Staysion

Travel Journal

Stories from real places

Destination guides, honest hotel picks, and travel writing that actually helps you plan.

Showing 73–84 of 270 articles

Da Lat Travel Guide: Vietnam's Highland City for Coffee, Waterfalls, and Cooler Weather

19 May 2026

vietnam

Da Lat Travel Guide: Vietnam's Highland City for Coffee, Waterfalls, and Cooler Weather

Da Lat sits at 1,500m in the Langbiang Plateau in the Central Highlands — cool enough for a sweater in January, warm enough for a t-shirt in April. The French built a hill station here in 1907; the Vietnamese kept the villas, added strawberry farms and coffee plantations, and made it the country's most popular domestic honeymoon destination.

Henrik Vinter

Okinawa Travel Guide: Japan's Subtropical Islands, Explained

18 May 2026

japan

Okinawa Travel Guide: Japan's Subtropical Islands, Explained

Okinawa Prefecture consists of 160 islands spread across 1,000km of ocean between Japan and Taiwan. The main island has traffic, Shuri Castle, and the most US military bases outside the continental United States. The outer islands have some of the clearest water in Japan and almost no one on them.

Henrik Vinter

Da Nang Travel Guide: Beach City, Dragon Bridge, and the Base for Central Vietnam

17 May 2026

vietnam

Da Nang Travel Guide: Beach City, Dragon Bridge, and the Base for Central Vietnam

Da Nang is Vietnam's third-largest city and the most useful base for central Vietnam — 30 minutes from Hoi An, 2 hours from Hue, with its own beach (My Khe, 30km of flat sand), an international airport, and a city that has rebuilt itself almost entirely in the past 20 years.

Henrik Vinter

Kamakura Day Trip Guide: The Great Buddha, Coastal Temples, and When to Go

17 May 2026

japan

Kamakura Day Trip Guide: The Great Buddha, Coastal Temples, and When to Go

Kamakura is 50 minutes from Tokyo Station and contains 19 major temples, 5 major shrines, and a 13.35-metre bronze Great Buddha that has been sitting outdoors since the wooden building around it blew away in a 1334 typhoon. It is the easiest and most rewarding day trip from Tokyo.

Henrik Vinter

Sukhothai Travel Guide: Cycling Through Thailand's First Kingdom

16 May 2026

thailand

Sukhothai Travel Guide: Cycling Through Thailand's First Kingdom

Sukhothai was the capital of Thailand's first kingdom from the 13th to 15th centuries. The ruins — 193 temples spread across a 70 km² historical park — are best seen at dawn on a bicycle, before the tour buses arrive and while the mist still sits over the lotus ponds.

Henrik Vinter

Ninh Binh Guide: Tam Coc, Trang An, and the Karsts Without the Boat Traffic

15 May 2026

vietnam

Ninh Binh Guide: Tam Coc, Trang An, and the Karsts Without the Boat Traffic

Ninh Binh sits 90km south of Hanoi at the edge of a karst landscape — limestone mountains rising from rice paddies, river caves accessible by rowing boat, and one of Vietnam's most complete ancient imperial citadels. It is often called the inland Ha Long Bay, which understates how different it is from Ha Long Bay.

Henrik Vinter

Hanoi Travel Guide: Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Lake, and a Capital That Moves Fast

15 May 2026

vietnam

Hanoi Travel Guide: Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Lake, and a Capital That Moves Fast

Hanoi is Vietnam's capital and has been a city for over 1,000 years. The Old Quarter — 36 streets originally organised by trade guild — is still the commercial centre, still chaotic, and increasingly expensive. Hoan Kiem Lake sits at its edge like a pause button. The food is worth the trip by itself.

Henrik Vinter

Koh Phangan Travel Guide: Beyond the Full Moon Party

14 May 2026

thailand

Koh Phangan Travel Guide: Beyond the Full Moon Party

The Full Moon Party is real and it is worth doing once. But Koh Phangan is also a 168 km² island with a national park, a dozen quiet bays, a functioning yoga industry, and some of the best seafood in the Gulf of Thailand. Most of it has nothing to do with buckets and neon paint.

Henrik Vinter

Iceland Northern Lights Guide: When to Go, Where to Go, and What the Forecasts Mean

13 May 2026

iceland

Iceland Northern Lights Guide: When to Go, Where to Go, and What the Forecasts Mean

The aurora borealis is visible in Iceland from September through March when the sky is dark and solar activity is sufficient. It is genuinely unpredictable beyond 48 hours. A week-long trip gives a high probability of at least two or three good sightings. The difference between a green smear and a full-sky display is solar activity and clear skies — both outside anyone's control.

Henrik Vinter

Bohol Travel Guide: Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers, and Panglao Island

13 May 2026

philippines

Bohol Travel Guide: Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers, and Panglao Island

Bohol offers one of the more varied day circuits in the Philippines: geological formations unlike anything else in the region, the world's smallest primate, a river lunch, and a dive beach within 20 km of the ferry port.

Henrik Vinter

Sofia Travel Guide: Alexander Nevsky, Vitosha Mountain, and a Capital That's Still Cheap

12 May 2026

bulgaria

Sofia Travel Guide: Alexander Nevsky, Vitosha Mountain, and a Capital That's Still Cheap

Sofia is one of Europe's least expensive capital cities — a hotel room for €40, a restaurant meal for €6, a metro ticket for €0.90. The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, the Roman ruins under the city centre, and the mountain rising directly behind it are reasons to stay rather than transit.

Henrik Vinter

Bulgarian Black Sea Coast: Nesebar, Sozopol, Varna, and the Summer Season

11 May 2026

bulgaria

Bulgarian Black Sea Coast: Nesebar, Sozopol, Varna, and the Summer Season

The Bulgarian Black Sea coast draws millions of domestic and Eastern European visitors each summer. The beach resorts are busy and functional. The two things that distinguish it from any other European beach destination are Nesebar — a 3,000-year-old peninsula town with Byzantine church ruins — and prices that remain well below Greek or Croatian equivalents.

Henrik Vinter