Staysion

Travel Journal

Stories from real places

Destination guides, honest hotel picks, and travel writing that actually helps you plan.

Normandy Travel Guide: D-Day Beaches, the Bayeux Tapestry, and Mont Saint-Michel

4 June 2026

france

Normandy Travel Guide: D-Day Beaches, the Bayeux Tapestry, and Mont Saint-Michel

The D-Day beaches stretch 80km across the Normandy coast. On 6 June 1944, Allied forces landed approximately 156,000 men in the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving nearly 7,000 vessels. The landscape bears direct evidence: the crater field at Pointe du Hoc has not…

Henrik Vinter

Lyon Travel Guide: Food, Traboules, and the City Most Visitors Underestimate

4 June 2026

france

Lyon Travel Guide: Food, Traboules, and the City Most Visitors Underestimate

Lyon is France's third city by population, first by any meaningful measure of culinary density. The Michelin Guide lists more stars per square kilometre here than anywhere in France outside Paris. Paul Bocuse — the most decorated French chef of the 20th century — was born 10km…

Henrik Vinter

Avignon Travel Guide: The Papal City and the Vaucluse

28 May 2026

france

Avignon Travel Guide: The Papal City and the Vaucluse

Avignon was the seat of the Catholic papacy from 1309 to 1377, when a succession of French-aligned popes — under pressure from the French crown — transferred the Holy See from Rome to the banks of the Rhône. They built t

Henrik Vinter

Carcassonne Travel Guide: Inside Europe's Largest Medieval Citadel

28 May 2026

france

Carcassonne Travel Guide: Inside Europe's Largest Medieval Citadel

Carcassonne's Cité is the largest medieval fortress complex in Europe: 52 towers, 3 kilometres of double curtain walls, an inner château, and a Romanesque cathedral, all enclosed in a double ring of fortification that wi

Henrik Vinter

Annecy Travel Guide: Lake, Alps, and the Old Town

28 May 2026

france

Annecy Travel Guide: Lake, Alps, and the Old Town

Lake Annecy is consistently recorded as one of the cleanest freshwater lakes in Europe — the result of a 1962 ban on industrial activity and a strict prohibition on motorised watercraft that remains in force today. The o

Henrik Vinter

Colmar Travel Guide: Alsace's Most Photographed Town

28 May 2026

france

Colmar Travel Guide: Alsace's Most Photographed Town

Colmar sits in the southern Alsace plain 70km south of Strasbourg, at the northern end of the Alsatian wine route. The historic centre has roughly 900 buildings under heritage protection, including a canal-threaded quart

Henrik Vinter

Paris Travel Guide: Neighbourhoods, What to Skip, and What to Actually Do

29 April 2026

france

Paris Travel Guide: Neighbourhoods, What to Skip, and What to Actually Do

Paris has 2.1 million residents and 50 million annual visitors. The icons are real, the crowds are real, and the cost has risen sharply. Getting the balance right between the Eiffel Tower and everything else is the main logistical challenge.

Henrik Vinter

Provence Travel Guide: Lavender, Hill Villages, and the Case for Renting a Car

27 April 2026

france

Provence Travel Guide: Lavender, Hill Villages, and the Case for Renting a Car

Provence is a region of villages, vineyards, and seasonal landscapes — lavender fields in July, olive groves year-round, the Verdon Gorge in late summer. Getting between them without a car is possible but significantly slower.

Henrik Vinter

Bordeaux Wine Region Guide: The City, the Châteaux, and Who the Wine Is Actually For

27 April 2026

france

Bordeaux Wine Region Guide: The City, the Châteaux, and Who the Wine Is Actually For

Bordeaux is split between a genuinely good European city and a wine region where access to the famous châteaux ranges from open-door welcoming to appointment-only exclusive. Knowing which is which saves considerable frustration.

Henrik Vinter

Nice and the French Riviera: A Practical Travel Guide

9 April 2026

france

Nice and the French Riviera: A Practical Travel Guide

Nice is the most affordable base on the Côte d'Azur, with Monaco 20 minutes east and Antibes 15 minutes west. Here's how to use it without the resort-town markup.

Henrik Vinter

Paris Without the Tourist Traps: A Practical First Visit Guide

9 February 2026

france

Paris Without the Tourist Traps: A Practical First Visit Guide

Paris simultaneously presents two contradictory experiences: monuments surrounded by queues of 90 minutes, and neighbourhoods fifteen minutes away where locals move through near-empty streets without a second glance. Most first-time visitors spend three days photographing the Eiffel Tower and two hours in the Louvre's Mona Lisa crush, then leave without understanding why the city matters. This guide is designed to correct that balance—to show you how to see the essential works without surrendering your entire visit to queuing, and more importantly, where to actually spend time.

Henrik Vinter