Mexico’s Baja California is perfect for a road trip – the landscape is out of this world, you can camp on the beach, and the peninsula is so narrow you can’t get lost. Plus three more Latin American trips

Some friends and I set off from the chaotic border town of Tijuana with a shiny new hire car and some mixed messages about the 780 miles of peninsula that snaked south. Although it is often described as a beautiful part of Mexico, we’d also heard about brutal drug cartels and gang violence, about spoilt Californian kids and their spring break excesses and about ritzy resorts with more media-hungry celebs than an Elton John charity gala – and were determined to avoid them all.

Coasting south on México 1, the transpeninsular highway, the real Baja California beckoned. Passing through several one-horse, two-taquería towns was a transition from US-friendly to Mexico proper. The paint began to peel and the roads crumble. Tumbleweed joined us in the fast lane as sandy roads snaked down to fishing villages and the Pacific. We saw guys hanging out roadside with white Stetsons squashed onto oil-black hair, and straight-backed men casually riding their horses into lopsided beer-shacks. Everywhere, colourful, wonky, hand-painted signs advertised tasty pismo clams, and carnitas – cartoons of laughing pigs in sunglasses and jaunty hats bathing in the lard that will fry them.

At San Quintin, 187 miles south of the border, we found a campsite hidden down a dusty track, beside the ocean. It was nearly empty, and its owner, Fidel, was downbeat: “You information people about my place,” he said. “Look. You see how beautiful it is. But no one comes any more, the economy is so bad.”

We pitched our tents and walked across the sand to the water. Weird black silhouettes drifted across the cloudless evening sky: pelicans, prehistoric-looking against the burning red backdrop, paused, then launched their bodies into the grey sea. On the shore, a group of young men unravelled a huge net and charged into the waves to dredge out twitching, glinting fish.

We woke to watch the sun rise over the dunes then, with sleep and cold clinging to us, we drove to Mama Espinosa’s (bajaquest.com/espinosas), an hour down the road, in El Rosario. Steve McQueen was a regular at Mama E’s, where he’d stop to fill up on coffee and lobster burritos during the Baja 1000, the wacky off-road thousand-mile-plus race, and every square inch of wall is covered with signed photos of four-wheel mayhem. Fired up by the stories and by huevos méxicanos (scrambled eggs with tomato, onion and green chilli for the red, white and green of the Mexican flag), we hit the road again.

From here, the México 1 cut away from the Pacific coast and into the Valle de los Cirios, carving up jagged hills and into the Desierto Central. Suddenly there were fewer cars, people, pigs wearing sunglasses; and more focus. The big skies, rocks and the winding, pot-holed road became the focus.

Searching for ancient Cochimí Indian cave paintings near the desert outpost of Cataviña, we parked up and walked between giant boulders, bulbous cardón cacti (the ones in all the cartoons) and straggles of cirios, their scrawny trunks reaching more than 10 metres in the air and a spurt of yellow blossom dangling forlornly at the top. We found the paintings, believed to be thousands of years old, on the ceiling in a cool little chamber, simple drawings of hunters and the sun, animals and shooting stars.

We sped south-east through unexpectedly green desertscapes; walls of cactus, cirio and elephant trees parted by the arrow-straight asphalt. As night approached, the plugs of volcanoes jutted into the purple-orange sky. The last 60 miles of our mammoth day’s driving, winding down the Sierra de San Francisco from the desert plains to the coast, were a dreamlike blur of cliffs and men in cowboy hats.

Arriving at the beach near Mulegé, we pitched our tent and fell into the sea. Sparks of phosphorescence radiated from our arms and shooting stars crisscrossed the sky.

We spent a few days there, living like contented castaways. At our campsite we pitched tents under some threadbare thatched palapas with a tangle of mangrove behind us. There were a few American old-timers in RVs round the headland, and a couple of well-travelled yachts sheltering in the calm waters, but mostly it was just us, the fish and the pelicans. Provisions come from the beach cafe round the bay, or from our doorstep, where we dug up clams from the wet sands and cooked them on our bonfire, washed down with Tecate beer.

It was hard to leave, but soon we had another 80 miles under our wheels and arrived in Loreto. Founded in 1697 this was the original capital of the Californias (Baja and Alta); a thriving hub when LA and San Francisco were mere backwaters. The town’s august history was still visible in its architecture: its promenade, church, town hall and well-manicured streets, and there was a fine mission museum too. But for us, the highlight was the food, in particular El Rey del Taco’s fish and beef tacos, filled from great bowls of red chilli, fresh coriander, chopped tomato, shredded cabbage, lettuce, lime and salsa verde by Francisco, the cheery Taco King.

We spent a couple of days kayaking in Loreto’s 800 square-mile marine park, paddling three miles to the deserted Isla Danzante, to camp and drink homemade margaritas under dramatic cliffs, surrounded by aquamarine waters, our only company clouds of yellow butterflies. We snorkelled waters teeming with fish – at times shoals clattered to the surface from the deep, like rain showers in reverse. There were cherry red crabs, clown fish, flying fish, dolphins, sleeping sea lions, manta rays and puffer fish.

Our final stop was San Javier, where we’d heard there was a religious festival taking place – a fitting goal in our search for the “true” Baja. The Fiesta de San Javier was a riot of live music and dancing, bucking broncos and shooting alleys, stalls selling cowboy hats and lucha libre masks, tripe tacos and “beer-bloody-marys”.

The finale was what we’d all remember: El Torro, the human firecracker, running through the whooping crowd, blazing fireworks tied to his back and a crazed look in his eye. A burning man wasn’t entirely what we had expected from a religious festival in a 300-year-old mission. But then we had already learned that you can never guess what lies ahead in Baja California – the best policy is just to buckle up and enjoy the ride.

• Take a Greyhound bus (greyhound.com) from LA or San Diego to Tijuana airport via the Mesa de Otay border crossing; hire a car at the airport with Thrifty (thrifty.com) or Europcar (europcar.com) – a better option than hiring in the US. Camping sites with very basic facilities are often free; none of the sites visited on this trip cost more than US$5. Camping in the marine park is free but you need to register at the reserve office in Loreto; a wristband allowing you to kayak costs US$5 per day. The San Javier festival runs for three days, culminating on 3 December

More UK residents holidaying at home as 40-year trend towards foreign travel falls at fastest recorded rate

The number of Britons taking foreign holidays plunged last year as the 40-year trend towards regular overseas breaks fell at the fastest rate on record.

The recession prompted families to holiday at home and also saw a drop in business travel.

UK residents made 58.6m visits overseas in 2009 – 15% fewer than in 2008, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in its 2009 survey of travel trends.

The figures come from the ongoing international passenger survey, involving interviews with 300,000 travellers to and from Britain.

Last year’s steep decline, representing 10.4m overseas visits, effectively reverses a four-decade trend of increasing foreign travel triggered by the rise of “cheap and cheerful” package holiday in the 1970s and the more recent lure of exotic, far-flung destinations.

