Guides written slowly, for people who travel the same way. Practical enough to plan a whole trip on — and honest about where we’ve been and where we haven’t.
The trips that stay with us are never the ones with the most on the list. They’re the morning spent in a single neighbourhood, the walk taken instead of the train, the temple visited twice.
Encountering the sacred, real cultural difference or genuine beauty can change how a person sees things — but only if there is time for it to land. That’s what the guides are for: get the logistics right, and the rest of the trip belongs to you.
Researched · 40+ guidesJapanTokyo · Kyoto · Osaka · Hiroshima · Kanazawa · HakoneItineraries · Where to stay · Costs · Transport · Food · Cycling
Researched · 20+ guidesSouth KoreaSeoul · Busan · Gyeongju · JejuItineraries · Where to stay · Transport · Food · Cycling
First-hand · 15 guidesHong KongHong Kong Island · Kowloon · New TerritoriesFirst 72 hours · Where to stay · Food · Walks
First-hand · 12 guidesNew ZealandAuckland · Wellington · QueenstownItineraries · North or South · Driving · Costs
First-hand · 10 guidesChinaShanghai · Beijing · Xi’anSurvival guide · Payments · Rail · Food
First-hand · 9 guidesAustraliaSydney · Melbourne · PerthCities · Costs · Crossing by bicycleAlso coveredIndia (researched)CanadaSpainThe USASingaporeMalaysia
We don’t believe the best travel guide is the one with the longest list.
A small number of places actually worth your time, chosen and explained.
Travelled or researched — stated on every page, before you rely on it.
Food, walks, neighbourhoods and slow days count as much as the sights.
Oregon → VirginiaAcross America by bike4,200 miles, and the country you only see at fifteen miles an hour.
Perth → SydneyAcross Australia by bikeThe Nullarbor, the wind, and what emptiness does to your sense of scale.
Seoul → BusanThe length of South KoreaFour days on the river path, through a country most visitors fly over.
Clyde → MiddlemarchThe Otago Central Rail Trail152km on a railway gradient, and the ride for people who do not call themselves cyclists.
Sydney → BrisbaneThe eight-day coast road1,300 km up the New South Wales coast, and the beaches we have come back to for twenty-five years.
Onomichi → ImabariThe Shimanami KaidōSeventy kilometres of bridges and islands across the Seto Inland Sea.
Red rain warnings and cancelled flights in Catalonia; part of Japan’s Uchibo Line reopens as a new typhoon passes offshore; Hawaii after Hurricane Nolo; the Japan Rail Pass price rise; and a new US travel authorisation fee.
For many reasonably fit cycle tourists, 40–60 miles (65–100 km) a day is a useful broad range. If you need a single figure while sketching an itinerary, begin with 50 miles or 80 kilometres a day—then adjust it for the route, the surface, the weather, the load you will carry and the kind of journey you want.
Written on 4 October 2026; updated that evening. We were at a party at Miramar in Barcelona, watching a storm
Most of our content covers places we know well and return to. Where we are drawing on research rather than personal experience, we say so plainly. Travel changes quickly — treat us as a well-informed starting point, not the final word.