Devangi Sharma

July is the month for holidays. July means summer, freedom, rising temperatures and more festivals than you can imagine. And don’t let its obvious-ness put you off; for plenty of great cities and countries, the seventh month is the best possible time you can visit. Our list of the best places to visit in July touches every corner of the globe (the globe doesn’t have corners, for the record), from Montreal and Madagascar to the Netherlands and New Zealand. So bring out your swimsuits or shorts and get ready for the summer of a lifetime. Obviously,  places really start to get busy in July, so make sure you book ahead. See you there! RECOMMENDED:🧳 Full guide to the best places to travel🏘️ The world's coolest neighbourhoods📸 The best cities for culture right now

Frost Fairs have a storied history in London. Between 1605 and 1814 the surface of the River Thames froze over 24 times, so locals took to the ice creating ‘Frost Fairs’ with markets, amusement, food, drink, games and general revelry. Global warming might have scuppered the frozen river bit, but Bankside is recreating the roistering atmosphere with this weekend shindig. Look out for Thameside horse and carriage rides, outdoor ‘Dr Who’ screenings, craft workshops, artisan markets, a parade led by a life-size elephant puppet, ice sculptures, music and warming street food. It’s free to attend, but the organisers are encouraging donations to the Manna Society – a local day centre working with the homeless and vulnerable.

Unlike most film festivals, London Experimental has no programming, no competition and no prizes, instead, it screens off-the-wall video installations in alternative locations, which are all completely free to watch. This year, drop by Peckham Arches which will be illuminated with a roster of eclectic moving images. There are there are free unique screening rooms to explore and you can pick up food and drink while you’re there. Expect a cinema experience as far away from pick-n-mix and popcorn as you can imagine. 

Short films are where many of the greats – Martin Scorsese, Lynne Ramsay, Paul Thomas Anderson et al – got started, and for over two decades, the London Short Film Festival has been a trusty showcase of new talents and small, but perfectly formed short films. Now in its 21st year, 2024’s shindig promises hundreds of British and international short films as well as a bunch of talks and workshops with loads of great cinemas and arts spaces across the city getting involved to host. Look out for ‘The Southhall Shift’ at LCC capturing west London’s ‘Little India’ over the last 70 years, explosive horrors and jump scares at the ‘Midnight Movies’ programme, comedy flicks from the surreal to the slapstick at Rio Cinema’s ‘Funny Shit’ programme and special screenings curated by the likes of Zodiac Film Club and the Air Afrique cinè-club. See the full proramme on the London Short Film Festival site. 

London has plenty of the world's finest universities – so is it any wonder that we’re exporting one of them to the other side of the planet? Well, that’s exactly what’s happening, as one of our top-ranking educational establishments is opening an outpost in Singapore. Being one of the best in the UK doesn’t seem to be enough for Imperial College London. The uni is collabing with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore for a whopping $20 million research centre called the Imperial Global: Singapore. The centre will be used to carry out research around stuff like health cybersecurity and AI for healthcare, as well as work closely with industry and government partners. Both staff and PhD students at Imperial will get the chance to jet off to Singapore and work in state-of-the-art laboratories. Imperial also plans to expand its other activities in southeast Asia, with more student placements and international programs.  This isn’t the first time Imperial has dipped its toes in Singapore. The uni and NTU previously came together in 2010 to establish the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) and the virtual NTU-Imperial Health, Sustainability and Technology Hub in 2022.  And Imperial certainly isn’t the only London uni to open up abroad. Middlesex University went global as early as 2005 when it set up a branch in Dubai, while University of West London (UWL) established its offshoot in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE IN 2017. Imperial’s Singapore site will primarily host a

With its arched French windows and high ceilings, Kew Gardens’ Orangery is a heavenly, majestic sort of place. A restaurant and venue in the heart of the gardens, it’s as ideal for Sunday brunches and dinner dates as it is for weddings and other big, important occasions. The Orangery is already pretty glam – but it could soon get even more spectacular. Kew has revealed plans to expand the restaurant’s terrace into the neighbouring garden, which would make space for increased amounts of outdoor seating. In a proposal to Richmond Council, Kew stated intentions to extend the Orangery out over a 300-square-meter space. And that isn’t all. Kew also plans to create an entirely new garden. Called the ‘Carbon Garden’, it will apparently enlighten visitors about the role of carbon in nature and how to reduce carbon emissions. For those not in-the-know, Kew Gardens is one of London’s finest green spaces and has everything from glasshouses and lakes to pretty much every plant under the sun. The Orangery is just one of the gardens’ many major attractions, alongside the likes of the Temperate House and the Princess of Wales Conservatory. You can find out more on Time Out’s Kew Gardens hub here. About the plans for the ‘Carbon Garden’, a spokesperson for Kew said that it will: ‘utilize [the] space much more effectively and introduce a beautiful, inspiring and insightful new garden for visitors to enjoy, and learn from’. The proposals for these changes have been submitted to Richmond Counci