Trips to the UK by overseas visitors also fell in 2009, dipping by 6.3% from 31.9m in 2008 to 29.9m.

The ONS said the falls followed a long period of overall growth in visits to and from the UK. Visits abroad had grown at an average of 4% per year for 25 years, and visits to the UK grew at an annual rate of 3.2%.

Overall, business travel was the biggest casualty of last year, with trips falling by 23% among UK residents going abroad and 19% among overseas residents coming to the UK.

While overseas visitors spent more, on average, on their trips to the UK than in previous years, UK residents cut their overseas spending. The net result was a £5.4bn reduction in the travel-related deficit to the UK.

Last year, very few overseas countries saw an increase in visits by UK residents. Egypt, Jamaica and Lithuania were exceptions, continuing an overall trend of rises in numbers of British tourists to these countries in recent years.

But the numbers of visits to these countries are dwarfed by those to both the UK’s nearer neighbours in Europe and the US. Spain and France together accounted for 21.3m of the 58.6m visits abroad in 2009.

The swine flu alert discouraged travel to Mexico, which saw the sharpest drop – 49% – in visits from Britons.

Roger Smith, the survey manager of the International Passenger Survey, said the decline in foreign holidays taken by Britons was “striking”, adding that “the long term trend has been very much of an increase in travel”.

Looking at more recent trends, provisional figures for the first quarter of 2010 reveal that visits to the UK are bottoming out (falling by just 1% year on year), while the downturn in Britons’ foreign holidays is continuing – falling by a further 9%.

A spokeswoman for the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) said: “The downturn [in foreign holidays being taken by Britons] can be attributed to the recession of last year, while the value of the euro also had an negative impact.

“This year we are seeing the euro decreasing in value, which should have a more positive effect.”

Patricia Yates, the strategy and communications director at the national tourism body VisitBritain, added: “Last year was very tough, dominated by the global economic difficulties.

“There are some glimmers of hope in that holiday visits increased slightly in 2009 while business tourism continued to see sharp declines.

“The North American market showed signs of improvement towards the end of the year, but the volcano ash cloud in April knocked that back.”

She aaded that “our neighbours in Europe realised that the exchange rate with the pound had become so favourable that they could afford to spend more here”.

As a result, the total amount spent by foreign tourists was £16.6bn – up 1.6% before inflation on 2008 is taken into account.

A record 3.8m visitors came to Britain from France, meaning one in eight of the 30m overseas visitors to the UK was French.

Finding himself in a Mexican backwater among drug lords, thieves and a dishonest captain, novelist David Vann escaped by sailing 500 miles up the coast to Acapulco. But when his engine packed up and a pair of high-speed pirate launches appeared, he knew he was in trouble…

The lighthouses were full-sized but made of chicken wire and plaster. Women on their knees rubbed the new brick walkway with loose bricks to make the path seem worn and old, and the dredger worked all night to remove the waste of decades, preparing a new Mexican paradise for Guatemalans. The local fishing boats, called pangas, roared past on drug missions.

My sailboat was large and broken, tied to the one crumbled chunk of concrete on the shoreline, visited by rats, snakes, begging children, prostitutes, the police, the navy, drunks, and the port captain’s men. I was referred to locally as the ATM Machine, bleeding cash, on the edge of ruin, and even when I’d take a taxi from Tapachula, the city inland, the drivers knew who I was and every detail of my story. They knew the mechanic and his men who had held part of my engine ransom. They knew what I paid Gordo, the local drug lord, each week for protection. They knew who had stolen my outboard. They knew I was here because another captain had abandoned my boat and broken the engine, but they didn’t know why I stayed. And finally, when my friend Julie visited, a temporary crew member, I decided to make a run for it, a desperate attempt for Acapulco, almost 500 miles north.

We started early in the morning, using our engine and the main sail. There was almost no wind. Slow rollers about 2ft high, easy conditions, making 5 knots with the broken engine, not pushing it to high revs. I was excited to be leaving. Just getting out of that place made a stupid trip seem less stupid.

We continued on through the day, into late afternoon, passing within 100 yards of shore. I wanted to have the option of anchoring in close if anything went wrong. The shoreline was beautiful and abandoned beach. Clean yellow sand, very deep. Palm trees and jungle behind. It all looked like paradise, even the village we passed, almost 50 miles up the coast. Palm-frond huts, no corrugated or plastic sheeting. A primitive village, really. About as primitive as a village could be in today’s world. No car in sight, no visitors expected, ever. Some children watched us pass, and they didn’t wave. Just stared.

We continued a few more miles up the coast and I was thinking maybe this would work out after all, just a slow motor with some sailing until we reached Acapulco, where repairs would be so much easier and my own quality of life would be much higher. Then the engine bogged down and stopped.

I opened up the floorboards for the engine room and checked filters, etc, but couldn’t see anything. So I tried to restart, but it wouldn’t. We were about 100 yards from shore, in 40ft of water, along one of the most abandoned stretches of coastline in the world. Only that one tiny group of huts south of us for the next 50-something miles until Puerto Madero, and nothing north of us.

We drifted for a while and let the engine cool down. I didn’t know what else to do. There was no wind. We couldn’t even try to sail. We already had our full main up, and it was just slowly flapping back and forth as we rocked.

“We’re screwed,” Julie said. “We’re really screwed.”

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s more or less the size of it. The engine sounds like it basically died.” I was regretting taking this trip. “I wonder if it would have been fixable, but now isn’t. I wonder if I just destroyed my engine unnecessarily by taking this trip.”

“That’s a nice thought,” she said.

“I should stay away from boats,” I said. “Considering all my dad and uncle went through, nearly dying several times, I should know better.”

“Well, don’t give up yet,” she said. “Remember I’m out here. You still have to get me home.”

We drifted for a while longer, back the way we had come, at maybe a quarter of a knot, barely moving, staying the same distance from shore. “At least we’re close to shore,” I said. “And we have an anchor. That takes some of the edge off it.”

I tried the engine again, after checking everything, and it started. I increased the revs very, very slowly, and it put out almost no power at all. When I had it as high as I could risk, we were going 1 knot, headed back down the coast for Puerto Madero. At this rate we’d need 50 hours to get back, but I didn’t believe the engine would work for that long.

It was very late in the afternoon, less than an hour before sunset. We saw two pangas coming at us from the Puerto Madero direction.

“Great,” I said. “Visitors.” I felt how exposed we were. No one knew we were here. We had no guns. No one around to witness anything, no authorities to help us out.

Julie looked nervous. “I’m going below,” she said. “If anyone asks, I’m not here.”

“Ha,” I said. “Can you look around in the cabinets above the chart table and find the two flare pistols, please?”

“Are you kidding?”

“No, I’m not kidding. Please get them quickly, and cartridges. There’s a new one with red cartridges and a big old military green one in a metal case with cartridges.”

