By award-winning travel journalist and NI Travel News columnist John Trew

FOR THE past decade I have been using my latest research trips and personal experiences as the basis for my annual ALL THE BEST compilation in which I share up-to-date recommendations on all manner of serious travel and tourism topics as well as trivia. How else would you discover that (a) Ulster’s finest traybakes are in the HOPE Café at QUB Library (b) you can take the bus from Nice along the Cote d’Azur coastal road to Monte Carlo for ONE Euro; or (c) Carrick-a-Rede Ropebridge is now open all year round?

BEST NEW IDEA FOR TOURING HOLIDAYS

ANDALUCIA is not, of course, new to ‘tourists’ since it was invaded many centuries ago by the Moors, the Romans and other tourists such as the Vandals (that’s why it became known as Vandal-ucia. Honest). It is a vast region of eight provinces stretching between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic and I have recently fallen in love with two of them – Cordoba and Jaen – which are inland from Malaga, where mass tourism was born on the Costa del Sol.

So, what IS new? Well, a superlative network of well-signposted roads and highways have, over the past decade, made these breath-taking landscapes of mountains and olive groves more accessible than ever to tourists in hire cars. We spent a glorious couple of weeks travelling a thousand kilometres through 64 million olive trees to discover the contemporary delights of the stylishly modern city of Cordoba; the unique atmosphere of Jaen, a city and province built upon Liquid Gold (olive oil!); plus the unspoiled renaissance architecture of Baeza and Ubeda. Before our odyssey, I had never even heard of these latter two little cities which I discovered are on the UNESCO List of places (like the Giant’s Causeway) which are part of the whole world’s heritage. You can access them via Malaga, Granada, Seville and other airports; I promise you won’t be disappointed…

BEST CITYBREAK DESTINATION

THE FRENCH RIVIERA is my favourite international holiday destination. Nice has everything for the perfect citybreak – easy to get to, great climate, wonderful cuisine at reasonable prices and excellent accommodation in all ranges. At the top end, the world-renowned Negresco Hotel has now been unwrapped after refurbishment; it gained a new all-weather terrace for my favourite brasserie, La Rotonde, which offers top-notch nosh at reasonable prices.

Nowadays, I prefer to stay in one of the apartments offered by genial Englishman Paul Manion ( check out www.go-nice.com). It’s best to be near the famous Promenade des Anglais, preferably towards the eastern end near the Cours Saleya, the colourful market where you can shop for the meals you cook ‘at home’ in your flat. This market is near the main Autobus depot, from where you can enjoy scenic journeys along scheduled bus routes from as little as one Euro…

BEST FOR HOLIDAYS AT HOME

THE NORTH COAST of Northern Ireland is unsurpassable, which is why I try to have a family break there every year. Our latest stay was a good-value Special Offer in the Radisson Blu Roe Park Resort at Limavady. If you take up a ‘Two Nights B&B plus one Dinner’ Deal, I recommend that you take dinner in Green’s, which is the better of its two restaurants.

Highlight of our ‘staycation’ last summer was a trip along the Causeway Coast to Carrick-a-Rede Ropebridge, where our ‘perilous’ crossing was rewarded with a Certificate which cost a £1 donation to the National Trust’s Giant Cause campaign. I am delighted to report that the Ropebridge is now open all year round, so you can cross in wintery rain as well as sweltering sun...

BEST FREE TRAVEL SERVICE

‘FREE’ IS MY FAVOURITE price so I am recommending Skype as the cheapest way of keeping in touch when abroad this year. Skype, for the information of technophobes (such as I used to be), is a totally free software application which allows registered Skype users in any part of the world to communicate through their computers with friends, family and colleagues who are also registered Skypers.

I first mentioned Skype in Trew’s Travels three years ago when my wife Karen showed me 360 degree views of her plush guestroom in Chicago through the eye of her laptop’s webcam – including superb panoramas of Lake Michigan. We have been using it regularly ever since -- notably last August when she was at a three-week Summer School in Greece and regularly dialled me up to ensure that I was not starving myself (fat chance...)

