BEST FOR AUTUMN SUN: CADIZ
The old town poking into the Atlantic like a finger is (famously, photogenically, obviously) ancient, but thanks in part to entrepreneurial Gaditanos (Cadiz natives) returning home after the crisis, the place has an invigorating, youthful, playful spirit and some cute retro bars. It may be synonymous with waves of cruise-ship daytrippers, but you don’t have to arrive by boat: Seville and Jerez airports are 1½ hours and 40 minutes’ drive away respectively, and it linked by rail as well.
Where to eat
A flurry of inventive gastronomic activity has earned Cadiz a place among Rick Stein’s latest Long Weekend destinations. The availability of fine food served in tapas-sized portions – at tapas prices – is a major plus. Food is exquisite art at Código de Barra: avoid agonising decisions by opting for the eight-course degustación menu (€30) at an outdoor table on Plaza de Candelaria. At Ultramar&Nos, old favourites get the reverence they deserve in the industrial setting of an old ultramarino, or grocery store. Yes, there are the usual oysters, and squid with seaweed salad, but also spicy patatas bravas (€3.75), butter-soft chicharrones or scratchings (from €5) and a guiso (stew) of the day (€6.80).
Where to drink
Cadiz is in the middle of the sherry triangle, so finos, olorosos and other nectars from El Puerto, Sanlúcar and Jerez fill the barrels and bottles on dusty shelves in dark bars and wine shops in the old town’s narrow streets. Taberna la Manzanilla has the air of an apothecary; drinking here is an initially daunting, though ultimately pleasant business. Once just old, Taberna la Sorpresa, is now stylishly retro. Local wines are the star attraction, but there’s much to try from all over Spain, along with vermouth and food, most notably variations of tuna, fresh from nearby Barbate. For €1 house white and cold beer with a sea view, stick to the old town periphery, the chiringuitos (beach bars) and seafood restaurants with canopied terraces along Playa Victoria, or the scruffy but popular Bar Club Caleta, on the sea wall between castles Santa Catalina and San Sebastián, framing Playa la Caleta.
Where to stay
Imbued with the relaxed conviviality of a surf camp, Casa Caracol offers pancake breakfasts, home-cooked dinners, mojito nights, bike rentals and even yoga classes on the beach. Accommodation is in hammocks (from €10 with breakfast), dorms (from €18) and private doubles (from €39). Even closer to the great baroque landmark is Hotel La Cathedral (doubles from €88 B&B). Its crowning glory is a small terrace and rooftop pool separated only by a perspex wall from the cathedral facade. The plaza below is crisscrossed by all Cádiz, and the hotel’s cafe tables are ideally placed for a lazy afternoon of people-watching.
If you do just one thing …
Cadiz has a burgeoning underground scene. Ten metres below Teatro de Títeres la Tía Norica is the Gadir archaeological site, the extensive excavated remains of one of the oldest cities in the world, which opened to the public two years ago. A few minutes’ walks away, are the Catacumbas del Beaterio, part of a network of tunnels used for nefarious and religious purposes: short tours began last year. And the Roman Theatre of Cadiz (actually no longer underground following 36 years of digging), opened to the public last June. It’s been 2000 years since the last show, although there is an audiovisual exhibition.
Sorrel Downer
BEST FOR DESIGN: HELSINKI
With by the Baltic to the south and forest in every other direction, Helsinki is firmly rooted in its natural surroundings. It’s also the beating heart of Finland’s legendary design scene – and with careful planning it needn’t be extortionately expensive. A visit to the home of famed architect and designer Alvar Aalto’s offers a crash course on his architecture and the Finnish lifestyle in general. The Design District (designdistrict.fi) in the centre is the place to head for a creative hit – it’s choc-a-bloc with shops from jewellery to antiques. Even better than the Design Museum, is Artek furniture store, where design gems such as chairs by Aalto and Ilmari Tapiovaara can be tried out. Newly opened concept store Tre showcases young award-winning Finnish fashion from the likes of Samuji, R&H and R-Collection and objects by independent design studios.
