Travel & Culture

  • Export bar placed on nativity painting valued at £460,000

    The artwork is by Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi.

  • Tate Modern invites people to doodle on floor for new exhibit – but will remove rude graffiti

    Art gallery attendants are usually occupied by ensuring that a respectful silence is maintained and that no one strays too close to priceless masterpieces. But from Saturday, staff at the Tate Modern’s new exhibition inviting visitors to sketch on the gallery’s floor will be tasked with monitoring the drawings in case some who take part are tempted to daub the kind of rude graffiti normally seen on the back of lavatory doors. People of all ages will be welcome to doodle on the floor of the Londo

  • Fears Edinburgh could lose world heritage status over giant 'bin hubs'

    Edinburgh could become the next UK city to lose its world heritage status, councillors fear, after plans were unveiled to install giant “bin hubs” on its historic Georgian streets. Locals warned that the planned overhaul to rubbish collections in the city’s New Town would “desecrate” an area that is home to some of the finest neoclassical architecture in the world and inspired Edinburgh’s claim to title of 'the Athens of the north'. The major row broke out after the city council was accused of r

  • Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella gets new date in August after closing

    Cinderella at the Gillian Lynne Theatre will resume next month on Wednesday 18 August before the opening night will take place on Wednesday 25 August. It was written by Oscar-winning writer Emerald Fennell who is behind hit movie Promising Young Woman. Then the show’s opening night - set for Freedom Day when all restrictions were lifted on Monday July 19 - was also cancelled hours before the show was set to open.

  • An art gallery in a football stadium? OOF! Spurs kick off a new era

    It’s not balls

  • How the island that launched the Covid app is now on its knees due to pingdemic

    When the Isle of Wight became the first place to trial the NHS Test and Trace app, residents and businesses said that they were proud to be leading the fight against coronavirus. But now the island which pioneered the technology is being brought to its knees by it, with business owners warning that the so-called "pingdemic" could do more harm than the actual pandemic. Just as they head into their busiest time of year, the pubs, restaurants and attractions which rely on tourism to survive are hav

  • Trash talk: What can we do about our pandemic litter problem?

    The UK's litter nightmare has become even worse during the pandemic - here's what's being done, and how to join in.

  • Tell us your stories of first-time camping holidays

    Tell us your stories of first-time camping holidaysAs camping gear flies off the shelves in the UK this summer, we’d like to hear from new campers about their holidays Was your first time in a tent a dream or a disaster? Photograph: PeopleImages/Getty Images

  • Visiting Cornwall? Take a Covid test, holidaymakers told

    Holidaymakers visiting Cornwall have been told by tourism bosses to get a Covid test ahead of the summer dash. Tourist and council chiefs urged people to order a pack of lateral flow tests and ensure they are negative before they head to the county. With Covid cases rising to 40,000 a day and hundreds of thousands of people being pinged by the NHS app, Visit Cornwall warned that "the virus is still out there" and added: "We would suggest that you test yourself and your family before setting out

  • Heathrow airport set to introduce £5 passenger drop off charge

    Heathrow is set to introduce a £5 passenger drop-off fee for travellers arriving at the airport by car or taxi. The AOA said UK airports lost out on £2.6 billion of revenue between April and September 2020, and expects a similar loss across the whole of 2021.

  • Is Oscar Murillo the new Jean Dubuffet? Plus the real Dubuffet! – the week in art

    Is Oscar Murillo the new Jean Dubuffet? Plus the real Dubuffet! – the week in artMurillo shows work he commissioned by children in 30 countries, Alison Watts says it with flowers and time is ticking to catch the must-see Dubuffet – all in your weekly dispatch Turner prize-winner … Oscar Murillo. Photograph: Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner

  • 12 of the best pubs with rooms under an hour from London

    Foodies, assemble! Travel expert Martin Dunford has your next staycay sorted

  • How to navigate this weekend’s holiday rush

    School’s out, and many families around the country will be packing their bags for what could be their first holiday abroad in many moons. This is also the first weekend that fully vaccinated British travellers have been exempt from quarantining when returning home from amber-list countries, meaning it’s likely to be a busy few days at Britain’s airports. Unfortunately, travelling abroad is no longer just about remembering your passport and a plastic bag for your toiletries. These days there is a

  • Grant Shapps urged to open up travel to more destinations

    Trade association Abta wants more locations added to the green list, and testing requirements eased.

  • What can art inspired by 'the beautiful game' tell us about society?

    You can’t miss it, heading up the High Road from Seven Sisters in north London: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, looming like a mothership touching down on a remote planet. In its shadow is something equally alien: London’s latest art gallery, temporarily housed in Warmington House, the Grade II-listed former residence of a 19th-century coal merchant. Now owned by the Premier League football club, this beautiful building sits incongruously beside the “Tottenham Experience” outlet. If the solar system

  • 'I found a 95 year old message in a bottle - and the family behind it'

    Meet the diver who found a century- old message- then tracked down the family behind it

  • House of horror: Bath opens the world’s first museum dedicated to Mary Shelley

    House of horror: Bath opens the world’s first museum dedicated to Mary Shelley. This week the city finally embraced its gothic past – in honour of one of its most famous residents. And with it, a host of dark secrets

  • Avoid travel at weekends over the summer holidays, rail operators warn

    The country’s biggest rail operators have warned weekends are likely to be extremely busy, with routes to coastal areas and other popular tourist spots particularly busy. International travel restrictions plus a recent spate of good weather means more Brits are planning to stay in the UK this summer holidays putting more pressure on services. Train travel has been virtually decimated by the pandemic - with the busiest weekend of the year so far recording passenger numbers of just 52 per cent on 10 and 11 July.

  • It's not too late! Where to find the best holiday deals 2021

    Bookmark these websites, and travel in the smug knowledge that you didn't pay a penny more than you had to.

  • 'Amber Sands': the best beaches in Europe without quarantine

    It is one thing to have to navigate the plethora of different rules and regulations required for entry into Europe right now; it is quite another to have to worry about all that bother once you get there. Travel to the Continent was supposed to become simpler this week, with the easing of quarantine rules for fully vaccinated travellers returning from amber list countries, but there remains a rich tapestry of guidance when it comes to hitting the beach. While most countries continue to ask that