The pangas came right for us. Julie found the flare pistols just in time to slide them to me and disappear again below. I put the pistols on deck on either side, loaded, down low where the guys in the pangas wouldn’t see them.

They came up fast, one on each side, 75-horse outboards roaring. They crossed behind my stern, circled back, and throttled down to my speed, which was no speed at all.

“Coca,” one of the men shouted, and pushed a finger into a nostril, tilting his head back. There was a boy in the bow of his boat, looking scared. They had no fish on board, no fishing gear. Just gasoline and cervezas. The man was drunk and possibly on drugs, weaving a bit as he stood braced against the throttle arm of the outboard.

On my other side, the man driving the other panga was making the same gesture, poking his finger into his nose. He also had a young boy with him in the bow.

“No tengo,” I said. “Lo siento.” I was trying to sound polite. I glanced down the companionway at Julie, who had one hand to her mouth and was hiding in the corner behind the stairs. She looked terrified. I felt the enormity of how stupid I’d been. It wasn’t just the weather and the condition of the boat. I hadn’t even thought about piracy. We were on our own in a sketchy place with no help available.

“Cerveza,” the man on the starboard side said. He made a gesture of drinking. He was wearing a bandana, his face beat-up and ugly. I knew without a doubt that if he climbed on to the deck of my boat, I was going to shoot him with the flare. I’d wondered about that before, whether I could actually kill someone, even in self-defence. It seems like such an inhuman thing to do, it seems impossible. But faced with a situation, it became clear. Of course I would kill him.

I honestly didn’t have any beer, or cocaine. “No tengo,” I said. I tried to gaze ahead and just continue on my way, hoping they’d leave us alone.

The guy on my right zoomed off a few hundred feet then circled around to come up fast behind me. He rammed into the stern, which luckily was rounded, so that his bow just glanced off. The driver of the other panga saw this and circled around to do the same thing. Like sharks bumping.

“Get on the VHF,” I told Julie. The men couldn’t hear me right now over their engines, and they were behind me, so they wouldn’t see me talking. “Try calling the Mexican navy or coast guard. Give them our position on the VHF and tell them 50 miles north along the coast from Puerto Madero.”

Julie opened the cabinets and grabbed the mike for the VHF. She held it up and started gesturing wildly. She had no idea how to use a VHF radio.

The guy on my port side came up close, grabbing the wooden rail a few feet from me. “Coca!” he yelled. And then he yelled some other things in Spanish I didn’t understand. I put my hand on the pistol on that side and wondered whether he could see it. He was climbing partway out of his boat to hook an arm on my rail.

I heard the other man behind me at the other rail, so I turned around to look, and then I realised my back was to the first man, who could be over the rail at this point, and I realised they were going to get me. It was too hard to keep track of both of them.

But when I turned back, the first man was gone, and then I saw his boat circle and come up from behind to ram us again. The second man left the rail, too, and circled again to ram. So they hadn’t taken their opportunity.

They kept moving around quickly, ramming into the boat, yelling things, turning circles. The boys in the bows looked completely terrified. They were gesturing “No” with their hands, like the gesture for “safe” in baseball but far more muted, barely noticeable, telling me, I imagined, not to give the men any beer or drugs.

This went on for an unbearably long time, the same frightening movements, over and over. Probably 20 minutes of this, but no showing of guns or knives, no real attempts to climb aboard, just an arm over the rail on one side, then an arm on the other side, just short of what would make me pick up one of the pistols and shoot. It would be better if it didn’t come to that. And then finally, the man on my starboard side, who seemed to be the leader, made the “dos ojos” gesture. “En la noche,” he said in a high-pitched falsetto, a woman’s voice. “I come back for you.” The English was frightening. “Con armas,” he yelled, and grinned. Then he hit the throttle on his outboard and sped away, the other boat following.

“You can come up now, Julie,” I said. “But we have to get away from here. They said they’re coming back at night. Going to be watching for us. And I think armas means guns. Do you know whether that’s the word for guns?”

Julie raised her head just barely over the cabin house and watched the boats go away. She wasn’t saying anything. It was worse for her. They might kill me, but they’d probably rape her first. I’m sure she was thinking this.

“We’ll head straight out,” I said. “As soon as they’re out of sight, we’ll motor straight to sea, drop our sail, and we won’t turn our lights on. They’ll have a hard time finding us, and they won’t go out more than a few miles from shore, anyway, I think.” I didn’t really quite believe they wouldn’t follow us out, but it was the only solution I could think of.

“OK,” she said.

Once the pangas had disappeared, I changed our course and Julie took the helm while I dropped the main. I was hoping the engine would not die. I made sure all lights were off, and then I took the helm again and we just waited through the sunset and eventual darkness, which seemed to take a long time, and then more hours of motoring slowly into the night.

I didn’t believe these were professional pirates. They were only pirates of opportunity, like most pirates in the developing world, but that didn’t make them any less dangerous. My boat represented more wealth than a person here could accumulate in a lifetime. And if they were on drugs, opportunities like this might be the only way to continue on.

It was many hours before I felt I could relax. We were finally out so far that finding us, unlit, without radar, would be nearly impossible. A light breeze came up from the west, on our port beam, and with it we could sail to Acapulco, which was tempting. I waited for a while, letting Julie sleep, seeing whether the wind was just a brief puff or might last, and finally woke her to take the helm. I put up the main, mizzen, and gennaker, as much sail as we could carry, and we were making a course straight for Acapulco at over 5 knots. Julie went back below and I took the helm again. It was a beautiful night, the moon out now, the breeze warm. The moonlight would show on our white sails, but I felt we were far enough out, and moving away quickly enough, the boat restored to its nature by having enough wind. It wasn’t crippled any more. It was gliding.

After another half hour I began to have my doubts. The wind was fine now, but we had more than 400 miles to Acapulco, and there was no way we could expect consistent wind that whole time. We were cutting right through the middle of the Gulf, in an extremely exposed position.

I brought the helm around, tacking the gennaker myself, and put us on a course just west of Puerto Madero. That would keep us far enough offshore to avoid the pangas but also take us back to port. We had to take advantage of this wind to get back. There was no guarantee the engine would last. I had it in neutral, still running, afraid to turn it off.

Julie took a turn at the helm for two hours, then I came back on, and after an hour or so the wind died to nothing, so I took down the gennaker and mizzen, leaving the main, and put the engine back in gear, making 1 knot again. I was happy to have used the wind to gain some ground toward Puerto Madero. As it turned out, we would have almost no wind for the rest of the trip, and so we motored through the entire day, roasting under the sun, and through the next night, and through the next day and another night. I was used to long passages and slow, frustrating passage times, but Julie was going crazy with it. She was mumbling to herself, dark thoughts about me and the boat and Mexico and the world.