Where to eat
The hip Kallio district is full of new restaurants and boasts a great variety of affordable options, from vegan cafes to cosy bars and distinctive fast food joints. Tenho Restobar is a restaurant/bar/music club serving pizza (€13, try pickled herring or parsnip) and small plates with a Finnish twist (€8-€11) and has regular gigs. Fancier restaurants often offer great-value lunch menus. Elite (meal of the day €10.20, set menu €51) opened in 1932 and used to be the favourite of the city’s cultural and artistic circles. The decor is still art deco, the menu consists of Finnish traditional dishes (lots of salmon and vorschmack – ground herring or meat with onion) and service is old-school.
Where to drink
Teurastamo, Helsinki’s own meatpacking district, opened four years ago and is fun for a night out. Recently the B-Smokery restaurant expanded and opened a cosy B-Side Bar, the perfect place to start the evening, with a changing selection of beers and all sorts of American whiskeys. From Teurastamo, it’s a short walk to the block locals call the “party triangle”. A former matchstick factory has been transformed into three bars. Start upstairs at Siltanen, and then descend to a concert at Kuudes Linja or to party at Kaiku.
Where to stay
Rents in Helsinki are high and the tourism season short, which means a lack of cosy and reasonably priced hostels. Luckily for budget travellers, Airbnb offers over 2,000 rooms and apartments at average of 50€ a night. High living standards mean you’ll find lots of nicely decorated places. To stay in a unique historical setting, the Hostel Suomenlinna (dorm beds €24, doubles from €65) is a former Russian schoolhouse on the world heritage island of the same name, a 15-minute ferry ride (€3,50) from the main market square. In this clifftop setting in the south-west corner of the island, it is hard to remember you are in a capital city.
If you do just one thing …
Visit a sauna. Before modern bathrooms, neighbourhood saunas were the way to keep clean in Finland. There are still a few original saunas left, and lately several new public saunas have opened. A real gem is Kulttuurisauna (€15). Architect Tuomas Toivonen and illustrator Nene Tsuboi built the minimalist house during Helsinki’s World Design Capital year (2012). The wood-pellet-heated sauna is in a concrete brutalist district, Merihaka, and offers a great view over the icebreakers. After the heat of the sauna, take a dip in the sea – even in winter they maintain a hole in the ice.
Ida Kukkapuro
BEST FOR FOOD: PARMA
Parma has been voted the city with the best quality of life in Italy. When you tell people you live here, the response is immediate: “Parma, che bella!”. Then they’ll tell you that the Parmigiani are aloof and unfriendly. The city is compact and easy to navigate by foot, and you can travel further afield by bike or on the reliable, cheap bus network. A tour of the historic centre – starting with the duomo, baptistry, and painted ceiling at San Paolo convent, then heading over the river via Palazzo della Pilotta to the Palazzo Ducale – is fascinating and not too demanding.
Where to eat
Whether it’s prosciutto, pasta or parmesan cheese, this city is defined by its food. Even the United Nations says so – last year Unesco declared Parma a Creative City of Gastronomy. Yes, you can find gourmet burgers, sushi bars and street food – but Parma is not really cut out for food fads. The best way to see how food is celebrated here is to visit one of the sagre (festivals) that take place all year round. Gola! Gola!, a slickly organised event with TV chefs and celebrity authors, launched in June this year on the back of the Unesco stamp, and is likely to become an annual fixture. In autumn the action moves beyond the city to the prosciutto festival, the mushroom festivals in the nearby Val di Taro, black truffle month in Calestano and November Porc, four weekends of pigging out in the culatello towns along the river Po. Most can be reached easily by bus or train for a handful of euros. If you don’t have time for an excursion, join the queue of students and office workers for a blow-out sandwich at Walter Clinica del Panino or the legendary Pepen, both a few metres from the central Piazza Garibaldi. Another €20 will get you a plate of salumi di Parma (cured ham, cooked shoulder of pork, salame, pancetta, lardo…) followed by fresh tortelli (pasta stuffed with squash or chard) at Trattoria Corrieri or Osteria dello Zingaro. Da Antonia, a 10-minute walk from the centre, is one of the few surviving traditional workers’ trattorie. Always packed and with a great atmosphere, it’s only open at lunchtimes and serves fresh, affordable (€15-20) three-course meals. And of course, if in doubt, roll it out: the best pizzeria in town, Orfeo does a simple but delicious thin-crust pizza of tomatoes and mozzarella di bufala with prosciutto crudo (€8).
