Places not to go for a new year DETOX

Contributing editor Mike Peake tries (not very hard) to lose his Christmas beer belly

1 Bern
Switzerland
Many places will lay claim to being the home of chocolate, but few have the pedigree of Bern, which for years was the home of Lindt, one of the country’s best-known chocolate makers. The company still has a huge presence in the town where, inexplicably, locals go mad for teddy bear-shaped choccies.

2 Lyon
France
When you’re not in Paris and you don’t have a really big tower (although there is a skyscraper called Le Crayon), you need another draw – and in France’s second city it’s food. Lyon is the French capital of gastronomy, and one of the world’s top chefs, Paul Bocuse, has no less than five restaurants here.

3 Delirium Café
Brussels
Rarely has an establishment been so well named. But it’s not so much the food at this 18th-century venue just off the Grand Place (4a Impasse de la Fidélité) that’ll lure you in, it’s the beer. This temple to booze is said to have the largest selection of beers in the world – some 2,000 at the last count.

4 Lucca
Italy
Just down the road from Pisa is a town called Lucca, which is no place for recovering nicotine buffs. The smell of tobacco drifts through the air here, in one of the few places in the world going up against Cuba in the claim for the world’s best cigar – the Toscano,born some 200 years ago.

5 Porto
Portugal
It’s impossible to have a meal in the home of port wine without a friendly waiter trying to force a sumptuous, liver-hammering glass of the fortified red stuff down your neck. So it’s probably best not to visit – especially not a tasting session at W&J Graham’s on Castello Hill. Oh dear, no.

6 El Bulli
Roses, Spain
Located 40 minutes north of Girona in the town of Roses, this three-Michelin-starred restaurant is one of the best in the world – and no place to find yourself if your belt is on homemade holes. Chef Ferran Adrià offers a tasting menu that sometimes includes a staggering 30 dishes, taking up to six hours to eat.

7 Parma
Italy
They’re rightly proud of their cooked meats here in northern Italy, and nowhere more than in Parma, the home of both Parma ham (prosciutto di Parma) and parmesan cheese (Parmigiano reggiano). Equally foodie is neighbouring Bologna, which is nicknamed La Grassa (the fat one) thanks to its rich food.

8 Gothenburg
Sweden
You might think Sweden’s second city would be just the place to get away from it all, but you’d be wrong. The city has five Michelin-starred restaurants – Fond, Kock & Vin, Basement, 28+ and Sjömagasinet. The latter sits on the waterfront and serves up fish so tasty it would make Rick Stein weep.

9 Sicily
Italy
When Mount Etna gets hot it gets seriously hot, but for much of the year there’s snow up there – and the cold stuff is what gave Sicilians the idea to make some of Europe’s earliest ice cream some 1,300 years ago using sugar, milk and flavourings. You still can’t move for ice cream in Sicily to this day.

10Krakow
Poland
Poland’s former capital is a wondrous spot, but no place for Ryvita seekers, as it is full of the country’s best delicacies and best restaurants. Whatever you do, don’t check into the Copernicus Hotel and stay for dinner – but then at least you could lament your downfall feeling like a Polish aristocrat.