Take a guide, take an ice axe and take the exhilarating challenge of skiing the legendary Haute Route.

If you are into skiing, snowboarding and the like, then no doubt you will also enjoy the après-ski scene, and it is important to know where the good places are. The slopes of France are ever popular in winter, and so here are a few après-ski recommendations that have come to my attention recently:

The Jam Bar, in Tignes Le Lac, is a small place with a relaxed, friendly atmosphere that provides the ideal opportunity to chill out. If you don’t feel like energetic socialising, then you can just sit and read the English newspapers. If you fancy a snack, they serve some good burgers. As well as all the usual drinks, they even serve lemon curd whiskey! Now that should keep the chills away.

Then over in the more fashionable Val d’Isere, you will find Dick’s Tea Bar, which opened in the late seventies, and is considered to be one of the best bars in the Alps for meeting the love of your life, or whatever. It has some good bands playing, and DJ nights too. It tends to be packed out until around four in the morning just about every night of the week. This may well have something to do with the reasonably priced beer.

If you happen to find yourself in Meribel, then you could try out the Rond Point. Located on the piste close to the mid-station of the Rhodos lift, it has a huge terrace, with a fabulous view, where you will find the live bands and an outdoor bar. It tends to be full of people who enjoy the “down in one” sort of drinking games. It is rumoured that here you can get toffee vodka.

If you are skiing in Les Deux Alpes, then a good place to chill out afterwards is Smithy’s, a two storey place, which stays open till two in the morning. They do band nights, live DJ’s, parties, and have a huge vodka and shot bar, and guest ales. They have a huge panoramic sun terrace where you can enjoy a fabulous range of food from the chargrill restaurant.

With such great venues, you can’t fail to have a good time after a day on the slopes.

If you find yourself in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in June 2008, you might be tempted by a night at the opera – especially so if that night is held at Northern Ireland’s most prestigious five-star hotel.

Standing high on the wooded slopes of the Holywood hills, overlooking Belfast Lough and the County Antrim coastline, is the magnificent Culloden Estate & Spa, originally built as an official palace for the Bishops of Down. The Culloden stands in twelve acres of beautiful secluded gardens and woodland, and is only five miles from Belfast city centre.

This is the fourth year that the hotel has teamed up with Co-Opera Ireland, to present three evenings of the finest opera and cuisine, and the result is a winning combination.

Co-opera Ireland aims to bring opera to as wide an audience as possible, and following on from performances of Rigoletto and Tosca in previous years, this year they will perform Pietro Mascagni’s masterpiece Cavalleria Rusticana, which tells the dramatic tale of a young man returning to his Sicilian village after military service, to find that his fiancée has married someone else.

The opera will be performed at the Culloden from Monday 16th June to Wednesday 18th June, with a champagne reception beforehand on the Cumberland Terrace, from where you can enjoy beautiful views of Belfast Lough.

As for the opera itself, instead of the guests being seated formally in rows, in true cabaret style, they will be at tables of ten, and director Michael Hunt ensures that the performers will be making full use of the stage and auditorium during this exciting production. Prepare to be thrilled.

After the performance, it’s time to dine, with an excellent choice of dishes from Chef Paul McKnight’s famous Culloden Estate Buffet, with fine wines of course.

Overall, this night would make an excellent celebration, or evening of corporate entertainment guaranteed to impress.

For further enquiries visit www.hastingshotels.com.

With its plentiful public pools doubling as unusual cocktail bars, summer evenings go swimmingly in the Euro 2008 host city.

Celebrate the moody, brilliant Joyce, his little-read masterwork, his lovingly rendered home town - and mutton kidneys.