Wanderlust, Issue 230 (December 2023/January 2024)

30 Years Of Taking The Road Less Travelled

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The Future of Travel

Bosnia & Herzegovina Bhutan Sierra Leone France Greece USA Australia Italy Finland Scotland Ecuador New Zealand Singapore South Africa Croatia Spain Chile

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This photo by Andrew McCarthy captures the International Space Station (ISS) in alignment with the moon’s Tycho Crater. Together with the images on our cover (‘Child in Time’ by Tervel Kutsev) and wrap (‘The Running Chicken Nebula’

by Runwei Xu and Binyu Wang), all of these shots are on show at the outstanding Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition, which is running at London’s National Maritime Museum.

How long, we wonder, before we can finally travel to these amazing phenomena ourselves?

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Cover image: ‘Child in Time’ by © Tervel Kutsev was taken in Shiroka Polyana Dam, Pazardzhik Province, Bulgaria; cover wrap : ‘The Running Chicken Nebula’ by © Runwei Xu and Binyu Wang; this page: ‘A Visit to Tycho’ by © Andrew McCarthy

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Thirty years ago, in November 1993, the very first issue of Wanderlust was published, the brainchild of Lyn Hughes and the late Paul Morrison. It was a different time back then, as travel was just on the verge of becoming a recreational activity and de rigueur for many people around the world.

Thirty years later, both Wanderlust and travel itself have evolved greatly.

In this issue, whilst we do go back to look at the events that have shaped both us and our travel lives these past three decades (p32), we are very much focused on the future, as we ask what will the next 30 years in travel bring (p148)?

Dozens of expert voices, from Michael Palin and Richard Branson to Jessica Nabongo and our readers, share their takes on why, how and where we’ll travel in the near future, putting people and our planet at the heart of the conversation. We also venture beyond Earth to decipher the ways in which we might experience travel’s final frontier, space (p168), which has conquered human imagination since the beginning of time.

Elsewhere in this issue – the biggest in our 30-year history – we’ve timed our travels to coincide with some other major anniversaries. We go on an art-filled tour-de-France to celebrate 150 years since the birth of the Impressionist movement (p186); visit the enigmatic Kingdom of Bhutan as it marks 50 years since it opened to travellers (p108); and return to the vibrant US Capital Region, commemorating 60 years since the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr’s electrifying ‘I Have a Dream’ speech (p80). We also pay a visit to the underrated Bosnia and Herzegovina (p130) – which was very much in the news when Wanderlust was born in the early 1990s due to its war – to discover a complex country reborn.

As always, our travels have a concrete theme, a deeper meaning that fuels our ever-present need to explore the world. In telling our stories across this anniversary issue, we have involved over 60 different contributors from across the globe (p6), many proudly from underrepresented backgrounds. We’ve come together to share our diverse range of experiences of travel, in times past and present, as well as our expectations for the future.

Wanderlust is the oldest independent travel magazine in Europe still in circulation, and in our 30th anniversary year, we have proudly reclaimed the mantle of the most-read travel magazine in the UK. Our promise for the future is that we will continue to keep flying the flag for authentic, immersive, responsible and sustainable travel that celebrates and respects our planet and its people.

Your support during this magical journey so far is greatly appreciated. We offer a warm thank you to all of you, dear readers, for letting us nurture your wanderlust over the past three decades. Here’s to the next 30!

George Kipouros Editor in Chief @georgiostravels

Wanderlust is the UK’s leading 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. Under new management since 2020, Wanderlust has expanded rapidly to add further themes to its editorial focus, such as history, archaeology and urban destinations, while continuing to strengthen its commitment to responsible, conscious and sustainable travel. It is now available in the USA, Canada and in over 70 countries around the world. With a strong and rapidly growing digital presence, wanderlustmagazine.com delivers thousands of articles and attracts over 12 million visitors a year, alongside 180,000+ social media followers. ‘The Wanderlust Club’ also maintains a community of serious travellers engaged 24/7. Wanderlust’s blend of exclusive features, practical reviews, unique insights, tips and ideas has won awards from respected industry bodies across the planet.

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

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Contributors

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Sixty years after the March on Washington took place in the USA capital, journalist and professor Lynn Brown heads to Washington DC to explore its legacy and the effect it has had on the area: “While in many ways it seems like we’re still struggling with the same issues they were protesting all those years ago, I found that in others it seems like there’s a lot more support in the USA – even from large institutions – for more forward movement towards equality.”

RADHIKA ALIGH

Dream Sleep, p61

Journalist, filmmaker and travel writer Radhika visits one of South Africa’s most eco-conscious safari lodges to see if it is possible to both leave no trace and support the area around you: “Sustainability has become catch-all jargon over the past few years, but to see it done right can give real hope for the future of travel and conservation. Set against the dreamiest backdrop, Noka Camp invests every penny back into the surrounding reserve.”

DIVERSITY IN TRAVEL WRITING MATTERS

PETER MOORE

Sierra Leone, p202

Author and travel writer Peter Moore visited Sierra Leone to discover a country harnessing its tragic past to create a brighter future: “Unlike Ghana and Senegal, most of the enslaved people from Sierra Leone were shipped to North America.

Now, through DNA testing, African Americans are tracing their roots back to the country, filling in the final piece of the jigsaw of their own identity and helping to rebuild Sierra Leone in the process.”

REWI SPRAGGON

World Food, p58

Rewi’s mission is to honour the hāngī masters of the past, present and future by championing this unique form of Māori pit cooking. He looks at why it has become a must-try for visitors to New Zealand: “I was taught traditional Māori art, language and cooking from a young age and worked out early on that there is joy in sharing this knowledge. It is now a huge part of what I do, in offering visitors a true experience of the oldest dish in Aotearoa (New Zealand).”

© Wanderlust Travel Media Ltd, 2023, 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 No: 1351-4733, USPS No: 23718) is published six times per year by Wanderlust Travel

6 December 2023/January 2024

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JOCELYN TAN

SHAFIK MEGHJI

Singapore, p62

Urban Cities, p244

KATJA GASKELL

JESSICA WYNNE LOCKHART

Travel writer Jocelyn explores Singapore’s most cultured stays in this issue: “I’m both captivated and impressed by the way that the best hotels in this young nation uphold the history of the country’s past while still recognising the wants and needs of modern travellers of all types. Beyond the Garden City’s gleaming skyline and luxurious infinity pools, there’s plenty of local charm in this melting pot of cultures waiting to be explored.”

France, p186

Travel writer and dedicated Francophile Katja sets off on an artistic odyssey this issue, as she travels from France’s northern coastline to the country’s southern tip on the trail of some of the 19th century’s greatest painters: “The Impressionists’ love of painting en plein air is well documented, but what fascinated me on this journey was the artists’ camaraderie – working, travelling and socialising together – as they took on the elitist Salon de Paris.”

Shafik is an award-winning travel writer and the co-author of the new Lonely Planet Chile guidebook. This issue, he explores what links Chile’s underrated capital and its neighbouring port: “Many travellers treat Santiago and Valparaíso simply as stopovers en route to Patagonia or the desert of Atacama, but spend some time in them and you’ll discover that they are two of the most engaging and historically rich cities in South America.”

Queensland, p90

An award-winning Canadian journalist based in Australia, Jessica visits Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef this issue to learn how researchers are improving the resiliency of coral – and how visitors can help: “I was curious to learn that coral can not only move, clone itself and even fight, but more importantly – given the often grim reports of its survival prospects – that it can even recover after bleaching events. Yet it still needs our help.”

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MEGAN EAVES

Future of Travel, p148

Travel writer Megan is used to exploring dark skies through a telescope, but this issue she ponders when travellers will finally start seeing the stars up close: “We are a long way away from tourism to other planets, but space travel is just around the corner. We’ll likely start seeing travellers taking to high-altitude balloons to see the Earth from the upper atmosphere very soon, thanks to their tested technology and much lower price point.”

MEERA DATTANI

GARY NOAKES

Future of Travel, p148

Travel industry expert Gary Noakes ponders how we’ll be flying in the years to come this issue: “We’re still standing in long lines at airports, despite innovations like ‘Bag Drop’ and ‘Fast Track’, but we’re not far away from biometrics speeding things up and from seeing the results of data harvesting giving us a more personalised flight experience. Cabin design and the ways that aircraft are powered are also set for a shake-up.”

Future of Travel, p148

A freelance travel journalist and the senior editor of travel site Adventure.com, Meera explores changing tourist behaviours this issue: “It was interesting to think about the way we travel and the often misplaced sense of escapism we take with us by forgetting that where we’re holidaying is someone’s home too. While social media and our ‘look at me’ culture can have negative effects, it also has positives in highlighting great initiatives and better ways to travel.”

Advertising +44 (0)20 4583 5486, sales@wanderlust.co.uk General Enquiries: UK: +44 (0)20 8185 0958 USA: +1 64 6844 8718 info@wanderlust.co.uk EDITORIAL CONTENT Editor-in-Chief George Kipouros @georgiostravels Founding Editor Lyn Hughes @wanderlust.lyn Associate Editor Gareth Clark Special Features Editor Rhodri Andrews Special Features Editor Rosie Fitzgerald (maternity leave) Special Features Assistant Editor Laura Field Sustainability Editor Karen Edwards @KarenNEdwards_Writer Contributing Editors Sarah Baxter, Mark Carwardine, Paul Goldstein, William Gray & Mark Stratton DESIGN Art Director Graham Berridge

SHERRY L RUPERT

Future of Travel, p148

Sherry is the CEO of the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association.

This issue, she looks at how Indigenous-led tourism experiences are changing travel: “In the US, there are a few organisations doing economic development training for Native Nations and communities, but it’s my honour and responsibility to help bring generations of Native American storytelling to the centre of the tourism industry and educate the world that we are still here.”

JOHN DARLINGTON

Future of Travel, p148

Archaeologist John explores the phenomenon of ‘replicated heritage’ and ponders whether it can ever be better than the real thing: “I’m obsessed with the idea of fake heritage. Stonehenge, for example, has not only inspired at least four full-scale replicas around the world, including a completed version at Maryhill (USA), but also spawned others made of unlikely materials: Foamhenge, Phonehenge, Carhenge, Boathenge and even Fridgehenge!”

TAMARA HINSON

Future of Travel, p148

Freelance travel writer Tamara has always had an interest in travel tech and has a bi-monthly column in T3 magazine. This issue, she looks at how we will be travelling in the years to come: “I wasn’t surprised to find most experts believe Singapore and South Korea are the future of transport tech. Earlier this year at Seoul’s Incheon airport, there was a robot that not only guided me to departures but carried my bags through to the check-in hall!”

SUSTAINABILITY

Wanderlust is printed on paper from sustainable forestry and produced using suppliers who conform to ISO14001, an industrial, environmental standard that ensures commitment to low carbon emissions and environmentally sensitive waste management. The paper can be widely recycled.

Assisted by Lisa Duke (design), Scott Jessop (maps) DIGITAL Digital Creative Director Anil Karwal Digital Editor Jessica Reid COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIPS Chief Commercial Officer Adam Lloyds (adam.lloyds@wanderlust.co.uk) VP Brand Partnerships David Read (david.read@wanderlust.co.uk) Senior Creative Partnerships Manager Simon Bryson @_bryos BUSINESS Chief Executive George Kipouros Chief Operating Officer Elliot Wellsteed-Crook Marketing & Social Media Manager Christina Wildman Mullett Wanderlust Club Manager Maria Manta In memory of Co-founder & Publisher Paul Morrison

Please recycle this magazine

Official partner of the FCO’s Know Before You Go Campaign

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58 World Food: Māori cuisine

The return of Travel Photo of the Year, orcas in the Antarctic and the beauty of Moroccan crafts

61 Dream Sleep: South Africa

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18 Just Back From…

How Noka Camp is lessening its footprint but making a big impact

Spending time with Lapland’s Sámi and hitting the heights in Salzburgerland; plus your letters

62 WanderSleeps

Culture and pampering combine in Singapore’s hippest stays

You send us your top travel shots

Why sailing offers a more sustainable way to experience local life in the Saronic Islands

22 Your Photos

JOURNAL

27 Grapevine

Travel news, views and stays to get you through the winter

45 Armchair Travel

The latest travel TV and books that are making our feet itch

49 Health

Skip the stomach bugs and still eat your way around the world 80

8 December 2023/January 2024

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Rewi Spraggon on why hāngī is back on New Zealand menus

50 Departures

We pick the best new frozen escapes for the winter ahead

242

70 Dispatches: Greece

80 Dispatches: Capital Region, USA

Sixty years on from the March on Washington, Black history is finally being told in the region

90 Dispatches: Queensland How tourism became the key to saving the Great Barrier Reef

98 Dispatches: Florida

The return of Florida’s original cross-state railway shines a light on its Gilded Age wonders

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Map illustration: Scott Jessop

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30TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

32 30 Years of Wanderlust

It’s been three decades since the first issue of Wanderlust hit the shelves. We look back on how both the magazine and travel have changed, and why the world is a very different place for modern travellers

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186

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148 The Future of Travel

Thirty years from now, will you be booking a stay on Mars or in a flying pod? And how will new technologies, climate change and shifting attitudes affect the way we see the world?

We take a peek at the exciting revelations to come in travel

DISCOVER

232 World Heritage Croatia’s medieval island city of Trogir lets you see history unravel on every street corner

234 Museum Cities

Spanish capital Madrid was a cultural giant even before it welcomed Europe’s most anticipated new museum

257 Wanderlust Quiz

Head back to 1993 to test your retro travel knowledge

236 European Break

FEATURES

Puglia’s quaint trulli and eccentric castles remind us that Italy’s ‘heel’ never ceases to amaze

108 Bhutan

Fifty years after the Kingdom of Bhutan first opened up to tourists, we pay a visit to a nation attempting to keep tradition, sustainability and, above all, happiness at the centre of its development

242 Indigenous Culture

Why the Otavalo people of Ecuador offer a glimpse into living pre-Columbian history

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130 Bosnia & Herzegovina When Wanderlust launched its first issue in 1993, the Bosnian War was all over the news. These days locals might want to move on, but while there is plenty to see in BiH’s historic towns and countryside, it is still a vital part of understanding life here

244 Urban Spotlight

Chile’s Santiago and Valparaíso are united by a dramatic history and the country’s greatest poet

186 Impressionist France

202 Sierra Leone

The 150th anniversary of the first exhibition of the Impressionists takes place in 2024. We head to the regions and cities that gave birth to this 19th-century art revolution to see what inspired the artists who lived it

The legacy of slavery might still ring around the islands and abandoned forts of Sierra Leone, but for the visitors and pilgrims to Freetown rediscovering a stolen past, it is bringing more than solace – it offers hope

Iceland 50

250 British Break

The return of Up Helly Aa fires our desire to revisit Shetland

258 Top Guide

Sara Lamzouwaq on breaking the glass ceiling for female guides in Morocco

Sápmi (Lapland) 18

Shetland 250 50 Alaska

18 Salzburgerland France 186 Madrid 234 80 Capital Region Morocco 258 98 Florida Sierra Leone 202

50 Kyrgyzstan 130 Bosnia & Herzegovina

Italy 236

70 Saronic Islands

Map illustration: Scott Jessop

And get exclusive access to offers, competitions and events. See p42 for details

50 Japan

50 Ladakh

10 Tanzania

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

108 Bhutan

Singapore 62

Ecuador 242 South Africa 61

Queensland 90

Chile 244 New Zealand 58 Weddell Sea 10

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Antarctic Peninsula Photographer: Bertie Gregory Great travel photos capture big moments, but the best still leave room for imagination. This shot, entered in the 2023 edition of the London Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, depicts a rare pod (B1) of orca rushing towards a lone seal on the ice floe. It captures the phenomenon of ‘wave washing’, when these predators turn just before hitting the ice and the force of their momentum pushes the water onwards in an attempt to flush or rock their prey off its perch and into the open sea. It’s one of many moments that travellers on safaris or wildlife cruises will recognise as being difficult to watch, and yet you’re often unable to tear your gaze away. With every fibre of your soul, you want that seal to escape, and while logic tells you nature is hard-faced and its chances are slim, travel shots such as this open the door to ‘what if?’. In just one image, an entire natural history drama plays out inside your head. © Bertie Gregory. Bertie’s ‘Whales Making Waves’ photograph features in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at London’s Natural History Museum, which runs until 30 June 2024. nhm.ac.uk/wpy

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Atlas Mountains (left) & Fes (right), Morocco

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Photographer: Oliver Pilcher Morocco has long been a muse to visitors, from the French artist Eugène Delacroix, whose trip in 1832 became the basis for some of his finest paintings, to designer Yves Saint Laurent, who would return often to draw on its spirit for his collections. The influence of Moroccan arts, which persists today, is explored in Ariel Wizman’s Morocco: Kingdom of Light. Certainly, travellers now are no more immune to the appeal of carpets woven in High Atlas villages (left) or stalls of handmade gifts in Fes (right) than the artists of old were.

These crafts are as timeless as they are worth preserving. © Oliver Pilcher. Morocco: Kingdom of Light by Ariel Wizman (Assouline; £85) is out now.

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With the recent earthquakes in Morocco still on the minds of many, buying traditional crafts is one way that visitors can help local people recover. Many have lost their livelihoods and businesses, not to mention the passing trade from tourists, and supporting artisans, artists and stallholders offers a way for those who lost everything to start over. As Philippe Saharoff explores in his new book, Moroccan Decorative Arts, there are many ways this land can inspire us, from the beauty of its zellige tiles – hand-shaped and kiln-fired – to the leatherwork of Marrakech. By helping locals find a market for their crafts, everybody benefits.

Moroccan Decorative Arts by Philippe Saharoff (Assouline; £195) is out now. assouline.com

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TRAVEL PHOTO OF THE YEAR THE BEST OF

Photographer: Vittorio Ricci One of the most pleasing aspects of the Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year competition down the decades has been how much it shows that travel is the great leveller. Just as anyone can hop on a plane, we can all take great travel photos; it just needs time and a little bit of luck.

