‘Avignon warmed our bones and fed our souls’: readers’ favourite early spring trips to southern Europe

The best places to seek respite from the wintry UK weather in France, Italy and Germany. Tell us about a family adventure in Europe – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher.

Provence in bloom

Mimosas and violets are already out in the south of France, making it the perfect time for a pre-spring road trip

‘The most quietly romantic town we have ever visited’

Writers from George Eliot to Goethe put this Lombardy town on the map, then it fell out of fashion. Today it makes a picture-perfect alternative to the Italian lakes

'It feels as if I’m in a Richard Curtis film': readers’ favourite romantic trips in Europe

Romance is in the air on a roof terrace in Venice, rowing across Lake Bled and a fairytale garden in Stuttgart. Tell us about your memorable breaks in Wales – the best tip wins a £200 holiday voucher.

‘I lived the life I’ve always dreamed of’: the man who cycled around the world for four years

Andreas Graf lived without screens and no idea of the date or time. The conditions were often brutal – but he found kindness and friendship as he rode

‘The intimate and the epic’: the best way to understand India is to travel by train

Being a passenger in this vast country is ‘a full-blooded immersion in the local’, says the novelist whose latest protagonist is lured by the romance of the rails