June July 2022 - issue 221

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Taking The Road Less Travelled Since 1993

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2022 HOT LIST

YOUR MOST DESIRABLE DESTINATIONS + EDITORS’ TOP PICKS Northern France Road Trip Vietnam By Rail Wonderful Creatures Sailing The Mississippi Alexandria Photo Of The Year Mauritania Massachusetts Portugal’s Cultural North

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The exterior walls of the modernday iteration of the Library of Alexandria, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, are decorated with letters and words from many different languages, including the Greek character Omicron. Explore Egypt’s ‘Mediterranean Queen’ with our Off Grid trip planner on p184.

Cover image: Aerial view of Mont Saint-Michel by river against sky during sunset; Cavan Images / Alamy Stock Photo This page: Alamy

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am still surprised by how much impact Greek letters have had on the world of travel in the past few months.

Omicron, the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet (the inspiration behind the English alphabet’s own 15th letter) literally translates as ‘little O’ (o mikron) as opposed to ‘great O’ (o mega). Thankfully, the new COVID variant given this moniker seems to have stayed true to the letter’s meaning: so far it has had a much milder impact than first predicted. Despite this, fears of the unknown meant some of us were unable to go ahead with our travel plans, while many border reopenings were postponed yet again.

But our desire to travel is stronger than ever. Thousands of you have shared your most desirable destinations to visit in 2022 (p72). Adding to that, we have picked Wanderlust’s own 22 top recommendations for travel this year (p86) as well as the top new tour operator trips (p110) to further inspire your future journeys.

So I say we reclaim Omicron, because this issue is full of ‘O’s for your wishlist. For instance, dazzling opalescent colours await across the Channel – France’s northern coast is lined with magnificent sights and surprising finds (p94). Outstanding historic monuments and natural beauty can be experienced on a ride along Vietnam’s ‘World Heritage Express’ railway (p54). Or maybe you’d prefer to see the one-of-a-kind wooden canoes sailing up and down the Mississippi (p124), the ornamental doors of Mauritania’s ancient Ksour (p176) or the opulent cathedrals, castles and palaces of Portugal’s lesser-visited north (p188)?

Here’s my wish for 2022 and beyond: no more learning new Greek letters – unless you’re lucky to be visiting one of Greece’s original ancient sites.

Safe travels, George Kipouros Editor in Chief @georgiostravels

WANDERLUST: ‘the wish to travel far away and to many different places’ – Cambridge Dictionary

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THE AITOWANDERLUST 2022 SURVEY!

It’s been a tumultuous time for travel but, as much of the world opens up, we are joining forces with our friends at AITO, the Specialist Travel Association, on a survey to understand the travel plans of discerning travellers. AITO members offer authentic and original holidays, all fully protected. Like us, they are keen to know what matters to you at this time. What’s more, you’ll have the chance to win a £100 John Lewis voucher if you complete the survey. Go to www.wanderlust.co.uk/ aito/survey

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Wanderlust is brought to life by people from all over the planet. Here are some of the award-winning writers and photographers who have crafted this issue – plus, we asked: what is on your travel hot list for 2022?

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KATJA GASKELL

ANTHONY SATTIN

Northern France

Alexandria

Growing up on Canada’s West Coast instilled a passion in Lynn to tell stories of nature, northern destinations and indigenous people. She canoes deep into the Mississippi for us on p124, exploring its less-told history.

What’s on your 2022 Hot List?

“Hot for 2022 are less-travelled destinations: Salt Pans of Bolivia; Manitoba, Canada; Guadiana River, Algarve; the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, plus Benin and Togo, West Africa.”

Long a Londoner, American-born Kathy loves to spend time in New England, and Massachusetts in particular. On p170, she gives us tips on the lesser-known spots in this popular state, from quirky museums and funky hotels to exploring the great outdoors.

What’s on your 2022 Hot List?

“To compare and contrast facets of USA history at NYC’s new Museum of Broadway and Charleston’s new International African American Museum.”

Guidebook author, journalist and founder of the family travel blog globetotting.com, Katja shares with us why you should visit the friendly, historic and surprisingly oft-overlooked northern coast of France on p94.

What’s on your 2022 Hot List?

“After two years of stop-start travel I’d be happy to go anywhere but top of the list is Japan, here’s hoping they open their borders soon.”

Anthony has explored the Middle East and North Africa through three acclaimed books of history and travel, and two biographies.

His latest book is Nomads: the Wanderers who Shaped our World (published May 2022). He visits Alexandria for us on p184.

What’s on your 2022 Hot List?

“My list is all about people who remain in balance with the natural world, whether Bakhtiari in Iran, Bedu in the Middle East or gauchos in Argentina.”

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LYNN HOUGHTON

The Mississippi River

WANDERLUST TRAVEL PHOTO OF THE YEAR: The Winners Return (p140)

THOMAS KAST

A photojournalist, author and illustrator, Thomas’ aim is to introduce the audience to unfamiliar locations and cultures. A winner of the Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year 2019 competition, his prize took him to Hong Kong and Macao for us in 2019.

What’s on your 2022 Hot List?

“To conclude a reportage on the media-shy Hasidic communities in Jerusalem.“

GERAINT ROWLAND

Geraint has spent the last 12 years roaming the world, taking photos and trying to stay out of trouble. He’s exhibited his images in Cardiff, London and Lima, Peru, and licenses his photos via Getty Images. A Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year winner, he undertook his photo commission prize in 2019.

What’s on your 2022 Hot List?

“I’d love to visit Rwanda, which has fascinated me for years.”

PAUL WYNN

Paul’s introduction to digital photography came on a safari in 2010 when his wife presented him with his first DSLR. Since then his ‘snapshots’ have won many prizes – the biggest being the Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year 2019.

What’s on your 2022 Hot List?

“To pick-off some of the places featured in The Hairy Bikers recent TV series – the ‘make your own gin‘ day’s already booked!”

PAUL-VLAD EPURE

Currently studying for his pilot exams, Paul-Vlad’s won multiple international awards for his images. His prize for winning the Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year 2019 saw him visit Hong Kong and Macao.

What’s on your 2022 Hot List?

“Gorilla trekking; Socotra Island, Yemen; Raja Ampat, Indonesia; the Karakoram Highway, Pakistan; and the Okavango Delta.”

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Wanderlust is the UK’s leading independent travel magazine, taking the road less travelled since 1993.

Paul Morrison and Lyn Hughes schemed the project on a flight to Ecuador, aspiring to produce a publication that combined the right mix of wildlife, activities and cultural insight. Twenty nine years later, Wanderlust is the oldest UK travel magazine still in circulation and it continues to inspire through impartial information and fresh ideas alongside original creative writing and astonishing photography. It has a distinct focus on highlighting off-the-beaten-path experiences and bringing to light the most exciting destinations. Responsible, conscious and sustainable travel has been its modus operandi for the last three decades.

It is always upfront about whether its writers have travelled independently or with a tour company and will never guarantee positive coverage to any of our advertisers.

With a strong and rapidly growing digital presence, wanderlustmagazine.com delivers thousands of articles and attracts over 12 million visitors a year, alongside 150,000+ social media followers. ‘The Wanderlust Club’ maintains a community of serious travellers engaged 24/7.

Wanderlust leads the way in the production of intelligent, inspirational travel stories. Its blend of exclusive features, practical reviews, unique insights, tips and ideas has won awards from respected travel and media industry bodies across the planet.

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General enquiries +44 (0)20 3771 7190, info@wanderlust.co.uk EDITORIAL CONTENT Editor-in-Chief George Kipouros @georgiostravels Founding Editor Lyn Hughes @wanderlust.lyn Managing Editor Tom Hawker Special Features Editor Rosie Fitzgerald @rosiefitzgerald Contributing Editors Sarah Baxter, Mark Carwardine, Paul Goldstein & William Gray DESIGN Art Director Graham Berridge Assisted by Scott Jessop (maps) DIGITAL Digital Creative Director Anil Karwal Digital Editor Jessica Reid COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIPS Partnerships Director Adam Lloyds (adam.lloyds@wanderlust.co.uk)

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© Wanderlust Travel Media Ltd, 2022, ISSN 1351-4733 Published by Wanderlust Travel Media, Capital House, 25 Chapel St, Marylebone, London NW1 5DH. All rights are reserved. Reproduction in any manner, in whole or in part, is strictly forbidden without the prior written consent of the publishers. All prices are correct at time of press. No responsibility for incorrect information can be accepted. Views expressed in articles are those of the authors, and not necessarily the publishers.

Wanderlust is a registered trademark. US distribution Wanderlust, ISSN 1351-4733, is published bi-monthly and is distributed in the USA by Pitney Bowes International Mailing Services Inc as mailing agent. Periodicals postage paid at Kearny, NJ and additional mailing offices. Contributions & work experience For details, please go to www.wanderlustmagazine.com/about-us Printing Walstead Roche, Victoria Business Park Roche, St Austell, Cornwall PL26 8LX Newstrade distribution Marketforce (UK) Ltd: 0203 787 9001 Circulation marketing Intermedia Brand Marketing Ltd: 01293 312001

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ABOUT US

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34 ART

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12 Viewfinder

Inspirational images from Italy, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia

19 Letters

You get in touch with us about UlUla, digital editions and more...

21 Your Photos

38 Sustainable Travel

Holly Tuppen gives advice on ensuring your accommodation is environmentally sound

40 Interview: Steve Backshall

A postcard from Malta

The TV adventurer takes us to the uncharted landscapes of his latest Expeditions show

JOURNAL

29 Grapevine

44 Gear

Sustainable sleeper trains, Californian trails and exciting stays

The latest clothes and gadgets to aid you on your travels

The latest TV shows, books and podcasts to fire your imagination for that next big trip

We stay at the historic Casa de Sierra Nevada in arty San Miguel de Allende

Head to the Alps for traditional handmade local wares

Where first-class hotels now mix with the traditional homestays

32 Armchair Travel

34 Arts & Crafts: Austria

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How the geography of the Himalayan country helped create a varied national cuisine

Readers’ recent shots

22 Just Back From…

10 February/March 2022

36 World Food: Nepal

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47 Dream Sleep

48 WanderSleeps: Havana

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Map illustration: Scott Jessop

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FEATURES

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54 Vietnam by rail Why the Reunification Express railway is the best way to see the country’s UNESCO sites

174 Indigenous Culture We explore the history, traditions, and legends of British Columbia’s diverse first inhabitants

176 World Heritage

70 Travel trends for 2022

From slow travel to staycations, this is how you will be travelling

Why the outposts of Mauritania’s Ancient Ksour are the artistic essence of Sub-Saharan Africa

Your award-winning destinations and our editors’ expert picks to visit this year

Compact Rutland packs in pretty villages and one of Europe’s largest man-made reservoirs

We enjoy the hospitality, cuisine and vast history of Brittany, Normandy and Hauts-de-France

Sitting on the Med – and on over 2,500 years of history – Alexandria, Egypt, still offers bustle and adventure

180 British Break

72 The 2022 Hot List

184 Off The Grid

94 Northern France

110 Top Trips for 2022

DISCOVER

140 Travel Photographer of the Year: the Winners return

168 Double Bill

124 The Mississppi River

The thoughtful images from 2019’s winners’ prize commission to Hong Kong and Macao

The up-and-coming capitals of Zagreb and Ljubljana make a perfect twin-city break

Discovering wildlife and PaleoIndian history on a canoe journey beyond the antebellum classics

The most remarkably different animals and where to spot them

How to get away from the crowds in popular Massachusetts

Fresh destinations and innovative experiences with the most exciting new tour operator trips

152 Wonderful wildlife

188 European Short Break Portugal’s north offers culture, history and Iberian wilderness

194 The View From Above

170 Hidden USA

Queenstown, New Zealand, is making significant efforts in changing its tourism narrative

Russia 110 110 Sweden England 180 174 British Columbia Utah 110

France 94 170 Massachusetts

124 Mississippi Cape Verde 110 48 Cuba

Map illustration: Scott Jessop

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And get exclusive access to offers, competitions and events. See p106 for details

72 Colombia

34 Austria

Malta 22

South Korea 110

184 Alexandria

Bhutan 110

110 Japan

140 Hong Kong & Macao 72 Saudi Arabia Vietnam 54

110 Uganda Timor Leste 110 Namibia 110 110 Botswana

72 Brazil

Australia 72 New Zealand 194

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Basilica di San Vitale, Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

High up on Italy’s north-east coast, Ravenna somehow doesn’t get the tourists that the honeytraps do. This is despite it being blessed with eight UNESCO-listed sites – dating to the 5th and 6th century – that reveal the city’s importance as a capital for the Romans, the Ostrogoths and then the Byzantines. The Basilica di San Vitale is a prime example. This 6th-century church looks ordinary on the outside but inside boasts an extraordinary series of mosaics, breathtaking examples of surviving earlyChristian Byzantine art and architecture. These were eventually complemented by the baroque frescoes on the dome, made between 1778 and 1782. Visitors to Ravenna can be enjoyably overwhemed by these eight ancient churches, baptisteries and mausoleums – strewn with still-vibrant mosaics – and that’s before they even get to Dante’s 16th century tomb or the wetland reserves and canals of nearby Comacchio. © Jozef Sedmak / Alamy Stock Photo

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Rojal Heritage Village, Asir region, Rijal Almaa, Saudi Arabia

For over 900 years, the south-western Saudi village of Rijal Almaa has provided a vital rest-point for those venturing to the holy sites of Mecca and Medina. Today, its remarkably preserved collection of some 60 stone, clay and wood ‘gingerbread’ buildings, many of them several storeys high, attract many travellers. Last year, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) named Rojal Heritage Village in Rijal Almaa as ‘one of the world’s best tourism villages in 2021’, while it is a prospective UNESCO Heritage Site. Visitors can gain a better understanding of its history and architecture by stopping off at the museum at the village’s centre. But the local people here are just as distinctive as the structures: the traditional male dress is a wraparound skirt and an intricately constructed floral headpiece. Each August, a ‘Flower Men’ festival takes place in Rijal Almaa to celebrate this unique Saudi culture. © Eric Lafforgue / Alamy Stock Photo

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Wayag viewpoint, Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia

It’s a long journey and then a steep scramble up limestone cliffs, but travellers who reach the lookout will agree that the effort was worth it once they get to that view: a 360° panorama of Wayag, a seascape of conical karst islands and part of the Raja Ampat Islands Marine Reserve. But this protected area is a powerful example of community conservation in action. Every man from the relatively local villages of Salio and Selpele serves as a community ranger for two weeks each year, monitoring the area for illegal activity and behaviour. To further underline this commitment to the region’s future, the park has now re-opened to domestic travellers but under new rules to further limit visitor numbers. With a lack of accommodation options around Wayag, the lucky few have to include it as part of a day trip, during which they’re not only gifted with wild views but also some amazing snorkelling opportunities. © Adil Siripatana / Alamy Stock Photo

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Your Letters

SOCIAL TALK “Loved the #Scotland feature in @wanderlustmag so much by @robinmckelvie that I read it twice. Can’t wait to get back for the trip we had to COVID cancel last year.” @GirlsThatTravel

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You’ve been getting in touch about visiting AlUla, our exclusive Wanderlust Club members’ events and much more…

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“The Tourist was a good series. I know it’s a story but amazing how nobody took any water while travelling through The Outback!” Suzanne Krentz

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“Close encounters with a bear can be a chilly experience... and they like penetrating household garbage from the bins in the Tri-City’s residential areas [British Columbia], especially early in the morning when people are busy to go to work.”@frigerzoid

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“Lincoln, UK, [has] so much historic interest there, [but] probably gets overlooked as it is a small city and in parts, similar to York.”

Colin Paul

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AlUla inspiration

The Wanderlust event on AlUla at the Royal Geographic Society in October certainly inspired us to consider a holiday in Saudi Arabia.

The huge rock formations, rising from the desert landscape and carved to create tombs, reminded us of Petra – not surprising since both were created by the Nabataeans! There are also fine examples of ancient rock art.

One of the must-see sights will be the Maraya

You are loving our Club Member events! Here’s what you said about our …online event live from the Kicheche Camp, Masai Mara

George Kipouros

“Thank you Paul [Goldstein], James [Nampaso, Maasai guide] and Lyn Hughes for a very interesting Wanderlust webinar tonight. It was great seeing ‘the African Bush’ at night.” Roger

fromtheroad@wanderlust.co.uk

“Wow, what a joy. I loved hearing about Fig [the leopard] and seeing the short videos of the other animals. I couldn’t believe how close those elephants were!

I’m definitely planning a visit to Kicheche.” Chris “Remember Paul, when we had to change a wheel with Fig watching us from a nearby tree?” Karen “One word three syllables...

Fabulous.“ Sarah

@wanderlustmag

“I love the layout and design of the content on @wanderlustmag website.

Very enticing!” @HMoat

concert and function hall [pictured above]. The shape was hard to discern from the photographs because it is covered in mirrored glass that reflects the spectacular mountain scenery around. There is an oasis where one can walk in the shade and many places to hike.

Jeddah also sounded an interesting place to visit, particularly the Arab souks, [especially] as it has an international airport and flights go from there to AlUla. Sue, via email

“Marseille has a bad reputation but I found it had loads going for it – from culture, fab food, great shopping and lovely weather, and the people are down to earth.” Susan Fan “I miss Argentina – Buenos Aires and Ushuaia in particular were sadly out of my reach when I was there, [but] look incredible.” @witc_ian

“Cheetahs are my drug of choice.” Jane “That’s the thrill for me – to go back and see Fig and her family – to follow their story!” Jackie “What a great evening and I loved James’ beautiful beaded necklace and seeing the Maasai dancing.

More like this please!” Rachel “Thanks. I went on a safari to the Mara in the early ‘90s. Would love to return.” Mary

@wanderlustmag

“[Underrated] Turin has amazing Baroque architecture and piazzas, is a centre for food and drink, football, is home of FIAT and the second biggest Egyptian museum in the world, and many other things.”

Richard Hills

wanderlusttravelmagazine

Drop us a line with your pics, thoughts, tips and travel suggestions, and help other travellers find their way

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“Beauty in grief – the cenotaphs of the Rajasthan Royal Family in Jaisalmer. A beautiful set of structures.” Neeraj Das

“It was one of the best mornings in Wadi Rum, Jordan. I woke up early to watch it – it was worth it!“ Veronika Brejchova

“Keawakapu Beach, Maui, Hawaii.

An incredible sunset to end a perfect Hawaiian day.” Chris & Faye

“Close enough to feel the heat!

Fagradalsfjall volcano, Iceland.“ Ewa Krystek

“Having hiked Slieve Gallion, County Londonderry, we saw this cloud form a stairway to heaven.” Rhonda & Roger Vaughan

“Picturesque Emily Bay, Norfolk Island, Australia, metres away from the second-most southern coral reef in the world.“ Ayan Adak

“A favourite view on a favourite walk from the dramatically positioned Rifugio Lagazuoi in the Italian Dolomites.” Billy Wills

“It felt like we had Petra all to ourselves this December. Jordan’s crown jewel is a bucket-list topper for a reason!“Scarlett Darling

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“Autumn colours at their best at Sheffield Park and Gardens in East Sussex.”

Gunilla Roberts

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Mediterranean escape Temperate Malta makes for a fine winter escape – whether for Birgu’s fine harbourside, atmospheric treks or impressive culture

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Memorable Plane Journeys

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“The alarm sounded loudly on the 19-seater from San Fernando de Apure to Caracas. The noise stopped after the plane descended to below 15,000 feet, but everytime we tried to ascend, the alarm shrieked again. The mountains were probably closer than usual as we flew over them.” Carol Hopperton

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Malta

A cultural getaway to this Mediterranean island offers the perfect winter escape, says Rosie Fitzgerald The highlights: Known as the ‘Hollywood of the Mediterranean’, you can see why Malta’s ochrehued skyline and azure waters have enticed so many directors. And so many other countries for that matter, with the Romans, Arabs, Normans, French and British all wanting a slice of the island.

Its heritage is as fascinating as it is diverse and its many epoch-spanning sites – from 5,000 years ago to the present day – are well worth exploring.

Must see: Start in Valletta, the historical capital to admire Caravaggio’s The Beheading of St. John the Baptist, housed inside the gilded St Paul’s Co-Cathedral. Follow the narrow streets up to the Upper Barrakka Gardens for fine views over the Grand Harbour and Malta’s Three Cities. Take a closer look by catching a ferry to the fortified cities of Senglea, Cospicua and Vittoriosa to admire the well-preserved architecture. At the latter, also known as Birgu, get an insight into life on the island during the Second World War with a visit to the underground war tunnels at the Malta at War Museum. Mdina is another fortified city bursting

with medieval and baroque buildings. Go even further back in time with a visit to Hagar Qim. Literally translating to ‘stones of worship’, they are some of the oldest free-standing monuments in the world, more than 1,000 years older than Egypt’s pyramids.

Top tip: Eat at Gracy’s Brasserie. Housed inside the 17th Century Palazzo Verdelin in Valletta, its decor is just as delicious as the food.

Cautionary tale: It may be a small island but there is so much to do. As well as the cultural sites, there is fun to be had in nature too, such as kayaking, hiking Victorian pathways and walking across clifftops above unspoilt beaches. And that’s before you island-hop to Comino and Gozo. It’s wellworth slowing down and spending longer here.

I wish I’d known: The Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni needs to be booked in advance. We missed out as we didn’t realise only 10 people can go on a tour at one time and there are only eight tours a day.

Anything else: Malta’s mask rules are very strict.

You need to wear a mask at all times, even when outside, except when eating or drinking.

“At 35,000ft, I witnessed a wing bolt fly off and what looked like oil coming out of the hole. I gestured to a passing air stewardess who put a conspiratorial finger to her lips. About ten minutes later, she reappeared and whispered that it was fine and slipped a goodie bag on to my tray to thank me.

I’ve never booked a wing seat since.” Lynda Jennings Go online to share your tales on next issue’s topic: Memorable Train Journeys

Just got back from somewhere amazing?

Email us at fromtheroad@ wanderlust.co.uk or visit us at wanderlustmagazine.com

Rosie Fitzgerald; Shutterstock

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“After taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh, we had to land in Bari to refuel. The captain appeared and said, ‘We have a small problem: the airline has no fuel account here, can I borrow some money?’” Richard Marsden

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SO MANY WAYS TO EXPLORE Whether by foot, bike or canoe, there are so many ways to get out in nature in this little-visited part of England…

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The heart of Herefordshire The county’s glorious wild expanses are ideal for adventure, whether by boot, pedal or paddle

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ituated in between the Black Mountains and the Malvern Hills, Herefordshire in England is an emerald pocket of wilderness. Here are three ways to take advantage of all that splendid rural countryside…

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Visit Herefordshire

Walking trails web Herefordshire’s verdant countryside and they’re not just ideal for taking in its rural beauty but also encompass pinches of heritage. The Twin Valley Ley Line Trail is a prime example, a 70km route passing characterful churches, riverine valleys and Neolithic stones before you fill up at the Temple Bar Inn and overnight at snug Home Farm Dulas. Towards the end of the route, don’t miss Craswall Priory, England’s loftiest monastic site.

The county’s quintessentially English collection of Roasts & Rambles will have you strolling past castle ruins and caves before recharging your weary legs with a cosy pub lunch. Herefordshire may be cider country, but its temperate weather is also grape-friendly. A Perrycroft holiday cottage is a great base for three new wine walks, where you can pause at sun-dappled vineyards, including the nearby Coddington Vineyard.

of renowned organic producers are best visited on a bicycle tracing its trio of Cider Circuits. Bed down at the historic coaching inn the Green Dragon Hotel before taking on the 79km North Circuit, where you’ll pedal past black-and-white timber-framed houses, pea-green hills and artisanal cider producers.

End at The Bookshop, an eco-conscious restaurant with a mean Sunday lunch.

The 95km Southern Circuit encompasses many of Herefordshire’s ancient orchards – some being 200 years old – as well as a readymade picnic spot beside the Wye, while the 78km West Circuit snakes past craft cider makers speckling the Golden Valley, whose hills seem permanently bathed in flaxen light.

BY CANOE

Adventures in Herefordshire don’t just exist on terra firma, there are epic experiences on water, too. River trips have been organised

along the Wye since the 18th century and its leafy banks and gentle waters are just as idyllic today. A four-day canoe expedition between the market towns of Hay-on-Wye and Ross-onWye paddles past ancient forests, wildflowerfreckled meadows and grand architecture such as Hereford Cathedral and the Italianate-style St Catherine’s Church in Hoarwithy.

You’ll camp under the stars on the Wye’s banks each night, refuelling at charming eateries such as the riverside The Boat Inn at Whitney and the wonderfully named Cottage of Content in the hamlet of Carey. No wonder poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge were so inspired by the Wye Valley, a picturesque finale to your rural retreat.

BY BIKE

Crafted since medieval times, Herefordshire is English cider’s spiritual core. Its medley

For more information, go to: visitherefordshire.co.uk

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Find the real Florida The crystal clear waters of Wekiwa Spring are a refreshing 22°C year-round; watch rockets launch at Cape Canaveral; the four kilometre Tampa Riverwalk ART PRODUCTION

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the sunrise on Florida’s Space Coast 1 See

Rise early (around 6.30am) to head down to one of the pristine beaches along East Florida’s 115km Space Coast to watch the sun paint the morning sky hues of pastel pinks and purples.

Canaveral National Seashore is an ideal spot, where the beauty of the sand dunes has been left untouched, just as Mother Nature intended.

2 Visit Merritt Island

Next, head south to explore Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which dates

back to 1962 when NASA acquired 140,000 acres of land, water, and marshes adjacent to Cape Canaveral to establish the John F Kennedy Space Center. NASA built a launch complex and other space-related facilities, but development of most of the area was not necessary. The refuge was established in 1963 to protect migratory birds. The vast natural space encompasses a huge diversity of habitats including coastal dunes, saltwater marshes, freshwater impoundments, scrub, pine flatwoods and hardwood hammocks, providing a home for more than 1,500 species

Shutterstock; Kennedy Space Center; Pedro Castellano

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hought Florida was all about theme parks and packed beaches? Think again. The diverse state is home to vast natural landscapes bursting with rare wildlife such as manatees, dolphins and various species of colourful birds. Its cities boast a vibrant culture and creative cuisine.

And a journey along the Space Coast will reveal a fascinating space exploration heritage. There is so much more to Florida than first meets the eye. Here’s how you can spend a whole day getting under the skin of Florida and exploring a more authentic side to the Sunshine State…

sites, such as its museums, galleries, foodhalls and parks. It’s also a great place to soak up Tampa’s personality. You’ll see impromptu art installations, bands jamming out as the sun sets and kayakers paddling down the Hillsborough River. Alternatively, hire your own chartered e-boat to peacefully sail alongside the striking Tampa Riverwalk.

6 Enjoy a sundowner

Head to the popular food hall Armature Works at the end of the Riverwalk. Located inside is M.Bird, the place to hold a tropical cocktail in one hand and your camera in the other as you enjoy sunset views over downtown Tampa and the Hillsborough River.

7 Eat & sleep of plants and animals including manatees, otters, alligators, deer and even bobcats.

Take a journey through the 3 stratosphere

End your morning at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for an immersive and hands-on experience of the past, present and future of space exploration. It was from here that Neil Armstrong was launched into space to take man’s first steps on the moon, and you can learn about this incredible mission as well as others during your visit. Enjoy real rockets, the space shuttle Atlantis, educational exhibits and IMAX® films, alongside astronaut appearances and the shuttle launch experience.

Alternatively, head to Silver Springs, the largest and one-of-the-most-iconic of all of Florida’s freshwater springs. It is surrounded with primeval forest and its waters are bursting with life including alligators, turtles and a rainbow-spectrum of fish.

the Tampa Riverwalk 5 Explore

Leave the spring at 2.30pm to drive two hours west to Tampa Bay, where you can enjoy a late afternoon stroll or cycle along the fourkilometre Tampa Riverwalk. The walkway links some of downtown Tampa’s most popular

Once the sun has disappeared, refuel at one of the restaurants at Armature Works, or hop aboard the Pirate Water Taxi to Sparkman Wharf, another popular food hall constructed from old shipping containers. Here, you can feast on a fresh spin of Tex-Mex at JOTORO, the new restaurant helmed by Michelin-star chef, Joe Isidori. Another good option is Ulele on the Riverwalk which celebrates Florida’s Native American heritage by cooking a vibrant fusion of ingredients on a barbacoa grill.

Spend the night at the newly opened JW Marriott Tampa Water Street Hotel, located just off the Riverwalk, for a welldeserved luxurious night’s sleep after your memorable day exploring the Sunshine State.

Shutterstock; Kennedy Space Center; Pedro Castellano

off in Wekiwa Spring 4 Cool

From Kennedy Space Center it’s around an hour-and-a-half’s drive west to Wekiwa Spring, where emerald springs feeding the Wekiwa River are bound to entice you in for a dip. The powerful spring expels some 163 million litres of water a day and the crystal-clear waters are a refreshing 22°C all year-round. Don a snorkel mask or hire a kayak to swim or paddle past gentle manatees.

Don’t forget to explore on land, too, though.

The waters are surrounded by shady tropical hammocks that are dotted with hiking trails from where you can spot wildlife such as white-tailed deer, bobcats, gopher tortoises and even the Florida black bear.

For more information, head over to the brand-new immersive Florida hub: wanderlust.co.uk/discover/discover-florida

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PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

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Steve Backshall’s latest series, artistic Mexican stays, Nepali cuisine and much more in this issue’s news and advice section...

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Armchair travel

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Arts & crafts: Austria

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World food: Nepal

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Sustainable Travel

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Interview: Steve Backshall

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Gear

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Dream sleep: San Miguel, Mexico 47 WanderSleeps: Havana, Cuba

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Havana rising The National Capitol Building looms over the Cuban capital’s skyline. Visitors looking to stay in Havana are spoilt for choice, not just for its traditional homestays but increasingly for first-class hotels; p48

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The Wanderlust Club has a great range of exclusive offers, competitions and events for our members – here are just a few.

Already a member? Head to wanderlustmagazine. com/your-wanderlust to find out more. Missing out? To join the Club, turn to page 106

WIN! A copy of Ayla, by MasterChef Santosh Shah

Jonny Bealby and Marc Leaderman will talk about the history, culture and travel highlights of Georgia. Jonny first visited Georgia back in 1999 and now ranks it as one of his favourite countries, where the landscapes, the history, the cuisine and the people combine to make it a compelling travel destination.

Nepali chef Santosh Shah was very much the people’s champion on MasterChef: The Professionals, thanks to his passion for his home country and its rich and diverse cuisine. You too can try the dishes, as we have 5 copies of his debut cookbook to give away.

VIRTUAL EVENT: From the Andes to the Amazon: Travels in Bolivia (28 March)

30% OFF! Bradt Travel Guides

20% OFF! Water-to-Go water bottles Imagine being able to drink from any tap, stream or river in the world!

Water-to-Go’s bottles incorporate a unique 3-in-1 nanotechnology filter in each bottle meaning you can fill them from any non-saltwater source while you’re on your travels. And each filter saves on buying and discarding up to 400 bottles of water!

Despite being home to the world’s highest city, largest salt flat, richest silver mine and most biodiverse national park, Bolivia receives relatively few travellers and its influential history remains littleknown. Shafik Meghji, author of Crossed off the Map: Travels in Bolivia, will take us through this country via indigenous cultures, ancient ruins and Che Guevara.

Award-winning independent publisher Bradt Travel Guides have been specialising in slow travel, off the beaten track destinations, wildlife travel and quality travel writing for nearly 50 years.

Whether you are looking for a guide to a less-visited corner of the UK, explore Britain by Rail, or visit Uzbekistan, Bradt has the book for you.

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VIRTUAL EVENT: Georgia & the Caucasus (16 March)

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What’s New

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The latest sustainable sleeper trains, Californian trails and immersive art exhibitions on Wanderlust’s radar

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Rail travellers will be able to board Europe’s newest, sustainable night train, connecting some of the continent’s most desirable cities. From this summer, the European Sleeper will provide a direct service linking the capitals of Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague. Travellers from London will be able to catch the Eurostar and change at Brussels to board the service. Passengers can travel happily knowing 75 fewer tonnes of CO2-emissions are produced than if taking the same journey by air. The service will run three times a week at first, with plans to increase to a daily service, dependent on demand. europeansleeper.eu/English

PRODUCTION CLIENT Shutterstock; Liget Budapest Project

SOLAR ECLIPSE BY AIR A total solar eclipse is due to take place in Australia in April 2023, and a specialist aircraft charter service is offering passengers a rare opportunity to experience the natural phenomenon from above the clouds. The private plane will take off from Perth, flying over the Western Australia’s Coral Coast, before reaching a prime viewing location for watching the daylight plummet into darkness. The eclipse will only last a few fleeting moments, but passengers will be seated on one side of the aircraft for the best possible sighting. aircharterservice.com

Hungary’s House of Music is part of the largest cultural development initiative in Europe, the Liget Budapest Project. The new institution contains a performance venue, an immersive sound dome and a museum of music, with a permanent interactive exhibition transporting visitors through the history of Hungary’s music. ligetbudapest.hu/en The Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery recently opened in New Zealand’s Northland region and is home to the largest roof-top garden in the Southern Hemisphere. A permanent collection of Hundertwasser’s art is exhibited, along with the world’s first gallery dedicated indigenous Māori art. hundertwasser.com/en While visiting the birthplace of Pablo Picasso, stop off at the Museo Picasso Malaga for its latest exhibition, Face to Face.

Picasso and the Old Masters. The juxtaposition of Picasso’s paintings with those by the leading artists of the past, including El Greco and Francisco Pacheco, will allow visitors to appreciate the important role their work played in the revolution of 20th century art. museopicassomalaga.org, visitcostadelsol.com Be immersed in the art of Frida Kahlo as part of a new, digital exhibition touring the USA in 2022.

The multi-sensory experience displays enlarged, illuminated visuals of the Mexican artist’s work, including The Two Fridas and The Wounded Deer. The tour begins in February, stopping off in cities including Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. immersive-frida.com

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GRAPEVINE

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A trail for everyone

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A new 950km trail is coming to northern California and Nevada, revitalising outdoor recreation in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The Lost Sierra Trail will allow hikers, bikers, fishermen and even equestrians to explore the region’s remote scenery of jagged peaks and alpine lakes and meadows. This multi-use network of trails will also connect 15 small, historic towns, which are usually only reachable when travelling off the beaten track. The first section is due to open in 2023, with the entire trail estimated for completion by 2030. sierratrails.org/connected-communities

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One of Turkmenistan’s most popular tourist sites has been ordered to close. Darvaza gas crater, otherwise known as the ‘Gates of Hell’, is a 70m wide and 20m deep hole in the ground that has been burning natural gas for more than 50 years. Now, Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has ordered the fire pit in Karakum Desert to be extinguished, officially due to concerns over its impact on the environment as well as the economy.

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Shutterstock; Hotel Britomart

CLOSING THE GATES OF HELL

Grapevine 219, 2

Food for thought Foodie travellers should be sure to pay a visit to the Norwegian city of Trondheim and its surrounding area of Trøndelag, as it becomes a European Region of Gastronomy for 2022. It is only the second Nordic region to receive this accolade. Visitors will soon discover why it’s been so lauded. It boasts three of the planet’s most northernly Michelin star restaurants, and the summer brings 250,000 people for a three-day food festival full of culinary delights. Why is its food so good? The geology of the area and its abundance of natural resources create the favourable growing conditions for a multitude of produce. Tasty. exploretrondelag.com

New Sleeps Feel like royalty while staying deep in the heel of Italy’s boot. Castle Elvira, Puglia, is situated in 37 acres of private parkland, restored after a century of being abandoned. Guests can expect a luxury stay as they indulge in refined Pugliese hospitality, with the residence also boasting views of the local area, private gardens and citrus and olive groves. Opening in spring 2022. castleelvira.com Hotel Britomart in buzzing Auckland is New Zealand’s first 5 Green Star hotel.

The heritage building has been converted into a 99-room luxury hotel, constructed with almost 80% recycled materials. Every detail of the elegantly designed rooms and suites have been carefully considered, from the handmade ceramics to the responsibly sourced timber walls. thehotelbritomart.com

Shutterstock; Hotel Britomart

SEVEN ON THE SEVERN Spend the week paddling down Britain’s longest river in a two-person canoe. Shrewsbury Canoe Hire are launching a seven-day tour of River Severn in spring 2022 – a peaceful, spacious experience that offers the chance to escape into tranquil nature. The canoe hire company offers advice and support with accommodation, which includes wild camping and glamping options, but do note, these will need to be booked separately. bigsevernadventure.co.uk

Sleep in the bedroom of one of the world’s most famous romantic poets.

Rydal Mount, overlooking Windermere in the Lake District, was once the home of William Wordsworth and his wife, Mary, with many of their possessions and portraits remaining in the house today.

The owners of the building, descendants of the poet, have partnered with nearby Rydal Lodge to offer a shared experience between the two accommodations. rydalmount.co.uk Opened last year in southern Mahé, Mango House Seychelles is the former home of famed Italian fashion photographer Gian Paolo Barbieri. With only 41 sea-facing villas and suites, it provides an intimate village feel and direct access to the Anse Aux Poules Bleues – the Aquarium of Wonders. hilton.com/en/hotels

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ARMCHAIR TRAVEL VERSION REPRO OP SUBS ART PRODUCTION

Whether searching for new ways to live or just to find yourself, this month’s travel TV offers some armchair inspiration – plus a legend returns

“I

t’s a life’s ambition to follow someone into a wood and watch them dig a poo-hole.” Sue Perkins gets to grips with both a small shovel and the #VanLife movement in Sue Perkins’ Big American Road Trip (All 4), driving her tricked-out RV across California and Colorado. Along the way, she meets the Instafriendly youngsters who’ve adopted the lifestyle as a way to travel, as well as the greyer Nomadland-esque wanderers who’ve been forced on the move thanks to broken communities and collapsed industries. The wry, game Perkins may never sound entirely convinced that life without a toilet, shower and laundrette is for her, but you may well be.

TV chef Andi Oliver and presenter daughter Miquita are most certainly changed by their visit to The Caribbean with... (iPlayer). The pair set about rediscovering their family roots, taking them from Antigua to Barbuda and then Barbados.

But while there’s the requisite beauty shots – swimming with turtles – the pair spend time among the locals, such as the Rasta community who’ve reclaimed a sugar plantation, coming to terms with the islands’ history of slavery,.

“Don’t be afraid to dream big,” says Nirmal Purja at the start of 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible (Netflix). Big is certainly the name of the game here. Nirmal and his team set out to bag all 14 of the planet’s 8,000-metre-plus peaks

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in just seven months, the previous record being over seven years. It’s arguable what’s more astonishing here: the incredible footage from the roof of the world – avalanches pummelling down Annapurna – or Nirmal’s inspirational positive outlook, that drags his team up into the ‘death zone’.

With seemingly most the UK’s travel presenters filming in either Scotland or Cornwall, Sean Fletcher instead heads 200-miles up Offa’s Dyke Path, tracing the trail dividing Wales and England. In between walking (and canoeing, and gliding) through that rather glorious scenery, Wonders of the Border (ITV player) sees Fletcher meets the people who’ve made these borderlands their home and hears their stories.

Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out the Attenborough-fronted Green Planet (iPlayer), taking viewers across the world to see the planet from the perspective of the plants.

It’s everything you’d expect from a high-end BBC natural history show: wonderful, innovative cinematography, easy-to-digest science, a thumping environmental message and of course, that delighted Sir David twinkle. Class.

Rediscovering their roots Andi Oliver (left) and daughter Miquita enjoy local life in the Caribbean; (below) Sue Perkins gets into the spirit of things for her Big American Road Trip

Words: Tom Hawker/Lyn Hughes Images: © Somethin’ Else / Errol Ettienne; Paul Mailman/Renegade Pictures (UK) Ltd; ; Kraig Adams

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Travelling for answers

Read this!

NEW BOOKS FOR YOUR BEDSIDE TABLE – OR YOUR TRAVEL BAG

The Architectural Guides

From €38/£32, DOM Publishers A good way to truly understand a country is through its architecture, revealing the true history of culture, politics and economics than underpin it. DOM publishers’ The Architectural Guides don’t just provide an excellently curated list of the most intriguing buildings in a destination for visitors to seek out, but also the context behind their construction and ideas they represent.

Successfully combining DOM publishers’ joint passion for architecture and high-quality books, the 150-strong series is not only one of the best on-to-go travel guides to appreciate some more off-the-beaten track destinations – including Bishkek, Iran, Kabul, Kazakhstan, Minsk, Sofia, Tunis and the UAE – but beautifully constructed enough to simply inspire armchair travellers at home.

You can find the full catalogue at www.dom-publishers.com.

The Best British Travel Writing of the 21st Century

How to Become a Professional Travel Writer

£17, Summersdale The best travel writing inspires and educates at the same time.

Collecting together 30 of the best travel stories of the last two decades, this book doesn’t just send us around the world, but brings it a little closer to us too. And obviously Wanderlust is featured in it!

£11, Jalan Jalan Books Fancy becoming the next Paul Theroux? This handy title breaks down the practical realities of becoming a proper ‘getting paid’ travel journalist – how to pitch, how to get on press trips, how to balance the books and, of course, tips on actually writing the pieces.

Crossed off the Map

Black Lion

£15, Practical Action Publishing Wanderust contributor and South America expert Shafik’s new title uses a mix of travel writing, history and reportage to tell the story of Bolivia – how its impressive influence helped shape the world, and how its people are responding to the modern world.

£13, Jonathan Ball The moving, inspirational tale of how Sicelo Mbatha was irresistibly drawn to becoming a guide in South Africa’s Imfolozi Nature Reserve, shaking off a childhood trauma and instead forging an astonishing spiritual connection to the wilderness.

Great Escapes: Alps

Shadowlands: A Journey Through Lost Britain

Edited by Jessica Vincent

Words: Tom Hawker/Lyn Hughes Images: © Somethin’ Else / Errol Ettienne; Paul Mailman/Renegade Pictures (UK) Ltd; ; Kraig Adams

By Shafik Meghji

£40, TASCHEN Europe’s big mountains are gaining travellers’ attention, especially out of ski season.

This coffee table book reveals the most picturesque places to stay – historic inns, monasteries, mountain huts, palazzi, even a youth hostel – balancing the accommodation imagery with the widescreen scenery.

By Mark Eveleigh & Narina Exelby

STRESS RELIEF FOR MOUNTAIN LOVERS If you love videos about mountains and trekking but dislike in-your-face presenters, then the work of Kraig Adams is for you. This is a true flyon-wall (but outdoors) experience as the camera and microphone accompany Kraig as he solo-hikes in Torres del Paine, through the Dolomites or to Everest Basecamp.

The superb cinematography is accompanied by ambient music and/or the natural sounds, whether the crunch of footsteps, rumble of a volcano or the chatter of locals.

You’ll feel as if you’re with Kraig on the trail or exploring the streets of Namche Bazaar. So calming are the videos that he has also put together compilations to help with study or relaxation. https://www.youtube.com/c/ KraigAdams/videos

By Sicelo Mbatha

By Matthew Green

£20; Faber & Faber Historian Green goes on a moving journey across Britain to find the ghosts of places that found themselves lost – whether through disaster or mis-deed – telling the disappeared occupants’ long unheard stories.