This shot of hippos competing over the deepest mud pools in Tanzania, taken by traffic police officer Vittorio Ricci, is proof of that. This idea leapt out at us time and again as we set about compiling the greatest ever entries for a retrospective exhibition of the competition that we’ll be holding at the Destinations travel shows in Manchester and London in 2024. As the magazine celebrates its 30th anniversary, we thought it was time to reflect on the hundreds of thousands of great shots sent in over the years. We’re also asking for your help to pick the very best by voting for your favourites, either at the shows or online. © Vittorio Ricci. Vittorio’s ‘Escape’ can be seen in the The Best of Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year retrospective at Destinations: The Holiday & Travel Show in Manchester Central (11–14 Jan) and London Olympia (1–4 Feb). destinationsshow.com

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Pompeii, Italy Photographer: Luigi Spina A new train route between Rome and Pompeii was one of the unexpected arrivals of summer 2023, cutting out Naples and ferrying passengers direct from the capital.

But for all its convenience, it raised a question. Few sites offer such a visceral glimpse of history as the Roman town captured in time by the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius, its citizens and their homes – decoration and all – preserved beneath a thick layer of ash. But it is also frail. This is something photographer Luigi Spina captures in his new book, Inside Pompeii, after gaining access to areas closed off for years. The trample of visitors means the authorities have to cycle what opens here, rotating and restoring as they go. But Pompeii saw an unsustainable 4 million visitors a year pre-pandemic, with the majority arriving during the clamour of peak summer. Winter is a different matter, however, as you can tread its cobbles and villas free from the damaging crowds. © Luigi Spina. Inside Pompeii by Luigi Spina (Thames & Hudson; £100) is out now. thamesandhudson.com.

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Northern Finland may be known for its aurora sightings and huskies, but Wanderlust’s Elliot Wellsteed-Crook found just as much inspiration in its cultural encounters Highlights: “I feel like a big kid,” I thought to myself as I hurtled the tundra on a husky-pulled sled in temperatures of -24°C. For the sixth year in a row, Finland has been voted the world’s happiest country (Gallup World Poll), and I could see why. I was based well within the Arctic Circle, close to Saariselkä but a long way from the Santa sightseers. This is a place to relax, go slow and enjoy the serenity of snowshoeing in the wilderness. I dipped into icy lakes and surfaced looking ten years younger, enjoyed reindeer rides and endless cups of blueberry tea, then headed back to my luxurious glass-igloo cabin in the evenings to see the northern lights dance nightly overhead.

Must see: I travelled with Not in the Guidebooks, a tour operator that offered the chance to meet the Sámi community, a people who are deeply proud of their culture. Instead of Lapland, they prefer to call the region by their own name, Sápmi.While sat in a cosy wood cabin, our Sámi guide explained that they had survived for thousands of years by hunting and fishing in what is now Northern Finland, Sweden, Norway and the Kola peninsula of Russia, and told of how they first began to travel in tandem with the reindeer, who migrated for mating and food. Over time, bad weather, taxes and modern geopolitical forces squeezed their territory.

Instead of following the reindeer, the Sámi began

to herd and domesticate these now semi-wild animals, as they no longer had space to roam.

Today, Northern Finland has more reindeer than people and there are strict controls for sustainably managing the population, since there is only a limited amount of lichen for them to eat.

I wish I had known: When you understand the physics behind the rippling lights of the aurora borealis, it makes the experience all the more magical. What you are seeing are electrically charged particles that have escaped the sun and travelled to our planet on solar winds; they are then shuttled by the Earth’s magnetic field between the two poles. The spectacular colours produced are a result of these particles colliding with molecules of nitrogen (blue, red and pink) or oxygen (green and red) in the atmosphere.

Top tip: You can detect and capture the dreamy displays of the northern lights better by using a night setting on your camera than you can with the naked eye, but be sure to occasionally put your camera or phone down and take it all in. Know that it is rare to see a natural display as vividly as it might appear on TV; the aurora often appears as an ethereal sprinkling of dust, but it makes the encounter no less magical.

The author travelled with Not in the Guidebooks (notintheguidebooks.com); you can learn more about this tour on p50

LETTER OF THE MONTH The rise of West Bengal As a Bengali, I could not help but feel pride at West Bengal’s Shantiniketan ‘world university’ being recognised as an UNESCO World Heritage site (see p27), especially as I’d visited it days before its inscription.

This followed on the heels of Kolkata’s Durga Puja festival being recognised for its Intangible Cultural Heritage, so it’s rewarding to see the region get the recognition it deserves, since West Bengal has never been on India’s tourist track. The state has more to offer, too, whether it is the chhau dancers of Purulia, the terracotta temples of Bishnupur (pictured) or the painters of Kalighat and Pingla. There is also an interesting colonial past that goes beyond just the British – the city of Chandannagar has more than a whiff of France about it with its ornate lampposts and old French Institute.

I could go on, but I hope the inclusion of Shantiniketan fosters not just an interest in a place that embodies the spirit of Bengali culture, but in the region as a whole. ⊲ Nandini Chakraborty

Drop us a line with your stories and travel tips at fromtheroad@wanderlust.co.uk and help others find their way.

Also, follow us on Facebook (wanderlusttravelmagazine), Threads (@wanderlustmag), X (@wanderlustmag) and Instagram (@wanderlustmag).

Wanderlust reserves the right to edit all submissions; images: Elliot Wellsteed-Crook; Shutterstock

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Northern exposure (clockwise from this) Nightly aurora displays made the winter evenings in Northern Finland a delight; there are more reindeer than people here; husky power is the best way to travel

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Katie McGonagle discovers a different side to the region of Salzburgerland, as she hits the slopes outside of ski season to explore hills and scenery straight from The Sound of Music Highlights: The Asitz has been dubbed the ‘mountain of the senses’, and it’s easy to see why this peak in western Austria, overlooking the twin towns of Saalfelden and Leogang, has earned such a moniker. High up on the mountaintop sits a ‘nature cinema’, which consists of terraces of hammocks and benches installed not only as a practical way to reduce the risk of landslides in this erosion-prone area, but also to prompt hikers to pause for a while to admire the natural spectacle on show around them.

Surrounding you are towering mountains on all sides, while an expansive view of the Steinernes Meer (meaning ‘Rocky Sea’) karst plateau that divides this region from Bavaria also yields bright blue skies, cotton-wool clouds clinging to the peaks and the occasional flash of white from a sheep grazing at high altitude. To embrace all the senses, there’s even a series of wooden huts dotted along a trail where you can lie back and listen to music recorded during open-air summer concerts.

Hearing these sounds mingle with

The high life (this page; clockwise from top left) The views of the mountains from the summit of the Asitz are spectacular when the snows melt away; a cairn marks the way on the trails around the Asitz; the Asitzbahn cable car offers an easy way up and down the mountains; Katie on the Leos Game Trail, one of the hiking routes at the summit of the Asitz; A-frame cabins offer protection from the elements; the stern peaks of the Leoganger Steinberge glower in the distance

the birdsong high in the mountains is about as relaxing as it gets.

Must see: Hiking is one of the big attractions in this Alpine region, and the uphill walk to the Birnbachloch is well worth the effort to see Central Europe’s lowest-altitude glacier, which is fast receding. A guide can point out the effects of climate change at play here at the confluence of three different geological areas – their sheer rockfaces scored by the aftermath of recent avalanches – as well as recount the mischievous legend of an ancient treasure that is said to be hidden in the far depths of the Birnbachloch cave.

Top tip: Be sure to make the most of the free Saalfelden Leogang Card (saalfelden-leogang.com), which is available from participating hotels and B&Bs when you check in. This covers a host of handy activities and extras geared to visitors outside of the ski season, including free cable-car rides each day, guided hiking tours along popular trails, and walks explaining the flora and fauna of the region, plus public transport and discounted entry to museums and attractions.

I wish I had known: Pick up one of the free walking poles available as you embark on some of the steeper hiking trails, including at the base of the Birnbachloch route. Although you’ll see children as young as four or five racing up the trail like little mountain goats, it is quite steep in places, especially as you near the top.

If you plan to ease any tired postwalk muscles in the sauna in true Austrian style, remember that local etiquette requires that no swimwear be worn in the spa, including spas that accommodate both men and women.

The health facilities at the landmark Hotel Krallerhof (krallerhof.com) are legendary, but for those who aren’t keen on embracing this particular local custom, there’s also a natural lake in a beautiful mountain setting that makes a good alternative.

Anything else: Be sure to try a traditional ‘hut-essen’ meal, which sees you grill your food at the table as you eat. A cone-shaped barbecue about the size of a top hat, with a brothfilled brim around its edge, is brought out; just slap your choice of pork, beef or duck on the sides and sizzle.

Huwi’s Alm (priesteregg.at) at the atmospheric Priesteregg mountain chalet does a particularly noteworthy version. Find out more about the region at salzburgerland.com.

Alamy; Katie McGonagle

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“It was a long ride to Chiang Mai with no air-con when this man opened the door to let in a breeze.” @ sheradon.travelarchive

“Wandering the quaint streets of Colmar, France, feels like stepping into the pages of an enchanting fairytale.” @ worldcitizensud

“The blast furnaces of Belval, although now shut down, are a link to Luxembourg’s long industrial past.” Ewelina Dziedzic

“Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary was built to inspire penitence. Visiting it is both humbling and chilling.” Darren Jones

“While exploring Antigua’s backroads, north of Half Moon Bay, its colours seemed to capture the Caribbean vibe.” Rhett Arens

“The Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, USA, is a surreal landscape formed over 150 million years ago.” @ wayne_and_ling

“This reindeer was part of a herd of about 300 spread across the snowy land of Tromsø, Norway.” David Siouville

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“The Raeburn Orchards in Perth Hills, Australia, turn a fiery orange in persimmon season (May).” @ homeintheworldblog

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Health

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World Food: Māori Cuisine

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Dream Sleep

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No more fumes The banning of private cars on Hydra Island is one of many measures being taken across the Greek islands to make them more sustainable; see p70

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The latest travel news and stays, plus Wanderlust turns 30, the rebirth of Florida’s railroad, getting a taste for Māori hāngī, and lots more…

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All the latest stays, exhibitions, rail routes and cultural sites that have us itching to travel this issue

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Japan’s digital art museum teamLab Borderless (pictured top) reopens in a new central Tokyo location in the Azabudai Hills development in January.

Expect familiar works alongside exciting new immersive installations. teamlab.art

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What is old is new again What links Bale Mountains National Park in Ethiopia (pictured), an ancient tea plantation in China and the Roman temple Maison Carrée in Nîmes, France? They are all among the list of World Heritage sites declared by UNESCO this year. As well as new locations, some existing inscriptions have been extended, with sites such as Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay now covering the Cat Ba Archipelago. Worryingly, the World Heritage in Danger list was also updated, with Ukraine featuring heavily. Both the historic centre of Lviv and Kyiv’s St Sophia Cathedral and monastery complex have been deemed vulnerable due to attacks by Russia. Find the full list and in-depth guides to the new UNESCO sites at wanderlustmagazine.com.

A series of pieces by Black artists set on the banks of the USA’s Alabama River is bringing the stories of enslaved Africans to life. Freedom Monument Sculpture Park in Montgomery, Alabama, is part of the Equal Justice Initiative and is due to open in early 2024. legacysites.eji.org Pablo Picasso is known for his paintings but he was also a prolific sculptor, often using found objects. The Guggenheim Bilbao marks 50 years since his death with Picasso Sculptor: Matter and Body (until 14 Jan), an exhibition delving into this work. guggenheim-bilbao.eus Mongolia’s medieval history takes centre stage at France’s Castle of Nantes in Ghengis Khan: How Mongols Changed the World (until 5 May), an exhibition dedicated to the country’s age of expansion that brings to Europe many rare items on loan from Mongolia’s national collection. chateaunantes.fr

Shutterstock; teamLab Borderless

Rising prices in Japan Travelling by train is one of the most enjoyable ways to get around Japan, but a series of price hikes for the Japan Rail Pass has just made it much more expensive. The cost of seven-, 14- and 21-day tickets has risen by up to 77%, with a weeklong standard rail pass now starting from 50,000 yen (around £275).

Passes had remained at the same price for decades, but a decline in the yen and climbing energy rates and

maintenance costs necessitated the rise.

Travellers will also now have to buy the pass online or via a travel agent, as they can no longer be purchased at stations.

It’s not all bad news, though. There are added benefits, as the new pass can now be used on the Nozomi and Mizuho bullet trains for a small supplement (starting from around £23 on the Tokyo– Nagoya route) and it includes discounts ⊲ at key attractions. jrailpass.com

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Australia’s Sydney Opera House celebrates its 50th anniversary

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designs were considered, via an international competition in 1956

1 million A new airport has opened near Angkor (pictured) that will improve access to Cambodia’s vast temple complex and secure its future. The £900 million Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport opened in October around 40km from the UNESCOlisted site, with a runway that can take large long-haul aircraft.

More importantly, it replaces a smaller airport closer to the site that had been in operation since 1932, which was reportedly contributing to air pollution and creating vibrations that could damage the monuments. english.sai-airport.com

Protecting the future The Santa Barbara Channel, Madeira and South Africa’s Plettenberg Bay and Algoa Bay are among the first regions in the world to be declared Wildlife Heritage Areas, as part of a new programme to promote sustainable wildlife experiences. World Animal Protection and the World Cetacean Alliance have designated a series of sites renowned for their outstanding biodiversity to help travellers find community-led experiences that protect the natural environment.

The list also includes several ‘candidate’ areas considered for future inclusion, such as the Central Apennines, home to the endangered Marsican brown bear; the Amazon Uakari area in Brazil’s Mamirauá Reserve, where jaguars, Amazon river dolphins and black-headed squirrel monkeys can be found; and the whale-rich waters of the Whitsundays in Australia. wildlifeheritageareas.org

7 A380 aircraft (the world’s largest passenger airliner) can sit wing to wing across the site

Queen Elizabeth II opened the opera house on 20 October 1973

22.5 degrees

is the required temperature when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra is on stage

10.9 million people visit Sydney Opera House each year Source: sydneyoperahouse.com

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Swedish roof tiles cover the structure

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Wildlife sightings are never guaranteed – except when you’re staying at the new Wilderness Usawa Serengeti, a luxurious mobile tented camp that follows the national park’s famous Great Migration. This six-tent stay shifts locations around the park throughout the year, with guided walks and stargazing on hand. wildernessdestinations.com

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Rising Phoenix-like from the ashes of Australia’s Kangaroo Island fires in early 2020, which destroyed its original iteration, the Southern Ocean Lodge is set to reopen on 6 December following a big rebuilding effort. Architect Max Pritchard, who also designed the first property, has reinvented the resort with a new ocean pavilion, pool and spa, but it still has the same access to native wildlife and focus on South Australian cuisine. southernoceanlodge.com.au In Birgu, one of Malta’s historic Three Cities, a 17th-century townhouse and former British hospital has been transformed into the IBB Palazzo Bettina, the island’s latest boutique stay. Some of its 13 suites even feature the building’s original sky-high ceilings – a common trait in old Maltese buildings that allowed rooms to cool naturally. Meanwhile, the rooftop has a pool and beautiful views of the marina. ibbhotelpalazzobettina.com A new 40-room hotel debuts in January on the Portuguese island of Madeira, famed for its laurel forests and levada walking trails. Every room at The Reserve looks out across the twinkling Atlantic, and stays also come with access to the facilities at the nearby Savoy Palace resort. savoysignature.com

Small-town pleasures The World Tourism Organization has added more than 50 spots to its list of the Best Tourism Villages for 2023. In celebrating places that preserve cultural traditions, safeguard the environment and support local communities, it is helping travellers to lend their support by visiting those villages that are making a positive effort. It’s also taking us to some interesting places. Notably, Peru claimed five spots on this edition’s list, with communities such as Taquile and Paucartambo included, while Asia’s top entries included four villages each in China and Japan, with the latter’s Shirakawa featured for its distinctive gasshō-zukuri traditional houses. Meanwhile, Europe had the most entries, including Morcote (pictured) in Switzerland and the tiny Pyrenean parish of Ordino (at 1,300m above sea level) in the principality of Andorra. unwto.org

Koblihy for breakfast Fancy departing from Brussels in the evening and waking up the next morning in Prague (pictured)? The European Sleeper train, which launched to much fanfare earlier this year with a night service between Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin, is now extending that route to reach the German city of Dresden and Czech capital Prague from next March. It is set to run eastbound three times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday), departing Brussels at 7.22pm and arriving just before 11am the next morning, with stops including Rotterdam and Antwerp en route. The reverse journey will operate on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday departing at 6.04pm. europeansleeper.eu

Malicky S Boaz; Shutterstock

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The evolution of Wanderlust We’ve been taking the road less travelled for the past 30 years via the introduction of the internet, the rise of social media and a growing global audience Words Lyn Hughes

W

hy would anyone buy a travel magazine?” said the representative of WHSmith, then by far the biggest retailer of magazines in the UK. “They can get a free brochure from a holiday company.”

It was 1993, and my partner, Paul Morrison, and I had decided to launch a travel magazine, having had the idea on a flight to Ecuador. We knew there must be other people like us who wanted to explore the world and whose idea of travel went far beyond lying by a hotel swimming pool.

There had been other travel magazines launched but none had lasted, and many ‘experts’ predicted we would fail too.

Indeed, a few months after we brought out our first issue, put together in our spare room, I was in the audience of a travel-writing talk at the Royal Geographical Society when a speaker mentioned there was a new travel magazine but that it “wouldn’t last”.

But we were determined. And we knew there was a thirst to read about the world.

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The 1980s and early ’90s had seen a boom in travel writing; bookshop windows displayed narratives by the likes of Bruce Chatwin, Colin Thubron, Dervla Murphy and Redmond O’Hanlon. But, if you wanted to go out and go to some of these places yourself, there was a real information gap and we were determined to fill it.

Yes, there were guidebooks, with the market dominated by Lonely Planet (which had not long opened a UK office) and Rough Guides, while for certain destinations, Footprint and Bradt Guides were the undoubted experts. But what about the stage before the guidebook? Where did the inspiration come from, and how did you know how and where to choose?

