Travel guides and tips
Practical answers to the questions people ask before a trip: whether a city pass pays, when attraction tickets sell out, where the winter sun is and the fastest way to get there. Every guide is built from official sources, dated, and ends with the catch.
ResearchGran Canaria
Every adults-only hotel in Gran Canaria, priced for the same February week
Gran Canaria's adults-only hotels crowd into Maspalomas and Playa del Inglés, and the lists online rank a few of them. We priced every one Expedia sells as adults only, for the same week in February, and found the best-scored of them is not on the beach at all.
Read itThe guides
Research · Mallorca
Every adults-only hotel in Mallorca, priced for the same May week
Mallorca has more adults-only hotels than Tenerife and Gran Canaria put together, and the lists online pick a dozen. We priced all of them that Expedia sells, for the same week in May, then checked how many are still open in February.
Research · Tenerife
Every adults-only hotel in Tenerife, priced for the same February week
Every list of Tenerife's best adults-only hotels picks a handful of favourites. We priced the whole field instead: every hotel Expedia sells as adults only, for the same week in February, the island's high season, then sorted them by area, guest score and price.
Research · New York
What does a New York view cost? We priced the upgrade, room by room
Every New York hotel sells a view, and they all charge for it differently. We took the same room with and without the view at nine of our hotels, priced both on the same night and worked out what the skyline, the river or the park actually costs.
Research · London
How big are London hotel rooms? We priced 86 of them by the square metre
London hotel rooms have a reputation for being small, and some are tiny. We took the official size of every room type at nine of our London hotels, priced them all on the same night and worked out what your money actually buys.
Research · Orlando
Orlando hotels for a family of five: every room that sleeps 5, and the price per person
Most Orlando hotel rooms stop at four. We went through every hotel in our Orlando edit, found the rooms that take five, priced them for two adults and three children on the same night and worked out what each person pays and what the fifth one costs.
Planning
Which Canary Island is warmest in winter? We read the official records
Every island claims winter sun. We took the long-term records of Spain's weather service, AEMET, for every island's weather station and put them side by side, month by month. The answer depends on whether you want heat, sunshine or dry days.
Insider tips · Rome
Colosseum tickets: what sells out first, and what to do when it has
We went through the official ticket calendar slot by slot for every date on sale, for every ticket type. Even in November, the mornings go within days of release, and the underground is gone everywhere. Here is how to get in anyway.
Money · Lisbon
Is the Lisboa Card worth it? We did the maths
We priced every sight a first-timer actually visits at the official ticket offices, then costed five real itineraries with and without the card. Here is when it pays, and when it does not.
Getting there
Eurostar or fly? London to Paris, timed and costed door to door
We timed every way from central London to central Paris using each airport's and Eurostar's own advice, then priced the train against every direct flight on two dates this winter. The train wins on time. Whether it wins on price depends on your bag.
Who is behind these guides
We are a small team of travel geeks, and we do the legwork ourselves. We read the ticket calendars slot by slot, price the passes against what you would pay at the door, time the journeys door to door and dig out the official figures, so you get the real answer rather than the one every other site repeats.
Every guide starts with the short answer, shows where our numbers come from and when we last checked them, and tells you the catch, because every trip has one. If we recommend something you can book, the link may earn us a small commission at no cost to you. It never changes what we recommend.