THE WILD The fourth season of The Wild with Chris Morgan focusses on people who dedicate their lives to protecting wildlife and the environment. Meeting passionate researchers and scientists from around the world, as well as in the USA’s Pacific Northwest where he is based, Chris promises inspiring tales and “moments of total awe”. Episode one in the season travels to the Côa Valley in northern Portugal for a project to rewild and regenerate an area that has been largely abandoned by people.

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JOURNAL Travel From Home

Arts & Crafts Austria 219

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A country’s crafts reveal its culture, so return home with a cowbell or snowglobe to remind you of Austria’s Alpine meadows

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Austrian farmers tie bells to cattle so they can find them if they wander off. Traditionally, blacksmiths made the bells by pressing sheets of steel together, hammering them into shape and welding them. After adding handles, they dip them in brass, polish them and paint images of flowers or chalets on them by hand.

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2 SNOW GLOBES

Inspired by cobblers’ lamps – water-filled glass balls used to magnify candlelight – Erwin Perzy I invented the snowglobe in Vienna around 1900. They are still made by hand, and often feature mountain village scenes and Vienna’s Ferris wheel, St Stephen’s Cathedral and City Hall under a blanket of fake snow.

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3 MASKS

Fasnacht carnival heralds the arrival of spring (the next one is Jan-Feb 2023). The first

written record of the procession was in 1740 and today it’s on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list. Men parade in wooden masks depicting a beard and bushy eyebrows or feminine eyes and rosy cheeks.

4 INDIGO PRINTING

The ancient art of indigo blue hand printing is also on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage. Wooden blocks form a pattern on white fabric, which is immersed in indigo – a dye derived from the indigofera tinctoria bush. The colour develops once the fabric is exposed to oxygen.

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HANDBLOCK PRINTING

Anna Mautner is credited for introducing handblock printing to the town of Bad Aussee in the region of Styria in 1930. The wife of a regional dress collector, Mautner began collecting patterned wooden blocks and learnt how to print on fabric with them.

WHERE TO BUY… Cowbells

Walter Scherl is Austria’s last cowbell blacksmith – his workshop in Schnann in Tirol has been in his family for 300 years. Watch him at work and buy a bell to paint yourself. Pettneu am Arlberg, Tirol; schellenschmied.at

Snowglobes

Buy snowglobes at markets across Austria or watch them being made at the Snow Globe Museum, a 250-year-old building in Vienna run by Perzy’s grandson, Erwin Perzy III. Vienna; schneekugel.at

Masks

Browse 450 masks in House of Fasnacht Nassereith in Tirol (reopening June 2022).

To buy or make one, contact carvers Matthias Gasperi in Hatting, Holger Tangl in Wenns or Florian Schaller in Gries im Sellrain. Museum, Nassereith; the carvers are on Facebook.

Indigo printing

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Joseph and Miriam Koó own Original Indigo Blueprint, established in 1921. They still print with the hand-operated machine their ancestors used in 1930. Watch them work, buy fabric from their workshop and enquire about courses. Steinberg-Dorfl; originalblaudruck.at

Handblock printing

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Buy handblock printed scarves, ties and dirndl – a bodice and apron worn over a blouse – at Mautner, or design your own at Handdrucke Markus Wach. Bad Aussee; mautnerdrucke.at handdrucke.at

Words Sarah Riches Images © Tirol Werbung, Tirol Werbung_Aichner Bernhard; Robert Kalb; Sarah Gilbert; Shutterstock

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crafts to try and buy in Austria

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Nepal’s diverse dishes

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epali cuisine is one of the healthiest in Asia because it is based on the complex integration of Ayurvedic medicine. Vegetables, herbs and spices are used according to the season and their benefit to the body. The root of our meals is a balanced combination of vegetables, pulses, grains and seeds.

It is a cuisine of geo-diversity too. For a country that only extends 885km from west to east and around 200km from north to south, Nepal has a unique geographical structure.

Three regions, parallel to each other, define Nepal: the arid Himalayan high mountains, the middle hills – rich in green valleys, rivers and lakes – and the tropical grasslands of the Terai.

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In the high Himalayas, 3,000m and above, small farming communities still grow crops and raise livestock using the inherited knowledge of their ancestors, who learned to deal with the weather and altitude. In the temperate climate of the high hills we grow cabbages, root vegetables and greens, while the sub-tropical middle hills have the climate for citrus fruit, peaches, apples, tomatoes and aubergines. Further south in the tropical Terai you will find mangoes, papayas, bananas, passion fruit, avocados, sugar cane and endless rice paddies.

Nepali people tend to eat two main meals a day and snack in between. This is because, traditionally, the fire was only lit in the morning and at night. Snacks are a way of life in Nepal and are one of the things I miss the most from home.

High culture Preparing food at a homestay in the Khumbu Region on the trek to Everest Base Camp. Nepal’s three distinct geographic regions impact on the country’s cuisine

Alamy, Dorling Kindersley: Matt Russell

Nepali cooking is shaped by its unique geography. In this edited extract from his book Ayla, chef Santosh Shah gives us an insight into the rich cuisine of his home country

5 DISHES TO TRY

1 Chatamari

Chatamari is a slightly fermented rice and lentil pancake covered with well-seasoned mince, egg or cheese.

We call it a Nepali pizza. You will see chatamari stalls everywhere in the Kathmandu Valley. They are cooked on large flat pans, each pancake nested under a conical earthenware lid, leaving the base crispy and the top moist, hot and fresh. Chatamari are a big favourite during festivals.

2 Momos

We all know that the best way to experience a country’s cuisine is by sampling its street food, and Momos are our signature dumplings. Legend has it that they were either brought

by Newari traders from Tibet, or imported to Tibet through the union of a Newari princess to a Tibetan king. Whatever the history, momos are now Nepali. They are now Nepal’s most popular dish – we have them for breakfast, lunch or dinner, where they

are steamed, fried, served in soups or with a chutney. Minced buffalo meat is often used in the filling or I enjoy them filled with chicken.

3 Chana chatpate

Chana chatpate is a totally addictive crispy, crunchy, spicy, sour, salad of puffed rice, potato and fried chana dal. You will find many street stalls in Kathmandu and all over the Terai region selling their own different versions of it. I like it Kathmandu-style: served wrapped up in paper cones and eaten with little squares of cardboard as a spoon. This is a strong childhood memory for me.

We had five different chatpate stalls around our school. During school breaks, we'd rush to the stalls to get our paper cone of crispy, crunchy, spicy goodness.

4 Buffalo curry

Cows are holy and protected in Nepal, but buffalos are farmed for

their meat and milk. There are different breeds of buffalos, each adapted to the different climates and geo-conditions, from the Terai to the northern mountains. Buffalo meat has become increasingly popular and is used for curries, poleko (barbecues) and as a filling for momos.

5 Yomari

Yomari is the most iconic sweet in Nepal. It is a rice-flour dumpling, prepared during the Yomari Punhi, the rice harvest festival celebrated in December after the first rice is harvested. The origin of this sweet is unclear and its fig-like shape is often described as a fish or a Buddhist temple gajur (the ornate top part of a temple). This sweet is made as an offering to Annapurna, the goddess of grains to thank her for the harvest.

Yomari is traditionally filled with chaku, a molasses toffee mixed with dark sesame seeds. It is steamed and eaten warm.

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Alamy, Dorling Kindersley: Matt Russell

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Santosh Shah’s aim is to put Nepali cuisine firmly on the map. He was a finalist in 2020’s MasterChef: The Professionals and won 2021’s MasterChef: The Professionals Rematch. Recipes for these dishes and more can be found in his debut cookbook Ayla out now (£20, DK). Wanderlust Club Members have an exclusive chance to win a copy on p28.

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JOURNAL Nepal

SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL

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Want to make sure that your next room is environmentally conscious? Holly Tuppen explains how to spot the most sustainable stays, whether booking a city hotel or rural retreat

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ccommodation comes in all shapes and sizes, and Reusing 75% of the building’s former interiors has also saved so does its potential for positive impact, from thousands of tons of construction waste from landfills. In pioneering wastewater management to employ- Prague, Mosaic House Design Hotel not only recycles wasteing those that need it most. A recent booking. water but uses its excess heat to generate energy; its only the com survey (2021) revealed that although over second building in the world to do so.

80% of travellers want to book sustainable accommodation, Green certifications are a good indicator of commitment. just under half of them don’t know where to look. So, here There are over 200 out there, so look for those that are Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) recognised are a few thought-starters to help guide the way.

Locally owned, small and indeor certified and involve some form of onsite (ideally external) assesspendent properties are often more sustainable than big hotel chains.

“Is the hotel walking the ment. Booking.com is currently They are less likely to have the enordisplaying over 30 certifications talk? Look for whether officially approved by the GSTC, mous water and carbon footprint associated with construction, more it has an environmental Green Tourism and the EU Ecolabel likely to use local employees, artisans (although booking direct is best for policy with concrete the destination). and suppliers, and genuinely care for figures and targets” the destination, both environmentally Other things to look out for and socially. Locally owned stays also include an environmental policy with avoid the economic leakage of interconcrete figures and targets to prove nationally owned properties; your money is more like to that a hotel is walking the talk. A sincere commitment to remain 100% in the destination you’re travelling to. solving the climate crisis demonstrates an understanding In South America, pocket-sized Guyana demonstrates of the bigger picture. Addressing conservation and biodihow accommodation can cater to guests and locals alike. versity restoration is critical here, too. Even a city hotel As part of a new tourist circuit in the country, the Guyana can do its bit to support our much-depleted natural world Tourism Authority helped four indigenous communities by using any available space for insect-friendly plants and build ecolodges that they own and manage. In rural Hima- partnering with urban conservation initiatives. layan destinations throughout Nepal, India and Bhutan, Other things that demonstrate a will for positive change Sustainable group walking tour operator Village Ways has taken a simi- include a sustainable sourcing policy, local hiring (ideally sunsets lar approach, supporting villagers to create homestays via more than 70% of employees will be from the local area), Monteverde’s Senda building and administrative advice and funding. Similarly, green teams, living wages (higher than minimum wage), an hotel aims to fully immerse visitors in Borneo, KOPEL is a community-run conservation organ- understanding of responsible travel issues like over-tourism, into the local culture and nature isation established by a former Intrepid Travel group leader. and a diversity, equity and inclusion policy.

On Intrepid’s Borneo Family Holiday itinerary, visitors spend If all this research seems a little daunting, one of the best a night in KOPEL’s unique jungle huts on stilts. ways to tell if accommodation is genuinely committed to In each example, the accommodation has a low impact sustainability is to ask. The most passionate advocates for a on the environment and is built and operated on a commu- better future will be eager to share what they’re doing. nity’s terms. These homestays and ecolodges also help rural communities thrive economically, avoiding urban migration and maintaining a more sustainable way of life.

REALITY CHECK: AIRBNB Our travel plans don’t always involve off-grid ecolodges Airbnb has revolutionised how we travel, allowing visitors to leap straight and homestays, so it’s important to scrutinise city hotels for into the beating heart of a community. However, it has come at a cost. In sustainability, too. Urban accommodations leading the way 2019, a report by the Economic Policy Institute found that ‘the presence of also provide solutions to specific, local needs. For example, Airbnb raises local housing costs’. Several major cities (including Barcelona Lemon Tree Hotels in India employs people that are usually and Paris) have since tightened regulations to tackle over-tourism and denied work opportunities due to a learning or physical disabilensure that housing caters for residents rather than tourists. Fairbnb is a ity. In Austria, 80% of employees at Magdas Hotel are refugees. sustainable alternative; it doesn’t allow people to list second homes, and a In water-stressed San Francisco, Cavallo Point’s water percentage of fees go to community projects. reclamation system saves a million gallons of water per year.

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Mike Dell - Coffee Abroad;

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Sustainable Accommodation

TOP TIPS Mountain Bothies Association

This charity maintains over 100 shelters across remoter parts of Great Britain, available for overnight stays — the ultimate low-impact digs. Most are only available via footpaths, like Guirdil, a 19th Century shepherds’ cottage on the western shore of Rum. Before getting involved, read up on the Bothy Code to ensure these places remain special for everyone to enjoy.

Canopy & Stars

B Corporation-certified Canopy & Stars has always had a responsible ethos. Not only does it direct people towards off-grid cabins and innovative environmentally sensitive shelters but it is also majority employeeowned and aims to plant 1 million trees by 2025.

The Long Run

Mike Dell - Coffee Abroad;

What does sustainable accommodation look like to an employee?

We ask Jessica Ortega, Concierge and Nature Guide at Senda Hotel, part of the Cayuga Collection, in Monteverde, Costa Rica.

“Here at Senda, we have received so many guests that want to support a hotel that cares for the environment and local Monteverde community. We sell local goods in the gift shop, including some from a local craft cooperative for women we helped set up and employ locally. In the rooms and hotel, everything is from Costa Rica – it’s not just sustainable but also provides a better experience.”

“One thing guests love is our genuine passion for the natural world and deep knowledge of the local wildlife. We even talk to guests about separating and recycling the trash and why that’s important. They leave not only understanding the cloud forest but also how to care for the natural world anywhere.”

“One of the best things about working at Senda is the opportunity to help species on the brink like the Golden-Eyed Leaf Frog that was once thought extinct due to climate change. It’s a great way to demonstrate hope.”

“Hotels are in a good position to promote biodiversity. Wildlife comes to Senda, not because of gimmicks like laying fruits or artificial feeding but because we have spent a lot of time planting native species throughout the property.”

Having guided naturebased places to stay towards more sustainable operations for over ten years, this membership organisation knows a thing or two about positive impact travel. The Long Run’s 40 accommodation members operate according to a holistic balance of the 4Cs – Conservation, Community, Culture and Commerce.

Regenerative Travel These independent hotels were brought together

by Amanda Ho and David Leventhal in 2014 to regenerate people and places. Properties like Playa Viva in Mexico and Tiger Mountain Lodge in Nepal strive to advance local efforts.

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INTERVIEW VERSION

Steve Backshall

REPRO OP

The TV adventurer spent 2021 exploring stillunchartered destinations. Lyn Hughes caught up with Steve while he was hosting the Wanderlust Travel Awards to hear all about his Expeditions

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It was lovely that you could join us at Kensington Palace to host 2021’s Wanderlust Travel Awards. It’s a great venue but a bit different to the sort of places that we usually associate you with. We’re much more used to seeing you abseiling into a volcano or underwater with some big marine creature...

I guess that 20 years ago, I would have considered that kind of adventure to be putting myself out of my comfort zone.

But now that has become my reality and this is out of my comfort zone.

Doing things where I have to put on a suit or a jacket or even shoes, I feel so completely out of my depth, such a fish out of water. I’ve come to feel so at home sleeping in a hammock or on a mattress in the desert underneath the stars that now an awful lot of polite society just feels odd to me.

©True To Nature/Jimmy Cape; True To Nature/Graham MacFarlane

We’ve seen you up mountains, we’ve seen you underwater, in all sorts of extreme environments.

But have you got a particular favourite habitat to visit?

From a perspective of exploration, it’s impossible to see past caves – and particularly sunken caves. They are the area of the planet that are most ripe for exploration. They offer more potential in terms of the unseen, the unknown, the unmapped, the uncharted. Even now in this day and age, there are more miles of unexplored passages. And so in the modern era, if you want to be an old-fashioned explorer, you want to be a caver.

But to me it’s the most frightening and uncomfortable and sometimes downright unpleasant environment.

Given the chance I would rather be in the desert or up a high mountain or

“If the 12-year-old me could see where I am now he wouldn’t believe it. I’ve led 20 expeditions that were all world firsts” out at sea. But increasingly, if we want to be doing something new, we need to go somewhere dark.

That does sound rather scary to most of us. But, as a kid, did you always have a quest for adventure? Did you imagine that you would become an explorer?

I definitely had the quest for adventure, but I thought that exploration was something that happened 200 years ago and that it was simply not possible for it to be my life. If the 12-year-old me could see where I am now he would be utterly disbelieving. Over the last 10 years, I’ve led 20 expeditions that were all world firsts: first descents of rivers; first ascents of mountains; taken the first light ever into cave passages that have never been illuminated.

And I didn’t think that was possible.

It’s an awful lot harder now than it was in the golden era of exploration but it is still possible. You just have to look and research an awful lot harder.

The world has been through the most surreal two years. Have you

Rapids in Russia (clockwise from top) Steve Backshall kayaks the rapids of the Kronotsky River for Expedition; Steve and geologist Hala Alwagdani explore a collapsed lava tube in the Harrat Khayber lava field in Saudi Arabia; (far left) Steve prepares for the first descent of the Kronotsky River

actually been able to travel during this strange time?

Yeah. Like everyone else, everything in my life stopped dead at the first lockdown. But the second we were allowed to travel again, we had no choice. We had to get back on the road as we had television projects going. So pretty much as soon as we were allowed, in September of 2020, we went on an expedition in Kamchatka, which is an extraordinary part of the world. It is as wild out there as you can ever imagine.

Russian people will talk about the end of the world and they’ll say, ‘It might as well be in Kamchatka,’ in the same way that we would say you might as well be in Timbuktu because to them, it is a million miles away and it’s an extraordinary place. This volcanic peninsula with endless miles of total wilderness. The area itself is probably about the size of England yet it only has a population that is about the size of Bournemouth and they all live in one town and the rest of it is just empty.

I’ve now been lucky enough to film in all of the world’s hotspots for bears but this was on a totally different level.

We were making the first descent of a whitewater river there and around every single corner there would be at least one bear standing in the water with a salmon the size of my leg just picked out of the waters.

To see that over and over again, and to know that we were the only ⊲

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people for hundreds of miles in any direction, and then to conclude at the Pacific with stellar sea eagles and wolves wandering down the black sand beaches was one of the most special things I’ve ever experienced.

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And where have you been in the last year then?

We’ve done six of those expeditions this year for a new series, [Expedition with Steve Backshall] and they were all incredible. I noticed AlUla on a recent front cover of your magazine [Issue 217]. We did two expeditions in Saudi Arabia, the grandest of those was to explore a lava tube in the volcanic wilderness on the edge of the Empty Quarter. It ended up being the longest cave in the Arabian peninsula, completely new, completely unmapped and uncharted.

And in the depths of this cave system we found evidence not just of prehistoric human habitation, but of long extinct animals, wildlife just

“In Gabon we found a previously unknown population of chimps living in a far flung forest” caught there in time inside this incredible fossilized cave system.

Equestrian exploration Steve discovered that hardy, altitude-adapted horses are a crucial mode of transport in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan

Were your Expeditions impacted anywhere by the worldwide pandemic as you were filming?

The one that probably had the biggest implications in terms of the current state of things in the world was Gabon on the west coast of Central Africa. It’s a destination that is very dear to my heart in terms of African rainforest and rainforest wildlife.

There are probably bigger forests in a few other countries, but they’re not as well protected and preserved as in Gabon. It is a really exciting destination with so much to offer, particularly in terms of primates. For someone

who loves primates, the lowland gorillas, chimps and particularly mandrills, Gabon is just unparalleled.

The local Environment Minister in Gabon managed to locate a portion of rainforest that had been uncharted and had not been surveyed for its primates. So we took a small team – including a primatologist and some paddlers and filmmakers – and we made the first descent of a section of river running through this rainforest. And, as we went, we profiled and surveyed the presence of the primates there. We found a previously unknown population of chimps living in a far flung forest.

But that is where we had our closest call when it came to the pandemic because like all these trips, we’ve been existing in these tiny bubbles of small, tight knit crews who will live hand in hand for a short, intense period of time. And once you’re in the middle of the rainforest, you forget about what’s happening in the outside world

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©True To Nature/Katie Wardle; True To Nature/Graham MacFarlane

and the pandemic, it’s the last thing you’re thinking about. But when we came back to relative civilization, we suddenly got the word that Gabon was shutting down and that we had to get out as quickly as possible.

But we were two days away from the capital city and there was a curfew and so we just sprinted across the country at ludicrous speed. We turned up just as night was falling to the main city of Libreville and it was like something out of one of those Hollywood disaster movies with the police and armed forces standing at the barricades trying to prevent us getting in. There were queues of cars and people spilling over each other clambering over car roofs trying to climb over the barricades to get into Libreville. It was insane and it was only because we were working so closely with the government that we managed to get into the city otherwise I’d probably still be there now.

And then you wouldn’t have got to the other places in the series! So where else did you go?

One of the most productive places we visited was in the Revillagigedo archipelago in Mexico, which most outsiders know as Socorro although that is just one of the islands that makes up this archipelago. And there we were, trying to find a new shark nursery, with the local conservationists and shark scientists, with the aim of providing extra protection for what is a national park and a sanctuary.

There should be a no-take zone but it is very ill adhered to. We saw endless incursions into it from sport fishing boats and industrial fishing into this no-take zone taking out bluefin tuna and sharks.

Utterly remarkably we came across this completely new shark nursery, again unknown and unmapped. The director of the national park, which is the largest Marine Protected Area in the Americas, was with us. And the second we got back to shore he sent out a navy patrol vessel to patrol around the islands where we were and to affect what are supposed to be the laws of the park. So it felt like it was a big win for us. It’s been really exciting year for so many reasons.

Our final expedition was in Kyrgyzstan in the Tian Shan mountains. Again, it

“The snow leopard is the wildlife filmmaker’s Holy Grail. You don’t expect to see it with your own eyes” was looking to survey an area that had not been surveyed before, this time for the presence of snow leopard. And for any wildlife filmmaker the snow leopard is kind of like the Holy Grail.

It’s the animal that you see on camera traps, but you never expect to see it with your own eyes.

I think that this could be potentially the best place in the world to see snow leopards. Certainly the population there that we managed to map is really, really healthy. It was so cool.

The mountains there, many of them

Global Expedition (clockwise from top) Steve Backshall and the team search for chimpanzees in the unexplored Moukalaba-Doudou NP rainforest, Gabon; Steve discovers an ibex skeleton in an unexplored lava tube in Saudi Arabia

10,000m high, the valleys and the slopes of the peaks are covered with wildlife such as giant scimitar horned ibex and Marco Polo sheep. There were enormous amounts of Himalayan brown bear and fox and wolves and soaring lammergeiers, griffin vultures and golden eagles overhead. You very rarely see that amount of wildlife in the mountains and it was truly breathtaking. And it was another place where we never saw another human being the entire time.

The whole thing was done on horseback. I’m not a horse-rider by any means, but it offers a very different kind of perspective, being on horseback. The wildlife seem to perceive you as being a part of their environment and they don’t spook like they do if you’re on foot, certainly not like they would if you were in a motorized vehicle. And so you can just be trotting alongside a giant herd of ibex, and they are clattering horns going head to head and the sound is reverberating around the valley and you wouldn’t get within hundreds of metres if you were on foot.

Also people live on horse-back there and it is their way of doing things.

It makes you feel like you’re living the environment, you’re living the life, you’re doing it as the local people would. We are very proud of this series.

You can catch up with Expedition with Steve Backshall (Dave; uktvplay.uktv.co.uk) now.

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Gear 219

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KEEN

ART

Drift Creek, £80 Whether you’re splashing through rockpools, trying a bit of SUP, pounding city streets or walking a coastal trail, the Drift Creek is built with performance in mind. It offers incredible traction on wet or dry surfaces and is available in either a Closed Toe model with toe protection or a sporty Two-Strap edition. keenfootwear.com

OAKLEY

CMDN sunglasses, £121 Look effortlessly cool in this new range mixing progressive design (apparently inspired by Camden Town) with a nod to the brand’s heritage.

These unisex glasses have a wide field-of-view lens and a strong but light and durable frame.

They’ll take you from people-watching in a city square to exploring Wadi Rum. oakley.com

DARN TOUGH

Decade Stripe Micro Crew Hike Sock, £23 Socks are one of the most underrated travel items, saving you from blisters and worse. We love the Darn Tough range with their unconditional lifetime guarantee. The Decade Stripes are lightweight, cushioned and moisturewicking, designed to be used with any shoe, at any time of year, in any location. trekitt.co.uk

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AirFly Pro, £54.95 A nifty gadget for travel, AirFly Pro allows your devices to connect wirelessly to other systems that don’t have built-in Bluetooth. For instance, enjoy in-flight entertainment on your favourite headphones. It can also send audio from your iPhone to the sound system in your rental car; you could use it to stream directions from a navigation app. www.apple.com/uk

RAB

Infinity Microlight, £240 Rab may be synonymous with mountain apparel but this newly upgraded Microlight jacket would be just as brilliant on a windy country walk or exploring a chilly city. Versatile, lightweight, wind resilient and filled with 100% recycled down, it comes in both men’s and women’s versions. rab.equipment/uk/

RED WING

Heritage GORE-TEX Classic Moc, £329 Red Wing’s Classic Moc is a much-loved brand and this new waterproof limited edition version with GORE-TEX adds to its versatility making it a great travel companion. Crafted in a waterproof Russet Taos Leather and paired with a GORE-TEX membrane, its iconic rugged construction remains untouched. redwinglondon.com

6 versatile bits of kit for your next trip It’s that awkward time of year when we may be exploring close to home or equally jetting off for winter sun, so these all-rounders are just the job 44 February/March 2022

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Time travel (clockwise from this) Hegra is the largest preserved site of the Nabataean civilisation south of Petra; trekking across the desert landscape; the oasis is home to over two million palm trees; AlUla Old Town

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4 incredible adventures

Many ancient civilisations have been thrilled by AlUla’s treasures, but modern travellers have yet to truly discover it. Now’s your chance to explore this gem’s rich culture and adventure before everyone else does…

GO BACK IN TIME

Abrabian city of Dadan, built meticulously from stone and boasting the Lion Tombs, more than a dozen tombs cut high into the red-rock cliff.

Nearby, Jabal Ikmah has fine rock art and the stone and mud-brick structures of AlUla Old Town is one of the most impressive examples of time-honoured northern Arab architecture.

HAVE AN ADVENTURE

AlUla is also a haven for adrenalin-seekers.

Its sandscapes are ripe for every type of adventurer. The 8km-long Adventure Trail

GO WILD

AlUla’s unspoilt landscapes are well worth protecting. To help conserve its native species, Sharaan Nature Reserve was established as the region’s first protected area. A fine way to explore the reserve is on a 4X4 safari tour which will take you past the copper-tinged canyons and wildflower-freckled valleys, following designated paths to minimise the impact on the environment. But nothing says classic Arabia like camel trekking in the Ashar Valley with Bedouin guides who will share their culture with you such as falconry displays.

HAVE AN EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME

For somewhere still remarkably undiscovered, AlUla has many pinch-me moments. A helicopter flight offers a fresh perspective of AlUla’s richest treasures, including Hegra and Elephant Rock, with the latter enchanting at dawn or dusk with its colour-changing rocks.

But in AlUla, it’s after dark where the magic begins, as the region’s remoteness lends itself to ink-black skies and ethereal stargazing.

Gharameel’s bewildering rock formations provide the perfect setting for the ultimate after-dark experience, where you’ll sit on a woven carpet with the bright stars above as a rawi shares cosmic tales à la Arabian Nights, an evening you won’t soon forget.

Royal Commission for AlUla

AlUla’s terracotta-hued landscape is dripping with heritage and there are few places where that’s more true than Hegra, the southern principle city after Petra. Carved out of stunning rocky outcrops, the Nabataean Kingdom’s second city is arguably more dramatic than its better-known cousin. A tour by vintage Land Rover with a rawi (a local story teller) is the best way to explore its 110-plus atmospheric tombs.

AlUla isn’t just a one-hit heritage wonder. One of the most significant discoveries is the ancient

winds past millennia-old rock art whose drawings are like living storybooks, while the Oasis View Trail’s finale serves up a palm-filled panorama from atop Alfath mountain. For a triathlon AlUla-style, the Twisted Maze Hike has you trekking, climbing and swimming through the canyons of Madakheel. That’s not all: in AlUla you can take to two wheels and explore the desert landscape by bike, or try your hand at camel trekking in the Ashar Valley.

For more information, go to: windowsonthewild.com/alula

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Advertorial Alula Windows Wild

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

Events House Ad 219

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Go wild in Uganda

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From seeing chimpanzees and mountain gorillas in their natural environment to bumping across Uganda’s whitewater rapids and watching a captivating traditional dance, there are so many life-affirming travel experiences to have in this African country.

You’re invited to explore this fascinating part of the world during a very special evening of virtual travel.

The event will give you first-hand access to our panel of experts who will bring to life the huge biodiversity, local culture and space for adventure in Uganda, and you will have a chance to ask them your burning questions. Expect a thrilling evening filled with the images, video and sounds of Uganda, where the travel experiences are as diverse as the country’s unspoilt landscapes.

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23 February 2022, 6:30 PM

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For more information and to book your free place, head over to wanderlustmagazine.com/events

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Casa de Sierra Nevada, San Miguel, Mexico

At the heart of one of Mexico’s most artistic towns, this historic hotel, spread across a handful of 16th to 18th century mansions, will whisk you back to bygone splendour Reviewed by George Kipouros

Belmond/Edgardo Contreras

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an Miguel de Allende remains largely unknown to British travellers. Which is surprising, really. This Mexican town, in the Guanajuato region, is UNESCO World Heritage-listed and a designated Pueblo Magico; in 2019 it was even named American Capital of Culture. The whole city is buzzing, from its diverse artistic community to its thriving food scene.

The Casa de Sierra Nevada, A Belmond Hotel is spread over six Spanish-colonial mansions (casas), including a 17th-century fort and the 16th-century residence of the archbishop of San Miguel. Located on the cobbled, and sometimes noisy, Calle Hospicio, it’s a short walk from the city’s main square with its neo-Gothic Parroquia cathedral and many mariachi groups, which perform there each evening.

There are 37 suites and rooms at the Casa de Sierra Nevada and each one exudes historic character. Paintings by local artists hang alongside antique furnishings and handloom bedding; there are stucco walls, spacious tiled baths, tall, curved ceilings and windows that look out onto lush gardens, patios or the handsome town itself. The hotel’s public areas feature tranquil courtyards, fountains, tropical foliage, period furnishings and traditional architectural details such as stone arches and hand-carved wooden doors. Sometimes it feels like you’ve walked onto the set of a period telenovela.

The hotel’s Sazón cooking school is housed in a magnificent 18th century casa. Here, you can study the bold flavours and rich history of regional Mexican cuisine; you can also learn to master classics such as sizzling fajitas. If you’d prefer an expert chef to feed you, book a table at Andanza, which serves exquisite Mexican dishes including tacos and guacamole with jicama or grasshoppers. Wash down your meal with the property’s signature Belmond Paloma (a luscious blend of tequila, lemon and grapefruit juice) at the Blue Bar, either out on the patio or cosy within its antique hand-stencilled walls.

San Miguel is known, particularly among its largely American visitor base, for its arts and crafts; Frida Kahlo hosted many salons here. Now, dozens of high-end galleries and workshops dot the historic centre. Casa de Sierra Nevada offers fascinating art tours around the city streets as well as a variety of hands-on workshops, many run by the hotel’s resident artist – you can experiment with capturing the spirit of the place in oils, watercolour or acrylic yourself.

The Casa de Sierra Nevada, A Belmond Hotel makes an ideal base from which to explore this historic city with its brilliant sunsets, kaleidoscopic markets and blooming jacarandas. And as the hotel’s always-smiley staff say: ‘Our casas are your casas!’

Rates from £290 per night, belmond.com

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Eight distinctive Havana stays

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Visitors to the Cuba’s historic capital have a growing number of first-class establishments available, each perfectly placed to experience Havana’s heady buzz Reviewed by Claire Boobbyer

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IBEROSTAR GRAND PACKARD

Facing the popular marble-paved rambla, Havana’s Grand Packard emerged from the handsome frontage of the city’s old Hotel Biscuit. Renamed after the American Packard cars once on display in the ground floor showrooms, it reopened in 2018 with a modern makeover. French architect Michel Regembal balanced several glassy layers that appear to float on top of the Biscuit’s original facade.

It’s up here in the space-age overhang where you’ll want to linger. The views, ideally taken from the L-shaped infinity pool, of Havana’s colonial-era El Morro fortress and lighthouse glinting in the sun are unrivalled. In 2020, the Packard went plastic-free, replaced small bathroom amenities with refillables, and created its own compost station, while Iberostar’s Wave of Change promises the hotel will be waste-free and serve 100% responsibly sourced seafood by 2025.

Rooms from £114, excluding breakfast; https://www.iberostar.com/en/hotels/ havana/iberostar-grand-packard

MALECÓN 663

From its pitch on the city’s ocean boulevard, Malecón 663 blooms with live music and Habanero spirit. Orlandito Mengual and his French wife Sandra have created not just a fashionable bolthole but also an arty hub, fabulous cocktail terrace with live music, and a lobby-cum-living room for creatives and guests. The rooms in the hive-like colonial townhouse are a retro spin on Havana’s evolution: monochrome Mambo’s vibe is Art Deco; Hoy Como Ayer channels the 1950s. The team also restore vintage finds, upcycle furniture, cook with local organic farm ingredients and use artisanal soaps made by locals. Rooms from €150 [£125], including breakfast; http://malecon663.com

Iberostar; Malecon 663; Alamy

HOTEL NACIONAL DE CUBA

With gardens of flowers and Cold War trenches, rooms booked by the Mafia to scheme, and a pool that Johnny ‘Tarzan’ Weissmuller plunged into from the balcony of his room, the Nacional is Havana’s most storied building. Take a room on the executive floor and grab a minty mojito on the breezy terrace before taking the history tour to clue you in to the December 1946 Mob Conference, the Hollywood starlets who’ve stayed and the tense days of the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis.The tour’s your pass, too, to the towers for normally out-of-bounds bird’s-eye skyline and shimmering Atlantic views. Rooms from £150, incl breakfast and hotel tour; https://www.hotelnacionaldecuba.com ⊲

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GRAN HOTEL MANZANA KEMPINSKI LA HABANA

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Nobody could quite believe it. Crafted from the shell of a 19th-century shopping arcade, Havana’s Kempinski was the first luxury hotel to open in Cuba for almost 60 years when it welcomed guests in 2017. Straight to the nub: it’s the rooftop infinity pool and bar where you’ll hang, ogling the baroque beauty of central park buildings in cinematic close up. Take your breakfast on one of the best spreads in the city from tables overlooking rows of gelato-coloured classic cars, and order a daiquiri from the Constante Bar, all hummingbird green and lush botanicals in print. The Kempinski Havana is now using bamboo straws for drinks and engages an eco team to probe energy usage, while green ethics trailblazer EarthCheck bronze benchmarked the hotel in 2020.

Rooms from £340, incl breakfast; www.kempinski.com/en/havana/ gran-hotel-kempinski-la-habana

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CASA VITRALES

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The rhubarb pink and pistachio turn-of-the-century townhouse in Old Havana’s coolest quarter is a hit. Vitrales was one of the first private boutique stays authorised in Cuba in 2014 and with nine rooms to boot.

With an expert eye for interior design, Osmani Hernández revived the early Republic-era building – three stories of Spanish colonial tiles and antique stained glass, and decorated rooms with Cuban and Italian furniture married with modern beds. Breakfast on the alfresco terrace with 360° views of Havana’s jumbled roofscape before strolling the streets below. The neighbours are popular indy cafés and bars of Plaza Loma del Angel and Calle Chacón, as well as the Hairdresser’s Alley.

Prices available on inquiry; https://cvitrales.com

TRYP HABANA LIBRE

Shimmering in marine green, this landmark towers over the heart of Havana’s seaside entertainment quarter. Rooms overlooking the capital’s curved corniche take in a cityscape spanning 500 years: the emblematic hotel district all the way to El Morro harbour castle and lighthouse.

Opened as the Habana Hilton in 1958, it was the largest hotel in the Caribbean on the eve of Fidel Castro’s revolution. Castro ran his newly minted government for three months in 1959 from Continental Suite 2324. Rock up for live music on its Turquino dance floor under the stars.

The original Tiki bar and restaurant Polinesio – a former Hilton Trader Vic’s – is deliciously preserved. Rooms from £102, incl breakfast; www.meliacuba.es/hoteles-en-cuba/hotel-tryp-habanalibre

PASEO 206

Once the home of a Cuban senator, this 1930s villa – flush with wood panelling and Carrara marble tile – is a smart find. Italian and Cuban hospitality and design are the hallmark of this boutique property facing tree-lined Paseo avenue in Havana’s mansion neighbourhood. Take time out from the luxury to book one of Paseo’s immersive experiences: head in to sunny streets with an award-winning photographer and develop your film at the snapper’s studio. Hungry? Shop for ingredients at a farmer’s market with Paseo’s chef, learn to cook a Cuban meal, and muddle a killer mojito. Paseo’s eco credentials are on the rise: steel straws accompany drinks and empty glass bottles are sold to local drink makers. Rooms from £138, incl breakfast; www.paseo206.com

LA RESERVA

This restored Spanish tile-clad mansion in Havana’s artsy barrio boasts huge rooms with fancy bathrooms, curated with Cuban and European furniture, Murano glassware and contemporary Cuban art. Tap into Havana’s magnetic spirit with conversation and cocktails around the all-day alfresco bar in the patio, all tropical foliage and scattered seats.

And dine under the stars at new La Bodega celebrating all things regional Cuban cuisine. Fruit and veg are sourced from La Reserva’s out of town gardens, and cheese, pickles and terrines from local foodies Santuario Gourmet. Its best secret? La Reserva’s enviable black book for underthe-radar local encounters. Rooms from £80, incl breakfast; https:// estampacollection.com/collection-houses/la-reserva-vedado

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Renewed, refreshed and more beautiful than ever before

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alm-shaded white sand beaches, islands set in a turquoise sea, jungles rich with wildlife… Thailand entices.

Now, post-pandemic, the country is cautiously and carefully re-opening its doors. Those lucky first few visitors will have a rejuvenated Thailand largely to themselves, its beautiful landscapes and welcoming people replenished by rest. Here’s what to expect...

TIME TO BREATHE

There has arguably never been a better time to visit. While humans have quarantined, the Kingdom’s landscapes and wildlife have thrived.

Reefs are revitalised, forests reverberate with life, newly hatched hornbills scutter down beaches and honeyeaters flit through the trees.

Dive with whale sharks around Ko Tao or snorkel the coral islands of Ang Thong National Park. Hike to waterfalls on empty jungle trails in Samui or Koh Chang. Kayak through the

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pinnacle islands of Phang Nga Bay – home to endangered dugong and tiny finless porpoises; stopping to swim off talc-soft beaches along the way or for lunch in floating villages. Visit the long, wild sands at Phuket’s Mai Khao to see rehabilitated nesting turtles. Then soothe in one of South-East Asia’s most sumptuous spas in nearby Patong or Karon.

Want to watch wildlife? Tigers lurk in the forests in Khao Yai National Park and gibbons whoop in the trees in the forest-swathed Khao Luang mountains. Wild elephants bathe in rushing rivers in Kaeng Krachan and Khao Sok national parks. Orchids bloom in the hills.

Fragrant frangipani wafts over the beaches in Ao Nang and Krabi. And once again, agencies in Bangkok and beyond are ready to whisk you into the wild on a trip of a lifetime.

Walkers should take a train north and hike to hill tribe villages in the mountains around Chiang Mai. Or walk the trails to Doi Inthanon – Thailand’s highest peak, where the air is so clear you can see for miles – over shimmering chedis and pagodas and across rolling mountain ridges that stretch into Myanmar.

TIME TO REFLECT

Time seemingly stands still in Thailand’s temples, where Buddhism has been at the heart

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of life for centuries. Without crowds, visits have never been so peaceful. In Kanchanaburi’s Tham Suea Tiger Cave Temple (a sacred Buddhist site named after the tiger paw prints in its cave) or Chiang Mai’s ancient Wat Chedi Luang, the loudest noises are birdsong and prayer bells. You can hear a footfall in Phetchaburi’s Buddha caves and carp splashing in the lily ponds of Chiang Rai’s Wat Rong Khun.

There are no coach-party queues at Bangkok’s shrine of the Emerald Buddha and no hustling for sunset views from Golden Mount.

Thailand’s ancient cities are busy only with butterflies and songbirds. Wander the crumbling colonnades of Ayutthaya – where forgotten statues of bhikkus are embraced by jungle vines. Or meditate at the feet of the giant sitting Buddha of Sukhothai, which watches serene over a landscape of stupas, temples and lotus flower ponds.

In Isaan, the towering spires of 900-year-old Khmer cities such as Phimai and Phanom Rung sit over rice paddy fields tilled by buffaloes. At Wat Pha Tak Suea near Nong Khai, meanwhile, paths lead from glistening temple gables to a sky walkway perched over the vast Mekong river that winds across forested plains that stretch over the border into Laos.

Thailand’s islands are also empty and idyllic.

Buddhas look over the long, creamy beaches

Escape the crowds (clockwise from this) Wat Tham Hua, Krabi, is famous for its ‘footprint of the Buddha’; meet local communities in Mae Hong son; Haew Narok Waterfall in Khao Yai National Park; Tham Khao Luang Cave; kayaking through Phang Nga Bay’s mangroves; James Bond Island, Phuket

of Krabi and Phuket. And on Koh Pha Ngan, dragon-roofed ceramic temples dedicated to the bodhisattva Guanyin sit over rolling, forested hills and bottle-green bays.

TIME TOGETHER

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The pandemic taught many of us how much we long for time together. As restrictions ease, villages across Thailand are making time for each other once again and looking forward to welcoming back visitors. Seeking out authentic experiences in Thailand supports local lives, especially in rural communities who rely on tourism to supplement their traditional lives.

Whether you’re visiting mountain hill tribes in the far north or fishing villages in the southern islands, you’ll be welcomed with open arms.

The hills around sleepy Mae Hong Son in the country’s far north are dotted with tiny hill tribe hamlets. As they have done for centuries, Lahu, Karen, Shan and Yao people hand-make

brilliantly coloured clothes and jewellery, and plant steep hillsides with rice. Sharing food and conversation with them, and learning about their lives is an unforgettable experience, and provides vital post-pandemic revenue which ensures their traditions continue.

In Koh Klang near Krabi, locals will show you how to dye batik (a cloth decorated using wax and dye), to build long-tailed wooden boats and to cook traditional and delicious sticky rice.

You can also go on tours of mangroves rehabilitated through ecotourism, monkey-filled forests, marine caves and unspoilt beaches – all with a local as your guide Even buying food in local markets makes a difference to communities who have been isolated by COVID-19. And food in Thailand is always good – sizzling, stir-fried pad Thai, simmering massaman curry, spicy green papaya salad… shared at a table with Thais happy to welcome tourists back – to spend time with them, together, once again.

For more information, go to: audleytravel.com/thailand

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Vietnam’s HERITAGE EXPRESS Connecting north with south, the Reunification Express is also perhaps the best way to visit Vietnam’s UNESCO-listed sites and depth of culture Words & photographs Alex Robinson unless otherwise credited

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ALL ABOARD

The trip had started soothingly, sleepily even with a train ride from the capital where I’d landed, to Halong Bay. ⊲

Timeless gathering point (right) The cruise ships take in Halong Bay – ancient civilisations have been traced back here for 20,000 years, including the Soi Nhu and Cai Beo cultures; (above) local market sellers with their wares in the streets of Hanoi’s Old Quarter

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typhoon was coming. Duy was waiting, my guide’s engine running in the dark. The wind was already picking-up, sending leaves whirling in the air. I wolfed down my eggs and swigged more coffee, standing up as I did so.