David Vann grew up in Alaska and now lives in San Francisco. he is the author of Legend of a Suicide (penguin, £8.99)

This week Lonely Planet’s Tom Hall offers advice on a 70th birthday trip to Kenya, a family holiday to France and unravels the complicated visa requirements for visiting Tibet

My partner and I would like to celebrate my 70th birthday by going to the Amboseli National Park, Kenya, in September. However, friends have advised that there is a serious drought in Kenya and consequently the animals are suffering. In addition, we understand that there is an election sometime this year and that the country might be unstable. Your advice would be very welcome.
John Sherrington, Truro

There’s nothing to worry about here. The next general election in Kenya is due to be held in December 2012 and the country, being run by a coalition government, is broadly politically stable.

Kenya, like many other places around the world has been subject to what a spokesman from the Africa Travel & Tourism Association calls “extreme and unusual weather”. The problem, however, has not been a dearth of water but a surfeit of it. In some areas, in particular the usually arid north of the country, there has been in recent months the worst floods in living memory. The main river in Samburu National Reserve, the Ewasu Ng’iro, burst its banks last month and nine of the 15 camps in the area are currently shut after suffering water damage. They should reopen in July. While making confident predictions about the weather is notoriously difficult, September in Amboseli National Park, in the south of the country close to the Tanzanian border, should be dry and pleasant with temperatures in the high twenties and cool at night and first thing in the morning.

My husband and I are going to Nepal for a trekking holiday in June this year. We then intend to travel to Lhasa, Tibet for a few days. I have heard conflicting information about whether we need to obtain China visas before we arrive in Nepal to get into Tibet or not. Please could you offer any advice?
Ros Kennedy, by email

One of the most detailed and helpful sources of information for independent travellers wanting to enter Tibet is Life on the Tibetan Plateau. The site, one of the best destination-specific travel blogs, also highlights less well-known areas of Tibet, its people and culture.

Entering Tibet from Nepal is more expensive and more restrictive than entering from China. Coming from Nepal you must enter on a group visa, which can only be arranged on arrival via a Nepalese travel agency, and during the application process any other Chinese visa you have already arranged will be cancelled. To add to the complications, the group visa requires that everyone enters and leaves China via the same route at the same time, and is usually only valid for 15 days. Longer visas can be issues for longer tours within Tibet.

If you enter Tibet from cities in China then there is no group requirement, but there is an additional permit to apply for, as well as your regular visa. That said, you’re in a good position as you only wish to travel to Lhasa for a few days and then return to Kathmandu, so your arrangements should be straightforward. Allow a few days to arrange your tour. It is best to start looking into this as soon as you arrive. There’s no shortage of tour companies in Kathmandu who will make these arrangements for you but bear in mind that land-based packages usually take at least a week and fly-in, fly-out tours take four to five days.

If you fly from Kathmandu to Beijing and bypass Tibet then it is easiest if you apply for your Chinese visa in your home country.

How safe is it to go to Mexico? I really want to visit Mexico but between the drug cartel wars and kidnappings, I am just not sure!
Shivaa Sharma, by email

While there’s plenty in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s advice on Mexico that raises eyebrows, from bus hijackings to express kidnappings, the reality is that the vast majority of visits by tourists to the country are trouble-free and that these incidents are very rare.

It’s important to draw a distinction between things you should do to keep safe in countries throughout Central and South America and precautions unique to Mexico. For the former, stay on your toes in big cities, especially when using ATMs or travelling by public transport. Completing your journey during the day and travelling by a more expensive class of bus are both good ideas. Both of these are for road safety reasons.

In Mexico specifically, much of the drug-related violence that has been hitting the headlines has been taking place well away from areas frequented by tourists, apart from certain border areas with the US which you’re unlikely to go near. The recent violence in Acapulco also did not involve tourists and visitors from overseas were not targeted, nor have they been targeted in other incidents. The big beach resorts along the Riviera Maya, in particular, will feel very calm and have just enjoyed the annual influx of hordes of American students on Spring Break. You should certainly visit as planned, keeping on top of news when in the country and taking sensible safety precautions. It would be as much a crying shame to avoid visiting Mexico now because of your concerns as it would be to miss out seeing South Africa because of some of the stories emanating from there. Do your research on where to avoid, but do go.

I was hoping to get some advice about visiting France this September with an 18-month-old child and without driving. We’d like to take the Eurostar to Paris and ideally our final destination wouldn’t be more than another two hours’ travel. Given that we don’t want to drive, I imagine our best bet is to stay in a town apartment but we are having trouble finding this type of accommodation – let alone with baby equipment (a travel cot is a must). We’d like to stay in a beautiful town with cafes and plenty of outdoor space to explore – parks, gardens, a river or lake, a zoo, you know the kind of thing! It would also be nice to be able to take day trips to other nearby locations (say within an hour by bus or train).
Jemma, Dan and Thomas, by email

Rivers and lakes in bucolic settings can be hard to get to without your own wheels, but the coast is a breeze. I asked Carolyn Boyd, Editor of France Magazine for some suggestions. She says: “They don’t mention the beach, but the coastal towns of Deauville and Trouville make a lovely family holiday destination and are just two hours from Paris by train. Deauville has a beautiful beach front complete with its world-famous boardwalk on which each chalet bears the name of a Hollywood movie star who has attended the Deauville American Film Festival, which takes place in early September. If they time their trip right, they’ll be able to see the A-listers strut their stuff down the red carpet (last year saw Meryl Streep, Harrison Ford and Andy Garcia in attendance). It’s quite a relaxed affair, but it does bring a buzz to the town. Otherwise, the town has a fantastic market and boasts a lovely atmosphere for wandering around or sitting out on a cafe terrace.”

“Trouville – just the other side of the river – also has a great beach and some lovely beachside restaurants that are welcoming to families. Being a seaside town, there are plenty of family apartments available. From there they can take the train down to Cabourg, another charming little seaside town that was, like Deauville, a favourite destination for glamorous Parisians during the Belle Epoque.” PV Holidays can help with bookings.

Both towns are in Normandy. This year the whole region has a summer-long festival dedicated to Impressionist art, with events going on until September 26.

Brave diver puts hand outside protective cage and into great white’s mouth

The second phase of the beautiful and surreal underwater sculptures of the
Cancun and Isla Mujeres Underwater Art Museum is now underway.

Four off-the-beaten-track resorts within earshot of the waves

Jamaica

Perched on the summit of a cliff overlooking Boston Bay, the Great Huts bill themselves as “paradise on the edge”. Accommodation is in a range of African-inspired treehouses, huts and tents, ranging from the enormous bamboo Fig Tree House, with its canoe hot tub and ocean-front views, to the circular, cheerily-decorated Granary.
• greathuts.com. Granary $60 per day B&B, Fig Tree House (sleeps four) $250.

