Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

Heilbronn is a small city in western Germany. It is notable for being selected as European Green Capital for 2027. But what I find rather more amazing is that there are two medieval towers that you can climb, on your own, having picked up the key from the tourist office.Wild and wonderful: I hope you will try it too.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

I'm finding out about how to survive in jungles and other wildernesses with Dr Joshua Allison, Medical Director at Unique Expeditions. All you need to know about them is that they are, quote, “experts in the extreme.”This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

That's the plan being discussed at COP30, the UN climate summit in Belem, Brazil. France, Spain and Kenya want to see business class, first class and private jet passengers taxed much more heavily, with the money going to help less developed countries. The International Air Transport Association (Iata), representing the world's airlines, does not agree. I'm talking today to Thomas Reynaert, senior vice president for external affairs at Iata, about the COP30 plan – as well as air passengers’ rights rules and the impending UK budget.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

(* Though, as Dara Brady, Chief Marketing Officer of Europe’s biggest budget airline has been telling me, if you need a boarding pass printed out at the airport staff will do that for free, so long as you have already checked in online.)This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

Five years ago, Cat Jones created a start-up to use smart tech solutions (coupled, often, with Interrail passes) to deliver tailor-made journey by rail, sea and bus across Europe.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

I am at London Gatwick airport, location of easyJet's biggest base, to celebrated the 30th birthday – on Monday – of Britain's biggest budget airline. Since 10 November 1995, aviation has been democratised, giving us wider horizons than ever. I've been talking to Bill Rivett, captain of the first historic flight from Luton to Glasgow. Turns out he was on secondment from British Airways to GB Airways, the small airline easyJet initially hired to do the flying ...This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

Today I'm at World Travel Market, the UK's biggest travel trade event, and talking to Lara Paxton of New Scientist Discovery Tours about the prospects for a new kind of adventure: whether searching for dinosaur traces in the Gobi Desert, or visit the Large Hadron Collider at CERN outside Geneva.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

Four weeks ago the MP for Barnsley South took over the tourism brief: a real challenge, in my view, with visitor numbers and spend last year lower than pre-Covid. I've been hearing about her vision for boosting business, and in particular broadening the appeal of the UK beyond London. To places such as Yorkshire ...This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.

The Caledonian Sleeper has long linked London Euston with Fort William in the West Highlands of Scotland, as well as Inverness and Aberdeen. From 15 January 2026, the overnight train will call at Birmingham International, serving the city's airport. I've been hearing more from two Caledonian Sleeper executives: Interim Managing Director Graham Kelly and Head of Sales & Marketing, Steven Marshall.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox.