British Airways
Caribbean Islands, Carribean Islands
A Caribbean Hotel Directory and Travel Guide since 2001o.
Greatrail
Train journeys, ocean and river cruises
Delicious Italy
Italy food, travel and culture – features itineraries, recipes, events and where to stay and where to eat reccommendations from North to South Italy together with local tour guides and operators.
The Hotel Guru
Genuinely independent, no kickback list of the top ten charming hotels for any given destination.
The Man in Seat Sixty-One . . .
Simply the most marvellous and compelling travel site for those wanting to plan rail and ferry journeys. Thank you Barry Cole, the afficionado of London to Rome travels, for suggesting it.
Worldwideinsure.com
We can’t remember who it was now, but someone who has worked at both Amnesty International and Pen, recommended WorldWideInsure, especially if you are going into countries or regions that have been a Foreign and Commonwealth Office warning.
Our selection of the five most experienced, unflappable and well-connected agencies (but beyond this we cannot choose - as they have all become friends). You can pay for pampering or adventure, or be wise with your cash and flicker between the two.
Cazenove & Loyd
Nomadic Thoughts
Kirker Travel
For cultural tours and short breaks (especially Italy) Kirker has a reputation based on pampering clients with portered luggage and smoothly-conducted transfers.
Steppes East
Tim Best
Peter Sommer Travel
A British-based operator, specializing in taking small groups on expert led cultural tours into Turkey, Greece, and Italy, as well as gulet cruises along these shores.
Corsican Places
Comes with 20 years of experience of the island and biggest choice of accommodation of the specialist travel agents.
Croatian Affair and / or Hidden Croatia
Croatian hotels, villas and cruises.
Desert Cruiser
Mohammed Marzouk's Desert Cruiser is based on Cairo but uses a team of expert local drivers and guides for jeep or camel expeditions into Egypts western desert with its string of oases (Siwa, Bahriya, Farafa, Kharga & Dhakla) or into the mountains of Sinai and the eastern desert.
Jannat Tours
Run by our friends Omar El-Naass and Nuri Lamin who will sort out your visa application, and can also book flights, internal connections and recommend hotels and experienced guides.
Journey Latin America
A well respected authority on travel in South America.
Mahout
Mary Anne Dennison-Penders' travel company; very useful resource for small hotels, villas and lodges in India, Australia, Morocco and Wilderness tours.
Simoon
Middle East specialists - with well established links with Iran, Algeria, Oman, Syria and Libya.
Syriana
The leading tour operators in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
Transindus.com
Well-established Indian specialist.
A personal selection of half a dozen of the leading specialists in Cultural Tours, where the history, archaeology, music, art and architecture is brought alive by expert lecturers. Groups tend to be between a dozen and two dozen, tours between five days and a fortnight in length.
Ace
Cambridge-based with its own well-established bedrock of clients who are content with simpler, slightly cheaper hotels.
Andante
Wiltshire-based with a strong leaning towards Roman remains, pre-history and archaeology.
Jon Baines
Specialist cultural & medical study tours , spiced with comparative religion, cookery. Hands-on cultural immersion - plus a useful sideline in golfing holidays.
Eastern Approaches
Based in the Scottish borders, run by an archaeologist who has dug in Afghanistan, Iraq and Central Asia.
Kudu
Culture with an additional emphasis on walks, food, opera and a slightly younger client profile.
Martin Randall
The brand leader but also usually the most expensive; especially reknowned for their own music tours down the Rhine and Danube and cruises through the Eastern Mediterranean.
Special Tours
Affiliated with the National Art Collection Fund and other charitable organisations which helps give their groups their own flavour.
Equine Adventures
Equitour
In the Saddle
Ride Worldwide
Exodus Travels
Explore
Inn Travel
Headwater
Sherpa
Walks Worldwide
Alastair Sawday’s Special Places to Stay
Bradt Guides
Hilary Bradt has been publishing travel guides for 30 years and has now clocked up over 90 titles
Cadogan Guides
Definitive Caribbean
Travel Intelligence
Fit for Travel
The National Travel Health Network and Centre
Travel with Care
Urban Rail
World Climate
The 153 Club
Ancient India & Iran Trust
British Egyptian Society
British Egyptian friendship society, with a full annual programme of lectures and dinners, useful website links to CAABU, Brooke Hospital, Soliman Travel etc and news updates.