Mexico

Accessible only by boat, set in 18 acres of wooded mountains, guests at Majahuitas, on the Pacific coast, must often wish themselves stranded. The local wildlife includes hummingbirds, parakeets, deer and whales, and the eight palm-thatched casitas – most with open-air bedrooms – all look out to sea. There are no mod-cons (electrical sockets, air-conditioning), but plenty of diversions, such as ping pong and snorkelling.
• Doubles US$250-$375 per night, full board. Book through i-escape.

Bali

Peace, but perhaps not quiet, is on offer at Gajah Mina Beach Resort. Chief among the attractions is the predawn chorus of doves and pwhs (quail-like birds). Nine antique-furnished villas built from teak, coconut wood and unpolished marble are set back from the salt-water pool, above the private, black-sand beach. Wind, kite and conventional surfing are all on offer at Balian beach, a 20-minute cliff-top walk away, but with an on-call masseur, you may feel like nothing more strenuous than picking mangoes from the garden for lunch.
• Double villa from US$95 B&B, plus tax. Book through i-escape.com.

St Lucia

There’s plenty to do at the secluded Ti Kaye Village, Resort and Spa on the west coast of St Lucia: horseback riding, a rainforest hike, whale watching, zip-line canopy adventures. That said, the trip from your ocean-view cottage to the silver sand Anse Cochon bay below could prove exercise enough. Built into the hillside, there are “stairs everywhere” – including 166 down to the waves. All cottages have outside garden showers and hammocks.
• Tikaye.com. Doubles from $280 per day; cottages (sleeping 2-4) from $355.

It’s not too late to grab a spot of warm sunshine to see you through the winter

HAWAII

Bon Voyage (0800 316 3012; bon-voyage.co.uk/spotlight) has seven nights’ room only at the Outrigger Hotel on Big Island from £1,155 (saving £185), including flights from Heathrow and car hire. Valid for selected departures from now until March.

MOROCCO

The Best of Morocco (08450 264585; realmorocco.com) has seven nights at the Majorelle Suites, in the fashionable Gueliz quarter of Marrakech, from £495 (saving £300) for stays until 31 January, including flights from Gatwick, transfers and the services of a housekeeper, who will shop and cook for you.

TANZANIA

Tanzania Odyssey (020 7471 8780; tanzaniaodyssey.com) has seven nights at Ras Kutani, a retreat on the Tanzanian coast, from £1,685 (saving £225) for selected departures from now until March. The price includes flights from Heathrow, internal air transfers and full-board accommodation.

BARBADOS

ITC Classics (01244 355 550; itcclassics.co.uk) has seven nights’ B&B at Tamarind Cove on Paynes Bay from £1,270 (saving £540) for travel until 31 January, including flights from Gatwick and transfers.

THAILAND AND MALAYSIA

Departing 28 January, Bales Worldwide (0845 057 1819; balesworldwide.com) has a nine-day trip, combining two nights in Bangkok, two nights in Singapore and a three-night journey on the Eastern and Orient Express between both cites, from £2,450 (saving £400), including flights from Heathrow, transfers, B&B accommodation in the hotels and full board on the train journey.

MALDIVES

Trailfinders (0845 050 5871; trailfinders.com) has seven nights’ half board in a beautiful and simply furnished garden villa at Vilu Reef Beach & Spa Resort from £1,579 (saving £125). The price includes flights from Gatwick and transfers. Book before 26 January for selected departures in February.

CAMBODIA

Stay seven nights at Hotel de la Paix, a boutique hotel in the heart Siem Reap, from £1,589 (saving £220) with W&O Travel (0845 277 3355; wandotravel.com). The price includes breakfast, flights from Heathrow and internal flights. Book by 31 January for travel from 14 February to 31 March.

JAMAICA

Stay seven nights at the elegant Coyaba Beach Resort, a boutique beach-front resort just 15 minutes east of Montego Bay, Jamaica’s second largest city, from £915 (saving £100) with Kuoni Travel (01306 747002; kuoni.co.uk). Departing on 4 February, the price includes B&B accommodation, flights from London Gatwick and transfers.

MEXICO

For departures until 12 February, ITC Classics (01244 355 550; itcclassics.co.uk) has five nights’ room only at the Rosewood Mayakoba, situated on a mile-long arc of white sand on the Riviera Maya, from £1,825 (saving £279), including flights from London Heathrow and private transfers.

INDIA

Visit the famous Golden Triangle (Delhi, Agra and Jaipur) on a six-night trip with Indian Odyssey (08454 300107; indianodyssey.co.uk). The holiday is available on selected dates in February and March and costs from £975 (a saving of £550), including flights from Heathrow, B&B accommodation, guided sightseeing and transfers.

Have you spent the recent weeks fantasising about escaping the cold and the daily grind? Meet the modern-day nomads who have taken the plunge

Read more: the beginner’s guide to travel blogging

The diving instructors

It’s not unusual for disillusioned graduates to pack a bag and hit the road, but what distinguishes dive enthusiasts Ben Stokes, 30, and Sarah Kemsley, 31, is that they kept going. Since meeting in Malaysia in 2003, the couple have worked as diving instructors in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Egypt, Honduras, Belize and Fiji, clocking up over 5,000 dives between them and leaving their respective studies – in advertising and fashion – far behind.

The couple, who learned to dive while travelling, now have their own bespoke travel company, Dive Safari Asia, which is based in the UK but can be run from wherever they are in the world. They put together unguided package trips (flights, accommodation, diving) for their clients or, for more remote destinations, step in and act as guides. “Being in Asia for so many months of the year allows us to discover new destinations and really connect with the places,” says Ben.

Typically stationing themselves in a location for two to four months, their three essential requirements are internet access, phone signal and “very good-quality diving”.

“Communication is generally good in Asia, but bad weather and poor connection can make things incredibly frustrating,” admits Ben. “What might take half an hour online in the UK could take two hours in Indonesia.”

One of their best experiences so far has been diving in Sumatra, Indonesia, where their boat was circled by a 4m manta ray. They are now in Bali, where they plan to base themselves for 12 months, making various trips around the area. “You couldn’t cover this area fully in a lifetime,” enthuses Ben.

Ben and Sarah, originally from Bristol and Leamington Spa respectively, can imagine continuing their nomadic lifestyle for another five years and then maybe setting up a more long-term base, perhaps in Asia. “We’re not so against the 9-to-5 lifestyle or the UK that we’ll never go back,” says Ben. “In fact, we could only do this with complete confidence, and enjoyment, knowing that the door is always open to return.”

Ben’s tip “Start by getting rid of all the possessions that are holding you back from becoming location independent. Sell them, give them away or, if you really have to, put them into storage. You’ll be surprised by how little you’ll need or want on the road.”