The situation seemed so fired up that I couldn’t help thinking back to that sunny, serene summer’s day in London when I’d decided to take the Reunification Express. But would I rather be back there now? No… “We must go, Mr Alex,” Duy shouted through the open car window. He hooted the horn. I wiped my mouth, grabbed my bags and we sped away. Within moments we were on the edge of Phong Nha village, Vietnamese rock playing on the stereo, Duy focused on the road.

“If we drive straight south to Hue we will just miss the typhoon,’ he said over the music, “but it will be close.”

The car shuddered in the gusts.

The Reunification Express. Sedate train. A film-reel window of pagodas and paddyfields, wheels clunking over the Red River bridge. That’s how I’d imagined it. And how it pretty much is.

Built after the Vietnam War, the North-South Railway is still seen as a shining symbol of a progressive, unified country; one with the energy to build and grow that’s seen it catching up with Korea and even China. Pieced together in a blinding two years, the railway line links northerly Hanoi with Ho Chi Minh City, more than 1,700km, 1,300 bridges and 27 tunnels away in the south. Rumbling through rural fields and glistening new glass cities, past pearl-white beaches and bays of islands, the railway line joins the dots between almost all of Vietnam’s UNESCO World Heritage Listed sites – from Halong Bay in the north down to Imperial Hue in the country’s thin middle. My plan was to visit as many of them as possible.

But a journey through Vietnam inevitably brings surprises.

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Going on a historic train journey (clockwise from top left) The North-South train leaves from Hanoi in the north and travels all the way to Ho Chi Minh city in the south, passing almost all of Vietnam’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites along the way; Ho Chi Minh’s vast mausoleum in central Hanoi, close to where he made his famous declaration of Vietnamese Independence from the French in 1945. He lies enshrined and embalmed inside; the entrance to the vast Hang Roc (Ruc Mon) cave in Phong Nha Ke National Park, central Vietnam, which boasts one of the largest natural cave systems in the world

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This is the most famous of all Vietnam’s World Heritage Sites.

“You visit his tomb?”

You can get there more quickly, but that’s why I was taking I hadn’t and the old man flagged down a cab for me and the train. For six hours, locals snoozed and snored opposite sent me to the mausoleum: a monumental grey building me until light pinked over the mountains and we drew into in a huge grey square – a kind of Soviet-brutalist Parthethe station in Halong. From there, a pre-booked converted non with imposing, sombre neo-classical concrete pilasjunk, which would be my berth for one night, together with ters. I processed inside to where Ho Chi Minh himself lay 20-or-so fellow-travellers, slowly chugged us out into the bay. embalmed like a Catholic saint in a glass case, as if he’d fallen The East China Sea was serene. It was so flat that you felt asleep and would rise again when his nation needed him. like you could roll a marble across I wandered east to the relics of the Hanoi’s Imperial Citadel, another and bounce it off one of the myriad “Ho Chi Minh himself islands.The air was sub-tropical-warm World Heritage site. It was a husk of – a gentle, cooling breeze. That afterlay embalmed in a glass splendour – almost all of it destroyed noon some of us kayaked through

by French guns. The imagination case, as if he’d fallen lake-calm water busy with sergeant has to fill-in the gaps in the walls. asleep and would rise major fish passing under rock arches I pictured emissaries from Ming cut by the sea into the pinnacle islands.

China walking down long corridors, again when his nation We climbed to the peak of tiny Ti Top to those splendid pavilions embossed needed him” island for a view of the sun, sinking with ceramic mosaic, where mandarins sat around the throne of the orange over a spread of limestone mountains – dripping with forest and pocked with caves. great Emperor Lê Thánh Tông. I imagined French troops Back in Hanoi, I decided to lose myself in the backstreets cowering before Japanese guards, in tiny cells inside the of the old city, just walk where my camera took me, past egg-yolk-yellow fortified gate. Japan’s annexing of Vietnam market traders sitting behind rows of pak choi and mangoes, and subsequent loss to the Allies left a power gap into which, chayote and Malabar spinach. On a street corner, old men in August 1945, Ho Chi Minh stepped into, later proclaimwith wispy beards sat on tiny plastic stools, laughed with ing Vietnamese independence in the adjacent square, using friends and puffed smoke from huge bamboo hookahs. words from France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man. I took some pictures and one called me over. He was wearing a faded khaki jacket and had cataracts in his eyes.

DEEPER INTO VIETNAM The next day I was back on the train for a long journey “Where you from?” south to Dong Hoi, gateway to the Phong Nha caves and my “England,” I said. third World Heritage Site. I’d booked a sleeper cabin – and “Lando?” after sunset, guards came around to collapse the couchettes “Yes. North London.” and cover them with sheets. Supper was a bowl of soup and “Ho Chi Minh, he live there. He work there...”

He grinned and offered me a drag of his hookah. The a stir-fry, and I slept easily, to the meditative clack-clunk of tobacco was bonfire-strong. the bogeys, waking only when the train horn sounded and we jarred to a stop in Ninh Bình. Morning came with coffee ⊲ I spluttered. The old man laughed.

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and cold omelette, brought by railway staff just before we the murk of flying water and leaves a cyclist wandered past, reached Dong Hoi. Duy, my guide and future typhoon driver head down, calm as a walker in a London park, pushing his was waiting for me on the platform and we were soon winding bike against the wind. up from the coast into the hills where the caves lie.

Two hours later we safely reached Hue. The rain was Duy asked me if I wanted to try light adventure caving, or merely drizzle far to the south and the clouds were thinning. a proper adventure. I should have realised then that for the I thanked Duy with a large tip. From now on, I determined Vietnamese, ‘proper adventure’ means Journey to the Centre of that my Vietnam journey would be sedate. But I hadn’t met the Earth. But I was bleary eyed, which is how I found myself Cong – a constantly laughing barrel of energy with Ray Bans in the pitch dark inside Hang Roc. The cave was aptly named. and closely cropped hair, who picked me up by Jeep the It was the largest I’ve ever seen. next morning for my tour of Imperial Hue. Showing off With me was a tough-as-nails, 60-something opal miner my knowledge I asked him if the reason so many people in from Coober Pedy called Jake, three Vietnamese cavers and Vietnam were called Nguyen was after the Emperors who a guide – five-foot tall Tua. With a neat, office-ready haircut, had founded the city. a pink watch and crocs on her feet, she wasn’t exactly Lara “No!” he roared, as we whizzed along the river. “It’s not Croft. She looked like she’d blow away in the wind.

‘Ner-Goo-Yen’! No! No! No!. ‘Gnu-When’! Say it – a bit “Are you sure that you’re OK with adventure?” she asked, like ‘No When’!” grinning mischievously.

We pulled-up in front of the Ancient Forbidden Purple City, next to a massive, fortified gate topped with terracotta “Sure,” Jake and I mumbled.

“Great!” she said, “Follow me.” And like a cat she clam- roofs. And Cong led me through – along brick paths, past bered up the cave wall, which looked as steep as a church ruins of buildings razed to the ground by the American steeple in the beams of our head torches. invasion, telling me about how the city would have funcEven Jake was shaken. But somehow, the Vietnamese cajoled tioned in Imperial times; about the Nguyen emperors. We us up the slope that was easier than it had looked, using undig- walked along a cherry-red corridor topped with a procesnified buttock-shoves and indications for where we should put sion of decorated gables open only to the close courtiers. our big feet. As we climbed, the sound A young woman in a beautiful, swirling Ao Dai dress was having her of the river faded underneath me. My “My guide took me photo taken in the doorway. heart pounded in my chest. I was glad that I couldn’t see how far it was below.

“People come here to do pre-wedaround the tombs that Then we reached a ledge that led into ding pictures,” Cong told me, “She’s dot Hue’s countryside, wearing the official colour of Hue – a cavern and were glad we’d faced our guffawing at my fear. Pools of calcite ran across the floor dark purple.” like steps. Inside them, were marbleWe reached the hear t of the attempts to pronounce sized balls of glittering aragonite – cave old palace, where pavilions with Vietnamese” pearls. Towering stalagmites stood plunging roofs topped with swirling dragons looked out over around us like cathedral columns, and the walls sparkled with jewel-like flowstones. Towards a courtyard dotted with huge copper cauldrons. They were the caves’ exit, Tua had prepared a little picnic for us; coffee, covered with Chinese script.

“Not Chinese,” explained Cong, “Vietnamese. It used a sandwich. Someone had some whisky.

Later that afternoon, back in the hotel – exhausted but with to be written like this before the French introduced the that calm that comes after hard exercise and adrenaline – I was European alphabet.” sipping a beer and looking out over the balcony. Dark clouds Then Cong took me through the Imperial tombs that dot the palm-tree and cecropia-filled countryside around were gathering over the horizon. And Duy approached me.

“I think we need to leave early tomorrow, Mr Alex,” he Hue – mosaic pagodas, sitting over artificial ponds filled said unemotionally. with lotus flowers and lilies; dark temples where statues of long-dead emperors peered from plinths, through air smoky “Oh yes? What time is the train to Hue?” “No train. We’ll drive. Maybe leave about 4am…? with incense. And along the way Cong guffawed at my cackA typhoon is coming.” handed attempts to pronounce Vietnamese.

“Try this one,” he’d say, tripping out a few words. I’d repeat EXPLORING IMPERIAL HUE them and then he’d bellow with laughter. “Don’t say that in The next morning, we were rushing to escape it. And the front of the waitress! She will throw the Pho soup over you!” night was gradually thinning into turbid grey. Outside the car Then the next day at the train station, Cong too left me, window, the wind bent the Palmyra palms and tore at their but with a parcel. fronds. In the wind the going was painfully slow, but we were “Open it before you reach Danang!” he said through the heading steadily south. And the storm was whizzing north. window as the train shunted off. “And come back soon!”

Inside was a Vietnamese-English phrase book and a packet Duy assured me we would miss it.

Half an hour later it didn’t seem so, and the coffee had of fragrant Hue royal tea. worked its way through to my bladder. When I stepped outside the car, the wind was literally swirling – hitting me FINAL STOP: HOI AN from the front, whirling around my side, lashing me with rain. The departing train chugged through the centre of the Hue, And I was struggling to answer nature’s call. Then through past street markets where women in conical hats sold ⊲

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Vietnamese views (clockwise from top) Visitors to the Imperial Citadel of Hue in the summer can take in one of the fire dance performances staged there, which occur a couple of times per week during the season; completed in 1931, Hue’s Tomb of Khai Dinh celebrates the 12th Emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty and gives him a stone honour guard; a lantern maker decorating a traditional paper lantern. These decorate houses throughout Vietnam and are carried in parades during the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, which celebrates the harvest

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eels from buckets and chickens in rattan cages, past ranks This beautifully preserved, old Asian trading port, sitting of mopeds swarming around level crossings, engines buzz- next to a winding river behind golden beaches, would be the ing. We clattered over the Song An Cu’u river and into perfect place to soothe myself after an event-filled journey; rice fields before winding east towards the sea, hugging small and pretty enough to walk through aimlessly, soakthe coast and, after shrimp-farming-up the atmosphere.

I wandered narrow alleys, lined pools, reached the great beach“Walking Hoi An’s lined lagoon at Lap An Bay. A guard with ochre-and warm yellow 18th brought around sandwiches and a century houses. Many had been throbbing streets, drink and then the lights went out converted into galleries, arty cafes I chanced on a Chinese and in the world beyond the window as boutiquey shops. I bought beaugatehouse, topped we entered the long tunnel under the tiful paper lanterns and a made-toAnnamite mountains. measure jacket, for a Primark price. with jade-green We emerged in southern VietOn one walk down a thronging street mosaic dragons, claws near the river I chanced on a Chinese nam, near where the Americans had landed in March 1965. Back then gatehouse, topped with swirling jadebrandished to guard Danang was mainly fishing hamlets. green mosaic dragons, claws branagainst intruders” Now Vietnam’s fifth-largest city dished to guard against intruders. glittered by the sea in lines of glassInside was the peaceful Phuc Kien fronted skyscrapers and neon-lit dragon bridges. I caught pagoda, built by merchants from Fujian who made Hoi An a cab, wound through the streets past the huge industrial their home in the 1690s. A courtyard tinkling with fountains fishing-fleet in the marina and started navigating the final led to a towering teak hall where glittering sea deities and ancestral effigies sat on altars swirling with incense. ⊲ 30 kilometres south to Hoi An.

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Crossing into the past (clockwise from above) Dating back to 16th century, Hoi An’s iconic Chua Cau (or Japanese Covered Bridge) reflects on the water that separates Tran Phu from Nguyen Thi Minh Khai. The bridge’s entrances are guarded by a pair of monkey statues on one side and a pair of dog statues on the other while its distinctive archway – once removed by the French to aid car traffic – was restored in 1986; a young woman in a royal purple Ao Dai dress and a Nón Lá conical reed hat walking through one of the magnificent wooden decorated corridors in the Tu Cam Thanh (Forbidden Purple City) – the former palace of Nguyen emperors

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Lighting up Hoi An Old Town Tran Phu street gets lively at night. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in December 1999, Hoi An’s Old Town was recognised for being an “exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century”

I visited the tiny Cham Islands a twenty-minute boat-ride offshore, spending a long lazy morning snorkelling over coral reefs and lazing with a paperback on a pearl-white beach, shaded by coconut palms.

But I loved the Hoi An evenings best, when I’d find a table in a quay-side restaurant overlooking the Thu Bon River and order sizzling prawns and spicy Mi Quang turmeric noodles, as the sun sank low and butter-yellow over the terracotta roofs. Gondolas drifted languidly by, and in the thickening twilight, courting couples set lambent paper lanterns on a drift downstream to the South China Sea. On my final morning, I took an early taxi ride out of Hoi An – past vendors in conical hats laying out their wares for

morning market, through the rice-paddy landscapes that clustered around the sluggish river as it wound inland, and into thick jungle. I was going to My Son, the last World Heritage Site of my journey. Like an Angkor Wat in miniature, this 1,500-year old ruined city – of crumbling brick temples and statues encrusted with vines lies strewn in dense rainforest at the feet of rolling mountains.

Leaving early, as my hotel had recommended, ensured I would share it only with green magpies and crimson sunbirds, who flitted through the trees and played in the gentle sunlight. A ancient treasure, lost in nature. It was the perfect, tranquil end to a Vietnam trip that, as ever, had been filled with surprises. ⊲

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Audley Travel (01993 838140, www.audleytravel. com/Vietnam) has a 15-night tailor-made trip using the railway and visiting Hanoi, Halong Bay, Phong Nha (with a cave trek), Hoi An beach and Ho Chi Minh City, from £3,885 per person with all flights, transfers and excursions.

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Capital: Hanoi Population: 97,000,000 Languages: Vietnamese, French, plus assorted minority group dialects, including Muong, Cham and Khmer Time: GMT +7 International dialling code: +84 Visas: Before COVID-19, UK & Irish nationals travelling by air could fill in the visa on arrival (VOA); electronic visas must be arranged beforehand if arriving overland.

Money: Dong - currently £1 to VND31,000.

ATMs are found throughout the country and credit cards widely accepted.

When to go

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Vietnam has a tropical monsoon climate with weather patterns differing north to south and a marked temperature range, which drops to an average low of 15°C in Hanoi (Dec-Feb) and 22°C in Ho Chi Minh City. April is the warmest month, with an average maximum temperature of around 30°C. The North – May-Sept are the driest months with Dec-Feb receiving the least rain of all and July and August the most rain.

The South – Oct-May are the driest months, with January-March the driest of all.

Typhoons can strike coastal Vietnam at any time. In the south they generally hit AprilSeptember; in the centre, August-November; and in the north, October-March. They range in strength enormously. Some bring little more than heavy rains and strong winds; others are devastating – causing intense flooding and severe damage to houses and crops.

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At time of press, Vietnam had planned to fully reopen to international tourists

by June 2022. For the latest information on travel and entry requirements see: https://vietnam. travel or the UK FCDO guidelines (gov.uk).

There is a risk of diphtheria. Some rural areas of lowland Vietnam have malaria. See www.travelhealth.co.uk or fitfortravel.nhs.uk for further information.

While there is petty theft, violent crime is rare.

Be aware of motorcycle snatch thieves and street scammers in the larger cities. Be wary of using your passport as a rental guarantee. Adventure travel in Vietnam can involve unexpected risks, be sure to check precisely what is involved with your on-the-ground operator.

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Getting there

Vietnam Airlines (vietnamairlines. com) fly to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City from £630 return, leaving from London Heathrow and taking 11.5 hours.

Map Illustration Scott Jessop

Getting around

The railway is run by Vietnam Railways. Their website (http:// vietnam-railway.com) has timetables and prices online in English. Sleeper fares between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) cost £65 for the entire 38 hour, 1,700km-long journey.

The author travelled to Halong City railway station, before taking the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City line south, breaking the journey in Dong Hoi (for the Phong Nha caves), Hue and Danang (for Hoi An). Booking can be made in advance at railway stations, local agencies and through ⊲ tour operators in the UK.

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Vietnam is good value even

by South-East Asia standards.

Backpacker travel can be as little as £15.

Luxury is available from £120 a day, including a room in a five-star hotel. A meal for two in a cheap restaurant is around £5 and a plush one around £15; tipping of 15% is expected.

The taxi start rate is around £0.40 and then a further £0.50 per km.

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The Metropole (all.accor.com) In Hanoi oozes French colonial sophistication, with rattan ceiling fans, art nouveau wrought iron and staff wearing elegant white silk Ao Dai dresses. It’s in a great location in the heart of the old French Quarter. Doubles for £115 B&B. Little Charm Hanoi Hostel (littlecharmhanoihostel.com.vn) is a bijou hostel in a choice Hanoi Old Quarter location. It has modern dorms and doubles with wooden bunks, art on the walls and a great-value restaurant serving big breakfasts and local standards. Dorms from £5.

Phong Nha Lakehouse (phongnhalakehouse.com) overlooks a lake and rugged hills swathed with forest, yet it’s a stroll from the shops of Phong Nha village while the caves in Phong Nha-Ke Bang NP are a five-minute drive. There’s a good range of accommodation – from swish lakeshore cabins to backpacker dorms.

Service is excellent. Doubles from £30 B&B. Azerai La Residence (https://azerai.com/ resorts/azerai-la-residence-hue) in Hue is

the former palace of the province’s French governor. The hotel sits in extensive lawned gardens right across the Perfume River from the Forbidden City. Opt for a room in the original building. Doubles from £45 B&B. The Nam Hai (www.fourseasons.com/ hoian), 15-minutes’ drive from Hoi An’s pretty centre, is about as luxurious as beach hotels get in Vietnam. Huge villas with silk drapes, dark marbles and four posters cluster next to a long, white-sand beach.

Doubles from £300 B&B with excursions.

Food & drink

Vietnamese cooking mixes strong flavours (salty fish sauce, abundant herbs), fresh vegetables and lots of meat.

The cuisine is strongly regional, borrowing from China in the north, spicy and aromatic in the centre and Khmer-influenced – with sweet palm sugar and coconut – in the south.

Alongside pan-Vietnamese pho meat-andnoodle soups and banh mi stuffed baguettes, try local specialities: cha ca (fish cooked with dill and turmeric) in Hanoi; spicy bún bò Hue pork, beef and banana flower broth in Hue; and banh cuon dumplings stuffed with mushroom and bean sprouts in the south.

Further reading & info

The Sorrow of War (1987) by Bao Ninh, written by a soldier who served in the Vietnamese Army Youth Brigade.

Vietnam: Rising Dragon (2010) by Bill Hayton.

One of the best accounts of the China-like ambitions of contemporary Vietnam. vietnam.travel - Official Website.

HIGHLIGHTS

1 HANOI

Built around a series of lakes and the snaking Red River, the buildings in Vietnam’s capital are a mix of Confucian China, Soviet monumentalist and French colonial.

2 NINH BÌNH

This landscape of lilycovered rivers winding through karst mountains and green paddy fields is UNESCO World Heritage listed.

3 HALONG BAY

Northern Vietnam’s vast bay of forest-covered islets lies in easy reach of Hanoi and is best visited on an overnight cruise.

NHA-KE BANG NP 4 PHONG

Caves honeycomb the mountains of this UNESCO-listed national park; including Hang Son Doong, the world’s largest, and glittering Phong Nha Cave.

5 HUE

The imperial capital of the Nguyen emperors, with a crumbling forbidden city and a hinterland dotted with beautiful temples and tombs.

6 HOI AN

Pearl-white beaches, ochre and egg-yolk-yellow balconyfronted shop houses and a lantern-lit river, make this little village a great beachside stop.

7 HO CHI MINH CITY On the move (clockwise from this) Houseboats on Halong Bay; Hoi An; the train tracks through the narrow centre of Hanoi

Vietnam’s most vibrant city, bristling with skyscrapers, cut with little alleys lined with coffee shops, gin bars and noodle shops and buzzing with a energy.

WANDERLUST RECOMMENDS Vietnam: Wanderlust Travel Guide – www.wanderlust.co.uk/destinations/ vietnam/ ‘Overnight Train: Hanoi to Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh City on the Reunification Express’ on YouTube – youtube.com You can find a number of ‘Traditional Vietnam’ playlists – spotify.com

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TRAVEL TRENDS 2022 Wondering what travel will look like in the year ahead? We look into our crystal ball and see what’s hot for 2022 Words Jessica Reid

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Staycations are here to stay

With borders opening across the world, some people will be desperate to catch the next plane abroad. However, many of us have been learning about the hidden gems on our doorsteps with this extensive time spent at home. Our love for staycations will flow into 2022, as we continue to explore the beautiful, diverse and less-established landscapes, from wonderful wild spots to overlooked small towns.

Seeing places without the crowds

For those who do want to venture beyond their homes, there might not be a better time to visit some of those bucket list destinations, especially any honeypot sites. Travel will continue to be quieter than it was pre-pandemic, meaning popular cities, landmarks and tourist attractions will have fewer visitors, creating a much more relaxed experience, especially out of season.

Trends for ’22 (clockwise from top right) Explore bucket-list destinations such as Machu Picchu, but before the crowds return; go slow in Austria; experiencing amazing nature in the Amazon; a relaxing pedal through Hoi An, Vietnam; staying local in Mousehole, Cornwall; taking the train; (main) the neon lights of New Orleans’ French Quarter

Slow & sustainable

After years of chasing our favourite destinations, flitting from country to country, trying to cross off as many places on our scratch maps as possible, the pandemic forced us to stop in our tracks and reassess. What do we want from travel? If we want to experience the truly authentic side of a place, we need to slow down, stay longer and take it all in. It’s a chance to connect with the people, culture and our surroundings. It’s a way to live like the locals do, and explore deeper, by train, bike, or foot. On top of this, slow travel will reduce your carbon footprint, minimising your impact on the environment.

Travelling by train

With slow travel going full steam ahead, it looks like there is going to be a boom in people exploring destinations by rail.

With new, eco-friendly trainlines popping up all over the world, it will be easier than ever to admire some of the most scenic spots of a country from the comfort of a cosy carriage.

Whether you’re there to enjoy the ride, or just trying to get from A to B, or – trains are in.

Upgrade travel

No, this doesn’t mean just getting first class seats on a flight (although, that would be nice too). Upgrade travel is our version of ‘revenge’ travel. Many travellers will feel robbed of important adventure time during the pandemic, and have now saved up enough pennies to splash out on those oncein-a-lifetime experiences. Perhaps you’ll pick that extra-luxurious eco-lodge in Costa Rica, or escape to a paradise island in the Caribbean? Wherever you go, why not treat yourself?

Rediscovering city life

We’ve been keeping our distance for far too long – it’s time to experience the buzz of city life again. Many places have been adapting to a different way of life, so when we return, the streets will feel fresher and more vibrant than ever before. We want to visit those pavement cafes, discover new museums and exhibitions, and immerse ourselves in the culture, creativity and history of these less-well-known and less-crowded hubs. The question is, which one will you choose?

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Nurturing nature

The ultimate digital detox. Leave your phone, Zoom meetings and most of all, social media at home and be at one with the great outdoors. Whether you’re exploring Europe’s refreshing and rejuvenating forests, mountains, and lakes, or getting lost in the remarkable desert landscapes across the Middle East, it’s the opportunity to immerse yourself in the wonderful world nature created. It’s good for the soul.

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Let this be the year travel returns…

We asked you where you are most dreaming of visiting and here are the results. Plus, on p86, the Wanderlust editors share their own hot tips for 2022…

Reader reflections Nearly 50 years old, the Sydney Opera House is one of the many icons drawing readers back to Australia

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READERS’ MOST DESIRABLE DESTINATIONS 2022 MOST DESIRABLE COUNTRY (LONG HAUL)

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AUSTRALIA

We always want most what we can’t have. Australia’s borders slammed shut right at the beginning of the pandemic and, at the time of writing, opportunities for British travellers wishing to visit are few and far between. Neighbouring New Zealand, who followed a similar course, has said it is now accepting fully vaccinated travellers as of 30 April 2022, and hopes are high that Australia will follow suit soon. Until that happens, we are still left dreaming of riding The Ghan through endless Outback or watching the sun rise over the red sandstone edifice of Uluru one more time.

It’s clear you, too, have been thinking of little else. It also feels like we’ve been singing its praises non-stop recently, or at least since Qantas launched direct flights to Perth from London back in 2018. These are tentatively due to recommence in April, and we have our fingers crossed they do because, frankly, there is plenty more to talk about.

Western Australia still feels like an undiscovered country in itself: its Ningaloo Reef is every bit the equal of its Great Barrier cousin but still little visited by comparison, affording you the chance to swim with whale sharks; the Kimberley is a region of beehive-like mountains and wilderness so rugged and unfinished that it feels like Mother Nature barely got through sketching it before she moved on to something else.

Add to that magnificent winelands, scenic trails where you can spy humpbacks breaching offshore, luxurious coastal cruises and a thoroughly modern regional capital, and it’s not hard to see why travellers get so excited about this state.

But beyond Western Australia, there’s the chance to experience the things we’ve missed out on. The Great Southern train route between Adelaide and Brisbane only had its inaugural journey at the very end of 2019, three months before borders closed.The new Grampian Peaks Trail is a rocky 160km route across Aboriginal land, red gum forests and the dramatic, dizzying rises of the Grampians NP.We can’t wait to try both.

There are countless thrills to be found here when you eventually return. But if you’re short of ideas, just relive the classics: soak up Sydney’s northern beaches, drive the Great Ocean Road, meet the inquisitive quokka of Rottnest Island, explore the pink-granite cliffs of Freycinet Peninsula.

Because you never know when it’ll all be taken away again. ⊲

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Gold

Australia

Silver

Japan

Bronze

Costa Rica

4th

Canada

5th

USA

6th

South Korea

7

Peru

th

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8th

Sri Lanka

9th

South Africa

10th

New Zealand

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The sight of Japan hosting the Olympics in 2021 has clearly whetted your appetite for this regular Wanderlust reader favourite. We’re especially excited by what’s happening in the county’s southern regions in 2022. Last year, a host of UNESCO Natural Heritage Sites where named, including the islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, scattering the East China Sea off Kyushu. Their thick forests, mangroves and perfect shores are home to a number of rare endemic species (barely 100 Iriomote leopards

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Orleans, Nashville and Charleston to the UK seem like another world now, but it showed what variety there is to discover. Judging by how highly you rate the Deep South elsewhere in these awards, they had an effect on you. If that’s not enough, the creation of a new national park (New River Gorge National Park and Preserve) in West Virginia last year and the 150th anniversary of the founding of Yellowstone NP certainly has us excited (see Editors’ Picks for 2022).

The lower reaches of this list contain fewer surprises, with Peru, Sri Lanka, South Africa and New Zealand all mainstays at these awards over the years thanks, in part, to their natural gifts. But it’s the arrival of South Korea, above them all in sixth, that intrigues the most. It gets little credit for its landscapes, although there are some incredible wild corners, not least the DMZ where its wildlife (red-crowned cranes, water deer) has flourished, undisturbed since 1953. But it’s arguably the success of films like Parasite or the hit Netflix TV series Squid Game that put it in the world’s eye of late, with the volcanic island of Jeju (featured in the latter) seeing a huge boost in visitors recently. We can’t wait to return.

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exist now), and currently see few visitors. Meanwhile, the newest shinkansen fast train (Nishi Kyushu) route is set to open up the southern hot-spring town of Takeo Onsen this year. Add to that Japan’s first castle hotel in Ozu and Okinawa’s new eco-treehouse resort, Treeful, and southern Japan is certainly piquing our curiosity.

Costa Rica is another long-time reader vote-winner. Among the big new openings here is the Hacienda AltaGracia, a brand-new 180-acre retreat on a functioning coffee farm, high in the rainforested Talamanca mountains.

Those who can handle a horse will find plenty to savour, with its stables offering guided treks down into the lush valley below.

Given how highly you rate its regions and cities, it’s no surprise to see North America feature strongly. Canada is an evergreen at these awards, but the USA arguably less so. Certainly, the slew of pre-pandemic British Airways flights opening up the likes of New

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MOST DESIRABLE COUNTRY (SHORT HAUL)

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Hillside habitations (clockwise from above) The historic village of Gordes in the Provence can trace its history back to Roman times; smoking Arenal volcano in Costa Rica; autumn falls in Kyoto; Moraine Lake, Alberta Canada

FRANCE

It feels like a long time since we’ve been this excited about France, and it looks like you feel the same. And all it took was the collapse of international travel for us to see what was there all along on our doorstep. Barely a two-hour carbonfriendly train ride away, this is a country where there is so much to discover that it’s difficult to know where to begin.

You often forget how huge France actually is. Its population is identical in size to the UK’s yet its land mass is more than twice as large. Into that is squeezed one of the world’s great capitals, a history of art and culture to rival any on the continent, the highest mountains in Western Europe, and a national cuisine so good that it’s recognised by UNESCO. It’s not just about chic urban Paris, either. There’s a school of travel thought that reckons you need to be at least 10,000 miles, four flares and a RIB boat ride away from home to see real wilderness. But France is full of it. Tell us it isn’t after

walking the GR10 up into the wildflower meadows of the Pyrenees, wandering the forests of the Ardennes, exploring the grass-covered caldera of the Puy-de-Dome, or hiking the punishing GR20 across the island of Corsica – for many, Europe’s toughest hike.

That’s all before you even reach the Alps. The northern mountains here have dominated the agendas of hikers and skiers for years, with the well-trod trails and slopes of the Savoie (Val d’Isère) and Haute-Savoie (Chamonix, Morzine) regularly filled with visitors.Yet the lesser-seen Southern Alps offer just as much. Here, instead of purpose-built resorts, small villages are your jumping-off point for wilderness parks like Mercantour NP where ski touring, wolf tracking tours and shepherd’s trails offer a more rugged take on Alpine life.

With wilderness comes wildlife. You can track bears in the rarefied mountain air of the Pyrenees or watch ⊲

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French fancies (clockwise from top) The Gulf of Morbihan, Brittany, offers islands to visit and around 100km of signposted footpaths; the black sands of the Stokksnes Peninsula, south-east Iceland; Zlatni rat beach, Brac Island, Croatia; the sun sets over the Cinque Terre village of Manarola, Liguria, Italy; Etretat, Normandy

There is also modern history to discover every bit as compelling as France’s kings and revolutions. Many search out Normandy’s D-Day landing sites and museums on tours, but there are moving Second World War stories here beyond the battlefields, such as that of Oradour-sur-Glane, near Limoges. This bombed-out ghost village was razed by the Nazis upon their retreat in 1944, but not before massacring all 642 villagers. Since then, it has been left as it was, a living, rusting memorial to one of the darkest days in French history.

This is France.Take it as it is: a dizzying whirl of history, art, culture and wilderness far beyond the romance of Paris.We’ve not even mentioned wine-country river cruises, basking on the Cote d’Azur, or cycling in the tyre tracks of the Tour de France. But you know this already. That’s why you picked it.

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wild horses crashing through the delta of the Camargue, water spraying in their wake. There is a wild side to France that just isn’t found when popping to Paris for the odd romantic weekend.

That’s not to diminish what you’ll find in the capital.

Anyone lucky enough to wander the Louvre or Orsay museums, gaze on the Baroque bombast of the Palace of Versailles, or descend into the city’s ancient catacombs will discover history and art that shaped a continent. But there is also so much culture to discover outside the capital, and that’s the France that often seems to get lost in translation.

Nimes, for example, is home to one of the great surviving colosseums, as grand as any folly left behind by the Romans.

Normandy’s Mont St-Michel is every bit the 8th-century marvel, a medieval tidal island rising out of the beach like some long-forgotten sandcastle. The fairytale fortresses of the Loire Valley – former hunting lodges of the French monarchs – are just as captivating as their vineyards.

Down in the south-west, the Basque Country often seems like its own world, with a language, cuisine and culture removed from that of surrounding France. Here, the centre of each village is given over to pelota courts, as young kids scurry about, necks craned to the sky, desperately trying to whack a ball arcing three feet over their heads, while chuckling locals dine on tapas in the surrounding cafes. Or head up to Alsace, seemingly caught somewhere between France and Germany, along with the local dialect, traditions and hearty Alpine cooking. Give us a flammekueche (a thin pizza-like dish topped with fromage blanc and lardons) over a quattro formaggi any day of the week.

Your top ten favourites Gold

France

Silver

Italy

Bronze

Iceland

4th

Greece

5th

Spain

6th

Croatia

7th

Portugal

8

th

Georgia

9th

Norway

10th

Austria

high-end boutique hotels set within its 18th-century tower houses, offer thrilling possibilities.

You can also read more on Portugal (down in seventh) later; but like Spain (fifth) and Croatia (sixth), it’s interesting to see your enthusiasm for the more traditionally well-thumbed destinations. The first flush of travel discovery had certainly worn off Croatia pre-pandemic, with its cruise ports being overrun and cities being afflicted with over-tourism. But all three countries have so much more to offer than busy coasts (Algarve) and familiar cities (Dubrovnik, Barcelona), and the chance to discover historic areas like Andalucía or the medieval towns of Istria are what excite us most for 2022.

Georgia sits on the opposite end of that scale. The eastern European nation was seemingly only starting to lay out the welcome mat in 2019, as travellers discovered its ancient cave towns, lush foothills and cultured capital, when COVID-19 hit. Your eagerness to see it is not surprising, whereas Norway’s natural gifts of Aurora-filled skies and whale-packed waters have been a bucket-list staple for years, as are Austria’s Alpine trails and festive markets. But some things will always be timeless. ⊲

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Given how heavily you have voted for Italy’s regions and cities elsewhere in these awards, we’re not surprised it bagged the runner-up spot. We never tire of its fresco-heavy churches, Roman ruins and historic coast, and we can only hazard that familiarity is the one thing that’s stayed voters hands in previous years. But if the pandemic (and perhaps the rise in sustainable travel) has done one thing, it’s made us think about what’s on our doorstep more, and there are few

countries with this amount of choice.

From the Tuscan archipelago to the cliff-dangling villages of Cinque Terre, you could spend a lifetime exploring Italy’s hidden corners.

Perhaps the exception to the above rule is your third-placed pick. If ever a country threaded the needle between short break and wild landscapes, it’s Iceland. Certainly, Wanderlust’s writers were as impressed as its readers when driving the new Arctic Coast Way and spotting whales off Snaefellsnes Peninsula, and 2022 promises plenty more exhilarating experiences. We can’t wait to soak in Reykjavík’s new geothermal Sky Lagoon, surrounded only by steelgrey rock and open water.

Greece features highly elsewhere in your picks, specifically its islands, for which we have plenty of love for over the page. But a special mention goes to the Peloponnese’s Mani Peninsula where the opening of iconic travel writer Paddy Leigh Fermor’s home to guests, along with a host of

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THE GREEK ISLANDS

There are so many potential reasons you could have chosen this as your top pick. Perhaps our Greek Islands special last June tugged at some old memories, or maybe you recall the summer of 2020 when it was one of the few European countries still welcoming travellers. But that’s all rather the point: it could be anything because there’s such variety here. Each of Greece’s islands – and there are over 200 of them – are culturally and historically unique. From the Italianate harbour towns of the Ionian islands to the blue-domed villages of the Cyclades, to the medieval citadels and Roman ruins of the Dodecanese, there is so much to discover. The only thing uniting them is sunshine and water so clear that you could be looking through glass.

You’re certainly not the first to be charmed. These islands have inspired artists since antiquity. Homer’s Odysseus was said to have set sail from peaceful Lefkada, while some say

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Shakespeare drew on Corfu’s scalloped coast as inspiration for The Tempest. Myth and history are easy bedfellows here.

When wandering the ruins of the Minoan Palace on Crete, you can’t help but conjure images of labyrinths. That’s what happens when your history dates back 7,000 years.

The old reputation of Greece’s islands as a place to flop ’n’ drop was always a misnomer. The reality is much wilder, whether trekking the petrified forests of Lesvos, driving hairpin clifftop bends in northern Kefalonia, or exploring the volcanic wonders of Nisyros. There is wildlife, too. Try snorkelling alongside loggerhead turtles in Zakynthos or watching Jersey tiger moths erupt in a cloud of wings at Rhodes’ Butterfly Valley and then tell us that it’s all just beaches.

There’s so much here to conjure with: wildlife, nature, food, mountains, history, and you can’t ever see them all at once. One trip is just the start of a lifelong obsession.

Short haul, big charms (clockwise from above) Walking the harbour of chic, white-washed village of Naoussa, Paros; the Azores’ Lagoa das Sete Cidades is one lake, but most people refer to it as the separate Blue and Green Lakes; medieval houses on the banks of the Onyar, Girona, Catalonia; view of Caccamo town, Sicily

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MOST DESIRABLE REGION (SHORT HAUL)

Your top ten favourites Gold

The Greek Islands

Silver

The Azores

Bronze

Sicily

4th

Catalonia

5th

Andalucía

6th

South Tyrol

7

Lombardy

th

8th

Scottish Islands

9th

Brittany

10th

Bavaria

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It’s an island triple bill when it comes to your most in-demand short-haul regions. Your picks for second (The Azores) and third (Sicily) definitely veer more towards the rugged end of the scale, with plenty of opportunities to disappear in solitude among volcanic trails, pad quiet mountainside villages or just escape to lonely hidden shores.

Certainly, Portugal’s Azores have plenty of open-air adventures. Its seas are famed for their whale watching (Apr-Oct), and humpbacks can be spotted breaching the waves in great cascades of water early on in the season.

On land, the lush, rolling hillsides of São Miguel reveal beautiful trails among the crater lakes of the Sete Cidades; or make for Pico instead where 15,000 people live in the shadow of Portugal’s highest summit. There are few wilder island escapes in all of Europe.

Sicily arguably has more in common with Spain’s Catalonia and Andalucía, which came fourth and fifth respectively. Each is packed with culture and character. Andalucía, in particular, is riding high, with regional capital Seville

also having placed well in your pick for top ‘Short-haul City’. Its Moorish roots are visible in the capital’s Alcázar palace, but you’ll find cultural delights aplenty throughout the region, from lonely medieval hilltop fortresses to Bronze Age settlements, to Cordoba’s UNESCO-listed Great Mosque.

Just as intriguing are the clutch of mountain escapes that make up the middle of your top ten. Italy’s South Tyrol is many people’s idea of a classic hiking destination, but Lombardy is far better known as the home of Milan, where fashion boutiques, Da Vinci frescoes and the grand Gothic fancy of the Duomo still entrance visitors. To the north of the region, however, its border with Switzerland is fringed with Alpine peaks soaring as high as 4,000m. It’s prolific skiing country, which is something travellers are perhaps only just wising up to, with Alta Valtellina all set to host the Winter Olympics in 2026.

The Scottish Islands (we admit) are a pretty broad subject, but their popularity has definitely undergone a welcome boost during COVID times, with Brits mostly confined to travelling at home.

However, the new UNESCO Trail (see Editors’ Picks for 2022), which includes

sites in the Shetlands, Orkney and the furthest reaches of the Outer Hebrides, is likely to raise their popularity even further still and it will be interesting to see where you rate them next year.

Lastly, Wanderlust readers clearly know a thing or two about picking an underdog, and it’s good to see Brittany squeeze in at the end alongside the more established Bavaria. Sustainable travel is on the rise, and with short-distance ferries putting the French coast within a five-hour hop of the UK, this choice couldn’t be more on trend if it tried. The beaches, medieval châteaux, small islands and trails of one of France’s most overlooked regions offer a countryside escape to rival any in Europe, and it’s heartening to see that they’re finally getting their due. ⊲

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BRITISH COLUMBIA

Sometimes numbers tell a story better than words. With 25,000km of coastline, about 15,000 grizzly bears, seven national parks, and five wine-producing areas, British Columbia is not only vast but varied. Its appearance at the top of this list is also a bit of a surprise. Canada itself may have lingered in the upper reaches of your Travel Awards picks for years but it’s this westernmost province that has particularly stolen your heart in this new category, and it’s not hard to see why.

There is nowhere better suited to our new socially distanced lifestyle. The region is roughly the size of Germany and France combined, and over half of it is covered in wild forest.You can spy grizzlies pawing at passing salmon in the remote Bella Coola Valley, paddle alongside orca and humpbacks in the Johnstone Strait, or boat the quiet backwaters around Klemtu in search of the shy, elusive spirit bear. There are adventures everywhere here and not a soul for miles.

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Even getting from A to B is an epic journey.The Sea-to-Sea Skyway drive is filled with tumbling falls and First Nations culture, while the Alaska Highway remains a motoring icon for not only its size (2,224km) but its history – built in the Second World War to head off any Japanese invasion of Alaska. Then there’s the Okanagan Valley, which drops you into vineyard country. BC produces the bulk of Canada’s wines though little of it leaves the region, so it’s a joy to discover.

For others, it’s all about the mountains. The Peak 2 Peak gondola sees you dangle for 3km between the summits of Whistler and Blackcomb; the Rockies meanwhile are best explored on scenic trains running all the way to Vancouver where the Museum of North Vancouver and its 9,000-strong collection has just opened. British Columbia is the wild escape we dreamed of in lockdown; the antithesis of everything we’ve experienced recently. No wonder you love it so much.

Soaring scenery (clockwise from above) The Park Ranges loom over Lake O’Hara, in Yoho National Park, British Columbia; clarinet player in Jackson Square, New Orleans, Louisiana; Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Islands, Queensland; view of two beaches on Bartolome Island in the Galápagos Islands

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MOST DESIRABLE REGION (LONG HAUL)

Your top ten favourites Gold

British Columbia

Silver

Galápagos Islands

Bronze

Deep South USA

4th

Western Australia

5th

Caribbean

6th

Silk Road

7th

Antarctica

8

Kerala

th

9th

Patagonia

10th

Malaysian Borneo

off entirely. With luck, travellers can return soon. Then there’s perennial favourites the Silk Road and Antarctica. Late 2021 saw Ponant, Hurtigruten, Silversea and others resume their Antarctic cruise seasons for the first time since March 2020, and hopes are high that interruptions are minimised in 2022.