We knew there was a small but growing band of excellent specialist tour operators out there. If you travelled with the likes of Explore Worldwide (our first advertiser), Journey Latin America or Himalayan Kingdoms (now Mountain Kingdoms), you felt you were part of an exclusive club. And

Wanderlust too felt very much a club. We focused on subscriptions rather than shop sales, and our advertisers were the brilliant travel companies who could take people to the furthest corners of the world.

With our first issue we wanted to show we were different from anything else out there. Our front cover was an atmospheric shot of an Andean shepherd rather than of a beach. Inside, we showed local people rather than holidaymakers. We included a dispatch from a Texas park ranger and tackled sustainability head-on with a feature on the impact of mass tourism.

We were practical, covering the nuts and bolts of how to travel. We ran a page (sometimes two) listing the new guidebook releases and, when the time came, we had features on how to use the internet to research your travels.

We had launched at the right time. The Channel Tunnel opened in 1994, making it easier and more affordable to head to France and continental Europe. And then

came a revolution in flying with the advent of low-cost airlines. While there had been attempts at budget airlines before, notably Laker Airlines, the ’90s saw several launches, including easyJet in 1995, while Ryanair adopted a new low-fare model.

These new airlines made flying accessible to a wider range of passengers, and led to price wars, with major airlines having to drop their fares. The advent of online searches and booking also contributed to increased competition and to flying becoming more affordable. The world was opening up and the knock-on effect was that long-haul, exotic destinations seemed within reach.

More and more specialist tour companies launched, usually set up by enthusiasts who wanted to share their passion. Wildlife Worldwide had started just before us.

Wanderlust reader favourite Audley Travel started in 1996 as Asian Journeys, initially focusing on Vietnam. InsideAsia Tours started as InsideJapan in 2000, while Wild Frontiers launched in 2002. These companies are all flourishing today.

Not surprisingly, our competition soon arrived with other magazines launching.

The majority failed, perhaps not having a clear enough idea of what they were offering or who their market was. But some did stick, and we were generally glad as it all raised awareness of travel magazines.

After Paul passed away in 2004, we dedicated the magazine to his memory and resolved to keep sharing his passion for travel and seemingly endless curiosity about the world with our loyal readers.

Wanderlust had launched in a recession and another one hit in 2008 with the global financial crisis. Just as we celebrated our 15th anniversary, travel plunged as purse strings tightened, and 2009 was particularly difficult for the travel industry. Even when things picked up, it was a still a challenge for us as we had the closest to a direct competitor we had ever faced, and an aggressive one at that. Plus, the digital revolution had truly arrived and our advertisers were using much cheaper methods of promoting themselves than through a print publication.

We redeveloped our website and, as travel gradually came back, we added a new Trip Finder tool, providing a service to travel companies and readers, plus a Hot Offers section and newsletter. We also launched a community site with a forum, travellers’ tales and, most popular of all, the ability to upload photos to show fellow travellers.

But then came social media and blogging platforms. With so many online sources of information and content-sharing, our role pivoted again. Where there had originally

been an information gap for us to fill, now things had gone the other way, with content factories spewing out poorly researched, generic travel information and a plethora of well-meaning blogs that often suffered from a lack of fact-checking and experience.

There was too much information out there and people didn’t know what to believe.

So, we worked hard to reinforce our role as trusted sources of information, using destination experts and the best writers and editors. We upped our storytelling too, constantly striving to inspire our readers to find the best possible and most enriching travel experiences.

“We knew there must be other people like us who wanted to explore the world and whose idea of travel went far beyond lying by a hotel pool” The outcome of the Brexit vote caused some uncertainty in travel, and hit us for a while, but nothing prepared us, of course, for the events of 2020 and the pandemic. Just two weeks after we had won Travel Magazine of the Year, we went into lockdown.

Not surprisingly, travel was one of the hardest-hit sectors. The industry, from airlines to tour operators to hotels, had to deal with not just having no new bookings, but also with finding a way to refund those who had been booked to travel.

For Wanderlust too, life was challenging.

Readers were still dreaming of travel but shops were closed and many people didn’t want to touch paper that had been through other hands in case it carried the virus.

Our advertising fell completely away and even getting new content was a challenge, so we had to be resourceful. We launched virtual reader events, enabling us to connect

Kipouros took the Editor-in-chief George start of 2021 the at t rlus nde reins of Wa

with readers all around the world, and a highly popular online Friday travel quiz.

We still published the magazine, but a skinnier version of it.

It was against this background that Wanderlust passed into new ownership at the start of 2021. With editor-in-chief George Kipouros at the helm, we have really stepped up and evolved our offerings. The magazine is thicker and glossier, and is officially the UK’s number-one travel magazine.We have a new-look website just launching, and our immersive online articles are simply beautiful. Our podcast is in the top 10% of travel podcasts worldwide. We’re now even in the metaverse and have a growing number of 360-degree features available.

We focus less on the basics of how to travel and more, for instance, on accommodation, with that being an increasingly important factor in people’s trips. With the explosion in travel and plague of overtourism, we take care to highlight the sustainable ways to explore, the places that deserve recognition and the immersive experiences that are the most authentic and rewarding for both locals and visitors. We shine a light on Indigenous experiences around the globe, have more voices in the magazine, and we use a wider and more diverse group of writers.

Our audience has developed too. The world of travel has become more democratic over the past three decades, with more people from more countries travelling than ever before. Digital platforms mean that our readership isn’t just British anymore; indeed, only 50% of the traffic on our current website is from the UK, and you will increasingly find the printed magazine on sale around the world, especially in the USA and in international airports. So, the days are gone when we would solely see the world through the lens of one type of traveller.

What hasn’t changed is the trust between us and our readers. We strive as much as ever to bring you the best destinations and travel experiences on the planet. Here’s to ⊲ the next 30 years.

Lyn Hughes and Wanderlust co-fo under Paul Morrison in the Galápagos Isl ands

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Wanderlust once advised readers not to be so blatantly obvious when using paper maps abroad, as looking like a tourist can increase your chance of being targeted by muggers! Now, it’s easy enough to blend in with the invention of Google Maps, as everyone these days seems to be looking down at their phones anyway, sadly – but perhaps just turn down the volume on the spoken directions. Although it saves a huge amount of time when it comes to plotting routes, and prevents you from getting lost, we do miss this part of the adventure.

Lyn and Pa ul admire Syd pause for a momen t to ney’s most famous vi ew

How travel has changed To celebrate Wanderlust’s 30th anniversary, we journey back to 1993 to see how travel has evolved over the past three decades. Are you ready for a dose of nostalgia?

Words Jessica Reid

In-hand luggage to rolling suitcases

One of the only non-digital inventions on our list is the wheelie suitcase, and what a revolutionary idea it was. Don’t get us wrong, backpacks still have their place on certain trips, but luggage carried in hand is now rare to see. Travel nowadays has been made incredibly easy by just a few wheels being attached to the bottom of your suitcase. They save you from aching arms and sore backs, they’re highly secure with built-in locking mechanisms, and they come in extremely handy when rushing through airports. They might make a racket when rolling over cracked pavements and encourage us to pack a little more than we probably should, but otherwise, it’s a big thumbs-up from us.

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Currency exchange to fee-free bank cards

We might still exchange money ‘just in case’, but for many destinations, there’s really no need to load your wallet with wads of cash any more. Not only is it a security risk, but you’d often return with a random array of foreign coins or enough to turn back into pounds, only to lose out on exchange rates. First came the introduction of travel money cards, but now, many bank cards allow you to purchase abroad without foreign transaction fees, so you can spend as you do at home. Top tip – if given the option to pay in local currency on a debit or credit card, do it. It’s often the cheaper way.

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Paper to Google Maps

How did you used to share your travel memories? Perhaps you sent a postcard with your travel tales to your loved ones, or if on a longer trip, you might have received letters through a Poste Restante (for those who don’t know, somewhere you collected mail if you had no fixed abode). But with the takeover of social media, there’s no need to wait for days to communicate. Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok can help you share your photos, videos and stories of adventure not just with your family and friends, but also with the whole world, while apps such as WhatsApp and FaceTime provide instant private messaging and video call services. We still think postcards have the edge for sentimental value though, so we’re sure it’s far from the end of their story.

Film cameras to digital cameras

Running out of film was always a pain, and it was especially frustrating getting your photos developed and discovering the majority were terrible. Now, there’s a range of digital camera technology (smartphones and GoPros, to name a couple of examples) for capturing high-resolution pictures: ones that you can instantly see too. That said, film cameras are on the rise again.

Perhaps there’s something special about capturing just a few grainy snaps of your travels, rather than having hundreds – maybe thousands – of images on your phone camera roll you’ll probably never look at again.

Boarding passes to e-tickets

Gone are the days of searching your bag frantically for your boarding pass at the flight gates. Now, you just need to scan a QR code or download an app to catch a flight, train or other public transport. All you need to worry about is making sure your phone doesn’t run out of battery. However, we do miss the feeling of holding that ticket in our hands and sticking it into our scrapbooks after arriving back home.

Wanderlust Playli st ‘93 Projected movies to back-of-seat screens

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Cassette players to music streaming platforms How retro! Cassette players really do make us feel nostalgic, but with music streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music at our fingertips, allowing us to listen to absolutely any song in the world at any time, the Sony Walkman can’t really compete.

Especially while on a week-long hiking trip when you’ve listened to the same song for the millionth time. Rumour has it though, the cassette player is making a comeback…

It’s hard to imagine a long-haul flight today without individual, on-demand entertainment to while away the hours, but that’s how it was 30 years ago when Wanderlust’s founding editors flew to South America, leaving them plenty of time to sketch out the magazine on the back of a sick bag. For many years, airlines would project films onto an overhead screen, until the late 1980s, when Northwest Airlines introduced the first back-of-seat entertainment – and it didn’t take long for others to follow suit. Now, everyone from first class to economy has hundreds of the latest movies and TV shows to watch, plus games, music, flight trackers and more.

We are pleased this wasn’t available in 1993 though, otherwise Wanderlust ⊲ might never have existed.

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THE ORIGINAL ‘TRAVEL BLOG’ Facebook was ten years away when US journalist Jeff Greenwald posted a series of ‘live’ online travel pieces called ‘Big World’ on the now-defunct Global Network Navigator site. He even uploaded the first image from Kathmandu – it took 14 hours to send!

E-TRAVEL LAUNCHED The USA’s Southwest Airlines rolled out e-tickets for the first time in 1994.

The following year, a start-up in Palo Alto called Internet Travel Network claimed to have overseen the first online ticket booking. It would become the first of billions.

APR 2005

FEB 2004

WE SANK TO NEW DEPTHS The first underwater restaurant arrived in the Maldives in 2005 with the opening of Ithaa at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, which launched its first stay beneath the waves in the same year. Now we even have underwater museums!

FACEBOOK SPARKED FOMO Little changed travel quite so much as when Facebook launched. Before social media became all influencers, TikTok dances and FoMo, it offered one simple, beautiful thing: a way to keep friends and family close while we saw the world.

NOV 2007

SEP 2008

A BLUE DOT BECAME OUR GUIDE Suddenly we didn’t have to stand in the street twisting old maps around any more, as the first mobile version of Google Maps became available on Blackberry and Palm (2008 Android; 2012 iOS). We’ve been following a blue dot around the world ever since.

ECONOMIC DOWNTURN HITS The global recession took its toll on airlines and travel companies still recovering from the post-9/11 downturn in demand, meaning baggage check-in fees and other extra charges that had been seen as temporary were now here to stay.

2024…

JAN 2020

SUMMER

BRITS WILL NEED AN ETIAS JUST TO ENTER EUROPE One of the many upshots of Brexit is that Brits will soon pay around €7 to apply for entry to Europe via its European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS). This had been due to happen in 2024, but it is now set for 2025.

LOCKDOWN HAPPENED It seems a lifetime ago but China was the first nation to initiate a lockdown following the outbreak of COVID-19, and the world followed. The effects are still being felt by the travel industry, but nothing made us cherish our freedom more than when we lost it.

WOMEN WENT IT ALONE Tour operators cottoned on to the fact that the majority of solo travellers are women, with many feeling safer in single-sex groups. It set a trend among tour ops for not just providing female-only trips, but also ushered in a rise in tours targeting ever more special-interest experiences, from eclipse tourism to train-only escapes.

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WANDERLUST HITS THE SHELVES After scheming the idea on a flight to Ecuador, Lyn Hughes and Paul Morrison publish the first issue of Wanderlust, now the UK’s longest-running consumer travel magazine.

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nd ied a tre rators sp s in 2018 Tour ope ip tr ly n -o en for wom

Words Gareth Clark

We’ve seen it all over the past 30 years. Here are just some of the revolutions in travel that are still making waves…

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The story of modern travel

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2018

Shutterstock; Alamy; Justin Nicholas

NOV 1993

NOV 1994 WE TOOK THE CHUNNEL The first Eurostar service between London and Paris left St Pancras.

For Brits, flightless train travel to Europe via the Channel Tunnel opened up trips to France and beyond without queuing at Dover.

NOV 2003 THE LAST CONCORDE The supersonic transatlantic dream ended with a brief flight from London to Bristol. Cost and restrictions due to noise signalled the death of an era when flying still felt aspirational, as the budget airlines grew.

DEC 2011 THE WIFI GOT TURNED OFF In late 2011, an article in The New York Times identified the trend of people wanting to ditch their screens. Travel was quick to catch on; now digital detox escapes aren’t just a hut in the woods but luxury stays in incredible settings.

Shutterstock; Alamy; Justin Nicholas

MAR 2018 …THEN WE FLEW FURTHER Direct flights between the UK and Australia began with Qantas’ London-Perth route creating the world’s longest (14,478km) flight. This record has since been overtaken twice, but all comers will be blown out of the water by the London-Sydney route (17,020km) mooted for 2025.

FEB 1995

MAR 1995

OUR TRAVEL SNAPS GOT BETTER While digital cameras had been around since the late 1980s, the long-forgotten Casio QV-10 introduced the first LCD screen, finally letting us preview the images that we’d just taken – something we do now without even thinking.

WE ROAMED EUROPE FREELY On 26 March 1995, the Schengen Agreement came into effect, allowing border-free travel among seven European countries for the first time in the modern age. Today, this area has extended to 27 nations, making continental travel a doddle (for some).

APR 2001

OCT 1999

SPACE TOURISM BEGAN Dennis Tito visited the International Space Station for a cool $20 million as the first fee-paying astronaut. Now, sub-orbital hops have been around since 2018, and the launch of new climate-friendly space-balloon trips promise even longer ascents.

WE SLOWED DOWN ‘Slow travel’ found its feet with the birth of the Cittaslow movement – an Italian idea to improve towns by slowing traffic and life within them. Its ethos crept into tourism as books and tours built on the idea of moving less and staying in one place longer.

2014

AUG 2016

THE NO-SMOKING SIGN WAS ON Although commercial airlines began getting rid of smoking sections in the 1980s, it wasn’t until August 2000 that Air France eventually kicked the habit. Meanwhile, one of the last hold-outs, Cuban national airline Cubana, finally quit in 2014.

OVERTOURISM ERUPTED The word ‘overtourism’ had been around a while, but in 2016 it took form in a march by Venice locals against the choked streets and high rents caused by visitors. As other cities did the same, it highlighted the impact of tourism on local people.

JAN 2018

SEPT 2017

WE HIT THE RAILS… In 2018, the ‘We stay on the ground’ movement began in Sweden and the word flygskam (flight shame) took off, as people around the world considered their carbon footprint.

Train travel has been the big winner, with a deluge of new sleeper trains in Europe, in particular, changing how we travel long distances.

THE E-SCOOTER INVASION The now-ubiquitous dockless e-scooter schemes were first launched in Santa Monica, California,

by Bird, in turn prompting endless angry articles about them clogging our streets. They are now in cities across the world, for better or worse, allowing travellers to hop short distances for a small fee. ⊲

y train hannel b ed the C We cross time in 1995 rst for the fi

We broke travel’s final frontier in (appropriately en ough) 2001

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30 YEARS OF WANDERLUST

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30 YEARS OF WANDERLUST VERSION

Even maps have changed since 1993, with new routes, trails and borders transforming the way we see the world – and breaking records along the way

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9

Words Gareth Clark

NEWLY RECOGNISED COUNTRIES

There have been countless breakaway states over the past 30 years, but only nine internationally recognised countries have emerged since 1993, when the Velvet Divorce saw former Czechoslovakia break into Slovakia and what is now Czechia (formerly Czech Republic). This was followed by Eritrea, which split from Ethiopia in the same year, although like Timor-Leste (2002) and South Sudan (2011), its path hasn’t been easy. The Republic of Palau, a collection of 200 limestone and volcanic islands in the Western Pacific, left US administration behind in 1994, becoming a diving hotspot that lures travellers with the prospect of swimming past millions of stingless jellyfish. And the break-up of old Yugoslavia continued well into the 2000s, with Kosovo (2008) and the ever-popular Montenegro (2006) belatedly separating from Serbia.

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A NEW CAPITAL FOUR TIMES THE SIZE OF GREATER LONDON

Countries change capital city all the time, usually for political or logistical reasons, but they seem to be getting more ambitious. Egypt is moving its as-yet-unnamed administrative capital (714 sq km) 50km south-east of Cairo to alleviate pressure on its ancient centre, and in 2024, Indonesian capital Jakarta is set to give way to newly built Nusantara (2,560 sq km) on the east coast of Borneo. Indeed, Asia is at the centre of this trend, with South Korea’s purpose-built Sejong City (462 sq km) and the Philippines’ New Clark City (94 sq km) mooted to displace Seoul and Manila respectively by 2030. Yet none can match Myanmar’s gigantic Naypyidaw (pictured left) for sheer scale (7,054 sq km), at four times the size of London yet with barely a tenth of its population.

