Kanoo World Traveller Sept 2009

THE MIDDLE EAST’S BIGGEST TRAVEL MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2009

CYPRUS THRILL A GRAND TOUR OF THE MEDITERRANEAN GEM

BRAZIL NUTS FANTASTIC EVENTS FROM RIO TO BELEM

Last minute Eid options IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO BOOK A BREAK

TOTAL GUIDE

New Zealand Your total guide to blissful Kiwi experiences, from trout-fishing in Lake Tarawera to helicopter hiking on the Hump Ridge Track...

WHEEL ADVENTURE

CROSSING THE ICEFIELDS PARKWAY

GO GLAMPING

THE WORLD’S MOST LUXURIOUS CAMPSITES

PLUS: CHECK OUT OUR NEW BUSINESS TRAVEL SECTION...

Insider guides Where to stay in Vienna

+ +

Where to eat in Rome Where to shop in Kuala Lumpur

WIN A first class break in Dubai, courtesy of the Courtyard by Marriott KWT (see 6p8)

SEPTEMBER 2009 KANOO WORLD TRAVELLER

CONTENTS 5 12 15 16 22

AGENDA Everything you need to know about travel this month KNOW IT ALL Our board of travel maestros answer your questions BUSINESS TRAVEL Suits, hotels and crucial iPhone Apps WEAR IN THE WORLD The perfect gear for your getaway PICTURE THIS Awesome images from across the globe

10 DRIVETIME

Head to Canada for a moose-filled adventure on the Icefield Parkway.

58 ROME

Let our expert guide show you the best of the Eternal City.

New Zealand

56 VIENNA

Where to stay and what to do in the glorious Austrian capital.

60 KUALA LUMPUR

55 CONCIERGE

Everything you need to book the perfect hotel and the perfect dinner on the town.

Must-see Las Vegas condensed into 30 seconds.

14 ENJOY BRAZIL Samba, big-name concerts, huge boat shows and bonfire festivals await...

50 CYPRUS

A drop-top Beetle ride around the highlights of this Med-side beauty.

18 ESSENTIAL SELECTION

Six last minute Eid ideas for six different styles of holiday: take your pick.

64 SUITE DREAMS Take a peek inside the Tsala Treetop Lodge in South Africa

27 NEW ZEALAND Your ultimate guide to taking an eye-opening trip to the North and South Islands.

nna Do& co suite, Vie Produced by: Hot Media Publishing FZ LLC June 2008 22,485 BPA Consumer Audit Managing Director: Victoria Hazell-Thatcher Editorial Director: Rob Orchard Publishing Director: John Thatcher Advertisement Director: Chris Capstick Sales Manager: Ian Fairey Designer: Jenni Dennis

Advertising enquiries ian@hotmediapublishing.com +971 4 364 2875 Editorial enquiries editorial@hotmediapublishing.com +971 4 364 2876 Cover: Photolibrary Additional images from Getty, iStockphoto, Design Hotels and New Zealand Tourist Board

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from Hot Media Publishing is strictly prohibited. All prices mentioned are correct at time of press but may change. Hot Media Publishing does not accept liability for omissions or errors in Kanoo World Traveller magazine. ‘New Zealand’, ‘Vienna’, ‘Rome’, and ‘Kuala Lumpur’ features reprinted with kind permission of Sunday Times Travel.

AGENDA NEWS

10 DRIVE TIME 12 KNOW IT ALL 14 ENJOY BRAZIL 15 BUSINESS TRAVELLER 16 WEAR IN THE WORLD 18 ESSENTIAL SELECTION 22 PICTURE THIS

AGENDA

WHAT’S IN

WHAT’S NEW

WHAT’S ON

CHICAGO CALLING As of September 2, Etihad Airways (etihadairways.com) are starting a new route from Abu Dhabi to Chicago. So what should you do in The Windy City? Your first step is to check into the James Hotel (see left jameshotels.com/ Chicago), a lovely, boutique spot which is just a step from the Magnificent Mile, the centre of the city’s shopping and eating out scene. Once you’re settled, you’re spoilt for choice in terms of entertainment – there’s the nearby Museum of Contemporary Art, the Navy Pier boardwalk with its specialty shops, Shakespeare Theatre and beautiful Ferris wheel, and Grant Park, where the Obama victory party took place...

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NEW OPENING

BUY THE BOOK

A fantastic new tome for foodies, Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey combines 150 blissful recipes with a travelogue tracking his hungry progress across Cambodia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. He seeks out obscure, out of the way spots where the food is fantastic, from night markets to street sellers. A lovely taste of the Far East, that’ll leave you both peckish and keen to visit…

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BUTLINS GOES UPMARKET In one of the most unlikely-sounding moves we’ve heard in a long time, Butlins (butlins.com) – that old school and somewhat downmarket chain of British seaside camps – has gone posh.

Their new Ocean Hotel, situated in the shoreside resort of Bognor Regis, has bold and attractive interior design plus an ultra-smart spa, home to the UK’s third snow cave. The good news is that while the offering’s slicker, the prices are still Butlin’s-level low.

BAGS OF FUN Calling all Formula One fans in need of new luggage: Samsonite have linked up with McLaren to produce some slick cases, kitted out with high quality suspension and tyre-like wheels. The very thing to bring to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November…

DESIGNER GOODIES

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY

From October 29 to November 1, the Doha Tribeca Film Festival will be in full swing.

This inaugaral fest will focus on regional as well as international film-makers and has the backing of the founders of the original Tribeca Film Festival, including Robert de Niro. Expect shorts, docs and features galore: book your tickets now… (tribecafilm.com/tffdoha/)

SWING CITY

TREADING LIGHTLY We’re big fans of new green online shopping site ekotribe.com. Launching this month, it offers home and travel gadgets which are gentle on the planet, like this smart solar-panelled briefcase.

An imaginative spread of products have been assembled: log on to browse your eco purchases.

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If you like your golf you’ll love the new Stay and Play package being offered by Nuran Serviced Residences in Dubai (nuran.com).

It combines accommodation at Nuran’s beautiful properties in the Greens and Dubai Marina with a day of golf at Arabian Ranches or The Montgomerie Dubai, including club hire and fees and starting from as little as $332. The package starts from October and runs through until the end of May next year: perfect for a sporting getaway.

AGENDA NEWS

FIVE GOOD REASONS… TO BOOK A TRIP TO BHUTAN You don’t need to worry about getting crowded out by other tourists – only 10,000 visitors are allowed in each year.

You can stay in the lovely, recently opened Taj Tashi hotel, in Thimphu, the Bhutanese capital (tajhotels.com).

You can wake up each morning to stirring views of the Himalayas, and then set out on some of the most inspiring treks in the world.

You can visit a traditional, immensely fun Bhutanese archery competition – archery is the number one sport in the country, and the contests are incredible exhbitions of virtuoso bowmanship.

You can get a glimpse of one of the most sheltered, least developed nations on earth, a feudal, almost medieval country where the government’s aim is to increase happiness rather than wealth. Eye-opening.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

SET YOUR SIGHTS ON DUBAI Looking for a great-value room in Dubai? Check out the Ibis Al Barsha, which has an excellent location along Sheikh Zayed Road, just minutes away from Media City, Internet City, Jebel Ali and the Mall of the Emirates. It offers travellers on a budget the perfect base for exploring the city, as well as top value rates across the year.

The modern rooms are highly comfortable and equipped with WiFi and flat screen TVs. When it comes to relaxation, you’ll love the live Latin music at the ‘Casa Latina’ bar and the international restaurant, ‘Baharat’. With prices starting from just AED 279*, they’re your first stop for an economy stay in the City of Gold…

For reservations, please call + 971 4 399 6699 www.ibishotel.com *Conditions apply

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AGENDA NEWS

IN TENTS LUXURY

In the mood for an intriguing outdoor getaway? Check out Our five favourite glam camping spots…

ON THE COAST…

Costanoa Coastal Lodge (costanoa.com) is a lovely eco spot in California which offers individually-designed ‘Tent Bungalows’, fitted out with mod cons and with access to a lovely outdoor fireplace, and hot tub.

The surrounding area is gorgeous – wild coastline, a nature reserve four state parks and 30,000 acres of trails to hike.

IN THE JUNGLE…

Make for the Four Seasons Tented Camp in Thailand (fourseasons.com/ goldentriangle), where you’ll stay in one of 15 upmarket tents with views over the Ruak river on the fringes of the jungle and equipped with copper tubs and teak floors. Once you’ve settled in, you’ll be able to indulge in river trips, visits to hill tribes and trekking on elephants.

IN THE OUTBACK

Take a Luxury Private Tent at Longitude 131° (longitude131.com.au) where the views are of Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the Outback landscapes of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. There are only 15 in total, meaning you’ve got real seclusion alongside real luxury. In the evening you’ll head to the outdoor restaurant, Table 131°, for dinner under the stars.

BY A TIGER RESERVE At the beautiful Oberoi Vanyavilas (oberoivanyavilas.com) in Rajasthan, your tented accommodation is divided by a chunky wall from the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, and is kitted out with a ‘freestanding colonial bathplace’ and a private deck. If you want to see tigers, May and June are the best months to visit.

EYES ON THE PRIZE

EASY WIN

We’ve got a lovely prize on offer this month – a two night stay with buffet breakfast and dinner for two at the Courtyard by Marriott Dubai Green Community (cydubaigreencommunity. com). The winner will be picked up from Dubai Airport and transferred to the hotel where they can enjoy this lovely spot, perched by a crystal blue lake in landscaped parkland crisscrossed with jogging paths. It’s got a beautiful pool and fitness centre and a shopping boulevard, and when you’re peckish you can hit the Cucina Italian trattoria, the Pine Grill all day dining restaurant, or the Rendezvous Lounge and The Bar on Cucina’s upper floor.

For your chance to win the prize, just send the answer to the following question to us at easywin@ hotmediapublishing.com...

What is the name of the all day dining restaurant at the Courtyard by Marriott Dubai Green Community?

1) Pine Grill 3) The Bar

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2) Cucina 4) The Rendezvous Lounge

IN A SAFARI CAMP

Check out Cottars (cottars. com) in Kenya, which is tucked away between the nature reserves of Loliondo, the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara.

It’s a pleasingly undeveloped area where you can take one of 12 tents, decked out with trinkets from the 1920s, and with their own individual verandas for lazing on.

PLANE SPEAKING Oman Air are set to launch flights from Muscat to Munich as of October: routes to Paris and Colombo are also set to open at the same time.

Etihad Airways have announced a new route to Hyderabad, and will be increasing their flights to Kathmandu, Athens, Cairo, Istanbul and Beirut over the winter, starting on October 25.

Jet Airways have launched a new service to Riyadh, flying out of Mumbai four times weekly . They already run a Mumbai-Jeddah service and now have flights to eight Gulf cities.

AGENDA DRIVE TIME

DRIVE TIME

1-2 DAYS

TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY

Fly in to Edmonton in Alberta and make your way to the small town of Jasper before nosing out onto the The Icefields Parkway, in the direction of Banff. This road cuts through two National Parks and the heart of the Canadian Rockies: head past the turqoise Lake Louise, the imposing Castle Mountain, the beautiful Vermilion Lakes and Banff Gondola (stop off here to take the cable car, which goes to a height of almost three kilometres and offers leg-wobbling views from the summit), before arriving in Banff itself.

The way is lined with beautiful forests, hot springs, snow-capped summits and – get this – over 100 glaciers. And the wildlife is spectacular – you can expect to see beavers, bighorn sheep, herons, ospreys – even coyotoes and bears (although it’s best to steer clear of these…)

The Icefields Parkway

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AGENDA KNOW IT ALL

THE PANEL INTERNATIONAL RESTAURANTS CORRADO BOGNI Corrado is the head concierge of the flagship InterContinental London Park Lane. He and his network of fellow concierges round the globe can answer dining questions on any city under the sun.

Brown’s Hotel - the perfect place for an Eid break

KNOW IT ALL

ASK THE EXPERTS

Our team of travel geniuses help plan your perfect break...

Got a question? contact them at knowitall@hotmediapublishing.com I will be travelling around southern Africa for three months this winter – Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and then Mozambique. I have booked organised safari tours and treks for much of the trip, but I would like to break this up with two weeks’ independent travel – preferably away from other tour groups! Any suggestions?

TIM WOODS After travelling around the African bush, your weary limbs will be crying out for some ‘down time’, and Lake Malawi is the obvious place for the much needed rest and recuperation. One of southern Africa’s most stunning destinations, the lake is the centre of a steadily growing tourism industry in this hospitable country.

Makuzi is miles from anywhere and you can spend your days lazing beside the lake while the local wildlife does the same. Your money will also be supporting the local community.

To get away from the crowds, head for Makuzi Beach Lodge (makuzibeach.com). It’s miles from anywhere, and you can spend your days lazing beside the lake while the local wildlife does the same. Your money will also be supporting the local community – the wners have set up a foundation for local schoolkids.

