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Artists, and art lovers, have been coming to western Cornwall for centuries, but the picture-postcard appeal of St Ives, with its Tate Gallery and Barbara Hepworth Garden, tends to steal the limelight from its plainer sister, Penzance. Yet this historic port has much to love: atmospheric pubs, smart restaurants, designer-y shops and galleries that have established it firmly on Cornwall's art trail. Gallery-cum-boutique hotel Artist Residence is on Chapel Street, the most charming and browsable street in Penzance's old quarter. But for art lovers the real draw is the original designs by British artists in the hotel's 14 bedrooms. The reception area opens into a spacious cafe-gallery hung with paintings of Cornwall (all for sale) and mismatched shabby-chic tables and chairs. On a sunny Saturday it's buzzing with couples and young families, setting a laid-back tone for the rest of the hotel. Friendly staff show us to the Picture Room, a light and airy double with crisp white linen and walls hung with playful graphic prints saying things such as "Rise and shine". It's modest rather than spacious: a comfy double bed leaves room for two stylish arm chairs and a desk with views to the neighbouring buildings. (Only the two attic rooms have sea views.)

Power of the poster The taxi driver left us in a quiet residential area. There were no signs to indicate the existence of the Propaganda Poster Art Centre in Shanghai. We entered a block of flats, walked down long corridors, past front doors and a windowless flight of stairs to a plain wooden door with a tattered handwritten sign on it. The furtiveness of it made it feel illegal. The small museum was packed with more than 5,000 posters which, up to 1979, were a very powerful tool for propaganda. The power of the exaggeratedly happy facial features in the early posters and the presence of red-and-black art style, promoting Chairman Mao and the Cultural Revolution in the later ones, were evocative. Photographs showed the posters and political slogans daubed over buildings. It was surreal to be in a secretive, windowless basement in China and actually see and imagine the ways that public opinion had been moulded in former times. Judy Langworthy, from Derbyshire, wins a walking holiday with Mickledore Creative Corner Queenstown, New Zealand - on every street corner it seems there is an opportunity to buy an adventure: rafting, bungee-jumping, zip wire, jetboat - the list seems endless in the macho atmosphere of the adrenalin capital of the world. But turn the corner into Beach Street and at No 45 you find a complete contrast. For this is the gallery of New Zealand's leading landscape artist, Tim Wilson, who paints the spectacular world of the Southern Alps and Fiordland on a grand scale. Huge panels, diptychs, triptychs, all painted with up to 30 layers of paint, which produce a dramatic three-dimensional effect that mesmerises the senses. State-of-the-art lighting can be adjusted to completely alter the visual effect, bringing out features that were hardly noticed at first. If you're lucky, Tim will be there, working on one of his creations, but not too busy to speak to admirers of his work. What a gem.

Music insiders offered insights and travel tips about the world of music festivals at a Saturday panel at the L.A. Times Travel Show called "On the Road: Traveling for Music & Festivals." The panel returns noon Sunday. Times staff writer Jessica Gelt led the discussion with Betto Arcos, host of KPFK's Global Village; Rick Farman, creator of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival and Outside Lands; and Nigel Dick, filmmaker. Secrets to tickets If tickets sell out quickly, Farman recommended companies that sell packages, noting most are VIP packages. Bottom line: Be prepared to spend more if you really want in to a particular festival. If you miss out on buying tickets to the multi-day Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in England or other big festivals, Nigel Dick suggests checking out smaller festivals in Europe, even if there are no big acts. It's still a chance to have a cool cultural experience. Navigating a festival Do not get overwhelmed by all there is to see and do. "Festivals are not programmed for people to see everything. They're for people to have lots of different experiences," Farman said. Arcos said to "spend some time looking at the program, highlight those shows you have to see and then if you feel you've seen enough you can leave and go see another act." Farman recommends that you "budget more than half of your time for just wandering around." That is how you learn about new artists and acts, he said. Split time between city and festival If the festival is in a field, it may be hard to spend time sightseeing. But if it's in or near enough to a city, plan to squeeze in a few tourist activities between shows. "Spend a few hours in the morning making sure you can check out the sites or leave early and go to a local restaurant," Farman said.

With flowering public gardens and boulevards made for strolling hand-in-hand, this is the perfect time of year to visit the City of Light. Here, we share our favorite tips for finding the perfect views, affordable meals, and making Paris your own. Have a plan, but be flexible John Baxter, author of The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris, recommends that you pick one must-see for each day in Paris, but improvise the rest of the day. This combination of planning and spontaneity is ideal for Paris, a city that offers not only super-famous sights like the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Arc de Triomphe, but also super-secret spots that are all the more special for being off the beaten path. "Paris can't be done with just a map or a guidebook. You have to get lost, frustrated, Overwhelmed. Get the perfect view Dubbed "this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower" by the city's most prominent artists when it was proposed by engineer Gustave Eiffel, Parsons ultra-iconic observation tower debuted as the entrance to the 1889 World's Fair and quickly became so popular that it was never taken down. See the gardens Sure, museums like the Louvre and D'Orsay insist on keeping world-famous paintings like the Mona Lisa indoors and that's where you've got to go to see them. But if you visit Paris in springtime, don't stay cooped up inside. Do lunch A lot of sit-down restaurants in Paris will set you back hundreds of bucks at dinner time. Save them for a (really) special occasion. But Baxter reminds us that prices at some of the top joints can be 50 percent lower at lunch time.