The latest Time Out features
Keep your finger on the pulse of the best things to do across the world with our latest features and articles
Time Out Market: from magazine to foodie dream
In 2010, I was wandering around the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, when I found a huge nineteenth-century market. On the ground floor were some traders selling produce. A gallery ran round the building on the first floor. It had a tremendous atmosphere, but as a business, it looked like it was dying on its arse. It felt like it could only have one future. Today, the Mercado da Ribeira is not just Lisbon’s, but Portugal’s, number one attraction. Last year it had 3.9 million visitors. They come for some of the city’s best food and drink, live events, and to hang out. But it’s not some kind of corporate repurposing: the old traders are still there; the atmosphere is more lively, but it’s recognisably that of the old market. So what happened? Basically, Time Out did. ‘Time Out was doing well in Lisbon,’ says João Cepeda, editor at the time. ‘We were a cult brand and people respected us. We organised parties for like 5,000 people, and we thought: Why not do this in a more permanent way?’ Looking around for a venue, they saw that there was a public tender for the Mercado da Ribeira. A city icon, the market opened with massive civic pride in 1882. But times had changed. ‘The market had lost its function,’ says Cepeda. ‘It still sold to small grocery shops and restaurants, but not directly to customers. They had supermarkets and online.’ So Time Out put in a bid to take it on, as an experiment. And won. ‘It was huge,’ says Cepeda. ‘There was a lot of scepticism, because of its size. S
The best places to see cherry blossom around the world
You don’t need to go to Japan to catch a glimpse of its world-famous cherry blossom trees – and even if you did, you might miss them completely. Only in bloom for around two weeks, cherry blossom (‘sakura’ in Japanese) bloom in the springtime – which in the Northern Hemisphere means between April and May. And while there are forecasts online that help you plan your visit to coincide with cherry blossom festival (‘hanami’) the unpredictability of the flowers means you could travel across the world and still miss them. However, over the centuries the cherry blossom trees that are native to Japan and other Asian countries have spread throughout the world, taking root alongside native varieties in Europe, North America and even the Southern Hemisphere. To help you catch those resplendent pops of pink and white no matter where you are, we’ve scoured the globe for other places to see sakura in bloom all year round. From New York’s Cherry Blossom Festival to Stockholm’s körsbärsträden, here are the very best places to see cherry blossom around the world. You’ll be in the pink once you’re done with these.