More surprising is the appearance of the Caribbean this high. With islands being a recurring theme in these awards, their appearance is not just indicative of a desire for uncrowded escapes, but a growing recognition of just how much variety’s there, particularly among the lesser-visited isles. The tumbling falls and walking trails of the Dominican Republic or the lush tropical forests of St Lucia offer much more than just beaches, carnivals and rum punch. It’s time they were embraced.

Lastly, Patagonia (Chile/Argentina) and the jungles and orangutans of Malaysian Borneo are much discussed in these pages, but it’s been a few years since we got to enthuse about Southern India’s Kerala. Inching its tranquil backwaters on modified kettuvallam houseboats, once used to transport spices to the port at Kochi, remains one of the world’s great slow-travel adventures. We’re glad you still love it, too. ⊲

Alamy; Shutterstock

While British Columbia is arguably something of a newcomer, the same can’t be said of your runner-up.

Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands is one of travel’s evergreens, even if it has suffered in recent years. The absence of tourism has certainly hit the islands’ 25,000-strong population hard, with visitor numbers dropping by 74% in 2020. But there have also been positive changes, too, and last year saw the protected marine area around the islands extended by 60,000 sq km. It is hoped that this will help preserve them

for years to come, but any chance to see this fragile ecosystem is worth taking.

You clearly feel the same.

In third place is the USA’s Deep South, a vast region covering five states (South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana). There are so many different ways to experience it, from riverboat cruises and road trips along the Mississippi to soaking up jazz in New Orleans and country music in Nashville. But most important of all is its history. This was where the birth of the Civil Rights movement in the USA began. Visits to its antebellum plantations remind us the dark days are not long since gone, while 2022 sees the opening of the much-anticipated International African American Museum in Charleston, exploring the city’s role as one of the USA’s largest former slave ports. Hopefully British Airways’ direct flights to the city will resume in time.

Not far behind is Western Australia.

Brits barely had time to savour their newly launched direct flights to Perth before the pandemic saw access cut

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LISBON

Portugal’s appeal is evergreen, particularly in the UK. Some 2.1million British visitors flocked to its beaches, hilltop citadels and far-flung islands in 2019, before the pandemic struck. It’s telling that when travel restrictions were first lifted back in May 2021, 5,500 Brits a day were passing through Faro Airport. So, it’s no surprise to find Portugal’s historic capital flying highest on your list of top short-haul cities.

Lisbon has often featured in the Wanderlust Travel Awards, proving one of the world’s oldest cities (pre-dating Paris and Rome) has lost little with age. Certainly, riding its No. 28 tram past Art Nouveau friezes, Romanesque churches and bakeries scenting of custard tarts never gets old.

Its streets have the air of a classic European short break.

This was one of the continent’s wealthiest cities during its 15th century heyday, and relics of its medieval largesse are everywhere, from Belém’s monastery to São Jorge Castle,

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to the labyrinthine streets of the Alfama, which spanned the whole city back when the Moors overran this peninsula in the 8th century. Lisbon became Portugal’s capital in 1256, and plenty has changed since.

What’s interesting is how much the city has evolved in recent years. In 2020, it bagged a European Green Award for expanding its cycling lanes and public transport, while the pandemic has seen it reinvent itself in other ways. Old restaurants may have departed but a new Michelin-starred jewel has arrived in chef Pedro Penas Bastos’ Cura. Meanwhile, The Bernardo Art Deco Museum opened only last year and a newly renovated wing of the 18th-century Ajuda National Palace is set to become the Royal Treasure Museum in 2022.

When you do finally get back to Lisbon, it might not be the old city you remember.What you discover on your return could well be even better.

Portuguese perspectives (clockwise from above) The Sao Pedro de Alcantara viewpoint gives you a rooftop view of Lisbon; the Seville Cathedral with its 100m Giralda tower; Jemaa el-Fna market square in Marrakech’s medina; panoramic view of Tbilisi, Georgia

Alamy; Shutterstock

MOST DESIRABLE CITY (SHORT HAUL)

Your top ten favourites Gold

Lisbon

Silver

Seville

Bronze

Tbilisi

4th

Marrakech

5th

Dubrovnik

6th

Bologna

7

Tallinn

th

8th

Salzburg

9th

Stockholm

10th

St Petersburg

Alamy; Shutterstock

Seville (Spain) has long been a perennial favourite in the Wanderlust Travel Awards. In 2019, it was even joined in second place by Granada, proving that your love of Andalucía is definitely no flash in the pan (see also Short-haul Region, p79).

We’re particularly intrigued to see Georgian capital Tbilisi riding high in your estimation. Our very own founder Lyn Hughes, who travelled with a group of Wanderlust readers on a pre-pandemic trip to Georgia (see Dec 2019/Jan 2020 issue), certainly approves and we’re delighted to see you share our enthusiasm for a capital whose abundant markets, museums, sulphur baths and gloriously preserved Old Town have long made it something of an overlooked joy – or at least until now.

On the other hand, Morocco’s Marrakech is a familiar name in these awards, though its reappearance (in fourth place) is a first for a number of years. Again, like a lot of cities that have fallen off these lists in recent times, it has perhaps suffered from

over-familiarity and an abundance of budget flights. But when you take all that away, suddenly the chaos of Jemaa el-Fna square or the simple joy of just losing yourself among the hawkers of its labyrinthine Medina makes you realise what was there all along.

The same could be said of Dubrovnik (Croatia), for whom over-tourism had been a genuine problem up until 2020.

The idea of wandering its stone-walled citadel or paddling out to the islands in peace before cruise season kicks back in again is definitely an appealing one.

However, the inclusion of Bologna over, say, more popular Italian cities (Rome, Florence, Milan) goes in another direction entirely. Both before and during the pandemic, the city’s star was on the rise, and not just for its food. The gateway to Emilia-Romagna (aka the ‘New Tuscany’) saw its 1,000-year-old colonnaded porticoes granted UNESCO status in 2021. We can see why you’d be intrigued.

The rest of your picks take on a distinctly wintry vibe, with the likes of Salzburg (Austria) and St Petersburg (Russia) especially captivating in the colder months. Special mention also goes to the two Baltic cities of Tallinn (Estonia) and Stockholm (Sweden) – a pair of capitals far more adventurous than they often seem. Life here revolves around the water, with the latter city scattered over some 14 islands. Come winter, you can skate on the sea ice around their coasts, while summer sees travellers kayaking to far-flung islands.

That alone is worthy of your love. ⊲

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SINGAPORE

Another old favourite of Wanderlust readers, Singapore has always been the ultimate Asia stopover city: a busy urban hub filled with budget airlines that connects to everywhere. In between flights taking you on to larger adventures, you could always squeeze in a quick visit here, that is if you could drag yourself beyond the doors of world-class Changi Airport – an airport with its own internal rainforest. Doing so has clearly left an impression. Now it’s the final destination, not the stopover.

This is the second Wanderlust Travel Awards in a row that it’s made your list of top two cities. It’s even muscled ahead of destinations like Cusco (Machu Picchu) and Cartagena.

Singapore is in many ways the antithesis of their ruins and history. Its gardens are confined to biodomes in futuristic ‘Supertree’ structures, but there’s no shortage of culture here.

Yes, you’ll find as many high-end boutiques and stays as in, say, Dubai, but there is also a rich mix of cultures.

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The Chinatown, Little India and the Katong districts reflect that Mandarin,Tamil and Malay are all spoken here as national languages. In an island city-state of 5.6million, that’s remarkable and reflected in an eclectic, diverse, cheap local cuisine.

You want incredible food? Hawker Chan (once the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred meal) may have lost its star in 2021 but it’s no less of a bargain, as are the other hawker centre eateries. Then there’s the trails and rainforest parks that cut through the urban hustle, as monkeys and flying lemurs cavort in the air. Or you can rent a kayak and tour the islands offshore for a glimpse of how the city used to look.What’s more, Singapore has unveiled a Green Plan 2030, with ambitious plans for a sustainable and very green future.

COVID-19 may have curtailed Singapore’s travel-hub status but 2022 sees it promising to gradually reopen. What might surprise them is just how many visitors don’t want to move on.

Reaching for the sky (clockwise from above) One of the 50m high Supertrees at Gardens by the Bay, which are home to unique and exotic ferns; Cartagena de Indias, Colombia; the Chicago skyline from the North Shore; Plaza de Armas, Cusco

Alamy; Shutterstock

MOST DESIRABLE CITY (LONG HAUL)

Your top ten favourites Gold

Singapore

Silver

Cusco

Bronze

Cartagena

4th

Havana

5th

Chicago

6th

Tokyo

7

Quito

th

8th

Luang Prabang

9th

Cape Town

10th

New Orleans

USA’s travel restrictions in 2017 and Trump’s reimposing of them in 2019) saw tour operators leap on the city, as more travel options than ever emerged, from e-bike tours to rides in classic cars. Its brief dalliance with the travel mainstream ended perhaps a little earlier than it should have, but it is a city whose romance endures, especially among Wanderlust readers.

Further surprises emerge lower down where Chicago lies in fifth, ahead of Tokyo and Ecuador’s ‘gateway to the Galápagos’ Quito, whose colonial architecture and finely preserved historic centre are often overlooked.

Chicago, meanwhile, has received plaudits in recent years for its exciting restaurant scene. It’s not just deep-dish, you know, and its Michelin-starred eateries clearly whetted your appetite.

We see that you’re still pining for old Wanderlust favourite Luang Prabang (a gold winner as recently as 2019), while it’s heartening to see New Orleans creep in at the bottom.

Constantly battered but never out, the pandemic saw its Mardi Gras celebrations dialled back and its iconic jazz festival cancelled in 2021. But it has only made you more eager to visit, though, and if ever a city deserved your love, it’s NOLA. ⊲

Alamy; Shutterstock

While Singapore has inched towards top spot, its Peruvian running mate, Cusco, has been just as stealthy. Both scored highly in previous Wanderlust Travel Awards, and the latter’s popularity certainly fits with its bucket-list appeal as the gateway to Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley. After a couple of years of lockdowns, the chance to trek the Inca Trail or the lesser-trod Lares Trek, camping beneath starry skies and ancient ruins, seems like bliss to us. But it’s our bronze medallist that breaks a few more boundaries.

Colombia’s nascent tourism industry has been one of the bigger casualties of the past couple of years. In 2019, it saw a record haul of visitors (4.5million), just two years after its President received the Nobel Peace Prize for putting an end to the violence that has dogged its cities. Its reputation went from being among the most dangerous places in the world to gracing every glossy travel hot list imaginable, and its pin-up city was Cartagena. Its 16th-century walled centre, overflowing with bougainvillea, has long been a busy stop for cruise ships. That it didn’t place higher is perhaps only because so few had the chance to experience its gentle pleasures before the pandemic shut everything down.

In many ways, Cuba’s Havana (in fourth) has had a similar journey, though its rise wasn’t nearly as stratospheric. Its colonial streets, lined with vintage cars, already saw plenty of arrivals; it’s just that few of them were American. Its brief moment in the sun (between President Obama’s lifting of

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For decades Saudi Arabia remained largely off-limits to travellers. That changed in 2019 with the launch of new tourist visas but, just as quickly, the chance to go was snatched away by the pandemic. Now, both visitors and country are adjusting to the new normal, and Saudi has more than embraced its role as host.The ancient ruins of AlUla, a Nabataean wonder to rival Jordan’s Petra, have already reopened, along with plush new desert resorts. By late 2022 the new Red Sea ‘mega city’ of Neom will debut its first hotels. This year also brings the reopening of At-Turaif, the birthplace of the kingdom; listed

by UNESCO but long closed for renovation, it’s a marvel of mud-brick palaces, mosques and more that will help tell Saudi’s story. Finally, some wild experiences, from trekking to the Edge of the World (Jebel Fihrayn) to diving the Red Sea are now possible. There’s never been a better time to visit.

2 València, Spain

There are many good reasons to visit València. Its Gothic cathedral, long sandy beaches, colourful Old Town, free museums and shady parks are just a few. But equally appealing

Starchitecture (clockwise from top) As of 2019, it is no longer compulsory for female tourists to wear an abaya (full-length robe) to visit Saudi Arabia; the MUNCH museum’s angled form is meant as a welcoming gesture; as well as 2022 Capital of Culture, Kaunas is also a UNESCO City of Design; València’s striking City of Arts & Sciences was designed by Santiago Calatrava

is that, for all Spain’s third-largest city rivals Barcelona and Madrid for culture and vibes, it witnesses a fraction of their crowds. This year also sees València named European Capital of Smart Tourism, a title that points to everything good that’s being done here.

More than 150km of bike lanes have been built, public transport is going electric and the city has greened up in a bid to go carbon-neutral by 2025. From browsing the Central Market to cycling one of Spain’s largest urban parks to exploring Albufera Natural Park, there is no end of green fun to be had.

3 Oslo, Norway

For travellers, Norway’s capital is often a jumping-off point for wonders up north: glacial fjords, whale-spotting cruises, northern lights.Yet this cultured

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capital has a few new incentives to make you stick around. October 2021 saw the opening of the huge MUNCH museum, dedicated to Edvard Munch (of The Scream fame).This June sees the arrival of the new National Museum, set to be the largest cultural space in all of the Nordics, housing a 5,000strong permanent collection of works spanning design, crafts and fine art.

It only adds to the bounty of cultural sights on the Bygdøy peninsula, a scenic museum district wrapped in forests. Its lauded Viking Ship Museum is closed for rebuilding until at least 2025 but you’ll find plenty on Norway’s history of exploration, with polar expeditions dissected in the Fram Museum and the life of adventurer Thor Heyerdahl unpicked at the Kon-Tiki Museum.

George Kipouros; Alamy; Shutterstock

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4 Capitals of Culture

You know how it is: you wait a whole year for a European Capital of Culture then three – Novi Sad, Serbia; Kaunas, Lithuania; Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg – come along at once.

Novi Sad’s inclusion is a hangover from 2021 (due to COVID-19), though it fits with a theme among this year’s picks: post-war industrial cities finding their mojo. Esch-sur-Alzette’s steel and iron ore industry collapsed in the 1980s only for it to rewild its old pits, turn the city’s furnace into a museum and music venue, and let the mines and villages tell their own story. It’s a pattern you’ll see repeated in Novi Sad, whose old factories now host street art and hip galleries.

Kaunas underwent its makeover in the 1930s, when it was the brief capital of Lithuania (due to Vilnius being seized by Poland), and the result is like wandering a Modernist dream.

5 Doha, Qatar

6

Grenoble, France

The self-proclaimed ‘Capital of the French Alps’ doesn’t disappoint those in search of big scenery. Ride the quirky cablecar up Bastille Hill and not only can you visit the imposing 18th-century fort but also enjoy views of glaciated valleys and snowy massifs.

But Grenoble isn’t resting on its laurels, it’s a city looking to the future too. This year it has been named European Green

Bold & brilliant (clockwise from top) Grenoble’s Bastille cablecar is affectionately known as les bulles (the bubbles); in Ibagué you may spot brightly dressed locals doing traditional Colombian folk dances; Doha’s Katara Cultural Village – home to the striking Pigeon Towers – is a hub of Qatari creativity

Capital, thanks in part to its creation of 320km of cycle lanes and the planting of 5,500 trees since 2014. You see a focus on sustainability everywhere here, not least on the menus, which are packed with local producers. For low-impact fun, wander the cafes and galleries of the cobbled Old Town and explore the patchwork of regional parks, villages and castles nearby.Take the time to see a city heading in the right direction.

7 Ibagué, Colombia

It’s little wonder that Ibagué was chosen to be American Capital of Culture 2022. Founded in 1550, the city is known as the musical capital of Colombia. Its celebrated conservatory, which is over 100 years old, has churned out maestros by the dozen, many from underprivileged backgrounds, while the annual Colombian Folklore Festival sees traditional Andean bands take the stage each June (just one highlight of a packed cultural calendar).

Even the parks are filled with statues of musical heroes. Beyond the city, Mother Nature takes over: here you’ll find the tropical forests of the Combeima Canyon, the snow-capped Nevado del Tolima volcano (5,215m) and other wild landscapes that helped inspire much of the music to be made. ⊲

George Kipouros; Alamy; Shutterstock

In November/December 2022 the FIFA World Cup will see masses of football fans (7.7m travelled for the

World Cup in Russia) descend on a Gulf peninsula little more than half the size of Wales. While these may be months to avoid, what precedes them is pretty exciting. Alongside new hotels and eateries, autumn sees the reopening of Doha’s Museum of Islamic Culture, designed by starchitect IM Pei (coaxed out of retirement at 91), with a setting as dramatic as the history it tells. Then there’s a rich programme of public art, with 40 sculptures by international and Qatari artists being unveiled across the city in the run-up to the tournament.

Even if you’re not into sport, do cheer for the city’s very cultural revolution.

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The pandemic put plenty of things on hold, including the launch of the new British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Portland, Oregon. After a two-year delay, it finally starts in June, putting the food trucks and bike lanes of America’s hipster capital within a ten-hour hop.What you discover is the perfect antidote to a year of mask-wearing on crowded metros.

Due to Portland’s perpetual aura of craft-beer cool, with all its barbecue joints and beloved Voodoo Doughnut shops, few realise quite what a lush, outdoorsy city it is; indeed, it’s home to some beautiful gardens as well as one of the biggest urban forests in the world.

Yet it’s the hike up to Pittock Mansion, with its views to Mount Hood, that shows you what incredible wilderness lies on the doorstep. South of the city, the wine country of Willamette offers cellar-door tours and civilised fun but it’s the region’s rivers that really capture the imagination. Take a kayak trip, paddling amid impossibly tall pines, and feel the city fade away behind.

9 Adelaide, Australia

Three years after London became the world’s first National Park City, Adelaide has just become the second.

It’s a potent reminder of just how lush the South Australian hub is. The title is only given to cities where ‘people and nature are better connected’, and Adelaide is playing its hand well.

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10 Padua, Italy

Long before Michelangelo, Raphael or Botticelli, there was Giotto di Bondone, the man whose talent renamed a city. It’s said that when his fresco cycle in Padua’s Scrovegni Chapel was completed in 1305, artists from across Italy flocked to see it. Padua became known as the Urbs Picta (Painted City), and academics have claimed that this work set in motion a style that would inspire the greats of the Renaissance era. Yet, for all Giotto’s influence, few travellers come here now. While Michelangelo’s handiwork in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel is seen by more than six million visitors a year, the small university town of Padua (40km west of Venice) sees a smidgen of that number. That may be about to change though, after UNESCO listed Padua’s frescoes among its 2021 World Heritage Sites. For a chance to see how one of the great artistic eras began, before the crowds latch on, go now.

11 Brazil

In a country that knows how to party like no other, just imagine the collective hangover when Brazil marks its 200th anniversary on 7 September this year. The date might be a matter of debate (the war of independence continued for another two years beyond 1822), but the day promises plenty of colour, with each city currently in the midst of plotting events, parties, and parades (COVID willing). Perhaps most intriguing will be the chance to see the new national museum in Rio, which was devastated by fire in 2018.The new building won’t be completed until 2026

Trails & treasures (clockwise from top) It’s not only Giotto’s frescoes – Padua’s Botanical Garden (one of the oldest in the world) is also UNESCO-listed; before it was razed by fire, Rio’s National Museum held a collection of 20 million objects; Adelaide is 30% green space, and home to 1,080 native plant species, 281 native bird species and 47 native mammal species; Mount Hood, which looms beyond Portland, is considered the Oregon volcano most likely to erupt

but it’s rumoured that the public will be able to get a sneak glimpse in time for this year’s anniversary. However, if you want to see where history actually happened, head instead to the banks of the Ipiranga in São Paulo, where a monument was commissioned in 1922 to mark the spot where Portuguese Prince Regent Dom Pedro proclaimed Brazil free from its rulers with the cry: “Brazilians! Independence or death!”

12 Bhutan

There is nothing new about the Trans Bhutan Trail (403km), but March is the first time in 60 years that it will open to travellers. The route dates back much further, of course, and traces an old Buddhist pilgrim path that linked the dzongs (fortified monasteries) of the Himalaya foothills. Even up until the 1960s this was still the main route across the mountains for locals, but the arrival of the national highway saw the trail abandoned and it fell into disrepair. Now, years of renovation mean that it’s once again trek-worthy.

Walkers, lead by local guides, can follow

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Aims include bringing the endangered platypus back to the River Torrens (it’s been considered extinct on mainland South Australia since the 1970s) and plans to rewild the city with birds of prey by creating new habitats. Already, this is a wonderfully green and modern city – often touted among the most liveable in the world – and what surrounds it is just as exciting. Heady vineyards smother the hills to the west, while the bird-filled wetlands of Coorong National Park lie to the south, a great place for kayaking.

And offshore, within easy reach, is Kangaroo Island, a nature-lover’s paradise.The call of the wild is never too far away here.

the path via lush rice terraces, whistling high-altitude passes and overnight stops in starlit camps and homestays. There are some 400 cultural sights along the way, including Tiger’s Nest Monastery, which dangles 900m above the plateau below, but perhaps the real lure is just how slowly the country unravels as you pick your way through.

13 Panama

The waters off Panama’s coast are home to rare marine life that is under constant threat from fishing fleets.

However, in June last year, Panama more than quadrupled its Cordillera de Coiba Marine Protected Area, raising it to 98,230 sq km – greater even than the land mass of the country. It’s part

Highlands & islands (clockwise from top) Tiger’s Nest was built in 1692, around a cave where Guru Rinpoche first meditated; some 134 columns fill Karnak Temple’s vast Hypostyle Hall; during the War, Churchill called Malta an ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’; Panama City’s UNESCOlisted Casco Viejo is home to many of the country’s oldest buildings

of a larger scheme that, with Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica, aims to safeguard key migratory corridors. The good news for travellers is that it also protects one of the finest diving spots in Central America. Coiba island used to be a penal colony, the surrounding shark-infested waters providing ample deterrent to would-be escapees. These days it is part of a marine park that spans submerged mountains and sweeping coral gardens. Best of all, those who arrive at the right time can swim with humpbacks (July-October), whale sharks (December-April) and great schools of mobula mantas that number in the thousands (January-April).

The new protections should ensure that we can all continue to enjoy these waters for a long time, but best go soon before its reputation grows.

Alamy

14 Egypt

For years now Egypt has teased the opening of Cairo’s Grand Egyptian Museum. For a while, private tours offered behind-the-scenes peeks but that only whet the appetite. It’s finally due to open its doors this November, in time for the 100th anniversary of British Egyptologist Howard Carter’s discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922.

The fame (and supposed attached curse) of Carter’s discovery often overshadows just what an important find it

was: he uncovered the best-preserved pharaoh’s tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings. The museum will be showing its entire Tutankhamen collection in honour of the occasion.

Meanwhile, in Luxor, where the date of Carter’s discovery is still a regional holiday, the Avenue of Sphinxes has reopened, after seven decades of restoration. This 2.7km walkway, discovered in the 1940s, dates back 3,000 years and connects the great temples of Luxor and Karnak. What better time to see it for yourself?

15 Malta

By the end of the two-year Siege of Malta in 1942, at the height of the Second World War, the islands had sustained 154 days and nights of bombing; some 6,700 tonnes of explosives fell on the then-British territory.This year, on 15 April, it will be 80 years since Malta was awarded the St George’s Cross for what it endured.The medal can still be seen in the National War Museum in Valletta alongside accounts of the era, including the story of a vital British supply run to the islands that weathered days of attacks to reach port. You can also visit the tunnels that hosted the Lascaris War Rooms, Britain’s wartime HQ, complete with operations and crypto rooms, while the Malta at War Museum in Birgu focuses on life for locals during this dark period.

Combined, they offer a truly thrilling portrait of a heroic time. ⊲

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17 Maldives

19 California, USA

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16 Yellowstone NP, USA

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In 1872 President Ulysses S Grant created the first US national park.

This March sees Yellowstone mark its 150th anniversary, although with few celebrations (blame COVID-19). If you need a reason to visit, however, three evergreen ones spring to mind: wolf packs, geysers and trails.The story of the park’s grey wolves is oft told but bears repeating: by the 1920s the animals had been hunted to extinction here, only to be reintroduced in 1995 in a groundbreaking trial. Spotting the packs now raises the hairs on the back of your neck, as do sightings of the park’s many wild inhabitants: bison, bighorn sheep, black bears. Yellowstone is also a volcanic marvel, home to myriad geysers, fumaroles and hot pools such as Grand Prismatic Spring. But there’s no way better way to celebrate its creation than by walking its endless backcountry trails,

Nature rules (clockwise from top) Yellowstone National Park sits on an enormous supervolcano; as well as a haven for wildlife, Akagera supports local enterprises that benefit the 300,000 people living around its edges; California has it all – even aliens; in 2022 the Maldives will begin building a floating city to combat rising sea levels

It’s only been 50 years since the Maldives turned from little-known archipelago to a haven for eco-hotels, honeymooners and divers – its first resort opened in 1972. And if ever a country felt the hot breath of climate change on its neck, it’s this one: reports say that by 2050 80% of the islands could be underwater. The trend for adopting more sustainable tourism is tinged with greater urgency here. Go now to find new eco-focused resorts; among the most anticipated arrivals are South Ari Atoll’s Villa Haven, which will grow its own fruit and veg, and the Alila Kothaifaru Maldives, home to its own house reef. Also go for rare natural encounters, from swimming with manta rays in Hanifaru Bay (May-November) to spotting magical bioluminescence lighting up the surf at night.

18 Akagera NP, Rwanda

It’s hard to overstate what an achievement the resurrection of Akagera National Park, the largest protected wetlands in central Africa, has been. In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, more than half of its land (1,600 sq km) was given over to refugees. The last sighting of a lion here was recorded in 1999, most of them having been poisoned by farmers.

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What can you add to California to make it more appealing? The Golden State already has celebrity, vast national parks, hip cities and one of the world’s finest coastal drives in its back pocket.

Well, more of the same, please. This year sees a huge new park open atop San Francisco’s Presidio Tunnel. Its location might not sound that glamorous but it will expand the existing national park there by 14 acres and offers fine views across to the city’s iconic bridge.

Elsewhere, the new Redwood Sky Walk in Eureka allows visitors to wander 30m up in the canopies of the state’s giant trees; San Diego’s new Comic-Con Museum celebrates all things geek; and the new reservation-set Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza in Palm Springs now includes an oasis trail and museum delving into the history of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. ⊲

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untouched thanks to a signature on a piece of paper 150 years ago.

Poaching meant that, by 2007, its 50 or so rhinos had all but disappeared. That was the low point. Since then, wildlife from other parks around Africa has been slowly reintroduced and successfully protected. Lions returned in 2015; last year saw the largest ever translocation of white rhinos, brought in from South Africa. Today, Akagera is the only place in Rwanda where you can see the Big Five, yet it doesn’t attract anywhere near the crowds you’ll find in other African parks. It remains Rwanda’s wild secret.

For now.

20 New England, USA

It’s that sense of freedom and scale that makes an American road trip so unique; of suddenly being a small piece in a far bigger picture. And while the Ivy-league states of New England might lack the immediate raw appeal of cruising Route 66 in a convertible, the region’s seven newly designated National Scenic Byways offer just as much adventure. For a taster, try Massachusetts’ Mohawk Trail, which originally opened in 1914 as one of the USA’s first tourism roads. It follows an old Native American trail, and its pit-stops at forest walks and whitewater rivers offer a pretty rigorous way to stretch your legs. Or drive the St John Valley/Fish River route, which explores the legacy of Acadian America, the parts originally occupied by French settlers.

21 Burgundy, France

22 Scotland, UK

Head to Scotland to follow the first UNESCO Trail, a route that links up 13 World Heritage-listed sites, geoparks, biospheres, cities and lonely isles. It’s a bracing reminder of just what variety there is here, and it sends you in some unusual directions. The ruins of the Roman Antonine Wall, for example, were built between Forth and Clyde some 20 years after Emperor Hadrian’s more famous defence was finished to the south. This was designed to replace it, but just eight years later the Romans fell back and its stones were repurposed by canny local farmers. Or instead plan a trip to the far-flung island of St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides, abandoned since 1930 but still strewn with relics of old

Tasty travels (clockwise from top) Specialities to look out for in Dijon include Burgundy snails, pain d’épices (gingerbread) and the apéritif, kir; Shanxi was an important trading hub on the Tea Horse Road and caravanserais can still be seen on its Square Street; the USA now has 184 Scenic Byways, spanning 48 states

houses and more dive-bombing skuas than you can waft an umbrella at. From hip Dundee to the Neolithic burial mounds of the Orkneys, there’s plenty more to discover than you ever knew.

23 Tea Horse Road, China

When it comes to ancient trade networks, most travellers are familiar with the Silk Road. Less well known is China’s Tea Horse Road, which once linked the plantations of Yunnan Province with the highlands of Tibet, continuing on into Nepal and India. Tibetan horses and Chinese tea were traded back and forth on the 4,000-year-old network. Now it seems that it might finally be recognised

by UNESCO in 2022, prompting fresh interest, although travellers have sought out its trails for years. The ‘road’ exists as much in concept now; most routes were unmarked and are long since lost, but in Yunnan’s Lijiang, Shuhe and Shaxi you’ll still find old caravanserai.

Or head into the subtropical lowlands of Xishuangbanna where Dai villages, jungles and tea terraces can easily be reached on the newly opened high-speed Boten-Vientiane ChinaLaos Railway.

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Burgundy is home to some of France’s most seductive countryside, packed with cellar-door tours and miles of UNESCO-listed vineyards, canalside villages and market towns.This year there’s an extra dash of star quality to the region’s usual appeal, with the arrival of the International City of Food and Wine complex in Dijon. It’s set to become a one-stop shop for gastronomes, home

to myriad local producers as well as wine-initiation classes for those looking to up their skills. The further addition of a restaurant by local three-starred Michelin chef Éric Pras only sweetens the deal. Afterwards, walk off your bloat in a city whittled by the fancies of the Dukes of Burgundy, whose old palace makes for a grand town hall. Food lovers will want to finish in the 19th-century covered market (Les Halles) where you can further sate your hunger on local cheese, sausage and wine. Bon appétit!

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Natural haven (clockwise from this) Corcovado National Park is located on the remote Osa Peninsula; Chorotegan pottery; Montezuma Waterfall

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people consistently live healthily into old age. Ezekiel puts this down to the sun, activity, the Chorotegan diet of maize, and a strong sense of community.

COSTA RICA 4 We ask travel writer and adventurer Ash Bhardwaj for his top 10 tips on visiting Costa Rica…

the rush of a waterfall 1 Feel

Montezuma Waterfall is at the end of a hiking trail that passes through thick jungle. It was great for swimming in the pools under the waterfall, and I then headed up to the Sun Trail Canopy Tour for an aerial view. The zip-line rushed through and above the tree-tops,

with an exciting, long stretch that crossed the gorge of the Montezuma River. From up there, I had views out to the Pacific, where the rushing speed of the river crashed into the ocean, creating a dramatic standing wave.

horses with cowboys 2 Ride

The sabaneros are Costa Rica’s cowboys who have ridden this land for generations. I arrived at La Ensenada farm at night to find howler monkeys and glow-worms in the trees and tarantulas on the path. The next day I rode out with Ariel, the head sabanero of the farm, to round up the cattle

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and move them between fields.

Travelling on horse-back helped me see the land in an entirely new way, and it was thrilling to gallop along the trails.

the secrets of a long life 3 Discover The Nicoya Peninsula is home to Costa Rica’s indigenous Chorotega people. In the village of Matambú, I met Ezekiel Perez, who teaches young Chorotegans how to make pottery in the traditional Chorotegan style. The main design is the snail, which represents how his people “never stop.” Nicoya is a Blue Zone, one of five places in the world where

Cook Caribbean style

For an insight into Costa Rica’s Afro-Caribbean culture, I learned to cook jerk chicken with Jindra Waltá in the beach-side town of Puerto Viejo. Jamaicans first migrated to Costa Rica in the 1870s and brought their food with them. As Jindra took me through the recipe, she talked to me about the evolution of a distinct AfroCosta Rican culture, and we ate our delicious meal to the sounds of her favourite local musicians.

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Find your sanctuary in

the Yorkin River 5 Explore

I took a motorised dug-out canoe along the Yorkin River, which divides Costa Rica from Panama.

The Bribri are an indigenous group, whose remoteness kept their culture alive during European invasions. I spent several nights in their village in the jungle. Life is everywhere, and the Bribri use it for everything from campher sap, which repels mosquitoes, to a plant they chew for toothache.

6 Go wild!

The Osa Peninsula is on the same Pacific Coast as the much

just one of the reasons for cacao being sacred to many indigenous groups in the region.

the Pura Vida Pledge 9 Take larger Nicoya Peninsula, and the small thrust of land is home to an estimated 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity, including tapirs and jaguars. The forested region has little large-scale development, making it the best place in Costa Rica for wildlife spotting. And that’s not just on land – during the rainy season, humpback whales move up and down the coast to birth and feed. For the best whale watching, head to Marino Ballena National Park on the Pacific coast.

7 Catch a wave

Santa Teresa is known and loved by surfers the world over, and the waves were consistent and mellow, which made it perfect for

a beginner like me. By the end of the day, I could just about kneel-up on my board, and my body was satisfyingly tired. After, I walked up to the Banana Beach Restaurant for a smoothie (with a medicinal dose of rum!) to enjoy the fiery sunset.

at a yoga retreat 8 Relax

Take one villa overlooking the Caribbean, add yoga sessions and reiki healing and you have a typical Costa Rican yoga retreat. At the one where I stayed, I took part in a cacao ceremony. Whilst I was used to eating the fruit of this tree as chocolate, its unadulterated, roasted form is full of all sorts of anti-oxidants and other goodies,

10 Get a caffeine fix

Finca Rosa Blanca is a villa that overlooks the capital, San José. As well as enjoying fine food and accommodation, I explored its organic coffee plantation, which has mixed tree species, including legumes that fix nitrogen and water.

That means the coffee bushes don’t require watering or fertiliser, and the plantation is home to more than 130 species of birds (including various hummingbirds and flycatchers) which feed on insects, reducing the need for pesticides.

The coffee tastes amazing, too, and makes for a great souvenir that allows you to savour the taste of Costa Rica long after you leave.

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Costa Rican retreat (clockwise from this) Surfers at Santa Teresa; scarlet macaws; canoe on the Yorkin river; sunset over the Pacific; yoga class

There’s a phrase in Costa Rica that you’ll hear wherever you go: Pura Vida, or Pure Life. It’s a greeting, a philosophy and a positive mindset. But the Pura Vida Pledge is all about sustainability, too. For travellers, that means exploring with the lightest of footprints.

Be sure to book yourself into an eco-lodge with a Certificate of Sustainable Tourism, be carbonconscious, consider volunteering your time to support local communities or wildlife projects, and make sure you respect the environment wherever you go.

For more sustainability tips, go to: puravidapledge.co.uk

Start planning your perfect getaway to Costa Rica now by visiting: costarica-sanctuary.com

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Gallic Hug With its layers of history, seductive light, warm welcome and strong traditions, Northern France’s timeless coastline calls out to be discovered Words Katja Gaskell

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he winter sun danced across the clear blue waters as we sailed slowly away from the village of Saint Suliac in Brittany. At the helm of our small aluminium fishing boat was Jean-François Arbona and his partner Magali Molla, both dressed in mustardyellow fishing overalls and sturdy blue Wellington boots. The duo are goémoniers, seaweed harvesters, and we were on our way to their farm in the Rance Estuary.

We soon arrived at a floating grid of white buoys, carefully ordered like lane markers for a swimming race. “This is our farm,” explained Magali. “We have 12 hectares where we grow different types of eco-certified seaweed including wakamé, dulse, kombu royal and nori.” Magali and Jean-François have been cultivating seaweed for 40 years, but this is a regional tradition that dates to the 17th century. For hundreds of years Bretons used seaweed both as fuel and food. What was once regarded as a poor man’s meal, however, is making a name for itself in Breton cuisine.

“Look how beautiful it is,” said Magali as she pulled on a rope submerged just below the water’s surface to reveal long wakamé garlands shimmering in the light. Magali then pulled out a knife and cut off a large frond, which she handed to Maud Vatinel, a local chef who was also on board. Maud – a Norman who moved to Brittany ten years ago – specialises in

creating vegetarian dishes using locally sourced seasonal and often-foraged produce, including seaweed.

Once back on dry land, I joined Maud in her home kitchen where she demonstrated this sea vegetable’s versatility. First up was a seaweed tartare followed by a polenta and freshly foraged mushroom-and-root-vegetable dish cooked in a seaweed broth and sprinkled with freshly chopped algae. “Seaweed’s very trendy now,” said Maud. “Lots of people are using it for wellbeing purposes as it has such strong nutritional qualities. But Magali and Jean-François have been farming seaweed for a long time.They’re both pioneers and custodians of an old tradition.”

I had sailed into France earlier that day on the overnight ferry from Portsmouth, arriving in the famous port of SaintMalo as the sun was rising. My plan was to explore France’s Channel coast, from eastern Brittany to the Pas-de-Calais, and travel beyond the oft-visited battlefields and cathedrals to discover what makes this coastline so rich and colourful.What I soon discovered was that despite very distinct personalities, the coastal regions are all bound together by deep-rooted traditions and a historic communion with both land and sea.

TRADES & TRADITIONS

My second port of call was Dinan. Perched on a hillside overlooking the Rance river and valley, Dinan’s an unfathomably pretty and impeccably preserved medieval town.

Once it was a formidable city and key trading centre. ⊲

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Exploring the Brittany coastline (clockwise from top left) Walk through Saint Suliac’s ruettes past pretty granite cottages – often decorated with fishing nets – and 12th-century church, before heading up to the Virgin of Grainfollet statue for panoramic views over the Rance river estuary; the ramparts that surround the city of Saint-Malo form a complete 2km walking loop; dried wakame is widely used in Asian dishes – soups and salads – and is a good source of fatty acids and minerals; (left page) the aerial view over the top of Saint-Suliac and onto the Rance estuary beyond it

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Dinan delights At the mouth of the Rance, Dinan’s old town is a warren of narrow, cobbled streets – you’ll find the best examples of the town’s half-timbered houses at the Place des Merciers. Just opposite it is the pedestrianised Rue de la Cordonnerie, also known as ‘thirsty street’ thanks to its nine bars

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With Saint-Malo just 30km downriver, ships would sail into owners, giving me a typical Breton warm welcome. “Hemp was the port of Dinan where traders would unload their wares one of the goods that used to be transported from the Port of including linen, leather and wool, before hauling them up Rue Dinan up Rue du Jerzual to be sold.The purpose of our shop is du Jerzual, a precipitous street that linked the riverine port to educate people about the crop and show how versatile it is.” with the heart of the city. Still today the steep cobblestone road is lined with asymmetrical half-timbered houses and shops.

HERE LIES OUR LAND While the architecture in the heart of Dinan remains Leaving Brittany, I crossed over the border into neighbourunchanged (the city’s home to 130 half-timbered houses ing Normandy and drove along the coast passing signs for Le Mont Saint-Michel along the way. The with some dating back to the 14th century) the type of trade taking place world-famous abbey-crowned island “The architecture in sits across the two regions, the abbey has evolved. Today, the ancient buildings are occupied by artists and entrein Normandy and much of the Baie the heart of Dinan preneurs, many of whom showcase local du Mont Saint-Michel in Brittany. At products and independent producers, remains unchanged – a curve in the coastline, and opposite from food to fashion. the granite island, stands the Ecomusée the city’s home to I stopped by Chez Jannig, a pockde la Baie du Mont Saint-Michel, 130 half-timbered et-sized shop with original stone walls a museum showcasing the history of houses with some and a roaring fire on the go. Opened just the bay and people’s relationship with over a year ago by three local entreprethe complex and fragile area. dating back to the neurs, the shop celebrates the history Nearby is La Ferme des Cara14th century” of hemp in Brittany, selling a range of Meuh! – on a clear day you can see the goods all made using this natural plant abbey in the distance – where I met fibre. On display were local cosmetics, clothing, gin, beer and Jason LeFranc. Jason is one of three brothers who now run even recyclable Welly boots made from hemp fibres. the family-run farm that was originally established by his “France has been farming hemp for hundreds of years, much great-grandfather in 1929. The farm started with just four of it grown in Brittany,” explained Sophie Le Roy, one of the cows, Normandy being famous for its native brown and ⊲

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Navigating Normandy (clockwise from top left) The Pointe de Dinan cliffs, 6.5km west of Crozon, look out over the sands of Anse de Dinan and rock formations locally known as the ‘Château de Dinan’; at the centre of the Abbaye du Mont Saint-Michel’s cloister is a medieval garden, recreated in 1966; a boat trip through the Audomarois marsh; calvados bottle in a bar at Mont Saint-Michel – the apple brandy became a protected Appellations d’Origine Réglementée in 1942; (right page) a charming village on the Alabaster Coast, pretty Veules-les-Roses has long been a draw for artists, writers and poets

According to official documents, Alfred Desfrièches started the distillery in 1935, although Desfrièches family lore puts the start date sometime before that. Regardless, Alfred began making cider using apples from his orchard and business was good.

“He used to deliver the cider in wooden boxes by horse and cart,” said Pauline. “But when the road was bombed during the Second World War, and he could no longer make his delivery rounds, he switched to creating calvados, which is a longer process.”

This is particularly true in the Pays d’Auge area, which uses a double distillation process before being aged in wooden barrels for between three and ten years. The result is a warm, oaky flavour with notes of apple and toffee that, as I discovered, is particularly enjoyable on a chilly winter’s day.

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

The hinterland along France’s northern coastline is home to a number of mystical wetlands. For centuries these marshlands were sculpted and carved by men into a network of narrow canals and ditches. In Normandy, I visited the Parc Naturel Régional des Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin, a vast expanse of waterways, marshes, canals and peat bogs, that lies not far from Utah Beach, the westernmost of the five landing areas of the Allied invasion during World War II. The park is a haven for numerous migratory birds who pass ⊲

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white speckled Normande breed that produces some of the richest and creamiest milk in France. Today the farm is home to 150 dairy cows who spend 10-to-11 months of the year permanently outdoors.

“We were a pure dairy farm until 2009,” said Jason, “but the French milk crisis of the same year really changed the way that the farm operated.”The crisis, which saw dairy prices collapse, threatened tens of thousands of farmers with bankruptcy.

“My father protested along with other farmers but ultimately decided that we needed a more sustainable way to move forward,” he said. “Our mother used to make caramel in the kitchen at home and one day my father decided that we would use the excess milk to create caramels. We all thought he was crazy, but it worked out.”

Today the organic-certified farm produces 13,000kg of caramel a year, in seven different flavours, the most popular being caramels au beurre salé (salted caramel). They also make butter and cheese.

But it’s not all caramels and cheese in Normandy, the other two big ‘Cs’ are calvados and cider and I couldn’t leave the region without trying one, or preferably both. To help me on my quest I travelled to Le Lieu Chéri, a small family-run distillery in the heart of the Pays d’Auge, an area famous for, among other things, its apple trees. There I met Pauline Desfrièches, wife of Alexandre, the great-grandson who currently runs the show.