If that sounds a little too leisurely, then you could head for Lake Malawi Lodge, located on Likoma 12

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Island. Staying in one of their unique cottages – each carved into the rock – is an experience in itself, but there are a whole host of more active pastimes on offer as well. You can snorkel, dive, or fish in the warm waters around the island, or take a walking tour or mountain bike to explore the island and bustling port. Lake Malawi Lodge is another example of the country’s many progressive tourism development – it won a Responsible Tourism Award in 2005 for its work to ensure the local community benefit from tourism.

I’ll be heading to London for Eid and I want to stay in Mayfair – where should I go?

Get yourself a room at Brown’s Hotel (see above, brownshotel.com), the oldest hotel in London, right in the centre of Mayfair. Dating to 1837, it’s a polished, beautiful and intimate place with lovely rooms offering views out over this most exclusive area of the city. Nice touches abound – Churchill was a fan of the place so there’s a book his quotations in your room, alonside a photo of him with the young Queen Elizabeth. The hotel is home to The Albemarle, a great British restaurant – and you mustn’t miss out on their classic afternoon tea, served in The English Tea Room. You can take breakfast in the hotel or pop round the corner to Automat (automat-london.com) on Dover Street for a stack of syrupy pancakes.

GLOBAL SHOPPING LOUISA COX Louisa is the founder of Shopping Mistress (www. shoppingmistress.com), a unique shopping service aimed at those with the money but not the time to hit the stores. She has expert knowledge of what to buy and where to buy it.

BOUTIQUE HOTELS JAMES LOHAN James is one half of Mr and Mrs Smith, the duo who launched the hugely popular guidebook series of the same name (www.mrandmrssmith. com). He devotes his time to discovering the world’s most exciting boutique hotels.

VOLUNTOURISM DANIELA PAPI Is the founder of PEPY (Protect Earth, Protect Yourself) in Cambodia, a non-profit organisation which organises tours and voluntourist activities in Cambodia - see pepytours.com for more info.

ADVENTURE AND ECO TRAVEL TIM WOODS Tim is the founder of Car Free Walks (www.carfreewalks.org), leads conservation holidays for the BTCV (www.btcv.org/ international) and is an editor for id21, communicating the latest research on ecotourism and responsible travel in Africa and Asia.

AGENDA ENJOY

SAMBA TIME

Enjoy Brazil

Hot events in South America’s most electrifyingly exciting nation

1-6 October

The Sao Paulo Boat Show brings together yachties, boaties and, er, jetski-ies to see the latest technology from around the world, and to watch some world class racing. Lots of fun.

18 October The Brazilian F1 Grand Prix hits the Interlagos Circuit just outside of Sao Paolo – the crowds will be out in their thousands to see whether anyone

21 November

can rival Montoya’s searing 1.11.473

The Killers come out of their cage

circuit of 2004.

(doing just fine) and play a gig in São Paulo, at the Chácara do Jockey stadium.

January 2010

December

Rio Fashion Week

The ‘Parada Illuminada’ – the

Come and check out the Spring / Summer collections which will be hitting the stores in 2011 at Rio Fashion Week – a huge spread of inspiring couture awaits.

illuminated parade – kicks off in Rio de Janeiro. Hundreds of participants dress up as characters from literature and from cartoons and march their way along Copacabana Beach – a real sight to see.

14-20 February 2010 The most unmissable event of the calendar – that’s right, it’s the Rio Carnival, a glorious, free-wheeling celebration of life, which sees Rio’s broad avenues filled with costumes, street bands, drummers and competing tribes of dancers.

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Rio de Janeiro

March 2010 Roll up for the Rio Circuit, a cycling race extravaganza which starts and ends in the city – it’s a great time to visit as the streets are alive and there’s a festival atmosphere in the air.

13, 24, 29 June 2010 Across the country and from tiny villages to big cities, Brazilians get involved with Bonfire Festivals: a mix of cultural events, dancing and big fires. Extraordinary.

AGENDA BUSINESS TRAVELLER

CUTTING EDGE

BUSINESS TRAVELLER Make sure you’re ready for your big business trips this month, with our essential guide to the latest and greatest bits of corporate kit...

MEN OF THE CLOTH

Looking for a new suit for business travel? Allow us to recommend a tailor – Ermenegildo Zegna – and a fabric – their ‘Traveller’ cloth, made from 15 mil mil 15, a superfine wool whose yarns are high-twisted. Which means that not only are they lovely and soft, they’re also super elasticated, so they are highly crease resistant, meaning you can step off the plane and head straight to your meeting or function, with your suit still impeccably crisp.

LONDON LOUNGE: NEXT TIME YOU’RE FLYING THROUGH THE UK CAPITAL WITH ETIHAD, YOU CAN USE YOUR BUSINESS CLASS TICKET OR GOLD OR SILVER CARD TO GET INTO THEIR EXCELLENT NEW LOUNGE. IT’S SET TO OPEN AT HEATHROW’S TERMINAL FOUR AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER, AND WILL INCLUDE A SPA WITH TREATMENTS FROM SIX SENSES, FIVE STAR LIVE COOKING, SHOWERS AND A BRILLIANT BUSINESS CENTRE. APPS OF THE MONTH

TOP DOG

Three key iPhone Apps to smooth through your business trips…

StockWatch iphone.toughturtle.com/stockwatch Keep 100% up to date with your portfolio while you’re on the move with StockWatch, which analyses and updates market figures on your stocks, so you can see their peaks and troughs in real time. iSwipe Global Credit Card Terminal appninjas.com This is an essential item for salespeople on the move. Get iSwipe and you can turn your iPhone into a machine for taking credit card payments – it’ll verify the card number, approve or decline it and process the payment. Fantastic. mbPointer iPhone App store Install mbPointer and you can use your iPhone as a remote control for your laptop, meaning you can direct PowerPoint presentations using just your phone. You can also use it as a mouse replacement, remotely bringing up files for your presentations.

HOME FROM HOME

Next time you’re in Abu Dhabi, we recommend booking in to the Traders Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri (shangri-la.com), a businessfriendly hotel which offers complimentary broadband and an executive floor with its own concierge – perfect for sorting out any last-minute needs before the big meeting. They’ve got a lovely conference room, too, ideal for presentations and a series of nearby restaurants – including French, Chinese and Vietnamese – where you can entertain clients.

UPWARDLY MOBILE

The recently-released N97 from Nokia is a beauty of a business phone. It’s equipped with 32 GB of memory and a customisable home page – so you can set it up to show your key business apps and widgets, email and nothing else. And as you’re constantly online via 3G or Wifi, you can get the latest feeds on display, alongside your incoming mails. While it’s touchscreenbased, there’s also a slide-out keyboard and a mini USB port. A class act.

AGENDA WEAR IN THE WORLD

ER FOR H

RING: ALDO SHOES: DSAQUARED

SHOES: DUNE DRESS: MANGO

BANGLE: ALDO

BAG: DUNE

BAG: MANGO SUNGLASSES: DIESEL

STYLISH TRAVELLER

WEAR IN THE WORLD KWT’s inhouse fashion expert points you in the direction of the smartest threads and accessories to travel with this month

BAG: DIESEL

BELT: DIESEL

: PAUL SMITH HAT : GUESS SUIT

DRESS: TED BAKER TIE: DIESEL

SHOES: LACOSTE KWT

WATCH: DIESEL SUNGLASSES: DIESEL

SHOES: DUNE

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LAST MINUTE EID IDEAS

Still not booked your Eid break? Here’s six last-minute hotel recommendations for six very different types of break…

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AGENDA ESSENTIAL SELECTION

MADINAT JUMEIRAH Dubai Perfect if you want…

A family holiday with everything in one place.

What’s so special about it?

This resort is home to over 70 restaurants and cafés, as well as its own souk and theatre, plus a brilliant spa, and a huge raft of watersports. And it’s right next to Wild Wadi, a first class waterpark.

What’s the place like?

Wonderful, particularly for families. The rooms are stunning, they have tremendous views out over the Gulf and you will never run out of things to do or places to eat. madinatjumeirah.com

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Sugar Beach

TROPICAL GETAWAY

The Chewton Glen

THE GRAND HYATT MUSCAT Oman

MÖVENPICK HOTEL AND APARTMENTS Bur Dubai

CHEWTON GLEN England

Perfect if you want…

A mix of sightseeing, relaxation and activities without having to travel too far.

What’s so special about it?

This Eid you can book a Grand Room for 140 Omani Riyals (plus 17.4% tax and service charge), which includes breakfast at Mokha Cafe for two people and complimentary access to Club Olympus – the offer runs from September 17 to 25, and is based on a minimum stay of two nights (terms and conditions apply).

What’s the place like?

Located on the seafront of the Shatti Al Qurum beach, the Grand Hyatt Muscat is a resort which combines the best of the city and the seaside. It’s a traditionally-designed retreat which has a great spread of restaurants, entertainment and activities (including its very own lazy river) on offer. You’ll spend the morning playing tennis, the afternoon diving off the coast and visiting the Wahiba sands or Jebel Shams, and the evening dining at the excellent Tuscany restaurant. muscat.grand.hyatt.com

Perfect if you want…

A top value city break.

What’s so special about it?

From the first until the third day of Eid you can get a single or double room for AED 555 ($151) including taxes and breakfast, and with no minimum length of stay.

What’s the place like?

Incredibly welcoming – the Mövenpick are a well-established hotel in Dubai and they pride themselves on their exceptional levels of service. They get a huge number of repeat guests and it’s easy to see why – you get looked after very well, and the place is perfectly placed for exploration of the old quarter of Bastakia, as well as the Wafi shopping mall with its Khan Murjan souk. moevenpick-hotels.com

Perfect if you want…

A classic English break in a traditional country hotel.

What’s so special about it?

It’s got the loveliest feel about it – from the moment you’re welcomed through the doors you feel like the most special person in the world. Hotels in the UK don’t always get service correct, but the Chewton Glen is a blessed exception. And it feels like they’ve distilled the very best elements of English hospitality – the big open fires, the cream teas, the hearty dinners, the lazy breakfasts in the conservatory – to create a real one-off experience.

What’s the place like?

The hotel is set in a huge swathe of grounds which stretch right down to the South Coast, it’s immaculately decorated with lots of wood, thick carpets and antiques. The suites are huge, decorated with immense personal attention and filled with delicious treats. And the health club has a glorious, Roman-themed pool, and a whole series of hydrotherapy options. chewtonglen.com

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AGENDA ESSENTIAL SELECTION TOP VALUE CITY BREAK

Mövenpick Hotel and Apartments Bur Dubai

Grand Hyatt, Muscat

SUGAR BEACH Mauritius

AL RAHA BEACH RESORT Abu Dhabi

Perfect if you want…

A tropical getaway: it’s the ideal place for a stressed-out couple to reconnect.

What’s so special about it?

It’s designed in plantation style, to highlight the heritage of the island: you’ll love the noteperfect traditional architecture.

What’s the place like?

Wonderful – it’s got everything you could possibly want from a Mauritian break. Lovely beach – check. Turqoise waters – check. Water sports – check. One of the island’s best spas – check. And, of course, superb outdoor dining – check (don’t miss dinner on the terrace of the Paul et Virginie restaurant). sugarbeachresort.com

Perfect if you want…

A beachside pick-me-up and some full-on R+R. What’s so special about it?

Over Eid you’ll pay only Dhs1,050 + 16% percent service for a superior room with garden view and breakfast thrown in to boot.

What’s the place like?

A beautiful shoreline spot just a short scoot from the centre of Abu Dhabi, Al Raha is a firm favourite with residents of Dubai and Abu Dhabi who want to take a break from city life and enjoy themselves on the beach, boating on the Gulf, getting treatments in the spa, and eating excellent Italian and Asian-influenced dinners at Sevilla Restaurant.

Danathotelgroup.com KWT

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6

PICTURE THIS

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

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IMAGE: PHOTOLIBRARY

The North Window Arch is just visible through the sandstone arc of the The Torrent Arch at the Arches National Park in Utah. In this glorious park there are no fewer than 2,000 such orangey-pink natural monuments, visited by almost a million tourists a year. The area has been lived in by humans for ten millenia – it’s been occupied at various stages by Native Indian tribes, Spanish settlers, Mormons and more.

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PICTURE THIS

The Kinabatangan River creeps its way around the lush interior of Borneo, stretching out over 500 kilometres, from Sabag to the Sulu Sea. Along the way it passes mangrove swamps, ancient rainforests and limestone caves and provides a centrepiece of the habitat of everything from beautiful birds to lowering elephants.

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IMAGE: PHOTOLIBRARY

BORNEO ISLAND, MALAYSIA

NEW ZEALAND

TOTAL GUIDE

New Zealand

Prefer your adventures mild or wild? Have both with a trip of a lifetime in NZ 28 LAZIN’ PADDLES Sea-kayaking for softies in Tasman Bay’s watery playground.

32 NATURAL SELECTION Not sure where to begin? Tick off these must-sees.

38 NIGHT WATCH Chic Kiwi sleeps for all budgets.

44 HIKING (FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T BE BOTHERED TO DO IT) Ladies and Gentlemen allow us to present the Cheat’s Guide to Trekking.

