive hexagonal columns of basalt that look almost man-made. The cave stretches 250 feet in to the rock and its roof is 70 feet above the sea. The sea surges in with a cacophony of noise and cascades of white foam. There is a path in on one side which involves stepping from the top of one column to the next.

Olkhon Island

The great watery abyss of Lake Baikal is a huge rift valley in the heart of Siberia formed some 25 million years ago. It is both the oldest and the deepest lake in the world, containing around 20 per cent of the planet’s fresh surface water. Olkhon, one of the largest lake islands in the world, is the geographical, historical and spiritual heart of Baikal, divided by a treacherous narrow strait, near the lake’s deepest point of 1, 637m.


There are plentiful traces of human habitation on Olkhon from as long as 13, 000 years ago; 143 archeological sites have been discovered – rock paintings, burial mounds, settlements, defensive walls and sacred places. The island is steeped in native myth and legend.



When to go: The peak of the tourist season is from mid-June to mid-August when the weather is warm and dry. Population: 1, 500. How to get there: A bus suns five days a week between Irkutsk and Kuzhir, Olkhon, an 8-hour trip including the ferry crossing. You should know: Lake Baikal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Skye island

Skye is an island best known of all the Scottish islands, which is about 80 km from top to bottom, and has a great many things going for it, not at least the most breathtaking beautiful scenery, Ever since the Victorians discovered the joys of climbing spectacular Cuillin Ridge, the island has attracted more and more tourists and this, in the summer months, together with its notoriously changeable climate, is its only downside.

The biggest draw in Cuillin Ridge, which is a fantastic area for climbing and hill walking, but the northern Trotternish Peninsula is equally inspiring with amazing coastal views and weird and wonderful rock formations such as Kilt Rock and the 50 m high rock needle, the Old Man of Storr. This last is only a few miles from Skye’s main town, Portee – a pretty little place on a deep sea loch.

On the west coast, the Minginish Peninsula is worthy of a visit. If the weather is inclement or you have had enough walking, drop into the famous Talisker Distillery. Founded in 1830, its single malt whisky was a favourite of Robert Louis Stevenson, and since then it has become the favourite of a great many people too.

When to go: The summer months are likely to have best weather, but the spring and autumn will be less busy. Population: 8,847. How to get there: By road, or ferry from the mainland.