THE MOST REMOTE NEW COMMERCIAL AIRPORT

The UK’s most distant outpost, St Helena (pictured right), finally got its first airport in 2016, opening up an island so remote that Napoleon was exiled there to die by the British. At 1,950km from south-western Africa (and 8,466km from London), it is surely the most remote location to get regular commercial flights in the last 30 years. Until then, visitors had to travel five days on the RMS St Helena mail ship from Cape Town, which ran every three weeks, to get there. Elsewhere, China opened the world’s highest airport in 2013, with travellers now able to fly to Daocheng Yading (4,411m above sea level) in the mountainous west of Sichuan Province. It’s a gateway to Shangri-La, which officially changed its name to that of the mythical city in James Hilton’s book Lost Horizon in 2001.

3

NAME CHANGES

Names are a powerful thing, particularly in countries like New Zealand and Australia, where the dual titling of places and cities is helping to restore their Indigenous identities. Throwing off the legacy of colonialism is a common reason, as in eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), renamed in 2018 by its king in a bid to not only break away from its past but also, so he claimed at the time, to stop people confusing it with Switzerland. Others are more diplomatically inspired, with North Macedonia (previously the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia) adopting its current name in 2018 after a 15-year standoff with Greece over the use of ‘Macedonia’. But the record breaker is Kazakhstan capital Astana (pictured left), which has changed name three times since 1998, morphing ⊲ from Akmola to Astana, then Nir-Sultan in 2019, only to change back this year.

Shutterstock; Alamy

REPRO OP

Mapping the last 30 years in numbers

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NEW ARCTIC EXPLORERS

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The infamous Northwest Passage, between the Canadian Arctic (north of Baffin Island) and the Bering Sea, was a pipe dream for sailors for decades. It was first completed in 1906 by Roald Amundsen, but remained thereafter a daunting prospect.

A safe, direct route between the Atlantic and Pacific promised untold riches for those who could find it; no one ever did until relatively recently. These days it’s far easier. Since 2000, the Arctic climate has changed so much that the waters are all but ice-free in late summer. It’s a worrying trend, but it has also opened up the possibility for expedition cruises to follow in the wake of history’s greatest explorers by taking on the much-fabled route that traces the northern coast of North America, and which has only been possible to navigate without an icebreaker since 2007. Indeed, up until 1993, only 46 ships had ever made this 1,450km journey; since then, some 348 have attempted it, say records by the Scott Polar Institute.

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1.9 million THE PLANET’S BIGGEST PARK

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Countless national parks have appeared over the last 30 years, with the largest to emerge in the USA being Death Valley (13,650 sq km; pictured right), which gained its status in 1994. Later, China opened the world’s highest national park, Sanjiangyuan, in 2020, which also spans 123,000 sq km (more than 13 times the size of Yellowstone). Perhaps most remarkable of all is the story of Chile’s Pumalín Douglas Tompkins NP, which began life as the largest private conservation project in the world, backed by Kris and the late Doug Tompkins, before it was given to the state in 2018 to become a national park. But when it comes to size, all of the above could squeeze within the world's largest marine park, Marae Moana, and still leave space for a country or two. This protected area was created around the South Pacific’s Cook Islands in 2017 and spans a massive 1.9 million sq km.

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THE LONGEST WALK IN THE WORLD

Ever longer trails have been created over the past 30 years, with the most iconic arguably being North America’s 4,265km Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), between California and British Columbia (pictured left), which was only finalised in 1993. Though this was blown out of the water in 2017, when the world’s longest trail, The Great Trail in Canada (27,000km), was officially declared complete. In Europe, routes such as the Transcaucasian Trail (TCT), which was only finished recently and threads the Caucasus Mountains from Georgia to Armenia for around 3,000km, followed in the footsteps of their US forebears. Meanwhile, the Jordan Trail (675km) gets special mention for becoming the first long-distance hiking trail in the Middle East in 2015, followed shortly after by North Africa’s first, the Sinai Trail (550km), which crosses the territories of eight Bedouin peoples in Egypt. Even tiny England has got in on the epic trails act with the England Coast Path (4,499km), although work on this is still ongoing.

AFRICA’S LARGEST NEW MASS MIGRATION

Over in Botswana, the erection of fences by ranchers in the late 20th century disrupted traditional animal migration patterns across the country, but by the mid-2000s, it was discovered that 30,000 zebra were now crossing the Kalahari Desert to spend the dry season (Apr–Oct) in the Okavango, only returning to Makgadikgadi Salt Pans in January in what has become one of the continent’s newest large land migrations. It’s not the only new arrival in travel, and discoveries come in every shape and size, with Peru’s colourful Rainbow Mountain, near Cusco, becoming an Instagram hit with travellers after it first appeared between 2012 and 2015 from beneath melting snow. And in Egypt, there’s always something new to discover, but February 2023 saw the opening to the public for the first time of the oldest site on Luxor’s West Bank, the Middle Kingdom Tomb of Meru, which has us very excited indeed.

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30 YEARS OF WANDERLUST

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TRAVEL FURTHER A whole year of travel inspiration…

Six collectable double issues 1,200+ pages of awe-inspiring, authentic travel writing Digital access Read anywhere, anytime Online archive Access over 100 back issues dating back to 2010 £50 travel voucher!

Use with some of the best tour operators Shutterstock

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VERSION REPRO OP SUBS ART PRODUCTION CLIENT

Putting the world to rights While a new season of the BBC’s most-anticipated natural history series portrays a world on the brink, TV’s big-hearted celebs are still just doing their best to struggle around it and savour the best bits

Words by Tom Hawker; images: © BBC Studios/Elliot Jones; © BBC Pictures/Studio Lambert Ltd/Pete Dadds

Y

ou’ve got a good idea of what to expect from the third series of Planet Earth (iPlayer): a main course of exhilarating, ground-breaking cinematography and insight from BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit along with a side serving of ‘We’ve properly messed this planet up’, all delivered via the warm tones of Sir David Attenborough. And they make good on all fronts with a focus this series on how the natural world is adapting to the Anthropocene era – during which humans have become dominant – and how interconnected the planet is. Cue remarkable footage of a rhino lumbering through the streets of Sauraha, Nepal, in search of food. It is spectacular to watch, though unnerving at times.

“It’s like being in a David Attenborough film,” yells farmer Jimmy Doherty during a fishing trip on his New Zealand Escape (My4). You’d be hard-pressed to disagree with this hot take when it comes to the scenery, but this is a lot more like your standard celebrity-fronted foodie road trip, as Doherty travels up from Stewart Island to Auckland enjoying the eco-friendly industries and dishes en route.

A more famous face getting to grips with local culture is actor Eva Longoria (of Desperate Housewives fame). In the refreshing Searching for Mexico (iPlayer), she takes a rare look at a country and its cooking that doesn’t often get its fair dues. Meanwhile, a Wanderlust favourite makes a strong return, as Julia Bradbury’s Irish Journey (My4) manages

to find fresh ground – even among this well-documented island – via a typically warm selection of local interviewees.

Another hit with readers has been Celebrity Race Across theWorld (iPlayer), which sees a celeb and a relative navigate from Marrakech to Tromsø, although the family dynamics here are just as engaging as watching Mel from All Saints do a pot-washing shift in a Lisbon fado bar. And speaking of reader faves, news of a new Simon Reeves series in 2024 tackling the world’s greatest wildernesses has us excited, though details at time of press were thin on the ground.

But we deal in certainties here, and like death and taxes there will always be Nick Knowles.

A second series of his Amazing Railway Adventures (my5) lets the gruff presenter run riot across Eastern Europe and Italy, though he does at least cover areas missing from more polished series, including meeting Brateiu’s Roma community. Another show treading the fine line of ‘cringe’ is Mel Giedroyc and Martin Clunes’s one-off Explore Britain by the Book (ITVX), which sees the jolly pals laugh, read and bimble about Dorset. But mostly laugh. And sometimes, that’s enough.

It’s a tough old life (top–bottom) The third series of Planet Earth doesn’t shy away from what humans have done to this world and the effect this has had on its animals; life isn’t much easier for the celebs of Celebrity Race Across the World and their relatives

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ARMCHAIR TRAVEL

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JOURNAL Travel From Home VERSION REPRO OP

Read this!

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Find inspiration for next year’s trip as the experts at Stanfords pick the latest travel reads to whet your appetite for adventure

SUBS

Türkiye

by Julian Sayarer

ART PRODUCTION

Quercus; £25 Stanfords Book of The Month for October 2023 Sayarer pedals his way across Turkey, from the Aegean coast to the Armenian border, meeting farmers, workers, Syrian refugees and Russians avoiding conscription. The result is a love letter to the country and its neighbours, but one that also doesn’t shy away from the many issues.

Great Scottish Walks CLIENT

by Helen & Paul Webster

Vertebrate Publishing; £25 All you need to know to trek 26 of Scotland’s finest long-distance trails from the brains behind the Walkhighlands website. If you’ve ever been marooned mid-walk without a bed in the Highlands, then this practical overview covering access, stays, transport and local amenities is a godsend.

Readers get 10% off by using the code ‘Wandering’ on the Stanfords website (www.stanfords.co.uk).

Wanderlust members can get 25% off.

Vet at the End of the Earth

unusual historic sites and the stories behind them.

Duckworth; £14 Hollins was the resident vet on some of the remotest islands on the planet: the British Overseas Territories of the Falklands, St Helena, Tristan da Cunha and Ascension. From saving the life of the world’s oldest land animal to relocating herds of reindeer, this is a remarkable account of the realities of working and living on the edge of the world.

The Man Who Loved Siberia

by Jonathan Hollins

Wanderings and Wonderings through the British Ritual Year

by Weird Walk

Watkins Publishing; £20 By walking Britain’s ancient landscape and following the old seasons, this book by zine creators Weird Walk aims to reconnect us to our shared folklore. The result is a fascinating delve into some of the UK’s most

by Roy Jacobsen and Anneliese Pitz MacLehose Press; £25 Jacobsen and Pitz have adapted the account of Fritz Doerries, who spent 22 years travelling in Siberia in the late 19th century, trying to better understand its flora and fauna. His on-the-ground research was legendary, but beyond his stories of ice chasms, bandits, bears and vipers, this is a rare glimpse into a region as mysterious today as it was 150 years ago.

Atlas of Extreme Weathers

by Pini Lorenzo

Jonglez; £20 Stanfords Book of The Month for November 2023 This beautiful coffee-table atlas is reason enough to never complain

about the rain again. Explore 50 places where the weather shapes the lives of local communities, from a town in Siberia where it can drop to -70ºC, to a part of Venezuela pounded by lightning and a Japanese city submerged by 7m of snow every winter.

The Screen Traveller’s Guide by various authors

Dorling Kindersley; £25 For those who want to add another dimension to their next city break, or just want to follow in the footsteps of hobbits, this blend of travel guide and film-and-TV trivia takes you quite literally behind the scenes. Follow the Avengers as they battle across New York, wander the Croatian setting for King’s Landing in TV’s Game of Thrones and find out how New Zealand was transformed into Middle Earth in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings.

LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP

Are you a travel mastermind?

Take inspiration from travel leaders around the globe with a new book charting their crisis response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Call to Leadership (Whitefox Publishing; £20) by Canadian travel expert Anita Mendiratta features interviews with 20 of the world’s foremost business leaders, offering insights into how to navigate a crisis – personal or professional – and emerge stronger.

Test your travel know-how or challenge your friends and family this festive season with the Wanderlust Ultimate Travel Quiz Book (shop.wanderlust.co.uk; £9.99).

It’s packed with new quizzes and the toughest questions around, guaranteed to stump even the most intrepid adventurers. What better Christmas present for the explorer in your life? Or why not go a step further and buy them a gift subscription to Wanderlust and claim your FREE quiz book as a bonus? Turn to page 42 to find out more.

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KNOWING THE RISKS

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1 in 10 people fall ill each year after eating contaminated food (World Health Organization).

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Bacteria such as E coli and salmonella are the most common causes of travellers’ diarrhoea.

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Don’t use tap water to clean your teeth in areas with poor sanitation.

Food for thought All content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, treatment or diagnosis. Consult a healthcare professional before taking action; images: Shutterstock

CLIENT

Trying local foods is one of the joys of travelling, but it pays to know which dishes to avoid, writes registered dietitian Nigel Denby

H

ow many times have you run through your tickets, money and passport before you set off? Well, maybe add a note to gen up on food hygiene for travellers, too, as there are lots of food-borne hazards to be mindful of when you travel.

Taking precautions doesn’t mean ignoring local food, culture and customs; being a savvy traveller means you get all the enjoyment with minimal risk. Food- and water-related illnesses can vary from a touch of mild traveller’s tummy to more serious long-term matters, such as typhoid or hepatitis B. In the most severe cases, infections from viruses, bacteria and parasites can be fatal. Avoiding them is all in the planning, so check up on the destinations you are visiting to see if there are any common food-related issues you need to know about.

In countries with dubious water quality, avoid ice and – if you have no other option – drink only sealed and unopened bottled water. Better still,

take a reusable filtered water bottle so that you can drink the local water safely and not add to the mountain of single-use plastic waste. Don’t be tempted to drink straight from fountains or hotel room taps, or from streams and rivers if you’re off-grid.

Avoid any raw meat, fish, shellfish or eggs if you have any doubts, including undercooked foods or rarecooked meats.When eating fruits and veggies, they need to be thoroughly cooked, and avoid salads that may be rinsed with contaminated water. Raw fruits with thick peels are okay if you prepare them yourself.

If you’re being offered buffet food or shared plates, think about how long that food has been sitting in the heat.

It doesn’t take long at all for bacteria to multiply at alarming rates on food, so where possible, choose refrigerated dishes or food that is piping hot.

My guiding principle is: if in doubt, leave it out. If the thought crosses your mind about whether something is safe to consume, it’s wise to assume it isn’t.

Street eating (top) There’s a fine line between being an adventurous eater and being a reckless one.

When trying street food, especially in hot countries, look at the conditions in which it is being prepared.

If the vendor is cooking meat or seafood and has no refrigerated storage, or the ingredients are simply left exposed in the sun, move on fast.

When in doubt, look around for where the locals are queuing up – you don’t get repeat customers by poisoning them!

The Water-to-Go filter bottle can remove up to 99.9999% of contaminants from water.

5

TIPS FOR EATING WELL ON THE MOVE

1

It pays to consult a travel clinic before you set off, as you may need to update your vaccines. Also, bring over-the-counter remedies for diarrhoea, sickness and rehydration.

We’ve all got used to having hand sanitiser, so pack some hygiene essentials. And make sure that your travel insurance is up to date and easily found if needed.

Wash your hands even more frequently than normal.

Stay hydrated and keep an eye on your urine – if it gets any darker than the colour of pale straw or white wine, you need to drink more. Dehydration can make you feel really sick, really quickly.

Good resources for travellers are the US (cdc.gov/travel) and UK governments’ travel-advice sites (gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice).

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DEPARTURES VERSION REPRO OP SUBS ART PRODUCTION

Winter comes in all shapes, sizes and adventures, so we’ve hand-picked the most exciting new trips for the season ahead 50 December 2023/January 2024

BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN

Alamy; Oscar Ferrara; Shutterstock

CLIENT

Frozen escapes

TRAVEL THROUGH TIME IN ICELAND

Hopping between two diverging tectonic plates in Iceland’s Thingvellir National Park is one of many primeval highlights on Audley Travel’s tailor-made Northern LightsWinter Break in Iceland.You might also be lucky enough to admire the aurora shimmering above bubbling mud pools and black-sand beaches on the Reykjanes Peninsula. As well as driving the highlights of the Golden Circle (including Gulfoss waterfall and Geysir’s hot-water spouts) and dropping in on the Blue Lagoon in the quieter winter months, you’ll don crampons to trek on the Sólheimajökull glacier surrounded by white-capped volcanoes. Afterwards, return to your hotel’s astronomical observatory to gaze at starlight that began its journey across the cosmos some 2.5 million years ago.

Audley Travel (audleytravel.com). Flexible dates; 6 days from £5,495pp, including international flights.

Alamy; Oscar Ferrara; Shutterstock

SET SAIL FOR THE WHITE CONTINENT

At the peak of the Antarctic summer, melting ice opens up intriguing routes below the 66th parallel south. For expedition ships such as the MS Roald Amundsen, it’s an invitation to explore further. The Antarctic Circle Expedition cruise with HX (formerly Hurtigruten Expeditions), departing Ushuaia, sets its compass for remote Marguerite Bay on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, where the ship will hop between islands, allowing you to venture onto land and kayak among giant icebergs (conditions permitting). In between spotting krill-gulping whales and Adélie penguins huddled on the floes, on-board lectures broaden your knowledge of science and geography, while trips to research stations reveal the region’s rich history.

HX (hurtigruten.co.uk). 7 & 23 Jan, 8 Feb 2024; 18 days from £9,404pp, excluding international flights.

EMBRACE THE ICY CAIRNGORMS, SCOTLAND

The UK doesn’t get much wilder than the Cairngorms in winter, when snowbound hills and icy lochs conjure images of Scandinavia and beyond.Wilderness Scotland’s Winter Highlands retreat explores Cairngorms National Park from your base in a lodge tucked away in beautiful Glen Feshie. The focus here is on slow adventures and wellness, with travellers joining a wilderness guide to talk about the unique biodiversity of the Highlands, going on hikes around hidden lochs, taking ‘sound baths’, joining yoga classes and enjoying wild swims in ice-fresh waters before reheating in a mobile sauna. Then, as night draws an impossibly black blanket across the sky, be regaled by tales of folk legends beneath the starry skies – whisky in hand.

Wilderness Scotland (wildernessscotland.com). 5 Feb & 4 Mar 2024; 4 nights from £1,495pp, excluding travel to Aviemore.