48 EVER SLOW EASY Laid-back ways to enjoy the great outdoors – no muddy boots needed.

New Zealand feature reproduced with permission from the Sunday Times Travel

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Lazin’ Paddles Gastro-grub and secluded coves: kayaking around Abel Tasman is a breeze, says Paul Grogan

O

ld Vern was never going to go quietly. He’d lived in his dilapidated beach hut all his life. It had been in his family for generations. And now the National Park authorities were forcing him to sell it.

So, he did what any proud homeowner would do in the same situation: he rigged it up with generous quantities of dynamite, and blew it to smithereens.

Vern was, as they say in these parts, clearly a few sheep short in the top paddock. By these parts, I mean Abel Tasman National Park: an endless stretch of secluded coves and pristine beaches tucked into the sheltered reaches of Tasman Bay, at the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island. I’m here on an overnight sea-kayaking trip, with a local company that has an eco-friendly outlook and, happily, a healthy appreciation of life’s little luxuries, such as crisp white linen and home-cooked food.

And that’s not all. In other countries, sea-kayaking is traditionally the preserve of dubiously dressed men sporting saltencrusted beards and ill-fitting sou’westers.

Here, kayak instructors come with perky blond ponytails and 60-watt smiles. After a masterclass in how to paddle a double kayak without losing any fingers (timing, it seems, is key), I’m paired up with Steve, a mustardkeen IT consultant from Auckland. No sooner have we clambered into our boats than he’s off, tearing at the water with his paddle like a prospector digging for gold. Within minutes, we’re way out in front of everyone else, gaining ground by the second, and it’s all I can do to stop him heading over the horizon.

Thankfully, it’s not long before Claire, our guide, decides to rein us all in for an

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impromptu history lesson. Tasman Bay, we soon learn, was named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who first dropped anchor here in 1642. The story goes that, when Maori warriors came out in their canoes to issue their traditional ‘friend or foe’ challenge, Tasman mistook it for a cheery greeting and responded with a fanfare of trumpets. In the confusion that followed, one of his crewmen and four Maori warriors were killed. It was another 127 years before any European dared to return, but by then Heer Tasman had put Nieuw Zeeland well and truly on the map.

Picturing tall-ships and trumpets, we venture north under a veil of muslin-cloth cloud, the warm water matting our hair and depositing pale, sinuous trails of salt on our sun-baked skin. Our first port of call is Stillwell Bay, a sweeping curve of sand overlooked by slopes cloaked in downy fern. A bird with a bright-orange nape and snow-white plumage heralds our arrival, soaring fast and low over the water’s surface.

‘An Australasian gannet,’ enthuses Claire, following my gaze. ‘Isn’t she a beauty?’

No less impressive are the pint-sized blue penguins that torpedo back and forth beneath our boats, and the legions of cormorants lined up along the water’s edge, their wings spread wide as if in supplication.

Following their example, we alight on the beach and spread our wet gear out to dry, before delving into the neat little paper packages that have been stowed in the bows of our boats. Not for us the dubious delights of soggy sandwiches; the reward for our efforts is angel-hair noodles with organic spring onions, sun-dried tomatoes and flame-grilled chicken.

Just beyond the bay, Claire points out a small wooden cabin hidden high up in the Exploring the Abel Tasman by water

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“After yesterday’s skirmish, our kayaks seem to slice effortlessly through the clear water, their shadows floating in tandem above the rippled sand...” trees to our left. In hushed, reverential tones, she reveals that it was once the home of Perrine Moncrieff, a local conservationist who spearheaded a determined campaign to save the area from logging in the early ’40s.

Thanks to her, Abel Tasman National Park was established in 1942, to coincide with the 300th anniversary of Abel Tasman’s original expedition.

Not that we have much time to appreciate her efforts. One minute we’re gliding gently through mercury-smooth seas, the next we’re hurtling headlong into a succession of hull-slapping waves. Claire leads the way, hugging the coastline in a vain attempt to seek shelter from the wind, while the rest of us follow on behind like a flock of bewildered ducklings. Even Steve, who until now has been hoping to reach the Solomon Islands by teatime, is reduced to prodding ineffectually at the waves that are rolling and pitching beneath the hull of our boat.

That’s not to say it’s not exhilarating: with the wind in our faces and the salt spray stinging our cheeks, we get lost in the moment, our busy, complicated lives reduced to the immediate H2O in front of our kayaks, and the steady rhythm of our paddle blades striking the water.Finally, after an hour or more of battling the elements, we emerge triumphant at Torrent Bay Lodge, an imposing mansion that looks as if it’s been transplanted here from The Hamptons.

Exhausted but elated, we peel off our soggy shorts and gather round the stove in the lounge for homemade brownies and hot chocolate, before retiring to our rooms.

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At sundown, we reconvene for a juice out on the deck, before a hearty dinner of baked salmon on a bed of roasted parsnips and honey-glazed onions. In keeping with our journey’s environmental ethos, the food is locally sourced. By bedtime, we’re in agreement that the waves we braved were at least two metres high, and that the wind was strong enough to blow birds backwards.

Day two dawns breathlessly still, and we waste no time in getting out on the water.

After yesterday’s skirmish, our kayaks seem to slice effortlessly through the clear water, their shadows floating in tandem above the rippled sand. Gaining in confidence, we edge along the coast, ducking in and out of little lagoons and darting through giant granite archways. At Falls River, we’re swept gently upstream by the fast-flowing waters of a tidal race. At Pinnacle Island, we watch in wonder as half a dozen seals dive, swoop and roll beneath our boats, belly-up and close enough to touch.

And so it continues: with each new horizon comes a new revelation, a fresh experience until, finally, we arrive at Medlands Beach.

One of the most scenic spots in Tasman Bay, it’s also one of the most notorious, for it was here that the aforementioned Vern Medland made his last (explosive) stand against the National Park authorities.

Gazing out across the gilt-edged expanse of Bark Bay, I spare a thought for old Vern, and wonder how I’d have felt if someone had come along and told me that I had to give up my little piece of paradise. I can’t be sure, of course, but I suspect my first instinct would have been to rig it up with dynamite and blow it to smithereens.

SEA-KAYAKING TRIPS Wilson’s Experiences (abeltasman.co.nz) has a range of guided tours in Abel Tasman National Park. Two-day sea-kayaking trips start from $320pp (prices include local transport, equipment, instruction, luggage transfer and full board in luxury beach-front lodges). Or try Kiwi Kayaks (00 64 3 528 7705, kiwikayaks.co.nz; one-day trip from $80pp).

Clockwise: Medlands Beach, bays in Abel Tasman, kayaking

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Natural Selection

Geysers, glaciers and glow-worms – Jeremy Lazell picks out the best ways to catch the country’s most glorious sights

See the sound Milford Sound, South Island Shut your eyes, think of New Zealand, and chances are you’re looking at a snowtopped mountain reflected in a glassy fjord: it’s Milford Sound, a 20km inlet in Fjordland National Park, dominated by Mitre Peak, rising more than 1,700m above the flattest, mirror-like waters. The most-visited of all New Zealand’s fjords, Milford is the great icon of the Southern Alps – without it no Kiwi calendar or brochure is complete.

Even with the cloud low, mist clinging to the slopes – and with more than five metres of rain every year – this is a place of heart-stopping beauty. New Zealanders use the word ‘awesome’ with almost

ridiculous frequency; spend an afternoon here, and you’ll understand why. Frankly, you could drive the 100km from Te Anau in bumper-to-bumper caravan convoys and die the happier for it. Once at Milford itself, there are several ways to visit the Sound: cruise operators depart from Milford Wharf daily – Mitre Peak Cruises (mitrepeak.com; $50) goes further into the Sound than most operators, and uses small boats, letting you get thrillingly close to the waterfalls – while Milford Sound Sea Kayaks (00 64 3 249 8500, kayakmilford.co.nz; $84) allows you to get incredibly friendly with fur seals, penguins and dolphins.

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Cast out to sea Bay of Islands, North Island In a country tripping over itself with rawboned, rosy-cheeked, fresh-faced places to lay your travel hat, these 150-odd largely uninhabited islands, north of Auckland, are right up there with the best. English settlers made this their permanent home in the early 19th century, and nearly two centuries on, you can still see why: with turquoise bays and remote golden coves, it’s a ludicrously lovely place to explore by kayak or yacht – a seafarer’s playground that’ll have you chucking your return air ticket into the South Pacific. So, how to make the most of your stay? Paihia, a 19th-century settlement, is the obvious

place to base yourself (though it can get unpleasantly busy in peak season): from here you can take dolphin- or whalewatching, snorkelling and sailing trips.

Laidback Russell, just across the bay, is a better option: here, Awesome Adventures has tours to Hole in the Rock – a vast arch on Motukokako Island – as well as dolphin trips (awesomenz.com; $60pp). Based at Waitangi Beach, just outside Paihia, Coastal Kayakers has kayaking trips around the islands, past waterfalls and penguin colonies, with nights under canvas on some of the most remote beaches on the planet (coastalkayakers.co.nz; $40pp).

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Walk on ice Franz Josef Glacier, South Island If North Island is famous for its geysers, South Island’s most spectacular natural asset is its glaciers. None is more famous – or more worth visiting – than the one in Westland National Park named after Emperor Franz Josef by its Austrian discoverer in 1865. A glacier to beat all glaciers, it tumbles for almost 12km from the tops of the Southern Alps towards the Tasman Sea. Short of taking a trip to the Antarctic, you’ll never see a glacier so classically white, nor one so cascadingly close to the sea as the Franz Josef.

Predictably, the skies above are often abuzz with the sound of helicopters and scenic-

tour aeroplanes. Air Safaris (airsafaris. co.nz) and Fox & Franz Josef Heliservices (scenic-flights.co.nz) are two of the best – but if $140 feels like too much for a 20-minute flight, the views from Sentinel Rock (a 10-minute hike from the Franz Josef visitor centre) and Roberts Point (a five-hour return hike to a point on the moraine overlooking the glacier’s terminal face) are as stunning as they are free.

Worth every NZ dollar you can scrape from your holiday budget: The Guiding Company (nzguides.com) has heli-hiking glacier tours, walking along – and at times actually ‘inside’ – the glacier’s eerie blue ice caves.

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Feel the heat Rotorua, North Island The most-visited spot in North Island, Rotorua – otherwise known as Sulphur City – is a burbling, bubbling, gurgling, gushing carnival of energetic thermal activity. But it also has one of the country’s largest Maori populations outside Auckland, and presents one of the most enticing cultural encounters.

Rotorua’s two attractions come together at Te Whakarewarewa (whakarewarewa. com; guided tour $18), the largest thermal reserve, just south of the city centre. Here you’ll find Pohutu (‘Explosion’) – an active geyser that erupts every 45 minutes, sending 30m high jets of scalding water into the air. Your ticket also includes entry 36

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to the Maori Arts & Crafts Institute. Yes, there will be basket-weaving, and yes, they will try to haul you on stage to learn the haka war dance, but because Maoris at Te Whakarewarewa actually live in the village itself, it has an authenticity that makes the experience worthwhile.

Wilder still, 16km northeast of town, Hell’s Gate has a one-hour trail that takes in the largest thermal waterfall in the southern hemisphere. Nearby, Waimangu Volcanic Valley has a walking track to Inferno Crater Lake (where waters can reach 80ºC), as well as Wai-o-Tapu – with its craters, blowholes and multi-coloured mineral terrace.

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Go underground Waitomo Cave, North Island New Zealand does jaw-dropping geographical wonders like Dubai does roadworks: drive long enough and you’ll doubtless stumble upon one, like it or not. But only 90 minutes south of Auckland, buried beneath limestone hills, lies one of most spectacular: Waitomo Cave. A three-tiered chamber linked by a 15m vertical shaft, it’s a staggering palace of stalagmites and stalactites, with a 20m high cavern, where Dame Kiri Te Kanawa once performed.

What really sets Waitomo apart is arachnocampa luminosa: glow-worms.

Millions of the tiny things cling to the walls of Glow-worm Grotto, turning the otherwise

pitch-black ceiling into a galaxy of pulsing, flickering, magical luminescence. Best of all, it has an underground river running through it, so tours include a boat ride along the Waitomo River right into the grotto itself.

If you don’t mind getting wet, you can go one better, and explore the cave-system by splashing through it on the buoyant inner tube from a lorry’s tyre. Just down the road at Ruakuri Cave – and now in its 20th year – Black Water Rafting (waitomo.com) has tours including the ‘Black Abyss’ ($130), which includes an abseil into the cave itself: five of the most exciting hours on the tourist map.

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Night Watch Luxury lodges, cosy B&Bs, hip city sleeps – New Zealand’s got the perfect pad for every taste, and from just $12, says Mark C O’Flaherty

THE HIDEAWAY WHARE KEA CHALET, WANAKA, SOUTH ISLAND BEST FOR: Well-heeled guests who want to take over a whole Relais & Chateaux property with sky-high standards (and similarly high prices). This is grown-upsonly territory: under-15s are only tolerated if the place is booked exclusively by one group (up to 12 people).

