ASK THE EXPERTS

Our experts offer advice on road-tripping across Morocco, making the most of St Petersburg before summer’s football invasion, beach-free Barbados and birdwatching in Muscat…

Q I would like to spend a week road-tripping around Morocco. Where would you suggest?

Kate Hird, via email

A Outside of high summer, I’d recommend renting a car from Marrakech and exploring the Atlas Mountains and desert to the south. The south is another country; roads are deserted, folks are friendlier and driving less aggressive. Small cars cost from £20 a day, and fuel is 80% of UK prices and widely available. Lodgings in basic desert towns also start at £15 half-board; there’s no need to pay more than double that.

Head south over the High Atlas via the Tizi n’test pass; from there it’s a great drive to the walled city of Taroudant and up to Igherm where spectacular roads (especially during the February almond blossom) drop down to Tata on the desert floor. Or, take a new backroad from Tafraoute via the amazing Igmir canyon – full of palm oases – to the N12 border highway to Tata.

Foum Zguid is another quiet desert town. Zagora on the N9 ‘Valley of 1000 Kasbahs’ is more touristy, so aim for the relaxed carpet-trading town of Tazenakht and Ouarzazate. Here, a backroad via Ait Benhaddou and Telouet Kasbah brings you out near the 2,260m Tizi n’tichka pass and a fine two-hour drive down to Marrakech. For Morocco mapping options, see sahara-overland.com.

Chris Scott, author of Trailblazer’s Morocco Overland guidebook

Q I want to visit St Petersburg before the football World Cup crowds arrive – what should I try to squeeze into a couple of days in the city?

Tom Bennett, via email

A The sights offered by St Petersburg to visitors, not least those coming to see the World Cup, are truly stupendous. First of all, there are the palaces. The Winter Palace and Hermitage Museum house one of the world’s greatest collections of art, ranging from Rembrandts to the golden hoards of magnificent jewellery made by the Scythians some two millennia ago. Here, too, the Imperial Family had their official seat from the 18th century until the fall of the Russian dynasty in the 1917 Revolution.

There is also the 19th-century New Michael Palace, on the Arts Square, home of the Russian Museum and its spiritually evocative collection of medieval orthodox icons by Andrei Rublev and Dionysius. Ecclesiastical architecture in Peter the Great’s capital is also impressive, including the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, in the graveyard of which such Russian notables as the composer Peter Tchaikovsky are interred. There are also the great Kazan and St Isaac’s Cathedrals. These were built in the early 19th century and remain two of the most important churches built in Russia in the neoclassical style.

Another venue not to be missed is the Mariinsky Theatre, directed by Valery Abisalovich Gergiev, one of the world’s greatest conductors, where ballets and operas of the highest quality continue to be performed. The Great Philharmonic Theatre, formerly the House of the Nobility, is also a must, a site which hosted a stupendous Leningrad Symphony, composed by Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich during the Second World War, and performed during the siege and bombardment of the city (then known as Leningrad) at a time when over a million inhabitants died.

Further afield, in the southern suburbs, there are the palaces of Peterhof, Tsarskoe Selo, Pavlovsk and Oranienburg, the latter largely untouched by war, which evince their own charm and dazzle the visitor with their stunning beauty.

Neil Kent, author of Signal Books’ Innercities Cultural Guide: St Petersburg

Q I’d like to spend a week in Barbados exploring away from the beaches. Where would you suggest that I visit?

Kelli Linton, via email

A In some other Caribbean islands, many visitors only venture out of their beach resort on occasional organised excursions. But Barbados is really easy to get around independently on the excellent local buses, and they’re cheap — you can go on any journey for just US$2 (£1.50). Or hire a car, and at only 34km long and 22km wide, distances on the island are not that great at all.

Numerous attractions include the rolling interior of sugar cane fields dotted with plantation houses, botanical gardens, rum distilleries, and Anglican churches and cricket greens in every village. Then there’s the tranquil and unspoiled east coast, pummelled by wild Atlantic waves, which has great isolated hikes along the clifftops and caves to explore. The capital, Bridgetown, offers waterside walks and British military architecture at the Garrison Historic Area, or you can simply go shopping or hang out in rum shops with local Bajans.

But don’t dismiss the beach altogether though – you’ll find some of the Caribbean’s best restaurants on the glam west coast. Relaxing and eating well on a sunny deck overlooking the ocean is also part of the charm of Barbados, even if you don’t want to sit on the actual sand.

Lizzie Williams, author of Footprint’s Barbados guidebook

Q I’m off to Muscat for a quick city break but I’m also a keen birdwatcher. Where’s the best place to spot birds in the Omani capital, and what can I see there?

Caroline Parry, via email

A The top site for birders is Al Ansab Wetland, a nature reserve located near the new Muscat Expressway. The wetland is open on weekdays (7am–3pm only) but closed on weekends (Friday and Saturday).

Greater flamingos, ten species of duck (including ferruginous duck), almost as many species of heron, and many waders will be obvious. Binoculars are essential and a telescope will be useful – the friendly staff will often bring their own telescope. Look for blackwinged stilts, red-wattled lapwings and white-tailed lapwings.

A nearby area here attracts several greater-spotted eagles and western marsh harriers. From the hide overlooking the spillover dam, check for little and Temminck’s stints, wood and green sandpipers as well as Jack, common and pin-tailed snipes. The latter will test your identification skills. For more details, visit www.birdsoman.com. And happy birding!

‘Numerous attractions include sugar cane fields dotted with plantation houses, botanical gardens and rum distilleries’

Jens Eriksen & Richard Porter, co-authors of Helm Field Guides’ Birds of Oman guidebook