MEET THE SÁMI OF NORTHERN FINLAND

The lonely expanses of the tundra inspire true wonder. That sense of awe infuses Not in the Guidebooks’ Searching for the Northern Lights in Levi escape, which explores the Finnish portion of Sápmi (the Sámi word for Lapland). Between snowmobile safaris through boreal forests, sledding with husky dogs so energetic that they practically fizz across the snow, and nights spent in a glass-roofed cabin (hopefully) watching the aurora ripple overhead, there are plenty of showstopping moments. But it’s the time you spend with your Sámi guide, learning about the culture of the semi-nomadic reindeer herders who have roamed this swathe of Arctic wilderness for generations, that is unforgettable. Not in the Guidebooks (notintheguidebooks.com). Flexible dates; 3 nights from £3,116 per couple, excluding international flights. ⊲

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JOURNAL Winter Trips

DEPARTURES VERSION REPRO OP SUBS PRODUCTION CLIENT

EXPLORE THE VAST FORESTS OF POLAND

Poland’s Białowieża Forest is one of the last remaining primeval woodland expanses in lowland Europe, stretching some 1,500 sq km.

Coupled with the lush wetlands of the Biebrza Marshes, it’s like travelling back in time over thousands of years. The Wildlife Worldwide Poland’sWinterWildlife trip plunges you deep into this epic landscape where bison were reintroduced in the 1950s, decades after the last wild individual had been shot.You’ll venture into the forest depths to look for the free-ranging bison herd – the world’s largest – and there is plenty more to get wildlife enthusiasts excited, too: scan the snow for the tracks of wolves (protected here for 15 years), spy white-tailed eagles hunting on the ice and watch beavers gather branches for their lodges.

Wildlife Worldwide (wildlifeworldwide.com). 19 Feb 2024; 7 days from £1,795pp, excluding international flights.

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SPY ORCAS AND AURORA IN ICELAND

Off the west coast of Iceland, where the Snaefellsnes Peninsula juts into the Denmark Strait, vast herring shoals arrive every year to overwinter – providing bountiful fare for other hungry marine creatures.

On Discover the World’s Orcas and Aurora tour, you’ll depart from your base in the fishing town of Stykkishólmur on expert-guided boat trips into the strait for sightings of the orcas, dolphins and seabirds that throng the area in winter to feast on the herring. This spot isn’t just an ideal jumping-off point for wildlife watching, it also offers fine opportunities for admiring the northern lights and for roaming a primeval landscape of black-sand beaches, blowholes and basalt sea stacks under the gaze of the glacier-capped Snæfellsjökull volcano.

Discover theWorld (discover-the-world.com). 14 & 28 Feb 2024; 4 nights from £1,866pp, excluding international flights.

SKI BETWEEN YURTS IN KYRGYZSTAN

If you’d prefer to break new ground, KE Adventure’s Ski Nomad: Yurt to Yurt Ski Touring in Kyrgyzstan tour traces not just lines in fresh snow but a pioneering route across a remote corner of Central Asia, gliding across the wilderness in the ski-tracks of nomadic peoples. You will need some ski-touring experience, although the first few days will be spent at Karakol Ski Resort brushing up on the basics. From there you’ll strike out with local guides into the foothills of the Terskey Ala-Tau Mountains east of lake Issyk-Kul. Your experienced guide will plot the best route, according to weather conditions, as you ski between simple stove-heated yurts without showers or electricity, soaking up the thrills of off-grid winter travel.

KE Adventure Travel (keadventure.com). 2 Mar; 14 nights from £4,645pp, including international flights.

Alamy; Shutterstock

ART

CRUISE THE FJORDS OF NORTHERN NORWAY

Norway’s Arctic expanses take on a frost-glittered glamour during the winter months, when husky-sledding trips open up the wilderness inland and the fjords look even more dramatic from the water.

Sunvil’s Arctic Fjords, Northern Lights and Huskies Expedition cruise aboard the MV Quest squeezes in various seasonal highlights as you wend your way along the coast from aurora capital Tromsø to the Lofoten Islands, where bright-red rorbuer (cod fishermen’s cabins) gleam in stark contrast against the ghostly white hillsides. Along the way, scan the seas for whales in Andøy, visit a Viking longhouse and ride the tracks of the Arctic Train from Narvik before the shimmering northern lights bid you farewell. Sunvil (sunvil.co.uk). 2, 12 & 22 Feb, 13 Mar 2024, plus reverse northward departures; 6 nights from £3,561pp, including international flights.

MONKEY AROUND IN WINTRY JAPAN

Alamy; Shutterstock

There are few sights more delightful in the Japanese winter than that of a snow monkey slipping into the hot-spring pools around Yudanaka Onsen, its eyes closed in sheer contentment.

InsideAsia’s Snow Country tour of Japan roams the northern reaches of Honshu island, where the mountains of Nagano loom over reclining macaques. You’ll discover plenty of other highlights besides, from exploring the hillside shrines and Meiji-era inns of Takayama, surrounded by the Japanese Alps, to wandering the temples and gardens of Kyoto, luminous when dusted with snow. These treats are all linked by bullet-train rides through mountain landscapes as you shuttle in and out of Tokyo, where you can join a food safari around the city. InsideJapan (insidejapantours.com). Selfguided, best Dec–Mar; 11 nights from £3,880pp, excluding inter- ⊲ national flights.

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When you think of snowy winter escapes, your mind is unlikely to turn to North Africa, but Morocco’s High Atlas mountains offer challenges to test anyone’s mettle. Intrepid Travel’s Mount Toubkal Winter Trek not only summits that 4,167m peak – the region’s loftiest – but also explores the surrounding highlands in more depth than typical up-and-back itineraries.With a night for altitude acclimatisation, it’s a manageable ascent for anyone with decent fitness – especially when accompanied by a pack of mules to lug your gear, staying in mountain gites and sampling local hospitality. Best of all, money from this trip goes back into the area’s communities, helping local girls through secondary school.

Intrepid Travel (intrepidtravel.com). 10 Dec 2023, 18 Feb, 3 Mar, 7 Apr 2024; 7 days from £566pp, excluding international flights.

ROAM THE SWITZERLAND OF YESTERYEAR

There’s no denying just how spectacular the landscape of Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland is, dominated by peaks topping 4,000m.

It’s a setting that takes the breath away in every sense – little wonder this region styles itself as the birthplace of skiing.The base for Exodus Adventure Travels’ Cross-Country Skiing in Kandersteg break is a picture-postcard village from which a cobweb of high trails spiders across slopes and plateaus. On this self-guided trip, you can explore the surrounding area with the included travel pass; plus, if you time your visit for late January, you can immerse yourself in Kandersteg’s gloriously retro Belle Époque week, when locals don 19th-century clothing while events and markets recreate life during the fin de siècle period. Exodus Adventure Travels (exodus.co.uk). Jan–Mar; 8 days from £1,429pp, including international flights.

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India’s Ladakh region is one of just a few places where you might spot a wild snow leopard – a creature that rarely descends below 3,000m. On Transindus’ Snow Leopard Safari Through Ladakh tour, you’ll join a team of conservationists in Leh before heading for the stark slopes of Hemis National Park, where temperatures plummet below -20ºC at night – thankfully, evenings are spent in the warmth of the Snow Leopard Lodge. Sightings can’t be guaranteed, but guides work closely with the Snow Leopard Conservancy to track and chart the predators’ movements in the region.

And it’s not just big cats; if you’re lucky, you could spot Tibetan wolves, Eurasian brown bears or Asiatic ibex.

Transindus (transindus.com).

Best Nov–Mar; 14 days from £4,495pp, excluding international flights. ⊲ XXXX XXX

Alamy; Shutterstock

SEEK SNOW LEOPARDS IN INDIA

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In winter, western Austria isn’t short of snowbound landscapes; it’s perfect for adventurous travellers. Headwater’s Self-guided Cross-Country Skiing at Leutasch trip is based at a Tyrolean resort guarded by the snowcapped Wetterstein mountain range. The valley and plateau above are criss-crossed with some 260km of marked trails, offering countless options for a self-powered escape. When not exploring the expanses of the snow-dusted terrain, hop to the nearby village of Seefeld – which hosted events at two Winter Olympics – to test your downhill skills. Make the most of the white stuff by trying tobogganing, snowshoeing and ice skating, then lug pleasantly weary limbs back to the hotel for an evening of gluhwein tasting. Headwater (headwater.com). Dec–Mar; 8 days from 1,379pp, including international flights.

BRAVE THE WHITE WILDS OF ALASKA, USA

If you’re looking for a remote winter escape, the wilderness of Alaska more than scratches that itch. Many restaurants and stores here close during the coldest season, so travellers are few and far between.

Intrepid Travel’s Alaska Winter Adventure tour ventures yet further off this less-beaten track with a stay at an isolated lodge on Sheep Mountain, where even in peak season you won’t see anyone for miles – perfect for watching the northern lights dance overhead in glorious solitude. Elsewhere, visits to the Matanuska Glacier and the world’s largest ice museum, plus dog-sledding and snowshoeing in Denali National Park (beneath the country’s biggest mountain), set the pace for a trip that embraces Alaska’s challenging winter conditions.

Intrepid Travel (intrepidtravel.com). 13 Jan & 17 Feb 2024; 8 days from £2,604pp, excluding international flights.

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SKI LIKE AN OLYMPIAN IN NORWAY

This coming year (2024) marks the centenary of the Winter Olympics, and Inntravel’s trip based at Rustad Hotel in Sjusjøen celebrates by exploring the high fells of southern Norway around one of the event’s most famous host cities: Lillehammer. Setting out from a small settlement sitting serenely above the throngs below, you’ll traverse the abundant cross-country trails that have proved so popular for training ski teams over the years. With some 300km of routes radiating out from the doorstep of Rustad Hotel and around the area’s frozen lakes, through forests and over moorland, this is also a great spot for beginners to hone their skills. Put your muscles to good use among these snowy landscapes before returning to your log-cabin-style accommodation for a relaxing sauna and nights in front of an open fire.

Inntravel (inntravel.co.uk). Flexible dates (Dec-Mar); 7 nights from £1,565pp, including international flights.

Alamy; Shutterstock

TRY SNOWSHOEING IN SLOVENIA

The Julian Alps cut a mountainous swathe across the northwestern corner of Slovenia, encompassing beautiful lakes and some of the best hiking in the region. YellowWood Adventures takes full advantage of the season, when numbers are sparse on these glorious trails, with its Snowshoeing and Winter Walking in Slovenia trip. The snow-blanketed peaks of Triglav National Park loom over verdant valleys, spectacular emerald rivers and gushing waterfalls – a winter wonderland for active adventures. As well as hut-to-hut treks and snowshoe tours alongside Lake Bohinj, try wine-tasting in the valleys, venture into the Škocjan Caves and roam the UNESCO World Heritage-listed primeval forest of Krokar in search of wolves – more easily tracked at this time of year when pawprints pock the snow.

YellowWood Adventures (yellowwoodadventures.com).1 Mar 2024; 8 nights from £2,550pp, excluding international flights.

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LIMOGES your next European escape

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Just a 90-minute direct flight from the UK, the city of Limoges and French regions of Limousin and Creuse are tantalisingly close...

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he French city of Limoges is not only easy to reach, but its name alone conjures a cultured air. After all, the city is synonymous with porcelain, and while that is reason enough to visit, there is plenty more here to explore.

Alamy; Amandine Lacotte; Foehn Photographies; J. Damase

ARTISANAL HERITAGE

For centuries, the south-western city of Limoges has been a byword for elegant decorative porcelain.

This heritage can largely be traced back to 1768, when a fine, white clay known as kaolin was discovered in a riverbed close to the city. It provided the raw material for an industry that saw discerning shoppers flocking to Limoges in search of delicate bone china – a trend that continues today.

The city’s reputation for quality remains intact. Learn more about its artisan past at the superb Musée National Adrien Dubouché, which holds the world’s largest collection of Limoges porcelain, then visit the gleaming shops of famous manufacturers such as Haviland and

Masterpiece (clockwise from top left) Wander through Limoges’ historic streets; the mastery of Aubusson tapestries are (literally) woven into Creuse’s heritage; Crozant and its fortified ruins are one of Creuse’s wildest corners; marvel at the world’s largest collection of Limoges porcelain at the Musée National Adrien Dubouché

Bernardaud. More cultural heritage can be found in the neighbouring region of Creuse, whose UNESCO-protected Cité Internationale de la Tapisserie in the town of Aubusson showcases priceless tapestries.

NATURE’S PAINTBRUSH

Creativity is in the very DNA of Limoges, so it should come as no surprise that painters and artists have taken their own inspiration from the region. The great Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born here in 1841, and several of his pieces are on show at the Musée Limoges BeauxArts, alongside works by other revered

local artists such as Suzanne Valadon.

The city is ringed by the dramatic Limousin countryside, including two national parks, and this sweeping scenery holds a wealth of both artistic and more active diversions for travellers. The likes of novelist George Sand and composer Frédéric Chopin were drawn by the winding rivers and wooded hills of the stunning Vallée des Peintres, around the town of Crozant, while today’s thrillseekers can also try hiking, biking and water adventures.

East of Limoges lies one of France’s largest lakes, Lac de Vassivière, at nearly 1,000 hectares in size. Its tapestry of thick forest, moorland and peat bogs is best explored by tracing the lake’s 30km shoreline trail and has led it to be nicknamed ‘Little Canada’.

Locals love Lac de Vassivière for its wealth of water sports, too, from canoeing to sailing and guided cruises.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

Limoges also has a festival calendar every bit as diverse as its districts, with the street arts fiesta Urbaka offering a decidedly different vibe to the 1001 Notes classical music gathering, the long-running Eclats d’Émail Jazz Festival or Operation Operetta Festival.

There is also a wide array of cultural celebrations in the outlying towns and villages, so make time to explore.

For more information, visit: www.destination-limoges.com/en and www.tourisme-creuse.com/en

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Meet New Zealand’s hāngi king

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hen Kupe the explorer first discovered and named Aotearoa (New Zealand), he brought with him the ancient cooking techniques of Polynesia. Most revered of all was the method of cooking large feasts in the ground, known to Māori as hāngi.This process requires patience as rocks in an earthen pit are brought to an extreme temperature from burning wood over many hours. The type of wood used is important in the hāngi process, as it changes the flavour profile of the kai (food).

Fish, vegetables and meat are then placed into the pit, protected by wet leaves or sacking, and then covered with earth. The result is wonderfully succulent food with a distinctive smoky flavour that is impossible to replicate.

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Being an island nation, many of our chefs today spend their early careers travelling extensively and bringing different culinary inspirations back with them. The result is that a very wide variety of cuisines have become available given the small size of the population. Alongside this, our traditional foods have started to gain more attention.

A resurgence of interest in Māori styles of cooking and indigenous ingredients has not only seen more kai Māori (Māori food) on menus generally, but we are now seeing fantastic interpretations at some of our top restaurants, where our most accomplished chefs are now marrying Indigenous food traditions with their own creative flair.

This is all great news for the seasoned traveller looking for a unique culinary experience in New Zealand.

Seasoned to perfection Rewi Spraggon has helped popularise a type of traditional cooking known as hāngi through his popular Hāngi Master food truck in New Zealand.

The cooking process involves steaming meat, fish and vegetables in underground ovens

Dean Mackenzie; Duke of Marlborough; Homeland; Fanati Mamea; Shutterstock

Chef Rewi Spraggon isn’t known as Hāngi Master for nothing, having championed this traditional Māori style of pit cooking for years. He explains why it is now central to any New Zealand dining experience

FIVE HĀNGI DISHES YOU SHOULD TRY (AND WHERE TO TRY THEM)

1 Pork belly

The slow-steam method of cooking in the ground lends itself well to succulent meats, and pork belly is an absolute winner. Peter Gordon is one of New Zealand’s most celebrated chefs and his Auckland waterfront restaurant Homeland is an easy recommendation for the hungry traveller. Peter takes hāngi pork belly, adds an apple puree on top that has been made with roasted whole apples (till almost black) and makrut lime leaves. This is crowned with a salad of shredded apple, celeriac, sprouts, herbs, lime juice and zest, before being served wrapped in a banana leaf (a nod to Aotearoa’s neighbouring Pacific islands).

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Steamed buns

You’ll find plenty of Asian influenced cuisines across the islands, thanks to the many waves of migration from China, Korea, South East Asia and Japan. Steamed buns are a favourite in many yum cha restaurants. For something truly

original, try the smoky flavour of a hāngi wrapped up inside. Old Country/Hāngi Master’s ‘Hāngi Steamed Buns’ are available at New World and Pak’nSave supermarkets.

3 Brisket and veg

If you’re lucky, you may find yourself trying a traditional hāngi at a Marae (meeting ground) as part of a special occasion, where you’ll likely taste brisket and veg.

The finest have been cooked in the ground, and steam-oven imitations are best ignored – there’s no such thing as a shortcut to a proper hāngi. You’ll soon be able to buy a hāngi plate on South Island’s Queenstown waterfront from Hāngi Master.

4 Tītī

Tītī (or muttonbird) is a seabird that is found around the coast of Aotearoa. It is particularly prevalent on Rakiura (Stewart Island), off the southern coast of the South Island.

When pickled, they can become very salty, and early European settlers gave them the nickname

muttonbird, as they were a prized delicacy. It is not readily available around the country, so if you see it on a menu, give it a go. Try chef Tama Salive’s traditional ‘hāngi tītī and pork belly boil up’ at the Duke of Marlborough in Russell, North Island.

It comes served with kumara (sweet potato), potato and watercress.

5 Lamb

New Zealand is known for its world-class lamb, and sheep can be seen grazing on the plains of the north or on the slopes of the South Island. While it is a staple meat for barbecues in summer, look out for chefs doing more interesting things you won’t find elsewhere.

Chef Monique Fiso dished up a roast reme (lamb) dish at 2023’s Tohunga Tūmau dinner (see ‘Did you know’), served with cabbage, taro, fried kawakawa (New Zealand pepper tree), tītī sauce, roast mushroom and a demi-glace. You’ll find this and more at her world-renowned restaurant Hiakai in Wellington, but be sure to book ahead.

DID YOU KNOW? 1

Dean Mackenzie; Duke of Marlborough; Homeland; Fanati Mamea; Shutterstock

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The Māori new year is heralded by the rising of the star cluster Matariki (Pleiades). With the store houses full following the summer’s harvest, this is a traditional time of feasting and remembering those who have passed.