THE LOOK: Set on acres of private farmland beside serene Lake Wanaka, the main room – with three lounges, an open fire and a library – is open-plan, with floor-toceiling glass, looking out to the mountains and lake. Outside lies a huge whirlpool tub that’s perfect for warm wallows.

THE LOWDOWN: Whare Kea Chalet, Mt Aspiring Road, Wanaka (wharekealodge. com; rooms from $720, half board).

THE STYLISH STEAL BASE TAUPO, TAUPO, NORTH ISLAND BEST FOR: Style-literate under-25s on a budget, who want to spend time exploring the wild volcanic scenery around Taupo.

THE LOOK: Familiar with Britain’s Hotel du Vin line of boutique hotels? New Zealand’s Base is the youth-hostel equivalent: a small-scale chain that works like a slick designer brand without feeling corporate.

This is 21st-century backpacking. Private bedrooms are kitted out in minimalist monochrome style, while an all-girlstogether Sanctuary dorm comes with Marilyn Monroe-style beauty mirrors and high thread-count bed linen.

THE LOWDOWN: Base Taupo, 7 Tuwharetoa Street, Taupo (stayatbase.com; rooms from $60, room only).

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THE PRETTY ONE CUSHCHINE COTTAGE, KAIKOURA, SOUTH ISLAND BEST FOR: Animal-lovers who want to share their home with farmyard favourites.

THE LOOK: This is a working farm in open countryside, five minutes from the township of Kaikoura. The self-contained rustic rental cottage sleeps up to seven, with all the kitchen gizmos you could want, and a log burner in the lounge for chilly evenings. For a novel way to explore the spectacular surrounding scenery, join a llama trek, run by Cushchine’s owners.

THE LOWDOWN: Cushchine Cottage, 12 Kowhai Ford Road, Kaikoura (cushchinecottage.co.nz; from $88 for two adults, room only).

THE LUXURY LODGE THE FARM AT CAPE KIDNAPPERS HAWKE’S BAY, NORTH ISLAND BEST FOR: Men who play golf and wear jackets for dinner, wives who know a great spa when they see one, and gourmets: the restaurant’s chef, Dale Gartland, learned his trade at best-in-the-States eatery Per Se. THE LOOK: This rustic-luxe ranch was designed by Architectural Digest regular Linda Bedell. Cue lots of wicker, iron and wood. There are 24 cottage suites to choose from, as well as the ‘owner’s cottage’: a nautical-chic four-bedroom house. Dress up for the dining room or arrange a more relaxed meal on your private porch.

THE LOWDOWN: The Farm at Cape Kidnappers, 448 Clifton Road, Te Awanga, Hawke’s Bay. (capekidnappers.com; rooms from $230, half board).

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Whare Kea Chalet

“The original ’20s Art Deco architecture has been given a modern update, with a mix of ethnic chic and quaint country style: 11 bedrooms are decked out in aqua, duck-egg or Moorish wood” THE FOODIE FAVOURITE HOTEL D’URVILLE, BLENHEIM, SOUTH ISLAND BEST FOR: Food lovers.

THE LOOK: This imposing, whitewashed landmark is now the best hotel in the Blenheim region. The original ’20s Art Deco architecture has been given a modern update, with a winning mix of ethnic chic and quaint country style: 11 bedrooms are decked out in aqua, duck-egg and white, or Moorish wood and reds – some with four-posters. The ‘destination’ dining room serves up food to dribble for – don’t miss the venison carpaccio and toffee-tender filet mignon.

THE LOWDOWN: Hotel d’Urville, 52 Queen Street, Blenheim, Marlborough (durville. com; rooms from $142, B&B).

THE CLASSIC OPTION GRASMERE LODGE HIGH COUNTRY RETREAT, NEAR CASS, SOUTH ISLAND BEST FOR: An intimate, all-inclusive luxury stay with big breakfasts, soirées, fivecourse dinners and fine views of Arthur’s Pass.

THE LOOK: Grasmere is a 19th-century limestone ranch in the southern Alps, 90 minutes’ drive away from Christchurch.

Every suite in the lodge and chalet, as well as the self-contained Riverview Cottage, has snow-streaked mountain views. Walk through the beech forests nearby with the lodge’s golden retrievers, Todd and Lass.

Then picnic by a lake or spend an afternoon 40

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pampering yourself in the mountain spa or by the heated outdoor pool. On cold evenings, the place to be is sunk into a Chesterfield by the crackling fire, with a good book from the library.

THE LOWDOWN: Grasmere Lodge High Country Retreat, State Highway 73, Cass, Canterbury, Christchurch (grasmere.co.nz; rooms from $448, half board).

THE WALKER’S RELIEF HEAPHY HUT, GOLDEN BAY, SOUTH ISLAND BEST FOR: Getting back to nature amid the wilderness of Golden Bay – without the hassle of dragging a tent around.

THE LOOK: Spartan but spectacularlylocated. The most basic Heaphy Huts along the Heaphy Track in Kahurangi National Park are free to use – and offer nothing but shelter. Up a notch are the Great Walk Huts, which come with mattresses, cold running water, toilets, heating, cooking facilities and solar lighting (you’ll need to bring your own bedding). Use of the serviced huts is by pre-purchased pass; vendor details are online.

THE LOWDOWN: Heaphy Hut, Great Walk, Golden Bay (tinyurl.com/67t3xb; from $12 per night, room only).

THE GOLFER’S GETAWAY THE LODGE AT KAURI CLIFFS, KERIKERI, NORTH ISLAND BEST FOR: Five-star-loving high-rollers who want to play on one of the most celebrated and remote par-72 golf courses in the world, on the tip of North Island.

THE LOOK: The lodge has a stately-buthomely feel – imagine Martha Stewart’s cosy simplicity, but with an unlimited budget. There are orchids in every room and a spacious rattan-shaded veranda for every cottage. Also on your doorstep are three private beaches and vast swathes of native bush to explore.

THE LOWDOWN: The Lodge, Matauri Bay Road, Matauri Bay, Kerikeri (kauricliffs. com; rooms from $410, half board).

Clockwise: Hotel d’Urville, Angel Room at Hotel d’Urville, Wellington Intercontinental, Glenfern Villas, Cape Kidnappers

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THE SCENIC STOPOVER GLENFERN VILLAS, WESTLAND, SOUTH ISLAND BEST FOR: ‘Doing’ the Franz Josef Glacier.

The look: Alpine one- and two-bedroom self-catering cottages. They’re split-level, open-plan, modern and family-friendly with on-site laundry, DVD rental and breakfast on tap if you don’t fancy cooking. Most of the villas have huge picture windows facing the glacier, which is a mere five-minute drive away.

THE LOWDOWN: Glenfern Villas, State Highway 6, Franz Josef, Westland (glenfern. co.nz; rooms from $104, room only).

THE HIP CITY SLEEP SKYCITY GRAND HOTEL, AUCKLAND, NORTH ISLAND BEST FOR: Feeling part of the action in Auckland. Celebrity chef Peter Gordon’s lobby restaurant, Dine, looks like a very grand dining room on an ocean liner – and the menu has critics in raptures. Try the poached Wanganui poussin.

THE LOOK: Rooms in the Grand are purpose-built-loft spacious, super-comfy and pale-wood contemporary. The East Day spa is the best in the city: ask for a firm massage and you’ll really get one. The jetlag treatment – for improving circulation and reducing swelling and muscle tension – brings economy-class limbs quickly back to life.

THE LOWDOWN: Skycity Grand Hotel, corner of Victoria and Federal Streets, Auckland (00 64 9363 6000, skycityauckland. co.nz; rooms from $102, room only).

THE NATURAL OPTION SOLITAIRE LODGE, ROTORUA, NORTH ISLAND BEST FOR: People who want to kayak before watching a sunset over steely waters and moody Mount Tarawera. Followed by a dinner of locally caught crayfish, South Island oysters, West Coast whitebait and New Zealand snapper.

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THE LOOK: This secluded lodge is swish and modern but country-cottage tasteful. Rooms are painted in tranquil neutrals, and decorated with rich textiles, wicker and orchids. Many other resorts have tried to copy this place, but haven’t executed it nearly as well. Located on a privately owned peninsula on Lake Tarawera, near Rotorua, it has impeccable service – and excellent food. Many visitors rate the dinner here as the best meal in the country.

THE LOWDOWN: Solitaire Lodge, Lake Tarawera, Rotorua (solitairelodge.co.nz; rooms from $1,000, half board).

THE BEACHFRONT BEAUTY ADRIFT, GOLDEN BAY, SOUTH ISLAND BEST FOR: Peaceful sunset beachfront barbecues on your own private sundeck overlooking pin-drop-quiet Golden Bay, and for exploring nearby Abel Tasman and Kahurangi National Parks.

THE LOOK: Rustic outside, contemporary inside. Adrift comprises a handful of cottages crafted eco-consciously from sustainable-plantation eucalyptus wood and Douglas fir, with aluminium kitchen fixtures, grey stone-tiled bathrooms and all the posh mod-cons, including under-floor heating and hydrotherapy baths.

THE LOWDOWN: Adrift, Golden Bay, Tukurua, Nelson (adrift.co.nz; rooms from $76, B&B).

THE CAPITAL BASE INTERCONTINENTAL, WELLINGTON, NORTH ISLAND BEST FOR: The major cultural and shopping attractions in this vibrant off-beat city – all a stroll away. Also good for thrifty travellers since the InterContinental offers guests free DIY laundry, a feature every hotel should adopt.

THE LOOK: The decor may be no-nonsense earth-tone, but the bedrooms are big with super-comfy beds. The recently sprucedup rooftop gym and pool have 24-hour access.

THE LOWDOWN: InterContinental, 2 Grey 42

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Clockwise: Adrift, Solitaire Lodge Peninsula, Solitaire suite

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Street, Wellington (intercontinental.com; rooms from $176, room only).

THE BARGAIN BED WHATUWHIWHI TOP 10 HOLIDAY PARK, KAITAIA, NORTH ISLAND BEST FOR: Anyone on a budget – there are cabins for families, studios for couples and units for groups of guys on fishing holidays.

THE LOOK: A low-key, spartan but clean and tidy holiday camp. There’s a huge communal kitchen on-site for self-catering (kitchen cabins also have kitchenettes), a playground and a spa pool. Best of all, it’s just seconds away from Perehipe Beach, and a short drive from a super golf course as well as 145km of beaches at Cape Reinga.

THE LOWDOWN: Whatuwhiwhi Top 10 Holiday Park, Whatuwhiwhi Road, Kaitaia (whatuwhiwhitop10.co.nz; rooms from $42, room only).

THE REALLY WEIRD ONE WOODLYN PARK, OTOROHANGA, NORTH ISLAND BEST FOR: Anyone keen to overnight somewhere very unusual, near the Waitomo Caves.

THE LOOK: Bed down in the Waitomo Express (a ’50s railway carriage) or a camouflage-painted Allied Bristol Freighter plane. Or how about the Waitanic, a WWII patrol boat? All three have been revived as a kooky, motel-style sleepovers. For something a little more flash, check in to the Hobbit Motel, a row of self-contained apartments built to resemble Frodo’s circular house in Lord of the Rings. The whole oddball collection is set in Woodlyn Park; on-site entertainment includes sheep-shearing.

It’s certainly a refreshing change from CenterParcs.

THE LOWDOWN: Woodlyn Park, 1177 Waitomo Valley Road, Otorohanga (woodlynpark.co.nz; rooms from $110, room only).

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Hiking (for those who can’t be bothered to do it)

At the bottom of South Island, they’ll helicopter your rucksack around, to save you the effort of carrying it. Could walking be any easier? Yes actually, mumbles Ed Grenby

I

have done a very bad thing. Nobody is actually saying as much, but it’s being made quite clear to me, through an eloquent semaphore of tight-lipped semi-smiles and pointed half-glances, that my earlier behaviour means I am decidedly not welcome at the communal dinner table.

As if I care. They can keep their camaraderie – and their cups of thermos flask tea, and boil-in-the-bag meals, and shared shower room, and the dubious satisfaction of having hefted heavy rucksacks halfway up a mountain – because I’ve got a personal chef preparing a sensationally beefy chilli, a private bathroom all to myself, and the deliciously guilty feeling that they’re right. I suppose I have been a bit naughty, what with getting my considerably weighty rucksack helicoptered around for me.

On the Hump Ridge Track, you see, hiking doesn’t have to be hard work. The most recent addition to New Zealand’s spidery network of multi-day walking trails, it comes with a few mod cons: proper permanent overnight hostels with hot water and crockery and cutlery and pillows and staff and, indeed, helipads where for just $44, an obliging chopper will deposit your backpack to save you the tiresome bother of actually having to put it on your back at any point.

