TrodPod

Ukraine is Europe's second-largest country and, right now, a byword for resilience. Beneath the headlines of war lies a nation of golden-domed monasteries, grand boulevards, and some of the richest farmland on Earth — the fabled "breadbasket of Europe." From ancient Kyiv to Habsburg-flavoured Lviv and cosmopolitan, Mediterranean-tinged Odesa, this is a place of deep history, fierce culture, and extraordinary courage. Travel i...

Tunisia is the ancient, sun-baked heart of the Maghreb: a small North African country carrying a hell of a lot of history. This is where mighty Carthage once challenged Rome, where Roman mosaics and amphitheaters rival Italy's own, and where whitewashed medinas, Saharan oases, and Mediterranean beaches sit within easy reach of one another. Add couscous by the platterful, warm hospitality, and a starring role in the Arab Spring, and...

Luxembourg is one of Europe's least likely little states — a tiny Grand Duchy wedged between France, Germany, and Belgium that punches absurdly above its weight. It's clean, green, multilingual, and eye-wateringly wealthy: a place of clifftop old towns, fairy-tale castles, subterranean fortresses, and surprisingly wild hiking country. Think of it as the jewelry box of Europe — beautiful, orderly, and, frankly, rather pr...

Kenya is East Africa at its most iconic — the Africa of documentaries and daydreams. Endless golden savannah roamed by lions and elephants, snow-flecked peaks, a Swahili coast of dhows and carved doors, and a fast, modern capital where rhinos graze against a skyline. It's the cradle of humankind, a major continental hub, and one of the great safari destinations on Earth — a country that has a habit of feeling, almost im...

The United Arab Emirates is where desert tradition collides, gloriously, with unrestrained ambition. In a few short decades, seven emirates have transformed from pearl-diving villages into one of the glitziest, most future-facing places on Earth. Yes, Dubai does the record-breaking skyscrapers and surreal excess — but there's far more here: Abu Dhabi's world-class museums, the palm-shaded oasis of Al Ain, and the wild mountai...

North Korea is the world’s most isolated country, and visiting it is one of travel’s most surreal experiences. Everything is controlled, curated and choreographed – and yet, within those constraints, there is genuine wonder to be found. The Mass Games alone are worth the trip: a spectacle of such audacious scale it defies belief. Beyond Pyongyang, ancient tombs and historic cities hint at a Korean cultural heritag...

Guatemala is the beating heart of the Maya world –  a small, mountainous Central American country where volcanoes loom over colonial towns, jungle swallows ancient pyramids, and market colour spills into every corner. It's a place people arrive at for a few days and leave a year later, seduced by Lake Atitlán's spiritual calm, Antigua's café culture, and some of the most spectacular archaeological sites on Earth.

Lov...

The Gambia is Africa’s smallest mainland country: a slender ribbon of land wrapped around the river that gives it its name and almost entirely enclosed by Senegal. What it lacks in size it makes up for in warmth - both climatic and human. Known as the Smiling Coast of Africa, it offers golden Atlantic beaches, over 600 species of bird, a river teeming with life and a history both painful and profound. From Europe, there is no...

Mauritius is the kind of place that looks almost too good to be true in the brochure - and then turns out to be exactly as advertised. A volcanic island adrift in the Indian Ocean, ringed by coral reefs and fringed with beaches of absurd perfection, it has parlayed its natural assets into one of Africa’s most prosperous economies. But it is more than just a beach destination: beneath the resorts lies a complex, multicultural ...

Laos is Southeast Asia’s quietest secret: a landlocked, mountainous country of saffron-robed monks, mist-wreathed karst peaks and a pace of life so languid it makes its neighbours look frantic. Once the Kingdom of Lan Xang — the Land of a Million Elephants — it was later the most heavily bombed country per capita in history, a fact that still shapes its landscape and its people. Today, it blends Buddhist tradition...

Peru is South America’s superstar, and it knows it. From the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu to the culinary fireworks of Lima, from the enigmatic Nazca Lines to the vast green sprawl of the Amazon, this is a country of almost absurd variety. It has been reinventing itself for decades and keeps getting better. The food alone would justify the airfare. The rest is a bonus of civilization-spanning proportions.

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Benin is a small, narrow strip of a country on the West African coast with a history vastly disproportionate to its size. This was the seat of the Kingdom of Dahomey, one of Africa’s most powerful and militarized states, and a pivotal node in the Atlantic slave trade. It is also the birthplace of Vodun - the spiritual tradition that traveled across the ocean and became Haitian Vodou, Brazilian Candomblé, and Cuban Santería. B...

Turkey is one of those rare countries that genuinely straddles civilizations. Straddling Europe and Asia, it has absorbed the legacies of Hittites, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans and turned them into something entirely its own. Istanbul alone could occupy a lifetime. Add Cappadocia’s surreal landscapes, the Roman grandeur of Ephesus, the thermal terraces of Pamukkale, and a cuisine that ranks among the world’s ...

Belarus is Europe’s great enigma: a landlocked country of vast forests, Soviet-scale boulevards and a political reality that makes it one of the continent’s most unusual destinations. Under the long rule of Alexander Lukashenko, it has earned the nickname ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’ - yet visitors often find a country of quiet charm, genuine warmth and a cultural resilience that defies the headlines. ...

One hundred episodes. Twenty years on the road. Six continents and counting. To mark our centenary, we're doing something different: no single country this week, but a victory lap through the very best of the world's first half. Join us as we hand out wildly subjective, fiercely defended awards for the most sacred site, the most beautiful city, the greatest road trip, the finest cuisine... the wheat, the chaff, and everything in be...

Bulgaria is the Balkans’ best-kept secret, which is both its charm and its tragedy. Sandwiched between Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Greece and Turkey, it offers Black Sea beaches, dramatic mountain ranges, ancient Thracian tombs, crumbling Ottoman mosques and an Orthodox monastic tradition of extraordinary beauty – all at prices that make Western Europe weep. The yogurt is excellent, the wine is underrated, and the...

Zambia is where the walking safari was born, and the country remains one of Africa’s finest wildlife destinations – raw, uncrowded and thrillingly authentic. From the thundering curtain of Victoria Falls to the intimate game viewing of South Luangwa, this is a country that rewards those willing to venture off the beaten path. It is also one of the continent’s most peaceful and politically stable nations, which hel...

Pakistan routinely astonishes visitors with the gap between reputation and reality. The north alone – a staggering wall of peaks including five of the world’s fourteen eight-thousanders – would justify the trip. But there is so much more: the ancient ruins of Mohenjo-daro, the Mughal splendour of Lahore, the frontier energy of Peshawar, and hospitality so generous it will bloe you away. This is South Asia at its m...

Botswana is the quiet achiever of southern Africa: a landlocked, sparsely populated country that transformed itself from one of the world’s poorest nations at independence in 1966 into one of the continent’s most stable and prosperous democracies, largely on the back of diamonds. For travelers, though, the draw is wild. The Okavango Delta, the Kalahari Desert and the Chobe River system together make this one of the fine...