Summer holidays: 10 of the best trips for couples
You may only have eyes for each other, but stupendous views and fantastic food and wine will only make things better. Here are our experts' tips for romantic breaks à deux
Keep it simple, Umbria, ItalyTuscany and Umbria have a reputation for being stuffed to the salami-hung rafters with braying, posh types in raspberry chinos, but it's easy to steer clear of the Chianti-quaffing crowds. The solar-powered Locanda della Quercia Calante on the Umbria/Tuscany border is a peaceful, eco-friendly agriturismo. The emphasis is on the simple things in life: good food (home cooked and mainly organic); wellbeing (Iyengar yoga in the onsite studio), and chilling. Even the wine is biodynamic, which must be good for you, surely? Owner Fausto makes much of the fact that the property is built on leylines and the rooms are free of magnetic fields, which he claims makes for a better night's rest. We were sceptical until my insomniac partner slept longer and deeper than he had in years. By day you can mooch around nearby towns – historic Orvieto is 18km away – and spookily quiet medieval villages. Evenings are for wining and dining in the cosy restaurant. We made the mistake on the first day of accepting second helpings of the fantastic meat-free lasagne, only to realise it was just a starter. Perhaps it's not the leylines that ensure a good night's kip.
• Doubles from €60B&B; +39 0763 627199, querciacalante.com
Isabel Choat, Guardian online travel editor
Unless you're the kind of person who precision-plans their leisure time, you probably won't book a holiday in Copenhagen sufficiently far in advance to get a table at Noma, named Best Restaurant in the World for the second year running. But at Relæ (restaurant-relae.dk), former Noma head chef Christian Puglisi cooks in a way that's just as surprising and inventive, and a good deal cheaper. And Geranium (geranium.dk; this year singled out by Michelin as a rising star) is equally brilliant, in more of a polished, big-night-out way. Aamaan's Etablissement (aamanns.dk) was our favourite lunch spot, mainly for its steak tartare and citrus-and-spice marinated salmon. And for mornings after, the great coffee and the brunch menu (plus the cosy sheepskin-covered chairs) at café/deli Gourmandiet (gourmandiet.dk) made our hangovers almost pleasurable.
• Doubles at 71 Nyhavn, a converted, canal-side spice warehouse, cost from £110 (+45 3343 6200, 71nyhavnhotel.com)
Jenny McIvor, food writer
Arrive in daylight and wear sensible shoes, the instructions from Carswell Farm advised. We pulled up after midnight after the long drive to south Devon. The directions from the farmhouse to the impossibly secluded Beach Hut were clear, but scrambling across cliff tops with bags and very unsensible footwear, we had only an inadequate torch and the alarming sound of crashing waves to make sure our romantic holiday didn't start with the wrong sort of splash. Once there we just climbed the little ladder to our bed in the eaves, so the next morning, we were unprepared for the picture-book adorableness of our surroundings. The Beach Hut is fairly basic, but no less lovely for that: there's no electricity, but a woodburner and gas hob – and a wood-burning hot tub outside (everything is eco, including the loo)! And then there's the view – this beach hut gives new meaning to the idea of a private beach. Nestled in a cove, unreachable except by that rocky footpath, this is as hidden-away a hideaway as you could dream of. It isn't cheap, but you could travel the world and not find such a romantic retreat. If the sun shines it is bliss, and if it rains it is bliss too.
• Two nights at the Beach Hut costs £450 (optional organic dinner hamper £45); +44 (0)1752 830020, carswellcottages.com/thebeachhut
Lisa Allardice, editor of Guardian Review
"Why've we stopped?" whined our eldest, then 14. "There's nothing here!" "Here" was a quaint Italian riverside village with a bar with Prosecco on tap, but this was when we realised we'd have to put more effort into holidays with teens. So for a few years it was activities (rafting, canyoning) and cities (they loved Amsterdam). But teenagers grow up, go to university, and suddenly mooching around Europe is possible again. And cheap. Term time in Sicily and not only were hotel rooms almost half the summer price, half-board was sometimes thrown in. We stayed at friendly Pensione Tranchina in Scopello, an hour from Palermo, and ticked off all the things our offspring would have moaned about. No pool, tiny rocky beach, no shops, nothing to do after dinner except sit chatting with the owner over a digestivo. Worst of all, the rugged Zingaro natural park stretches for 7km up the coast, with footpaths for long bracing walks. There were even – horror! – wild flowers. Some things the youngsters would have liked: the fantastic food, and especially our cute black hired Fiat Cinquecento. But that's the sort of iconic vehicle only the child-free can bomb around Italy in. No room in the back for long teenage legs. Shucks, kids.
• Pensione Tranchina (+39 0924 541099, pensionetranchina.com) offers half-board from €55pp per night
Liz Boulter, travel writer
Forget the sun, sand and sex-on-the-beach stereotype; there's another side to Lanzarote. Away from the big resorts, the easternmost of the Canaries is a heady mix of wild volcanic landscapes, surfer-friendly beaches, theatrical modernist architecture and vineyards made up of volcanic stone circles that could have been designed by Andy Goldsworthy. You can reach them all easily enough from the coastal resorts with a hire car, but a much better idea is to base yourself at Caserío de Mozaga, an 18th-century country house in the centre of the island that's been turned into a very stylish boutique B&B with restaurant. Or you could book into a luxury yurt and cosy up under canvas at Finca de Arrieta on the north-east coast.
• Doubles at Caserío de Mozaga cost from €63 (+34 92 852 0060, caseriodemozaga.com). Yurts at Finca de Arrieta cost from £385 a week (lanzaroteretreats.com)
Rhiannon Batten, travel writer
Along a rambling road near Fiscardo in the north of Kefalonia lay our cottage, Villa Trizoni. It had all the ingredients for a romantic break – the bare minimum, but done in style. We had three gorgeous bedrooms at our disposal, an airy open plan living space of white sofas, and an infinity pool surrounded by funky day beds. There was almost nothing to do, but that was fine by us – all we wanted was to loll around in the sunshine and spend time together. Then it poured with rain all week. Instead of languorous afternoons in the pool our memories are of drinking Mythos beer behind a rain-splashed plastic awning, paddling in the drizzle at beautiful Daf Noudi beach, and getting caught in a dramatic storm while half-way across to the neighbouring island of Ithaca in our rented motorboat. There, we were revived at the magical Polyphemus restaurant by an inebriated communist chef who fed us Che Guevara rum and sun-dried octopus for hours, then insisted he drive us back to the harbour. We even made up a silly song about Polyphemus which make us feel like teenagers recalling their first kiss when we sing it now.