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through the marais (marshland) on their way between the along the cliff, narrow cracks have formed, creating natural Arctic tundra and the African wetlands and bush. passageways for visitors to walk from the coastal road down My original idea had been to tour the marshes by elec- to the ocean. tric boat, but recent flooding foiled that plan. Instead, however, I was lucky enough to witness one of the wonders COLOUR & LIGHT of the park, the marais blanc. This natural phenomenon, the If there’s one place that will make you fall in love with ‘white marshes’, only occurs during winter months when France’s northern coast it’s Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. Artists the flooded marshland appears to meet the sky, the water and writers have long flocked to this picturesque town on the south bank of the River Somme estuary drawn by the reflecting the crisp, silvery-white winter light.

Later in my trip I visited another marshland, colour, the light and the bay itself; authors Victor Hugo and the Audomarois marshes in Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais. Jules Verne, and Impressionist painter Edgar Degas all had These are the only remaining cultivated wetlands in France houses here at one time. To better understand its attraction, where market gardeners continue to work the land produc- I visited British artist Pippa Darbyshire who, along with her ing, among other things, carrots, endives and cauliflower. husband, has spent the last 22 years living and painting in Here I did get to tour the canals by boat, this time on the neighbouring town of Le Crotoy.

“The first time I came to Le Crotoy I arrived at night,” said a traditional bacôve, a flat-bottomed boat crafted from oak Pippa. “The next morning I opened the window and saw the that was designed to transport vegetables. view of the Somme Bay and I fell in love “These marshes were originally dug with it. I’ve been painting that view ever by hand in the 10th century by peat “The gently since. The light is very special and the farmers,” explained my guide Benoît Diéval, who had joined me from undulating cycle route tide goes out so far that the channels give you many compositional possibilities.” the Pas-de-Calais tourism office. along the Norman But the history of Saint-Valery is “The peat was piled up on the sides of coastline had quiet the channels creating some areas that equally compelling. In the medieval were used as farmland and others that residential hamlets, quarter stands a stone arch through which Joan of Arc was transported on were residential.” small villages, quiet her way to Rouen in 1430 to be burned Travel among these marshlands today is still by boat only; even the local wooded sections and at the stake. Near the marina is a monument to William the Conqueror, who postwoman makes her rounds on a vast fields” assembled his fleet here before invading traditional escute, the passenger version England. At its heart, however, Saintof the larger bacôve. The last remaining boat maker in the region that continues to produce these Valery is very much a fishing village. Boxy fisherman’s traditional vessels, and one of only a handful left in France, cottages, whitewashed with colourful wooden shutters, sit lies just outside of Saint-Omer. Their workshop is open to side-by-side along tiny streets in the Fishermen’s Quarter, visitors but a family wedding meant that they had clocked overlooked by a le calvaire des marins (seamen’s chapel), a memorial to those sailors who have been lost at sea. off for the weekend when I visited.

I enjoyed one of my last – and best – meals of my visit at Le Mathurin, a boat-to-table restaurant in the heart of town. Chef THE COAST ON TWO WHEELS France is home to an enviable network of bicycle paths, Pierre-Alain Delaby comes from eight generations of fishergreenways, and signposted cycle routes. One of these routes men and the restaurant is very much a family affair; his older is La Vélomaritime, which runs from Roscoff in Brittany brother delivers the catch of the day directly to their parents’ to Dunkirk on the Belgian border. At nearly 1,500km, the fish stall, where it is prepared and transported to the restaurant route was an ambitious one to attempt on this trip but, to serve as inspiration for that day’s menu. I started with oysters eager to see the coast at a more leisurely pace, I opted for so fresh I could taste the sea, followed by superb Coquilles a small section of the marked cycleway starting in the port Saint-Jacques. My visit to France happened to coincide with town of Dieppe and finishing 25km away in the village of scallop season and while I had enjoyed them regularly during Veules-les-Roses, one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France my road trip, the ones at Le Mathurin were some of the best.

I spent the afternoon before travelling back to the UK (‘most beautiful villages in France’).

This turned out to be a truly wonderful way to see the visiting the Côte d’Opale (Opal Coast), eating frites on a Norman coastline. The gently undulating cycle route had windswept stretch of sand at Audresselles and visiting the a little bit of everything: quiet residential hamlets peppered Grand Site des Deux Caps. This nature reserve sits between with red tiled roofs; small villages home to linen shops and two dramatic cliffs, the Cap Gris-Nez and Cap Blanc-Nez, salon de thé; quiet wooded sections; and vast agricultural and on a clear day you can spot the White Cliffs of Dover fields, some apple-green growing sugar beets, others recently from the coastal path that links the two. Winter winds whipped around me as I looked out from the observation ploughed, the freshly harvested crops piled high.

There were views of the sea too. Not long after leaving deck over the marshland and sand dunes, the long grass Dieppe, the road curved downhill and I was greeted by being thrown about by the icy blasts. As shafts of soft winter the magnificent movie-poster white chalk cliffs of the Côte light pierced through the greying clouds, shining spotlights d’Albâtre (Alabaster Coast). These cliffs stretch for 130km on the increasingly restless sea, it was one final wild, woolly, ⊲ between the Seine and Somme estuaries. At various points extraordinary showcase of the beauty of this coast.

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Alabaster overview Normandy’s Cote d’Albatre at sunset, as seen through the man-made hole in the cliff. This stretch of the coast – Le Tilleul beach in the Seine-Maritime department – is inaccessible by car, requiring a 1.5km wander past the woods and meadows of the Antifer Valley

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Capital: Paris Population: 67,400,00 Language(s): French Time: GMT +1 International dialling code: +33 Visas: UK nationals can stay up to 90 days without a visa. A visa-waiver, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS, etias.com), is planned from 2023.

Money: Euro (€), currently around €1.19 to the UK£. ATMs are available.

Pulling the produce Cauliflower cultivation in the Saint-Omer marshes

When to go

July-Aug Temperatures reach 23°C in places. Rainfall is limited but not uncommon. August is prime holiday time in France; restaurants and hotels are busy and prices are higher. Bastille Day is 14 July.

Sept-Nov Shoulder season, fewer visitors and still mild weather but with an increased chance of rain. Apple and cider festivals take place in Normandy and the Coquille St Jacques season begins. From November many restaurants close for at least two nights a week, with some shops in Dinan closing.

Dec Christmas markets take place in cities including Lille, Amiens and Arras.

Jan-March Winter season, few visitors.

April-June The D-Day Anniversary is 6 June.

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Health & safety

France is largely a safe destination however planned protests and strikes do occur and may affect travel plans.

COVID-19 travel restrictions are currently in place for British visitors travelling to France.

For the latest on entry requirements visit the FCDO site (gov.uk).

Getting there

Brittany Ferries (brittany-ferries. co.uk) runs regular crossings from Portsmouth, Plymouth or Poole to Roscoff,

Saint-Malo, Cherbourg, Caen and Le Havre.

The overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Saint-Malo takes 11hrs, with fares for foot passengers from £35 one-way and vehicle passengers from £134 one-way. You can hire a car from Saint-Malo port.

The Eurostar (eurostar.com) from London’s St Pancras International travels to Lille (1hr 22mins; one-way tickets from £49.50) and Calais, although Calais services are currently suspended.

The Eurotunnel (eurotunnel.com) runs regular daily trains from Folkestone to Calais in a journey time of 35mins. Standard one-way tickets from £94.

If flying, Paris is the most convenient city and multiple airlines fly to Charles de Gaulle Airport (parisaeroport.fr; 1hr 20mins; from £64 return). From Paris it takes 2-3 hours to drive to Calais.

Getting around

Public transport is patchy between regions so driving provides the most flexibility. The greenest way to get around is by bike and there is an extended cycle path network. Electric bikes are available to hire from Les Cycles Gourgand near Dieppe (£12/half-day, £25/full-day; cyclesgourgand.fr/).

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Vital statistics

Hotel la Matelote (la-matelote.com, +33 3 21 30 33 33) is a traditional family-run hotel located on the seafront of Boulognesur-Mer. Don’t miss dinner in the excellent Michelin-starred hotel restaurant. Rooms from €134 (£112).

Food & drink

Cost of travel

France is one of the more expensive countries in Western Europe for travel although there are lots of ways to save money. Expect to pay in the region of £12-20 for a set menu in an average restaurant. A simple coffee is around £1.60 and beers cost £4-5.

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Accommodation

Les Jardins de la Matz (lesjardinsdelamatz.com, +33 2 96 80 71 21) is a charming restored 18th century farmhouse with five rooms and an apartment in the Breton countryside.

The house can be rented in its entirety.

Doubles from €70 (£58).

Chambres d’Hôtes Le Rey (+33 6 73 19 37 98) in Regnéville-sur-Mer is a small B&B run by an ebullient couple, Mr and Mrs Gaillard, in their own home. There are two guest rooms and a converted gypsy caravan in their orchard. Rooms from €75/night (£65).

Manoir de la Plage (lemanoirdelaplage.fr, +33 6 58 18 02 81) is a popular destination for Parisiens at the weekend. There are six large rooms that start at around €220 (£185). The sister hotel, Hotel Restaurant La Chaumière (hotel-chaumiere.fr), shares the property and offers 10 rooms in the halftimbered house that was once owner MariePierre’s family home. Rooms start from €120 (£100). A very good restaurant is on site.

Hotel les Tourelles (lestourelles.com, +33 3 22 27 16 33) in Le Crotoy is an eco-certified hotel with rooms overlooking the Somme Bay. The restaurant serves local seafood dishes and traditional French cuisine. Rooms from €84 (£100).

Hotel Loysel le Gaucher (hotel-loyselmontreuilsurmer.com, +33 3 62 84 50 80) is a delightful 14-room hotel located near the ancient ramparts of Montreuil-sur-Mer. Rooms from €100 (£83).

You are spoiled for choice when it comes to eating and drinking along the northern French coast. Brittany is famous for its galettes (savoury crepes) as well as its scallops, oysters and sardines.

Calvados, cider and cheese are some of Normandy’s most popular products in particular Pont-l’Évêque and Camembert de Normandie. Make sure to try marmite Dieppoise, a creamy, salty seafood broth, and agneau de pré salé, meadowsalted lamb that comes from the Bay of the Mont Saint-Michel.

The Bay of Somme is well known for its fresh seafood including Bouchot mussels.

Gâteau battu is a famous brioche-type cake from the Hauts-de-France region.

Further reading & information

Brittanytourism.com Brittany Tourism Atout-france.fr Atout France Normandie-tourisme.fr Normandy Tourism Hautsdefrancetourism.com Hauts-deFrance Tourism Pas-de-calais-tourisme.com Pas-de-Calais Tourisme France (Lonely Planet, 2021) has a detailed section on the northern coastline.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Scribner, 2014) is a beautiful novel set in 1940s Paris and Saint-Malo that explores themes of war and free will. It won the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 2015.

Thegoodlifefrance.com An informative blog with a number of articles on destinations along the northern coast.

Coastal culture The village of Portbail can be found near the Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin Natural Regional Park; St Augustine Distillery

NORTHERN FRANCE HIGHLIGHTS

1 Go on a seal safari

Hundreds of harbour and grey seals have taken up residence in the Somme Bay and they like to snooze on the sandbanks. Join a guided tour with naturalist Maxim Marzi. somme-tourisme.com

2 Visit Nausicaa

Nausicaa Aquarium in Boulogne-sur-Mer is the biggest aquarium in Europe and where conservation is its key goal. The Big Tank is home to sharks, manta rays and huge shoals of fish. nausicaa.co.uk

Montreuilsur-Mer 3 Explore

This medieval town is worth a wander. Victor Hugo set part of Les Misérables here and every year at the end of July and beginning of August, the story is performed in an outdoor sound and light show. french-weekendbreaks.co.uk

a tour in a vintage vehicle 4 Take

Les Belles Echappées rents out vintage vehicles including old Citroën 2CVs and VW camper vans. Guided tours of Saint-Omer on vintage-looking Ruffian eBikes are also available. les-belles-echappees.com

the Calais Dragon 5 Ride

The enormous fire-breathing Dragon de Calais can carry up to 50 people on his back as he walks along the seafront. This steel-andwood dragon was designed by the same company that makes the mechanical animals in Nantes. compagniedudragon.com

WANDERLUST RECOMMENDS France: Wanderlust Travel Guide – https://www.wanderlust.co.uk/ destinations/france/ From Granville to Etretat: the jewels of France’s Normandy coastline – youtube.com

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Chilean Tierra del Fuego • Rhodian knights • Bavarian castles • Brand new safari routes • Catalonia Grand Tour • Florida Keys road trip • Best new rail adventures • Sri Lanka for culture, heritage and national parks • A USA special with national parks, small towns, heritage, wildlife and surprises

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CONNECT & PROTECT IN THE

FLORIDA KEYS

J

utting out from Florida’s southern tip, this sub-tropical necklace of islands brims with natural riches, from a sprawling coral reef to precious and rare wildlife. The local residents are its most passionate guardians, so here’s how you can explore with the lightest of footsteps, with help from the ‘Stewards of the Keys’…

HELP RESTORE A CORAL REEF WITH ROXANE BOONSTRA’S DIVE TEAM

Few experiences are more stirring than diving into the deep blue to see kaleidoscopic coral reefs, and you can do just that in the Florida Keys. The archipelago is home to the only living coral barrier reef in the continental USA, and the Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF) is committed to protecting it. In just over a decade, the CRF has restored some 17,600 sq km of Florida’s reef through a method called outplanting.

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Roxane Boonstra is the foundation’s Dive Training Administrator, working with local charters to help divers explore the coral reef in responsible ways. Start your adventure with a visit to CRF’s Exploration Center in Key Largo to learn of the importance of the ecosystem, before delving beneath the ocean and planting some coral yourself within an organised program.

Nearby, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the USA’s first undersea park, is another great place to make a splash.

When choosing a snorkelling or diving expedition, just remember to consider a ‘Blue Star’ sustainable and responsible tour operator.

WATCH WILDLIFE WITH CAPTAIN SAM ZEHER

There’s a bounty of wildlife in the Florida Keys, from gentle manatees to colourful birdlife, and a responsible boat tour is a top way to see it. Head out with KeyZ Charters; founded by Captain Sam Zeher, it’s one of just a handful of female ownedand-run operations on the archipelago.

Sam will whisk you out from Robbie’s Marina, Islamorada, in a tri-hull deck boat with room for six wildlife-loving passengers. You’ll weave through labyrinthine mangrove channels, keeping your eyes peeled for basking saltwater

Andy Newman; Frazier Nivens; Shutterstock; Tim Grollimund

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Paradise found (clockwise from this) The Lower Keys are home to two national wildlife refuges, and a portion of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary; five species of sea turtles call the archipelago home; kayaking the mangrovelined waterways of Islamorada; spot wild dolphins from a boat tour; the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center treats and rehabilitates many species of birds; Key Largo-based Coral Restoration Foundation has outplanted some 150,000 critically endangered corals off the Keys since 2007

crocodiles and ospreys diving for lunch. Sam earned her captain’s license 12 years ago, at the age of just 18, so you’ll be in safe, expert hands.

The Florida Keys Wild Bird Center in Tavernier treats and rehabilitates injured birds and is also a natural refuge for injured or displaced birds that can’t be safely returned to the wild. A walk along the boardwalk trail will reveal avian residents from hawks to shorebirds.

1986, the centre has helped to rescue and rehabilitate more than 2,000 turtles. Wherever possible the turtles are released into the wild.

The public can get a behind-the-scenes look at the working hospital. Book a 90-minute tour of the centre to learn all about sea turtles and even join a feeding session. It’s sometimes possible to see rehabilitated turtles released back into the wild at beaches across the Keys.

SUPPORT REHABILITATED SEA TURTLES WITH BETTE ZIRKELBACH

KAYAK THROUGH MANGROVES WITH CAPTAIN BILL KEOGH Photographer, author and expert tour guide Bill Keogh arrived in the Lower Florida Keys more than three decades ago – and he was so enchanted by the region that he never left.

Now he shares the wilds of his adopted home with visitors through his guided eco -friendly kayak tours.

Big Pine Kayak Adventures begin their excursions from Old Wooden Bridge Fishing

SEE DOLPHINS WITH CAPTAIN BILLY LITMER

Glimpsing a dolphin pod dance about the ocean’s surface is bucket list stuff and Honest Eco’s Dolphin Watch and Snorkel tours offer this rare opportunity. The company is the brainchild of biologist Billy Litmer, who wanted to bring eco-friendly nature tours, including wild dolphin watching, to the Key West region.

To keep environmental impacts low, Billy designed a pioneering hybrid catamaran – affectionately named SQUID – that’s powered by a lithium-ion, solar-charged battery. When you go on a tour, the time spent out on the pristine blue waters of Key West National Wildlife Refuge almost feels indulgent. You’ll spend four hours or so in search of dolphins, and enjoying a guided snorkelling trip.

However you decide to spend your time exploring the Florida Keys, ensuring your visit is an eco-friendly one will be easy with a little help from the ‘Stewards of the Keys’.

Andy Newman; Frazier Nivens; Shutterstock; Tim Grollimund

Five species of turtles, all sadly endangered, call the Florida Keys’ azure blue waters home.

These are the hawksbill, green, Kemp’s ridley, loggerhead and leatherback turtles and one Keys woman plays a core role in protecting them.

For a decade, Bette Zirkelbach has been the manager at Marathon’s Turtle Hospital, a facility devoted to the care of these creatures. Since

Camp & Marina near No Name Key Bridge, on Big Pine Key. From here, you’ll navigate the waters around the Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge and the National Key Deer Refuge, getting to the heart of a wilderness made up of pin-drop-quiet mangroves and grass flats. Look out for unique-to-the area Key deer, plus wading birds and horseshoe crabs as you take in Bill’s narration on the area’s natural history. For extra inspiration, Bill published the Florida Keys Paddling Guide so you can plan your own watery adventure.

For more information, go to: fla-keys.co.uk

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PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

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Brand new destinations, fresh approaches, innovative experiences. Personally selected by the editors at Wanderlust, these are the most exciting adventures available to travellers right now

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JORDAN & SAUDI ARABIA

Unique jaunt through the iconic Middle-East

Explore’s Journey Through Arabia tour is currently the only trip on the market that transports visitors overland from Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea-hub of Jeddah, through desert and ancient cities, and then into Jordan. The route takes travellers through the some of the Middle East’s most fabled sights: exploring ancient the Nabataean cities of Hegra and Petra, camping out in the Wadi Rum desert while appreciating traditional Bedouin hospitality, and taking a boat trip to the 100 islands off Umluj, the ‘Maldives of Saudi Arabia’ – with marine life such as turtle and dugong – before finishing at the Dead Sea and Amman.

Who? Explore (01252 884709; explore.co.uk) When? 19 March, 7 May, 10 Sept, 8, 15, 29 Oct, 19 Nov, 23 Dec 2022 How long? 11 nights How much? £2,599pp (excluding int’l flights)

Shutterstock; www.AmonFocus.com; James Vodicka

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ROMANIA

Bite into Central Europe’s biggest mystery

Latin America expert Llama Travel is a Wanderlust readers’ favourite – your three-time Tour Operator of the Year winner – and is now applying its formula to Europe. Its Highlights of Transylvania tour is the perfect introduction to little-visited Romania’s mysterious past. Journey to some of Central Europe’s most remarkable gothic castles, notably the Bran (Dracula’s) Castle and Peleș Castle; explore the mountain bear sanctuary that lies in the heart of the Carpathian Mountains, then continue through Transylvania with visits to the traditional villages of Viscri and Biertan, as well as the richly diverse architecture of the medieval cities of Sighișoara and Sibiu.

Who? Llama Travel (020 7263 3000; llamatravel.com) When? Departure on 3 May, 7 Jun, 5 Jul, 6 Sept & 20 Sept 2022 How long? 6 nights How much? From £999pp (including int’l flights)

2

Follow the Civil Rights trail

4

Go green Down Under

USA

Some of the biggest milestones in the USA’s Civil Rights history may have began in seemingly inauspicious places – a bus, a high school, a bridge – but these spaces are now landmarks. On America AsYou Like It’s Journey to Freedom – Martin Luther King Tour, visitors will discover a living catalogue dedicated to the story of equality while travelling through the Southern states of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. As well as Civil Rights history, travellers will go on a musical journey through epicentres such as Memphis and Nashville. In between tracing some of the 20th century’s most momentous history and culture, visitors will get to enjoy a large slice of Southern hospitality along the way.

Who? America AsYou Like It (020 8742 8299; americaasyoulikeit.com) When? Flexible How long? 14 nights How much? From £1,730pp (including int’l flights)

AUSTRALIA

When Wanderlust readers finally get back to their Most Desirable Country in 2022, they can do so responsibly. During the time spent on Audley Travel’s Coast, Outback and Reef – The Eco-Friendly Way, they'll avoid the hotspots while keeping one eye on their carbon footprint – for example, visitors could travel from Adelaide to Sydney via the Indian Pacific train, explore local boutique wineries by e-bike and kayak to see dolphins. But whether in the Blue Mountains, the Great Barrier Reef or the Flinders Ranges, there will be distinctive accommodation available with the highest environmental credentials, only matched by the comfort they offer – an experience to justify that top spot!

Who? Audley Travel (01993 838810; audleytravel.com) When? Tailormade How long? 25 nights How much? From £6,145pp (including int’l flights)

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For the first time in 60 years the historic Trans Bhutan Trail will reopen allowing travellers to walk this ancient route for the first time. Taking trekkers east from Paro to Bumthang, G Adventures’ Highlights of the Trans Bhutan Trail provides an expert edit of the trail’s best portions, including the 3,100m Dochula Pass, Thinleygang Lhakhang temple, a number of key dzongs and stupas, the celebrated Tiger’s Nest Monastery and even a brewery. But not only does the trail allow travellers to hike through some of Bhutan’s most beautiful regions, but it will also provide valuable income and tourism to remote communities along the trail – a perfect example of the power of community tourism.

Who? G Adventures (020 7313 6936; gadventures.com) When? From 1 May 2022 How long? 11 nights How much? From £2,999 (excluding int’l flights)

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5

Get refreshed under Namibia’s stars

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Little-visited West African expeditions

NAMIBIA

Namibia’s extraordinary by day, but it’s an altogether different experience at night. ATI Holidays’ Take a Breath tour incorporates two overnight walking experiences, letting visitors trek through a pair of Namibia’s most remote landscapes – the NamibRand Nature Reserve and then the foothills of the Grootberg Massif. During the day, look for desert wildlife such as klipspringer, baboon and leopard, before a threecourse dinner and sleeping under that African sky. This self-drive loop covers Sossusvlei, the Skeleton Coast, Damaraland and Etosha, giving visitors the chance to recharge at three new lodges with a focus on wellness, providing a moment to exhale, reflect and simply breathe.

Who? ATI Holidays (+264 61 228 717; ati-holidays.com) When? Flexible How long? 14 nights How much? £5,000pp (excluding int’l flights)

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Shutterstock; G Adventures Inc.

CAPE VERDE & BISSAGOS ISLANDS

Well off-the-beaten track and even further off mainstream travel’s radar, these two islands offer a mosaic of cultures, peoples, traditions, landscapes and ecosystems. A cruise here offers rocky volcanic promontories in the deep Atlantic, warmed by the dry Saharan winds in the north and lush, humid tropical rainforests further south. Hurtigruten Expeditions’s West African Archipelago Expedition first stops in laid-back Cape Verde, whose coral reefs are rich in marine life while providing bird-watchers with many rare endemic species. The tropical Bissagos archipelago meanwhile is now a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and is home to the Bijagos people, who’ve retained their ancient animistic beliefs.

Who? Hurtigruten Expeditions (020 8846 2666; hurtigruten.co.uk) When? 27 November, 9 December 2022, 2 and 14 January 2023 How long? 12 nights How much? From £5,190pp (excl int’l flights)

BHUTAN

Be first on the Trans Bhutan Trail

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SCOTLAND

A fresh take on a Scottish success

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The North Coast 500 route has been a huge success since its launch in 2015, but this enhanced version of it goes slower, deeper and wilder. Starting in Inverness via the Cairngorms, and then into the far North up to Cape Wrath, Celtic Routes’ North Coast 500 encompasses ancient castles, mystical lochs and some of Europe’s most rugged coast line. At points, visitors will swap their specially prepared Land Rover for a kayak wildlife adventure, learn to fly-fish with expert guides, or head out to Handa Island Reserve and its incredible seabirds – including guillemots, razorbills and great skuas – as well as whales, dolphins and seals. The trail then weaves along the island-dotted west coast to take on the daunting Bealach Na Ba pass, before crossing to the Isle of Skye.

Who? Celtic Routes (07522 776160; celticroute.com) When? Flexible How long? 7 nights How much? £1,450pp

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LAOS

See authentic Laos on its new railway

PRODUCTION

Be among the first to travel on Laos’ brand-new train line on InsideAsia Tours’ Laos by Train, journeying from Vientiane’s historic temples and monuments to the towering limestone karsts, lush green rice fields and blue lagoons of Vang Vieng. Away from the train, there are opportunities to experience Muang La’s pastoral serenity, float on a private boat along the Nam Song River and meet the Ikho, Hmong and Khamu communities that dwell 1,000m up the mountains. The end-ofthe-line is spiritual capital Luang Prabang, where visitors can stop by the MandaLao Elephant Sanctuary, learn about family farming, visit a social enterprise buffalo dairy and enjoy a picnic beside the Kuang Si waterfall.

Who? InsideAsia Tours (0117 244 3380; insideasiatours.com) When? Flexible How long? 10 nights How much? £2,661pp (excluding int’l flights)

CLIENT © Aaron Boothe/ITG; Shutterstock

10

SOUTH KOREA

Discover South Korea’s wild outdoors

South Korea is making a deserved comeback in recent years, having seemingly fallen off travellers’ maps, and its trove of wild landscapes help explain why. Bamboo Travel’s Adventure Korea private tour focuses on this, taking in some of the country’s most exciting scenery while exploring its array of cultural and historical treasures.

Beginning in Seoul, this itinerary takes in the rugged east coast with a hike in Seoraksan National Park, a stay in a Buddhist temple in Busan and also gives visitors time to discover why volcanic Jeju Island was declared an ‘exotic’ fantasy in Korean TV smash Squid Game.

Who? Bamboo Travel (020 7720 9285; bambootravel.co.uk) When? March to May; September to November How long? 12 nights How much? From £3,850pp (including int’l flights)

11

ALASKA, USA

Brown bear spotting on Kodiak

The Kodiak Brown Bear Center is located in the heart of the 1.9 million acre Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, home to one of the highest concentrations of brown bears in the world. Windows On The Wild’s Bear Viewing on Kodiak Island trip offers opportunities to see Kodiak brown bear in their natural habitat, from viewing areas strategically located in the field as well as a custom-built catamaran. Visitors are based on Camp Island on Karluk Lake, boasting around 50km of shoreline and countless tributaries that create Kodiak’s high salmon concentrations, drawing the bears closer to be observed, photographed and understood from a safe distance.

Who? Windows On The Wild (020 8742 1556; windowsonthewild.com) When? July to September How long? 7 nights How much? From £4,975pp (excluding int’l flights)

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Discover a South-East Asian gem

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Follow 25,000 migrating zebra

TIMOR-LESTE

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Boasting rugged jungle landscapes, unique cultural identities, pristine beaches and colourful marine environments, it’s bizarre that Timor-Leste (or East Timor) still remains off most travellers’ to-do lists. Regent Holidays is aiming to rectify that situation on its Timor-Leste In-depth group tour.

Among its highlights is the chance to take an outrigger to the uninhabited Jaco Island, located within Nino Konis Santana NP; looking for whales off the northern coast; visiting the 30,000-year-old Ili Kere Kere Caves; and hiking to Ariana Mountain. The trip finishes at Atauro Island, where there are opportunities to trek, dive and snorkel in waters that are said to be some of the best in the world.

Who? Regent Holidays (020 7666 1244; regent-holidays.co.uk) When? 9 October 2022 How long? 12 nights How much? £3,075pp (excluding int’l flights)

SUBS ART PRODUCTION Alamy; Shutterstock; Luis Leamus

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BOTSWANA

Visitors arrive at Botswana’s national parks with the promise of lions, elephants, cheetahs and wildebeests. What’s less well known is that the country boasts the second-biggest migration in sub-Saharan Africa – 25,000 zebra, making the trek from the Chobe to the Makgadikgadi Pans. Abercrombie & Kent’s Spectacular Zebra Migration witnesses the drama as it unfolds against the backdrop of wide-open vistas of shallow streams, carpeted emerald plains and giant, ancient Baines’ baobabs. The experience ends at Leroo La Tau safari camp, set on the natural cliffs beside the Boteti River, where their water-side hide affords views of the zebra and hippo taking a cooling dip.

Who? Abercrombie & Kent (01242 547760; abercrombiekent.co.uk) When? Flexible How long? 3 nights How much? From £2,215pp (excluding int’l flights)

14

ICELAND, SWEDEN, FINLAND & NORWAY

The ‘new normal’ Nordic-style

Working from home’s now just a regular part of post-pandemic life. But why work from your home? Discover the World’s new Work Away portfolio features accommodation in destinations that are perfect for combining work and play, like a cosy lodge in Iceland with views of an ice-capped volcano or a stylish log cabin deep in Lapland, where once you flip down your laptop lid you’re already in a prime location to step outside and witness the midnight sun or northern lights. Whether it’s just to stay for a week or several months, DTW will be able to organise a prime Nordic destination with a specially negotiated self-catering accommodation and that all-essential good WiFi. Who? Discover the World (01737 214291; discover-the-world.com) When? Flexible How long? 7 nights plus How much? From £869pp (excluding int’l flights)

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FRENCH POLYNESIA

Meet the locals of the Austral Islands

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Leave the French Polynesian cliches to the tourists, and instead get an authentic insight into this South Pacific archipelago by island-hopping through its remote southern-most Austral Islands on Travel Nation’s Discover the Austral Islands trip. Staying in small Tahitian guesthouses on every stop, visitors will get an understanding of local life as well as tales of Bounty mutineers. But while French Polynesia is justly celebrated for its natural beauty and aquatic adventures, these islands are under-appreciated for their whale watching: on Rurutu, there’s even the extremely rare opportunity to snorkel with humpback whales.

Who? Travel Nation (01273 320580; travelnation.co.uk) When? Flexible How long? 16 nights How much? From £4,245pp (including int’l flights)

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Gorilla conservation with Dr Gladys

18

Go rewilding in Abruzzo NP

UGANDA

One of three 2019 finalists for the Tusk Awards for Conservation, Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is the ideal company to get up close with Uganda’s endangered mountain gorilla population with.

For their Uganda Wildlife & Conservation Small Group Tour, Rainbow Tours is the only UK tour operator to join Dr Gladys and her team of experienced ranger-guides as they venture into Bwindi's Impenetrable National Park for a full day of gorilla tracking as part of their efforts to highlight the plight of the Endangered Mountain gorilla. The itinerary also includes the chance to visit the Gorilla Conservation centre and monitor the movement of lions into conflict ‘hot’ zones.

Who? Rainbow Tours (020 7666 1260; rainbowtours.co.uk) When? 5 October 2022 How long? 17 nights How much? £8,575pp (including int’l flights)

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The Ryukyu Islands of Japan spread from Kyushu in a perfect half moon-shaped archipelago down to Taiwan, with Okinawa its crown jewel. YellowWood Adventures’ Lost Islands of Japan adventure journeys to isolated Tokunoshima and Okinoerabu, islands never before visited by Western tour groups, as well as through prehistoric cedar forests cradled within the volcanic mountains of Yakushima.

There visitors will discover the joys of a slow pace of life, sample the fiery locally-brewed shochu; taste the freshest of fresh sushi and swim in phosphorescent waters over coral reefs.

Who? YellowWood Adventures (020 7846 0197; yellowwoodadventures.com) When? 22 Oct-2 Nov 2022 How long? 11 nights How much? £3,299pp (excluding int’l flights)

ITALY

Rewilding projects aren’t just of massive benefit to the local environment, as many travellers across the planet are increasingly testifying. Exodus Travels’ Rewilding the Apennines walking tour delves into the wild heart of Abruzzo NP, home to chamois, deer, wolves and golden eagles, as well as the rare Marsican brown bear. Visitors will enjoy the scenery on foot on some walking trails as well as experiencing the region’s ever hospitable people and their colourful and authentic culture. Led by skilled nature guides and sustained by some of the finest local food and wine, travellers can begin to truly understand the importance of using wildlife corridors to connect protected areas.

Who? Exodus Travels (020 3131 2785; exodustravels.co.uk) When? 9 July & 3 Sept 2022 How long? 5 nights How much? £2,349pp (including int’l flights; option for train travel)

© Tahiti Tourisme; Mike Unwin; YellowWood Adventures; Bruno D’Amicis/ Rewilding Europe

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JAPAN

Explore the remote, rare Ryukyu islands

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Ancient Caucasus history & culture

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Combine Vegas with a rocky rail

ARMENIA

The little-appreciated Caucasus have long-deserved exploring in more depth, and Armenia – boasting a deep well of Euro-history – is very much a case in point. Cox & Kings’ Authentic Armenia private tour experiences the country’s distinctive culture and mountainous scenery.

One day it could be visiting ancient temples and monasteries, such as the UNESCO-listed Etchmiadzin Cathedral, 9th-century Tatev monastic complex (reached by the world’s longest double-track cable car) or Garni’s pagan temple – dating back to AD1; the next, visitors could be taking in the Megerian carpet factory or stopping with locals who teach how to make Armenian vodka, gata (pastry) or traditional lavash bread.

Who? Cox & Kings (03330 603303; coxandkings.co.uk) When? Flexible How long? 6 nights How much? From £1,995pp (including int’l flights)

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USA & RUSSIA

Cruise remote Wrangel Island

Russia’s most remote wildlife sanctuary, Wrangel Island boasts the world’s highest concentration of polar bear dens as well as the world’s largest population of Pacific walrus, but that’s just two reasons why this cruise is essential. Setting sail from Nome, Polar Routes’ Wrangel Island Safari will also let passengers spot migratory birds including snowy owls, snow geese and long-tailed skuas, as well as reindeer, musk oxen and Arctic fox. Having escaped glaciation during the last Ice Age,Wrangel is also a bonsai garden of some 400 plant species and boasts a human history as dramatic as the land. Explore the Chukotka coast, where beluga, grey and humpback whales feed and experience traditional Chukchi life.

Who? Polar Routes (020 3196 1000; polarroutes.co.uk) When? July 2022 How long? 15 nights How much? £10,600pp (excluding int’l flights)

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Enjoy two sides of the ‘wild west’ by combining the glitz of Vegas with a rail journey through the glory of Utah’s unvarnished natural splendour. Beginning with Las Vegas’ larger-than-life pleasures, Flight Centre’s IconicVegas & Utah by Rocky Rail trip then stops at Zion NP, before overnighting at Bryce Canyon’s arid red landscapes and quirky hoodoos. Take in landmarks like the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Capitol Reef NP and Moab – famous for Arches and Canyonlands – ahead of hopping aboard the Rocky Mountaineer.

While seated, soak in towering mountains, hear tales of the landscapes and sample delicious local cuisine while chugging towards Denver.

Who? Flight Centre (020 83366 464; flightcentre.co.uk) When? April to October How long? 8 nights (incl 2 days on the train) How much? £3,669pp (including int’l flights)

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PORTUGAL

Go on a Portuguese musical meander

Sweeping Atlantic vistas, mountain sierras and ancient cathedrals and monasteries. Mouth-watering cuisine, world-class wines and the rich musical traditions. Portugal is finally getting the attention it deserves as a wildly diverse destination, and Wendy Wu Tours’s Portugal Uncovered winds down the length of it, starting with Porto in the north, then going through Geres National Park, the Douro Valley, Coimbra and Evora before ending in Lisbon; here visitors will go on a unique walking tour to experience the emotion of Fado music, discovering Old Lisbon while being personally guided by a Fado singer.

Who? Wendy Wu Tours (0808 258 0612; wendywutours.co.uk) When? 14 May, 10 September, 8 October How long? 11 nights How much? From £2,450pp (including int’l flights)

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MAKE A SPLASH IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Camera curiosity An Australian sea lion checks out the lens in the waters off Carnac Island – other wildlife to find here include bottlenose dolphins and New Zealand fur seals

Three incredible coastal areas, five local secrets and one adventure of a lifetime in Western Australia

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hether you’re seeking unspoiled landscapes, wild flora, unique fauna or welcoming culture, Western Australia’s diversity promises an adventure soaked in sunshine, surf and fine wine.

With daily direct flights from London to Perth, it’s much closer than you think. Here are three ways to experience Australia’s grandest state…

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Perth’s beaches and islands WHEN TO GO: Perth is great all year-round but travel between October and March for warm weather, great snorkelling and festivals.

THE HIGHLIGHTS: Perth is blessed with 19 city beaches as well as islands that capture the spirit of Australian life. It’s easy to see why more than 80% of the population live near the coast.

Penguin Island, a five-minute ferry from Rockingham, is where wild dolphins swim alongside people, tiny penguins waddle, and sea lions look on curiously as you paddle gracefully past their front door. Continue your wildlife search with a bike ride around Rottnest Island in search of smiling quokkas.

The shallow, calm water of The Basin and Pinky Beach will likely seduce you in for a swim.

Back on the mainland, skim the surface of the Coogee Maritime Trail, a purpose-made snorkelling spot that includes a shipwreck off of Coogee Beach. Cool down by joining the locals jumping off the jetty. North of the Swan River, Mettam’s Pool lures beginner snorkellers for its calm waters and colourful fish.

For a slower-paced day, indulge your creative side by strolling the Sculpture by

the Sea exhibition at Cottesloe Beach where larger-than-life artworks dot the shoreline each March. End the day with a refreshing beverage as the sun and Indian Ocean collaborate in their own version of vivid expression.

WHERE TO STAY: Discovery Rottnest Island Let the waves lull you to sleep at Discovery Rottnest Island’s eco-tent resort on the edge of Pinky Beach.

QT Perth Bold contemporary decor and design makes this hotel stand out from the rest.

WHERE TO EAT: Il Lido Italian Canteen Inhale the salt air and the vistas as you devour seasonal selections paired with hand-made pasta at this local favourite.

Bathers Beach House Loved for its prime sunset location, Bathers Beach House has it all: vibe, views and gourmet share plates.

TOP TOUR: Escape the city for a day of wine sipping and boat tripping to the Swan Valley with Captain Cook Cruises where you’ll drink in the sights and samples of Western Australia’s original wine region. Docking at Sandalford Estate is a highlight.

For more information, go to: trailfinders.com/wa

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ASK A LOCAL

“My favourite beaches are Scarborough Beach for its white sand and waves, and the lesserknown neighbouring Mettam’s Pool for protected swimming, plus Comet Bay in Mandurah.”

Stephanie Lang, director, Seashells Hospitality Group; beachside accommodation across WA

“My top spot for a further afield beach is the Yanchep Lagoon. The beach and lagoon are about 45 minutes from the city centre, but it is well worth the drive. The lagoon provides a safe and sheltered swimming spot great for families and snorkelling. After, grab a bite to eat at the Yanchep Inn.”

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WHEN TO GO: March to October is a perfect time for wildlife, diving and snorkelling.

THE HIGHLIGHTS: Deep dive into the wonders of the Ningaloo Coast, 300 km of pristine World Heritage-listed marine park teeming with aquatic mammals, fish, coral reef, and ocean adventures. Ningaloo Reef and its north-end town Exmouth lie about a two-hour flight north of Perth and attract ocean-loving visitors from around the globe.

From March to July, you can snorkel with whale sharks, where strong ecotourism measures provide respectful encounters with these gentle giants. Your chances of spotting dolphins, manta rays, sea turtles and humpback whales are also virtually guaranteed.

This region of Western Australia also attracts land-lubbers looking to roam the rugged terrain of Cape Range National Park in search of limestone and red dirt landscapes that bleed into gaping gorges, hidden habitat, carpets of wildflowers and the nation’s beloved icons: kangaroos and emus.

Alternatively, a cruise along Yardie Creek’s towering red, green and gold cliffs provides

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ample opportunity to spot wallabies and cavecocooning sea eagles with little effort exerted.

On the southern end of Ningaloo is Coral Bay, a town rightly named for its abundance of coral reef, seashells and turquoise waters.

WHERE TO STAY: Mantarays Ningaloo Beach Resort Offering a range of hotel rooms, bungalows and apartments, this resort in Exmouth is a great gateway to the Ningaloo Reef.

Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef Luxury eco-camping amongst dunes, reef at the doorstep and incredible food, drinks, and activities await.

WHERE TO EAT: Froth Craft Brewery The perfect beer foam moustache, local seafood, and live music is waiting at this stop.

The Beach Shack Expect friendly staff, tasty fish tacos and a lot of fun at this top dining spot.

TOP TOUR: Travellers voted Ningaloo Whalesharks as the favourite whale shark swim excursion on the reef for their knowledgeable and friendly crew who are willing to go to the depths of the ocean to make your Western Australia ocean experience unforgettable.

ASK A LOCAL

“Most people know about the whale sharks, but a lesser-known must-see are the manta rays that can be seen in Coral Bay year-round. They are so graceful to watch!”

Aimee Jan, Ningaloo guide and Ocean Photographer of the Year award winner

Shutterstock; Tourism Western Australia

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Ningaloo Reef

Wild wonders Walk the 125km Cape to Cape Track; spot manta rays in Coral Bay; snorkel alongside whale sharks in Ningaloo Reef

ASK A LOCAL

“Injidup has to take the prize as the best beach. It is pristine and full of wildlife, so you’re likely to see pods of dolphins, big rays and salmon. Depending on when you visit and if the water is very calm, you may even be lucky enough to see whales resting just offshore.”

Evan Gill, Vasse Felix; Wine Estate

“Snorkelling at the end of the Busselton Jetty from December to April is the best time to see huge schools of fish and incredible colours. Almost two kilometres out to sea in eight metres deep water, you are able to walk out and back again for a unique and unforgettable experience at one of Australia’s best artificial reefs.”

Lisa Shreeve, CEO at Busselton Jetty

Shutterstock; Tourism Western Australia

Margaret River Region WHEN TO GO: October to April. Whales are spotted June to December, and don’t miss Gourmet Escape in November.

THE HIGHLIGHTS: The Margaret River region begins in Busselton where you can walk almost two kilometres out to sea without stepping foot in the water at the Busselton Jetty, the longest timber jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. At the end, visit the Underwater Observatory to spy 300 species of marine life and scuba divers.

For grander sea sights, set sail into the open water where humpback and blue whales splash. Whale spotting is also possible from the Cape to Cape Track, a 125km trail that edges the craggy coastline from Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse to Cape Leeuwin. Guided day tours offer short walks on select sections.

Marine life experiences rule the region and at Hamelin Bay you can wade next to protected stingrays as they glide along the sandy ocean floor. On your way back to Perth, stop at Bunbury’s Dolphin Discovery Centre to learn about the diversity of sea and estuary life. More adventurous travellers may consider an early morning swim with local bottlenose dolphins.

