You know when you're wandering a new city and find yourself hungry and tired and somehow eating at a tourist joint? That won't happen at Amsterdam's De Hallen. 

The 19th century tram repair station has been converted into a hub for fashion, crafts and food. It's one of those renovations that gives hope to old buildings. And its Foodhallen brings together the best of the city under one roof offering everything from Dutch bitterballen to Thai fish soup. This is my story in The Globe and Mail on Amsterdam's first indoor food market.

Southern Ontario’s Prince Edward County is populated with grape growers, cheese makers and soon one more outpost for stressed-out condo dwellers: the Drake Devonshire Inn. Connected with Toronto's Drake Hotel, an artsy urban mainstay, the inn will trade big city hustle for big lake vistas, while keeping cottage goers in style (as you can see from these sneak peek photos and more). (The Wellington property opens Sept. 15)

Chris Loane, the new innkeeper for the Drake Devonshire and an urban escapee himself, shares five ways to experience this popular county in my new Insider for The Globe and Mail.

Happy hour sounds so cruise-ship, but, in Montreal, it’s just part of the bon vivant lifestyle. The city’s “5 à 7” is less about cheap drinks and more about starting the night out right. 

In this story for up! magazine, and armed with a shortlist of 17 recommendations (a shortlist!), I tackled the tough assignment of finding five local favourites where the party starts early -- and sometimes just carries on. Santé!

The Fairmont's Le Château Montebello is not your average Canadian cottage. In fact, it’s said to be the biggest log cabin in the world. And as such the expansive river-front property situated between Ottawa and Montreal offers biking, horse-back riding and drinking of cocktails at the piano bar. (Well, does your cottage have a grand piano?) 

But there's also much to discover in the surrounding town of Montebello. This is my story in Vacay.ca about exploring this unique Quebec getaway. 

Spanish sommelier Ferran Centelles can still recall the first aroma he recognized in a glass of wine – rose petals in a bottle of Muscat from Penedes. Since then, he’s gone on to identify and recommend many more, as a sommelier at the famed elBulli, and now as a teacher and Spanish wine specialist.

In my new Insider in The Globe and Mail, Centelles shares his favourite wine-and-food stops in Barcelona.

What makes Rome such a great culinary destination is that it is a working, living and eating city, says Elizabeth Minchilli, a food writer whose latest book, Eating Rome is making its way to presses.
Which means that despite its huge popularity among travellers, you can still stumble upon places favourited by locals. 
In my new Globe Insider, Minchilli recommends a Roman neighbourhood packed with culinary flavour. 

The photo there looks so... (gorgeous, tempting, beautiful) Hawaii. But what about a slice of 800-degree-cooked pizza or a neighbourhood of murals or a late-night noodle bar? 

Honolulu mixologist Dave Newman from gastropub Pint + Jigger reveals those local stops in my new Insider in The Globe and Mail. And he also mounts a strong defence for the classic mai tai. Cheers!

Zombies. Vampires. Bow-wielding heroines. There are a few reasons Atlanta has become known as Hollywood South. More than 300 productions were shot in the state last year, including The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,out this week. (If you're counting sleeps.)

That big- and small-screen imagination extends to the city’s bars, kitchens and theatre troops, says Chad Eikhoff, the founder of TRICK 3D, a local animation studio. In my Insider feature for The Globe and Mail, Eikhoff shares his five picks on where to find Atlanta's creative talent from JCT Kitchen's angry mussels to a Hunger Games hub. Enjoy. Just watch your back.

Blog bonus: Atlanta Movie Tours offers zombie and location tours in the capital. Or as they put it, Braaainss!

With a wood fire, a handful of botanicals and a German copper pot, Peter Hunt transforms plain grain spirit into the award-winning Victoria Gin. And he isn’t the only Victoria resident in the business of consumable alchemy.

From butchers to bakers, there are a lot of people “trying to really do something unique and creative,” says Hunt, a molecular biologist turned master distiller behind Victoria Spirits. 

So where to tap into this current of creativity? Here, in my Globe and Mail Insider, Hunt shares five downtown stops in the B.C. capital that will keep you fuelled all day long.  

“We are not sauerkraut.” So says Henrik Tidefjard of his company, Berlinagenten, which sends travellers and trendsetters beyond the museums and monuments.
 
In my new Insider in The Globe and Mail, read about Tidefjard's picks of cool places to explore in Berlin. There may be no sauerkraut, but you can expect Brandenburg tapas, cocktails created on the spot and an underground amusement park.