• Villa Trizoni has weeks available in May, July and August, from £1,239 a week, with holidaylettings.co.uk. Villa Zouzouni, next door, sleeps two from £885 a week, and has weeks left in August
Gemma Bowes, Guardian Travel editor
We'd seen photos of the Soca Valley, and read reviews about the chic mountain retreat called Nebesa. But nothing prepared us for the staggering Alpine beauty of the region – flower-filled meadows, crystal-clear rivers and lakes – nor the views from Nebesa's chalets; snow-capped mountains to the east, endless valleys to the west, trailing down to the Adriatic. Four glass-fronted chalets are the base from which to soak up these views. From our terrace, we watched a storm come in, then get chased away by glorious sunshine. We hiked up the mountain one day and white-water rafted down the turquoise Soca the next. In the evening we took at taxi to Hisa Franko, Slovenia's answer to The Fat Duck, for a sublime gourmet feast. The X factor at Nebesa isn't the luxuriousness of the hotel – it's actually fairly simple. What makes it so special is the setting and the isolation: it's a perfect place to hole up with a partner.
• Two-night stays from €255 for two including breakfast and use of bikes (i-escape.com/nebesa.php)
Liz Simpson, deputy editor, i-escape
I thought a trip to Biarritz would be ironically glam: pink cocktails and discotheques, that kind of thing. But at some point since the 1980s, it had morphed into a quietly hip surfing mecca. My then-boyfriend suddenly looked interested. We camped under the pines in the main surfie site at Anglet and walked down to the beach every morning. Compensating for the lack of kitsch, the boyfriend even serenaded me with Elvis Presley on the sand. Surf by day, cosmopolitan comforts by night: we ate outside at pretty old clifftop restaurants, drank wine from Gérard Dépardieu's nearby vineyards, and wandered along the pier that juts from the spectacular coastline out through the breakers. A little black dress and a surfboard are all you need in this town where la bonne vie meets Endless Summer.
• Biarritz Camping (+33 5 5923 0012, biarritz-camping.fr) charges from €23 for a pitch in summer. Hotel Alcyon (+33 5 5922 6460, hotel-alcyon-biarritz.com) has doubles from €105 in summer
Sophie Cooke, novelist
We took the Eurostar to Paris and the sleeper train to Hendaye. When we woke, it was a short hop over the border to San Sebastián – or Donostia, as it is known by its Basque inhabitants. We chose from one of scores of affordable pensions in the beguiling parte vieja (old town). We spent lazy days on the city's beautiful beaches, and late nights bar-hopping. The city specialises in pintxos, simple Basque tapas: we wandered from tavern to tavern, greedily sampling as many as we could. For a once-in-lifetime meal, try to get a table at legendary restaurant Arzak (arzak.info), ranked eighth in the world. We relaxed at La Perla (la-perla.net), a beachside spa; visited Eduardo Chillida's wave-lashed sculptures in La Concha Bay; and climbed Mount Urgull for the castle, enormous Jesus Christ statue and panoramic views. We bought a couple of beers just as the basic hilltop bar was closing and sat alone by the fig trees, watching the sun set over the bay.
• For travel details see seat61.com/Spain.htm
Rachel Dixon, travel writer
I'd been obsessed by San Francisco since reading Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series – the rolling hills, the smell of marijuana, the glamorous casualties of a life lived as though every day was 1969 – but it wasn't until my 27th birthday that I finally visited, a surprise present from my boyfriend, who'd been choking on the secret for months. It was San Francisco I'd had in mind when I chose to move to Brighton for university, where the lovely gayness and scattered vintage shops charmed me, briefly. But it took a week in a budget downtown hotel – queuing for breakfasts at Dottie's True Blue cafe, taking shy photos outside the house Maupin was inspired by – an afternoon in Alcatraz, and various second-hand clothing purchases along Haight Street, for me to convince my boyfriend that this, one day, should be our home. Plans are in motion ...
• Hotel Majestic (+1 415 441 1100, thehotelmajestic.com) has period styling and doubles from $115; at the other end of the aesthetic spectrum Hotel Tomo (+1 415 921 4000, jdvhotels.com/tomo) offers brightly coloured Japanese pop art and doubles from $129
Eva Wiseman, columnist, Observer magazine
North London’s top 10 budget eats
In part four of our guide to the best places to eat well in the capital for less than £10 a head, Tony Naylor chooses 10 north London venues that are light on the wallet but big on taste
See our interactive map of Britain's best budget restaurants
If we've missed your favourite tell us on our Word of Mouth blog
The main road that runs through Harringay, Green Lanes, is home to several great Turkish restaurants. Three in particular are regularly namechecked by local authorities on such matters: Yayla (429 Green Lanes), Hala (29 Green Lanes) and this gem. Antepliler is actually three premises: a cafe, the restaurant and a patisserie, whose various pistachio and walnut baklavas, made with good quality floral honeys, are not to be missed. The restaurant – plain and sturdy, a solid traditional Ottoman space – majors on charcoal-grilled kebabs and dishes cooked in the huge wood-fired oven that squats by the entrance. At £1.50 (takeaway), the lahmacun, a kind of thin, crisp Turkish pizza, topped with a hugely tasty, quietly fiery mix of minced lamb, chilli, garlic, onions, fresh herbs and pulped tomato, is exceptional value. It is the kind of food to which a man could easily become addicted.
A main meal portion of six juicy, generously seasoned kofte patties, served over a stock-cooked mix of fat, squat rice and chickpeas, accompanied by salad and a half-loaf of ultra-fresh Turkish bread, is similarly brilliant. That dish is arguably enough to feed two, on its own, and costs just £6.50 (takeaway; eat-in prices are a pound or two more). Throw in some of that baklava and you have not just a bargain feed, but a meal that will live long in the memory.