No visit to Margaret River is complete without wine and dine days. Thankfully, Western Australia Gourmet Escape, brings celebrated winemakers and chefs together every November to tempt tastebuds and share inside tips and tales throughout events in Margaret River, Perth and the Swan Valley.

WHERE TO STAY: Smiths Beach Resort Generous apartments and villas that offer a stay that feels like home.

Pullman Bunker Bay Discreetly tucked into the countryside only steps away from the azure beach, a luxurious stay awaits.

WHERE TO EAT: White Elephant Café Locals love this eaterie not only for its ocean atmosphere, but also its coffee and burgers.

Vasse Felix Chardonnay, elegant surrounds, and inspired dishes make Vasse Felix a must.

TOP TOUR: Follow the footsteps of the traditional land owners of the Margaret River region, the Wadandi and Bibbulman people, and discover 50,000 years of culture with Koolmal Dreaming. You’ll learn how to forage for food, why Ngilgi Cave is sacred, and the art of fire-starting.

For more information, go to: trailfinders.com/wa

TURN WAITING INTO PLANNING WITH TRAILFINDERS

When it comes to creating engaging and enticing travel itineraries, Trailfinders leads the way as the UK’s number one tour operator to Australia. Imagine jetting off on an 18-day holiday to Western Australia, sampling Margaret River wine, meeting quokkas on Rottnest Island, and swimming with whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef. Book Trailfinders’ Wine & Whale Sharks: The Best of Western Australia tour from £1,762 pp.

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MISSISSIPPI

The Mississippi River offers so much more than paddlesteamer cruises and antebellum history. We take a greener, more intimate journey to experience ‘Old Muddy’s’ wild places and Paleo-Indian history Words Lynn Houghton

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“The elder sits in her cedar canoe at the front, singing her paddle song, praying for us all. The weary paddler resting is still ballast. And there is always a time when the crew needs a joke, some remark, or even silence to keep going.”

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t was just before midnight when I crawled out of my tent to relieve myself and saw the crescent shaped, orange-tinged harvest moon. Low in the sky, the shimmering reflection on the river was the same pumpkin shade as the celestial orb above. I was desperate to capture this image but after I had located my camera – and failed to put on a headlamp – it was too dark to adjust the settings. Disappointed at not being able to record the scene, I shook the sand from my feet and climbed back into my sleeping bag. At least I had a snapshot of the tableau imprinted on my memory. Just then, the evening accompaniment of cicadas and tree frogs just behind our tent restarted with vigour. I drifted off to the lullaby of an amphibian chorus.

Sleep came easily after a day of paddling on the Mississippi River. Already smitten by its wild beauty and vast reach, I sensed the special energy that came from being on swirling water among eddies, backwaters and bayous, the breeze ruffling my hair. But, make no mistake, although the rhythm and repetition of paddling is intoxicating, it is also exhausting.

Another unexpected twist of nature had taken place earlier that day when three of us went exploring. After bringing the canoe alongside a sandbar and up on the beach, we set off walking, weaving a path through cottonwood, black willow and loblolly pines. On the other side of the trees, was a descent towards a pond. On the way down, we were admiring huge mussel shells

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when our river guide, John, spotted and seized a red-eared slider turtle. Intent on getting a closer look, I stumbled along a shallow channel towards John and this remarkable specimen.Within moments moist thick clay mixed with silt had grabbed hold and sucked me down up to my ankles. It was quick mud. Embarrassingly, I was only extracted from it with a considerable amount of effort from my fellow explorers. I imagine the turtle enjoyed seeing me struggle as he made his getaway.

THE BIG MUDDY BEGINS

This wasn’t my first time on the Mississippi River. Many years ago, I’d travelled upriver from New Orleans on a steam and fossil fuel powered paddleboat, and my friends still tease me about its non-sustainable qualities. The experience at the time was steeped in 19th century practices and lore, with most organised excursions to antebellum mansions, Civil War sites, and other cultural markers from that complicated period. During the seven-day-journey I was about to embark on, I was hoping to see a different approach to both the region’s rich history as well as how visitors could discover it.

It seemed to be a good time to revisit the Delta region. 2022 will be the 325 year anniversary of Le Moyne Sieur d’Iberville setting up a colony in the Delta region on the command of King Louis XIV. The explorer, soon to be governor, knew the Choctaw called this river Mich sha Suppukui, which was pronounced Mish sha sippi and

translates as ‘river beyond any age’.

I was excited to get another chance to experience the Mississippi’s timeless wonder, starting in a canoe.

It was already warm when my travelling companion and I arrived in Clarksdale, Mississippi, early on a Tuesday morning, the air heavy. We were heading for the Quapaw Canoe Company where our river adventure was about to begin. This would be my first meeting with John Ruskey who runs these outfitters and whose exploits on the river preceded him. He has paddled the river’s entire length, no mean feat as this behemoth of nature is a staggering 3,766kms long.

As we arrived and parked up, I spotted a nearby log was in the process of being carved into a small canoe; a mammoth task when done without the help of machinery. In fact, part of the Quapaw premises was akin to a woodworking shop. The sweet odour of sawdust and varnish floated in the air. Here, canoes were in various stages of completion: some wooden and some hybrid incorporating aluminium, with every finished vessel polished to a high gloss.

These were, without a doubt, works of art. Also, framed fanciful water-colour paintings of maps adorned the walls, one of which was our itinerary for the next few days, The Big Muddy.

It was now to work. Wet bags needed to be packed with tents, sleeping bags, and personal items; then all food, water and supplies loaded into the station wagon. I had much to take in as a fairly new paddler. The list of ‘Ten Canoe ⊲

John Ruskey; Lynn Houghton Previous spread Alamy

– Rule no.4 of The Ten Rules of the Canoe

John Ruskey; Lynn Houghton Previous spread Alamy

Mississippi meanders (clockwise from top) Paddling through a reed-lined stretch of ‘Big Muddy’; river guide John Ruskey’s watercolours at sunset – it’s often his routine to paint once he stops for camp, describing the river as both his playground and church; Mississippi flood plain scenery; the red-eared slider turtle gets its name from the small, red stripe around where its ears would be; (next page) Ruskey climbs atop the ’high dive’ at the mouth of Mellwood Lake near Island 64. By taking a canoe – in John’s case, his beloved 7m cypress Ladybug – it’s possible to access the flooded forest of the Mississippi River

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“The human psyche blossoms on the river. You become re-connected to basic patterns & colour – combinations that govern the universe.

Your spirit soars.

Your imagination is opened”

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Rules’ [see p134] developed by Washington State’s Quileute people was extremely helpful for addressing the general practicalities, science and art of this endeavour. Rule No.3 states that it’s the adaptable animal that survives (referring to us humans) and working together is necessary for the good of the whole.

It was a short distance to our start point, not far from the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers.We briefly paid homage to musician Muddy Waters en route – his birthplace is signposted – and I was silent with awe at my first sighting of an enormous native American burial mound.

Our driver, Brother Ely, backed the vehicle and canoe down the slippery slope to the water’s edge. Now, there was nearly 500km of virtually untouched wilderness spread out before us.

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Alamy

ROLLIN’ ON THE RIVER

To propel a medium-sized, gear-filled wooden canoe took a bit of paddling gusto. It all worked better when setting a good rhythm for myself – not trying to match faster, stronger members of the party. The paddles for this task were of a traditional design with a rounded handle carved specifically for human hands.

Once into my own rhythm, it was the dizzying beauty of the vertiginous trees on either side of the channel that bewitched me; but when we entered the main section of the river, my thoughts turned to whether we might end up being toppled by passing tugboats pushing enormous container vessels down the middle.These virtuous tugs can push ⊲

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Lynn Houghton; John Ruskey; Shutterstock

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Life on the Mississippi (this page, clockwise from top left) Treading the river bank on the Mississippi River; grey heron can sometimes be spotted along the edges of rivers, lakes and wetlands; campsite debris; wild orchids in the Pearl River – there are over of 50 species native to the area; the cypress trees that pierce the swamp can often live to 600 years old; a dragonfly taking a break; adult alligators found in the area can grow to be around 3m in length; (right page) the sun rises on a historic forest trail winding through the Natchez Trace Parkway – also known as the ‘Old Natchez Trace’

Lynn Houghton; John Ruskey; Shutterstock

many tonnes of weight before them and are an efficient, cost effective method for moving freight. Little guys in canoes had to be careful not to get in their way.

I remembered reading that this river is not only a waterway but the stuff of myth, legends, prayers, folklore, and stories. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Missourian author Mark Twain, are part of the curriculum for most youngsters growing up here and I was one of those, transfixed by the startlingly adult tales. Equally poignant is William Faulkner’s BigWoods. Faulkner’s world is of riverbanks so thick with forest as to be virtually impenetrable.The heavy black alluvial soil supported ash, maple, birch, willow, pine, cottonwood, cypress trees and a vast amount of wildlife.

Today was a short paddling day and soon time for our contingent to set up camp. As we pulled up to and disembarked on Island 64 – a river island fringed by a golden sand beach – a flock of white pelicans flew in synchronised perfection overhead. John had already set out paint brushes, paper, watercolours and was capturing the serene scene. With the day waning, Mark ‘River’ Peoples, our other

“After 30 minutes of paddling, the shout of ‘take a break’ might ring out, and our guide John would jump into the river” river guide, collected wood to build a campfire and soon coffee was brewing.

IT’S A NEW DAY

It wasn’t long after daybreak that I was dimly aware of the crackling fire. Then, the soft strumming of a guitar and singing wafted into my consciousness. Soon, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I was up and grabbing that first cup of coffee.

John, a self-proclaimed river rat was swimming at every opportunity. After 30 minutes of paddling, the shout of “take a break” might ring out from his position at the stern of the canoe; then, our craft would shift markedly as he unceremoniously jumped into the river to the sound of delighted laughter.

Paddling along this section of the Lower Mississippi, it was possible to see the visible water line half-way up the cotton wood trees nearly 10 metres higher than the river’s current level.

The flood plain here fluctuates as much as 20m from spring high tide to summer low tide.

The excitement of the morning was spotting a sea otter frolicking in a calm section of water called an oxbow.This is where a channel veers off from the river eventually fills with water and takes on the characteristics of a lake. There was evidence of beaver activity everywhere.

In fact, this entire shoreline supports deer, coyote, beaver, possum, and Louisiana Black Bear. The footprints outside our tent in the morning attested to deer exploring nearby.The forest and wetland, in turn, support frogs, snakes, reptiles and turtles, including Alabama red-bellied, northern map and eastern snapping turtle.

The Mississippi is inhabited by 25% of all North American fish species including carp, catfish, sturgeon, pike, gar and many are happy among these currents, pools, and backwaters which to name just a few. As the water is so full of silt,

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I only noticed fish when they jumped out of the water or when ‘Rivers’ managed a catch. But our canoe trip was nearing its wild, wet end, and I was off to explore another wetland not very far away.

SWAMP LIFE

Loaded up with supplies, we tumbled back into our RV and headed inland then south. Although Mississippi is usually associated with scenes of oak trees draped in Spanish moss and vast fields of cotton, there are other places with creatures and flora that thrive –

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some in small, wet, fishless eco-systems.

The primordial ooze that dominates these landscapes has changed little over the millennia with many inhabitants unchanged as well.

My destination was the Cypress Swamp near Canton. Once part of the Pearl River, this partially submerged forest is one of that river’s tributaries, cut-off and flooded untold years ago.

Approaching the swamp, I remembered my time on the Pearl River, near the Louisiana border on the east side of Lake Pontchartrain, where the waters are deep

and wide. I discovered that it’s possible to see enormous ’gators with their razor-sharp teeth up close, an experience both exciting and terrifying.With this in mind, I entered this boggy world via a long boardwalk over the murky water, and then was in its grasp.

The Cypress Swamp is full of trees able to survive in completely unique conditions: Bald cypress, swamp black gum, and water tupelo. The deciduous trees also here, red maple and oak, were already taking on the golden sheen of autumn while the swamp black-gum had

Alamy ; Lyn Houghton

The rising past (this page, clockwise from top left) Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989. the Emerald Mound was a ceremonial centre of religious and civic rituals for the area’s Natchez people who resided in outlying villages; visitors are directed to this site – the second largest of its kind in the country – from the Natchez Trace Parkway; bald cypress knee; (right page) built during 1851–57 for cotton broker Frederick Stanton as a replica of his ancestral home in Ireland, Stanton Hall is a 19th-century Greek revival-style antebellum mansion house found in Natchez

turned red, orange and purple. It’s amazing seeing these formidable trees reflected in the water in all their colourful glory.

A trail leads around towards an even denser woodland but always following the water’s edge. The swamp might have been deeper here as cattails and common reeds were thriving. A few wildflowers were here, several wild orchids and, on slightly drier ground, were clusters of mushrooms in taupe, ochre, yellow and orange shades. Spectacularly, the ‘knees’ of bald cypress trees’ roots protruded above the surface of the water; this adaptation allows the tree to breathe and gives them an anthropomorphic quality.

A tiny bridge led towards a shady bit of the swamp, shielding me from the sun. Then I made my first animal sighting. It was a baby red-and-black alligator slithering along and across the surface. When resting, it appeared as a motionless piece of bark. Ethereal dragonflies flitted about as if watching in approval.

This smaller swamp is home to tiny yet important amphibians such as the dusky gopher frogs, salamanders, newts, and, of course, snakes. Being something of a newt nerd, I spent quite a lot of my time right next to the water, hunting for these teeny, adorable beasties, and wishing I could linger longer.

NAVIGATING NATCHEZ

Alamy ; Lyn Houghton

In the last part of my journey, I was travelling the Natchez Trace Parkway.

A speed controlled parkway, rather

than just a road, it was constructed in the 20th century to mirror the entire length of this ancient trace [trail] and only finished in 2005.

This parkway follows the old trail and cuts through what were the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. As my son from my first marriage is part Choctaw, I found it quite emotional to view the enormous placard on the Trace delineating where the Choctaw territories were and when they lost their land, thought to be in the millions of acres.

The signpost explains that the document signed in 1820, called the Treaty of Doak’s Stand, was basically a ploy to steal the territory.

Perhaps not as important as rivers for transport, the Natchez Trace was, in the distant past, critically important to large animals such as woolly mammoth and then bison. Much of the trail was along higher ground which traversed murky, marsh land. Starting in Tennessee, its terminus is 715kms later in the town of Natchez – once a tribal stronghold. When humans appeared on the scene, they routinely used the trail for hunting and trading, the evidence of key Paleo-Indian activities still visible along its path. Large burial mounds are here including the Emerald Mound constructed in about AD1200, a vast creation around 10 acres across.

Once Europeans arrived, even more people’s livelihoods depended on both the river and this important trail. After a pilgrimage to visit Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis Presley, I made a detour

to the nearby Natchez Trace National Park Headquarters. Here I learned about the Kaintuck people who would sail down the river to sell their goods and then walk back, a round trip of about 485 kilometres.

I used the Trace campgrounds for a base from which to hike the old sunken part of the trail. Although primitive campsites, they allowed opportunities to stop for an extended time. One such trail spur takes hikers through to Jackson Falls, where I took time to explore the waterfalls, at the same time as enjoying the bluffs and rock faces.

THE CURRENT FLOWS ON

I could easily see why Mr Ruskey was so passionate about getting people out on the river. It’s the Quapaw outfitters’ mission to encourage those afraid of the water or perhaps the wilderness, or who might not have the resource for a canoeing adventure, to have this opportunity.

With night falling, I was reminded of my over-riding memory of my first Mississippi River experience. When the paddleboat engines stopped and we were just being gently buoyed by the water, there was nothing but wilderness, nothing human built beyond the river’s barely visible shores.This was far more intriguing than the tugs, bridges, towns and hamlets we had seen during daylight. In fact, at night, the GPS map on board was often completely blank save for the outline of the shore and a few river islands. There was something mystical about this.

My present-day experience of the river had allowed me to explore this wilderness without an artificial engine, with my arms as the motor and my eyes the radar. Exuberant nature surrounded me at every turn, allowing a reconnection with creation and, ultimately, myself. It was renewing and definitely exhilarating. With every breath filled with the air, the water, the sky, the stars, and with this being observed by curious wildlife, it left me gasping for more. And to have miles of space virtually to oneself with only the presence of a single fisherman or, perhaps, a passing canoe was not only expansive but life affirming. I made a promise to myself to return once again, to see what mysteries the wilderness might want to share. After all, ‘the river beyond any age’ would still be waiting for me. ⊲

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Every stroke we take is one less we have to make. Even against the most relentless wind or retrograde tide, somehow a canoe moves forward.

This mystery can only be explained by the fact that each pull forward is real movement and not delusion.

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There is to be no abuse of self or others. Respect and trust cannot exist in anger, it must be thrown overboard where the sea can cleanse it. It has to be washed off the hands and cast into the air so the stars can take care of it.

3 PRODUCTION

Be flexible because the adaptable animal survives. If you get tired, ship your paddle and rest. If you get hungry, put in on the beach and eat a few oysters. If you can’t figure one way to make it, do something new. When the wind confronts you, it is sometimes because you are supposed to go the other way.

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4

Every story is important. The bow, the stern, the skipper, the power puller in the middle, everyone is part of the movement. The elder sits in her cedar at the front, singing her paddle song, praying for us all.

The weary paddler resting is still ballast.

5

We all pull and support each other as nothing occurs in isolation. When we aren’t part of the family of a canoe, we are not ready for whatever comes. The family will never let itself sink. When we know that we are not alone in our actions, we also know we are lifted up by everyone else.

6

A hungry person has no charity so always nourish yourself. The bitter person, thinking that sacrifice means self-destruction, shares mostly anger. A paddler who doesn’t eat at the feasts doesn’t have enough strength to paddle in the morning. The gift of who you are only enters the world when you are strong enough to own it.

7

Experiences are not enhanced through criticism.

Who we are, what we do, why we continue, flourishes with tolerance. The men and women who find the lightest flow may sometimes go slow, but when they arrive, they can still sing.

8

The journey is what we enjoy. Although the start is exciting and the conclusion achieved, it is the long, steady process we remember. Being part of the journey requires great preparation; being done with a journey requires great awareness; being on the journey, we are much more than ourselves.

9

A good teacher allows the student to learn.

We can berate each other, try to force each other to understand, or we can allow each paddler to gain their awareness through the ongoing journey. Each paddler learns to deal with the person in front, the person behind, the water, the air, the energy, the blessing of the eagle.

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When given a choice, choose to be a worker bee and make honey.

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America As You Like It has a 14-night RV holiday from £1,095 per person, based on four sharing, including return flights on British Airways from Heathrow to Nashville, two nights’ room-only in Nashville and 12 nights’ C25 RV rental from Cruise America. The trip includes insurance, unlimited mileage, unlimited generator usage, kitchen, and personal kits.

RV pick-up is in Franklin, 35km south of Nashville International Airport. americaasyoulikeit.com; 020 8742 8299

Vital statistics

Mississippi capital: Jackson Population: 3 million Time: Central (GMT + 6) Dialling Code: +1 VISAS: ESTA required Money: USA Dollars, currently $1 to £0.75.

When to go

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Spring and autumn are the best times to visit Mississippi.

June-August Summer season is very hot and humid with temperatures averaging 32°C. Sticky weather is compounded by the arrival of hurricane season, which runs through September. June averages more than 298 hours of sunshine.

September-November Autumn or shoulder season – the temperature is much milder and perfect for outdoor activities. There can occasionally be intermittent showers.

December-March The Mississippi winter can bring inclement weather and sometimes freezing temperatures.

April-May Spring is when the weather is temperate and everything is in blossom.

A spectacular time of year.

Health & safety

Check the UK FCDO guidelines for the most up-to-date information on travel and entry requirements (gov.uk).

Insect repellent is necessary most of the year, particularly if staying near any river or lake. It is vitally important to use high factor sun cream, particularly in summer, and to wear a head covering. Bring a refillable water bottle, and stay well hydrated, especially on hot days. Watch out for poison oak – a three-leaf shrub that causes a red rash (which can be treated with cold compresses). See fitfortravel.nhs.uk for health updates and vaccination info.

Getting there

Direct flights to Nashville are with British Airways (ba.com) from London Heathrow and operate Sun/Tues/Thurs until the end of March, when an additional flight is planned (flight time around 9hrs; from £447; ba.com). Non-direct flights with Virgin arrive via hubs such as Atlanta, Boston and New York.

Getting around

The USA has a car culture so factor in the expense of rental cars (costs ⊲

Map Illustration Scott Jessop

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vary depending on the size of the vehicle, whether you rent a hybrid and the time of year) or an RV rental and include the cost of petrol, which varies from state to state. Uber is now a very popular option, particularly in cities, but you must have the app installed to use this service.

Accommodation

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The Lofts at the Five & Dime, Clarksdale, (fiveanddimelofts. com) is a boutique hotel located in the historic Woolworth building downtown and offers unique apartment-style accommodation that blends modern style and amenities with traditional Southern charm and comfort. From $150[£112] pn.

For history buffs, the Monmouth Historic Inn (monmouthhistoricinn.com) in Natchez is ideal as this National Historic Landmark is surrounded by historic sites and elegant vistas of the surrounding area. A 19th century antebellum mansion, it is set in 26-acres of gardens and located near the Mississippi River. From $235[£175] pn.

If visiting Starkville, the Historic Hotel Chester (historichotelchester.com) is a perfect choice as this restored 1925 building is only minutes from the Mississippi State University Campus. The hotel’s Beer Gardens were featured on an episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen and there is now a Gordon Burger in honour of the famous ‘angry’ chef. From $101[£75] pn.

Campgrounds

For those planning an RV rental or the more rustic option of a tent, campsites along the Natchez Trace Parkway are first come, first serve and free of charge.

Maximum length of stay is 14 days. This includes the Rocky Springs (Milepost 54.8), Jeff Busby (Milepost 193.1) and Meriwether Lewis (Milepost 385.9) locations. Trace State Park (mdwfp.com) in Belden, near Tupelo, is situated on a fishing lake and has many miles of hiking trails. The Movietown RV Park (movietownrvpark.com) near Canton is in a lovely rural setting.

Further reading & info

Tourism websites include:deep-south-usa.com msbluestrail.org visitmississippi.org nps.gov/natr/index.htm Books to read include William Faulkner’s Big Woods; The Tales of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain; and I Am Coyote: Readings for the Wild compiled by Jay Schoenberger.

MISSISSIPPI HIGHLIGHTS CANOE OUTFITTERS 1 QUAPAW

Named for one of the local Indian tribes, Quapaw Outfitters’ main operation is in Clarksdale but has two other outposts on the Lower Mississippi River. This outfitter organises bespoke paddling/canoeing expeditions. They sell and rent canoes, accessories and most related equipment. Owner John Ruskey is renowned for his artwork, apprentice programme, charitable activities and school trips on the river.

TRACE PARKWAY 5 NATCHEZ

Required to be kept free of commercialisation, this 715km long scenic byway follows the path of the old Natchez Trace Trail. The Parkway is actually an extensive national park with campgrounds, points of historic interest and facilities all along its route.

6 RED’S LOUNGE

Located in Ridgeland, right next to the old Natchez Trace Trail, the home and museum for the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi opened in 1973 and was the creation of Governor William Waller. The Center works to preserve and promote regional crafts as well as supporting craft makers.

In Clarksdale, Mississippi, you can find one of the last remaining juke joints – a place where entertainment, music, gambling and drinking take place and is primarily operated by African Americans. Red’s Lounge may be small and even slightly ramshackle but its authentic vibe is infectious.

Red, the owner, can be found most nights sitting in the corner watching old Westerns on a big screen TV. It is located just around the corner from Ground Zero, a blues club founded by Morgan Freeman in 2001.

PRESLEY’S BIRTHPLACE 3 ELVIS

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In the north-east of the state, Tupelo is famous for being the birthplace of Elvis. The Presleys’ two-room ‘shotgun’ home where he grew up is here plus the chapel he used to attend. Stop by Johnnie’s Drive In where it is reported Elvis used to enjoy an RC Cola. Kermit’s Soul Kitchen in the town centre serves up a mean St Louis ribs as well as pulled chicken and cornbread.

4 ROWAN OAK

In Oxford, Mississippi, is the primitive two-story Greek Revival home of novelist William Faulkner.

Though a run-down property, the four acres of red cedar, magnolia and cypress trees were the sweetener that convinced the Faulkners to buy it, with Faulkner himself doing most of the renovation. Apparently, the writer felt that the dense forest of Rowan Oak helped develop his sense of multi-layered time, where the “past is never dead. It isn’t even past.”

Another highlight of Clarksdale is the Delta Blues Museum. You will find an incredible number of artefacts of Delta musicians here, including guitars, clothing and other musical instruments such as harmonicas. The cabin that Muddy Waters grew up in on the nearby Stovall Plantation is here. Yes, the entire building.

STATE PARK 8 TISHOMINGO

Located in the foothills of the Appalachians, Tishomingo State Park takes its name from the leader of the Chickasaw nation, Chief Tishomingo. The Natchez Trace Parkway runs directly through the park, where excavations have confirmed the presence of Paleo Indians. Explore massive rock formations and boulders as well as fern-filled crevices and wildflower border trails. There is an RV campground, primitive camping, cabins and also a cottage available.

WANDERLUST RECOMMENDS See Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams, who hailed from Columbus, Mississippi. www.youtube.com – “Canoeing down the Mississippi River - Quapaw Canoe“ Mississippi Outdoors TV go on a multi-day canoe trip with the Quapaw Canoe Company.

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Walk on the wild side (clockwise from this) Around 80% of the Yukon is wilderness, meaning there are ample routes for hikers; grizzly bear; see the northern lights between late August and mid-April; see Kluane NP from above on a flight seeing tour; go back in time in Dawson City

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Four epic adventures to have in the Yukon

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ith larger-thanlife landscapes patrolled by myriad wildlife and highways from which to admire them, the Yukon is made for the ultimate road-trip adventure. Here are just four of the many experiences you can expect along the way…

Paddy Palin / Nathen Hendry; Martin Haeussermann; Toshihiro Hayashi; Shutterstock; Hans-G.Pfaff

GO WILDLIFE WATCHING

The Yukon’s wildlife is strangely underrated but if there’s one place to put that right, it’s Kluane National Park. It boasts Canada’s tallest mountains (Mount Logan, 5,959m)

and the biggest ice field outside the Poles, together forming a vast wilderness, prime for adventure.

The large concentration of grizzly bears is the main drawcard of the park. Keep your eyes peeled for lynx, wolves and wolverines in its forests and spy Dall sheep and mountain goats at Kluane Lake, with golden eagles and peregrine falcons soaring overhead.

SEARCH FOR GOLD Mention the Yukon and most people think of the Gold Rush, where 100,000 people flocked to the Klondike region between 1896 and 1899. The dust clouds

For more information, visit: canadaasyoulikeit.com/yukon

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from the gold-chasing stampede still hang heavy over Dawson City, the gold rush’s epicentre.

Many of the era’s buildings have survived, including the Palace Grand Theatre and Jack London’s Cabin, once home to a prospector who documented his adventures in several books. To follow in his gold-hunting footsteps, head south to trace the 53km Chilkoot Trail near Whitehorse, where rusting mining machinery and equipment are sprinkled among the lakes and alpine scenery. Or canoe Bennett Lake as the miners would have years before.

EXPLORE THE WILDERNESS

The Yukon isn’t just a haven for gold miners and wildlife, it’s a playground for adrenalin-seekers, too. Kluane NP is webbed with walking trails that trace former mining roads and old riverbeds,

many of which culminate in fine views of lakes such as Kathleen and Dezadeash. Soak up the views from a different angle on a flight seeing tour, or trot through the park on a guided horseriding tour.

For an iconic experience, head to the Beaver River to canoe past bears on the banks, swimming river otters and eagles. The streams which feed the Tatshenshini River in Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park, meanwhile, are ideal for rafting or kayaking. Over in the wild hinterlands surrounding the Yukon’s capital Whitehorse, year-round adventure awaits: hiking and biking and horseriding in the summer, dog-sledding and snowshoeing in winter.

ENJOY NATURE’S BEST SHOWS

Nothing quite beats seeing the northern lights painting teal-tinted streaks on the Yukon’s ink-black skies between late August and mid-April. Enjoy sightings among the pristine landscapes surrounding Whitehorse, or see the aurora reflected in Kluane’s lakes.

The Midnight Dome viewpoint above Dawson City is a microcosm of the Yukon’s capacity to deliver pinch-me moments all year round: when the nights are long, you can see the aurora and when the nights are shorter, it offers unrivalled views of the midnight sun – both memorable finales.

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ST PATRICK’S DAY Why the lesser-visited island of Montserrat celebrates St Patrick’s Day

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t just over 17km long and 11km wide, and tucked just south of Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat is one of the Caribbean’s lesserknown islands. It has all the usual draws you’d expect from a tropical island – unspoilt beaches, thriving coral reefs, rainforestcovered hills – but what may surprise visitors the most is its rich Afro-Irish heritage, which can be seen and felt all over the country.

You’ll find villages with names such as Cork Hill, St Patrick’s and Delvins, meet people with Irish surnames including O’Garro, Allen and Sweeney, and you’ll even receive a shamrock-shaped passport stamp when you pass through security. It should come as no surprise, then, that Montserrat is the only country outside of Ireland that celebrates St Patrick’s Day as a national holiday. Here’s what to expect from the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean’s St Patrick’s celebrations…

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Why is St Patrick’s Day celebrated in Montserrat?

To understand this, we need to go as far back at 1768, when indentured servants from Ireland fled persecution in St Kitts and settled in Montserrat, some going on to become wealthy plantation owners using slave labour. On 17 March 1768, African slaves planned an uprising, choosing St Patrick’s Day as most of the slave masters would be drunk and distracted by the holiday.

However, the plan was discovered and thwarted. Tragically, nine people were hanged for their role in the revolt and many more were imprisoned. The St Patrick’s Day celebration is therefore two-fold, as it commemorates the 1768 attempted revolt, while also recognising the island’s Irish heritage.

Did you know? Montserrat’s flag features Erin playing the golden harp.

How does it differ to Ireland’s celebrations?

Unlike in Ireland, in true Caribbean fashion, Montserrat’s version is celebrated for ten consecutive days, from 7 – 17 March. The first day starts at Cudjoe Head – a village named after the person who led the revolt – with a solemn torch lighting ceremony at a silk-cotton tree.

The next ten days see the island abuzz with festivity, outdoor activities and colour. All guest rooms and villas are filled with visitors from neighbouring islands and countries the world over. There’s something for everyone, from art exhibitions, lectures and an African-wear fashion show to coastal tours, drag races, fun hikes and a five kilometre road race called the Freedom Run. There are also open air concerts with appropriately themed names such as Leprechaun’s Revenge, Emerald City Fest

Alamy; Derek Galon; Shutterstock; Valbaun Galloway

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Alamy; Derek Galon; Shutterstock; Valbaun Galloway

The Emerald Isle (clockwise from left) Emerald Shamioles masquerade dancers; the Soufrière Hills volcano; people enjoying Leprechaun’s Dust fete; purple-throated carib is just one of the many species of birds you can see on Montserrat; Woodlands Beach; costumed revellers

and Gold Rush, featuring top soca and reggae artists from the Caribbean.

The main day of celebration, on 17 March, starts early. The parade dominates the streets featuring revellers dressed in colourful costumes and men wearing kilts in Montserrat’s traditional green and orange madras colours, African and colonial wear, with iron bands and drummers setting the beat.

Masquerade dancers are hauntingly hypnotic in their red masks and colourful costumes with ornate mirrors and ribbons, as they pay homage to their ancestors.

Drums and fifes (similar to a recorder) accompany dance performances such as the heel and toe polka, which is influenced by both the island’s African and Irish heritage. Sweet Caribbean music can be heard everywhere across the island and food fairs fill the air with the aromas of barbecued chicken, goat water and other traditional delicacies, which can be

washed down with a rum punch, the island’s exotic and potent bush rum, or, of course, a cold Guinness.

Top tip: Don’t leave without sampling the Irish-influenced national dish – goat water. A traditional hearty brown stew made with goat meat and often served with bread.

What else is there to do in Montserrat?

Heaps! With a diversity of travel experiences including beautiful beaches and a rich cultural heritage, you’ll be spoilt for choice when choosing how to spend your time.

For an archaeological fix, visit Soldier Ghaut to admire the petroglyphs engraved on a volcanic rock. They were only discovered in 2016 and are thought to have been carved by Amerindians some 1,000 to 1,500 years ago.

For more information, go to: visitmontserrat.com

Nature lovers should head to the middle of the island where several marked hiking trails weave through the Centre Hills, the island’s largest forested area. The two-kilometre Oriole Walkway Trail, for example, takes you through thick foliage to the top of the over 400m-high Lawyers Mountain with its sweeping views of the Silver Hills and Caribbean Sea. Keep your eyes peeled for the national bird, the Montserrat oriole after which the trail is named.

The peak of Jack Boy Hill to the east makes for a perfect finale. Enjoy a picnic while looking out over to the Soufrière Hills volcano and the surrounding islands. Not the St Patrick’s Day celebration you were expecting, is it?

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The winners return…

The Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year 2019 prize winners have returned from their commission to Hong Kong and Macao. Here’s what they found...

Photographs Paul-Vlad Epure, Thomas Kast, Geraint Rowland & Paul Wynn

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ong Kong is a photogra“The trip to The Peak was also memorable,” pher’s dream,” says Geraint Paul continues. “It’s been 15 years since I was Rowland. “It’s got impres- last there. It was a delight, then, to return on a sive architecture and the busy wonderfully clear day. Again, Stanley did us streets teem with life, day and proud. In Lu Feng’s restaurant we were treated night.” The Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year to a comprehensive dim sum banquet, which winner was blown away by the territory. As part provided the opportunity to enjoy new flavours of their dual-destination photo commission (see and textures while taking in the view of the Hong p146), the four winners of the UK’s biggest travel Kong skyline.” photography competition were first guided around “We hiked to Suicide Cliff,” remembers Geraint.

Hong Kong and its many islands.They soon discov- “It’s a treacherous climb that provides panoramic ered there were plenty of opportunities to point views over Central. And be sure to experience their lenses, whether the neon skyscapers, the old Central by tram, an alternative way to explore that neighbourhoods from which the city evolved or one offers alternative photo opportunities: go upstairs of the 260 outlying islands, whose slower pace of and sit at the front. But you don’t have to travel too life, unusual wildlife and natural landscapes offer a far from the Central to be among nature where you can find both solitude and adventure.” contrast to that famous urban bustle.

“There’s so much going on in the streets,” But the surprises weren’t just limited to the enthuses fellow winner Paul Wynn. “Colourful taxis, topography. The winners got the chance to see trams, traffic jams, wall art, plenty of local life too. “We bamboo scaffolding…” arrived on ‘race night’ and “The locals “Although it’s such a our hotel room looked out directly over the flood-lit vibrant, alive city,” remarks welcomed us and race course,” recalls Paul winner Paul-Vlad Epure, gave us multiple “its people are calm and very Wynn. “Once inside we recommendations of were surprised to find that laid back, making their way it was Oktoberfest. We gently through the streets attractions to visit” mingled with the crowd of of this concrete jungle. The expats carrying steins and nights were also something to remember, as the city lights up into a multitude wearing decorative costumes. But eventually we reached where the locals had congregated – studof Tetris colours.”

“The streets at night were full of contract ying the form, making notes and placing bets, between light and darkness, and easy to get lost seemingly oblivious to the Oktoberfest happenin,” explains winner Thomas Kast. “The city is ing around them.” quite large. Often I had to rely on the GPS and my “The locals welcomed us everywhere we went,” gut. My gut, mostly – which sometimes worked, remembers Paul-Vlad. “Most of them smiled but mostly didn’t. That said, it’s the less-trodden while we were taking candid street photos. Many parts of Hong Kong that turned out to be the most of them asked if we could share the photos with interesting. And if not for getting lost, I wouldn’t them and we got multiple recommendations of attractions to visit.” be able to discover those.”

“There is so much on offer in Hong Kong,” “I’ve visited Hong Kong before but not been to its islands,” Paul Wynn tells us. “I was surprised by marvels Geraint, before providing some suggesthe rural, recreational nature of the area around the tions for photographers coming to the territory.

Sai Kung District. The trip there, to Yim Tin Tsai “For some nature and coastal photos, take a ferry Island in a small boat, was a delight and Stanley, to one of the many beautiful islands nearby.You’ll our guide, did a wonderful job showing us around need to take a wide-angle lens to capture the high modern buildings in the financial district.” ⊲ a deserted island and explaining its history.

THE PHOTOGRAPHERS

Thomas Kast (TK)

Geraint Rowland (GR)

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Paul Wynn (PW)

Paul-Vlad Epure (P-VE)

NEED TO KNOW Getting there Hong Kong is served by direct flights, with a number of airlines departing the UK including Virgin Atlantic (virginatlantic.com), British Airways (ba.com) from Heathrow and Cathay Pacific (cathaypacific.com).

Getting around Ferries are important transport modes between Hong Kong’s harbours and numerous islands. The iconic Star Ferry links Kowloon with Hong Kong Island. Other services link Central with Cheung Chau, Lantau and Lamma Islands, and west to Macao. Ferries from Wong Shek and Ma Liu Shui serve islands in the New Territories.

The Mass Transit Railway, Kowloon-Canton Railway and Light Rail cover much of northern Hong Kong and Lantau Island, Kowloon and up towards the Chinese border. Trams trundle along HK Island’s north shore, while the Peak Tram ascends to the eponymous viewpoint.

When to go Summer (May-Sept) brings high humidity and thunderstorms, with temps reaching 31°C+. It is also typhoon season. Spring (March-April) and autumn (October-November) are the most comfortable times to visit. Winter (JanuaryFebruary) is often cool and overcast, although temps rarely drop below 10°C. Pretty much every month is festival month. Most important is the Chinese New Year in late January/ early February, with parades and a riot of fireworks.

Hanging in Hong Kong (clockwise from top) The Hong Kong Central Harbourfront skyline’s most recent major addition – 2014’s 60-metre-high Observation Wheel – glows on the water as the Peak looms over the high rises in the background (P-VE); the buzzing, electric Hong Kong streets after dark (P-VE); decorative lanterns in Lee Tung Avenue, a tree-lined pedestrian avenue with plenty of shops, restaurants and coffee shops and a great place for people watching (PW); (previous spread) Hong Kong‘s bustling energy (TK) Chinese lanterns hanging from the roof of A-Ma Cultural Village, Macao (PVE)

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Reaching a Peak (left page, clockwise from top) View from The Peak (PW); the rooftop parking of ‘Le Huanan’ in Lok Wah South Estate boast an optical illusion – circles that are duplicated in a way that makes them look like they go on and on (P-VE); the beach on one of the offshore islands in Sai Kung area (PW); fishing boats in Sai Kung harbour (PW); (this page, clockwise from top) the Pavilion Bridge at Nan Lian Garden provides an opportunity to enjoy a spot of peace and tranquillity (PW); the colourful tram-lined streets (GR); detail from St Joseph’s Chapel on Yim Tin Tsai Island, a previously abandoned island that is now being revived and restored (PW)

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’d assumed that Macao was full of casinos,” reflects Paul Wynn, “But in reality there is so much more to see. The place is small, easy to walk around and feels very safe and welcoming.” Indeed, our four prize winners discovered that this peninsula and its islands hide a wealth of history, culture, food and nature perfect for exploration. However, after making the hop from Hong Kong, the team also experienced some challenges...

“We travelled during the monsoon,” explains Thomas Kast. “But as the weather improved, the colours returned to their proper place.”

“It’s a unique and contrasting region,” suggests Geraint Rowland. “A mix of huge hotels and casinos side-by-side with old Portuguese churches and cemeteries.” Each of the photographers got to experience the many sides of Macao, from the plentiful pockets of green spaces, the narow streets and its UNESCO-listed Historic Centre of, which includes the ruins of the 17th-century St Paul’s Church to the ancient A-Ma Temple, built in 1488 – long before the Portuguese first dropped anchor here.

“Our first morning provided an introduction to both the Portuguese and Chinese aspects of Macao,” recalls Paul Wynn. “We were introduced to the colonial architecture of St Lazarus’ Church and the traditional layout of a Chinese Garden at Lou Lim Ieoc. The majority of the people who were using the garden were elderly. Some were practising tai chi, others were playing musical instruments, some were taking in the sights and sounds from a wheelchair. Others found a place to sit and read a book. The common denominator was a sense of ease and peace – nobody was

rushing, people had time to stop, greet and talk.

A sense of community was all around.”

“You could feel the Portuguese influence,” agrees Paul-Vlad. "You could see it in the buildings, architecture and especially the food. But it’s mixed well with the Asian culture. The casinos are something to photograph – and maybe experience too. I loved photographing the narrow streets with view towards Casino Lisboa.”

One aspect of the local experience caught Thomas’ eye, as he went off-track to one of the local markets. “For me it turned out to be the most interesting part of the whole trip, and a gold-mine for a photographer. After shooting the market for several days, I’d accumulated enough material to publish a photo art album.”

Each of the photographers took the opportunity to try the local culture. “The diverse food on offer is an interesting fusion of Cantonese and Portuguese cuisines,” Geraint tells us. “Fresh seafood is in abundance, and if you have a sweet tooth, make sure you try the delicious pastéis de nata – egg tarts dusted with cinnamon. One iS never enough.”

“We had amazing sausages at Antonio’s Michelin-starred restaurant,” remembers PaulVlad.“The live music, sabrage and laughter complimented the narrow streets and Portuguese feel of the neighbourhood.”

“We also visited Coloane,” adds Paul Wynn of the nearby island, far removed from the bustle of the Peninsula, “We wandered around the painted houses in the sleepy streets and the Chapel of St Francis Xavier. The whole area oozed tranquillity and calm, no more so than when we sat on the waterfront sampling Lord Stow’s egg tarts.”

NEED TO KNOW Getting there There are no non-stop flights from the UK to Macao. Fly to Hong Kong, then transfer to Macao via the Hong Kong China Ferry Terminal, either TurboJet (turbojet. com.hk) or CotaiJet (cotaijet.com.mo); the crossing to Macao takes an hour.

Getting around Macao is only 9.3sq km, so it’s possible to visit the main sights on foot. The licensed metered taxis are inexpensive, although luggage will cost extra; Uber is increasingly popular.

The Light Rail Transit, a long-awaited metro system opened in 2019, with extensions underway.

Macao’s public buses are crowded but cheap; bus stop info is often only in Chinese or Portuguese.

Most hotels run complimentary shuttle buses to the airport, ferry terminals and mainland border.

When to go Spring (Mar-May) and autumn (Sept–Nov) are the best times to visit, with the temperature comfortable (22°C) without being too hot and sticky.

Summer season runs May-September; expect heavy humidity with thunderstorms and rainstorms. Rain is heaviest in May. Winter season is December-February; it can get cold (10°C), but is good for festivities – Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year and the Fringe Festival.

