It is a square with a column with a statue. After you have fed the pigeons venture on to the far more interesting museums and galleries around or find your way to Covent Garden.

EPCOT is an icon and a great place to visit, but over the years I get the impression that Disney has lost or dropped the science in favour of fiction. Branding is important, but I think that ten years ago this was done with more care at EPCOT whereas today the Disney characters have taken over. Still a great place to visit, but if I had limited time in Orlando I would do Magic Kingdom, Disney Studios, Animal Kingdom before EPCOT.

Probably more interesting for Nordic visitors, but also for anyone with an interest in the bloody, intertwined ad sometimes bizzare royal history of Europe.

Well worth a visit, combine it with the changing of the guards at the Royal Palace and a walk in The Old Town.

Words can not describe this place! Go there, watch the 360 degree film and then step into the realm of the silent Terracotta Warriors; they will leave you speechless and in awe. When I visited the last time, better methods and deeper digging had started unearthing warriors with traces of paint still left.

Prepare to spend a half day here, do not rush your visit.

When you grow tired of Mc Donalds, fast food Tex Mex and traditional Swedish meatballs or herring.This is the place to visit, this is the new Swedish cuisine! 

Nice hotel in the centre of Metzingen, not far from the outlet shopping and with ample of parking around. Good value for money and a very good restaurant.

Nice hotel with n "almost resort feeling" in an Island that actually has few resorts to boast about.

The Swedish Museum of Natural History is a nice place for a rainy day, some of the exhibits are very "old school" with stuffed animals in glass boxes, and others are very modern. The museum also houses Cosmonova, a huge digital IMAX dome movie theatre where you can experience some great documentaries. Check their website and book in advance!

Cosmonova has a 23 meters projection dome, 262 seats with backs tilted at different angles depending on which row in the theatre they located. A six channel sound system of 15,200 Watts delivers amazing surround sound to the IMAX films, 3D films or digital planetarium shows. Simply amazing!!

A little bit out of the way, but well worth a trip, the Drottningholm Palace is the present Royal Family's permanent residence, but most of the palace and grounds are open to the public year round.

The palace is on UNESCO´s World Heritage list and sports, among other things, magnificent gardens.

http://www.royalcourt.se/

Travel here using underground to station Brommaplan and change to bus 177, 178 or 301-323.

An even nicer option in summer time is to use one of the regular boat services that depart from the City Hall Quay. Call Strömma Kanalbolaget at +46-8-587 140 00 for departure times and prices or check their website http://www.stromma.se/kanalbolaget.

This indoor food market is located in a beautiful building on Östermalmstorg, not far away from the city centre. The market sports a number of small restaurants and food stalls, all fairly pricy, but with excellent food. Walk around and just watch or sit down and eat.

A great bar (and expensive restaurant) with a stunnig view of Stockholm.

The Western Wall is an amazing sight, much as the areas surrounding it. Beware however that access is usually restricted due to safety concerns and that Fridays are particularly sensitive.

The Landing is a small and exceptionally beautiful boutique hotel near the harbour in Dunmore Town, the only real town on Harbour Island. The hotel only has seven guest rooms, all designed with plantation style inspiration. I stayed at The Landing in 2003 and since then the hotel has changed owners, bur from what I hear the hotel is still a gem.

A good place to strat your trip to The Netherlands; check out the miniature houses and sights and use the guide book from Madurodam to pick the sights you want to see for real. Beware of the restaurant though, if you are not used to Dutch amusementpark food culture you might be in for a shock.

There is no way you can see all of this museum in one visit, focus on the main exhibitions, include the extra exhibitions of royal mummies and of the content of the tomb of Tutankhamun and save the rest of the vast exhibitions for another day. The best way to really enjoy the museum is to make sure you have a great guide and that you have an opportunity to visit Luxor and the Valley of the Kings either before or after your visit to the museum.

One of the "must see" sights in Venice. Walk around the palace and imagine all the splendor and intrigue during the reign of the Doge.

I stayed at Anthony’s Key Resort in 1992 and I am sure a lot of water has passed under the bridge sine then. The resort is beautiful with the main building set in the trees on a slope overlooking the ocean and a small island with additional bungalows.

The diving in the area is good and the resort offers both divers and snorkelers a “dolphin experience” with dolphins from the “marine research centre” next doors. Although diving or snorkeling with dolphins is an amazing experience one needs to remember that these dolphins are not free.

In 1992 the resort did not have a proper waste water management system to process water from showers and sinks in all guest bungalows. This resulted in gallons of nutrient rich (soap and shampoo residue) water washing out in the ocean and causing algae growth close to the coral reefs.

Hopefully these problems have now been addressed because it would be a pity of such a nice resort violated the marine park it is a part of.

A curious fact about this place is that it’s name in Swedish is Sveaborg (Swedish fortress) while the name in Finnish means Finnish fortress. Taking the boat here for a visit and perhaps a lunch is a nice excursion, but possibly not on the Top 5 list of things to do in Helsinki.

An excellent hotel with a nice bar and good service. Conveniently located close to the railway station and even closer to some excellent restaurants and shops.