Matariki became a public holiday in 2022 and the special Tohunga Tūmau dinner event for up to 500 guests has coincided with Matariki since 2021, featuring a top line-up of Māori chefs, producers, wineries and musicians.

WANDERLUST RECOMMENDS For a directory of Māori-owned producers compiled by Rewi, check out kauta.co.nz.

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COMING SOON…

THE WANDERLUST STORY 30 Years of taking the road less travelled THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL How will we explore the world of tomorrow?

EXPERIENCING ALBERTA’S INDIGENOUS CULTURES

CATCH UP ON: California road trips; Tobago’s culture, history and wild nature; Highlights of colourful Croatia

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H Azerbaijan: where East meets West H Germany’s UNESCO sites H A guide to the Azores

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Noka Camp, Lepogo Lodges, South Africa Perched on the edge of a cliff in South Africa’s Limpopo province, Noka Camp is a futuristic, eco-friendly safari lodge where conservation is more than a concept Reviewed by Radhika Aligh

Lepogo Lodges

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he sound of free-flowing water can sometimes give the illusion of being closer than it is. At Noka Camp, I searched for the source of this burble only to discover that I’d wandered to the edge of a clifftop and was staring down at the Palala River below as it crashed against the rocks of the Lapalala reserve. It was only when my gaze shifted back to where I’d come from that I realised that the five sandy-coloured tents that were my temporary home barely seemed to touch the rugged ground.

Low-impact tourism, conservation and human development are at the heart of Lepogo Lodges, which runs Noka Camp, just three hours’ drive north of Johannesburg in the Waterberg region. The lodge has been constructed to leave as little footprint as possible, and it is one of few camps to plough 100% of all profit back into protecting the reserve and empowering the communities around it.

Sustainability is key to this ethos. It is completely off-grid, so it has to generate its electricity from a 250m-long solar walkway connecting each villa, plus it is also free of single-use plastic and guests can choose from various programmes to offset their carbon footprint.

With fewer humans per square kilometre than any of the ‘Big Five’ wildlife tourism destinations in Southern Africa, nature did most of the talking in Lapalala’s 48,000 hectares of wilderness. The grunts

from prankish baboons and the cheery calls of crested francolins made for a comforting soundtrack to the night’s slumber before a knock on the door arrived to prepare me for the dawn game drive.

The biting cold jolted me awake; the wildlife took care of the rest.

A pack of lions, shining in the golden hour, passed inches from our vehicle and, once the stars aligned, other members of the magnificent seven – leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, Cape buffalo, cheetah, wild dog – followed. But while the big game is the draw here, there are other activities to calm the adrenaline, such as a leisurely fishing trip along the Palala or a short trek to see Bushman cave paintings and Iron Age sites dating back millennia.

One of the highlights was having post-safari sundowners, which showcased the reserve, its expanse and the changing hues as the sun burns the African sky. Then, having dragged my weary self back to the lodge – replete with unforgettable experiences – a toasty firepit awaited me alongside a three-course meal prepared from vegetables grown just outside the reserve. Finally, there was only one thing left to do: I lay on the sky bed in my room and drifted away under the star-studded heavens to the soothing melody of the Palala’s waters.

Nightly rates start from £851 per person on an all-inclusive basis; book at lepogolodges.com

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WANDERSLEEPS

The lights of Singapore The city state’s most eye-catching stays offer a chance to either take the cultural temperature or just take it easy…

Reviewed by Jocelyn Tan

Reach for the sky The spectacular design of Singapore’s iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel – three towers connected by a cantilevered SkyPark – sets the tone for a city where no one has ever had to tell its architects to think bigger

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MARINA BAY SANDS

There’s no hotel in Singapore more iconic than the Marina Bay Sands.

Not content with having the world’s largest rooftop infinity pool – with panoramic views of Singapore’s skyline from 57 storeys up – it’s also had a recent redesign. New elements in the well-appointed rooms draw inspiration from Singapore’s multiculturalism: bedroom headboards now mimic the Chinese screens found in Peranakan shophouses, while the floors are covered in thick Axminster wool carpets featuring motifs similar to the textiles found along Arab Street.What hasn’t changed is its superb location. A flurry of nearby designer stores and iconic attractions, such as the ArtScience Museum and Gardens by the Bay, mean you’ll never get bored. Rooms from around £375 per night, excluding breakfast; marinabaysands.com

Alamy; Marina Bay Sands; PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering

PARKROYAL COLLECTION PICKERING

You tend to notice this eye-catching stay long before you pull up.

Located between the city’s Chinatown and Central Business District, the hotel’s strikingly lush terraces evoke Singapore’s trademark mix of urban metropolis spliced with pure wilderness. Despite being sandwiched between high-rises, every one of its 367 guest rooms and suites is privy to a tropical garden view. Also, as part of its efforts to inspire guests to live well without compromising the environment, the hotel practises what it calls ‘conscious dining’, sourcing many of the ingredients for its meals and cocktails (and even its spa treatments) from the local community and its own urban farm. Rooms from around £265 per night, excluding breakfast; panpacific.com ⊲

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This elegant urban getaway on Sentosa Island was formed by merging a pair of colonial bungalows that date back to the 1880s. These lie nestled within 12 hectares of tropical greenery, and the result is a snaking and serene complex that curves around 112 rooms, suites and villas as well as a celebrated spa. After a full refurbishment, the property now has a colour palette of earthy sand, sage and mineral grey, while rooms include a whole host of tactile furnishings that bring nature indoors. One of the more appealing aspects of a stay here is the Capella Curates service, a selection of unique, hand-picked experiences that plunge visitors deep into local life. Guests can head out on a sensory experience at a local wet market or explore the intertidal zones of Sentosa; you can even take a sidecar ride through Singapore’s alleyways while your guide explains the role that feng shui has played in the design of the city’s buildings and structures.

Rooms from around £765 per night, excluding breakfast; capellahotels.com

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THE OUTPOST HOTEL SENTOSA

For those craving an escape from the kids (your own or otherwise), this adults-only property offers a blissful retreat. Located on the island of Sentosa, guests receive more than their share of bespoke pampering. Stays begin with specially made mocktails concocted by a master brewer from Pryce Tea, while rooms include a customised and complimentary minibar. As well as a spa, gym and the island’s only rooftop pool, a stream of in-house activities range from crafting your own soy-based cocktail to working up a sweat at a street-dancing class, offering plenty to do around the property. Best of all are the curated adventures, which range from dining in a cable car to a ride on a high-performance speedboat. Rooms from around £176 per night, excluding breakfast; theoutposthotel.com.sg

Alamy; C I&A Photography; Dusit Thani Laguna Singapore; Oasia Resort Sentosa; Studio Periphery LLP; The Outpost Resort Sentosa

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OASIA RESORT SENTOSA

A world away from the adrenaline-fuelled pursuits found elsewhere on Sentosa, this resort provides a wellness retreat far from the crowds.

Here you’ll spend your nights in either the Wellness Sanctuary – a three-storey building that had a former life as a barracks for the British army in the 1940s – or the newly built, six-storey Palawan Wing. Sunrise qigong sets the tone for the day ahead, with visits to the award-winning spa interspersed with meditation or wellness workshops, before winding down with an hour of sunset yoga and dinner at the popular Bedrock Origin restaurant.While the rest of busy Sentosa hits the beaches and theme parks, it’s easy to spend a day refuelling and recharging here without ever leaving the grounds. Rooms from around £208 per night, excluding breakfast; oasiahotels.com

DUSIT THANI LAGUNA SINGAPORE

Nestled within the grounds of the Laguna National Golf Resort Club, this property lies just a ten-minute drive from the airport and 15 minutes by car from downtown, making it a convenient bolthole. As you might expect from a Thai-based hospitality group, wellness experiences are the focus here. The usual spa and massage treatments are available, but what’s interesting is that the hotel takes a more holistic approach. Alongside workshops and classes, offerings are designed to encourage guests to cultivate new habits to improve their emotional, physical and mental wellbeing, ranging from yoga and meditation to fitness. Rooms from around £170 per night, excluding breakfast; dusitthanilagunasingapore.com

THE CLAN HOTEL

First-timers in Singapore will find The Clan to be a particularly amenable base. This 30-storey hotel lies nestled between Telok Ayer and Chinatown, meaning guests can explore the likes of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Nagore Dargah Indian Muslim Heritage Centre nearby. Those staying in the hotel’s Master Series rooms can also join a complimentary Local Precinct Tour, diving into Singapore’s past, but there are plenty of cultural encounters that any guest can book, including calligraphy classes, a brewery tour and a fascinating look at the lives of female Chinese immigrants in the early 1900s. Rooms from around £235 per night, excluding breakfast; theclanhotel.com.sg

Alamy; C I&A Photography; Dusit Thani Laguna Singapore; Oasia Resort Sentosa; Studio Periphery LLP; The Outpost Resort Sentosa

THE FULLERTON HOTEL SINGAPORE

In its Neoclassical design alone, the Fullerton Hotel Singapore perfectly encapsulates the old-world colonial charm of many of the country’s more upmarket stays, set within what was for a long time the General Post Office building. Yet it also offers a glimpse at a cultural side of the city that few visitors take the time to explore. The Peranakans (or Straits-born Chinese) arrived in Singapore as soon as the British established a port here in 1819, and they thrived in this new world. Guests who want to learn more about their culture and explore Peranakan history and design can opt for the hotel’s ‘Peranakan Heritage Stay’ package, which comes complete with cultural furnishings, hand-made in-room treats and a delicious Peranakan afternoon tea at The Courtyard.

Most exciting of all is the inclusion of a pair of passes to the newly reopened Peranakan Museum, which is home to one of the world’s finest collections of artefacts from this culture.

Rooms from around £236 per night, excluding breakfast; fullertonhotels.com ⊲

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Sustainability is at the centre of this rather futuristic-looking stay. Renewable solar energy helps power the building, water dispensers eliminate the need for single-use plastic bottles and a bio-digester system even transforms the hotel’s food waste into cleaning water. The greenery extends to the decor as well, with some 14,000 sqm of foliage (all sustained by a rainwater collection system) scattered throughout the building.

Step onto the Forest Terrace to glimpse a cascading waterfall backed by trees, or head up to the fifth-floor Beach Terrace where you’ll find a palm grove and emerald lagoon in the sky. There really is nothing quite like it. And when you need a break, head to destination bar Florette for a sip of the hotel’s own Pan Pacific Orchard Gin or a modern take on the classic afternoon tea, which is served on Wedgwood crockery on the garden terrace. Rooms from around £270 per night, excluding breakfast; panpacific.com

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CONRAD SINGAPORE ORCHARD

Those wanting a gastronomic adventure will find plenty that appeals at the Conrad Singapore Orchard, which makes hay with the country’s reputation as a destination for the world’s cuisines.There are ten unique dining and bar options here; plus, the fact that Orchard Road, the city’s main shopping hub, lies just minutes away means you’ll find plenty of sore-footed shoppers turning up famished. A good starting point is always Dolcetto and its artisanal pasticceria, a prime spot for all things Italian on lazy mornings, whereas one of Singapore’s most revered Michelin-starred restaurants, Summer Palace (which reopens in the first quarter of 2024), makes for a tempting lunch spot. Round off the day with dinner at Tenshin, the city state’s first tempura-specialist restaurant, and drinks in Manhattan, a cocktail joint that is consistently ranked in the World’s 50 Best Bars. Rooms from around £246 per night, excluding breakfast; conradsingaporeorchard.com

Ho Wai Kay; Studio Periphery; Tom White; TOOTEN

THE BARRACKS HOTEL SENTOSA

This relatively new stay on Sentosa Island sits nestled within a pair of buildings built in 1904 that once served as a British artillery outpost.

That history oozes into practically every corner of this 40-room stay, though it has had its share of modern updates too. Those in rooms and suites on the ground floor can enjoy direct access to the 30m pool and semi-private jacuzzi before heading directly to The Living Room, which hosts breakfast, all-day refreshments and evening cocktails and canapés. Of course, no heritage stay is complete without finding out more about its past. The hotel provides a complimentary sit-down history lesson by army veterans who used to both serve at and stay in the former military barracks. There is also a self-guided audio tour available for those who prefer to go through the experience in their own time. Rooms from around £351 per night, excluding breakfast; thebarrackshotel.com.sg

RAFFLES HOTEL SINGAPORE

W Somerset Maugham and Rudyard Kipling. Indeed, such is the hotel’s rich literary heritage, it even has its own Writer’s Residency Programme. On similar cultural lines, it has also recently announced a partnership with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra to host free quarterly performances on the lawn.

What better appetiser for dinner at the hotel’s Michelin-starred La Dame de Pic restaurant? Rooms from around £695 per night, excluding breakfast; raffles.com/singapore

Ho Wai Kay; Studio Periphery; Tom White; TOOTEN

First opened in 1887, Raffles Hotel Singapore remains one of the great 19th-century hotels still in operation; it was even declared a National Monument in 1987. Most visitors head straight for the Long Bar, best known as the birthplace of the Singapore Sling cocktail, or take afternoon tea in the Grand Lobby. Both conjure images of long, hazy afternoons beneath the frangipani, back when this was a haunt for the likes of writers

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In search of a quieter life Could island hopping on a sailing ship offer not just a more sustainable way of visiting Greece’s Saronic Islands, but be the key to unlocking its history and deep-rooted traditions?

Words Karen Edwards Photographs Brad Siviour

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tre-shaped main town, which sprawled over a hillside. Pink hibiscus trees and grapevines decorated the whitewashed walls of houses, and pepper trees left a sweet aroma in the air. Most noticeably, there were no private vehicles on this small Greek island. At about 50 sq km in size, and home to an estimated 2,500 people, everything was navigable by foot. Mules were used for transporting heavy items such as furniture, suitcases and – as was the case on this occasion – sack upon sack of cement and building materials.

One of seven islands located in the Saronic Gulf, Hydra has long been popular with Athenian and Peloponnese holidaymakers, thanks to the easy journey from the mainland by catamaran. Much like the other Greek Islands, it juggles high numbers of both domestic and international tourists in ⊲

The author travelled with support from VentureSail.

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lip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop…

I could hear the gentle sound of hooves approaching. Behind me, seven mules were slowly making their way along the narrow marble-cobblestone road. A man in his 60s, wearing a half-unbuttoned checked shirt and faded jeans, held makeshift reins made from old ropes, his legs swung casually to one side of the saddle. His straw hat shielded his face from the harsh sun, and as he passed, he softly tweaked his greying handlebar moustache with his spare hand.

I noticed his lips extend into a soft smile.

“Yassou,” he nodded.

It was as though I had stepped back in time on Hydra (pronounced ‘Ee-drah’).

A labyrinth of paths sheltered by oleander and fig trees helped to form the amphithea-

Getting there: VentureSail (venturesailholidays.com) offers a seven-night itinerary sailing the Saronic Islands, departing from and returning to Athens’ Piraeus Port.

Prices start from £3,075pp and include accommodation, water and all meals apart from one, which guests are encouraged to enjoy ashore. Prices exclude international flights, train transfers and taxis to and from Piraeus. British Airways (ba.com) operates daily direct flights to Athens from London Heathrow from £140 return, taking about 3 hours and 45 minutes.

When to go: The Saronic Islands are a year-round destination, with temperatures reaching 35°C in summer and 15°C in winter. Peak season (July and August) is best avoided; try to travel during the low and shoulder seasons instead – particularly between late April and June and from September to early November.

Where to eat: In Hydra, brunch or lunch at the port-side café Papagalous starts from around £9pp. Mains at clifftop restaurant Téchnē (techne-hydra.com), which serves modern Greek cuisine, are around £21.

In Poros, Caravella opens for brunch from 10am, with traditional salads and small plates available (from around £10) until late.

In Aegina, avoid the bustle of the main port by escaping south to Perdika town for its low-key coffee and cake shops, seafood restaurants and ouzo bars.

Previous spread: Shutterstock; this spread: Alamy; Shutterstock

Peace at last! (clockwise from left page, top) A local man and his mules clamber the backstreets of Hydra; the sun goes down on Aegina; the Rhea harbours offshore; Hydra in bloom is one of the prettiest sights on an island that has embraced a quieter way of living and banned private cars from its roads; the town of Perdika on Aegina; (previous spread) Hydra was an artistic haven in the 1960s, home to the likes of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen and the writer Henry Miller

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peak season, most of whom arrive by ferry and spend only a few hours here; others can often stay for several days or longer.

As an island not known for its beaches, Hydra relies more on its slow-travel charms and Greek history. Early accounts suggest it was settled by the descendants of refugees who fled Albania during its Ottoman rule in the 15th-century. The 300 years of migration that followed from Asia Minor – present-day Turkey – brought new waves of people, traditions and skills to the island, developing Hydra’s position as a stronghold in maritime trade and transport. By the time the Greek War of Independence took place in 1821, the island had developed a resilient naval fleet, which formed the core of Greece’s defence in the Aegean Sea. I arrived in the harbour at breakfast time in order to beat the day-tripping crowds. Early rising locals were already busy grocery shopping at the stalls along the waterfront, some carrying baskets laden with plump tomatoes that had arrived by boat this morning from nearby Aegina. Others were setting up shop and readying to welcome the thousands of day visitors who would soon arrive on the island by ferry and cruise-ship tenders.

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an hour-long walking tour of the city. I was intrigued to hear her tell of how the singer Leonard Cohen had lived in Hydra during the 1960s with his then girlfriend, Marianne Ihlen, after becoming enchanted by its way of life. But this isn’t Mykonos, and you don’t come here expecting to spot celebrities.

“You feel Hydra’s complex heritage the moment you arrive,” Maria explained to her small group of ten visitors, who were already snapping away at the picturesque setting.

“Our history connects us to the world. You can feel that connection here because we still maintain our cultural integrity.”

