The half-rural, half-urban nothingness that surrounds our cities is often seen as a blight but not to poets Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts...

In my home in Maine. From my window, I can see Penobscot Bay, seabirds, and offshore islands which are covered in snow.

The Finnish city of Turku is expecting more than two million visitors during its time as European Capital of Culture for 2011. And now's the perfect time to visit this enlightened wonderland, says Jo Caird

But biologists warn that international inaction is leaving oceans dangerously exposed to overfishing

Fire devastated Alesund; now it is a Norwegian architectural icon, says Siobhan Mulholland

Scientists condemn 'premature' removal of world heritage listing

In travel, as in life, you should never confuse quantity with quality. Yet the amount of space that guidebooks assign to a particular location can provide a useful indication of a destination's relative merit. Lonely Planet's volume on Croatia devotes just 16 lines to the bulky chunk of limestone that comprises the Adriatic island of Solta – the same modest space as assigned to cinemas in Dubrovnik. The Rough Guide is more generous in its coverage, with nearly a page on Solta, but nightclubs in Zagreb enjoy a much higher word count.

Every week we invite competing companies to give us their best deal for a specific holiday.

Boom in visitors to bird colony has consequences for the island environment

Good grief. Mostly the grief is over the (eroding) beauty of nature, which is explored, epically, through the theme of "islands".

Conservationists want to turn archipelago into a giant sea-life reserve. But what about the exiled population whose hopes of going home would be dashed forever?

Charles Darwin's wilderness is under pressure from tourism and urban growth. Hugh O'Shaughnessy and Sarah Clark report on Ecuador's fight back

Discover dazzling beaches and captivating views at one of these heavenly hideaways

Plan to swap sides prompts threats of mass demonstrations

For 40 years, they've fought a jungle war for freedom. Alexander Groom meets one of the world's most isolated rebel armies

If you've a spare €2.5bn burning a hole in your pocket, and always fancied your own personal Mediterranean archipelago, now is your chance.