TREW’S GOLDEN T-POT AWARD

AS WORLD President of T-POTS (The Preservation of Tea and Scones) I have been recommending those places which serve the best traybakes, cakes, scones and pastries. Now, after 10 years of self-inflicted gluttony, I am uniquely entitled to bestow the new Golden T-POT Award upon two establishments which serve the very finest of such refreshments.

In recent teatimes, they have raised the standard of Traditional Afternoon Tea to dizzying heights (with prices to match, some might say!); I cannot choose between them, so for 2011 the Award is shared between The Merchant Hotel, Belfast and the Lough Erne Resort, Co Fermanagh.

THE MERCHANT: For £14.50 per person (£19.50 on Saturdays with live jazz etc) the Great Room is the sumptuous setting for finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, plus an assortment of cakes and pastries. The choice of exotic teas and infusions is eye-watering. If you are in celebratory mood, champagne is available by the glass.

LOUGH ERNE RESORT: My favourite chef and good friend Noel McMeel has designed a number of choices for your delectation: For £16 per person, Mon-Sun, the Traditional Tea comprises finger sandwiches; scone with Irish cream, fresh strawberries and jam; plus pastries and sweet fancies, served with a choice of loose-leaf teas in the Garden Hall or, in season, outdoors on the Terrace. For £20 a head, Noel’s indulgent Chocolate Teas, Fri-Sun, feature finger sandwiches plus a delightful variety of chocolate scones, cakes, éclairs, brownies and suchlike (including his chocolate and orange ‘soup’.) Champagne is also available.

BACK TO EARTH: The traybakes and cakes are outstandingly good in the HOPE Café (open to the public) next door to the McClay Library at Queen’s University. Their mallow-filled, sticky-sweet concoctions known as Fifteens (£1.65) are about three times the standard size and contain enough calories to keep the Queen’s Rugby First Fifteen alert!

BEST SECRETS REVEALED

ALL OF US are nosey by nature, which is why thousands take delight in the National Trust’s ULSTER GARDENS SCHEME which allows us to trample over the lawns of brave gardeners seeking horticultural inspiration during summer weekends. You will be amazed at what is often on the other side of the hedge, such as the vastness of the estate of a well-known property magnate or the wonderful parkland created by a famous barrister’s wife.

In addition, you should try to get to one of the infrequent – but excellent-- Open Days at GREENMOUNT COLLEGE, just outside Antrim town. Thankfully, the WALLED GARDEN behind Bangor Museum welcomes visitors all year round.

Best of all for the green-fingered brigade is GARDEN SHOW IRELAND at Hillsborough Castle which is scheduled for Fri-Sun, May 20-22, 2011.

My soaraway Number One tip for FAMILY EVENT for 2011 is the HALLOWEEN ENCHANTED EVENING at Mount Stewart House and Gardens next October. Get your tickets early (nearer the time, of course) because the 2010 event was one of the best-organised nights of fun I have seen hundreds of dressed-up children enjoying.

BEST PROMOTION OF GROW-YOUR-OWN FRUIT AND VEG

THE SONG says that it is “Six miles from Bangor to Donaghadee,” so that means Donaghadee Garden Centre is only about ten minutes from my home – which is why I am a frequent visitor. This popular place has featured in Trew’s Travels before, for the humunguous size of the portions in its restaurant. This mention, however, is for something quite different -- for the best initiative for promoting Grow Your Own Veg, a subject which is close to my heart. The Centre launched it last summer with a Prize Photo Competition. The idea was to encourage people of all ages to take pictures of the fruit and veg they grew on their own patches and submit them to a team of judges headed by Diana Gass (pictured left), the proprietor. I am proud to reveal that my grandson Simon and I won first prize for our photos of the big sweetheart cabbages you may be able to see on the display board behind me on the top right of this happy picture taken by photographer Jay Neilly. Keen-eyed readers may see that I was originally described on the board as “Mr Cabbage”, because they could not find my name…