I, naturally, have availed myself of all this, and that’s why – initially, at least – I am excluded from the brotherhood of proper hikers. They eventually relent (Kiwis are incapable of being unfriendly for long – and, crucially, I haven’t let on about the even more outrageous atrocity I’m planning to perpetrate tomorrow), and we look back

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together on the first day of our hike.

For lightweights like me, Day One begins at an office in the nearby town of Tuatapere, where you can pick up a guide, an overnight hamper of surprisingly high-end foodstuffs and even a chef. I ended up with Nicol, a dour-looking Shetland Scot-cum-Kiwi who wore shorts in a way that suggested he meant serious walking business. Tuatapare is 20km from the official start of the threeday Hump Ridge Track; I was relieved when he said we would drive.

My first sight of the Hump Ridge, then, was from the car. But even with a midgespattered windscreen in front of it, the view is epic-going-on-mythic. Across perfectly rounded Te Waewae Bay, the Ridge rises sheer from the ice-blue waves of the Southern Ocean – and where the water’s whitecaps mingle with the mountain’s mists, it looks as if the range is floating, like some legendary boat. Later I learn that Maori legend knows the Ridge as a great upturned waka war canoe, which leads me to fantasise for a pathetic moment that I might actually be part Maori.

Probably not, on reflection. A real Maori, after all, would perhaps not have been quite so gleeful when the helicopter met us at the start of the track, and relieved us of our rucksacks. Nor would he have been puffed out after five minutes, and consuming his ‘emergency rations’ after 40.

It’s not even a very hard walk to start with (as Nicol sternly reminded me, his moustache twitching indignantly). Much of the first morning is spent on beaches, and with regular stops to watch dolphins disporting themselves in the surf. The trail (Kiwis would call it a ‘tramp’) doesn’t start

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rising until it enters the forest of Fjordland National Park – but does quite a lot of rising thereafter; 890 metres of it, in fact, before nightfall.

There are boardwalks and steps at some of the more difficult spots, and at first I think this is too sissy even for me. But Nicol tells me that most of New Zealand’s other great tramps are actually paved, and as the woods grow thicker and the way trickier, I come to appreciate the planks a bit more.

Writhing surface roots look exactly like the ones Hollywood heroines stumble over when pursued by serial killers, and with the sun unable to penetrate the wood’s roof, it doesn’t take much to imagine an older, nameless dread brooding in the depths of this ancient forest.

As we ascend into a miles-wide stand of silver beech, things get spookier still. The trees are tangled together in a mess of root and branch, moss-covered and lichendraped and fern-thronged, their hearts torn out and caverns carved within them by the harshness of the elements up here. As gnarled as gnomes, as wizened as witches, it’s impossible to say which are alive and which dead; it’s also impossible (even Nicol admits it!) to escape the feeling that the trees are watching you. Our conversation falters and dies, and the only noise is the squelch of boot in mud and the sporadic song of the kea bird.

Okaka Lodge is a welcome sight, then.

Built on stilts, like some Maldivian five-star (but because of boggy ground beneath, not azure waters), only the profoundly self-deprecating southlanders could call it a ‘hut’. Electricity, heating, hot running water – it’s got the lot; even, for those who just don’t do dorm rooms, its own KWT

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“The option to flit between the huts, or skip a particularly arduous section is another perk of the Hump Ridge Track – and perfect for those who feel that a walking trip could be very nice if it weren’t for all the walking...”

‘Premium Rooms’, which each come with a double bed, private bathroom, and – most worthwhile luxury of them all – sensational views east over mountains melting into hills, hills receding into plains, plains vanishing into misty distance, and a moonrise that was silvering them all.

Next morning, fortified with Nicol-cooked breakfast, and my backpack on board the helicopter, I step out from the hut with notably lighter feet than the communal crowd – and a little wink from Sam, the pilot, with whom I’d cooked up a plan that would see those other trampers throw me off the mountain if they were to discover the truth.

So springy was my step, in fact, that I allowed Nicol to talk me into a diversion (he turned out, despite the ’tache, to be the best company you could wish for). The summit of Hump Ridge is a 30-minute side trip from Okaka, but worth it for the bleak, barren beauty. From the hut, it looks as if there’s nothing up there but mosses and tussocks and stark, bare rock – but I found tiny orchids clinging beneath a boulder, a pair of utterly unexpected lakes sheening dully in the creamy morning light, and a copse of man-sized tors, great stone towers wind-chiselled into (was I still half asleep, and dreaming?) the shapes of giants’ faces, like nature’s blunter take on the tiki of Easter Island.

I also found a memorial plaque. To a dead helicopter pilot.

‘Did he die in action, Nicol?’

‘Yes. With five passengers.’

‘Oh.’ ‘But not here.’

‘Oh.’ ‘Over there [indicates an area not very far away at all].’

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It was worrying because I had decided that today I would take this ‘heli-hiking’ idea a bit further, doing the afternoon’s leg of the walk by, well, look, there’s no other way to say this: I was going to do it by chopper. The option to flit between the huts, or simply skip a particularly arduous section this way, is another perk of the Hump Ridge Track – and perfect for those who feel that a walking trip could be very nice if it weren’t for all the walking.

My hutmates would be horrified, of course, but any lingering guilt was quickly drowned by a rainstorm of almost tropical intensity. Next it snowed – real, cold, white, settling snow, dusting everything Dulux white within minutes – and then the sun burned through, and my back felt as gloriously warm as Nicol’s porridge.

The morning’s path unwinds right down the spine of the ridge, in and out of forest that’s so alive and verdant that every tree has something else growing on it. Its joints are swollen with a bolus of mistletoe, its exposed roots wrapped in moss as if wearing furry leg warmers, its crown wound with creepers like mad-professor hair, vines trailing off like wispy strands of beard.

But emerging into the open, you can see for miles. You’re high enough, in fact, to see what weather is coming your way and, indeed, what weather is coming after that.

No qualms, then, as I wait at a clearing for the ’copter – which swoops in, picks us up and lurches off again in moments, as if we’re double-O agents being extracted covertly from a (failed) mission. Sam is a true bush pilot, in gumboots and a lumberjack shirt, and he seems to have learned how to fly from watching Vietnam movies. Precisely 55 seconds later, he

Clockwise: Port Craig, Percy Burn Viaduct, Hump Ridge, view from air

NEW ZEALAND

performs a sort of 3-D reverse parking manoeuvre, careering down and dropping in backwards to deposit us at Percy Burn viaduct – about two hours’ walking from where he picked us up.

Percy Burn is an old logging concession on which the forest is now taking revenge, its buildings overgrown and sinking beneath fresh foliage. But the 86-year-old wooden viaduct, thought to be the largest left in the world, still arcs majestically over the stream valley.

The fact that we have to cross what is most likely the oldest wooden viaduct is a little nerve-wracking (it’s as rattlingly rickety as an old wooden fairground ride, and Nicol says it’s made of Australian hardwood, which rots – invisibly – from the inside out), but it’s necessary if I’m going to pretend later to my fellow hikers that I too walked today’s route.

In truth, after 10 minutes, I’m straight back in Sam’s helicopter and en route to Port Craig Lodge for another night of ill-earned indulgence. Tomorrow will be my last day on the Hump Ridge, and I don’t want to be too tired to enjoy the walking. Or (you never know), the chopper ride.

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Ever Slow Easy Who said you need crampons and canvas to do NZ? Sally Howard finds softer options for laid-back nature-lovers

Trout-fishing in Lake Tarawera This is the largest and loveliest of the lakes that lie like shining shards of glass around volcanic Mount Tarawera, on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. Topped up by pure waters from the neighbouring ‘blue’ and ‘green’ lakes Tikitapu and Rotokakahi, it’s clearly a stunner, mountain-shadowed and blanketed with an eerie, low-slung mist. It’s also feted for its trophy-sized rainbow trout, routinely hauled up from the glittering waters with a whirr of angler’s rod. The best way to see the lake is on a slow cruise: a peaceful morning drifts by as you trail across its unruffled waters on a luxury launch, reeling in giant silvery specimens as thoughts turn to lunch. Your skipper will prepare your catch as you idle in the natural thermal pools at the lake’s edge, gazing out towards the contours of the mountain beyond. Try savouring it sashimistyle (accompanied by kiwi wasabi, adored in Japan for its unmatched freshness), or baked in the lake’s thermal sands, before taking a last dip in the glassy waters. As lively as Ibsen on tranquillisers, this is natural New Zealand at its best – utterly unblemished by man and cleansing for both body and spirit.

Clearwater Cruises (clearwater.co.nz) can package a Lake Tarawera fishing trip from $170pp (minimum two guests). The nearest town to Lake Tarawera is Rotorua.

South Island by scenic train South Island’s TranzCoastal east-coast route, from Picton to Kaikoura, is train 48

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travel at its unflustered best: gleaming sky-blue carriages hug the coast as they slink through the pine-coated ranges of the Marlborough Sounds and Blenheim. Take a kiwi-style midday lunch at picture-postcard Picton – where famous watering-hole Le Café, on London Quay, jauntily promises ‘No British Food Served – ever’, yet turns out an impeccable British cuppa – before boarding the 1pm departure bound south from Picton station. Sink into plump seats big enough to house a pantomime dame’s derrière, and enjoy the view: a silver sea streaking to your left, golden-green vines to your right. Beyond Blenheim, keep your eyes on the coast – the deep undersea canyons close to shore are breeding grounds for squid and whales, and you might also sight the glossy bobbing heads of seals. Near Kaikoura, the beach becomes a palette of greys and blacks, with hardy surfers dotting the waves. The town is famed for its fresh seafood and rarefied air. When you get there, take in lots of both.

TranzScenic (tranzscenic.co.nz) has one-way fares (Picton to Kaikoura) from around $40pp.

Bird-watching by moonlight, Wellington Thought the egg-shaped, furry green fruit was the country’s only namesake? Time to salute the original spike-billed kiwi, on a very special moonlit tour. On the outskirts of downtown Wellington you’ll find Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, a conservation area that aspires to be an ‘ark-within-an-ark’ of rare and threatened species. That translates as 225 hectares of regenerating lowland

NEW ZEALAND

forest and wetlands, cleared of non-native flora and fauna, and allowed to bloom according to its haphazard wish. The idea is to replicate nature ‘before the humans arrived’ – 700 years ago. This two-hour tour searches out the sometimes-surreal native fauna that survives without the presence of mammalian predators: from the flightless kiwi, to the lizardy tuatara (a prehistoric reptile), the sparrow-like hihi bird, and the gnarled giant weta (a lumbering flesh-coloured insect the size of an adult hand). As dusk cloaks the valley, walk by torchlight to a soundtrack of squabbling kakas – a native species of parrot thriving again after two centuries of decline.

The darkness is leavened by pale light cast by glow-worms and the occasional flash of an animal’s eyes as you pad through the tangle of native plants and shrubs With luck, you’ll also find the elusive kiwi, feeding on the leaf litter underfoot. (sanctuary.org.nz; adults $40, children $20 for a two-hour tour).

Bracing beach strolls, Auckland A weekend getaway beloved of citydwellers, Piha Beach is Auckland’s answer to Brighton. You’d hardly know it, though – discounting a sprinkling of local surfers, the beaches carved out along Auckland’s west coast are a haunting, Heathcliffian wilderness of black sand and lonely rock outcrops frilled by breakers. The approach from Auckland along the Twin Coast Discovery route to Titirangi takes you through cute villages lined with cafes and galleries. Look out for the Lopdell House contemporary craft gallery, with its batty ephemera from across the island. The first sight of Piha will stop your heart: the 100m Lion Rock looms from a steel sea, bleeding into a blue horizon. Shouldering the beach, set back in a valley, is a slice of the slow-living that Kiwis do so well-topped milkshake, then walk down to Karekare Beach – the eerie setting for the film The Piano – and chuck volcanic rocks into the sea.

Bush and Beach (bushandbeach.co.nz) has two-day coastal walks near Auckland from $140pp, including pick-up and food.

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Cyprus: The Gulf Getaway Only three hours away lies a quirky and appealing little island‌

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CYPRUS

W

e’d booked our trip on something of a whim. With only five days of holiday to play with, we didn’t want to stray too far from the Gulf but hoped to sidestep the muggy heatwave weather and visit somewhere we could swim, eat like kings and do a little bit of sightseeing.

We settled on Cyprus, knowing little about the place except that it was near, not as hot as an oven and probably home to some Greek-style meze. This, perhaps, is the ideal state of mind to take on a short break – low expectations mean a far higher chance of jolly hols.

And such proved to be the case. We arrived at Larnaca to perfect 25 degree weather and sunny skies – so we plumped for a slightly snazzier hire car than usual, a drop-top Beetle. From the time we nervously wheeled it out of the car park, desperately trying to remember to stick on the left, to the time that we brought it back, with the footwells covered in sand, Cyprus offered us a series of pleasant surprises.