Later, I asked Maria how she began guiding in her hometown. “My first tour was with the members of an Emirati royal family in 2018,” she told me. “When we finished, I gave them each a slice of my mother’s orange pie and one woman enjoyed it so much that she gave me her email and asked me to send her the recipe. Later, when I told my mother, she replied, ‘I don’t care [who

“When shops stock locally made products, younger people can commit to these crafts”

wants it], I will not reveal the ingredients.’

Although after some begging, she did share the recipe.” These days Maria has made it a tradition to end her tours by offering guests a slice of orange pie from the local bakery.

“I treat all my clients as kings and queens because we are all equal as human beings.”

With some time to spare, I headed back to an artisan boutique that had previously caught my eye. Set back from the waterfront, Carolina’s Arts & Crafts was neatly decorated with paintings, ceramics, jewellery and even the odd Cretan scarf.

Founded by Carolina Walter in 2007, the store sells products that have been skilfully hand-crafted by Greek artists.

“When shops stock locally made products and tourists buy them, younger people can commit to these activities, and skills can be passed on from generation to generation,” Carolina explained. “It means more jobs can be created.” So, who had painted the picture of the Hydra windmill that I’d been eyeing up, I wondered? “My mother does the watercolours,” she smiled.

While tourism is a huge asset to the community, there have been some less-desirable effects in recent years, namely that Hydra’s population triples during peak season, thanks to a rise in Airbnb ventures.

“Since 2018, we’ve had a major housing issue on this island, and also on other nearby islands,” she commented. Combined with the increasing number of day visitors, there is enormous pressure on the local infrastructure, particularly on the effluent system.

“What would help us is if people visited in less busy seasons – perhaps in March or in April or November, when they can apprehend the reality of life in the off-season.”

Unlike most visitors to the Saronic Islands, I’d travelled to the region on a 54m-tall ship named the Rhea, which had departed from Piraeus – just south of Athens – early the previous morning. The 26-passenger ship, one of several luxury sailing yachts operated by the UK-based VentureSail, was exploring three of the seven islands in the Saronic Gulf over the course of a week, and I was along for the ride. Onboard, ten crew (including the captain, host and chef) coordinated activities according to wind and sea conditions. So far, it had felt more like a slow-paced expedition than a cruise; one filled with cultural insights, sunset sailing and the odd swimming stop.

At the Rhea’s helm was Captain Derk, a softly spoken Dutch man in his 50s with kind eyes and a gentle smile.

“With the increasing number of day visitors, there is pressure on Hydra’s infrastructure” At least once a day I would hear him yell, “Sails up!” from the wheel, which would spur the crew on to unravel 1,000 sqm of canvas.

I learned how the Rhea spent the northern hemisphere spring, summer and autumn in the Mediterranean before heading across the Atlantic to enjoy balmy winters in the Caribbean. Over dinner one night, the captain filled me in on how she uses just a quarter of the fuel that was normally needed when operating under sail. In fact, the Rhea could sail for 90% of a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean from east to west with good passage winds, he told me, although the airflow isn’t as reliable in the Aegean Sea. The next morning, we anchored off Poros and were shuttled to shore via a small rubber dinghy. I took up prime position at a waterfront taverna called Caravella, gazing out over the bay while relishing a coffee and a freshly baked puff pastry that was filled with deliciously salty feta and honey. Once a key naval port, Poros’ harbour over-

sees the Peloponnese city of Galatas, and I watched as dozens of taxi boats nipped back and forth between the ports, ferrying locals to and from work. On the promenade, I spied a pair of fishermen offloading a catch of what looked like grouper. Seasonal and sustainably sourced ingredients don’t come much better than this, I thought.

“After years of working in the area, I’ve got to know the local sellers,” admitted the Rhea’s Ottawa-born chef, Tyler Read, when I asked him what his secret was to the mouth-watering meals I’d been enjoying onboard. So far, we’d tucked into salads overflowing with juicy tomatoes, crunchy peppers and crispy lettuce, as well as a succulent sea bass on a bed of black rice with asparagus. The meals had been refreshingly light, perfect for this warm Mediterranean climate, and had strong herbal aromas.

“I buy the ingredients for which the area is known,” he told me, “so in Valencia I’ll buy oranges and in Amalfi I’ll buy lemons.

Around the Saronic Gulf, it’s all about ripe tomatoes and Kalamata olives.”

On one occasion, Tyler recalled seeing an old yaya (grandmother) peeling green beans in the fresh fruit market. He offered to help her, so she shared stories about the traditional feasts she cooked for her family. ⊲

Supporting the locals (clockwise from far left) The eponymous owner of Carolina’s Arts and Crafts – a boutique on the island of Hydra packed with locally made jewellery, ceramics and accessories – argues that shops like hers allow islanders to profit from practising traditional crafts that might otherwise disappear; the elegant clocktower on Poros was built in 1927 and is the highest point on the island; taking advantage of the crystal-clear waters of Aegina to go for a quick dip; the sun sets over guests aboard the Rhea as they toast to another serene day among the islands of the Saronic archipelago

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A Greek legend (this page; clockwise from top left) The maritime-fuelled prosperity of ancient Aegina, whose port thrived during the 5th and 6th centuries BC, is likely the reason why the island’s grandest temple was dedicated to Aphaia, a goddess who was said to protect shipping; the olive trees in the Valley of Eleonas on Aegina are said to date back over 1,500 years; a bird’s-eye view of Hydra, whose name (meaning water) most likely derived from the natural springs that used to scatter the island in abundance; Poros island and the rugged tip of the Peloponnese; the sun sets over the masts of the Rhea

More importantly, he told me, he wanted to Perdika town, a more laid-back affair than the ensure local islanders were benefitting from bustling port area. Quiet tavernas line the bay, the ship’s visits to the region. providing shelter for children playing board “It’s putting money back into the commu- games while their parents sip on a glass or nities who are welcoming us, and that’s two of ouzo. As I sat down at Antonis Fish a must,” he said matter-of-factly.

Restaurant, I pondered where such a small We concluded our voyage with a stop town sources its seafood. on Aegina island and a visit to the Temple of As if on cue, a young fisherman stepped off Aphaia, one of the oldest surviving temples in a boat on the tiny pier outside the restaurant Greece.The site pays homage to the daughter and made his way up a steep staircase carryof Zeus and predates the construction of the ing five or six red snapper tethered together.

Parthenon by 50 or so years. I spotted a small A grinning Antonis greeted him at the open sign at the entrance to the hill on which the door like an old friend. Fittingly, I then spent temple stands that dated my last meal ashore it back to 490 BC. devouring perhaps one “Pistachio Visitors were able to of the most delicious tour the large stone pillars meals I’ve ever eaten: cultivation covers for a fee, before retreating traditional dolmades nearly 12,000 to the small, family-run (vine leaves stuffed café overlooking the pine hectares of Aegina” with herb-infused rice and pine nuts) followed forest below. It was there, over a coffee, that I read by a bowl of steamed about Aegina’s 1,500-year-old olive trees, mussels drizzled in olive oil, zesty lemon and with trunks the size of small cars. Soon after, parsley, alongside a platter of grilled octopus, I was gazing at them for real. They looked scallops and squid. even more otherworldly in person, like trees By the time I returned to the Rhea, the sun was setting on our evening in Aegina. from a story about an enchanted land.

For centuries, Aegina’s nutrient-rich, Anchored just offshore, I contemplated volcanic soils have yielded plenty of seasonal the deep traditions and heritage that I’d produce, ranging from olives and figs to witnessed across the Saronic Gulf, from tomatoes and peppers, to almonds and pista- the use of mules for labour to the busy chios. These days it’s the pistachio that takes harbours packed with long-serving maricentre stage for most farmers here; their culti- ners and their fishing vessels, to the ancient vation covers nearly 12,000 hectares of land. and fertile lands that still feed the islanders.

I was determined to savour one more taste This is the Greece that simmers quietly in of the island’s fresh ingredients before head- the background; you just need to slow down ing home. Just a 20 minute-drive away lay enough to see it.

MORE SAILING TRIPS AROUND THE GREEK ISLANDS The lesser-known Cyclades

Did you know there are about 220 islands in Greece’s famous Cyclades group? A 10-day itinerary with VentureSail on the Rhea takes in a handful of more famous stops, including Syros, Delos and Mykonos, along with lesser known isles such as Andros and Kea. Be prepared for some hiking through grassland in search of archaeological sites, as well as taking in glorious taverna views while sipping on local wines.

Ionian delights

A springtime voyage on the Kairós starts and ends in Corfu. This eight-day itinerary explores the island cluster of Paxi, Ithaca and Lefkada, where Greek and Italian cultures come together in the Ionian Sea. Enjoy locally produced wine on Antipaxos and learn more about the mythological Greek king and adventurer Odysseus on Ithaca. Every day brings a new swimming spot to explore around the region’s numerous deserted islands.

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South of the Saronics

This eight-day, one-way Christmas voyage sets sail from Piraeus, following the trail of a classic Saronic voyage, visiting Hydra, Aegina and Poros. From there the Kairós heads south to the frontier island of Spetses, where locals and travellers get by on foot or by bicycle, moped or horse-drawn carriage. The ship then journeys further west to where it disembarks at Nafplio, where you can see the ruins of the Akronafplia, a hilltop fortress town whose mighty walls were reinforced under Venetian rule. venturesailholidays.com

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Twin Palawan and Cebu on your next Philippines adventure

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hen plunging into the Philippines’ famous halo-halo dessert, you’d be forgiven for pondering what you’ll encounter next: sweet potato, boiled taro, maybe a mung bean? Travelling the country’s 7,641 islands is a similar experience. In the case of Palawan and Cebu, new arrivals find two very different sides to the archipelago: island hopping wonders on one hand, Cebuano culture and heritage on the other. But they’re best when combined on one trip.

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tropical island blueprint. Yet the ‘Ceboom’ (or ‘Cebu boom’) cannot be singularly attributed to the tropical lustre of its dimpled mountains and shores of powdery-white sand.

The streets of Cebu city, empty if not for the borders of tricycles and

Nature and culture (top to bottom) The limestone karsts and cerulean waters of Coron; Magellan’s Cross in Cebu city

pocket-sized sari-sari shops, were lively many moons before Manila’s.

A clutch of heritage sites vie for attention within the Philippines’ first capital and oldest city, but none as earnestly as Magellan’s Cross.

Planted in the city foreground in 1521 by Portuguese sailors headed by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan, it pinpoints the most significant crossroad in Cebu’s patchwork history: colonisation. The original wooden cross, now encased in a shell of tindalo wood and sat in a coral-stone pavilion, has become a ubiquitous symbol of the city.

Cebu’s oldest Catholic church, the Basilica Minore Del Santo Niño, is one must-see sight. The Spanish brought

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Mix the culture and heritage of Cebu with the tropical splendour of Palawan and visit a pair of Philippine regions that show two very different sides of the country…

The Parian district, in which the museum sits, was created for Fujian immigrants in 1614, and it’s just one clue to Cebu’s modern-day diversity.

Meanwhile, the Cebu Taoist temple, erected in 1972, is an emblem of the city’s large Filipino-Chinese community and a reminder there is history on every street corner here.

Palawan paradise History and hidden beaches (this page; clockwise from top left) Cebu’s Parian district is home to Yap-Sandiego Ancestral House, one of the Philippines’ oldest buildings; San Vicente in Palawan is the longest white-sand beach in the Philippines; Fort San Pedro is an architectural legacy of Spanish rule in Cebu

In the region’s far north, Coron cradles puddles of buoyant saltwater lakes, while the seabed around Culion Island and Busuanga is straddled by sunken warships – a reminder that, just like Cebu, Palawan was once caught in the crosshairs of war (this time, Japan’s Second World War invasion).

But true escapist territory lies on the islands between Coron and the tip of El Nido. Just a few bangka vessels are ready to tangent towards the Linapacan coral reefs, some of the most fecund in the region.

Beachfront tukka huts, tightly bound with bamboo, form the sleeping quarters on Linapacan’s largely deserted archipelago and offer a quiet corner in which to relax.

Southwards, San Vicente ushers in a series of places worthy of a digital detox. There’s Long Beach, which is over three times the size of White Beach in Boracay. Port Barton’s crowd-free sandbar and powder-sand German Island feel like a lucid dream, while in the very south of Palawan, Balabac’s 31 islands are true outliers. In the city of Poblacion, accommodation is modest but Comiran Island’s beach, which has been dyed pink by red coral, offers an Instagram-worthy escape.

With a slew of Palawan and Cebu islands and heritage sites under your belt, one thing is certain: a lucky dip into a halo-halo dessert should feel ever so much more familiar.

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Christianity to Cebu, and just like their succulent cochinillo asado (roast suckling pig), it remains a permanent fixture within Cebuano society. A steady trickle of pilgrims deem the 16th-century basilica’s infant Jesus statue – a Flemish design from Magellan’s time – to be miraculous, thanks to its unlikely survival, and there is usually a gathering around it.

In Plaza Independencia, visit Fort San Pedro, which introduces Cebu’s next chapter. Built in 1565, this Spanish bastion fort was taken over

by Filipino revolutionaries in the late 19th century and is an important part of local history. However, no cultural tour of Cebu would be complete without a visit to the Casa Gorordo Museum. This 1850s Balay nga Tisa family home has survived two revolutions and many wars. Its four generations of family knick-knacks take visitors hopscotching from old Parian society and colonial-era Cebu to the present day.

A 90-minute flight is all it takes to transition from cultured Cebu to the tropical solitude of Palawan, an island crowned ‘Most Desirable Island (Rest of World)’ in the 2022 Wanderlust Reader Travel Awards. It’s unclear who thought to name Palawan the Philippines’ last frontier, but its coral reefs and remote limestone islets are convincing evidence that they were on to a good thing. If you were to take one peso and twirl it between a thumb and forefinger, you could easily imagine that Cebu and Palawan were two sides of a coin.

El Nido’s emerald lakes, rugged karst islands and limestone cliffs have taken up a natural position as Palawan’s poster child. Its island-bound bangka boats, which ferry passengers into the Bacuit archipelago, successfully beckon forth an annual posse of tourists prepared to lounge around lagoons and island beaches. Yet, if you’re keen to veer off the typical tourist track, Palawan’s has plenty of lesserknown enclaves to discover.

For more information, visit: philippines.travel

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Marching On It has been 60 years since the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr’s most famous speech. But while the struggle for civil rights goes on, its story is finally being told across the businesses and museums of the US Capital Region Words Lynn Brown

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The Black-owned businesses that you must visit in the Capital Region

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Ben’s Chili Bowl has been a staple in the U Street neighbourhood for generations, and even provided food to protesters during the March on Washington. In fact, this local institution recently celebrated its 65th anniversary. Be sure to swing by to try its famous halfsmoke sausage in a bun with chilli sauce. benschilibowl.com

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Tea House, Baltimore 3 Cuples

Owned by Eric and Lynnette Dodson, who utilised the city’s Boost programme to start up, this charming tea house in the Howard St Corridor offers the community alternatives to sugary drinks while providing a creative space in which to chill. cuplesteahouse.com

and Pages, Baltimore 4 Vinyl

Also owned by Eric Dodson, Vinyl and Pages combines two of his greatest loves: books and music.

This space encourages visitors to lounge a bit and enjoy their finds, while in-store events encourage you to become a part of the community. vinylandpages.com

Prime Steak 5 &1799 Seafood, Alexandria Restaurant owner Jahmond Quander is a descendant of the oldest documented African American family in the US. The restaurant’s name refers to the year in which the family was freed from bondage by the death of their enslaver, George Washington – the first US president. 1799prime.com

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here’s a meme currently going The anniversary was celebrated with around the internet that says a new march, led by current activists and something along the lines of: members of MLK’s family, focused on the ‘If you ever wondered what you’d continued threats to civil rights in the US. have done during the Civil Rights “If I could speak to my grandfather today, Movement, you’re doing it now.’

I would say I’m sorry we still have to be here We’re going through a strange time in the to rededicate ourselves to finishing your US, a backlash of sorts where threats to voting work and ultimately realising your dream,” rights are at an all-time high, police violence Yolanda King, the 15-year-old granddaughagainst African Americans is common and ter of Martin Luther King Jr, told the crowd. politicians are questioning the ‘educational What’s particularly saddening is that value’ of teaching Black history and making the pushback on civil rights seems to be strides to ban it from classrooms. For many happening alongside a new initiative to it seems like the USA is really look at and make losing ground on the gains known to the general “Around 250,000 public the important made by the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. moments in African people showed It was against this American history. up for the backdrop that I visited Sadly, I would say that peaceful March on the average American is Washington DC, as the woefully unaware of the city celebrated the 60th Washington” history of African Amerianniversary of the 1963 cans in their own country March on Washington, when around 250,000 people showed up for beyond vague ideas of enslavement and the a peaceful demonstration. It served to call Civil Rights Movement. But since the Black attention to ongoing racial and economic Lives Matter protests of 2020, there’s been discrimination against African Americans, a push to better include this information and it was here that Martin Luther King Jr not only in schools, but also in places like (MLK) gave his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ museums, and for public policies and cities speech.This called for an end to racism in the to really examine and acknowledge their US and talked about the need for civil rights own legacies of racism and injustice. and economic justice for all Americans. It was For example, in Alexandria, Virginia, a watershed moment in the movement. just across the river from downtown ⊲

This Black-owned restaurant is a more recent institution. Known for its delicious brunches and live music, it serves up elevated ‘Low Country cuisine’ reminiscent of some of the soul-food restaurants found further down the coast in South Carolina. gbrowns.com

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Hidden history (clockwise from top right) The National Museum of African American History & Culture was established by an Act of Congress in 2003 to highlight the contributions of African Americans, though it didn’t open until 2016; Ben’s Chili Bowl has drawn famous figures such as Barack Obama to try its half-smoke (half beef, half pork) sausage sandwiches; Martin Luther King Jr [bottom left] at the 1963 March on Washington; visitors browse the Museum of African American History & Culture; (previous spread) MLK was assassinated just five years after giving his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech in Washington DC

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Living history (clockwise from top left) A photo of emancipated labourers working at the Quartermaster’s Wharf in Alexandria, Virginia, in the 1800s; the Reginald F Lewis Museum documents the experiences, contributions and culture of Black people in the US through its permanent collection of more than 11,000 objects; Alexandria’s African American Heritage Park contains a 19th-century Black Baptist cemetery; a photographer captured this image in the 1800s of a pen where enslaved African Americans were imprisoned in Alexandria; Frederick Douglass Memorial Hall is named after the formerly enslaved writer and abolitionist

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Washington DC, the city worked together collected in the work of William Still, a with the non-profit Equal Justice Initia- Black abolitionist who published a book of tive to create the Alexandria Community these accounts in 1872 that is still in print.