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Discovering Macao (clockwise from top) “A-Ma Temple – an awe inspiring place. As well as the beautiful architecture of the temple there are other impressive features to view, including wonderful stone carvings and brightly painted wood panels.” (PW); fresh from the oven – egg tarts at Lord Stow’s Bakery in Coloane Village (PW); St Anthony’s Church – one of the oldest churches in Macao, although it has been reconstructed several times (PW); detail of a market stall (TK); a local walks past a souvenir shop in Macao (GR)

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Macao imagery (left page, from top) St Paul’s Cathedral (TK); Chapel of St Francis Xavier, Coloane (PW); (this page, clockwise from top) lotus-covered ponds reflect the architecture of the structures that dot the Lou Lim Ieoc Garden (P-VE); one of the many temples in Macao in the A-Ma Cultural Village, Coloane, (P-VE); entrance to Lou Lim Ieoc Garden – a popular place for locals to relax among the bamboo trees and ornamental pools (PW); “As I was composing the shot, using the bright yellow pattern and texture of the gate, and waiting for someone to pass to create the element of colour, this lady surprised us by opening the door and smiling at us.” (P-VE)

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Immerse yourself in the diverse landscapes of Canada’s westernmost province

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Nestled in nature (clockwise from left) The Great Bear Rainforest is home to black, grizzly and the spirit bear, one of the rarest animals in the world; Halfmoon Bay is a small community along the Sunshine Coast perfect for exploring by canoe or kayak; the gorge of Wokkpash Creek in Stone Mountain Provincial Park in the northern Rocky Mountains; hikers in Cathedral Provincial Park should look out for mule deer, mountain goat, California bighorn sheep and black bear

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ild coast, snowy peaks, thundering rivers, vast rainforests: when it comes to big nature, there are few places in Canada that compare with British Columbia (BC). From the craggy Rockies to the Great Bear Rainforest and the Gulf Islands, it’s a land made for adventure...

ON THE OCEAN

At more than 25,000km, BC’s Pacific coastline has something for everyone: chilled out beach towns, deserted shorelines, dramatic cliffs and remote islands rich in First Nations culture. From Vancouver, take a road-trip along the Sea-to-Sky Highway, the snaking coast road that runs all the way to Squamish and Whistler, or head along the Sunshine Coast to visit the laid-back coastal communities of Gibsons, Roberts Creek, Sechelt and Powell River.

Across the Strait of Georgia, Vancouver Island is home to British Columbia’s capital city, Victoria, where you can enjoy whale-watching tours and kayaking expeditions. Catch a wave in Tofino, BC’s surf central, before venturing north to visit the island’s isolated seaside villages.

Visit the Southern Gulf Islands for kayaking, beaches and coast hikes, or spot wildlife on the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast and Prince Rupert on the north-west coast, a playground for eagles, otters, orcas, sea lions, dolphins, grey whales and humpbacks. For an indigenous perspective, paddle a traditional canoe with Takaya Tours, or go on a storytelling hike with Talking Tree Tours at Squamish. You’ll never see the ocean the same way again.

IN THE RAINFOREST

Encompassing 64,000 sq km of northern BC, the Great Bear Rainforest forms part of the planet’s

For more information, go to: Bvusa.co/BC

largest area of coastal temperate rainforest.

It’s a biodiversity hotspot, with cedar trees that are more than a millennia old. Unsurprisingly, it’s a wildlife watchers’ paradise, and one of the few places where you can see wild grizzlies and black bears in their native habitat.

For the ultimate experience, book a few nights at a backcountry lodge such as the Great Bear Lodge or Khutzeymateen, where naturalists lead guided hikes into the forest to watch wild bears foraging for berries in spring or fishing for salmon in summer. Very occasionally, a spirit bear (otherwise known as a Kermode bear) may make an appearance: identifiable by its milk-white coat, this rare bear (actually a sub-species of the black bear) was sacred to First Nations people, who called it moksgmÕol, or ‘white bear’.

But the Great Bear Rainforest isn’t BC’s only tract of ancient forest: around 70% of BC remains under tree cover, making it one of Canada’s most forested provinces. Walk through the wild woods of Vancouver Island, hike through fragrant pine forests in the Rocky Mountains or get lost in the Ancient Forest near Prince George; in many ways, BC’s trees are its greatest treasure.

HIGH IN THE MOUNTAINS

Wherever you go in BC, mountains are a constant companion. BC has ten major mountain ranges, more than any other province – from the coastal peaks around Squamish and Whistler to the southern Selkirk Mountains and the distant northern ranges of the St Elias Mountains and the Tumbler Ridge Global Geopark.

None, however, are mightier than the Rockies, the majestic mountain chain that marks British Columbia’s eastern border and forms part of North America’s largest alpine system. Home to national parks including Yoho, Mount Revelstoke, Kootenay and Glacier, the Canadian Rockies

offer a wealth of alpine experiences: skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and sledding in winter and hiking, mountain-biking, zip-lining, rock climbing and via ferrata in summer. They’re also ideal for a wild swim – either in a glacial lake or crystal-clear mountain river for the purists, or for the less hardy, a geothermally heated pool such as Radium Hot Springs or Fairmont Hot Springs. Mountain towns such as Fernie, Golden, Nelson and Rossland make ideal bases, with numerous outdoor activity companies and gear suppliers, as well as loads of local trails.

Many mountain towns date back to the Gold Rush, and they’re full of heritage buildings (not to mention some of BC’s best craft breweries).

There’s wildlife aplenty to spot, too – mountain goats and bighorn sheep skipping along the cliffs, marmots and ground squirrels skittering around in the undergrowth, elk and moose munching their way through the woods and eagles wheeling above the valleys. No mountain experience would be complete without visiting some of British Columbia’s great glaciers.

More than 400 glaciers can be seen in Glacier National Park alone. Head out for a hike here to find an uninterrupted view of the ancient ice sheets glistening under the sun – a sight you won’t quickly forget.

GO WITH THE EXPERTS

Start planning your perfect visit to British Columbia with the help of the experts from Bon Voyage. With over 40 years of experience, you can trust Bon Voyage to create you a high quality, high value trip that draws on the advice and firsthand experiences of its team of travel experts.

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Discover the world’s strangest creatures – and where you can find them Words Graeme Green

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ouis Armstrong was right when he thought to himself “what a wonderful world” we live in. It’s also a weird world. As with humans, it would be a dull planet if every animal looked and behaved exactly the same. A bit of ‘strange’ or ‘different’ is a good thing.

Take giraffes, for example. They’re such a common sight on many safaris that we take for granted just what a bizarre animal they are, with a towering neck and a tongue that can strip leaves from thorny branches. These animals grow to such a great height that they need to splay their legs to bend low enough to drink water, a system of valves kicking in to stop too much blood rushing to their head.

But giraffes are just one example of the wonderful species that travellers can discover on their journeys. From Australia to Scotland to Venezuela, it’s possible to find frogs, fish, birds, primates and other creatures large and small that stand out for their incredible colourings, patterns and physical characteristics, and remarkable behaviours and abilities.

Here, we celebrate some of the most striking and unusual animals that live on Earth, and share advice on where and how to find them.

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1 Manatee

Too much time at sea (or on the rum) must do something to the mind, as sailors across history apparently mistook manatees – large, slow-moving, aquatic mammals – for ‘women of the sea,’ or mermaids. Also known as sea cows, these herbivorous hulking creatures feed mainly on sea grass, scoffing more than a tenth of their bodyweight each day. They have a flat, paddle-shaped tail and come up for air every few minutes.

Where to see? Florida’s Crystal River is a known hotspot, with manateespotting tours and the chance to snorkel with them. Belize is also known to have good opportunities to spend time with manatees, which are also found in Costa Rica, Mexico and Jamaica. Manatees are not to be confused with their cousins, dugongs, another sea cow species found around Australia’s Great Barrier ⊲ Reef, Thailand and elsewhere.

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Where to see? The small number of remaining kākāpō exist on a handful of predator-free, sanctuary islands, under close supervision, mostly near Stewart Island, Fiordland and Little Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf. The general public’s currently unable to view this species in the wild, due to restrictions on protected habitats.

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4 Rock Agama

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The tarsier’s an animal that seems to be taking the phrase ‘eyes bigger than your stomach’ as a literal challenge. The little, leaping primates have massive eyes, long, thin alienlike fingers and heads that rotate like they’re auditioning for a part in a remake of The Exorcist. Sadly, their cuteness has made them popular over the years as pets or as props forced to pose for tourist photos, causing them distress.

Where to see? The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists more than a dozen species of tarsier across South-East Asia, including the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, several of which are Endangered or Critically Endangered.

Bohol in the Philippines is a good place to see tarsiers; try one of the local sanctuaries, such as Tarsier Conservation Area.

3 Kākāpō

New Zealand’s birds must love the ground. The round-faced kākāpō, also known as an owl parrot, is another species of endemic flightless bird, the

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only flightless parrot on Earth. It’s wings help with balance and to ‘parachute’ when jumping from tall trees to the forest floor. The birds are known to freeze when they feel threatened, to blend into the forest greenery and escape predators. Māori and European settlers used to keep the birds as pets. They’re now listed as Critically Endangered, largely due to habitat loss and predatory invasive species.

Bright eyes (clockwise from top left) A tarsier on Bohol Island, Philippines; a critically endangered kākāpō peers from the bushes, Codfish Island, NZ; a maned wolf in the shrubbery; rock agama, Ruaha NP, Tanzania

Alamy; Graeme Green

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2 Tarsier

If any creature looks like it doesn’t really belong to this planet, it’s the rock agama. The Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat of the lizard world is more like something from an alien world in a cartoon. Its bright orange or red head gives way to a luminous blue, mosaic-patterned body and tail, although female rock agamas are a duller brown.

Where to see? Rock agamas are found across Sub-Saharan Africa, including Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana. A good bet to see red-headed rock agamas is Ruaha NP in Tanzania; keep an eye out on rocks where males like to show off their colours to attract females.

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5 Maned wolf

Alamy; Graeme Green

Despite its name and fox-like appearance, the maned wolf is neither a wolf or a fox. It is, though, the largest canid species in South America, with large ears, a thick mane and long black legs that help the animals see out from long grass and to run at speeds up to 75km an hour. Rare, shy and elusive, you probably won’t get close enough to discover that maned wolf urine has a powerful aroma, said to remind people of a skunk’s smell.

Where to see? Maned wolves live in South America, including Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina, though they’re listed as Endangered in Argentina. The best plan is to take a specialist maned wolf-spotting wildlife safari in the vast Cerrado region of tropical savannah in Brazil, such as Emas NP. ⊲

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6 Colugo

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Better known as flying lemurs, colugos are arboreal mammals often seen gripping onto tall tropical tree trunks across South-East Asia, with two species: Sunda and Philippine.

Sometimes mistaken for bats, their closest relatives are actually primates. They can’t fly, but a membrane that extends between their limbs works like wings, allowing them to glide great distances from tree to tree or from the canopy down to the ground, like miniature wingsuit pilots.

Where to see? Flying lemurs are found across South-East Asia, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The Malaysian island of Langkawi is a good spot, with some hotels taking guests on nature walks to locate the otherwise hardto-find tree-huggers.

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7 Komodo Dragon

Komodo dragons look like survivors from the age of dinosaurs.

A type of monitor lizard, they can grow up to three-metres long and 300lb, making them the world’s largest and heaviest lizard. An apex predator, these meat-eating monitors have glands that secrete venom in their prey. They’re able to eat more than 80% of their own body weight in one sitting, and have been known to feed on other Komodo dragons. They’re also excellent swimmers.

Where to see? Komodo island in eastern Indonesia is home to around 4,000 dragons. Komodo National Park, which covers the island and nearby Rinca and Padar, was established to protect the lizards in 1980, becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991.

Take a walking tour with a ranger to see the dragons and other animals.

8 Basking shark

Where to see? Basking sharks are found worldwide, including the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans.

From July-September, they can be seen in Scotland, as they migrate to the Inner Hebrides to feast on plankton. You can often see the big fish around Coll, Tiree, Canna and Lewis’s Mangersta Head. Tours, for spotting sharks or swimming/snorkelling with them, leave from Oban.

Leaping lemurs (clockwise from left page) A Malayan colugo – or Sunda flying lemur – in the jungles of Borneo; basking shark, Coll island, Scotland; aye-aye lemur of Madagascar; Komodo dragon, Rinca Island, Indonesia.

The aye-aye is an unusual lemur species that’s native to the biodiverse island of Madagascar.

The world’s largest nocturnal primate has large bat-like ears, a possum-like face, rodent-like teeth, long fingers and staring eyes. A fascinating sight for wildlife lovers, many local Malagasy people believe the aye-aye is a harbinger of misfortune, bad for crops, fertility or even causing the death of a villager; this means they’ve been persecuted and killed, and are now listed as Endangered.

Where to see? Aye-Ayes can be seen on Madagascar’s east coast and north-western forests, with the small Farankaraina reserve on the Masoala peninsula one of a few locations where they can reliably be found. ⊲

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No one’s yet managed to communicate to basking sharks that it’s rude to eat with your mouth open.

The second largest living fish after the whale shark can grow to lengths of 12 metres, moving through the water with cavernous mouths gaping open to filter-feed on plankton. Harmless to humans, the mega-mouthed sharks often swim close to the surface, so they appear to be basking in the sun.

9 Aye-aye lemur

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Not to be mistaken for the fruit, the kiwi is a flightless bird, about the size of a turkey, with a long, pointed beak. It’s a close relative of the emu and cassowary, with fuzzy hair-like feathers. Chunky, muscular legs account for a third of their body weight, making them speedy movers.

The Māori consider the endemic bird special, calling it the ‘god of the forest’.

‘Kiwi’ has subsequently become shorthand for a person from New Zealand, a nickname for NZ soldiers from the Second World War that stuck.

Where to see? It’s possible to spot kiwis in the wild on Ulva Island, a predator-free sanctuary near Stewart Island. Kiwis are also thriving on Kapiti Island Nature Reserve. The National Kiwi Hatchery at Rotorua’s Rainbow Springs plays an important role in kiwi conservation – it’s possible to take tours. Or try a night walk at the 225-hectare Zealandia Karori Sanctuary in Wellington.

11 Glass frog

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Glass frogs get their name from their translucent skin – it’s possible to see through the amphibians’ abdomens to their hearts and intestines. With vibrant green skin on their backs, this see-through ability

makes it even easier for the frogs to camouflage themselves against the specific hues of forest plants, better to avoid being munched.

Sadly, their big eyes and visible interiors also made them popular as pets, a common item sold in the global wildlife trade.

Where to see? Glass frogs are found in tropical forests in Central and South America, including Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador. They’re commonly seen in Tortuguero National Park, La Selva Protected Zone and Caño Island Biological Reserve in Costa Rica, though an expert wildlife guide is recommended as their camouflage makes it tricky to spot them.

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12 Pangolin

Their name coming from the Malay ‘pengguling’, meaning ‘one who rolls up’, these remarkable mammals are covered in scales and known to curl up into a ball when threatened.

They have incredibly long, muscular, sticky tongues, longer than the animal’s body and head when extended, ideal for lapping up ants and termites; adult pangolins are able to consume more than 70 million insects every year.

Pangolins have the unfortunate tag as ‘the most trafficked animal in the world’ (more than one million over the last decade), their scales used for traditional ‘medicine’ in China and Vietnam (despite keratin having no medicinal properties) and sold as luxury meat across Asia, meaning all eight species are fighting for survival.

Where to see? Pangolins live in Africa and Asia. The best chance to see them is on safari in Botswana’s Okavango and Central Kalahari, Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, Hwange in Zimbabwe and South Africa’s Kruger National Park, although ⊲ sightings are rare.

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Where to see? There are thought to be around 7,000 proboscis monkeys left on the island of Borneo. Malaysia’s Bako NP is a great place to see them, alongside other wildlife (silver leaf monkeys, bearded pigs, pit vipers...).

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15 Wobbegong

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Also known as a whalehead, the prehistoric-looking shoebill is a large waterbird, often referred to as a stork, though it’s more closely related to pelicans and herons. As well as the distinctive bill, the birds can grow to be three-metres tall, with a wingspan reaching over five metres, but it’s their glaring eyes that make them look so fearsome. Shoebills are ambush predators, standing motionless in water, using their giant bill to chomp prey, including fish, frogs, lizards and even baby crocodiles.

Where to see? Uganda offers some of the best opportunities to see this rare bird, including Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda and Queen Elizabeth NP. The little-known Bangweulu Wetlands in northern Zambia is another good location, especially June and July to see chicks.

14 Proboscis monkey

The proboscis monkey’s bulbous, pendulous noses aren’t just for appearances. According to scientists, the enlarged organs create an echo chamber that amplifies

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males’ calls, impressing the ladies and intimidating rivals. They’re accomplished swimmers, unusual for primates, using their webbed feet to swim towards food or away from predators. The reddish coloured monkeys also have pot bellies to complete their look.

Big beaks (clockwise from top left) A shoebill – or whalehead stork; wobbegong shark on the ocean floor; platypus is released into McMahons Creek, Victoria; proboscis monkey in Bako NP

Shutterstock; Graeme Green; Alamy

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13 Shoebill

Unlike most sharks, wobbegongs don’t patrol through the ocean, searching for prey. Instead this bottom-dwelling beast rests on the sea floor, like a rug, explaining it’s alternative name: carpet shark. With plenty of camouflage, the massive-headed sharks wait for creatures to come into range, then snap open their huge jaws, creating a suction that hoovers their meal into their gaping mouth.

Where to see? Twelve species are found in the Pacific and Indian oceans’ tropical waters, mainly around Australia and Indonesia. Fantastic scuba destination Raja Ampat offers good chances to see them, alongside other sharks, manta rays and colourfish fish.

16 Platypus

Shutterstock; Graeme Green; Alamy

Like one of Dr Frankenstein’s experiments, only cuter, the platypus is nature’s original mash-up, with a body like an otter’s, a beaver-like tail and a duck’s bill and webbed feet. So strange is the duck-billed platypus that British scientists who saw a specimen for the first time in the late 1700s thought it was a hoax. Platypuses are venomous and, like sharks, they’re able to detect underwater prey using electroreception. Oddly for a mammal, they also lay eggs.

Where to see? Platypuses are mainly found in eastern Australia. Eungella National Park in Queensland and Latrobe in Tasmania have healthy populations; Broken River in Eungella has vantage points and bridges where they’re often seen swimming below. Atherton Tablelands (Far North Queensland) also has regular sightings.

They’re also being reintroduced to New South Wales’ Royal National Park, the oldest national park in Australia. ⊲

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to spot these rare birds in the wild, especially in the tropical rainforests lying between Mission Beach to the Daintree Rainforest lowlands.

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Capybaras are the world’s largest rodent, like a giant hamster or guinea pig (to which it’s closely related).

These semi-aquatic animals have partially webbed feet that help them swim Central and South America’s lakes, rivers and wetland areas. They’re vegetarians, feeding primarily on grasses, fruits, aquatic plants and tree bark, though these picky eaters are sometimes known to concentrate solely on one type of grass. They’re also highly sociable animals, living in large groups.

Where to see? You can find capybara from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina.

The massive Los Llanos (The Plains), stretching across Venezuela and Colombia, has plenty of the furry animals living alongside giant anacondas, caiman and monkeys.

Rodents of unusual size (clockwise from top left) Capybara in Los Llanos, Venezuela; southern cassowary on the beach; an aardwolf comes out at sunset to forage in Southern Africa

and strong legs that allow them to leap high, run fast and deliver damaging kicks. They’re also known for an infrasonic boom used to communicate, including in courtship rituals.

Where to see? Southern cassowaries are endemic to north-east Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. Far North Queensland is the best place

18 Southern cassowary

The southern cassowary is another animal that looks like it might have been drawn in crayon by a child.

These powerful, feisty birds, second largest in the world after the ostrich, have a vivid blue neck and red throat wattle, with a large casque (keratincoated ‘helmet’), as well as sharp claws

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Graeme Green; Shutterstock

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Their name meaning ‘earth wolf’ in Afrikaans, the aardwolf is neither aardvark or wolf, nor a combination of both, but actually a member of the hyena family.

Nocturnal animals, they spend their days underground in burrows, coming out to feed on up to 200,000 termites per night, using long sticky tongues to lap up their insect banquet. They’re also able to puff up their mane and body hair to look much bigger than they really are.

Where to see? Aardwolves like scrubland and savannahs in eastern, north-eastern and southern Africa, including Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. South Africa has some particularly good locations, including Sandveld Nature Reserve, Sterkspruit Nature Reserve and Mokala NP.

20 Magnificent frigatebird The Galápagos Islands are home to remarkable wildlife, including the odd-looking blue-footed booby.

Unfairly sitting in the shadows of the booby, the magnificent frigatebird is a striking pterodactyl-like seabird decked out in red. The male has a large crimson throat sac that it inflates to attract a mate, accompanied by a clacking sound it produces with its beak. Magnificent frigatebirds have a wingspan measuring up to five metres across, allowing them to fly long distances over sustained periods.

Where to see? Magnificent frigatebirds nest in Florida and the Caribbean, and on the Pacific coast of Mexico and South America, including Ecuador. Head to Galápagos, and you’ll also see tortoises, iguanas, sharks and sealions living alongside the magnificent ones.

Graeme Green; Shutterstock

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Saiga

The saiga antelope has a bulbous, swollen and flexible nose designed to filter out the dust during dry summers in Central Asia and to warm the colder air in winter. These Critically Endangered, nomadic animals, a type of herbivorous antelope, are known to travel up to 1,000 kilometres between the summer and winter seasons. Males have distinctive ridged horns, which are also consumed in traditional Chinese ‘medicine’ (despite no benefits).

Where to see? Saiga are found in Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. With numbers depleted catastrophically over the last three decades, they’re

not a common sight. They can be seen in Kazakhstan’s Betpak-Dala desert region, though neither getting there or finding saiga are easy tasks.

22 Pink dolphin

The Amazon river dolphin – or boto – lives in freshwater systems across the Amazon and Orinoco river

Putting on a show (clockwise from top left) Magnificent frigatebird on North Seymour Island, Galápagos; wild saiga antelope in the Kalmykia steppe, Russia; pink river dolphin

basins. These dolphins aren’t born pink; they start grey and develop their colouring over time, with brighter pink males more attractive to females. The colouring’s thought to be scar tissue from rough play or fighting between males, with the pink getting brighter when the dolphins are flushed with excitement. They’re often seen swimming upside down, allowing them to look down at what’s in the water. Pink dolphins are the subject of several Amazonian myths, including that they whisk people away to magical underwater cities and that they transform at night into handsome men to seduce and impregnate local women.

Where to see? Pink dolphins can be seen in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela. One of the best hotspots is Peru’s 20,000 square kilometre Pacaya-Samiria Reserve, where you can take a boat cruise.

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Kingdom of time 8 MUST-SEE HISTORICAL SITES IN JORDAN From the Nabataean ruins of Petra to Madaba’s ancient mosaic map, Jordan’s archaeological finds reveal a rich past

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Time travel (clockwise from this) View from the Siq of the Treasury which is over 2,000 years old; the Citadel, Jordan; the Madaba Mosaic Map is the oldest known map of the Holy Land; the Wadi Rum

ordan was founded in 1946 but its history dates back to around 250,000BC, when humans hunted in the Jordan Valley. Since then, civilisations from the Nabataeans to the Romans have left their mark, and at these eight places they come back to life...

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1 PETRA

shutterstock; Visit Jordan

Petra borders the modern town of Wadi Musa to the south of Jordan. Built by the Nabataeans, the city was home to some 30,000 people at its peak. The Romans took control around AD106, but after the 14th century, it became completely lost to the western world. Word spread after a European explorer visited in 1812, and today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A narrow gorge called the Siq, with walls around 80 metres high, snakes from the entrance to the Lost City’s most recognisable sight, a king’s tomb known as the Treasury. Be sure to return after dark to see it illuminated by hundreds of paper lanterns. The nearby High Place of Sacrifice, an altar on which animals were sacrificed, is well-worth the 40 minute climb. Perched on a cliff almost 170 metres above the Wadi Musa, it offers unforgettable sunset views over the red rocks.

been occupied since the Bronze Age and later housed a Byzantine church. Today you can explore the walled citadel and see the remains of the Temple of Hercules, built by the Romans around AD161. You can also roam a colonnaded street and the domed hall of Umayyad Palace, which dates back to AD720.

The citadel overlooks the Forum, a Roman square roughly the size of a football pitch, and a 6,000-seat Roman theatre, hewn from a hillside in the 2nd century AD. Once you’ve explored the amphitheatre, browse jewellery, masks and traditional dress in the Museum of Popular Traditions as well as weapons, tools and musical instruments in the Folklore Museum. Elsewhere, the Jordan Museum offers an overview of the country’s past, from its origins to present day.

3 WADI RUM

Wadi Rum may only be an hour’s drive from the southern town of Aqaba but it feels worlds apart. The colour of marmalade, the desert appears to belong more to Mars than Earth, which explains why it appears in the films The Martian, Star Wars and Lawrence of Arabia, which follows the eponymous British officer who

helped Arab tribes defeat the Ottomans in the First World War. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Wadi Rum is home to 20,000 inscriptions and 25,000 petroglyphs dating back 12,000 years to Neolithic times. Explore it with a local guide by camel or horse, on foot or in a hot air balloon or four-wheel drive.

Highlights include traversing Khazali Siq, clambering over rock bridges and Lawrence’s Spring, a watering hole still used by the Bedouins near Rum village. Stay the night to see Al Hasany dunes glow at sunset and stargaze from a Bedouin-style tent.

4 MADABA

Though its history dates back to the Old Testament, this market town near Amman prospered during the Byzantine era and is best known for its mosaics. Begin at the 19th century St George’s Greek Orthodox Church, which features the oldest known map of the Holy Land in the form of a mosaic on its floor. Made in the 6th Century, the Madaba Mosaic Map depicts places including Egypt, Lebanon, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

Just around the corner, the Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist was built in the early 1900s atop a 3,000-yearold working well. For a deeper understanding of Madaba’s past, visit its two archaeological parks to see the remains of a 6th century mansion and Virgin Mary Church where another impressive, detailed mosaic can be found on its floor.

2 AMMAN

Get your bearings of Jordan’s capital by climbing Jebel Al Qala’a.

Known as the Citadel, the hill has

For more information go to: visitjordan.com

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Living history (clockwise from this) As-Salt was once the capital of Jordan; Roman ruins at Umm Qais; Ajloun Castle; Hadrian’s Arch at Jerash

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After the castle, stop for lunch at Summaga, another social enterprise on Jordan’s Meaningful Travel Map that provides fulltime jobs for women. The Al Kifah Society, a cooperative of 25 organic farms around Ajloun, runs the café, which serves local recipes made with free range eggs, homemade cheese, jam, honey and olive oil as well as foraged ingredients such as za’atar and sumac. You can extend your visit in the area by hiking in Ajloun Forest Reserve nearby.

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Sitting within the Jordan Valley to the west of Amman and under Ottoman rule, the town of As-Salt became a capital from the 1860s to the 1920s. The town prospered during this ‘golden age’, thanks to the arrival of merchants and artisans from Syria and Lebanon. This exchange of cultures, along with the town’s yellow limestone architecture, led to As-Salt becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021.

Start by exploring As-Salt Archaeological Museum, a former home that displays traditional clothes, mosaics and other Roman, Byzantine and Islamic artefacts.

You can also learn about the

town’s history in Beit Abu Jaber, an Ottoman house turned museum, as well as at As-Salt Castle, built in AD1220. Have lunch at Beit Aziz, a 19th century house that is now a boutique hotel. It serves Jordan’s national dish of mansaf – lamb cooked in fermented yoghurt and served with rice.

6 JERASH

Around 50km north of Amman, Jerash offers a glimpse at a finely preserved Roman city. To enter, you will pass under an impressive 13-metre high arch named after Emperor Hadrian, making for a grand first impression. After the arch, the first sight you’ll see is the Hippodrome, where 15,000 spectators used to gather to watch chariot races.

8 UMM QAIS The Temple of Zeus, meanwhile gives you an aerial view of the Forum, a former marketplace at the southern end of the colonnaded main street.

Further along, don’t miss the Temple of Artemis and the wellpreserved North Theatre, which is thought to have been used for government meetings – many seats feature past councillors’ names. Go early to have breakfast at Beit Khairat Souf, an initiative managed by the Alnoor Almouben Association that trains and employs local women so they can support themselves financially. It is one of 12 social enterprises on Jordan’s Meaningful Travel Map, which highlights authentic experiences.

7 AJLOUN

Just a 20 minutes’ drive from Jerash in north-western Jordan, Ajloun Castle looms over the market town of Ajloun. Perched 1,250m above sea level atop Mt Auf, it offers panoramic views over the Jordan Valley, the three wadis and the desert beyond.

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Umm Qais is just beyond Ajloun, in the north-west of Jordan, close to Israel’s Sea of Galilee. Once known as Gadara, the ancient city was built on a strategic lookout point with views of Jordan, Israel, Palestine and Syria.

The city is home to impressive Roman and Ottoman ruins. The remains of an Ottoman village reveal a mosque and the former home of an Ottoman governor, which is now a small museum.

These sit alongside the Roman ruins of a 4th century public bath and grand fountain complex, shops and tombs. The highlight of your visit though is likely to be the West Theatre. Built from black basalt, it had a capacity for 3,000 people and once you drink in the view, you’ll realise why so many wanted to congregate here.

However you decide to spend your time in Jordan and wherever you decide to go, be prepared for an experience that will truly transport you through time. shutterstock; Visit Jordan

You can also watch artists restoring mosaics at Madaba Institute for Mosaics Art and Restoration.

For more information go to: visitjordan.com

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Ancient Egypt’s cultural centre, indigenous British Columbia and Mauritania’s remote outposts – this issue’s fascinating destinations take you further away from the crowds

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Hidden USA: Massachusetts

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Indigenous cultures: British Columbia

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Heritage: Mauritania

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British break: Rutland

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Off-grid: Alexandria, Egypt

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Short break: Northern Portugal

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View from above: Queenstown

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Double bill: Zagreb & Ljubljana

Historic Portugal A mix of Romanesque, Gothic, Moorish, Manueline and Baroque styles, the largely 15th century Braga Cathedral is one of the country’s most important religious sites. We explore northern Portugal’s history and culture on p188

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History

The Upper Town is chocolate box beauty Zagreb, awash with cobbles and church spires and home to St Mark’s Church, with its brightly coloured roof, plus the more modern Museum of Broken Relationships, which elicits both laughter and tears.Take the funicular down to the Lower Town and into the 19th-century. Grandiose museums and cultural institutions lead towards the main railway station, where a statue of King Tomislav asserts that this is very much now the capital of the Croatian nation.

Mayor Zoran Jankovic has revolutionised Ljubljana through massive pedestrianisation.

After a funicular ride to Ljubljana Castle reveals a mountain setting and storybook beauty, head to the Old Town to a collage of baroque and medieval, including the hulking cathedral. Across the café-strewn Ljubljanica, the New Town breathes art nouveau, galleries, Italianate drama, Roman remnants at the City Museum and Yugoslav Socialism in Republic Square.

Hike just north of the Upper Town and you’re soon into parkland. Further afield the big draw is Mount Medvednica. This bucolic playground peers down over Zagreb. In summer hiking and cycling tempt; in winter the skiing is so good that Croatia’s Olympic champion Janica Kostelic cut her Alpine teeth here. A poignant site is the Altar of the Homeland, which pays tribute to those who lost their lives fighting to secure Croatian independence in the 1990s.

Ljubljana is a gloriously green city, named a ‘European Green Capital’. A cruise on the willow-strewn Ljubljanica River reveals a city at one with nature.

The most famous green lung is Tivoli Park, with its walkways and thick forests. Get up early for a sunrise hike up Smarna Gora on the outskirts to appreciate how wild and wildly beautiful the region is.Tour buses zoom out to Lake Bled, arguably the finest glacial lake in Europe. Enjoy a hike around it, or escape the crowds at nearby Lake Bohinj.

Zagreb has one culinary foot – more pig’s trotter – immersed in the creamy sauces and hearty fare of Croatia’s hinterland; the other breezing through olive oil-dappled seafood from the sinewy coast.

Tuck into the Zagreb schnitzel, or savour boat-fresh seafood. Café culture bustles around Ban Jelacic Square and cobbled Tkalciceva. Dolac market offers a taste of the city’s surrounds.The local beer, hoppy Ozujsko, goes well with the meat dishes, while a Dalmatian white wine pairs with your seafood.

Ljubljana is like a greatest hits of European food and drink: paprika-spiced goulash sweeps in from the Prekmurje region by Hungary, Balkan grills from further south, seafood from Slovenia’s bijou littoral and cakes that would pass muster in Vienna, while there’s enough pizza and gelato to please a Neapolitan. Michelin have even recently sprinkled stars on top. The local hoppy Union beer tempts in the riverside cafés, as does the white wine from the Vipava Valley and sturdy reds from Goriska Brda.

The grand five-star Esplanade Hotel Zagreb dates to 1925 and retains the dignity and grandeur from the years when it hosted Orient Express passengers.

It is, of course, handily located next to the main railway station in the Lower Town at the fulcrum of myriad tram routes; also handy is its superb Zinfandel’s restaurant. Doubles from £81; esplanade.hr

Gloriously art nouveau, the best rooms at the lavish four-star Grand Union Hotel peer out across the flourishes of Miklosiceva, and towards the Ljubljana Castle. All the sights lie within walking distance, as does the main railway station, with a swimming pool for rainy days. Doubles from £104; uhcollection.si/grand-hotel-union

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Population: 280,000 approx Average max July temperature: 28°C Famous for: Germanic art nouveau and Plecnik’s Secessionist architecture, fairy-tale cobbled Old Town, café culture.

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A direct train between Zagreb and Ljubljana takes around 2.5 hours on a scenic line that snakes through forest-clad hills weaving along the banks of the Sava River.

How to get there

Direct flights from London to Zagreb take just over two hours with British Airways (ba.com) offering return fares from £101.

Flight time from London to Ljubljana is slightly shorter – easyJet (easyjet.com) has return fares from £95.

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Ljubljana

The Romans knew Ljubljana as Emona, the Austro-Hapsburgs as a provincial capital and Napoleon – you’ll find a rare (outside of France) statue of the emperor – as a bulwark in the Balkans.

During the Yugoslav years (1945-1992) Ljubljana emerged as a hub, a role it continues as capital of the independent EU-member Slovenia. Ljubljana wears its history on its architectural sleeve with baroque medieval lanes and cathedrals, swirling around a swathe of nouveau and socialist retro chic.

Around town

Zagreb

Zagreb’s medieval roots wrap around the twin hills of Gradec and Kaptol (once separate settlements), the latter now the site of the city’s vaulting cathedral. Zagreb prospered during the Austro-Hapsburg days, but suffered during German occupation in World War Two. Croatia’s eventual independence fromYugoslavia was hard-won in the 1990s as Zagreb came under attack. Today it is a city where the past and the confident present constantly interplay across the Upper and Lower Towns.

Surrounding nature

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Population: 806,000 approx Average max July temperature: 29°C Famous for: Baroque and medieval Gornji Grad (Upper Town), grand 19th-century Donji Grad (Lower Town), café culture.

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Since the fall of Yugoslavia, these capitals’ historic streets have become re-energised, says Robin McKelvie

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Zagreb and Ljubljana

AT A GLANCE

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Up-and-coming capitals (clockwise from top left) The Ljubljanica river winds past Ljubljana old town and its red Franciscan Church of the Annunciation (finished by 1660), passing under one of the Triple Bridges connecting the historical medieval town to the modern city on the other bank; St Mark’s Square in Zagreb houses many of Croatia’s key political buildings, including the parliament; a form of Ljubljana Castle has loomed over the capital since the 11th century – although it’s been fully rebuilt a few times since; Zagreb cathedral’s landmark spires dominate the city skyline; (left page) Zagreb’s Esplanade hotel was built in 1925

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Hidden Massachusetts

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Small but dense with local – and national – interest, the East Coast state is rich with Founding Fathers’ history, classy modern culture and spools of serene nature beyond the ever-popular leaf-peeping trails Words Kathy Arnold

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NEED TO KNOW

sk most Americans about Massachusetts and they talk about Boston, Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. And its leading role in the founding of the nation: the Pilgrim Fathers’ landing 400 years ago and the start of the American Revolution. But there’s much more to this state than history.

At only 240km wide, Massachusetts may be one of America’s smallest states, but few places are denser with things to see and do.

Its Atlantic coastline is a natural playground, with broad sandy beaches and every kind of water sport. To the west, the rolling Berkshire Hills are perfect for hiking, biking and communing with Mother Nature. In between is farmland, with back roads leading to picture-perfect villages.Think cosy taverns, historic homes and the white spire of a church spiking up to the deep blue sky.

Massachusetts has long been on the foodie map. The bounty of farmers’ markets ranges from orchard fruits to 100 types of artisan cheese. Beer and cider fans can compare and contrast the 80 craft breweries and cideries. As for seafood, that comes straight from the briny. Stop at a ‘clam shack’, a simple seashore eatery, for lobster, clam chowder and corn on the cob. But save room for ice-cream – the home-made variety.

Slurp fresh peach, good old-fashioned vanilla, ‘Sea Turtle’ and ‘Deer Tracks’.

And you’re never far from a museum, art gallery or living history attraction.

Some are world-famous; others are smaller, telling a local tale. Wherever you are in Massachusetts, there’s something special close by, just waiting to be discovered.

Getting there: Boston’s Logan International Airport (BOS) welcomes daily non-stop flights from the UK. Major airlines include British Airways (ba.com), American (americanairlines.co.uk) and Virgin Atlantic (virginatlantic.com).

Getting around: No car is needed in Boston, as the city has the ‘T’ public transport system (mbta.com). Rent cars when leaving town; use the PlatePass (E-ZPass MA) electronic toll payment, as many highways are now all-electronic or have cashless toll collection lanes.

Deals: When doing the sights In Boston, consider the CityPASS® (citypass.com) or Go Boston All Inclusive Pass (gocity.com).

Accommodation: Special places to stay in Boston range from the 110-yearold grande dame Fairmont Copley Plaza (fairmont.com) to the contemporary Inn @ St. Botolph (innatstbotolph. com) and Verb, a retro rock ‘n’ roll motel (theverbhotel.com). In the Berkshires, The Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge (redlioninn.com) offers 250 years of history. In North Adams, TOURISTS (touristswelcome.com) combines a funky motor lodge vibe with 21st century art. In the Connecticut Valley, The Deerfield Inn (deerfieldinn.com) links 19th-century charm with modern practicality. The Trustees of Reservations has two historic accommodations: The Inn at Castle Hill on the North Shore and The Guest House at Field Farm, Williamstown (thetrustees. org). New England Inns & Resorts lists characterful abodes, all carefully vetted (newenglandinnsandresorts.com).

NB: In foliage season, advance booking is essential; a two-night min is standard.

Official site: visitma.com

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Top-notch culture and natural beauty: the partnership is perfect. Who wouldn’t want to listen to concerts outdoors on a balmy evening? Tanglewood is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, but the wooded Berkshire Hills are alive to more than the sound of music. Also in Lenox, Shakespeare & Company performs plays indoors and out; nearby, Becket draws international companies to the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Further north, the Williamstown Theatre Festival is a showcase for stars of stage and screen. For all these, the main programmes run from latespring to autumn, but the arts thrive year-round in the Berkshires.

Check out what’s new in the visual and performing arts at Mass MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) in North Adams. For contrast, see French masters like Renoir, Monet and Degas ⊲ – as well as the American-in-Europe, John Singer Sargent – at the

East coast culture (clockwise from top) The Olde Heritage Tavern has sat on Housatonic Street, Lenox, for over 50 years; visitors gaze at the colourful wall paintings

by Sol Lewitt in his retrospective at the Mass MoCA; viewers in the alfresco lawn seating enjoy a concert at Tanglewood Ozawa Hall; (main) autumn arrives at Annisquam Harbor, Cape Ann

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Clark Art Institute in Williamstown. Beyond the galleries, the bistros, B&Bs and shops – ranging from posh to quirky – only add to the artistic atmosphere. But do as the locals do: call them the ‘Burk-shers’. berkshires.org; mohawktrail.com

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THE NORTH SHORE & CAPE ANN

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Beaches and rocky outcrops; coves and harbours; terrific museums and whales at play: that is the North Shore and Cape Ann, the long coastline north-east of Boston. Start in Marblehead, a posh yachting centre, where grand old mansions reflect the trading wealth of 200 years ago.

In Salem, once the main seaport, the Peabody Essex Museum offers collections of ‘souvenirs’ brought back by sea captains from Africa, Asia, Oceania and more. But Salem has a dark side: the gruesome witch trials held here in the 17th-century.

Out on Cape Ann, Gloucester’s busy waterfront matches a commercial fishing fleet with sleek whale-watching boats. But America’s oldest seaport is also its oldest art colony. Find out about painters like Edward Hopper and Winslow Homer on the Rocky Neck Historic Art Trail.

Smaller, and totally charming, is another creative hub, Rockport – an old dock, a red fishing shack and light playing on the water: this scene has inspired a long line of artists and photographers. Join them. northofboston.org; capeannvacations.com

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New England’s longest river is the Connecticut, which runs northsouth straight through Massachusetts. By 1700, Europeans had settled the valley’s fertile farmland. Their story – and that of their Native American neighbours – is told in Historic Deerfield. Here, a dozen lovingly-preserved houses, plus the Flynt Center of Early New England Life, depict their lives, with handsome furniture, elegant clothes and farm tools. Back then, rivers were transport highways; now, some provide adventures, such as white-water rafting on the Deerfield River.

For contrast, visit Amherst, whose youthful buzz typifies an American ‘college town’. It also has two delightful museums: one devoted to the 19th-century poet, Emily Dickinson; the other celebrating Eric Carle, author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

For urban pleasures, such as cafés, boutiques and galleries, head for Northampton, nicknamed ‘Noho’. But save time for Springfield, the birthplace of basketball. Watch videos, take selfies and shoot three pointers at the Basketball Hall Of Fame. Then chuckle your way round the Amazing World of Dr Seuss Museum, enjoying the witty rhymes of local hero Theodor Geisel, aka Dr Seuss. franklincc.org; visithampshirecounty.com; explorewesternmass.com

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Massachusetts meanders (clockwise from top) People stroll the main street in the seaside town of Marblehead; a statue of Roger Conant, who helped established the community at Salem in the 17th century; with houses dating back to the 1700s, the Historic Old Deerfield district was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1966; the Connecticut River at dawn as seen from South Sugarloaf Mountain in Deerfield; whitewater rafting on the Deerfield River, Rowe

THINGS TO DO Fall foliage

Autumn is spectacular. Warm days followed by crisp nights flip a switch, turning a gazillion leaves to scarlet and gold, purple and orange.

Avoid the hordes of ‘leaf peepers’ by travelling midweek and basing yourself in the country; then hike or bike. Explore back roads, such as the Western Massachusetts Scenic Byways.