We’d been told by veteran Cyprus-heads to avoid Lemesos (also known as Limassol) – which is apparently a bastion of Brit-style restaurants and cafés with minimal local flavour – so we drove straight through the town and out the other side along the coastal

road. By about lunchtime we were desperate for a dip in the glimmering Meditteranean, so we pulled over in Pissouri, a small but pretty village with a winding path leading down to the sea.

That first moment of slipping into the ocean was glorious – we paddled out into the salty spray and turned to look back over the bay, which shimmered out into the distance. It didn’t take long for us to work up a major appetite, so we ditched the briny, donned our shorts and wandered up to a lovely little taverna where the view from the terrace was framed by a hunched-over olive tree. Platters of saffronlaced prawns, fingers of browned halloumi and exquisite stuffed aubergine flowers followed, backed up by wedges of Cypriot bread: the crickets chirped, our bellies groaned and a satisfied silence settled over the table.

From Pissouri we Beetled our way straight through Paphos – another one to sidestep, apparently – and headed upcountry, through striking green and brown countryside, skipping through small, contented villages on the way. We were heading for Lysos, and the Paradisos Hills Hotel (paradisoshills.com), recommended to us by a Cypriot chum.We were slightly disconcerted by how cheap it was – under 100 Euros for a double room – so we were delighted when we arrived and found

a beautiful old family homestead, with views worth thousands.

Paradisos is built on a hill, overlooking a great rolling swathe of green countryside, with the ocean in the distance. Arriving around sunset, we snagged the picnic bench placed out on the far edge of the garden, just before it fell away into the valley, and watched the sun ponder down the sky, turning orange then crimson as it dropped into the ocean.

Picking our way back through the garden in the twilight, we went for dinner at the Paradisos restaurant, presided over by a friendly Cypriot matriarch who plied us with fresh tarama salata, olives, more superb – and superbly squeaky – halloumi, and wonderful grilled fish.

We hit the pool first thing the next morning for a refreshing swim, with that stupendous view in the background. We’d decided to head East towards the capital, Nicosia (known locally as Lefkosia) which looked relatively straightforward on the map but turned out to be a deceptively epic, five hour drive.

We didn’t mind the long trip, though, which took us through slim, winding mountain roads to the heights of the Paphos Forest with our drop top down and the iPod shuffling.

Other cars are few and far between and the panoramas are spectacular – we regularly parked up to fill up our memory cards with

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snaps of the scenery, of the pine-covered peaks undulating their way down into valleys below. When we stopped for a lemonade in a tiny town, we chatted to the café proprietor who was so pleased to have a natter that he didn’t charge us for the drinks and sent us on our way with a smile. Given that we looked to be his sole customers in the last decade or so, we thought it was mighty big of him.

When we finally pitched up in Nicosia we found it a little bit of a let-down after the wilds of Paphos Forest. The city is cut through by a ‘Green Line’, which divides it from the north of the island, and its busyness and workaday feeling felt like a bucket of water to the face after the hear-the-birds-cheep tranquility of the mountains. We turned our attentions south, zooming back to the coolness of the coast. We had nothing booked for the night, but were hoping to find some lovely little spot in a tiny village. We skirted through several but saw nothing appealing – and all the time the night was drawing in.

When we stopped for a lemonade in a tiny town, we chatted to the cafe proprietor who was so pleased to have a natter that he didn’t charge us for the drinks In the end and out of necessity we abandoned our anti-Lemesos stance, heading for the town and checking in for a night at the Hotel Amathus Beach, a blocky shoreside retreat which came highly recommended in our guide book. It was fine – we didn’t pay a premium for a sea-facing room so we were left looking out over the road, but the rooms were slick and modern, and there was a lovely restaurant terrace which overlooked 52

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Clockwise:Harbour, nature trail, Paradisos Hotel, Pissouri Bay

CYPRUS

the waterfront, where we spent a few hours eating nuts and taking in the scenery.

Alongside the ocean, this consisted of the preparations for a massive Cypriot wedding, which was clearly running way behind schedule. A huge queue of hugnry guests had formed in front of a rope barrier, behind which a terminally stressed wedding planner was dashing about trying to bring together elaborate floating decorations for the swimming pool, while erecting a gold-covered throne for the happy couple and installing chandelier-style lights. Highly upsetting for the wedding party but very amusing for us.

Next morning we checked out the private stretch of beach and had a nice-enough breakfast – along with about 50 other couples and families – on the large breakfast terrace.

The whole experience cost double what we’d paid at Paradisos Hills, and convinced us that if you’re visiting Cyprus, it’s all about boutique chic – steer cleer of the big resorts, the big towns and the obvious beaches and you’ll have a far more rewarding time.

For our final stop of the trip we decided to head up into the Troodos mountains, to experience some rustic village life in Omodos. A two-hour drive left Lemesos and its tourist cafés far behind, and we pulled up and checked in to the Stou Kir Yianni (omodosvillagecottage.com), a tiny, coupleof-bedrooms place down a warren of tiny meandering streets. We installed ourselves at a café terrace on the village square and settled in for a lazy session of peoplewatching. Dinner was taken back at the Stou, under the stars, with a couple of friendly cats and one other table of guests for company, and the best dinner of the trip: wonderful roasted lamb with roasted potatoes, preceded by yet more superb mezze.

It was a stunning end to our trip: we left having fallen in love with this quirky, beautiful island, its people, food, scenery and homely hotels a perfect getaway from the Gulf.

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THE MIDDLE EAST’S FIRST CARBON NEUTRAL MAGAZINE

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YOUR TOTAL GUIDE TO RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL, FROM OFFSETTING TO ECO-LODGES AND FROM SOLAR-POWERED LUGGAGE TO FIVE STAR VOLUNTOURISM

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THE MIDDLE EAST’S BIGGEST TRAVEL MAGAZINE

WIN

DECEMBER 2008

VIP TO DUTICKETS BA FEST I FILM IVAL

15

RIDES OF A LIFETIME

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ZEPPELINS IN SAN FRANCISCO AIRBOATING THE EVERGLADES TRIPS INTO SPACE

A M L A FA AHA OF BULO

THE MIDDLE EAST’S BIGGEST TRAVEL MAGAZINE

THE MIDDLE EAST’S BIGGEST TRAVEL MAGAZINE

FE IN US SIDE FOR R EV READ ERY ER

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TO PRIZPE

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ESSENTIAL SELECTION

Country house hotels that will blow your mind

BUSINESS HOTELS

SEALING THE DEAL IN THE CITY OF GOLD

WOK ON THE WILD SIDE THE ULTIMATE

RAINBOW NATION A TOP TOUR OF

FOODIE TOUR OF BANGKOK

SOUTH AFRICA BY PLANE, TRAIN AND AUTOMOBILE

PLEASURE ISLAND THE FOODIES’ PICK

TWIN PEAKS TACKLING MOUNTS KILIMANJARO AND CAMEROON

OF THE MAURITIAN RESTAURANT SCENE

WINTER

TOP SIGHTS IN OSAKA + SHOPS ON 5TH AVENUE + THE BEST DINNERS IN SAO PAOLO KWT

TOTAL GUIDE

TOTAL GUIDE

All you need for a life-affirming trip, from checking out the Boulders Beach penguins to cruising Route 62…

Beach breaks, big city stayovers, elephant rides and ultimate tea safaris…

PACK YOUR SKIS AND SNOWBOARDS AND HIT THE SLOPES FROM CHAMONIX TO WHISTLER

BEST SHOPS IN BELFAST + BEST FOOD IN CHICAGO + BEST EVENTS IN NEW ZEALAND 6

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Kanoo W Trave orld l South Africa the big ler: ges best tr t and avel maga zine in the Middle East A LOWDOWN ON THE ISLAND OF CAPE VERDE

INDIA

Sports Special

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CONCIERGE LAS VEGAS

CONCIERGE LAS VEGAS

VIENNA

ROME

KUALA LUMPUR

THE 30-SECOND CONCIERGE

BELLAGIO RESORT, LAS VEGAS, USA What’s my battleplan for Vegas?

If you like an adrenaline buzz, one thing that’s really worth doing is a trip with Bootleg Canyon Flightlines. Head to Boulder City and you can whizz from the peak of Red Mountain out over the desert ground at a height of over 1,000 feet on a zip-line.

It’s one of the most exciting tours you’ll ever take – at up to 50 miles an hour.

And how about something more sedate, for the family?

There’s the Gameworks centre in the Showcase Mall, which has over 200 of the latest interactive video games – it’s a joint creation by Universal Studios and Sega Enterprises.

And a cultural show?

Why don’t you go and check out the excellent Marjorie Barrick Museum, where you can find out about about the region’s native cultures in a fascinating series of exhibitions.

And where should we eat?

Stay at the Bellagio and take dinner at Michael Mina, a contemporary restaurant from a Michelin-starred chef. Or try Hunan, Cantonese and Szechuan food at Jasmine, or beautifully turned-out steakhouse Prime (make sure to round your meal off on the lovely garden terrace. bellagio.com

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AUSTRIA

Kunsthistorisches (Fine Art) Museum

Visit Vienna

Fin-de-siècle decadence still abounds – but these days Austria’s waltzer has a hip new groove says Rob Crossan Finally the pomp and ceremony of old-style Vienna has a rival: a brand-new, upbeat, trendy city emerging from the sidestreets, which could catch you by surprise at any moment. Perhaps you’ll encounter it while browsing the stalls of the busy Naschmarkt for flavour-of-themonth organic fare; or as you rattle round the landmark-littered Ringstrasse on an immaculate vintage tram; you’ll definitely savour it while you’re hanging out in one of the subterranean cafes.

However it hits you, at some stage you’ll sense an old imperial capital 56

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chilling out, dressing down and embracing the 21st century.

WHERE TO STAY NO EXPENSE SPARED Palais Coburg Coburgbastei 4 (palais-coburg.com).

Some £90 million has been spent on converting this palace, built by the Duke of Ferdinand in the 1840s, into 35 gargantuan suites – and it shows.

Everything is an exercise in elegance. Go down into the basement for a peek at the only remaining visible section of the original city walls and ramparts.

Suites from $1000, B&B.

Do & Co Hotel Stephansplatz 12 (doco.com).

With an outstanding view of the ballpoint pen-like steeples of St Stephen’s, this hotel is the new incarnation of the hyper-modernist ‘Haas Haus’ building, designed by postmodern architect Hans Hollein. Highlights are monsoon showers and Bang & Olufsen flat-screen TVs. Rooms from $600, room only.

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD Hollmann Beletage Köllnerhofgasse 6 (hollmann-beletage.at).

This superbly central design hotel has a snug feel, thanks to its rich

Riesenrad

red carpets and sofas.

There are some quirky elements (including a piano with headphones, so you can tinkle without a telling-off).

Rooms from $268, B&B.

Hotel Rathaus Lange Gasse 13 (hotel-rathaus-wien.at).

Each of the 39 sleek and spacious woodenfloored rooms in this pension is devoted to

ASK THE LOCAL Beatrice Aumayr is an art history graduate and tour guide who has lived in Vienna all her life Have a lazy breakfast in the Museum Quarter eating one of the fantastic rolls at cosy Kantine (Museumplatz 1), in the old imperial stables. Then stroll along Spiegelgasse browsing the boutique stores – my favourite, D’Ambrosio, has shoes to die for. The alleyways are good for clothes by new designers, too.

For dinner, try the restaurant in the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK; www.mak.at). The modern surroundings contrast with the quite-trad food. Stay out late at Café Drechsler (Linke Wienzeile 22 / Girardigasse 1). Open 23 hours a day, it’s always full of fun people.

CONCIERGE VIENNA

Clockwise: Palais Coburg, Steirereck im Stadtpark, Do & Co Hotel, Hollmann Beletage

side of potato salad and pumpkin seed oil.

Mains from $24.

COFFEE CULTURE: Don’t ask for a coffee to take away in an old-school Vienna coffeehouse – it’s considered terribly rude. MOAN TOWN: The locals’ standard reply to ‘How are you?’ is ‘Ich kann nicht klagen’, or ‘Can’t complain’ (though younger Viennese say the hidden meaning is ‘…but I’d like to’. $6 BUYS YOU: A slice of Buchteln (sweet jam-filled dumplings, topped with vanilla sauce) – the signature dish at 70-year-old Café Hawelka (Dorotheergasse 6). a different Austrian artisan. The breakfast – a truly astonishing selection of meats, cheeses, breads and preserves – is worth a night here alone.

Rooms from $260, room only.

WHERE TO EAT NO EXPENSE SPARED Steirereck im Stadtpark

Am Heumarkt 2a (steirereck.at).

A lovely new location in the city’s main park has only increased this two Michelin-starred restaurant’s popularity.

Book well in advance to sample the work of Heinz Reitbaur – whose belt-popping indulgences include saddle of lamb, Styrian roast beef and caviar-

semolina dumplings.

Mains from $54.

Figlmüller Wollziele 5 (figlmueller.at) This Vienna institution is so popular they had to open another branch around the corner. The reason: their deep-fried Schnitzel. You’ll get several slabs of the stuff, which you should savour with a chunky

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD Muriel’s Deli Naschmarkt, Naschmarkt 421-436 (naschmarkt-deli.at).