The online consultants

Lea and Jonathan Woodward left the UK in February 2007. Since then, the childhood sweethearts, originally from Nottingham, have lived in Panama, Argentina, Grenada, Canada, Hong Kong, Dubai, Italy and South Africa. Last year, they were joined by a new travel companion, their daughter Mali, now four months old. “We’re not quite sure where we’re headed next – possibly somewhere else in Asia,” says Lea, 32. “And Costa Rica is definitely on our itinerary for some time in 2010.”

The Woodwards’ calling came when graphic designer Jonathan, 34, was made redundant for the second time in two years. “We decided to make a go of it on our own and set up our own business together,” recalls Lea. “The only problem was we had trouble meeting the same living standard – loft apartment, nice car, regular meals out . . . That’s when I hit upon the idea of moving somewhere else in the world, where we could enjoy the same standard of living but for far less.”

The couple now run a branding and marketing consultancy, Kinetiva , which has clients across the world. They also run an online community, Location Independent, that offers guidance for people looking to adopt a nomadic lifestyle. The couple make money through the site by selling online courses, travel guides and ebooks. “The main aim for our business is not just to cover costs but to make a profit, and living in lower-cost countries enables us to do this even more so than if we were in the UK,” says Lea.

The Woodwards live on a typical budget of between £1,000 and £2,000 per month, which gives them a very comfortable standard of living. Travelling with a baby has meant some readjustments, but they are adamant that family life can be compatible with a life on the road. “It’s not like we’ll go trekking in the wilds of Borneo with a young baby,” says Lea, from their current base, a one-bedroom bungalow on the Thai island of Phuket, which costs them £70 per week. “We’ll probably stay a bit longer in places now, so it’s not too unsettling. We’re really just going to see how it goes and adjust our approach as required.”

Their advice to any parents considering this lifestyle is to focus on creating the income stream first, even if it takes a year or two. Lea admits that there can be unsettling periods when you feel “insecure, uncertain and out of sorts”. But there have certainly been many more high points along the way. “One of my dreams had always been to experience Caribbean life, and the five months we spent in Grenada were fantastic,” she recalls. “Being able to swim in the warm, turquoise sea every single day and realising that this was our life is something I will always remember.”

Lea’s tip “If you’re totally new to the concept, read around to understand how it all works, and get a few insights into the realities of it. You can also connect with people who live the lifestyle through blogs, Facebook or Twitter. Many are happy to answer questions.”

The DJ

In November 2006, Adam Schofield sold everything he owned – including an inherited house – and bought a flight to San Francisco. Three years on, the 31-year-old from Bolton has travelled down through the Americas, from Canada to Argentina, and enjoyed a stint in the Caribbean. Having made his funds stretch by DJing along the way and finding free accommodation through couchsurfing.com, he’s now taking a “break” in Saigon, Vietnam.

“I totally fell in love with this country,” he says of Vietnam, where he plans to stay for a year or two before travelling the rest of Asia. “A local Couchsurfer helped get me a job as a teacher and found me an incredible six-storey house to live in which I rent with three other people. I got myself a motorbike to drive around the city and I’m teaching English for 18 hours a week.” In between, he still fits in the occasional DJ set and some freelance writing, as well as getting additional money through sponsors and affiliates on his blog, couchsurfingtheworld.com.

Adam estimates that he has spent £20,000 over the past three years. His current cost of living is around £200 a month, £125 of which is rent, and he earns £620 a month through teaching. He invested in stocks when he sold his house and this bumps up his funds. “I had to sit back and wait for the market to improve, but now I’m making money again,” he says.

Adam cites his destination highlights as Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and Brazil, while the most memorable DJ gigs of his trip have been a full-moon party beside the sea in Oaxaca, Mexico and in a club on the 40th floor of a skyscraper in Bogotá, Colombia. “[In Bogotá] I told the boss I would DJ for free as long as Couchsurfers got free entry. He didn’t think 260 people would show up!”

Now that he has a temporary base, Adam is hoping his family and friends – whom he hasn’t seen for three years – will finally get a chance to visit. He also insists that his couch will be open to anyone. And although he’d love to make a return visit to the UK – making a special pilgrimage to the curry houses in Manchester’s Rusholme – he’s sure he’d soon be ready to move on again. “I love England,” he admits, “but it will always be there, and until I’ve seen the world I still don’t have a home as such.”

Adam’s tip “You have to be good at trusting people. Building and maintaining a new social circle of friends is pivotal to your overall experience of settling into a new place. Also remember that your intended destination may not be everything you imagined, so have a back-up plan.”

The home-swappers

In summer 2008, Julie and Martin Gibbons (39 and 42) crossed the “last hurdle to freedom” and removed their 11-year-old son Ruaridh from school. Their line of work – a web business that builds psychometric personality applications – was already location independent, and now the entire family was, too.

The Gibbons travel by keeping a base, a four-bedroom home in West Lothian, Scotland, and swapping it with other homeowners on a short-term basis (between two weeks and four months) through home-exchange websites. So far, they have stayed in seven locations across France and one in Spain, including an apartment in the centre of French spa town, Aix-les-Bains, a renovated farmhouse in a tiny hamlet near La Rochelle on France’s Atlantic coast, and a basic mountain house in Spanish Catalonia.

“Our expenses are the same as when we’re at home because we continue to pay bills as normal, with only the travel expenses costing extra,” says Julie. “Wherever we are the cost of living is generally less than it is in the UK, and because we are paid a fixed salary from our company, we know exactly where we stand from month to month.”

Their company, People Maps , was set up with the goal of geographic independence, and employs up to 11 people at any time. (”Some of whom we haven’t even met,” explains Julie. “But they’re hired on the basis of a psychometric test, a telephone call and a test exercise.”) They have permanent staff in Calcutta, and have also hired people in France, Ukraine and the Philippines at various times. As Julie explains: “We all work from home – but that ‘home’ can be anywhere in the world.” Meanwhile, Ruaridh appears to be thriving in his new way of life. “At first, he was slightly nervous about spending so much time away from home,” says Julie. “But after a year and a half, he’s by far and away the best traveller out of all of us. We do home-schooling – both of us teach him – and also count nearly all experiences as ‘educational’. Learning a new language has proven one of the most valuable aspects for him.”

The family is currently setting up their house-swap for next summer. “We’re planning to move on to Spain, but beyond that, it’s all a bit of a mystery. One of the things that’s so great about home-swapping is that you can start off with one plan, and end up in places you’ve never heard of, or considered.”

Julie’s tip “Don’t start out with grand plans to emigrate and leave the country forever. It makes it sound less scary, for you and the people around you if you treat it as a ’trip’ – even if your ‘trip’ turns out to be never-ending.”

The blogger

“Whenever someone asks about my profession, I simply say that I help people quit their day jobs,” says 20-year-old Glen Allsopp, from Newcastle upon Tyne. Two years ago, his online work as a blogger and marketeer caught the eye of a South African company, which recruited him to work as a social media manager for some Fortune 100 clients. Having also spent time working in Hanoi and Bangkok, he became fully freelance in January 2009 and launched a guide to becoming a digital nomad. Although his online income fluctuates a lot, the monthly figure is now typically above £6,000. “For a college dropout, and given the current economic climate, I’m quite proud of my achievements,” he says.