• Takeaway, snacks/starters, £1.50-£3.75, mains £5.50-£7.90. 46 Grand Parade, Green Lanes, N4 (+44 (0)20-8802 5588)
Camden's Market – as opposed to Camden Market – is the kind of place that every neighbourhood needs. It's a neat, simply designed restaurant (zinc table tops, open kitchen, exposed brick walls, recycled school chairs at the tables) that specialises in delivering honest, crowd-pleasing food at keen prices. The £10 two-course lunch is particularly good value. The starter, a bowl of lamb broth, is interestingly broken up by tiny blobs of mint sauce. The main is a similarly solid plate of linguine, pork fillet and good mild chorizo. It is lifted by little details: scattered flecks of lemon zest, fresh chilli and parsley; the precise firm but yielding texture of the pasta; the way the pasta isn't drowning in sauce, and the way said tomato sauce has been carefully whizzed and blended to give it a lightly aerated creaminess.
There is nothing about the two courses that would be beyond a skilful, attentive home cook perhaps, but it is good, tasty, unfussy food, patently prepared with pride. Throw in some good (free) bread and unsalted butter, Prince's Purple Rain album on the PA, the notably efficient, friendly service, and Market adds up to a winning proposition.
• Two-course set lunch £10. 43 Parkway, NW1 (+44 (0)20-7267 9700, marketrestaurant.co.uk)
If you are heading to nearby Hampstead Heath, this is a great place to pick up an impromptu picnic. As the name suggests, it is primarily a butcher's shop, but this providore also comprises a kitchen, headed by chef Guy Bossom, that produces myriad foods to eat now or take home. Friends should pool their resources to take advantage of any deals – when I dropped in there was a six-for-five (£10) offer running on Meantime's London Lager – and to make sure that they try the various tortilla, pies, sophisticated quiches and gourmet salad tubs – for instance, puy lentil, butternut squash and tarragon; or French bean, almond and smoked bacon with walnut dressing (by weight, from £1.55 per 100g).
As well as pre-prepared baguettes (£3.50), you can also assemble your own sandwiches mixing and matching various breads and charcuterie from the meat counter. Alternatively, pick up a few hundred grams of Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire or Cornish Yarg in the cheese room. Particularly recommended are the large Scotch eggs (£2.95) and the warm sausage rolls (£2.50). The former are sat in small, promising pools of fat on a rectangular slate and have an almost pork pie density, while the sensational sausage rolls pack expertly seasoned meat into air-light, lavishly buttery puff pastry. The fat cakes and sweet tarts also looked fantastic.
• Snacks from £1.55-£3.50. 56 Rosslyn Hill, NW3 (+44 (0)20-7794 9210, hampsteadbutcher.com)
Bright, buzzy and a little bland in its design, this canteen is a useful all-day address for the budget traveller. At night, you will find several main dishes available at £8.95-£9.75, such as fish and chips or pork chop with roasted Cox's apple and a white bean cassoulet, while by day it serves an affordable brunch (midday-4pm), smaller "larder" dishes and superior, jazzed-up salads, such as broccoli and cauliflower with sweet black sesame sauce and a good butternut squash and feta. Even a small plate of the latter (£3.95) will fill a lunchtime hunger hole, and it is to Kentish Canteen's credit that if you drop in for just a small plate, there is no pressure to eat or buy more. It is the flexible food station it claims to be.
The sharing platters (for two, £15) and the lunch and supper deals (two courses plus drink, £12, before 7pm Monday-Friday) offer good value. On the downside, a cranberry and pecan cookie from the cake counter was a surprisingly dry disappointment, and, irritatingly, they were out of the local Camden Town Brewery's lager when the Guardian visited for this article.
• Small plates, salads and brunch dishes £2.75-£6.50, mains £8.95-£12. 300 Kentish Town Road, NW5 (+44 (0)20-7485 7331, kentishcanteen.co.uk)
Delhi Grill styles itself as a kind of dhaba, the workaday, no-frills canteens that proliferate in India. Such dhabas generally offer short menus of key dishes, in this case flavoursome marinated grilled meats (try the unusually light, vibrantly seasoned sheekh kebabs) and delicious slow-cooked standards like channa masala and aloo gobi. Purists may quibble with certain minor details (are tomatoes permissible in a rogan gosht?), but Delhi Grill certainly delivers on taste and price.
It also sees its concept through to its logical conclusion. You can eat in the restaurant – all chunky wood fixtures and walls plastered with Indian newspaper cuttings – but, during the day, it also runs a takeaway street stall, directly outside, on Chapel Market. The stall serves fresh filled roti wraps (£3.50) – say, paneer tikka with salad and beetroot chutney – samosas (two pieces, £1.30) and chicken, lamb and vegetable curries (£4.50).
• Restaurant starters from £1.95, mains with rice from £6.25. 21 Chapel Market, N1 (+44 (0)20-7278 8100, delhigrill.com). Takeaway available in the evenings
You don't get a lot for £10 a head in Hampstead, so make sure you spend your money wisely. This small, busy cafe, on a pretty mews off the high street, is the kind of place that goes that extra mile. The kitchen even makes its own peanut butter and "smoky" baked beans for the breakfast menu. The baking is a real highlight. The carrot cake, in particular, is a light, moist slice of gingery genius. Meanwhile, Ginger & White's flat white (£2.70, full of winey, dark berry flavours) is possibly the best coffee I've tasted throughout this London series.
Given the inflated prices that come with the NW3 postcode, a salt beef sandwich, featuring a thick layer of outstanding coleslaw, just about justifies the £5.95 price tag, but a breakfast sausage bap is a little sloppy. All the constituent parts are good but the sausages are a touch overdone and they're in danger of drowning in Hawkshead relish. Hit Ginger & White on a Saturday morning, incidentally, and you may well find that you have to queue to get in. After that wait, you may then find yourself slouching on a sofa while you eat, or sharing the large communal table with other people's children. Which won't suit everyone. It's notable, however, that even in the midst of such hustle and bustle, the staff are unflappable. They are personable, eager to please and winningly enthusiastic about the food that they are serving.
• Cakes £2-£4, sandwiches £3.50-£6. 4a-5a Perrin's Court, NW3 (+44 (0)20-7431 9098, gingerandwhite.com)
Say what you like (or rather dislike) about Gordon Ramsay, but no one would dispute that he can cook. Nor that his venues generally maintain rigorous standards on the plate. Nonna is a deli-cafe attached to the York & Albany restaurant which, until recently, was overseen by Ramsay lieutenant Angela Hartnett. Her influence and love of Italian food is still very much in evidence. The deli-cafe itself is done up as some kind of faux-rustic Tuscan farmhouse, albeit one decked out in rather cheap, lightweight garden furniture.
