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Why go? Known as the Dragons Tail, this 30-mile peninsula poking into the Irish Sea feels like a place apart: a stronghold for Welsh language and culture with a distinct microclimate which can see it basking in sunshine while the rest of north Wales is lashed by rain. The chichi yachting town of Abersoch may have been colonised by well-heeled holidaymakers and second homers, but elsewhere youll find empty golden beaches, fishing hamlets and peaceful clifftop walks. What to do Start by visiting Porth y Went, the new National Trust centre in Aberdaron (nationaltrust.org.uk). You can pick up maps, walking routes and ideas for days out, such as a visit to the "whistling sands" at Porthor which squeak as you walk on them, or a boat trip to Bardsey Island, a medieval pilgrimage site. Llyˆn Adventures can organise canoeing, kayaking and coasteering (llynadventures.com), but if you prefer to stay on dry land, the Wales Coast Path runs right around the peninsula. For a day at the beach, Llanbedrog is postcard-perfect.

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.

The Canary Island that tourism forgot, Greece and Portugal set to be this year's star destinations and Cotswolds villages. Why go? A half-hour ferry hop from Lanzarote, this is the Canary isle that tourism forgot. There's just one village, sleepy little Caleta del Sebo, with a smattering of whitewashed houses and sandy lanes (there are no surfaced roads on the island) and in winter the glorious beaches, volcanic peaks and dive sites are virtually empty. What to do There are no "sights" as such: people come here for the sunshine, silence and sense of escape. Take a water taxi or Jeep to the white-sand beaches of Playa de las Conchas or Playa de la Cocina - among the most beautiful in the Canaries - or explore Europe's largest marine reserve on a dive trip (buceolagraciosa.es). Where to stay There are no hotels - just a handful of private apartments and simple pensions. Casa Rio in Caleta del Sebo is a bright, well-equipped two-bedroom apartment with sea views from the roof terrace (from €560 per week, graciosagetaways.com). Where to eat Cafe Mesón de La Tierra has the best views of the harbour and the menu del día is great value at €7 (00 34 679 955 969). El Girasol (Calle la Popa 2) is the place to go for fresh seafood - the "vieja", or parrotfish, is a local speciality. Insider tip Adrian Fisk, owner of Casa Rio, recommends taking a boat to Playa del Risco on Lanzarote - a long stretch of fine, golden sand that lies under the spectacular cliffs of Famara. "The only access is by boat or walking down the cliffs," says Fisk, "and most days you will have the beach to yourselves. Take a picnic and spend all day there. The old salt fields are great to explore." Hotspots for 2014: Portugal and Greece to be this year's top destinations Having waded through the annual glut of Where's Hot for 2014 lists, one could be forgiven for assuming we'll all be spending our summer holidays cheering on England in Brazil.

Head to one of these ski resorts to ensure you spend as much time as possible on the slopes Weekend skiing at its best means maximum time on snow and minimum time away from work. Achieving this involves detailed planning, professional help from a specialist tour operator - or both. The argument is that two full days - or better, three - on the mountain can be just as rewarding as a week. Most suitable resorts are within a 90-minute drive from a major airport. Specialist companies will meet you off your evening flight. They will have already arranged lift pass, equipment rental, and guide in advance so that no time is wasted on the first morning. Laax, Switzerland Laax is linked to Flims and Falera, and together they form one of Europe's largest but least-known ski areas with 220km of mainly intermediate pistes. The skiing goes up to 3,018m with the lower villages at 1,100m. A daily shuttle service from Friedrichshafen and Zurich airports takes 90 minutes and costs £103 return. The area opens at weekends in November and the winter season lasts from November 30 to April 21. Laax is unofficially the freestyle capital of the Alps and attracts a strong 20-something following, with the action both on and off the slopes centred upon Laax Murschetg, the most ski-convenient bedbase. Best for all standards, party-goers. Recommended tour operators Alpine Answers (020 7801 1080: alpineanswers.co.uk), Iglu Ski (020 8542 6658; igluski.com), PowderBeds (0845 180 5000; powderbeds.com), Powder Byrne (020 8246 5300; powderbyrne.com), Ski Safari (01273 224060; skisafari.com), Ski Solutions (020 7471 7700; skisolutions.com), Sno.co.uk (020 8133 8899; sno.co.uk), Snow Finders (01858 466883; snowfinders.co.uk), Snow-wise (020 3397 8450; snow-wise.com), Zenith Holidays (020 3137 7678; zenithholidays.co.uk).