Glen is currently based in Amsterdam, where he has rented an apartment 10 minutes’ walk from Leidseplein, one of the main squares, and is planning to spend two months in the city, soaking up local life. He says the so-called “passive income” he gains from having already built a portfolio of websites means he works only three to four hours per week.

Of course, such a lifestyle hasn’t come without ample groundwork. Glen showed entrepreneurial flare through his teens and developed an expertise in search engine optimisation (getting websites to rank higher in search engines like Google). He now makes his money by setting up successful blogs, which he uses to promote various affiliate products, sells advertising and, in some cases, sells on the entire site. Much of his income also comes from a self-published ebook and series of tutorial videos for those who want to earn an income online.

For Glen, the main appeal of this type of travel is being able to combine leisurely sightseeing with fitting into everyday life and making local friends. He’s particularly enjoyed seeing how the festive season is celebrated in Holland, including SinterKlaas, a traditional Dutch festival on 5 December, where good children are left presents in their shoes.

Glen’s next step will be to continue his travels through Europe (Prague, Milan, Paris, Stockholm), before “probably moving back to Asia”. Although it can be tough living out of a suitcase and constantly having to say goodbyes, the plus points of not having a boss and being able to travel on mean he wouldn’t change his lifestyle for anything.

Glen’s tip “A lot of people don’t believe this kind of lifestyle is possible, so they’ll unconsciously try and hold you back. Instead of judging them for it, just accept it and keep moving forward towards your goals.”

You may only just be getting over your hangover, but don’t hang up your dancing shoes just yet. Here’s where to party like a local in 2010, as chosen by our experts

Read part one – January to May

June

La Giostra del Saracino, Italy

Getting a glimpse of Siena’s famous Palio horse race involves either standing for hours in the centre of the square or making very good friends with someone well-connected in the city. Arezzo’s Joust of the Saracen in Tuscany isn’t any less exclusive – tickets are available by email (giostradelsaracino@comune.arezzo.it) and strictly limited in numbers – but the event has been spared too much attention from tourists and expats. If you can squeeze your way in, expect a faithful re-enactment of medieval dress and horsemanship. Knights charge a wooden carving of a Saracen aiming to score points for their district, with the much-coveted Golden Lance as a prize for the victors.
• 19 June (and 5 September, provisional dates), giostradelsaracino.arezzo.it. Hotel Patio (hotelpatio.it) has rooms from €110 per night.
Tom Hall, travel editor, Lonely Planet

July

Cork X Southwest Festival, Ireland

This one-day event in Skibbereen, West Cork, is fast becoming one of the most popular festivals in Ireland. The main tent has hosted The Waterboys, Lisa Hannigan, and Fred. The De Barra’s Tent, my favourite, houses a mix of music and comedy, with acts such as Luka Bloom, Nell Bryden, John Spillane and The Guggenheim Grotto, and there’s also Irish trad and folk music. In the week leading up to the festival, Irish bands play in venues around Skibbereen as part of the fringe festival.
• Date and ticket prices TBC; camping available.

Jessie Kennedy, local musician.

Fête des Gayants, France

In the town of Douai in Nord-Pas de Calais, the locals have been celebrating the Fete des Gayants since the 16th century. Gayants, the Picard word for giants, come in the shape of 8.5m-tall wicker models of the Gayant family – Monsieur, Madame and their 2.4m children Jacquot, Fillon and Binbin – which are carried through the town by up to six men hidden underneath each one. The Gayant family, which weigh up to 370kg each, meet and greet the townspeople and local children are encouraged to plant a kiss on cross-eyed Binbin’s cheek, to prevent them it is said, from developing eye problems themselves. There are around 300 festivals of giants in Nord-Pas de Calais and Belgium and they were granted Unesco world heritage status in November 2005.
• 11 July, ville-douai.fr. Includes links to accommodation in Douai, such as the B&B, Les Foulons from €75 per night.
Carolyn Boyd, editor France magazine.

August

Outside Lands, California, USA

Outside Lands, which takes place in San Francisco’s famous Golden Gate Park, is a great opportunity to revisit the city’s glory days, when the park served as a gathering place for the city’s counterculture. The three-day festival rounds up a variety of musical acts (2009’s headliners were Pearl Jam, Incubus, Dave Matthews Band, Black Eyed Peas, Tenacious D and M.I.A.) in an attempt to recreate the unity of the 60s.
• Dates TBC, sfoutsidelands.com, includes info on hotels and transfers to festival.
Karen Ruttner, music and travel writer

National Day, Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein’s national day on 15 August is the biggest event in one of Europe’s smallest countries. It starts with an open-air mass beside the royal castle on a hillside above the capital, Vaduz, followed by a garden party in the Prince’s castle, to which everyone is invited, tourists included. There’s free food and drink for everyone, and the chance to meet the royal family, who mingle with all and sundry. The day-long party is rounded off with fireworks using the hill-top castle as the backdrop, and at the end the words “For God, Prince and Fatherland” are lit up in flames on the castle walls. All very patriotic. It ends at 2am, with free bus rides home for everyone. The population of Leichtenstein is only 32,000, but they all seem to be in Vaduz on 15 August. It’s rather Ruritanian, but in a lovely way.
• liechtenstein.li. See tourismus.li for hotels, such as the Suite 13 guesthouse in Vaduz, doubles from €126 per night.

Diccon Bewes, travel book author

Likumbi Lya Mize, Zambia

Rainbow-clad dancers? Check. Intense tribal music and lots of alcohol consumption? Of course. Proud cultural heritage? Definitely. Dust, disorganisation and never-ending speeches? Naturally. Zambia’s Likumbi Lya Mize (The Day of Mize) is in many ways a classic African festival, full of chaos and colour. Crucially though, it’s largely unknown to tourists, making it as authentic as it is energetic. Held every August beside the Zambezi in a specially-constructed, rather makeshift arena beside Senior Chief Ndungu’s palace, the festival lasts four to five days, and celebrates the traditions of the Luvale tribe. Under the eyes of the revered chief (normally carried in on a throne), there are displays by local artists, musical performances and, the highlight, dance performances by the Makishi, locals dressed up as the spirits of the dead, reawakened in honour of their chief. There’s plenty of very-powerful local brew and dancing and festivities continue into the night. One morning features a much more sober circumcision ceremony, followed by the burning of a temporary building where the procedures take place. Avoid this building beforehand – circumcision is understandably very private. Afterwards boys, who have now become men, are returned to their parents after six months apart. It’s an emotional moment.
• visitzambia.co.zm.Stay at the Zambezi Motel.

Chris McIntyre, author of many guidebooks on Africa and managing director of tour operator Expert Africa .

