Tropics To Iberia Crossing

Miami, located on the Atlantic coast at the southern tip of Florida, where outdoor sports are open all seasons and dress is casual, is a melting pot of cultures. Miami and Miami Beach are in effect two distinctly different cities, as Miami Beach is almost exclusively tourist orientated, while Miami is a cosmopolitan city with a distinctly Latin American flavour. Don’t miss the South Beach section where fashion designer Gianni Versace lived and died that is one of the trendiest neighbourhoods in the world. Read more about Miami, USA

The port city of Nassau, which dominates the entire island of New Providence, is the capital of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and interestingly is home to over 70 percent of the country’s population. It is well known for being an historical stronghold of pirates with connections to the infamous Blackbeard. A visit to the Pirates of Nassau Museum provides the details. Read more about Nassau, Bahamas

The largest town in the Portuguese Azores Islands and capital of the island Sao Miguel, Ponta Delgada is built on gently rising ground between green hills. With its many churches, its trim white houses and the lush gardens on its outskirts, it presents an attractive spectacle to visitors arriving by sea. The marina at Ponta Delgada also welcomes many yachts and private sailors from around the world. Read more about Ponta Delgada, Portugal

Funchal is the capital of Portugal’s Autonomous Region of Madeira an archipelago 880 SW of Portugal and 600 km NW of Morocco, in the north Atlantic. Funchal’s harbour offers plazas lined with shops, colourful houses spilling down hillsides, due to its almost amphitheatre-like formation, and a profusion of flowers. For a fine view of the magnificent bay, take the unique downhill basket sledge ride. Read more about Funchal (Madeira), Portugal

Malaga is a lively, prosperous city on Spain's fabled Costa del Sol aside the Mediterranean Sea, just 100 km east of the Strait of Gibraltar. The city’s warm winter temperatures (average daytime of 17 C) make it an ideal place to visit any time of year. The archaeological remains and monuments from the Phoenician, Roman, Arabian and Christian eras convert the historic centre into an ‘Open Museum’ displaying its rich history of more than 3,000 years. Read more about Malaga, Spain

Barcelona, located in Catalonia Spain, is Europe's largest metropolis on the Mediterranean coast, and one of the world’s major global cities. Today, Barcelona balances itself on the cutting edge of architecture, intellectual life, and style. Indeed Barcelona won the 1999 RIBA Royal Gold Medal for its architecture, the first time that the winner has been a city, and not an individual architect. Read more about Barcelona, Spain