The food takes in meat and cheese platters, soups, colourful salads, attractive baked goods and pizzas (£9-£12) which, reassuringly, the staff on duty declined to serve to the Guardian before lunch because the pizza oven had not yet got up to the right temperature. The sit-down, eat-in lunch menu is almost deceptively pricey, with, for instance, two of the three listed gourmet sandwiches topping £10. However, I was charged just £4.50 for a delicate, luxuriously creamy slice of quiche and a very creditable, well balanced cappuccino. So don't be put off by the headline prices. And most products are also available to take away, making this a useful place to stock up before exploring Regent's Park.
• Takeaway snacks, sandwiches and salads £2.25-£6, eat-in meals £6-£12.50. 127-129 Parkway, NW1 (+44 (0)20-7388 3344, gordonramsay.com/nonnasdeli)
Remarkable value is restaurateur Peter Illic's USP. At the original Kilburn branch of his Little Bay mini-chain, all main dishes are £5.45 before 7pm and £7.25 thereafter. If you are lucky, you may even find Illic during one of his periodic publicity drives, when he asks guests to simply pay what they think their meal was worth. On that basis, I would have certainly paid him £5.45 for my lamb steak main. £7.25, however, might have been pushing it. An unexpected side dish, that included some OK cabbage and an anaemic, unappetising block of potato dauphinoise, was superfluous, and, being picky, the steak tasted predominantly of its char-grilling, not lamb. However, the crushed potatoes, the old school peppercorn sauce and the julienne of peppers and carrots were all accurately rendered.
In the round, it was a perfectly serviceable, tasty plate of food. One which, at no extra cost, came with a basket of decent bread and good unsalted butter. The plates going out to other tables – a delicately arranged soy-marinated duck salad; chicken breast with tarragon mash and mushroom sauce – looked good too, and the Kilburn branch is an appealingly odd, atmospheric place. It looks less like a north London bistro and more like the sort of ancient, elaborate cafe you might stumble across in some labyrinth Istanbul market. The verdict? Don't expect the earth from Little Bay, but go before 7pm and, for the money, it should deliver.
• Starters £2.25/£3.25, mains £5.45/£7.25. 228 Belsize Road, NW6 (+44 (0)20 7372 4699, littlebay.co.uk) Other branches at 171 Farringdon Road, EC1, and 32 Selsdon Rd, South Croydon
A handsome Grade II-listed pub, the Bull & Last is increasingly well known for its good food. At lunch, that reputation is no bar to the budget traveller. There are various affordable bar snacks available and several dishes on the daily-changing menu – soup, sandwich and chips, ambitious salads, a pasta dish, small plates like stuffed roasted lamb's heart – that come in at well under £10. The only problem may be finding a seat. On the first sunny Saturday of the year, this place was packed. If you're happy to share, try the superb homemade charcuterie board (pictured) for £10, which includes, among others, a couple of sensational deep-fried brawn balls, a thick slice of properly creamy chicken liver parfait and some beautiful duck prosciutto, served with an impressive array of pickled grapes, salted radishes, caperberries, remoulade, chutneys and toast. It isn't a huge portion, between two, but it is explosively tasty. You will find four real ales at the bar (from £3.60 a pint), and some interesting local drinks on the list too, such as Camden Town Brewery's pale ale. The staff, incidentally, are refreshingly knowledgeable and energetic.
• Snacks £3-£6, select dishes £6.50-£10. 168 Highgate Road, NW5 (+44 (0)20 7267 3641, thebullandlast.co.uk)
Atari-Ya's parent company, T&S Enterprises, is a trade supplier of premium seafood, and aficionados rate Atari-Ya's maki rolls and nigiri as some of the best value sushi in London. This small chain includes, among others, two north London sushi bars (in Hendon and Swiss Cottage) and this supermarket where, as well as shopping for ika no shiokara (fermented squid) and Hello Kitty confectionery, customers can pick up takeaway sushi or, possibly, squeeze in at one of the six seats at the kitchen counter.
You can have your takeaway sushi made to order of course but, due to arriving during the chef's 3-4pm break, I had to sample some of the pre-prepared plates. It was nonetheless quality stuff. A sea bass and spring onion hand roll (£2.70 for six pieces) was as fresh as sea spray, the florid pickled ginger and a rip-snorting dab of wasabi adding further layers of flavour. The inan – exceptionally sticky sushi rice wrapped in sweetened fried bean curd, its flavour halfway between caramel and soy sauce – was surprisingly moreish; while an elaborately marinated little tray of almost luminously green seaweed salad delivered a sensational wallop of umami. Washed down with a can of Yebisu (£2.43), a rich malty beer reminiscent of Breaker or Colt 45, it made for an interesting, filling lunch.
• Takeaway sushi rolls £1.80-£3.90, nigiri £1-£2.40 per piece. Set mixed lunch boxes from £7.50. 15-16 Monkville Parade, Finchley Road, NW11 (+44 (0)20-8458 7626, atariya.co.uk). Other branches in Finchley, Hendon, Swiss Cottage, Ealing Common, West Acton and Kingston
Tony travelled from Manchester to London with Virgin Trains (virgintrains.co.uk)
LondonUnited KingdomRestaurantsFood & drinkRestaurantsFood and drinkBudget travelTop 10sTony Naylorguardian.co.ukTop 10 in Margate
The new Turner Contemporary has put Margate back on the visitors' map, but the Kent seaside town boasts enough other galleries and art events to offer a culture-packed day out
Margate's rich artistic heritage is celebrated in spectacular style this weekend with the opening of David Chipperfield's Turner Contemporary, perched on the site where JMW Turner once lodged, captivated by the skies he described as "the loveliest in all Europe".
But there's more to this corner of Kent than Turner and Tracey Emin. Turner's contemporary George Morland spent time in Margate after falling for a lady of dubious reputation; and Vincent van Gogh lodged along the coast in Ramsgate (in Spencer Square) after taking a teaching job in the town. Gothic revivalist Augustus Pugin designed much of the interior of the House of Lords while overlooking Goodwin Sands from his clifftop home.
Art and design eventually gave way to sea-bathing, donkey-rides and kiss-me-quick hats, before cheap flights to the continent helped usher in an era of social deprivation and boarded-up shops. But now it's back with a bang. New galleries are springing up and this spring and summer sees Margate play host to one of the busiest arts calendars outside London.
