Aztecs on tour in Mexico

Journey Latin America (020 8747 3108; www.czechairlines.co.uk) is to start the first scheduled air service between Edinburgh and Prague in March 2003. Flights will depart Scotland in the morning and return in the evening daily, bar Wednesday and Sunday.

Connoisseur's website

Richard Binns, author of the cult travel guide Hidden France and the follow-up Connoisseur's France , has published new material on France, Britain, Norway and Switzerland on his website, www.richard-binns.co.uk. It can be downloaded immediately, with a minimum donation of one pound.

Easy rider

French Motorail is extending its service next year. The Calais-Avignon-Nice train is to run from 11 April to 11 October (two months longer than previously) and a new service to Bordeaux and Biarritz will run weekly from 17 July to 5 September, costing from £265 for a car and two-berth sleeper (08705 024000; www.raileurope.co.uk).

Excess car insurance

Insurance4CarHire (020 7328 9034) has launched an annual Southern Hemisphere policy against excess charges at £49.

Escape award

Travel writer William Cook has won first prize in the German Travel Writers Awards for his article on hard-core German spas which appeared in Escape 6 January 2002. Click below to read William Cook's winning Observer Escape piece.