The amazing Aurora as seen from Kiruna, Sweden

Kiruna-Northern-Lights(4)As I mentioned last week, I ticked off two of my mega bucket list items in March, the second of which was the aurora or the Northern Lights! As we knew that seeing the Northern Lights always involves an element of chance we decided not to revolve our holiday around it but to (a) focus on Stockholm (see more on Stockholm in this post) and (b) get a nice hotel in Kiruna so that we would be otherwise distracted if the particles didn’t come out to dance. But we were lucky enough to get the best of both worlds :) Continue reading

Oaxen Krog – a review

Oaxen-Krog(7)Magnus Ek and Agneta Green’s fine-dining restaurant Oaxen Krog gained its second Michelin star just before our trip to Stockholm, so we were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves at having booked in already! Situated on the water just inside Djurgarden, the restaurant has wonderful views, a beautiful interior (think classic Swedish minimalism, but the high-end kind…no Ikea here!) and has a really nice relaxed vibe.

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Frantzen – a review

Frantzen(1)As mentioned in Friday’s post about the glories of Stockholm (here), as well as running around the city like headless chicken’s trying to explore everything in the short amount of time we had, we also ate ourselves a little silly. Not hard to do in Stockholm which seems to have cafes, restaurants and bakeries offering delicious morsels at every turn…but if you’re looking for a more gourmet experience do not miss out on Frantzen.

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Stunning Stockholm

Stockholm-view-of-Gamla-Stan from Monteliusvägen(1)Ever since Copenhagen, I’ve been longing to visit other parts of Scandanavia and so for my birthday we took a little trip to Sweden. We spent a couple of days in Stockholm…which as you will see from the (overly?) long post is not nearly long enough as there is so much to see, do, eat in this fantastic city! Continue reading

Tokyo Tuesday – five destinations which are often overlooked

Matsumoto-castle2There are so many places to visit in Japan that it can be a bit overwhelming when deciding what to put on your travel itinerary, especially when you only have a limited amount of time. I’ve talked a lot over the past couple of weeks about the big hitters…Kyoto, Hiroshima etc but I’d really encourage visitors to add at least one of the less popular destinations into the mix as they still offer fantastic cultural and natural sights but with smaller crowds of fellow tourists and a slightly more relaxed vibe.

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Miyajima

Miyajima-the-Great-Torii(3)

If Hiroshima is on your itinerary I’d really suggest allowing an extra half a day to visit the nearby Miyajima, a beautiful island just off the coast of the mainland. Not only is the atmosphere of peace and calm a lovely change from the hustle and bustle of the city but the island also offers one of the most iconic photo spots in all Japan…the torii gate of the Itsukushima shrine.  Continue reading

Hiroshima

Hiroshima-the-atomic-dome(1)Having settled into our very comfortable room at Hiroshima Aioi, a lovely traditional ryokan right by the Hiroshima Peace Park, complete with a sobering but incredible view straight out onto the Atomic Bomb Dome, we took advantage of our location and headed straight out to the Hiroshima Peace Park and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Continue reading

Kyoto – part one

Kyoto-Higashiyama-with-view-of-koyashu-pagodaI think it’s fair to say that most visitors to Japan spend at least a little time in the fascinating city of Kyoto which was Japan’s capital for over a millenium. Kyoto is known as Japan’s most beautiful city and it is easy to see why but as it is hugely spread out and hosts an overwhelming number of shrines and temples (some sites put it at 400, others at 2000!) it can be a little intimidating when you sit down to plan your trip…so hopefully my tips over the next two days on my favourite sights will help in your itinerary building. Continue reading