If you're heading to the Turner Contemporary, here are some of the other galleries, shops and events well worth visiting while you're in town.
I Scream and RockThis brash new gallery housed in a former Chinese medicine shop spreads some of the regeneration fervour gripping the old town to Margate's much-neglected high street, showcasing the best of the local art scene alongside owner Mark Downing's paintings and upcycled furniture. I Scream and Rock celebrates the Turner Contemporary opening with an exhibition of Gulf war veteran Glenn Fitzpatrick's harrowing yet darkly comic murals and sculptures (pictured), previously seen in his acclaimed graphic novel Arts and Minds. Fitzpatrick honed his skills painting Viz characters on the side of tanks during Operation Desert Storm.
• 16-18 High Street (07935 102790, iscreamandrock.wordpress.com). Glenn Fitzpatrick's Symbols of Society runs from 15 April to 2 May
For a couple of centuries the only industry taking place in this Tardis-like building involved pigs, pastry and buckets of pork jelly. These days you'll find local girl Zoe Murphy crafting her love letters to Margate by customising vintage G-Plan furniture with seaside imagery in the workshop upstairs, as well as studio and exhibition space, and a pop-up shop offering a changing calendar of retailers. A cafe is opening later in the year, and yes, they will be putting pies on the menu. There are open studios on 16, 17, 23 and 24 April, with a chance to see Zoe, Katie Welsford, Anna Baranowska and Ian Youngs at work.
• 5-7 Broad Street (07879 630257, piefactorymargate.co.uk)
Dazzlingly pretty shops are popping up in Margate's old town at an increasing rate of knots, but the pick of the bunch is Blackbird, the creation of talented textile designer Maxine Sutton. Upstairs from the shop, full of quirky impulse buys such as Gemma Correll's Pugs not Drugs tote bags and Emily Warren's papier-mâché busts, there's studio and workshop space, with screen-printing equipment and sewing machines for regular workshops of up to six people. Emerging textile maker and artist Emma Challacombe leads the first workshop in creative textiles on Saturday 21 May, with the three-hour session costing £40, including materials. Emma's work is also showcased in the shop until the end of May in Sad Stefano and Friends (pictured), an exhibition that promises to capture the bittersweet complexities and confusion of childhood.
• 2 Market Place (01843 229533, blackbird-england.com)
From their home in the stark surroundings of a former electricity substation between the old town and the high street, Limbo celebrates the Turner opening with Art Lands On Alien Landscapes, a series of live art events examining how arts-led regeneration clashes with the town's history. Over the course of the month you'll be invited to become a crew member on the Starship Enterprise via Jessica Voorsanger's multimedia installation, and get to meet Frog Morris, a mad professor aiming to bring about nothing less than Margate's complete destruction with the help of some ancient sea monsters.
• Weekends of 30 April-1 May, 7-8 May and 14-15 May. 6 Bilton Square, High Street (07812 780984, limboarts.co.uk)
Its close proximity to the Turner Contemporary places Margate's Harbour Arm – a 19th century stone pier – firmly at the centre of the opening festivities. The exhibition space – sandwiched between the BeBeached cafe and the Lighthouse Bar – hosts Being Digital, curated by Pat Wilson Smith who also has a studio on the Harbour Arm. The Kent Cultural Baton – a silver Airstream caravan that doubles up as a mobile art space – also rolls into town on its tour around Kent ahead of the 2012 Olympics, capturing the sights and sounds of each location it visits in a bid to create a "cultural map" of the county. Look out for the annual postcard auction later in the year, which sees a scattering of artists and celebrities put postcard-sized artwork up for sale in the name of a good cause. The artist remains a mystery until the bidding's over; high profile names including Emin have submitted work in the past. The postcard auction takes place on 11 September.
• 01843 260260, margateharbourarm.co.uk
Measure-ism reflects artist Jenny Wiener's obsession with numbers and measurement (work pictured), more specifically her concern that ultimately we're all reduced to nothing more than a series of pin numbers, statistics and serial numbers. Wiener's used her intricate, almost architectural drawings to deconstruct anything from fairytales to Cézanne landscapes in the past, but her latest project is firmly fixed on Margate, and complemented by an interactive website where the public can add to a growing archive of information about the town by submitting their own measurements, whether it be the number of colours in Margate, or a radical new way of measuring the height of the Victorian clocktower. Ever wondered how to measure just how contemporary the Turner Contemporary really is? A session with the artist on 30 April promises to reveal all.
• The Pie Factory, 5–7 Broad Street (07879 630257, measuringmargate.co.uk)
Marine Studios' regular workshops, talks and exhibitions make the first Friday of the month a big day in Margate's cultural calendar. Past events include Adventures in Comics, featuring a talk by graphic novels expert Paul Gravett, but April belongs to Pie Days and Holidays, a collection of local food stories illustrated by artist Sophie Herxheimer. Touching on themes such as love, greed, poverty, joy, embarrassment and rivalry, Sophie's work is also on show on hoardings that adjoin Arlington House, the spectacularly brutal 1960s tower block outside the train station. There's also a birthday feast for Turner himself later in the month, with the organisers promising a dazzling visual feast with jellies and cakes for visitors to draw, paint and even eat. It's an apt location, since this beautiful space has sweeping views across the sea and skies that inspired the artist.
• Marine Studios, 17 Albert Terrace (01843 282219, marinestudios.co.uk, pie-days.co.uk/index.htm)
Founded in 2001, The Community Pharmacy Gallery is the old town's most established art space, celebrating a decade of working not just with emerging and established artists, but with all sectors of the community. True to form, Beeping Bush – the organisation behind the gallery – is marking the Turner opening by exhibiting paintings by adults with learning difficulties. Beeping Bush also runs filmmaking services such as equipment hire, technical training and post-production from the first floor of this smart Georgian townhouse, and organises short film competitions such as the brilliant annual horror-fest, 2 Days Later.
• 16 Market Place (01843 223800, beepingbush.co.uk)
"Come and show us what you've got …" is the challenge put out there by the people behind Artist's Alley, part of the promising new vintage, antiques and food market taking place every Sunday in Margate's old town from 17 April. The narrow space between the Mayor's Parlour and the museum becomes a ramshackle gallery, open to artists of any discipline looking for a space to show their work. Whether you're a sculptor, painter, photographer, or simply want to show off some impromptu acts of creative genius, the Alley wants to hear from you.
