Night of song in Verona
We have tickets for Turandot in the Arena di Verona in August. Can you tell us how we should dress, if we should take a picnic and whether we will be able to eat afterwards - after midnight?
We'll be in Verona for four days. What else should we make sure we see? Is it possible to include a day trip to Venice?
John Dinning, Cardiff
The arena in Verona is one of the finest places in the world to see opera. Smart casual dress is right for the occasion, with perhaps a light jacket in case you get cold as the evening wears on. Vendors circulate selling food and drink, but you may want to eat first to make sure a rumbling stomach doesn't spoil the show. The cafes on the Piazza Bra only offer half-hearted fare at best, leaving the views from the arena to make up for the high prices.
In Verona, strolling the medieval streets and soaking up the atmosphere is a great way to pass the time. The city has some fine old churches. Of particular interest is the Duomo, which boasts a fresco of the Assumption by Titian, and the Chiesa di Sant'Anastasia, which is breathtakingly painted. Buy a Verona Card, giving you access to all the churches and other sites for £8.50, which is good value if you're going to see many of the attractions.
Verona is an excellent base to explore the Veneto. Venice is less than an hour away by train, and arriving this way allows you to sample what must be the best exit from any train station in Europe, right on the Grand Canal. Trains are normally more than hourly all day, and the fare should be between £5 and £8. Trenitalia can provide schedules. If you have time, Vicenza and Padua are both character-filled towns easily accessible from Verona. The Italian State National Tourist Board (ENIT) (020 7408 1254) has more on the Veneto and the rest of Italy.
Snake-pills in Taiwan
My wife and I are going on a cruise in February. We call at Manila, in the Philippines, where we will spend between 8am and 8pm one day, and Keelung in Taiwan, where we'll be from noon until 11pm. What excursions can we take?
Robert Durant, by email
Visiting some of Manila's frenetic markets is a good way to immerse yourself in local colour and grab a few souvenirs. The Baclaran Flea Market in Pasay City, south of the centre, is good for clothes and electronics bargains.
Around the church in Quiapo, near the port district, is a fascinating array of apothecary stalls, selling herbal and religious medicines, amulets and witches' brews. Don't try the black mahogany seed infusion - it may cure what ails you, but it could also poison you.
Visit the better museums in both cities for an insight into life there. In Manila the outstanding Museum of the Pilipino People is near the port area, in Rizal Park. It has excellent displays of archaeology, anthropology and history. The Metropolitan Museum houses wonderful contemporary Filipino art and is also worth a visit.
Local people place huge importance on the comfort of their dead. At the Chinese Cemetery in Santa Cruz, some tombs have crystal chandeliers, air-conditioning, hot and cold running water and kitchens.
In Taipei we recommend the National Palace Museum, home to the world's largest collection of ancient Chinese art - all 700,000 artefacts. It closes at 5pm and there is a guided tour at 3pm. It is in Waishuanghsi, part of the Shihlin area. Take a taxi or an MRT train to Shihlin and transfer to buses 255 or 304.
Sample the great shopping and hawker fare found at the Huahsi Night Market, a short walk from the Temple. The market is known as Snake Alley due to its live cobras. Fancy some snake-penis pills or snake bile? They're all there. For more on the Philippines contact its tourist board on 020 7835 1100 and for Taiwan try the Taiwan Tourist Bureau on 020 7396 9152.
Washington hotels
I'm planning a honeymoon to Washington and Virginia in July, and want to stay in a memorable hotel or guesthouse in the city for the first five days. Your help would be gratefully received. I have budgeted around £600 for this portion of the trip.
Rhys Jones, Cardiff
Washington has a selection of upmarket hotels to help you have a memorable honeymoon among the museums and monuments of America's capital. Though their rates vary from £100 to £300 a night, you'll often find discounts for weekends or quieter times of year. Shop around. Agencies such as Capitol Reservations sometimes offer lower rates than the hotels themselves to compete with other agencies.
The Morrison-Clark Inn (00 1 202 898 1200) is a boutique hotel built in two nineteenth-century townhouses and listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It serves excellent southern cuisine.
The most distinguished visitors' book is at the Willard Inter-Continental (00 1 202 628 9100). It was here Martin Luther King wrote his 'I Have a Dream' speech, and Presidents Lincoln, Coolidge and Harding all stayed in hotels on this site.
If you find the political atmosphere overbearing, try the excellent Georgetown Inn (00 1 202 333 8900). It has rooms running through a collection of restored eighteenth-century houses with four-poster beds and top-notch service.
Racing bulls
My friend and I want to visit the Pamplona bull-running festival in July. Can you recommend cheap places to stay, and do the Spanish segregate men and women into different dorms?
Katie Taylor, by email
The fiesta de San Fermìn, or Sanfermines, is a full week of non-stop music, dance, fireworks, processions, bullfights and, of course, the running of the bulls. This starts early on 7 July, when the bulls are let loose from the Coralillos de Santo Domingo to charge across the square of the same name (a good vantage point).
They run up the street, veering on to Calle de los Mercaderes from Plaza Consistorial and sweeping right onto Calle de la Estafeta for a final charge to the ring.
The brave or foolish race madly with the bulls, aiming to keep close - but not too close. To run, you must enter the course before 8am from the Plaza de Santo Domingo and take up your position.
Hotels raise their rates for the festival, so book ahead. There are plenty of cheap pensiones lurking in Pamplona's old centre, with basic rooms and shared facilities. Camas Escaray Lozano (00 34 948 22 78 25) has small but clean doubles for €96 (£66) during the fiesta. Or you could camp at Ezcaba for €3.50 (£2.41) per person, tent and car. It's seven kilometres from Pamplona, but buses run to the town four times a day.
With a car you could stay at Albergue de Beire (00 34 948 74 00 41). Doubles are a reasonable €21 (£14.50), and Beire is only a half-hour drive from Pamplona.
Finally, you could sleep in a park, as many people do, but watch out for thieves.
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