Route 116 takes in small towns, wooden covered bridges, Savoy Mountain State Forest (for hiking trails) and Adams, where the Berkshire Scenic Railway runs foliage train trips. bywayswestmass.com

Appalachian Trail

One of the world’s most famous hiking routes, the Appalachian Trail runs for 3,500 kilometres down the eastern United States. Some 150km are in the Berkshires. You don’t have to do it all: highlights include 1,064m Mount Greylock, the state’s highest point. Walk on and around the mountain; drive to the summit and follow paths. Clear-day views stretch for 150km. appalachiantrail.org

Living history

Stepping back in time is easy, educational and fun in Massachusetts. South of Boston, Plimoth Patuxet Museums (plimoth.org) is a time machine like no other. Board Mayflower II, a full-scale reproduction of the small, cramped ship that sailed to the New World in 1620. Then tour the Pilgrim Settlers’ Village and ask costumed interpreters about life in the 17th century. Of course, Native Peoples were here already. Learn about their traditions at the Patuxet Homesite.

Fast forward to the 1830s at Old Sturbridge Village (osv.org), near Worcester. Cooks and carpenters, farmers and blacksmiths demonstrate their skills in this community of historic homes and shops, a bank, a schoolhouse and more.

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Whale watching

A shadow in the water; a few ripples; then a 36,000kg humpback whale breaches, leaping out of the ocean. Visitors can watching these marine giants from April to October; they can be found feeding – along with minke and fin whales – just off the Massachusetts coast one of the world’s best locations for spotting marine mammals. Take a cruise from Gloucester, Provincetown, Barnstable, Boston or Plymouth.

The best have a naturalist on board. Pack sunscreen, an extra layer of clothing and be sure your camera is charged.

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INDIGENOUS CULTURE

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Canada’s western province is the place to immerse yourself in the history, traditions, legends and ceremonies of the country’s diverse first inhabitants, says Theresa Storm

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etween the Pacific Ocean and Rocky Mountains, British Columbia (BC) is Canada’s westernmost province. It is also the second-most visited by international tourists, drawn to the scenic beauty of its vast wildernesses as well as Canadian wildlife greats such as grizzly bears and orcas, ancient rainforests, majestic mountain ranges and scores of islands, lakes and waterfalls. Plus there’s another compelling reason to visit. British Columbia is home to Canada’s most diverse indigenous cultures.

Long before the arrival of Europeans, the original inhabitants – the First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples – lived here in what is now known as BC for more than 10,000 years. They developed unique societies, customs, traditions, territories and laws. Lifestyle and culture evolved distinctly depending on whether one lived on the north-west coast or in the Northwest Plateau, between the Coast Mountains and the Rockies, leading to vast differences between the peoples. They are united, however, by a deep connection to nature, a rich oral tradition and respect for elders.

When explorers and settlers arrived in the mid-18th century, the indigenous numbered in the thousands. Today, there are approximately 200,000, about 4% of BC’s 5.2 million residents. British Columbia is Canada’s most diverse province for indigenous peoples, home to 198 distinct First Nations, one-third of Canada’s total. And with 34 living

languages and close to 60 dialects spoken, BC also counts the most First Nations languages.

With such a richness of cultures and a visitor-focused economy, British Columbia has a vibrant and ever-growing indigenous travel industry in all six of the province’s diverse regions, helmed

by Indigenous Tourism BC (ITBC; indigenousbc.com).

The Coast Salish, Nuu-chah-nulth and Kwakwakaw’akw are experts at navigating the Pacific Ocean around Vancouver Island; northern BC is home to many distinct indigenous peoples, including the Nisga’a, Haida and Tahltan; the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast, which spans the province’s lower middle from the Pacific Coast to the Cariboo Mountains, is the territory of the Secwepemc, Tsilhqot’in, and Dakelh; the Vancouver Coast and Mountains is homeland of the Coast Salish people, including Squamish, Lil’wat, Sto:lo, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh; the Nlaka’pamux, Okanagan and Secwepemc First Nations live in the Thompson Okanagan region; while the Ktunaxa inhabit the rugged Kootenay Rockies area.

By choosing indigenous-owned and -operated tourism experiences, travellers share in living languages, cultures and traditions, gleaning understanding and creating more meaningful connections to people, land and wildlife. The following are six places for visitors to get a taste of the many diverse indigenous experiences on offer in British Columbia.

Parading in the New Year Thousands of indigenous people from different tribes join together to celebrate the Hoobiyee, the Nisga’a community’s Lunar New Year; (below) native Haida dancers perform in traditional regalia, Old Massett on Graham Island in Haida Gwaii

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Six places in British Columbia’s six regions with enriching indigenous cultural experiences

1 Vancouver Island

In an old-growth rainforest on the rugged west coast, the Yuu-thlu-ilthaht (Ucluelet) First Nation built Wya Point Resort (http://www.wyapoint. com/#) on the prior site of a village outside Ucluelet. Choose from tent and RV camping or waterfront yurts with private access to Wya Beach or nine luxurious ocean-front timber lodges built with local red cedar.

Raised on stilts, each lodge is designed by a local carver and artist and named for an important animal. The totem poles in each are works of art.

2 Northern BC

Accessible by plane or ferry, the Haida Heritage Centre at K’aay Llnagaay (Sea Lion Town) resembles the ancient seaside village that once stood here on Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off BC’s north-west coast. Six master-carved totem poles front the complex, representing the southernmost villages. Watch artists at work on monumental poles and canoes in the Carving House, then learn about Haida’s vital mode of transportation in the Canoe House.

The Saving Things House – the Haida Gwaii Museum – displays historical objects, art and natural history collections. haidaheritagecentre.com

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3 Cariboo Chilcotin Coast

Deep in the Great Bear Rainforest – part of the world’s largest coastal temperate rainforest – beneath a canopy of red cedar trees lie the

10,000-year-old Thorsen Creek petroglyphs. Hike into the Bella Coola Valley site with Copper Sun Journeys (coppersunjourneys.com). At mosscovered rocks etched with carvings by his Nuxalk ancestors, Chris Nelson interprets their meanings and shares, through words and songs, the Nuxalk people’s story “through our eyes, right from creation through to smallpox and the potlatch ban, to today.”

Coast & Mountains 4 Vancouver

The Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre (slcc.ca) in Whistler showcases the art and heritage of the Squamish and Lil’wat Nations – Salish-speaking Coast and Interior neighbours. The Great Hall is crowned by a 12-metre Salish hunting canoe carved from a single cedar tree. Join a cultural ambassador for a tour or make a drum or dreamcatcher. In Vancouver, the Museum of Anthropology at UBC (moa.ubc.ca) highlights First Nations

works, which include a glass-walled Great Hall with towering poles and house posts. Don’t miss the world’s largest collection of pieces by famed Haida artist Bill Reid.

5 Thompson Okanagan

Nk’Mip Cellars is North America’s first indigenous-owned and -operated winery, situated on Osoyoos Indian Band land in the South Okanagan (greatestatesokanagan.com/Visit-Us/ NkMip-Cellars). Sup international award-wining wines paired with farm-to-table bites, prepped with indigenous techniques, at the Patio Restaurant overlooking Lake Osoyoos.

Nearby, at the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre (nkmipdesert.com), walking trails reveal the band’s deep ties to Canada’s only pocket desert. Stay at Spirit Ridge (hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/ canada/spirit-ridge/ylwub) next door.

Indigenous art (clockwise from top left) Depicting the Haida creation myth and carved from a single block of laminated yellow cedar, The Raven and the First Men is a sculpture by Haida artist Bill Reid and found in the rotunda of the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology; the Haida Heritage Centre at K’aay Llnagaay, Graham Island, Haida Gwaii; ancient prehistoric petroglyph carved by indigenous First Nations people in the Great Bear Rainforest region, Bella Coola

6 Kootenay Rockies

Nestled into the mountainside along the shore of Kootenay Lake, Ainsworth Hot Springs Resort (ainsworthhotsprings.com) is in the traditional homelands of the Ktunaxa.

After battle, warriors soaked in the medicinal spirit waters. Today the healing hot springs are still a place for good medicine. Bathe in the mineralrich restorative waters in a natural horseshoe cave or in the lounging pool, and then indulge in a treatment, like a steamy body wrap with wild medicinal plants, in the refurbished Spirit Water Spa.

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Ancient Ksour of Mauritania

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Known to few travellers, these four outposts are the artistic essence of Sub-Saharan Africa, reckons Sean Connolly, who discovers stone minarets, early Islamic manuscripts and even the occasional camel train

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A focal point for a country The Chinguetti Mosque was created around the 13th century – its minaret (thought to be the second oldest in continuous use) is now a national emblem for the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

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hinguetti. Ouadane. Tichitt. Oualata. Although outrank hooves, it’s still possible to spot camel trains hauling they may lack the cachet of that most famous massive, hand-hewn blocks of salt, particularly in Tichitt, the of caravan towns, Timbuktu (only 45 days remotest of the four towns.

The four ksour were also hubs of Islamic scholarship, and from Chinguetti by camel), these four outposts deep in the Mauritanian Sahara are served as the last outposts for pilgrims setting off towards no less historical. Situated in a loose Mecca on hajj. Though would-be hajis arc across Mauritania, they sit at the today instead head for Nouakchott very fringes of human habitation in the “You can spend a week airport, this rich Islamic heritage lives on country, pinprick outposts overlooking in the centuries-old manuscripts kept in travelling between the plains of rocky desert and shifting private libraries here; the leather-bound Chinguetti and texts have been preserved by the boneerg dune seas beyond.

Ouadane by camel” dry desert air, yet remain fragile – not Known as ksour, these fortified unlike the towns themselves. villages derive their name from the Latin castrum – castle – and their high stone walls and narrow Indeed, these once-bustling centres of desert life today cut pedestrian alleyways more than look the part. Founded in something of a forlorn figure, far from modern trade routes, the 11th and 12th centuries, each was once an important with many of the traditional buildings having collapsed and caravan town for the trans-Saharan trade, hosting camel dunes lapping at the edges of town. The largest of the ksour, trains more than 1,000 animals long ferrying salt, gold and Chinguetti, once boasted more than 20,000 residents, but slaves across the great desert. Though today wheels typically today is home to fewer than 3,500. This still makes it the

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NEED TO KNOW

biggest, though, as Ouadane,Tichitt, and Oualata count fewer than 1,500 hardy souls each. Partly in response to their risk of being abandoned – or literally vanishing under the encroaching sands – the ksour were inscribed as UNESCO sites in 1996.

Chinguetti in particular retains an outsized importance in the Mauritanian psyche (and tourism industry) that belies its much-diminished size. The city’s 5-pointed minaret, famously topped with clay ostrich eggs symbolizing purity and fertility, remains Mauritania’s most iconic symbol, and Chinguetti is often said to be the 7th-holiest city in Islam (although no one seems to know which is the 6th). The squat stone minaret in Ouadane is similarly crowned, and these unusual ovoid embellishments serve as an elegant reminder of how the desert both connects and divides: ostrich eggs also adorn some of the famed earthen mosques along the Niger River, over 1,100km away.

Though part of the same UNESCO site, the ksour are geographically distant, and it’s a rare traveller who manages to visit them all. Chinguetti and Ouadane sit on the Adrar

Location: All four ksour are in centraleastern Mauritania, 500–1,000km inland from coastal capital, Nouakchott.

Getting there: From the UK, connect to Nouakchott daily via Paris (Air France) or Casablanca (RAM), or twice-weekly via Gran Canaria (Binter Canarias & Mauritanian Airlines). Connections from London take around 9–12 hours; from £55 return. Weekly (Dec-Mar) charter flights between Paris and regional capital Atar with Pointe Afrique (pointafrique.com/vols) are most convenient.

Getting around: The ksour are remote, and public transport challenging.

A good tour agency (and vehicle) can therefore be key. Native Eye (nativeeyetravel.com) and Lupine Travel (lupinetravel.co.uk) run scheduled trips, and Time 4 Mauritania (time4mauritania. com) arranges custom itineraries.

When to go: Nov-Mar is best, with highs around 30–35° and cool nights – other times can be truly scorching.

Accommodation: There’s at least one guesthouse with basic rooms (under £20) and meals (£5) in each ksour, but many opt to sleep out under the stars, either on the roof or in a khaïma tent.

Further info: Mauritania (Bradt Travel Guide; forthcoming) by Sean Connolly, the author of this article.

Plateau, a broad, rocky highland cut through by gorges and wadis that shelter a small archipelago of green oases and orchards. They are readily accessible from the nearby modern city of Atar, or delightfully, you can still spend a week travelling between the two by camel.

Tichitt and Oualata sit far to the south-east, along an 800km escarpment fringing the Aoukar Depression, where along with the two ksour, the stone remains of hundreds of prehistoric villages dot the cliffs.

Uniquely among the ksour, Oualata’s buildings are plastered in banco mud and decorated with striking red-and-white bas-reliefs. Getting to either is no easy task, however, and barely a handful of tourists reach either village every year.

But whichever village you choose, the homes and families of the ksour have hosted travellers for centuries, and you’ll be greeted with a heartfelt ‘bismillah’ – welcome.

Battling against the desert (from top) The interior decoration and sandy streets found in Oualata; the elementsblasted buildings of Ouadane

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ou may be able to reach the warmest part of the British Isles from mainland UK in under one hour, but despite its familiarities, Jersey feels slightly exotic. From beaches lapped by turquoise waters and sun-dappled vineyards to gentle French lanes, you’ll feel closer to the Mediterranean than the Mersey.

Here’s what to expect from this Brit…(ish) isle…

Go on a journey through time

Peel back the layers of Jersey’s captivating past at La Hougue Bie Museum. The name comes from the Old Norse word for mound, as the site is home to medieval chapels sitting on a hillock. A Neolithic passage runs beneath the mound, opening into a dolmen used for ceremonies over 5,000 years ago. Staggeringly, it was built more than a thousand years before Egypt’s pyramids and is the 10th

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oldest building in the world. Jersey Museum & Art Gallery also offers a fascinating insight into the island’s past, from the Ice Age – when Jersey wasn’t an island but was part of mainland France – right up to the vibrant island that it is today. Highlights include the gas-lit Victorian house and hearing Jèrriais (Jersey French).

Sandwiched between France and Britain, both countries have fought over beautiful Jersey.

Discover the island’s ties with Europe at Mont Orgueil, a wellpreserved medieval castle on the east coast, where you can enjoy panoramic views stretching as far as Normandy from its tower.

Like France, Germany also wanted to control Jersey, and they succeeded during the Second World War. Discover what life was like during the occupation at the Jersey War Tunnels, where you can explore 1,000m of the network built by prisoners that now houses

a unique exhibition about the period. Local guide Philip Marett’s grandparents lived on the island during the occupation, making him the ideal person to tour the bunkers and forts with while listening to his family stories of the war years.

Explore the island independently, by downloading the GeoTourist’s self-guided Liberation Route tour to hear inspiring stories of resistance, find liberation landmarks and learn about Liberation Day on 9 May when Germany surrendered.

Hit the trails

Craving an adventure this spring or summer? A bike ride through Jersey’s unspoilt landscapes while feeling the wind in your hair is bound to whet your appetite.

A network of signposted country roads known as Green Lanes

criss-cross the nature-filled island.

Loop Jersey in six hours, on the 64km trail that starts at Liberation Square in St. Helier and passes St. Aubin’s Harbour and La Corbière Lighthouse, and meanders through the pristine Les Mielles Nature Reserve on the west coast before continuing to Greve de Lecq beach and charming Gorey village. The route is a steep one, so consider

Visit Jersey; Max Burnett; *For full T&Cs, please visit: channelislandsdirect.co.uk/wanderlust

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Be surprised by Jersey this spring and summer on a culturally enriching travel experience that will make you feel a million miles from home

Culturally curious (clockwise from this) Mont Orgueil Castle is over 800 years old; the island is a gastronomist’s delight, especially with its abundance of fresh seafood; enjoy the delights of the markets; book with Channel Islands Direct for a great offer on the Radisson Blu Waterfont; embark on a bioluminescence tour; WWII relics; walking the coast

SAVE! 24% ON A 4-DAY JERSEY GETAWAY

Visit Jersey; Max Burnett; *For full T&Cs, please visit: channelislandsdirect.co.uk/wanderlust

Book with Channel Islands Direct for 3 nights at the Radisson Blu Waterfront, with a free upgrade to a seaview room, free afternoon tea and flights from London Gatwick. From just £245pp saving £58 if you book by 5 March 2022; Subject to availability and Ts & Cs*. This offer is also valid on return travel from Belfast, Gatwick, Glasgow, Liverpool, Luton or Manchester. Airports are available at a supplement are Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Exeter, Heathrow and Southampton. For details, visit channelislandsdirect.co.uk/wanderlust or call 0800 980 0930.

hiring an EVie electric bike to make cycling those hills a breeze.

Hikers will be delighted at Jersey’s national park on the west coast. Spread over 2,145 hectares, the vast natural area was only formed in 2011 after 7,000 islanders formed a human chain to protect it two years before. To find out more,

download a podcast from Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Google and do a self-guided walk along gorse and heather-covered clifftops. Look out for red squirrels, lizards and shorttoed treecreepers.

Jersey has one of the world’s largest tidal ranges, and at low tide, it grows to almost double the size.

When the tide is out and the sun has set, Jersey Walk Adventures host spectacular bioluminescence walks on the seabed so you can stroll through Caulleriella bioculata – worms that glow like fireflies.

Gorge on gourmet food Jersey is a true natural larder, bursting with gastronomic

For more information, go to: jersey.com

experiences to make even the most seasoned foodie traveller’s mouth water. Limit your food miles with locally sourced seafood cooked in Jersey garlic butter at a Faulkner Fisheries’ barbecue in L’Étacq.

Cook foraged ingredients such as fungi and seaweed on a campfire on the beach around St. Ouen with Kazz Padidar from Wild Adventures.

And don’t miss a Wild Edgewalker Nature Wander to forage for herbs to make tea during ‘forest bathing’ sessions – the Japanese meditative practice of strolling through woods.

Back in town, make like a local and browse produce such as lobsters, oysters and Jersey Royal potatoes at the bustling 200-year-

old Central Market and Beresford Street Market in St. Helier before visiting an old sail loft distillery with The Channel Islands Liquor Co. La Mare Wine Estate in St. Mary, meanwhile offers relaxing guided tours of its vineyards, orchards, cognac distillery and kitchen, which produces chocolate and fudge. The tour includes a tasty gin and tonic as well as samples of wine and apple brandy cream liqueur.

When the evening comes, book a table at local favourite Salty Dog Bar & Bistro in St. Aubin to tuck into locally sourced shellfish, such as pan-seared hand-dived scallops.

The two AA Rosette restaurant, Mark Jordan at the Beach, also serves seafood just up the road – another reminder that, in Jersey, you’re never far from the sea, a rich and diverse culture, and an experience that will make you feel so far from home.

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alking into Oakham’s old town centre, a blue plaque on a stone cottage caught my eye. It commemorated former resident Jeffrey Hudson (1619-1682), the ‘smallest man from the smallest county in England’.

Hudson, I later leaned, was a metre-high court dwarf, decreed a ‘wonder of the age’ for his well-proportioned tiny size. So a bit like Rutland itself.

Rutland is the country’s smallest historic county by some margin and, hovering in the landlocked midlands, one many outsiders struggle to place on map. But it’s a perfectly formed package of rural England and crams a fair amount into its limited borders, from Cotswold-like villages to one of the largest man-made reservoirs in Europe. As its motto declares: Multum in Parvo – much in little.

It hasn’t long been this way. Although the county’s heritage stretches back centuries, it was incorporated into Leicestershire in the 1970s and only regained its unitary status in 1997 – so in 2022, Rutland marks the 25th anniversary of its modernage independence.

“It’s nice to be independent,” baker Richard Baines told me as I ate a slice of traditional Battenberg outside his Uppingham store. “Control – you have control. And it’s unique isn’t it?”

Indeed, there is a uniqueness and quirk to this county. I drank honey-laced beer at the Grainstore tap room, a rare example of a traditional gravity-fed brewery. At Stoke Dry church I saw murals with a Native American-style headdress that, some believe, provide evidence of North America being discovered long before Columbus.

I ate at the wonderful King’s Arms in Wing, where smoked Rutland Water trout and culled grey squirrel is often on the menu. I cycled around the Hambleton peninsula, which used to be a ridge amid fields but is now a headland poking into the reservoir. And at Oakham Castle I wondered why it’s been a thing, since at least 1470, for visiting nobles to gift enormous decorative horseshoes - a practice that happens nowhere else.

No, Rutland is distinctly itself, and all the better for it. And its compact size makes it ideal for discovering over a weekend. ⊲

Ask a local

“Explore Rutland on foot. Start at Uppingham’s historic Market Place (where there’s a market every Friday, as there has been for centuries) and grab a snack from Uppingham Fine Food, my favourite independent shop.

Stroll down the High Street and walk along a path called The Inhams to beautiful Bisbrooke – home to Wilma the village pig, an artisan bakery, a secret garden and a stunning church – before looping back to Uppingham.”

Charlie Pallett, the Rutland Blogger, rutlandblog.co.uk

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Small-but-perfectly formed, Rutland packs in pretty villages, heritage and one of Europe’s largest man-made reservoirs.

Sarah Baxter explores England’s most-diminutive county

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On the water’s edge (clockwise from this) Built in the 1760s on a foundation from the 14th century, ’floating’ Normanton church was saved by protesters from the flooding that created Rutland Water; the horseshoes at Oakham Castle; view from Stoke Dry towards Eyebrook Reservoir, Leicestershire; Oakham’s Buttercross market square; birdwatching

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4 TOP THINGS TO DO EAT your way around the

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This driving or cycling route visits a range of producers across the ‘County of Good Taste’, from brewers and gin distillers to coffee grinders and bread bakers. discover-rutland.co.uk

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Make today a tale of two towns. Oakham, Rutland’s capital, is a pottering sort of place: wander between the market square (markets every Weds and Sat), Norman-era Oakham Castle (free; oakhamcastle.org), the County Museum (free; rutlandcountymuseum.org.uk), the high street and side alleys. Get refreshments at Scandi-inspired Fika (fikacafe.co.uk), Otters (ottersfinefoods.co.uk) or pick up a Rutland pippin – Lincolnshire pork, Stilton and apple sauce in an apple-shaped pastry case – from Hambleton Bakery (hambletonbakery.co.uk).

Then hop on a bus or drive to Uppingham (top left) a small, handsome market town, dominated

by Uppingham School. Follow the Heritage Trail (loveuppingham.org.uk) and grab a drink on the main square at Don Paddy’s (donpaddys. co.uk) and a slice of Battenberg at Baines Bakery (bainesbakery.co.uk). Then consider a walk further afield: try a 10-12km loop south, via the church at Stoke Dry, Eyebrook Reservoir and the chocolate-box village of Lyddington.

Finish with fine dining at Uppingham’s Lake Isle restaurant (lakeisle.co.uk).

DAY 2

There’s no ignoring Rutland Water (top right).

This reservoir was created in 1975 following the flooding of the Gwash Valley (and two ancient hamlets with it) and is now the county’s inland sea – an outdoor playground and wildlife refuge.

A 27km almost-traffic-free cycle trail encircles the Water, or 37km including the optional circuit of hilly Hambleton Peninsula (recommended).

Hire a bike or ebike at Whitwell, on the north shore (from £25; rutlandcycling.com) and spend a day riding around; pedal anti-clockwise to get the harder bits done first. Stop at The Anglian Water Bird Watching Centre at Egleton, where hides overlook the lagoons (lrwt.org.uk/rutlandwater). Stop for lunch in Manton, either at the Horse & Jockey Inn (horseandjockeyrutland. co.uk) or lovely Wellies cafe at the Garden Nursery (rutlandnursery.co.uk). Pause at LRWT’s Lyndon Visitor Centre, the place to see ospreys in summer, and continue via Edith Weston village, ‘floating’ Normanton church, the dam and the swimming beach to return to Whitwell.

End the day back in Oakham, with dinner at the Admiral Hornblower (hornblowerhotel.co.uk).

Getting there: Rutland sits in the centre of England, so isn’t a long drive from anywhere (around 2.5hrs from both London and Manchester). Oakham, on the Birmingham-Stansted Cross Country Line, is the county’s only train station. Bus routes within Rutland are limited (especially at weekends) but connect some towns and villages, including Oakham and Uppingham (centrebus.info). The Rutland Belle plies the eastern end of Rutland Water, April-October (rutlandwatercruises.com). See discover-rutland.co.uk.

Stay at: The Wisteria Hotel is in the heart of Oakham, with good food and comfortable rooms; B&B doubles from £90pn (wisteriahotel. co.uk). The Falcon Hotel is a 16th-century coaching inn on Uppingham’s market square, with a quality restaurant, pretty garden and cosy lounge; B&B doubles from £115pn (falcon-hotel.co.uk).

county. The 100km Rutland Round roughly traces the perimeter, leading via attractive villages, awardwinning pubs and quiet countryside, with detours to Oakham and Rutland Water.

There’s no need to do it all at once: the official guidebook (£6.75; cordee.co.uk) breaks it into five sections. Also, the Rutland Local History & Record Society website has an interesting selection of village walks. rutlandhistory.org

INHALE the floral

delights at Barnsdale Gardens. Open year-round, Barnsdale is a collection of 38 themed and individuallydesigned garden ‘rooms’, fun to explore even if you’re not especially greenfingered. There’s an excellent tea room too. From £8.50pp; barnsdalegardens.co.uk

DETOUR

to Stamford. This stone-built Georgian town is a smidgen over the county line in Lincolnshire but a worthy add on (and is connected to Rutland by bus). Its narrow lanes are lined with independent shops and cafes. Burghley House, one of the England’s grandest Elizabethan houses, is nearby. £20pp; burghley.co.uk

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Alexandria, Egypt

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Sitting on the Med – and on over 2,500 years of history – this exotic port city still has the bustle and adventure that captivated Lawrence Durrell 70 years ago Words Anthony Sattin

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31.2001° N, 29.9187° E A Great destination (left) Qaitbay Fort overlooks the fishing boats anchored in the bay on the eastern point of Pharos Island, once the location of the 100m Lighthouse of Alexandria – for centuries the tallest building in the world; (above) inside the 2nd century Kom El Shoqafa catacombs

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ome cities achieve greatness and others have it thrust upon them, but Alexandria was born to greatness. Alexander the Great named more than 70 cities after himself, but none were destined to live in the memory the way that Alexandria in Egypt continues to do, its name conjuring up a nostalgia for a glorious time that we only know through stories.

The city owes its birth and instant fame to its location at the north of Egypt, near one of the branches of the Nile, and on the Mediterranean coast. The coast here is flat and mostly featureless, but there was always a good harbour formed by an island just offshore, now joined to the mainland to form a spit of land. The harbour is what caught Alexander’s eye, looking for a place that could serve as a link or bridge between the old world of the pharaohs and the new Hellenistic world he was bringing into being. His plan worked magnificently and within a couple of generations, Alexandria was one of the largest and most

culturally significant cities in the world, its famous Mouseion – or library – a place of cutting edge learning, its palaces famed for their grandeur, its local god Serapis renowned through the region.

So much for the greatness it was born to, but there was also greatness thrust upon it, some of it by an English writer in the 1950s.

I have watched foreign visitors arrive in Alexandria on the bus or train with a copy of Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet in hand and their heads filled with the beautiful words of the city’s poet, Constantine Cavafy – ‘You’ll always end up in this city. Don’t hope for things elsewhere…’ Some of them then take one look at the miles of concrete, the millions of people, the jammed traffic… and head back to Cairo. Alexandria can take some getting used to, but it rewards anyone who perseveres. Like the remains of the ancient city, where Cleopatra seduced Caesar and then Mark Antony, the best of the modern city still takes some digging out, unless you head for the waterfront. ⊲

NEED TO KNOW Currency: LE, the Egyptian pound – roughly LE21 to the UK£, 18 to the €. US$ is the preferred hard currency.

International dialling Code +203 Getting there: There are direct flights into Alexandria’s Borg el Arab airport from Rome, Paris, Istanbul and some other cities. More likely, you will come from Cairo by the frequent bus or train services, both of which take around three hours.

Getting Around: Nostalgics will enjoy the continuing ‘clicking of violet trams along the sea-front,’ but the best way of getting around is either to walk or hail the many inexpensive cabs.

Festivals: The week-long Heritage Days Festival, usually each November, is a chance to indulge in the history of the city in the company of experts and authors. There are usually walking tours and site visits, as well as lectures and discussions.

The big religious festival is the moulid (saint’s day) of the city’s patron saint, Abu Abbas al Mursi, a 13th century Sufi from Murcia in Spain, celebrated on the 1st of the Islamic month of Jumada al-Thani (around 25 December in 2022).

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Exploring Alexandria (clockwise from top left) The colourful El Attarine souk is a labyrinth of alleys close to the Roman amphitheatre; Qaitbay Fort has withstood 500 years of colonial conflict – facing threats from the Ottomans, the French and the English – requiring ambitious reconstructions, most recently in the 1980s; established in 2002, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina boasts shelf space for 8 million books; with fresh flapping fish straight out of the Med, the Anfushi Fish Market is especially busy and bustling in the morning; traffic builds up along the corniche; a corniche apartment building, constructed around 1900 in the colonial style

There’s a lot of waterfront here – too much, even, for a city that faces the sea and backs onto a lake, Mariout.

Rising sea levels are a very real threat here, where the coastline is slowly being eroded and where parts of the ancient already lie beneath the waves.

Walk the corniche around the Eastern harbour, past the Moorish façade of the old Cecil Hotel, past men fishing off the concrete breakwaters, and as you look out to sea, on your left you have the Mamluk grandeur of the fort of Sultan Qaitbay built on the site of the Pharos, the lighthouse that was one of seven wonders of the ancient world, and on your right the shiny glass and concrete of Bibliotheca. When it first opened, the library was mocked for having empty bookshelves, but true to the spirit of the city, it has taken its time and grown into itself, and now boasts a number of museums, exhibition and performance spaces and a range of activities for locals and visitors.

The idea that much of the city remains hidden from view has long obsessed archaeologists and tomb raiders, all hoping to find the long-lost tomb of the city’s founder. Heinrich Schliemann, who uncovered ancient Troy and the golden mask of Agamemnon, decided there was nothing for him here. That hasn’t stopped many others from looking, my favourite being a waiter from Piraeus in the mid-20th century who spent his holidays each year searching for the city’s founder. I would suggest you devote your time searching for easier targets – walk through the ancient catacombs, for

instance, or over the nearby ruins of the temple of the god Serapis, once one of the classical world’s grandest buildings, now marked only by Pompey’s Pillar; around the excavated ancient villas and theatre, or through the galleries of the National Museum.

But in spite of the grandeur of those places, what I have always loved best in Alexandria is the spirit of the city and that, for the past century, has been most richly felt in its cafés. Start with a walk through the café of Ali Elhendi – you’ll find it in the grand building on the corner of Salah Salem and Ahmed Ourabi streets. The building is one of the grand 19th century mansions that lined what was called, simply, The Square, and the café, a scattering of tables and chairs, occupies part of what was the mansion's internal courtyard.

Pastroudis, where Lawrence Durrell used to hang out, and the Union may have gone, but Delices is still there beside the tram station, and nearby, facing the sea, is the Trianon. This was the Grand Trianon a century ago and there is still a grandeur about it. There’s still a lingering trace of the poet Cavafy, too, whose office was in the building upstairs. Now, it is a favoured meeting place of the city’s better-heeled young, who linger over a cappuccino or an over-sweet gateau making plans, as people have made plans in this spot for the past 2,000 years, shaped by the city that they will now reshape, the eternal dance of the city that still looks out of Egypt across the Mediterranean.

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Stay here...

Small & characterful Alexander the Great The Alex is less great than its name suggests, but the best budget option for sightseeing, occupying the upper floors of an office and apartment building situated close to the promenade. Rooms are spotless, air-conditioned and balconied but ask for one off the street – the school across the road is noisy day and night.

Mid-range The Cecil The best of the old colonial hotels, mentioned by Lawrence Durrell among others, the Cecil has been an institution since it opened on the waterfront in 1929. Now part of the Steigenberger group, it remains the obvious choice if you want to balance nostalgia with a bit of comfort. www.steigenberger.com

Best address in town Four Seasons Alexandria The Alexandria is everything you would expect from the Four Seasons luxury brand. A huge building with sumptuous, internationalstyle rooms, separated from its private beach by the multi-lane waterfront highway, this is as slick as it gets in Alexandria. Delicious food and expertly prepared drinks. www.fourseasons. com/alexandria

4 TOP THINGS TO SEE Visit…

The Roman catacombs are a mix of ancient Egyptian and Roman; the theatre and villas at Kom el Dikka a reminder of the glory of the past; the 15th century fort of Qaitbay sits on the site of the Pharos, the lighthouse that was one of seven wonders of the ancient world; and the halls of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina sits on the site of the ancient library.

Swim…

Although some city centre beaches are dirty, if you venture west to Agami or east at Montazah there is some delightful swimming.

Shop…

The souks might not be as exciting as in Turkey, but there are still joys in the old Attarine market – on my latest visit, I bought a 1960s English ship’s clock.

Eat…

You’re by the sea, so there is great fish to be had.

Walk through the Anfushi fish market to whet your appetite and then head for the Fish Market or Greek Club (Blue and White), both on the harbour. Or look for the Cap d’Or, more a beer bar then restaurant, although the calamari stew can be brilliant.

WANDERLUST RECOMMENDS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPoF4uSKPt0 Travel blogger Jason Billam crams as many of the highlights of the city on a day tour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3mlxIDh8Xk Academic discussion of Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria novels and the city’s literary history. https://open.spotify.com ‘Egyptian Folk’ playlist collects together more traditional sounds, while a 2021 playlist will give you the latest hits.

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Northern Portugal

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Travel’s rising star Porto bags the headlines, but visitors will discover that Portugal’s north offers plenty more culture, history and some Iberian wilderness too, says Martin Symington

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f I had a bottle of Vinho Verde for every time I am asked about discovering northern Portugal, my cellar would be brimming with lightly fizzing wine. To anyone dreaming of Algarve-style beaches, I’ll say, ‘Forget it.’ Instead, the country’s far north, where I was born and grew up, is a trove of cultural treasures packed to the gunwales with castles and explosions of Baroque exuberance.

Porto, Portugal’s second city and gateway to the region, has over the last few years found itself catapulted into travel’s premier league of European cities. With its intriguing museums, glittering gilt churches, art nouveau cafés, romantic riverside district and graceful bridges, the question is not so much why, as how come it has taken so long? And that’s before you cross the river Douro to the twin city of Vila Nova de Gaia, home of the port lodges and now the new World of Wine (WoW) district.

But the true cultural heartland lies further north in the Minho region. ‘Aqui nasceu Portugal’ – Here Portugal was born – announce giant letters on the illustrious city wall at Guimarães where the nation’s first king, Afonso Henriques, proclaimed his capital in 1139. The city has had its moment as a Euro-

pean Capital of Culture, in the wake of which it fizzes with youthful vim. Music spills from vibrant cafés in the intricate maze of cobbled alleys and tiny praças squatting in the lee of a commanding castle.

It’s a similar story in nearby Braga, ecclesiastic capital of Portugal, where a student population breathes energy into church-studded squares and boulevards. There is Roman heritage too, plus baroque fountains, façades clad with blue azulejo tiles, and flamboyant Manueline towers.

The five-day circuit suggested here has at its core these cultural riches of the region’s historic cities.

It also makes some space to revel in the wild splendours and further cultural gems of the coast and hinterland. Beyond the green and fertile coastal strip rises a backbone of craggy grey granite splattered with yellow lichen.You will find hills roamed by herds of semi-wild ponies, and uplifting walks in wildlife-life rich Peneda-Gerês National Park.

Or venture upstream from Porto, into the valley of the River Douro. Again, the reward is of cultural wonders in historic towns, this time to a backdrop of mountain-sides carved into geometric shapes by vineyards and silvery olive groves.

Ask A Local

“It is impossible to exaggerate how amazed people can be they come to towns in the Minho such as Braga and Guimarães and find them bursting with youthful life. Many come to these places expecting history and culture, and certainly discover plenty of that.

But a museum atmosphere? Not so much. Instead, they discover a full package of experiences, cities with fabulous restaurants, avantgarde bars, and student life lived outside on streets and squares.”

Susana Brás, owner of Experiences and Emotions Travel Agency

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Porto reflections (clockwise from above) Traditional rabelo boat designed to carry wine down the Douro river; historic buildings and balconied houses around Santiago Square in Guimarães; the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte

Day 1: Porto

Start in Portugal’s second city, capital of the north. Wander the waterside Ribeiro district. Marvel at Baroque architecture and gilded churches. Jump on a tram, or hire a bike and pedal, to river mouth Foz do Douro suburb.

Walk across the top of double-decker Dom Luís I Bridge to the twin city of Vila Nova de Gaia, home of the port wine lodges and the new World of Wine district.

Day 2: Historic core

From Porto, travel north first to Guimarães, cradle of the nation and UNESCO World Heritage Site. The castle and Paço dos Duques palace are twin gems, crowning a hill like a theatre backdrop to the tightlypacked medieval centre.

Day 3: Heaven’s above

Braga, ecclesiastical capital of the country where every other building seems to be a Baroque church. Except that Braga is also a university town fizzing with the youthful vim of student life.

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Days 4-5: Coast & hinterland

World class views unfurl from hilltop Basilica de Santa Luzia above the port of Viana do Castelo. Beyond Viana, swathes of windharassed sand unfurl, backed by dunes.

Caminha, facing Spain at the mouth of the Minho, is defended by defiant stone walls.

Head on into the wilds of Peneda-Gerês NP. Discover the mountainous region of port wine-growing fame in and around Pinhão. If you still have a head for high culture, drive on along the river to Lamego and its collection of paintings by Portuguese master Grão Vasco in the regional museum. Stop at Amarante for the photogenic São Gonzalo bridge, and ⊲ to eat egg-sweets of the same name.

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International dialling code: +351 Currency: Euro (€) Getting there: There are currently direct flights to Porto from six UK airports.

Alternatively, catch the car ferry from Portsmouth to Santander from where the region is about six hours drive.

Getting around: You will need a car to explore the region’s remoter reaches.

However, trains from Porto connect the cultural cores of Guimarães and Braga.

The Douro line from Porto to Pocinho, which stops in Pinhão, is on many a rail enthusiast’s bucket list.

Weather: The coast is cooler with warm, mainly dry summers, but often wet in other seasons. The hinterland is drier with hot summers and cold winters; spring and autumn are more comfortable.

Further Information: www.visitportugal.com/en/ destinos/porto-e-norte

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Secrets of the cellar Wandering the barrels of Taylor’s Port Lodge; (below left) night falls over the Praca da Republica in Braga

Don’t miss...

Outdoors Dom Luís I Bridge Stroll across the top level of the double-decker bridge, from near the Cathedral in Porto’s city centre, across the Douro to Vila Nova de Gaia.

Designed by a student of Gustave Eiffel, the bridge clearly shares structural DNA with Paris’s Eiffel Tower. The real treat is sweeping views up and down the Douro and over the twin cities.

Citânia de Briteiros As if Guimarães was not already sated with history, 15km north of the city is a vast archaeological site of the last Celtiberian stronghold before the Roman invasions in AD3. Excavations are continuing over a whole hillside, and there is an evocative museum. www.visitportugal.com/en/node/128531

Indoors World of Wine Housed mainly in converted Vila Nova de Gaia port lodges and cellars, this huge winefocused complex of immersive museums and restaurants is already famed for its port lodges.

True to its name, it is an oenophile’s dream and makes up an entire city quarter. www.wow.pt Castelo de Guimarães The seven-towered castle crowning a craggy hill is the birthplace of the Kingdom of Portugal and the country’s former capital. Climb the ancient staircase for a bird’s-eye view of the area. www.visitportugal.com/en/content/guimaraes Sé de Braga The ‘Rome of Portugal’ is best known for having 80 churches, but the Sé (Cathedral) is the truly unmissable one. The foundations are 12th century, to which Gothic, Renaissance, gleaming gilt Baroque and Manueline styles somehow come together in harmony. https://se-braga.pt/

Barcelos Market The biggest open-air market in Portugal – some say in Europe – erupts in this Minho town east of Braga, from dawn every Thursday. It’s a hubbub of trading with truckfuls of livestock, blaring music, acres of cloth and ceramic stalls, sizzling barbecues and earthenware jugs of rough locally-grown wine. https://wanderingportugal.com/articles/9/ barcelos-market

Solar de Mateus The façade of this over-the-top Rococo palace near Vila Real is famous for being on the label of Mateus Rosé, while the rooms inside are similarly fantastical. www.casademateus.com

Soajo High above the River Lima in the PenedaGerês National Park, Soajo is renowned for its extraordinary cluster of espigueiros – granite granaries raised on stilts. From the village, climb up to their sensational standing place on a high rock above the village. https://www.visitportugal.com/en/NR/ exeres/46D46BBC-510B-4F93-B59D2DB1E5980704

Claus Porto Founded in 1887, Claus Porto is one of the oldest extant perfumeries in the world with iconic scents and vintage-style labels that give its highend products a unique visual style. Take part in an immersive experience at the global flagship store on R. das Flores 22, and create your very own products, while learning the secrets of fragrance mixology and how to use 100-year-old soap-making-equipment. www.clausporto.com

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4 TOP THINGS TO DO Climb to Bom Jesus do Monte.

This crazy 600-step Baroque staircase zigzags up to the pilgrimage sanctuary of Bom Jesus at the edge of Braga.

Whimsical flourishes such as stone statues of biblical figures in turbans and cloaks, are at every turn. Cool your head under grinning fountain faces with cascades gushing from mouth, nose and ears. www.portugalvisitor.com/portugalattractions/bomjesus

Walk in the wilds of Peneda-Gerês

in the far north, bordering Spain.

Portugal’s only National Park is a gorse and boulder-strewn upland splintered by noisy streams and fringed with granite crags where birds of prey soar. A network of signposted trails has recently been waymarked across the area, with suggested routes varying from a couple of hours to all-day hikes. www.visitportugal.com/en/ node/156081

Cycle

Explore deeper (clockwise from top) Porto’s rooftops as seen from Taylor’s Port cellars; soaps by Claus Porto; the Palace of the Dukes of Braganza; shop selling local wares

Porto’s fabulous new network of cycle paths. Once you’ve seen the sites, hire a bike and pedal along the north bank of the river to Foz do Douro at the mouth of the River Douro. If you’ve time, continue from here along the rocky Atlantic seafront, inhaling the salty air until you reach the Parque de Cidade. This is Porto’s new city park, beautifully landscaped with lakes, woodland, sculptures, walking trails and cycle routes. https://bluedragon.pt/

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Cruise from Porto into the heart of port wine-growing country where vineyards are hewn out of steep mountain-sides. Along the way, pass through a trio of dams via colossal locks including 35-metre elevation Carrapateira, Europe’s highest.

Return by rail from Pinhão, completing a full day. www.cruzeiros-douro.pt/en/ 1-day-cruises

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We’re looking forward to New Zealand opening up so we can get back to the Queenstown Skyline Gondola, with its views over the country’s adventure capital and the Remarkables mountain range. But this visitor hotspot has used the enforced break to reassess its offering. The Queenstown

Cares initiative has been launched with the aim of promoting sustainability and connecting visitors to the local environment and the community.

Projects include plastics reduction, the reintroduction of kea parrots into the Remarkables, and the promotion of low-impact immersive activities.

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A Remarkables view, Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand

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