• Every Sunday. Margate Bazaar (07976 051915, margateoldtown.co.uk/markets.aspx)
This annual celebration of print-making was an instant hit when it launched in 2009. As well an inspiring programme of exhibitions, workshops and talks, look out for the popular Giant Print event, which sees a steamroller employed as a mobile printing press on the streets of the old town. Pushing Print draws on Margate's long association with print for inspiration: with his Liber Studorium, Turner took the unusual step of etching his work directly onto some 70 printing plates, with the aim of producing a widely-distributed manifesto of landscape art.
• October, various venues in the old town (pushingprint.co.uk)
Stewart Turner is the editor of Discover Thanet (discoverthanet.co.uk, £7), a new, independently published guidebook to Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate
MargateKentUnited KingdomCultural tripsExhibitionsArtTop 10sJMW Turnerguardian.co.ukTop 10 budget hotels in Copenhagen
Given its reputation as the latest gastronomic hotspot and an unfavourable exchange rate, Copenhagen is anything but cheap. So we've found the best budget options, all with great locations
Hotel FoxThis boutique art hotel launched in 2005 as part of Volkswagen's campaign for the car of the same name. Twenty-one designers and artists, including London-based collective Container Plus and Danish graphics agency e-types, got together to create 61 rooms in varying degrees of kitsch, camp and cool. Next year Fox is undergoing a makeover but it still offers a quirky and affordable option in the heart of the city. The rooms come in four sizes and (obviously) are all individually designed, so check out their website for detailed descriptions of each room.
• Small doubles from £85. +45 3313 3000, hotelfox.dk
Værndedamsvej, a street between the trendy Vesterbro area and the independent municipality of Frederiksberg, has been described as a small slice of Paris in Copenhagen, due to its array of restaurants, bars and food shops. Sct Thomas is only a baguette's throw away from this culinary hotspot, and the hotel is perfectly located for exploring the parks around Frederiksberg and the hipster bars of Vesterbro. The rooms and showers are rather small but tastefully decorated. The location in a residential area should guarantee a quiet night's sleep.
• Doubles from around £78 B&B. +45 3321 6464, hotelsctthomas.dk
If you don't mind the slightly industrial surroundings, this newly opened budget hotel south of the main train station offers great value in a central location. Wake Up punches above its weight when it comes to the interior design, with its slick, modern Scandinavian style, and the compact rooms (12-15 sq metres) all come with free Wi-Fi and flatscreen TV. If you pay an extra £25-35 per night you can get a room on one of the top floors, which have views over the city centre.
• Standard doubles from £60, singles from £40. +45 4480 0000, wakeupcopenhagen.com
Located next to Wake Up – its budget sibling owned by the same company – the Tivoli opened last year as a place to stay for visitors to Tivoli Gardens theme park. Although it doesn't quite convey the same historical charm as the 168-year old amusement park, you will find classic Tivoli elements incorporated into the interior design and there is plenty of options to keep the family entertained, including a swimming pool as well as indoor and outdoor playgrounds. Look out for special family deals if you are staying for two or more nights.
• Double rooms, including entrance to Tivoli Gardens, from £110. +45 4487 0000, tivolihotel.com
Although its relation to the court of King Christian IV is only by name, this hotel is located on the doorstep of royal Copenhagen, between the leafy Rosenborg Castle gardens (also known as the King's garden) and Amalienborg, where the Queen resides during the winter season. It is a good position from which to explore the historic parts of the city while avoiding the hustle and bustle of the main pedestrian drags. Rooms are basic but with a homely touch, and there are bikes for rent at £14 per day.
• Doubles from £110. +45 3332 1044, hotelchristianiv.dk
This is probably the only hostel in the world to share a furniture designer, Danish company GUBI, with the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The 15-storey "design" hostel is located in an old trade union headquarters and overlooks Copenhagen's central canal. From here it is a short walk to the main railway station and the town hall square, or you can pop over Langebro bridge and jump in the open air harbour pool by the Islands Brygge waterfront. The hostel has shared rooms with four, six, eight or 10 beds, all en suite with shower, and you can also reserve them for private use. There are extra charges for linen and a special guest fee if you don't hold an international hostel card, so make sure you add the extras to the price.
• Beds from £15. Family room for four people including bath, from £70. +45 3311 8585, dgi-byen.dk/hostel
The old red light district west of the railway station is virtually unrecognisable to anyone who visited the area 20 years ago. Although you can still catch a glimpse of Copenhagen's seedier side, the gentrification of the area has brought along the usual mix of eclectic fashion stores, cafes and gourmet restaurants, some of the best of which are in Kødbyen, the meatpacking district. Although you can find cheaper options, the Axel Guldsmeden spa hotel is the pick of the bunch with its Balinese-style rooms, kitted out with Persian rugs, stone sinks and four-poster beds (some also include balconies and bathtubs).
• Doubles from £110. +45 3331 3266, hotelguldsmeden.dk
Ibsens is on the corner of the charming shopping street Nansensgade, nestled between the downtown area and the lakes surrounding the city centre. The hotel will wrap up renovation of its rooms and lobby area later this month and has found inspiration among the local shops and designers. These include Piet Breinholm (the man who turned the vintage Danish leather schoolbag into a style object), who has crafted leather tags for the room keys. The hotel is a short walk from Nørreport station which has train connections to Sweden and the northbound coastline heading up to the Louisiana art museum.
• Doubles from £100. +45 3313 1913, ibsenshotel.dk
Instead of just ogling at the boats docked along the city's waterways, you can go one better and book your own floating holiday home. Cph Living is a hotel boat in the heart of Copenhagen's canals, between Islands Brygge and Christianshavn. The 12 cabin rooms on the old transport pram have floor-to-ceiling windows and French balconies, while you can lounge on the deck and take in the view of the "Black Diamond" royal library building across the water.
• Doubles from £110 B&B. +45 6160 8546, cphliving.com
And if you want to fork out a little bit extra …
Bella SkyWith two massive towers leaning away from each other at 15 degrees, Bella Sky is as much an architectural landmark as it is a hotel. Opening in May 2011, the 814-room building designed by architects 3XN will be the largest hotel in Scandinavia. It's located in the developing new-townish area of Ørestad between the city centre and the airport, and although the area is probably better known for its innovative architecture than cosy atmosphere, the metro next door will take you to central Copenhagen in 10 minutes. Otherwise, the sky bar on the 23rd floor should provide you with unrivalled views of the cityscape and the surrounding meadows.
