Food & Drink

Now this is absolutely our favourite reason for travelling anywhere. Whether you want to visit a famous restaurant, or just to sample the culinary treats of a region, or let your hair down and your belt out at a full on food festival, it is just a great focus for a holiday. Regardless of whether you are gourmet or gourmand, the train offers the handiest and most refined travel for this sort of trip, allowing you to sleep off your indulgences between stops.

Europe is crammed full of gastronomic treats. Our next door neighbours, the French, gave the world the Michelin Star, and produce some of its finest wines, and so a tour of France amply rewards the hungry and the thirsty. Try a weekend in Lyons or Marseilles, both overflowing with fabulous restaurants. Let's move further afield - a chocolate festival in Bruges, a truffle festival in Italy, herring festivals in Scandinavia - it's all happening out there.

Similarly we can't think of a better reason to go to Japan than for the food - sushi and saki may not be everyone's cup of green tea, but there is a lot more to Japanese cuisine than that.

America may not be an obvious culinary destination, but it is blessed with a delightfully eccentric range of food festivals and regional foodie oddities. Check out the Hope Watermelon Festival, the National Hard Crab Derby Competition, the Chuckwagon Cook-Off or the Bridge City Gumbo Festival.

Australia is a good place to head for food and wine lovers - there are hundreds of highly acclaimed restaurants in the country's cities, and the nation's chefs are some of the most adventurous in the culinary world (so no, it's not all shrimps on the barbie). And the Australian wine culture should need no introduction. Get an Austrail flexipass and go indulge yourself.