Right in the heart of Vienna’s open-air food market, this deli benefits from ample outdoor seating and a daily changing menu that ranges from artichoke-stuffed ravioli with basil pesto to super-sized steak sandwiches. Mains from $16.

Babette’s Spice & Books For Cooks Schleifmühlgasse 17 (babettes.at). Books

by Austria’s top celeb chef, Sarah Wiener, are among those balanced on the high shelves at this bijou venture.

Perch at the counter and enjoy meals of daring design plucked from the various tomes. Mains from $16.

SHOPPING Wie Wein Kettenbrückengasse 5. This is the souvenir store for people who hate souvenir stores.

White-walled and funky – peddling alternative photography books on the city.

Nachbarin Gumpendorferstrasse 17. Look out for Austrian designers such as Anna Aichingers in this high-end temple to chic flamboyance for females; prices start at around $400.

Tostman Trachten Schottengasse 3a.

You will know that your love affair with Austria’s capital really has reached its zenith if you pick yourself up a drindl (an Austrian apron dress) from this store.

There’s a small museum in the basement, which has a mock-up of a dry-goods’ store from the 19th-century Biedermeier era.

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ITALY

The Colloseum, Right: Trevi Fountain

Visit Rome

The Eternal City brims with classic attractions – but it’s found a perfect present tense too says Rachel Spence Rimini-born Federico Fellini made some of his best films in his beloved birthplace, but it’s pretty obvious why he chose Rome as the setting for La Dolce Vita.

And no wonder Audrey Hepburn’s Princess, in the movie Roman Holiday, ditched her title to run around the city on the back of Gregory Peck’s Vespa. Somehow effortlessly, the capital marries seriously photogenic architecture with a sunny, playful disposition: equal parts sombre ancient buildings and capricious dolphin fountains. The city is a magical history tour, best known for its Baroque buildings, but 58

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honed by architects and artists either side of that era into a showcase of Classical, Medieval and Renaissance beauty – thread together just one example of each and you’ve got a glorious slideshow of a weekend.

WHERE TO STAY NO EXPENSE SPARED Regina Hotel Baglioni Via Veneto, 72 - 00187 (baglionihotels.com).

More than just a convenient base from which to explore Rome’s historical treasures, this magnificent Liberty-style building has stood at the heart of the Eternal City since 1905 and, as such, is

a historical gem in its own right. Wonderfully styled, its rooms are chockfull of traditional charm. We love the panoramic suite for its al fresco hot tub, from which you can soak in the sights in this beautiful city.

St George Via Giulia 62 (00 39 066 86611, www. stgeorgehotel.it).

Lined with antiques shops and ivy-robed houses, Via Giulia is a picturesque location for this new fivestar. There’s a ‘cosy minimalist’ look. But it has lingered because regulars love it so much. Ditto the spa

with its little indoor pool.

From $600, B&B. MIDDLE OF THE ROAD Hotel Locarno Via della Penna 22 (hotellocarno.it).

This period piece off the Piazza del Popolo has quirky, opulent rooms, furnished with Art Nouveau and Deco finds.

The courtyard draws summer breakfasters

ASK THE LOCAL Shayma Owaise Saadat, 34, is an economist at the UN offices in Rome My secret shoe shop is Mencucci (Via Cavour 102) in the Monti district – it has all of the leading designer labels for a fifth of the usual price.

For no-frills, scrummy food – pasta, meat, fresh vegetables – try a ‘tavola calda’ (buffet-style, lunch-onthe-run eateries popular with workers). My favourite is Volpetti (Via Marmorata 47; 00 39 065 742352) in Testaccio. My regular caffeine fix comes from Teichner (Piazza San Lorenzo 17, in Lucina). Its special is, well, special – white and dark chocolate fondant topped up with espresso.

CONCIERGE ROME

Clockwise: Regina Hotel Baglioni at night, view from roof terrace at Regina Hotel Baglioni

DRINK UP: Hardworking Romans relax at lunchtime over a Crodino – a slightly bitter juice-like drink. TOP DRAINS: Rome is home to one of the world’s first sewage systems, the Cloaca Maxima. $30 BUYS: A three-day Roma Pass (www.romapass.it), which covers public transport, and entrance to two sights, plus reduced-price tickets for all other sights and galleries as well as a map and vocab guide. Trust us, it’s worth it.

NOSE ABOUT THE FOUNTAINS: Rome’s little stand-alone fountains go by the affectionate nickname of Nasone (Big Nose) because of their hooter-like spouts. and, for those who dare, there are bicycles.

Rooms from $340, B&B. Hotel del Teatro Pace Via del Teatro Pace 33 (hotelteatropace.com).

A 17th-century spot in the Bernini-andBorromini land, near Piazza Navona, makes a cosy-yet-contemporary retreat. A Baroque stone spiral staircase leads to rooms with ceiling beams. Rooms from $200, B&B. WHERE TO EAT NO EXPENSE SPARED Imàgo Hotel Hassler, Piazza Trinità dei Monti 6 (hotelhasslerroma.com).

Mirrored tables, marble floors and a magnificent view make the Hotel Hassler’s newly renovated terrace restaurant as much fun to see as to be seen in.

(VIPs are ten-a-penny here.) Sunday brunch is grand. Mains from $68.

Piperno Monte dè Cenci 9 (ristorantepiperno.com).

Piperno has been serving classic Roman dishes on snow-white tablecloths since 1860.

Located in the ghetto, the kitchen’s way with carciofi (deep-fried purple artichokes) has found its way into Roman folklore. Mains from $24.

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD Gusto Piazza Augusto Imperatore 9 (gusto.it).

Decorated with blackand-white photos and jazzy murals, this industrial-style warren of brick-walled rooms houses a posh restaurant and pizzeria.

The latter is the most fun: start with succulent fried zucchini then go for a ludicrously overloaded pizza. Two courses $30.

La Fabbrica di Cioccolato Via Tiburtina 135 (00 390 644 69204).

In the shabby-chic, student district of San Lorenzo, the ‘Chocolate

Factory’ is a cafe, shop and restaurant packaged with NeoRococo flair. Chocolatey choices abound, among them pumpkin soufflé with chocolate flakes, but simpler dishes include lamb lentil pâté with Sardinian bread.

Mains from $20.

SHOPPING For designer dazzle – Cavalli, Hermès et al – join the Botox brigade prowling the streets in and around Via Condotti. Further north on Via del Babuino, the shops are more individual and equally deluxe. Try TAD, Via del Babuino

155a (taditaly.com), a classy-but-quirky outfit that combines home and fashion shopping with a hairdressers’, florists’ and cafe.

Intriguing one-off boutiques cluster around Via dei Serpenti in the Monti district: B (Piazza Madonna dei Monti 1) specialises in minimalist home and fashion pieces exclusively in black and white. For a rough, ready and really Roman market head to Piazza Testaccio. As well as fruit and veg (one stall sells up to 15 varieties of tomatoes), there’s also an enticing range of midpriced shoes.

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MALAYSIA

Visit Kuala Lumpur

This sassy city comes with a side order of (jungle) greens, says Sean Thomas The Malaysian capital could do with better marketing. The city’s name means ‘place where two muddy rivers meet’.

The name of the country means ‘region with quite a few hills’.

And if you let the tour guides have their way, you’ll end up schlepping around a pewter factory.

That’s right, a pewter factory.

It’s a shame, because over the past 20 years this metropolis has become one of the most alluring, sassy and accessible of Asian capitals – while avoiding many of the vices and pollution of its celebrated siblings.

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What’s more, it’s perhaps the greenest city in the tropics.

Right next to the 24/7/365 bustle you’ll find deer parks, orchid lawns and butterfly houses.

The emerald fecundity of Kuala Lumpur is all the more incredible when you consider its sheer vitality: the streets are dynamically multicultural; the shopping a match for Singapore – you can get bargains here to make your meanest auntie weep with joy; and the food is justly celebrated – from the street-hawkers’ satays to the upmarket sushi bars.

WHERE TO STAY

ASK THE LOCAL

NO EXPENSE SPARED Shangri-La 11 Jalan Ismail (shangri-la.com).

The Shangri-La brand has earned a name for itself amongst Asian hotels as the choice of presidents and plutocrats alike.

The KL version is no different: guests get free canapés on the 27th floor, alongside mind-screwing views of the Petronas Towers. Rooms from $240, B&B.

Adlina Azharuddin works at KL’s Mandarin Oriental

Hotel Maya 138 Jalan Ampang (hotelmaya-kualalumpur. com).

In contrast to the

in-yer-face luxury of the Shangri-La is the rather more understated, boutique Maya.

hotel. Here’s where she hangs out when off-duty…

For fried noodles, Kim Lian Kee (49-51 Jalan Petaling) is my favourite. Open nights only (5pm–5am), it’s as good as ever according to my father, who has been a regular since the ’50s. Blink and you’ll miss the discreet bistro No Black Tie (17 Jalan Mesui); founded by Malaysian concert pianist Evelyn Hii, it has live jazz and classical music from 21.30pm. Look for the stall with the blue tin roof at Taman U Lek, Cheras, at Lorong Durian – the ABC pudding (shaved ice, syrup, evaporated milk, corn and red beans) is just like we used to have at school. Still hungry? Visit the Soo Kee Mee stand on Jalan Khoo Teik Ee for tasty fried sliced beef and ginger.

Everything here is elegant, high-definition, ultra-thin – and that’s just the staff. Rooms from $260, B&B.

CONCIERGE KUALA LUMPUR

The Petronas Towers Right: Shangri La suite

$20 BUYS: A small piece of antique batik. $200 BUYS: A handmade songkok, woven with silk and gold (it’s the traditional Malaysian fez worn by sultans and presidents across Muslim East Asia). HEADSPIN: The Skybridge connecting the Petronas Towers is the highest two-storey bridge in the world. EAT LOCAL: Order frog porridge. And enjoy it. YOU KNOW YOU’RE IN KL WHEN: You wonder why someone is showing you the world’s largest pewter tankard. It’s at the pewter museum, near the pewter factory.

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD Ancasa Hotel Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (ancasa-hotel.com).

If you want to be in the thick of frog-porridge city – Chinatown – this is a good option.

The rooms are comfortable, with hints of opulence. Rooms from $60, room only.

Hotel Capitol Jalan Bulan (fhihotels.com).

In the midst of the Chanel-encrusted boulevards of the ‘Golden Triangle’ is this not-too-expensive boutiquey hang-out.

The bathrooms are

notably good, and the breakfasts generous.

And you can use the swimming pool at the Federal Hotel next door.

Rooms from $60, B&B. WHERE TO EAT NO EXPENSE SPARED Dining Room Carcosa Seri Negara (00 603 2295 0888).

Simple name, complex food. Dining Room is one of the best restaurants in a city that takes its stomach very seriously.

Try the wafu steak with forest mushrooms, or the Chinese duck with garlicked asparagus.

Frangipani 25 Changkat Bukit Bintang (00 603 2144 3001). A French restaurant where you’ll enjoy monkfish and crab, plus western staples like duck confit.

Mains from $16.

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD 7atenine 9 Jalan Pinang (00 603 2161 7789).

Part restaurant, part monument to Asian economic prowess, 7atenine is packed to the gunwales every night with go-getters eating julienne’d avocado. An experience.

Mains from $12.

Goddezz Solaris Mount Kiara (00 603 6203 7557).

Another fashionable eaterie, which specialises in the freshest oysters. Dress to the elevens. Mains from $12.

SHOPPING House & Co East Wing, Bangsar Shopping Centre, Jalan Maarof. On offer are all kinds of Malayasian arts and crafts, from Sarawakian sofas to Malaccan batik, and a great restaurant.

Artalk Gallery 22 Jalan Telawi. Right

above a sushi bar – so you can nip down for a California roll if the mahogany statuettes get too much – this is a great place for authentic artworks by up-and-coming local artisans.

Petaling Street In the middle of Chinatown you’ll find this liveliest of shopping streets – a cavalcade of Chinese, Nepalese and Burmese traders hawking cheap jewellery, herbal medicines, ‘designer’ T-shirts, and foods that you never realised could be dried.

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Feeling excited about your holiday? Check through our list of the most popular Kanoo Travel offices, find one near you and head down or call up to turn your getaway dreams into reality...