Although an institution in itself and conveniently locatd near Saks (for the true Shopoholic), FAO Schwartz is not all that great unless you need to buy extremely life size soft toys like elephants and giraffes.

No need to go on expensive tourist boats, take Vaporetto No 1 (the boat bus) and travel the Grand Canal almost for free.

I visited Sipadan in 2001, less than a year after the Filipino terrorist group Abu Sayyaf kidnapped 21 people from the island. Back in 2001 there were several dive shops and mall hotels operating on the island, although the majority of them without permits. Diving then was absolutely brilliant with beautiful corals, a cave with a turtle skeleton, sea turtles en masse, barracudas and other large pelagic fish as well as plenty of small creatures for the macro-photographers.

Today all the hotels have been torn down and divers will have to stay at Mabul or Kapalai, neighbouring islands, both of them with good diving. For the quality of the diving on Sipadan I think this is good, the fresh water run-off from the hotels on the island was clearly visible in the cave and would eventually have started to damage the reef ecology.

The island of Burano and the glass factories are interesting, but beware of some very pushy sales persons when looking at the factory shops. As elswhere in Venice food is expensive.

Due to its geopolitical importance and closeness to the iron ore fields in Sweden, the port of Narvik in northern Norway was strategically important to Germany during the early years of World War II. In April 1940 Germany invaded Norway and during the battle several German and Allied ships were sunk. These ships now form what is probably one of the best wreck dive sites in the world.

Although Narvik is more than 200 km inside the Arctic Circle an extension of the Gulf Stream gives the city a milder climate and makes diving possible year around.

Expect to wait in line for ages if you are not very early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

You want to see Alligators? This is the place, drive to Anhinga Trail and take a walk on the elevated walk ways over parts of the Everglades. The “Gators” are everywhere.

Sun City is the Las Vegas of South Africa and is a massive resort area with a number of hotels and attractions. The Cabanas Hotel is one of the least expensive and excellent for families with children.

The hotel has two pools, one large and one splash pool for children, it is close to the water sports centre with activities ranging from Jetskis and Paragliding to bumper boats for the ones between 6 and 18. There are a couple of playgrounds, a small petting zoo, an even smaller safari train and a huge kids club.

Dinner and breakfast are buffet style and the food served is not top class, neither the lunch in the pool bar is that great. There are however a number of different restaurants in the area and using the network of busses it is easy to get to the other hotels or to the entertainment centre where all sorts of fast (and not so fast) food is available.

Conveniently located close to the old town, but far from the beaches. Very nice hotel with great views!

My last stay at Kuredo was in 2002 and a lot has happened since then. In fact, Kuredo has grown with new Water Villas and a Golf course. Already in 2002 Kuredo was a little piece of paradise.

However, a problem is that the Maldives does in fact not have an awful lot to offer those who are not avid divers or are happy to spend a week on a beach when the same sun and similar sand/sea would cost significantly less elsewhere.

The resorts have come up with various ways of attracting couples with one diving and one non-diving partner; first they introduced spas and now Kuredo also has a golf course. A spa has not to big an environmental footprint, but a gold course is a different thing. The grass needs to be watered and the left over water will slowly seep through the dead coral and eventually reach the reef where it might upset the delicate balance between coral and algae.

Close to the Elephant Sanctuary this is a relatively new park and not too well known yet. The sanctuary is set on the green hillsides with elevated walkways and bridges built inside a large enclosure. The sanctuary received monkeys that people have had as pets but realized they cannot take care for any more and introduces these monkeys into the sanctuary. Most of these monkeys are not use to finding food, some are imports from Asia, South America or from other parts of Africa and the purpose of the Sanctuary is not to release these monkeys, but to provide them with a better habitat.

Bush Babies is well worth the trip and in my mind an even better place to visit than the Elephant Sanctuary next doors (run by the same company).

Although not exactly cheap and a bit of a drive from Pretoria or Johannesburg, a visit to the Elephant Sanctuary is well worth both the time and the money. During the approximately 2-3 hour guided tour you get as close and personal as you could ever want with African elephants. And after a visit to the elephants, drive a few hundred meters more and visit the Bush Baby Monkey Sanctuary.

Excellent value for money, contrally located, nice bar and restaurant.

The Restaurant The Inn Under the Red Hog is hard to describe in other words than Communist Kitch. The food, generally excellent and well prepared, is presented as the favourite dishes of various communist leaders. The staff wear some kind of (very kitch) uniform, but the prices are reasonable and if you can live with the 60’s to 80’s Eastern pop music this is a nice place for a fun dinner.

To walk or bike into a hutong is like travelling back in time a bit. These traditional quarters in Chinese cities are however unfortunately under threat from development. In Beijing many of the hutongs have been torn down to make way for hotels and shopping malls, even more were torn down to make way for the 2008 Olympics. If in Beijing or in Shanghais, make time to visit a hutong.

I much prefer the Khan el-Khalili, old market.

Amman is the capital of Jordan, it is one of the regions most liberal and westernized cities and most people arriving to Jordan by air will start their trip there, but in all honesty Amman offers few sights for the tourist.

