Alone

• 21 The labyrinthine streets of Carcassonne
  The director, who is behind recent TV series The Good Wife and The Pillars of the Earth, as well as movie greats including Thelma and Louise and Blade Runner, has described Labyrinth as "a wonderful...

• 22 Cool and unusual Spanish hotels
  How do you fancy sleeping in a tree top? In a red stone fortress? Under the stars? In a converted cinema? Or in a traditional Bedouin haymah? These original hotels appeal to the deepest emotions, the sense...

• 23 Flying south for winter
  Usually a Monarch butterfly lives for just four or five short weeks. But by some miracle of nature, the last generation of the summer may survive for as long as seven months, allowing them to fly south...

• 24 Oslo, capital of peace
  On the day of the award ceremony, all eyes wll be on Oslo Town Hall, the imposing red building where the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize will be presented to this year's joint winners: President of Liberia, Ellen...

• 25 Advent comes to Germany
  From the northern coast to the Alps in the south, hardly a city in Germany can resist setting up their own Christmas market and stuffing it full of music and handicrafts, tempting scents and delicious...

• 26 Indigo Pearl Resort: industrial chic in an exotic Thai setting
  The modern architecture of the resort is carefully designed so it never rises higher than the palm trees that surround it and skilfully integrates the tin-mining heritage of the island with evocative...

• 27 Christmas carols and concerts in Vienna
  In Vienna, it's Advent rather than simply Christmas, that is celebrated with a pure magical passion. First there are all the little markets selling crafts and knick-knacks and home-baked goodies that blossom...

• 28 And the word is 'wonderful'!
  On-line, by phone and by text messages, thousands of people around the world have been involved in voting in this initiative launched by the New7Wonders Foundation. Chosen from a short list of twenty-eight,...

• 29 Autumn colours in Kyoto
  Recently the readers of U.S. magazine Conde Nast Traveler name Kyoto the best Asian city, ahead of Bangkok and Hong Kong in a survey whose result pays tribute to the time-honoured cultural wealth of the...

• 30 Stromboli: volcanic fire and passion
  Some say that without the scandal surrounding the extramarital affair between Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman during the filming of Stromboli, the film would have sunk into insignificance. There...

• 31 In the land of the hobbits
  When Peter Jackson was 18, he took a train ride across New Zealand's North Island – one of the two islands that comprise the country. On the trip he read The Lord of the Rings, the great J R R Tolkien...

• 32 Austrian castles and palaces
  Each of the castles and palaces dotted across Austria has its own particular story and its own particular points of interest. Whether it surveys the city below from atop a limestone outcrop, boasts a tragic...

• 33 Bruges, the home of fine chocolate
  From November 6th to December 8th, at Choc'in Brugge, you can meet the best master craftsmen, visit the Chocolate Museum, enjoy themed menus in high-class restaurants, participate in workshops and tastings,...

• 34 The Elvis influence
  The link between Liverpool and Memphis goes way back to the days of the cotton trade, but, as the exhibition Elvis and Us clearly demonstrates, it didn't stop then. This first-of-its-kind, interactive...

• 35 Leonardo in London
  Under the title 'Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan', the exhibition draws together paintings from collections around the world in an unprecedented display of the rare surviving works of...

• 36 Le Marais, the chic district of Paris
  Spreading along the right bank of the Seine, Le Marais is the perfect setting for a getaway: with galleries and museums, pavement artists decorating the streets outside the bustling cafes and restaurants,...

• 37 Autumn relaxation in the Italian Alps
  Bordered by Switzerland in the north and France to the west, the Italian region of Valle d'Aosta is surrounded by magnificent mountain scenery. With its 25 ski stations and 1,200 kilometres of pistes,...

• 38 Europe's spectacular natural heritage
  Dramatic mountains – the vast Durmitor massif in the eponymous national park in northwestern Montenegro, the volcanic mass of Mount Teide, and the dramatic Dolomites in the Italian Alps where green...

• 39 YSL retrospective in Madrid
  The exhibition, on display at the Fundacion Mapfre on the elegant tree-lined boulevard Paseo de Recoletos in the centre of the city, is the first hosted in Spain to look back on the life and work of the...

• 40 Beijing's Forbidden City: the kingdom of 'The Last Emperor'
  The great Forbidden City of China lived up to its name for five and a half centuries. Originally the imperial residence where no one could enter or leave without the emperor's permission, from 1420 it...