City Guides
Lisbon in Three Hills
Forget the tram queue. The city makes sense if you walk it as three climbs and two descents, and the whole thing fits in a long day.
Detour — The long way round
Road Trips
The Ring Road, Anticlockwise
Stays
A Refuge at 2,300 Metres
Culture
Venice, After They Go Home
City Guides
Porto Between the Bridges
Outdoors
The Faroes Walk Themselves
Slow Travel
Norway by Ferry, Not by Car
Stays
The Riad Worth the Alley
Culture
Athens Is Not Only Marble
City Guides
Seville in the Shade
What Detour covers
Detour files from City Guides, Slow Travel, Outdoors, Road Trips, Stays and Culture— and from the roads between them. The whole archive.
City Guides
Lisbon in Three HillsRead the storySee more in City GuidesSlow Travel
The Night Train Still WinsRead the story- Two Weeks in One Bag
- Norway by Ferry, Not by Car
- Train or Plane: The Honest Maths
- One Stage of the Camino
Outdoors
Hut to Hut in the DolomitesRead the story- The Faroes Walk Themselves
- Four Waterfalls and a Wet Coat
- The Case for the Wrong Month
- Cold Water, Warm Car
Road Trips
The Ring Road, AnticlockwiseRead the storySee more in Road TripsStays
A Refuge at 2,300 MetresRead the story- The Riad Worth the Alley
- A Cabin With No Road to It
- A Ryokan, and What to Do With It
- A Room at the End of the Road
Culture
Venice, After They Go HomeRead the story- Athens Is Not Only Marble
- Istanbul on Both Shores
- The Souks, Without the Panic
- What the Tiles Are Actually For
Outdoors
Four Waterfalls and a Wet Coat
South Iceland has more waterfalls than a day can hold. Four that earn the stop, in the order the road gives them to you, and one that does not.
Slow Travel
One Stage of the Camino
You do not need five weeks. One good stage, walked properly with a bed booked at the end of it, gives you most of what the whole thing is for.
Road Trips
Nine Passes, One Tank
A two-day alpine loop that strings together the good corners and skips the tunnels. Where to start, which passes to take in which direction, and when the road opens.
Stays
A Cabin With No Road to It
Renting a Norwegian hytte in the off-season: no water, no neighbours, no signal, and a forty-minute walk in with everything you plan to eat.
Culture
Istanbul on Both Shores
The ferry is the city's best value and its best viewpoint. Three crossings that turn a sprawling place into something you can hold in your head.
Outdoors
The Case for the Wrong Month
Shoulder season gets recommended for the wrong reason. It is not about saving money. It is that half the places worth going to are better in bad weather.