British-Kazakh Society
British Library
British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES)
British Syrian Society
British-Yemen Society
The Chester Beatty Library
The Desert Dining Club
A small, simple 100-member club which meets once a year for a formal dinner and to hear a talk, open to all who share a passionate interest in the world's deserts.
Explorion
A site about exploration, travel with many of the historic accounts available online.
The Iran Society
Jane Trady Fine Art
New agency representing and showcasing contemporary Middle Eastern artists, at exhibitions, shows and cultural events.
The Japan Society
Isfahan
Dedicated site giving info on this world heritage site in Iran.
Oman Studies Centre
Society for Arabian Studies
Society for Court Studies
A think tank of the inter-relationship of power, patronage, art, dynasties and manners, top heavy with scholars and eminent historians but also impressively active and committed with a busy lecture programme, elegant literate journal (The Court Historian) and palace-based conferences.
The Society for Libyan Studies
Active group that runs four public lectures (held in the British Academy in February, May, October and December) sponsors digs, publish books, field reports and an annual academic journal.
Travel Literature
New independent forum for reviews and for sharing your passion for good travel books.
Armada Hotel 4*
Istanbul - just in from the sea walls seven minutes walk below Blue Mosque
Cornucopia
The world's most elegant and informative magazine about Turkey, Anatolia and Ottoman culture
Elixir Holidays
Top notch London-based travel agent.
Let's Go Turkey
General information plus real estate
mymerhaba.com
General information site angled at expatriates
Tussock Cruising
Istanbul - top notch squadron of gulets for cruising the Lycian & Carian shore of Turkey.
Turkey Travel Planner
Travel information compiled by ex guide book writer.
Yesil Ev
Istanbul - perfectly sited old mansion with courtyard garden, between Blue Mosque and Ayia Sophia.
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Brooke Pickering Moroccan Rugs
David Bamford Handmade Carpets
Master weaver and colourist of bespoke carpets and flatweaves, with a workshop in Bulgaria and Presteigne in Powys, Wales with forty years of experience.
Joss Graham
The doyen of British textile dealers, a walking encyclopedia of anthropology, the host of dozens of book launches and exhibitions who also has the added distinction of being the great-nephew of an Eland Morocco author, Walter Harris. On my last visit I found the Duchess of Cornwall cheerfully sorting out all her Christmas stocking needs in one shop.
Larusi
North London based specialist in Moroccan tribal weavings and contemporary crafts.
Moussem Tents
Moroccan Caidal tents for hire or purchase, based in South-West London.
Nomads Tent
Rufus Reade trades and exhibits carpets, killims and textiles, while also running a programme of cultural tours.
Owen Hargreaves
African tribal art, from small pieces of affordable 20th century jewelry to museum quality sculptures. Run by Owen Hargreaves and Jasmine Dahl.
Raj Tent Clubs
Stunning Tents
Specialist tent hire, out of the ordinary, films, weddings, celebrations.
World Tents
Buckinghamshire-based business creating yurts, scout tents, crusader campaign tents and teepees.
Bookaid International
Originally known as the Ranfurly Library service, when postwar British libraries were ransacked for gifts for new start-up African schools, it has steadily grown in scale, ambition and professionalism but yet kept to its original passion. “If education is the road out of poverty, books are the wheels needed for the journey” - Bookaid sources, selects and delivers to where they are needed most.
Child Hope
Feel confused about whether to give to beggars when you travel? But why not give to ChildHope as well. They support projects in India, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Brazil and eight other countries, giving shelter, education, health care, training and legal support to children living and working on the streets. Thousands of children, some as young as six, would still be working as prostitutes, wrongly imprisoned, raped, scared, alone and ignored without their work.
Education Action International
formerly known as the World University Service. One of the few surviving institutions from the old League of Nations. Works with people affected by conflict in their home countries (ore refugee camps) providing support for basic education, literacy and employment training.
Education For All Morocco
Small but well organised British-Berber association to help educate girls from rural Morocco.
