Departments · Fewer bags, better trips
Travel
Travel is better with less: one bag, one good hotel, one bar with a serious bartender and a plan loose enough to be changed. We cover how to pack, where to sleep and drink, and how to get there in a way that is part of the pleasure.
We assume you have limited holiday and want to spend it well. That means knowing how to pack in twenty minutes, which hotel bar in a city is worth the taxi, and when a train beats a plane.
The Packing List builds a checklist for your trip in a minute. The stories cover the carry-on method, the hotel bars, the long weekend and the sleeper train.
In this department
The latest in Travel
Travel · Packing
A Week from One Carry-On
Seven days, one bag, nothing checked, including a jacket for dinner. The method, the list and the three things that make it work.
Travel · Bars
Ten Hotel Bars Worth a Detour
The best bars in Europe are inside hotels you may never sleep in. Where to sit, what to order and when to arrive, from Mayfair to Milan.
Travel · Cities
The Long Weekend, Solved
Thursday night out, Monday morning back, four cities where three days feel like a week. Lisbon, Copenhagen, Vienna and Palermo, with the hotel, the table and the walk.
Travel · Trains
Take the Train: The Return of the Sleeper
Dinner in Paris, breakfast in Vienna, no airport in between. The night train is back across Europe, and for a man with one bag it is the civilised way to move.
The tool for this
Packing List
Where, how long, how warm, and whether there is a dinner. A checklist sized for one carry-on, with the counts worked out and your ticks saved.
Reader poll
The perfect long weekend?
Questions we get asked
What size carry-on works everywhere?
A 40-litre soft bag or a 55 × 40 × 20 cm hard case fits the strictest European rules. Anything bigger will eventually be checked at the gate.
Is business class worth it?
On flights over six hours, especially overnight, yes if you can afford it: you arrive able to work. Under four hours, spend the difference on the hotel.
How far ahead should I book?
Trains and boutique hotels six to eight weeks ahead, flights two to three months. Anything earlier rarely saves money and removes flexibility.
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