BAHRAIN Abu Obeidah Avenue Wroad No. 302 Manama Tel. 17 576950 Mahooz Tel. 17 828754 Awali Branch Sitrah Avenue Road No. 4522 Awali Tel. 17 756487 Al Moayd Tower Manama Tel. 17 220220 Kanoo Holidays Mahooz Tel.17 828802 Kanoo Travel Refinery Tel. 17 755012 Airport Office Bahrain Tel. 17 321325 Egypt Air Manama Tel. 17 220747 Lufthansa Mahooz Tel. 17 828763 Air India Manama Tel. 17 220788 Cyprus Airways Manama Tel. 17 220 849 British Airways Manama Tel. 17 220701 Qantas / Jetabout Manama Tel. 17220743 Thai International Mahooz Tel. 17 828771 Air Canada / Austrian Airlines / Polish Olympic Airways / Sudan Airways / Sas / Swiss Int’l / Tunis Mahooz Tel. 17 828770

EGYPT Alexandria Booz Allen 1 Youssef El-Shazly Street Roushdy, Alexandria Tel. 002 03 5459265

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Alexandria 14 May Str, Sayadlia Building Symoha Tel. 020 03 424 1050 Aswan Abtal El-Tahrir Street Corniche El-Nil Tel. 002 097 2306983 Heliopolis Business Travel Centre 33 Nabil Elwakkad St Heliopolis Cairo Tel. 002 02 4130375/6 Cairo Halliburton C/O Halliburton Overseas Ltd Kilometer No 10 Land No 30 Ein Sokhna Road North Kattamia Cairo Tel. 002 02 27591690 Cairo 07 Dr. Kamal Hussin Heliopolis Cairo Tel. 002 02 26251307 Cairo Schlumberger C/O Schlumberger Zeiny Tower 25 Misr Helwan Road Maadi Tel. 002 02 7684700 Ext..

1014 Cairo U.N.D.P C/O U.N.D.P., 4th Fl, World Trade Center 1191 Cornich El Nil Tel. 002 02 25804491 Cairo Kasr El Nil 15 Kasr El Nil Street Down Town Tel. 002 02 25747991 Cairo Nile Hilton Nile Hilton Hotel Down Town Tel. 002 02 25785001 Cairo 1 Wahib Doss Str. Office No 9 Maadi Tel. 002 02 27513930 El Areesh Mfo C/O Mfo Northern Sinai Tel. 002 068 3502868 Luxor Winter Palace Hotel Tel. 002 095 2378333

FRANCE Foreign Exchange 11 Rue Scribe Paris 75009 Tel. +33 1 5300 9897 Foreign Exchange 11 Cours de I’Intendance Bordeaux 33000 Tel. +33 5 5600 6336 Bureau de Change Kanoo Printemps Dept. Store 64 Boulevard Haussmann 75009 PARIS Tel. +33 1 4282 4181

Umalquara Street Hayfer Makkah Tel. 02 544 7741 Kanoo Travel Sharafiya Tel. 02 643 9426 Kanoo Travel Taif Tel. 02 736 4211 Kanoo Travel Rabigh Tel. 02 423 2785

OMAN

Kanoo Travel Medinah Tel. 02 263 3040

Kanoo Travel LLC PO Box 75 114 Jibroo, Muscat Tel. +968 24700249

Air India Jeddah Tel. 02 668 0303 / 669 6571

QATAR

Gulf Air Jeddah Tel. 02 668 0303 / 669 6571 / 646

Old Al Hitmi Street Museum Street, Doha Tel. 04 441 3441 Conoco Phillips Salam Tower Al Corniche Street, Doha Tel. 04 443 7595

SAUDI ARABIA WESTERN PROVINCE Kanoo Centre Medina Road, Jeddah Tel. 02 661 4950 Bab Makkah Jeddah Tel. 02 644 9030 Bamaroof Centre Hail Street, Jeddah Tel. 02 653 0541

Singapore Airlines Jeddah Tel. 02 657 9898 Srilankan Airlines Jeddah Tel. 02 263 2959 Air Canada Jeddah Tel. 02 263 2996, Ext. 190 Kenyan Airways Jeddah Tel.02 263 2959 Ext. 108 Philippine Airways Jeddah Tel. 02 263 2959 Ext. 100 / 122

Khamis Abha Main Road Khamis Mushayat Tel. 07 222 3624

United Airlines Jeddah Tel. 02 263 3021 / 2959 Ext. 196 / 197

Prince Sultan Street Gizan Tel. 07 317 4285

EASTERN PROVINCE

Aboobacker Al Siddiq Street, Medina Tel. 04 823 9120

Airline Centre King Abdul Aziz Street Al Khobar Tel. 03 882 2206

Al Nawa Commercial Centre Al Sinnaiyat, Yanbu Tel. 04 321 3607

Kanoo Holidays, Retail Airline Centre, Khobar Tel. 03 882 2206 / 2601 / 2249

Albishar Commercial Centre King Abdulaziz Street Al Bahar, Yanbu Tel. 04 322 1087

Kanoo Holidays, Wholesale Airline Centre, Khobar Tel. 03 8821626 / 1851 / 8820161

Hertz Khobar Tel. 03 882 2005 / 5597

Dhahran Street Damman Tel. 03 833 7694

Airport Office Dammam Tel. 03 883 2660 / 2660

King Khalid Street Khobar Tel. 03 864 7471

British Airways Khobar Tel. 03 882 2000 British Airways Dammam Tel. 03 835 5714 British Airways Jubail Tel. 03 362 1069 Air India Khobar Tel. 03 882 2478 Air India Jubail Tel. 03 362 3454 Qantas Khobar Tel. 03 882 3711 / 2467 United Airlines / Air Canada / Singapore Airlines / Swissair / Austrian Airlines Tel. 03 882 1518/ 2962 / 2602 / 03 882 4477 / 4442 / 4890 / 4533 Srilankan Airlines Khobar Tel. 03 882 2789 / 2675 / 2792 Gulf Air Khobar Tel. 03 896 8496 / 9393 / 8493

47th Street Rahima Tel. 03 667 0388 Al Quds Street Qatif Tel. 03 851 5009 City Centre Al Mahoob Buidling Hufuf Tel. 03 586 3823 Kanoo Building Corniche Road Jubail Tel. 03 362 2340 Municipal Street Al Khafji Tel. 03 766 0045 CENTRAL PROVINCE Kanoo Tower King Abdul Aziz Road Riyadh Tel. 01 477 2228 King Faisal Foundation Al Khairia Complex Riyadh Tel. 01 463 4454 Wazir Street Al Azizea Building Riyadh Tel. 01 411 4780

Gulf Air Dammam Tel.03 835 4194 / 4917 / 4952

Batha Riyadh Tel. 01 403 0368

Gulf Air Qatif Tel. 03 852 9384 / 854 5240

Al Kubaih Street Buraidah Tel. 06 325 0888

Gulf Air Rastanura Tel. 03 667 8041/ 7972 Gulf Air Hofuf Tel. 03 585 3358 / 4080 / 2252 Gulf Air Jubail Tel. 03 363 0982/ 84 / 85 /86 Kanoo Tower King Saud Street, Damman Tel. 03 833 9793

Airport Road Hail Tel. 06 543 0430 Sharjah Street Hotat Bani Tamim Al Hotah Tel. 01 555 0304 Silsilah Road Onaiza Al Qassim Tel. 06 362 0080 Main Street Al Khamseen Wadi Ad Dawasir Tel. 01 784 6500

CONCIERGE WHERE TO BOOK

Kanoo Travel Naseem Tel. 01 232 8519

Najda Street Abu Dhabi Tel. 02 678 0400

Air India Kanoo Tower, Riyadh Tel. 01 477 2228 Ext. 295 / 296

Kanoo Holidays Dubai Tel. 04 334 1444 / 315 6624

Gulf Air Olaya, Riyadh Tel. 01 461 0589 / 462 4902 United Airlines / Air Canada Kanoo Tower, Riyadh Tel. 01 477 2228 Ext. 289, 290 Qantas Kanoo Tower, Riyadh Tel. 01 477 2228 Ext. 288, 305 Srilankan Airlines Kanoo Tower, Riyadh Tel. 01 477 2228 Ext. 292 X 293 Philippine Airlines Kanoo Tower, Riyadh Tel. 01 477 2228 Ext. 237 X 238 Air India Buraidah Tel. 06 324 6514 / 325 0888 Gulf Air Hail. Tel. 06 532 0280 Gulf Air Buraidah Tel. 06 324 6514 / 325 0888 Singapore Airlines Kanoo Tower Tel. 4734102 / 4734103

UAE Jebel Ali LOB 16, Ground Floor Jebel Ali Free Zone Tel. 04 881 5050 Karama Al Fathooi Centre Dubai Tel. 04 334 1222 Kanoo Building Khalid Bin Al Waleed Street, Bur Dubai Tel. 04 507 2242 Dubai Internet City Building 12 Tel. 04 390 1992 Deira City Centre Dubai Tel. 04 294 1481

Marine Travel Services Dubai Tel. 04 335 1314 Airport Office Dubai Tel. 04 393 1963 Kanoo Travel Corniche, Abu Dhabi Tel. 02 631 3900 / 631 8187

UK Birmingham American Express Bank House. 8 Cherry Street Tel. 0121 644 5514 / 0121 644 5560 Bournemouth American Express 95A Old Christchurch Road Tel. 0787 260 0528 / 01202 780 752 Brighton Amex House Implant American Express Ground Floor Amex House Edward Street Tel. 01273 525 041 / 040 Bristol American Express 74 Queens Road Tel. 01179 065 107 / 105 Cardiff American Express 3 Queen Street Tel. 02920 649 305 / 02920 649 301 Coventry American Express 5 Cathedral Lanes Shopping Centre Tel. 02 47 622 5511 / 0787 260 0528 Croydon American Express 2-4 High Street Tel. 0208 256 0808 / 0805 Edinburgh American Express 69 George Street 0131 718 2508 / 0131 718 2505

Kanoo Building Al Orouba Street, Sharjah Tel. 06 561 6058

Essex Lakeside Bureau American Express Lakeside Shopping Centre West Thurrock Way West Thurrock Grays Tel. 01708 890 654

Green Community Mall Jebel Ali Road Dubai Tel. 04 885 3321

Glasgow American Express 66 Gordon Street Tel. 0141 225 2905 / 0141 225 2908”

Kanoo Travel – American Express Hermitage Building Al Karama Tel. 04 334 9219

Guildford American Express 38-40 High Street Tel. 01483 551 607 / 01483 551 605

Leicester American Express 1 Horsefair Street Tel. 0116 242 1808 / 0116 242 1805

visit Disneyland, Paris this summer

London Haymarket American Express 30 – 31 Haymarket Tel. 0207 484 9674 / 0207 484 9600 London Credit Swiss First Boston American Express Travel Office C/O Credit Suisse One Cabot Square Canary Wharf Tel. 0207 888 4196 London Holborn Bureau American Express 156a Southampton Row Tel. 0787 260 0528 / 0207 837 4416 London Kensington High St American Express 84 Kensington High Street Tel. 0207 795 6703 London Knightsbridge American Express 78 Brompton Road Tel. 0207 761 7908 / 7900, London American Express 1 Savoy Court The Strand Tel. 0207 240 1521 Milton Keynes American Express 670 Silbury Boulevard Tel. 01908 608 877 Manchester American Express 10-12 St Mary’s Gate Tel. 0161 833 7301 / 0161 833 7301 Nottingham American Express 2 Victoria Street Tel. 0115 924 7705 / 0115 924 7701 Plymouth American Express 139 Armada Tel. 01752 502 707 / 01752 502 702

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why not

Disneyland® Paris is the ideal place for everyone and for every age! With two Disney® Parks, 14 hotels, three 9 - hole golf courses and Disney® Village - a unique entertainment area filled with bars, restaurants, boutiques and a nightclub, all with the inimitable Disney touch. Come closer, take a deep breath, and see what kind of magic we're cooking up for you!

Contact your nearest Kanoo Travel or Kanoo Holidays office for reservations, information and details on exclusive package offers including airfare. Visit www.kanootravel.com to access a complete description of Disneyland Resort, Paris and all the attractions and special offers planned for this summer.

Sheffield American Express 20 Charles Street, Sheffield Tel. 0114 263 9308 / 0114 263 9305 Southampton American Express 99 Above Bar Tel. 02380 716 808 / 805 York American Express 6 Stonegate Tel. 01904 676 505

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CONCIERGE SUITE DREAMS

SUITEDREAMS TSALA TREETOP LODGE, PLETTENBERG BAY, SOUTH AFRICA

At Tsala you can stay in one of ten suites or six villas tucked away in the treetops. Up in the forest canopy you’ll enjoy chilling out in the sophisticated and beautiful glass and wood hangouts and warming yourself in the cool evenings in front of your very own fireplace.

There’s no need to leave the trees for anything – take a dip in your private pool, with only the leaves and the sky above your head, and then head out onto the private terrace for dinner. You’ll constantly be doing double takes – who ever heard of a treehouse with TV and DVD player?

What a fabulous experience. hunterhotels.com

Sugar Beach, Mauritius An elegant blend of plantation lifestyle with a contemporary buzz provides the new 5-star Sugar Beach with a panoply of innovative sensations.

Combining a variety of activities to suit all tastes, be it diving in the pristine blue of the lagoon, sandcastle competitions for the little ones, complete relaxation at the Spa hammam or just indulging in the sensual tastes and flavours of one of several â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;World Cuisineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; restaurants, the Sugar Beach has something for everyone.

For further information, please contact your local travel agent. www.sugarbeachresort.com