On the Citadell Hill in the city centre there are Roman and Byzantine ruins as well as remains from buildings dating ever further back in history. The temple of Hercules dating back to the Roman era in Jordan is the main sight here.

Close to the Citadell there is a Roman amphitheatre. It is the largest in Jordan, but the ones in Petra and Jerash have a much more exiting aura.

Amman also has a number of mosques, some of them huge, but all of them fairly recently built. The biggest is the King Abdullah I Mosque finalized as late as 1989.

In general, I would recommend travellers to spend only half a day or so in Amman, rent a car and then see the sight in the rest of Jordan.

Firstly, Ras Mohamed offers some great diving, or at least it used to be great. Compared to many of the sites close to Sharm el Sheikh as Mohamed is still of very good quality, but many years of excessive diving has taken its toll. Diver damage to the corals and the more and more infrequent sightings of big fish such as the famous Napoleon Wrasses and sharks must be attributed to the route of low-cost mass tourism Egypt has embarked on.

Still, thanks to the deep waters around Ras Mohamed there is still plenty of nutrient rich water feeding the corals and since the site is in a marine park it has not been hit too badly by sand and fresh-water run-off from the many property developments that seem to lay most of the coral reefs around Naama Bay to waste.

Remember that the currents around Ras Mohamed can be strong and any dive boat operating there should deploy a current line trailing after the boat for divers to grab when they surface. The currents have claimed some victims in the past; the toilet seats firmly stuck on the reef are remnants from one of the ships that have stranded and broken in pieces there.

Close to the Citadell there is a Roman amphitheatre. It is the largest in Jordan, but the ones in Petra and Jerash have a much more exiting aura.

As a Swede I am fairly used to snow and I have done a fair bit of skiing in my life, but the indoor ski slope in Dubai is something worth visiting even if you do not ski. Although Ski Dubai is ultra commercial it is a weird feeling playing around in snow, taking the ski lift to the little cottage halfway up the slope for a hot chocolate or coffee, knowing that the temperature in the dessert outside is soaring.

Universal is great fun and many of the spectacular shows are better than those at Disney Studios. Sometimes Universal gets a bit more crowded and they are not quite as proficient at managing huge crowds and long lines as Disney.

This is a great place for kids of all ages! Similar to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, but with more rides ad greater possibility of interaction with the animals. Spend at least a full day and plan ahead; for those older than 5 there are a number of possibilities of getting close and personal with the animals such as hand feeding giraffes.

The hotel is in the centre of the modernistic Pudong district and starts on the 53rd floor of the building.

Stepping out of the elevators in the lobby, take a few steps forward, look up and experience vertigo! The inside of the building has been hollowed out from the 54th floor to the 86th floor.

Take another elevator to the Cloud 9 Bar on the top floor and enjoy a beautiful view of Shanghai.

The first question that springs to mind if it I not very cold to stay in a hotel made out of ice and the short answer is; no. Whatever the outside temperature the inside is never colder than -5 C, although that would be very cold if it was not for the boots, mitts, hat and snowmobile suit you are kitted out with when you check in.

There are so many exciting things you can do in the area, snowmobile expeditions, dog sled tours or helicopter rides not top mention just plain cross-country skiing.

The hotel is in itself magic with sculptures in ice, a church made out of ice and a bar where all the drinks are served in glasses that are made out of ice.

It is truly a once in a lifetime experience and a must-do!

Villa Villekulla is the house of Pippi Longstocking, the fictional red head girl from the stories by famous Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren. The books were turned into a TV-series and films in 1969 – 1970. These films were shot on Gotland and the original Villa Villekulla house is today an attraction at the Kneippbyn Sommarland, an amusement park and camping.

It is a classic and although having a coffee at any of the places on the Piazza is expensive beyond beleif one has to do it anyway!

Great place to watch old and new China, on The Bund side of the river all the colonial architecture styles and on the other side the futuristic architecture of the Pudong.

Full of nice restaurants (and some tourist traps too), bars and small shops. Buy ice cream and just walk around and enjoy the splendor of the marbel streets and the old houses.

It is so huge that you probably should not try to see everything. Som of the exhibitions are a bit dated and stale while others are top notch.

Universeum is a great place to visit when in Gothenburg, particularly if travelling with children.

The Citadel in Cairo is most often overlooked by tour organizers trying to fit all of Cairo into a 12 hour visit. However, after a trip to Ghiza to see the pyramids and to the Egyptian Museum to see what ever was left after grave robbers and British colonial archaeologists had had a go at the tombs, the Citadel is well worth a trip.   Overlooking Cairo the old Mosques can be visited and admired for their size an beauty. There is also a museum in honour of the Egyptian armed forces. Unless you have a bizarre interest in militarism combined with unadulterated self-glorification, this museum can be skipped. It was built with assistance of consultants from North Korean and this is obvious in the almost megalomaniac portrayal of the Egyptian armies from the Pharaonic eras until now.   

Harbour Island is essentially known for two things; the absence of cars (bar all the golf carts used instead) and the Pink Sands Beach.   When I first heard about the beach I thought that it would at most have some kind of pink hue when the sun set or something, but the beach is actually pink! The send is mostly made up of crushed pink seashells, lending the beach a natural pink colour.