Where to drink
At some point in the recent past the Italians started drinking beer. Then they started making it. Now it seems they can’t stop doing either. Parma has two thriving breweries – Ducato and Farnese – both of which produce beers from bionda (lager) to IPA, pale ale and stout. And there are now several decent bars in which to drink their products, mostly west of the river in the Oltretorrente, where Vecchie Maniere and Bastian Contrario lead the way.
For a decent spritz Campari (Aperol? Don’t. Please don’t.), just walk into any café or bar, hand over €4-€5 then sit down, sip and laugh at the memory of the dreadful, overpriced bathwater you were served in Shoreditch last week. Then there is lambrusco. The rebirth of the fizzy red is not big news any more, but if you want to see where the revolution was hatched, Parma is a short bike ride from the organic vineyards of Camillo Donati and Azienda Quarticello, where they will sell you a bottle for €6-€7.
Where to stay
Hotel Torino is bang in the centre with doubles from around €90. A few minutes north of the city is the Abbazia di Valserena, better-known as the Charterhouse of Parma, where you can stay in a converted monk’s cell (but with worldly comforts such as air-con and Wi-Fi) from €100 a night.
If you do just one thing …
Stroll the Oltretorrente, starting with the recently restored memorial to the Parmigiani who fought off the fascist assault on the city in 1922, and finishing in Piazza Picelli, named in honour of the man who led the defence of the city and was shot dead 15 years later in the Spanish civil war. Then raise a glass to their memory in the Vecchie Maniere brewery nearby. Or do the whole thing by bike: La Cicletteria di Parma. High heels? Check. Umbrella? Yup. Mobile phone? Uh-huh. Ciaooooo!
BEST FOR NIGHTLIFE: HAMBURG
With its many waterways and parks, Hamburg is undoubtedly a pretty city. But there’s a vibrant “alternative” scene behind its conservative facade. The Reeperbahn is its infamous party and red light district, but just a few streets away is a rich bistro and street food scene as well as cool cafes, bars and clubs. Dig further and there are lots of hip hangouts such as the occupied former theatre Rote Flora in the Sternschanze district, the artists’ quarter Gängeviertel, or the Golden Pudel Club (pudel.com), recently resurrected after a fire.
Where to eat
Hamburg is still Germany’s most important port, and with international trade have come international cuisines. Try the Indian bistro Badshah (Bremer Reihe 24, no website) in colourful St Georg. It’s not romantic, but the paneer and lentil curry is a must (€6.50). Din Hau, on the other side of Hamburg’s main station, is a simple place, but serves possibly the best Cantonese roasted duck you’ll ever taste (€8.50). For street food, brothers Koral and Onur Elci opened Focacceria Bonassola earlier this year close to Altona station– just looking at the golden foccacia with spinach, gorgonzola or spicy salsiccia is a sensual experience.
Where to drink
The practice of “cornering” has been around for a couple of summers now: crowds gather by kiosks or in front of bars to start the night off by downing a €1.50 beer. Try the Tabakbörse kiosk in Sternschanze. If the weather’s bad, the streets between Sternschanze and St Pauli are full of great bars, such as the Walrus Bar) or Clockers, a tiny gin bar that has a tree growing in the middle and moss on the walls, and produces its own spirits. At Toast Bar, a few blocks away, people crack peanuts until late in the night and listen to changing DJ sets. Have a last drink at the Golem bar on the other side of the Reeperbahn then climb down the secret stairway behind the bookshelves to the club below. On Saturday nights, it’s fun to stay there till sunrise then sober up with a mackerel bun from the nearby fish market, which opens at 5am on Sundays.
Where to stay
The 25hours hotels, are good options (doubles from €90), with sails, storm lamps and other vintage accessories adding to the seafaring atmosphere. For a more youthful (and cheaper) option, the simple but beautifully designed rooms at Superbude Hostels in St Pauli and St.Georg (dorm beds from €16, doubles from €60). They’re decorated with recycled furniture and framed quotes from visiting bloggers, authors and journalists.
If you do just one thing …
Walk from the main station along the Kunstmeile – “Art Mile” – towards HafenCity, pass the Deichtorhallen – House of Photography and step into the Oberhafen quarter. The former trainyard – with the old brick warehouse walls that characterise the city – is full of surprises like the Hanseatische Materialverwaltung, a huge non-profit repository of old theatre and cinema props and equipment, where the curious can rummage among giant noses, Godzilla costumes, jukeboxes and more.
Urs Spindler, editor, Gentle Rain magazine
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