Getting the flavour of…

Ibiza’s laid-back little sister

The smallest and most southerly of the Balearics, Formentera is a “bleached-out” wisp of an island fringed by some of the most spectacular, “bone-blonde” beaches in the Mediterranean, says Maya Boyd in Condé Nast Traveller. Half an hour by ferry from Ibiza, it figured on the hippie trail in the 1970s, and that “bohemian” spirit still defines it. These days, “gleaming superyachts” anchor off Playa de Ses Illetes, but the three-mile sands of Playa de Migjorn retain “old timers, locals and the lo-fi”.Once there, it’s the Kiosko 62, a bar “held together by frayed rope, nails and good luck”, that “has my heart”. The food scene is wonderful – look up Can Carlitos, A Mi Manera and Es Còdol Forodat – and there are some stylish hotels and apartments, including Casa Pacha, Etosoto, Casbah and Can Tres.

Munch and Grieg in Bergen

Surrounded by mountains, fjords, wild islands and the sea, Bergen has a wonderful natural setting – and Norway’s second city is also a treat for lovers of the arts, says Laura Hackett in The Times. Occupying several buildings around a lake, the Kode museum has great collections of fine art, design and handcrafts, including many works by Edvard Munch. (Eighteen of them will feature in the Courtauld Gallery’s exhibition of the painter’s work, opening in May.) In the city centre, with its pretty streets of “tightly packed” wooden houses, there’s a private gallery around every corner. But perhaps the city’s most charming sight is Troldhaugen, where the composer Edvard Grieg lived from 1885 until his death in 1907. His yellow wooden house is “drenched with light and full of life”, and there’s a wonderful modern concert hall in its grounds.

Wild walking in southern Italy

Straddling the regions of Basilicata and Calabria in Italy’s far southwest, the Pollino is the country’s largest national park. Comprising almost 750 square miles of wooded ravines, grassy uplands and rocky summits, it is great walking territory, says Liz Boulter in The Guardian, but receives fewer than a million visitors each year (the Lake District, by contrast, saw 47 million in 2019). Five of its peaks are more than 2,000 metres high, but all can be climbed without special equipment. Stay at Il Borgo Ospitale, an albergo diffuso with “elegant” rooms, or Rifugio Fasanelli, in wilder surroundings at 1,350 metres, and consider hiring the “knowledgeable and patient” Giuseppe Cosenza, from the village of Laino Borgo, as your guide. For the adventurous, rafting the “dramatic” canyon of the Lao River is also rewarding. See rivertribe.it for rafting, and for information about guided walks, see viaggiarenelpollino.it/guide/