• Singles from £130, doubles from £150. +45 7027 4274, bellaskycomwell.dk
• Norwegian Air Shuttle flies to Copenhagen from Edinburgh and Gatwick; easyJet flies from Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted
CopenhagenHotelsDenmarkHostelsBudget travelCity breaksTop 10sLars Eriksenguardian.co.ukEast London’s top 10 budget eats
Guardian Travel is currently compiling a thorough overview of London's best budget eateries. In his second instalment, Tony Naylor heads out east, into Shoreditch, Hackney and beyond
If we've missed your favourite tell us on our Word of Mouth blog
Part one: Central London's top 10 budget eats
On the face of it, let alone in a "budget eats" feature, £5.70 seems an awful lot to pay for a bacon butty. It is one of the themes of this series, however, that – particularly when you're eating on a tight budget – value is more important than cost. And the St John bacon butty is indisputably worth every one of those 570 pennies. It comprises two large chargrilled slices of proper artisan bread from the on-site bakery, thickly buttered and liberally stuffed with Gloucester Old Spot bacon. The rashers have a good three-quarter-inch rim of gloriously silky translucent fat around their outer edge. In its generosity, its use of supreme ingredients, in its hilarious disregard for anything you might describe as healthy eating, it is Fergus Henderson (owner of this and the more famous parent restaurant, St John) on a plate. There are also kippers, pikelets or, if you really insist, porridge and prunes available for breakfast, but that bacon butty will set you up for the day like nothing else. From 11am, Bread & Wine – a pleasingly spartan former bank – serves elevenses, cakes and whatnot. Then, from lunch onwards the menu consists of small 'n' large plates (£4-£15), which people mix 'n' match, splashing the cash. That said, if you can squeeze in for a simple bowl of celeriac and bacon soup, do (£5.90).
• Breakfast £2.60-£5.70, elevenses cakes £2.90. 94-96 Commercial Street, E1 (+44 (0)20-3301 8069, stjohnbreadandwine.com)
The tile work at this Brick Lane bakery has seen better days, but then you might look a bit tired yourself had you been serving fresh breads, pastries and filled bagels to hungry Londoners, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since the late 1970s. Beigel Bake is a legendary stop-off for late-night revellers, but you will find queues of varying lengths here whatever time of day you drop by. In a place where filled bagels start at 90p, spending £3.50 on one may seem rash. But the warm salt beef bagel is worth it. Tasty, moist, gelatinous thick-cut braised brisket on a fantastic dense, chewy bagel, served with peppy mustard, it is simple but satisfying stuff.
Filled bagels from 90p. 159 Brick Lane, E1 (+44 (0)20-7729 0616)
There is not a lot of individuality or joy in Canary Wharf. People are too busy making money. Escape its soaring glass and steel boulevards, however, and, a short walk away, you will find Tom and Ed Martin's polished gastropub, the Gun. An oasis of laughter, clubbable informality and good food, it is also a fine place in which to consider the mad folly of the Millennium Dome, visible across the Thames from the pub's waterside terrace. There is a proper restaurant section at the Gun, but the budget traveller should grab a table in the back – by the toasty open fire – and give the bar menu the once-over. There, you will find the likes of homemade fish finger sandwiches, a cheeseboard, devilled whitebait or a half a pint of prawns at under £10 a head. A sausage roll (£4.50) is a substantial slab, more lunch than a snack. A hunk of soundly sage-seasoned, smoothly ground, juicy sausage-meat in a perfectly bronzed, buttery thin pastry, it is seriously good stuff. It's like the best Christmas Day stuffing ... ever. A sample pint of Fuller's London Pride (£3.50) is as lively as it can be, which is not very. It is a definitive boring brown bitter.
• Bar menu available for lunch and dinner, from £4.50. 27 Coldharbour, E14 (+44 (0)20-7515 5222, thegundocklands.com)
This cafe at Hackney City Farm is a refreshingly rough 'n' ready, slightly ramshackle place. But for the steady stream of young mums and toddlers coming through the door, you might mistake it for some arty, hipster hang-out. Which, this being Hackney, it kind of is as well. There is a small deli section and ice-cream counter, but it is worth settling in and sampling Italian chef Eddy Ambrosi's blackboard specials, such as pappardelle pasta with a slow-cooked pork ragu, pressed organic brawn terrine or a wild British mushroom risotto. Much of the produce comes from farms in Kent and Essex, and, depending on seasonal availability, Frizzante's own veg patch. A portion of lightly cured salmon and scrambled eggs, topped with a particularly zingy creme fraiche and chives, is huge (£6.50). Bright swirls of orangey yolk suggest good eggs, although personally I think they could have been creamier. There is a fine line between scrambled eggs and omelette.
• Food served until 4pm. Breakfast £4-£7. Daily specials from £5. Hackney City Farm, 1a Goldsmiths Row, E2 (+44 (0)20-7739 2266, frizzanteltd.co.uk). Second branch at Surrey Docks Farm, Rotherhithe, SE16, open Wednesday to Sunday
From breakfast to late-night cocktails, this trendy cafe-bar is, laudably, trying to do lots of important things well. Food-wise the emphasis is on labour-intensive, from-scratch making and baking, running the gamut from bar snacks, like the Pearl's little pots of homemade pork scratchings (90p), to fantastic, fragrant apple, cinnamon and clove muffins (£1.80). A bowl of parsnip soup is warm, wholesome, properly seasoned and vibrantly fresh in flavour, and arrives with good bread. That day's chalkboard menu includes appealing dishes such as lamb and caper hash with fried egg (£8.20). Breakfast includes the kitchen's own granola, sweetcorn fritters with chilli jam, and bubble 'n' squeak. A sample coffee was disappointing – buying Square Mile coffee is one thing, treating it with the respect it deserves is another. Note: the evening menu is more expensive, with most main dishes topping £10.
