Staysion

Travel Journal

Stories from real places

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

Showing 13–24 of 260 articles

Hvar Travel Guide: Getting There, Where to Stay, and What to Skip

4 June 2026

croatia

Hvar Travel Guide: Getting There, Where to Stay, and What to Skip

Hvar is the longest island in the Adriatic at 68km, but the parts that most visitors come for occupy a few square kilometres at the western tip. The island has been a tourist destination since the Austrian imperial period in the 19th century; it has the best-developed…

Henrik Vinter

Azores Travel Guide: Which Islands, What to Expect, and How to Plan the Trip

4 June 2026

portugal

Azores Travel Guide: Which Islands, What to Expect, and How to Plan the Trip

The Azores is nine volcanic islands in the mid-Atlantic, 1,500km west of Lisbon — roughly the same distance as Lisbon to Moscow. The archipelago is Portuguese since the 15th century, geologically among the youngest land masses in the Atlantic. Each island has a distinct…

Henrik Vinter

Madeira Travel Guide: Levada Walks, Funchal, and Why the Season Doesn't Matter

4 June 2026

portugal

Madeira Travel Guide: Levada Walks, Funchal, and Why the Season Doesn't Matter

Madeira sits 600km southwest of Lisbon and 700km west of the Moroccan coast in the Atlantic. The island is volcanic, mountainous, and receives between 16°C and 26°C year-round — the south coast around Funchal gets around 2,700 hours of sunshine annually. The "island of eternal…

Henrik Vinter

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

Naples Travel Guide: The City, the Food, and the Excursions

4 June 2026

italy

Naples Travel Guide: The City, the Food, and the Excursions

Naples has a metropolitan population of 3 million, a UNESCO World Heritage centre storico, the world's most complete Roman artifact museum, and pizza that genuinely justifies the claim of being better here than anywhere else. It also requires approximately 12 hours of adjustment…

Henrik Vinter

Cinque Terre Travel Guide: The Five Villages, the Trails, and the Crowds

4 June 2026

italy

Cinque Terre Travel Guide: The Five Villages, the Trails, and the Crowds

Five fishing villages on a 15km stretch of Ligurian coastline, connected by regional trains and a partially accessible coastal path — that is the Cinque Terre. The combination of colourful stacked houses, clear water, and easy train access from Milan or Pisa has made it one of…

Henrik Vinter

Lake Como Travel Guide: Towns, Ferries, and What Most Visitors Get Wrong

4 June 2026

italy

Lake Como Travel Guide: Towns, Ferries, and What Most Visitors Get Wrong

Lake Como sits 50km north of Milan in the Lombardy foothills, split into two branches by a central promontory where Bellagio stands. It is 46km long, up to 410m deep, and has been a destination for European elites since Roman times — Pliny the Younger had a villa here. The…

Henrik Vinter

Mnemba Island: Zanzibar's Best Dive Atoll

29 May 2026

tanzania

Mnemba Island: Zanzibar's Best Dive Atoll

Mnemba Island sits about 3km off the northeast coast of Zanzibar — a flat coral atoll barely a kilometre across, ringed by some of the most intact reef in the western Indian Ocean. The island itself is private. The marine area around it is what draws divers and snorkellers from…

Henrik Vinter

Kampot Travel Guide: Cambodia's Most Relaxed River Town

28 May 2026

cambodia

Kampot Travel Guide: Cambodia's Most Relaxed River Town

Kampot sits on the Kampot river in southern Cambodia, 5km from the Gulf of Thailand coast and 148km from Phnom Penh. The town is not famous for a single monument — it is famous for pepper, for French colonial architectur

Henrik Vinter

Veliko Tarnovo Travel Guide: Bulgaria's Medieval Capital

28 May 2026

bulgaria

Veliko Tarnovo Travel Guide: Bulgaria's Medieval Capital

Veliko Tarnovo was the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire from 1185 to 1393, when it fell to Ottoman forces after a three-month siege by Sultan Bayezid I. The city sits on three steep hills in a gorge of the Yantra r

Henrik Vinter

Rovinj Travel Guide: Istria's Most Photogenic Coastal Town

28 May 2026

croatia

Rovinj Travel Guide: Istria's Most Photogenic Coastal Town

Rovinj's old town occupies a peninsula that was an island until the 18th century, when the channel was filled with rubble. The result is a compact knot of narrow streets radiating uphill from the waterfront to a Baroque

Henrik Vinter