Medecins sans frontieres
On the side of the angels and born in France, MSF provides emergency medical relief where it is most needed, currently deployed in about 80 countries. One of the few medical charities that is genuinely free from any governmental or political manipulation. They have a scheme where you can provide a regular monthly bank order in return for receiving a concise annual report - and no further postal appeals.
Water Aid
An international organisation that is exclusively concerned with providing safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene to those who do not possess them.
Art Republic
Mosaiques
An annual ten-day festival of world culture (usually held in the middle of May) focused on writing, documentaries and new films. It is run by the Institut Francais (17, Queensberry Place, South Kensington, London SW7 2DT) but makes use of such alterntive cinema houseas as Brixton's Ritzy, Greenwich Picture House and Peckhamplex.
Music Village/London Diaspora
The permanent organisation behind such annual festivals as Music Village and London Diaspora. Music Village is a gathering of world musicians brought to play at a series of concerts in June and July (often for free in London parks) or at reasonably-priced concert halls. London Diaspora draws upon the cities own extraordinary diverse world communities.
What's On and When
The local guide for the local traveller.
Arts & Letters Daily
An extraordinary (but dangerously addictive) free daily service, clipping its way through hundreds of newspapers from home and abroad, radio stations, columnists, blogs and book review pages.
The Browser
Fascinating weekly summary of news, important articles with every week an author talking their way through five seminal books.
Cornucopia
The world's most elegant and informative magazine about Turkey, Anatolia and Ottoman culture.
London Review of Books
opinionated fortnightly newspaper that grew out of the cultural death of the Times newspaper during the 1979 lock-out. Leading exponent of the essay length review, be it of books, writers, politics or contemporary issues. Also runs fabulous independent bookshop in street opposite British Museum
The London Magazine
leading bi-monthly literary journal
Slightly Foxed: The Real Reader’s Quarterly
Dedicated, highly independent quarterly book guide run by ex-editors from John Murray, directed at The Real Reader and bursting with enthusiasm for books.
The Times Literary Supplement
Invaluable broad review with only a slight wiff of academia about it, tends to have smaller, more tightly focused reviews than the LRB. Now stapled so that it doesn't fall to pieces in the train.
The New York Review of Books
Bannered as 'The premier literary-intellectual magazine in English language.' Sort of half way between the LRB and TLS (and featuring many of the same writers) but with a breezy trans-Atlantic confidence that happily strays into broader cultural themes, so you get television, cinema and theatre. Also has a truly wonderful list of literary classics.
Poetry Books
Founded by T S Eliot in 1953, the PBS is a book club that reviews, selects and allows readers to buy at discount or subscribe to annual award winning selections.
Poetry London
one of the most active of the British poetry magazines.
Poetry Translation
New start-up that will assist in translation of contemporary third-world poets (using skilled services of recognized English poets) as well as assisting in publicising poets in their own languages amongst the immigrant communities within Britain.
Poetry School
Annual programme of training events from beginners to master-classes.
The Poetry Society
Membership based club, open to all, that encourages study and use of poetry.
Alma Books
Preceded by the Hesperus Press, Alma Books focus on the publication of translated fiction.
American University in Cairo Press
Everything about Egyptian history, art and politics but also innovatve publisher of Egyptian fiction. Also run small bookshop chain within Egypt.
Angel Books
Specialist literature list, especially strong on German and Russian writers in translation.
Arcadia Books
Focus on 'world writing' in all its myriad forms…
Asian Educational Services
Dedicated independent publisher, based in New Delhi and Madras that reissues books about the history, travel and langauge of India.
Bennett & Bloom
Specialist publishers for the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Bitter Lemon Press
Bitter Lemon specialises in publishing 'the best crime and romance noirs from faraway places', including Saskia Noort's 'The Dinner Club'.
Black Dog Publishing
Infusing style into every stage of the publication of their illustrated books, Shoreditch based BDP cover a wide range of non-fiction subjects.
David Godine
A wonderful, and eclectic literary list, as if the old Harvill list have been resurrected in the United States.
Dedalus
Original English language fiction in paperback – often with a surrealist-gothick-decadent whiff to it.
Desert Winds
Publish Tom Sheppard's immaculately researched and photographed travels across the Sahara by vehicle.