Telegraph Travel's new app promises to cut through the white noise to bring you only the very best of a destination. Written by resident experts, the free app offers innovative functionality and intuitive advice. Want to make the most of your holiday? Let our award-winning experts help you explore the world's leading destinations with this must-have app. Already selected by Apple as one of their "best new apps" it includes New York, Amsterdam, Rome and Paris among its initial destinations, with Barcelona, Edinburgh and Venice among those to follow. Our resident experts have personally reviewed every attraction, restaurant, bar, beach and shop to bring you only the very best the destination has to offer. Built with offline access and solely reliant on GPS to track your movements, there is no risk of expensive roaming charges. Once you have downloaded them - and some 15,000 of you have this week already done so - you can use the apps to navigate around the destination with the Telegraph as your guide. Short, insightful reviews written especially for the app, easy-to-use interactive maps and simple categorisation will help you ensure your next choice is the right choice. We won't just leave you at the door either - each recommendation comes with tips and insider knowledge about the local delicacies to order, how to get the best table, how to beat the queues and how to save money. As well as hand-picked recommendations, our experts have created customised itineraries to help you plan the perfect trip. All the key information - such as phone numbers, prices, websites and booking advice - will also be at your fingertips. Every location is plotted on your iPhone's map, so you can see where you are and quickly get where you need to go and all the information is constantly reviewed and updated. Over the coming weeks we will be adding new destinations and new functionality, but we also want to hear from you. Where do you want this app to take you

Ask the experts: Annie Bennett, our Spain expert, advises a reader who wants to walk part of the pilgrim's path to Santiago de Compostela. Patsy Lees writes A friend and I would like to walk part of the Way of St James to Santiago de Compostela, in June, but only have about five days free. The tour companies I have seen all seem to do longer tours. We are happy to make our own arrangements but are not sure where to start. Annie Bennett, Spain expert, replies Lots of people opt to do the pilgrimage in stages these days. The Confraternity of St James (csj.org.uk) should be your first port of call for general information. Have a look at the Spanish (spain.info) and Galician (turgalicia.es) tourist office websites too. Tour operators that organise self-guided trips include Camino Ways (caminoways.com), which offers a six-night holiday covering the last stretch of the most popular route, the Camino Francés, from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela - around 70 miles. Prices start at about £400 without flights, staying in family-run guesthouses or cottages, including breakfast and dinner, luggage transfers and walking notes. Bear in mind that there are several lesser-known, shorter routes too. Macs Adventure (macsadventure.com/camino-tours) can arrange a five-night walk covering the Camino Finisterre, where you actually start in Santiago de Compostela and walk to Finisterre on the Atlantic coast, a distance of around 5 miles, stopping off at fabulous beaches. This costs from £285 without flights, staying in simple rural hotels. Luggage transfer is £150 extra.

"BREAKFAST is nasty, the rooms are nasty." So complained a reviewer of an Oregon guesthouse earlier this year. There is nothing unusual in that: all hotels must deal with the odd disgruntled guest. This critique, though, appeared on TripAdvisor, a travel-review website. When the correspondent went on to document drunken housekeepers and licentious receptionists, the owners sued him. It was more than a point of pride. What customers say on TripAdvisor can make or break hotels. Around 260m people visit the site each month to read some of the 125m reviews. The firm makes money by displaying prices from online travel-agents (OTAs) alongside its reviews, and then charging those agents each time a customer clicks through. It is such a good example of a network effect that it is the subject of a Harvard Business School (HBS) case study. The more users post reviews, the more useful the site is to those about to book a holiday. This makes it more important to hotels and travel agents, who offer better deals. This results in more traffic-and more reviews-closing the virtuous circle. Last year TripAdvisor reported revenue of $944.7m. Because users post reviews free of charge, in 2012, Jeffrey Bussgang, an HBS lecturer, calculated that its gross margin was an astounding 98%. For these reasons, some think TripAdvisor may be able to take on the "big two" OTAs, Expedia (from which TripAdvisor was spun off in 2011) and Priceline, which on August 6th bought up to 10% of Ctrip, a large travel website in China. These firms sell flights and hotel rooms directly, rather than pass booking requests on to others, as TripAdvisor does. But, says Blake Harper of Wunderlich Securities, a stockbroker, the two ways of doing business are converging.

Whether we're innocently stalking our crush on Facebook or tweeting our deepest feelings into the depths of cyberspace, our iDevices have become integral to our daily social networking needs. Knowing this, app creators work tirelessly to come up with new ways to integrate various aspects of life into a social framework - new reasons to connect people. In this regard, developer Toby Gunston has come across a rather unique proposition: we all love to travel, but who wants to travel alone? That's where Travel Buddies comes in… The Travel Buddies app is the the mobile component of an already successful online hub for world travellers, and brings with it a rather useful suite of social functions for holiday-makers, road trippers and weekend wanderers. Aimed at users with a penchant for meeting new people and discovering new places, Travel Buddies builds a social network around the concept of looking for travel partners.