• Breakfast £3.50-£7.50, soups/sandwiches around £4.50, daytime mains £7-£9. 11 Prince Edward Road, E9 (+44 (0)20-8510 3605, thehackneypearl.com)
An utterly predictable choice, perhaps, but there is a reason why everyone raves about Tayyabs. This Pakistani grill and curry house is very, very good. How can you not love a restaurant where, on a sunny Tuesday lunchtime, the staff have to throw open the doors in order to let out a sudden build-up of aromatic smoke from those famous tandoor ovens? Tayyabs' long-marinated grilled lamb chops (four for £6) remain one of life's great savoury pleasures, the meat essentially a delivery vehicle for a complex hit of sweet 'n' smoky, hot 'n' spicy flavour, edged with a crisp, blackened strip of fat. Don't be surprised to find yourself gnawing the bone long after the meat has gone. There is no standing on ceremony at Tayyabs and eating in here can be a pretty quick turnaround experience. On busy weekend evenings particularly, you are not encouraged to linger at your table. But at these prices (curry and rice around £7-£8) this is exceptional food: conscientiously cooked, sparkily spiced and lifted by liberal use of fresh herbs. Seeing it in daylight for once, Tayyabs is quite a smart space these days, too.
• Starters from 95p, mains from £5.20. No alcohol sold, BYO no corkage. 83-89 Fieldgate Street, E1 (+44 (0)20-7247 6400, tayyabs.co.uk)
Such is the cluster of Vietnamese restaurants around the Kingsland Road/Old Street junction, they probably deserve a feature in their own right. Cay Tre is a good place to start your exploration. With its fashionable black 'n' white wallpaper and multicoloured lighting, the space itself is very modern Shoreditch, but in terms of its accumulated knowledge and skill, the cooking harks back generations. You could spend a long time trying to discern exactly what has gone into the clear, light broth that makes Cay Tre's pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) stand out. Packed with fresh coriander, spring onions and, in my case, beef, it is neither as salty nor as hot as you might imagine, but instead reveals new ingredients (star anise, garlic, roasted onions, cinnamon, some sort of base meaty, umami flavour) with each mouthful. It is a delicate clean soup with a nonetheless serious depth of flavour. The accompanying noodles are great, too. As a takeaway, this "small" pot of goodness is enough for a solid lunch or light dinner and costs just £3.50, which makes it all the more remarkable. Eating in at Cay Tre, the pho dishes are affordable throughout (around £7), but, at night, a main meat or fish dish plus rice might nudge £10. If you need to stick rigidly to a budget, then at lunch and before 6pm, the menu offers various "one-dish meals", such as lemongrass-marinated barbecue pork with bun (cold vermicelli noodles) or mixed seafood with jasmine rice, at £6.50-£8.
• Takeaway dishes £3-£8, starter/main deal £9.50. 301 Old Street, EC1 (+44 (0)20-7729 8662, vietnamesekitchen.co.uk)
Victoria Park is currently in the midst of major renovation work, which means this lakeside cafe is currently lacking its lake (it's been drained) and its usually picturesque views (unless you love mud and industrial diggers). But still, on a dull Wednesday morning it is packed, such is the quality of the food. Superior, seasonal ingredients are confidently handled in everything from sandwiches to a beef shin stew with turnips, sprouts and rye bread. The Pavilion will prick the interest of vegetarians, too, with unusually thoughtful dishes like sprouting broccoli, crushed artichokes and soft boiled egg on toast, with a hazelnut dressing. A plate of eggs Benedict easily passes muster, although it has been left to linger on the pass. It is lukewarm rather than hot. It is also worth noting that the Pavilion gets very busy with mums, giddy toddlers and buggies. Anti-social singletons who want to eat at its communal tables in peace may want to take a paper (the Guardian, of course) and an iPod.
• Breakfast £2.50-£8.50, sandwiches £4, hot dishes £5-£8. Takeaway available. Victoria Park, corner of Old Ford Road and Grove Road, E9 (+44 (0)20-8980 0030, the-pavilion-cafe.com)
If confirmation were needed that Shoreditch has lost its edge, the arrival of Terence Conran's boutique hotel and restaurant, the Boundary, is surely it. Its gentrification is now almost complete. Still, on the upside, the site's newer ground-floor deli-cafe, Albion, is a great place to eat. And we can always do with more of those. Look beyond the shelves of HP Sauce and Yorkshire Tea (we get it, the Albion is a celebration of Englishness) and you will find some good, and good value, food here. You can eat in the "caff" – a big Conranesque canteen space – for under £10 a head if you're careful, but with so many good things to take away from the deli section, why bother? There are made-to-order sandwiches, savoury pies and tarts, biscuits and cakes, and chilled drinks of a Meantime Brewery/Fentiman's quality. A sample pork and chutney pie in thick, glossy pastry is superb. A slice of Bakewell tart is, whilst an expert bit of baking, possibly a bit too refined for its own good. The jam is spread a little too thinly along the base and, consequently, the almond filling lacks the requisite sweet fruity tang. But still, overall, well worth a visit.
• Cakes and biscuits from 55p, snacks/sandwiches £2.50-£5. 2-4 Boundary Street, E2 (+44 (0)20-7729 1051, albioncaff.co.uk)
There are no end of places on Stoke Newington Road cooking kebabs on traditional Turkish ocak grills. Opinions vary, of course, as to which ocakbasi restaurant is the best, but Mangal – a 1993 entrant in the Good Food Guide and still listed in the 2011 edition – has a proven track record of producing superlative meats over many years. The restaurant proper is a little expensive for this piece (main dishes from £9), but, out front, takeaway customers can choose from 13 types of kebab (marinated lamb, chicken wings, lamb chops, quail, etc), which the grill chef then moves up and down a great trough of hot charcoal with patient authority. It is worth getting a takeaway just to watch him at work. Boldly seasoned with chilli, garlic and parsley, the minced lamb beyti kebabs are sensational, an explosive combination of heat, carbon and hot lamb juices. Moreover, you get two eight-inch kebabs, a small, discus-like loaf and a great mixed salad (it includes everything from gherkins to pickled radish) for £6. It could easily be split between two for lunch.
• Takeaway kebabs from £5.10. Arcola Street, off Stoke Newington Road, E8 (+44 (0)20-7275 8981, mangal1.com)
Tony travelled from Manchester to London with Virgin Trains
LondonRestaurantsBudget travelTop 10sFood and drinkFood & drinkRestaurantsUnited KingdomTony Naylorguardian.co.uk