The Dovecote Press
Dovecote
has just set up its own paperback division, Little Toller Books (run by the daughter). Dovecote was started back in 1974 in a barn overlooking the water meadows of Wimborne Minster with a string of Dorset titles, but (some two hundred titles later) it is spreading its wings, to the extent that it has just published John Julius Norwich’s memoirs.
Granta
Top notch literary magazine and general literature list, strong in translation work.
Haus Publishing
Specialising in biography and travel, Haus publish a multitude of accounts of people who have changed the world, or have merely traversed it…
Hurst
Dedicated specialist on Islam, Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa.
I.B.Tauris
London’s leading academic publisher for the Middle East but also strong in film studies and general politics and history list.
Latin America Bureau
Society for Latin America Studies.
Melisende Publishing
Scholarly publisher specializing on architecture, religion and culture of the lands of Islam & the Middle East.
Michael Russel (Publishing Ltd)
Wilby Hall
Wilby
Norwich
NR16 2JP
T:
01953-887776
Iconic independent literary list, upholding the old crafts of book production and design. Military, biography, travel, memoirs and diaries - a book collectors treasure trove with its elegant clocktower colophon.
Orient Longman
Business name for 'Permanent Black', a versatile, innovative publishing house set up in India in the year 2000 but already with an impressive backlist of 200 books and established as India's most prestigious academic imprint.
Persephone Books
Fittingly named after the Greek goddess of the Underworld, Persephone re-publish fiction predominantly written by women during the inter-war period.
Pushkin
Elegantly produced literature list – especially strong in European writers.
Reportage Press
New publishing house specialising in books on foreign affairs.
Saqi
Distinctive family-run publishers above wonderful bookshop in Westbourne Grove. Middle East, new fiction, history and politics.
Short Books
Innovative new general list publisher with additional list of short biographies.
Signal Books
Signal Books produces a refreshing mix of innovative travel guides and cultural studies.
Snow Books
Snow Books publish a considerable breadth of titles ranging from women's literature to martial arts via illustration, all tied by the Company's strong commitment to style and presentation.
Sort of Books
The small general list par excellence, publishers of Men & Dogs, Driving Over Lemons & Gabriel Zaid’s So Many Books.
Tomorrow's Books
Insider book information from author Anthony Gardner, who doubles as Editor of the Royal Society of Literature.
www.UKBookworld.co.uk
www.bookfinder.com
www.abe-books.co.uk
Vineyards Direct
Was recently set up by two legendary entrepreneurs, David Campbell (of Everyman Publishers) and Esme Johnstone (Majestic Wine) to connect family run vineyards with individual buyers.
Arvon Foundation
Runs five day residentail writing courses taught by active writers and open to anyone.
British Guild of Travel Writers
British National Union of Journalists
Download a printed application for membership.
Dea Birkett & Rory Maclean
Renowned Guardian columnist Dea Birkett and acclaimed travel-writer Rory Maclean have teamed up to run a series of writing workshops, training days and weekends. Targeted at those who are new to travel writing or who want to improve their writing skills. The aim of the day is to ensure an editor or publisher can only say 'Yes!'.
Poetry Translation
New start-up that will assist in translation of contemporary third-world poets (using skilled services of recognized English poets) as well as assisting in publicising poets in their own languages amongst the immigrant communities within Britain.
Travellers' Tales
Writers Workshop
Oxford based service which offers casual advice for free, with a team of writers for paid manuscript assessements (£160) or £3.50 per thousand words.
Lesley Blanch
William Dalrymple
Dervla Murphy
Jason Elliot
Fergus Fleming
Jason Goodwin
Amar Grover
Michael Jacobs
Tim Mackintosh-Smith
Rory MacLean
Philip Mansel
John Julius Norwich
Barnaby Rogerson
Eland's co-owner is also a prolific writer and recognized authority on North Africa and early Islam. As well countless articles for newspapers and magazines, he has written several books including a history of North Africa and a biography of The Prophet Muhammad.
Kevin Rushby
Anthony Sattin
Tahir Shah
Rory Stewart
Colin Thubron
Wilfred Thesiger
William Woodruff
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