Tarnetar Mela, India

This festival in Saurashtra, Gujarat is a vibrant three-day affair at the start of August – part marriage market, part tribal knees up – held in the small village of Tarnetar. Ostensibly a celebration of the wedding of Mahabharat heroes Arjuna and Draupadi, highlights include the Rasada, a folk dance in which hundreds of women move in a single circle to drums and flutes. But the real business of the fair is matchmaking. Prospective grooms pitch up in gaudy turbans and embroidered jackets, topped off with a large umbrella decorated with elaborate mirror work. Female visitors might bear in mind that tradition dictates that talking to one of these young men is tantamount to accepting a proposal of marriage.
• tarnetarmela.com. The Hotel Kavery in Rajkot, 75km away, has doubles from around £20 per night.

Gethin Chamberlain, India correspondent for the Guardian.

September

Fiesta Nacional de la Empanada, Argentina

Don’t be put off by the “national” in the name of Argentina’s Fiesta Nacional de la Empanada. It takes place in the city of Famaillá, a backwater of Tucumán province in the north-west, and draws mainly local diners and passing tourists – though cooks do come in from way beyond the region. The classic empanada Argentina is semi-circular, filled with meat, onions and spice (usually cumin, paprika and chile pepper), perhaps olives and egg, and sometimes dried fruit and other extras. As one local saying has it, “if the empanada is good you have to spread your legs”. This is because a good empanada will drip its juices when you bite in. At Famaillá, 40-50 rustic stalls and 160-odd dome-shaped mud ovens are set up for this homage to the other cuisine of Argentina; yes, empanadas do rival steaks in the national menu, as viewers of the recent F Word will have noticed. About 400,000 empanadas are devoured during the three-day pie orgy.
• Exact dates TBC, September 2010, fiestadelaempanada.famailla.gov.ar. Doubles at the Hotel Famailla from $150 per night.

Chris Moss, editor of 1,000 Great Holiday Ideas, published by Time Out Guides, £9.99.

Two Moors Festival Exmoor & Dartmoor, Devon/Somerset

This is a wonderful small classical music festival lasting just over a week in autumn, as the colours change over Dartmoor and Exmoor. Utilising churches across both moors, it features up-and-coming and established singers, instrumentalists and ensembles. Adventurous programming and beautiful surroundings make for an intriguing mix, although you really need a car to get from venue to venue. The festival gained notoriety a couple of years back when the piano they’d saved up for for years quite literally fell off the back of the delivery lorry. However, those nice people at Bösendorfer clearly saw the great publicity they could get and gave the festival a brand new instrument!
• 30 Sep-10 Oct, thetwomoorsfestival.com. The Mill End Hotel (01647 432 282) in Chagford has doubles from £90 per night.

Nick Breckenfield, travel writer and author for Frommers travel guides.

International Mariachi Festival, Mexico

With its trumpets and soaring violins and impassioned vocals, mariachi music is central to Mexican culture. It evolved in tiny towns not far from Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco, so this festival, which is held in the city over 10 days every September, is the place to experience it. There are countless shows in the area, in concert halls as well as smaller venues. There’s even a lavish parade through the middle of town, complete with mariachis performing on floats to throngs of cheering spectators. Great fun.
• mariachi-jalisco.com. Start of September, dates TBC. La Villa del Ensueno boutique hotel (villadelensueno.com) in Tlaquepaque, 20 mins from Guadalajara, has doubles from $95 per night.

Jim Benning, co-editor of travel website worldhum.com

October

Felabration, Nigeria

Held in a building in Lagos that resembles an aircraft hangar, attracting crowds of thousands and featuring some of the best music on the continent, the annual Felabration festival is one of Africa’s wildest parties. The festival celebrates the life of Fela Kuti, who used his jazz and funk-infused Afrobeat to attack Nigeria’s despotic military regime and the social injustice of his country until his death in 1997. The festival, a week of hip-hop, highlife, Afrobeat and classic Nigerian music such as fuji and juju, is held at the New Africa Shrine in Ikeja, run by Fela’s musician son, Femi, and his indomitable daughter, Yeni, who keeps the whole show alive. Being a celebration of the life of one of the most rebellious characters in African music history, the thousands that gather at the Shrine come to dance madly, smoke copiously and drink Guinness to escape the harsh realities of life in Nigeria. But despite the chaotic appearance of the place, the Shrine is about the safest place in Lagos, mostly because the federal police won’t step foot in there, and it has its own police force. People are friendly and know how to party, so bring a sense of adventure and some comfortable shoes.
• 11-17 October, felabration.net.The Sheraton Lagos Hotel (starwoodhotels.com) has rooms from around £230 per night.

Rose Skelton, music journalist

November

Bon Om Tuk, Cambodia

Few other gatherings in the Khmer calendar are as exuberant as Cambodia’s Bon Om Tuk (Water Festival), a 400-boat regatta on the banks of Phnom Penh’s Tonle Sap river. Usually held in early November, the festival is watched by up to a million spectators who pour into the capital from the provinces to cheer on their local team. Elaborate dug-out canoes have large, brightly-painted eyes on the prows to ward off evil spirits. Boats are raced in pairs along a 1km course as oarsmen frantically paddle and chant. An evening pageant of gaily-decorated floats is illuminated by a sky of fireworks, heralding the nightly drinking, music, feasting and dancing in a carnival atmosphere. Dating back to the era of powerful King Jayavarman II, the 9th-century founder of the great Angkorian empire, the festival marks the changing flow of the Tonle Sap river. This remarkable phenomenon sees the course reverse as the rainy season progresses. The Water Festival coincides with the full moon of the Buddhist calendar month of Kadeuk – a good omen that promises a bountiful harvest.
• Asia Adventures (asia-adventures.com) runs a week long trip to Cambodia including the festival, for $615pp.
Sarah Woods, author of The Time, The Place (a guide to 365 festivals around the world), published by New Holland Publishers, £14.99.

December

Festival les Blues du Fleuve, Senegal

Organised by the singer Baaba Maal, the second most famous Senegalese musician after Youssou N’Dour, this festival explores the music of Senegal and Mauritania, from the haunting voices of the singers from the Fulaani ethnic group to the raw guitar notes that were the precursors of the American blues. Taking place in small towns along the lush river Senegal, the festival includes homestays with local families and a “musical caravan”, led by Baaba himself, from venue to venue.
• festivallesbluesdufleuve.com.
Around 24-26 December.

Rose Skelton, music journalist

Rhythm and Vines New Zealand

Rhythm and Vines is held over New Year at a vineyard in the hills above the seaside city of Gisborne on North Island – the first place in the world to see the sun rise in the New Year. Moby, 2manyDJs and Empire of the Sun headlined 2009 and there are pyrotechnics, a forest stage and a waterslide.
• 29-31 Dec, rhythmandvines.co.nz. Camping on the beach and local properties available through the website.
Mylo, DJ