Remembrance Project. This acknowledges Of course, Washington DC also has and honours two young African American a plethora of Black history for visitors and men who were lynched in the city in 1897 locals to delve into. The city is almost 50% and 1899. More recently, it also formed an African American, and Howard UniverAfrican American History Division, which sity, one of the country’s premier Historis committed to the work of ensuring the ically Black Colleges and Universities (or inclusion of Black history in museums and HBCUs), is located here. In fact, anyone public programming. While this history looking for Black culture in DC should head is now being integrated across the area, directly to the area surrounding the univerthe city also has two museums that offer sity, known as the U Street Corridor. a valuable resource to everyone.

U Street has been the centre of Black life The first of these is the Black History in the city since the beginning of the 20th Museum, housed in what was once the century, when it became known as ‘Black Robert Robinson Library, a formerly segre- Broadway’. Though gentrification of the gated building that was established in 1940 area is a concern today, U Street still retains after the local African American community many of its Black-owned businesses, such staged a sit-in at the ‘whites only’ Alexandria as Ben’s Chili Bowl, a local institution in Public Library. Today, this historic build- this area since it opened in 1958. The area ing houses two exhibition rooms, includ- is also a haven for Black arts: the Lincoln ing a permanent display that talks about its and Howard theatres are both located here, history and that of the city’s African Amer- and these were major stops for performers ican community. It also operates the Alex- such as Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Cab andria African American Calloway and others.

Heritage Park, the site of This area has always “Freedom House been one of my favoura Black Baptist cemetery, the location of which had was once the site of ite neighbourhoods in not only because previously been lost. the largest domestic DC, My next stop was of its deep history, but trader of enslaved also because of its presAlexandria’s Freedom ent. To this day, it is not House Museum, which people in the US” has an even darker story only a haven for African to tell. This building was Americans, but also once the site of the largest domestic trader Black immigrants from across the diaspora, of enslaved people in the United States. including Ethiopia and the Caribbean. Like Countless souls were held against their the nearby university, U Street reminds will here and trafficked to locations across visitors that the Black experience is not the South. Now the museum stands as a a monolith and that there is space for both memorial to those who passed through this diversity of experience and room to honour site, with one of its three exhibition spaces the neighbourhood’s important history. detailing the history of the building and U Street isn’t the only place in DC to the personal stories of those who were kept learn about the African American experihere, while another narrates the 400-year ence. The wider city has important pockets African American struggle for equality. of Black history as well, including the FredA rotating exhibition and a reflection space erick Douglass National Historic Site, the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial and many rounds things off.

For me, one of the most moving aspects of others. There are also several tours of the my time in Alexandria was the opportunity to city that cater specifically to those interested spend time with John Taylor Chapman, the in learning more about its African American owner of Manumission Tour Company. He history, and you can even soak up a bit of offers several walking tours that specifically Black history depending on where you stay. focus on the city’s African American history, The historic Willard Hotel (now owned but I took the one discussing the city’s by InterContinental), for example, holds the connection to the Underground Railroad, distinction of being where MLK is said to a network of secret routes and safe houses have written his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. used by those escaping enslavement to places It’s also conveniently just a short walk from where the practice was abolished. the Smithsonian National Museum of AfriThe tour talked about the city’s history can American History & Culture, which is as a major slave port, but also about those not to be missed and is currently the largest who used the secret network to seize their museum in the country dedicated to African freedom. Their stories, among others, were American history. ⊲

Learn more about Black history in the Capital Region National Museum of African American 1History & Culture, Washington DC

The largest museum dedicated exclusively to the history of African Americans, this Smithsonian institution is a must for all visitors.

Exhibitions follow the history of the Black community, while the upstairs galleries delve into its historic accomplishments and cultural impacts. nmaahc.si.edu

Manumission Tour Company, 2 Alexandria

Manumission offers several different historical walking tours through Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, focusing on the history of its African American community. manumissiontours.com

House, Alexandria 3 Freedom

Once the location of the largest slave-trading firm in the US, this building serves as a museum that honours the memory of those who were trafficked and focuses on the contributions of African American Virginians. freedomhouse.org

Lillie Carroll Jackson Civil Rights Museum, 4 Baltimore Located in the home of one of the Civil Rights Movement’s unsung heroines, this museum tells the story of Lillie Carroll Jackson, who once headed the Baltimore branch of the NAACP. It narrates the important work that was done to push forward the goal of civil rights for all. lilliecarrolljacksonmuseum.org

F Lewis Museum, Baltimore 5 Reginald

The permanent collection of this museum highlights the history and achievements of African Americans in the state of Maryland over the last 400 years, while rotating exhibitions explore issues of importance to the community today. lewismuseum.org

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Black history (this page; clockwise from top left) Martin Luther King Jr once received the keys to Baltimore city in the Lord Baltimore Hotel; the writings of abolitionist Frederick Douglass detailed his life in bondage and brought home the realities of enslavement to America; MLK wrote his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech in his hotel room at the Willard; the memorial to the great man on Washington Mall; the Frederick Douglass House in Anacostia; the Reginald F Lewis Museum was founded by the first African American to build a billion-dollar company; (right page) the National Museum of African American History & Culture is unmissable

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This museum, which opened in 2016, showcases the life and importance of a lesstakes visitors on a journey from bondage er-known woman of the movement. Dr Lillie through civil rights and beyond. Its design Carroll Jackson served as president of the is meant to give you a sense of the struggle Baltimore chapter of the NAACP for nearly for equality, starting in the basement with 35 years. She helped desegregate many of exhibitions on the transatlantic trade in the city’s facilities and was instrumental in enslaved people, then moving upward and getting more African Americans into leadinto today and the hope of an even brighter ership positions in the city government and future. It’s an intense experience, and it’s beyond. Visiting her home, now a museum, best done when you have some time to both was a reminder of all of the women whose, get through the whole of often unsung, work was the museum and room to so instrumental in push“Generations of process it afterwards. It ing forward the Civil Rights Movement. took me several visits to injustice mean Another important get through its entirety, that many African institution and it has great relevance I visited here Americans still was the Reginald F Lewis to the 1963 march.

“The words of [March struggle financially” Museum of Maryland on Washington] speakAfrican American History ers resonate six decades & Culture. Located right later, and we serve as witnesses to the brav- on the waterfront, this museum, founded by ery and dedication of its organisers,” said businessman and philanthropist Reginald Kevin Young, the Andrew W Mellon direc- F Lewis, features a permanent collection tor of the museum. “To be able to show visi- of more than 11,000 objects, documents, tors the copy of the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech artworks and photographs highlighting the King read and improvised from while at the important roles and achievements of African American residents of the state of Maryland. podium is an honour and privilege.”

There’s a new urgency to the legacy of Located about an hour from downtown DC is the Maryland city of Baltimore. the March on Washington that continues to I took a room in the Lord Baltimore Hotel, reverberate around the Capital Region and which MLK also called home in 1965 while the rest of the US. Despite continued oppoattending a meeting of the Southern Chris- sition, many people, organisations and institian Leadership Conference. There’s lots of tutions continue the fight for equal rights African American history in this city, but and continue to tell the stories of those who I was most struck by the effort that is being fought for it. It’s these places that undermade today to address the economic injus- stand that it’s only through learning about tices that African Americans face. Many and honouring the past that we can create people overlook the fact that the purpose of a more equitable future for all. the March on Washington was not just racial equality, but also economic equality.Though strides have been made towards the latter, generations of injustice mean that many African Americans still struggle financially, especially in cities like Baltimore.

In 1968, after the death of MLK, who was assassinated on the balcony of his hotel room in Tennessee, many African American communities in Baltimore were devastated in the resulting protests. Recently however, several initiatives have been put in place in order to bring businesses – particularly small, Black-owned businesses – back to the area. The Boost programme, for example, provides up to $50,000 (£40,700) in grant money and business development support to African American entrepreneurs looking to start small businesses.The city also provides support to help preserve the historic facades of many of the city’s gorgeous buildings.

Baltimore is home to several museums that highlight the area’s Black history, much of which is overlooked. The Lillie Carroll Jackson Civil Rights Museum, for example,

NEED TO KNOW Geography: The Capital Region consists of Washington DC and the states of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

Getting there: Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) welcomes daily non-stop flights from London Heathrow with British Airways (ba.com), American (americanairlines.co.uk) and Virgin Atlantic (virginatlantic.com).

Flights cost from £420 return and take eight hours. If you fly in from elsewhere in the US, you’ll likely land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), which is only four metro stops from Union Station.

Getting around: A SmarTrip Card is a good way of getting about in the Capital Region; this can be used on the Metrorail, Metrobus, DC Circulator and bus networks in Virginia and Maryland. In Baltimore, water taxis are an affordable way to reach waterfront locations. In Alexandria, a free trolley bus links the train station and waterfront.

The author travelled with support from Capital Region USA Tourism Board (capitalregionusa.org)

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RESPONSIBLE THAILAND AWARDS he annual Responsible Thailand Awards shine a light on the organisations and businesses going above and beyond to ensure travellers have responsible and sustainable experiences that make a difference in Thailand. As always, this year there was tough competition but thanks to our judges’ thoughtful consideration, we’re proud to announce the winners of the 2023 Responsible Thailand Awards.

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WINNER: Mahouts Elephant Foundation Mahouts Elephant Foundation is a charity creating ethical and sustainable partnerships with Karen indigenous communities in northern Thailand. The foundation protects Asian elephants, the communities surrounding them and the forest they depend on. The foundation’s work enables the elephants to live in peace and dignity.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: An exemplary project caring for and rewilding elephants that have been exposed to cruel practices. An exceptional coming together of welfare for rescued elephants, benefit to the Karen community, and instructive tourism.

NATURE, MARINE & HERITAGE

WINNER: New Heaven Reef Conservation Program The New Heaven Reef Conservation Program protects and restores beautiful coral reef ecosystems around the island of Koh Tao, raising awareness and educating both tourists and locals about marine conservation and the plight of our planet’s most biodiverse and fragile spaces.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: New Heaven’s diving courses, focusing on conserving coral reefs, are making a crucial contribution to protecting Thailand’s marine life. Education is the key to safeguarding vulnerable environments, which is why New Heaven Reef Conservation’s work is vital.

COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM

WINNER: Kao Tep Pitak Community Restaurant The Kao Tep Pitak community, based in Ban Kao Thep Pitak, Suratthani runs a communityled ecotourism enterprise providing homestays, meals and tours. It’s located next to a beautiful suspension bridge with a clear view of a heart-shaped mountain. The tourism programme engages all members of the community and provides a new income source while also promoting local entrepreneurs.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: Far more than a restaurant, this project is deeply rooted in the community it serves by offering responsible and enlightening tourist experiences.

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INTRODUCING THE 2023 WINNERS…

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

HOW THE WINNERS ARE CHOSEN?

HOTEL

WINNER: Devasom Khao Lak Beach Devasom Khao Lak Resort is a small luxury resort by the Andaman Sea in Khao Lak. Paying homage to the opulence of the Asian maritime Silk Road during the 6th and 7th centuries, the resort’s intricate design is based on the archaic art and architecture of a lost civilisation that once resided here.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: This resort admirably tackles the many issues which can arise in the hotel industry – both environmental and social – to rise above other worthy nominees in a strong category.

It’s inspiring to see a resort so dedicated to its local area – especially in areas of educational uplift and employment.

ECOLODGE

WINNER: Elephant Hills Elephant Hills is a luxury tented jungle camp that also offers soft-adventure excursions. The camp is based in the tropical evergreen forest of Khao Sok National Park and comprises luxurious glamping tents made from waterproof canvas, which are fully equipped to provide a comfortable jungle stay.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: Bridging the connection between its guests, the surrounding environment and wildlife in need, Elephant Hills does an outstanding job in its contribution to responsible travel.

GREEN STEPS

WINNER: Pattaya Elephant Sanctuary Pattaya Elephant Sanctuary provides a caring home for once mistreated elephants. The sanctuary adheres to an ethical model, limiting interaction with people, as well as a range of other measures. This allows the elephants to express their natural behaviours, including foraging in the jungle and interacting with one another.

JUDGES’ COMMENTS: Renu’s courage and will to protect abused elephants has led to this wonderful and necessary sanctuary that shows a better way to treat elephants in the name of tourism. There isn’t a more deserving initiative to win this award – she’s an inspiration to us all.

We asked Wanderlust readers and the UK travel trade to nominate the Thailand-based organisations that they felt deserved recognition for their responsible initiatives and ongoing commitment to sustainable travel. The criteria for judging included the sustainability for each organisation, their demonstrable successes, and the legacy benefits for both Thailand and international visitors.

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

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Breathing life into the seas

Solving the mysteries of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is critical to safeguarding its future, which is why tourism operators in Bundaberg are now joining scientists in helping to find the answers Words Jessica Wynne Lockhart

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ust beneath the water’s surface, walls of iridescent fish hovered and bobbed in the current, the filtered sunshine reflecting off their fins. Below them, colourful parrotfish made their rounds, while a school of big-eyed trevally moved slowly along the seabed, unaffected by my presence. To them, I was just another small fish in the big azure sea surrounding Queensland’s Lady Elliot Island.

A short flight from Bundaberg, this remote island off Australia’s east coast marks the southernmost coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef. It’s best known for its large marine species. The deep waters of the continental shelf are just kilometres away and an upwelling of nutrients attracts humpback whales, sea turtles, sharks and manta rays to the area. Included among this collection is the bizarre Inspector Clouseau, a rare rosecoloured manta named after the Pink Panther detective. I, however, was here for the coral.

Rising up in columns around and below me, hues of earthy yellow, terracotta pink and shades of brown dominated the underwater

scene. I had to remind myself that what I was looking at weren’t plants, but rather colonies of thousands of tiny animals (polyps) – animals that are increasingly under threat.

Since 1998, rising global sea temperatures have led to seven mass bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef, including one in 2016

“Hues of earthy yellow, terracotta pink and various shades of brown dominated the underwater scene” that resulted in headlines declaring its death.

It’s a rumour that has only been perpetuated by tourists, who visit without fully understanding what they’re looking at. After all, it’s an easy mistake to make if you’re expecting to see the full Technicolor glory of Finding Nemo but are met with 50 shades of brown.

“You’ll see lots of brown. This doesn’t mean the coral is sick or dead; that’s just the colour of a healthy reef,” said Jacinta Shackleton, a marine biologist and master reef guide, as we toured above Lady Elliot’s coral gardens in a glass-bottomed boat.

It’s just one of many misconceptions that people have about the reef. Even bleaching, Shackleton explained, isn’t necessarily a death sentence: “This occurs when the coral is really stressed out; it’s a temporary state that it can recover from.”

But while the Great Barrier Reef may be alive, it’s far from well. Global warming isn’t the only threat to its future; it also faces cyclones, which are occurring with increasing severity and frequency (a by-product of climate change). There is also pollution from land run-off, ocean acidification and outbreaks of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish. Its only hope is that scientists can find a way to safeguard its future, and now they have an ally in the form of tour operators.

Lady Elliot Island is just one example of how the two are working together. But ⊲

Born free (left page) Turtle-nesting season on Lady Elliot Island happens yearly from November to early March, although between December and January is the peak time to see turtles here, when some 20 to 30 tracks per night can be spotted. However, turtles can be spied in the waters around the island year-round, particularly in the lagoon in the early morning and late afternoon; (above) from 1851 onwards, Lady Elliot Island was mined intensively for guano (for use in fertiliser), which stripped the island of its soil and vegetation. It wasn’t until 1969, when a local pilot took on the island’s lease, that replanting of the land began

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Lady Musgrave’s Taribelang Overnight Experience

On this three-day departure from Bundaberg, visitors join a team of marine biologists and Taribelang Bunda guides for an all-inclusive retreat on the reef. You’ll spend your days learning about local Aboriginal culture and history, taking guided snorkelling tours and eating meals prepared with indigenous ingredients. At night, retire to your on-deck glamping tent on the Lady Musgrave pontoon or sleep next to the fish in its underwater observatory. ladymusgraveexperience.com.au

Dreamtime Dive & Snorkel

Up in Cairns, there are countless opportunities to learn more about Aboriginal culture. Aboard Dreamtime Dive & Snorkel’s catamaran, you’ll join Indigenous sea rangers to get some context for the history of the reef and the current issues it faces. Trips to snorkel sites also offer the chance to immerse yourself in local cultural practices, including demos of traditional dances, the digeridoo, clap sticks and fire poles. dreamtimedive.com

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while I’m thrilled to be snorkelling at a site business has supplied hobbyists and where healthy coral and vibrant fish are aquariums with coral from its locations found in abundance, there’s always a linger- in Darwin and Cairns, and it has the abiling sense of disappointment that it doesn’t ity to produce 2,500 ‘fragments’ of coral look hyper-saturated, like the images you’d each week. Its newest location, in Bundaberg, see in a David Attenborough documentary isn’t just its largest; it also marks Monsoon’s recent expansion or in tourism videos. into aquaculture.

Fortunately, I found “ It was like a scene the antidote for this “We need to be particular affliction identifying the types from the film Avatar – back on the mainland, of corals that are in a large farm shed beautiful and altogether resilient to change, on the banks of the whether that be otherworldly” Burnett River. Inside, climate change, long troughs filled with extreme [land-based] moving saltwater – which had been carefully run-off or other changes that are happening pH-balanced and was temperature-con- out in the oceans,” said Daniel Kimberley, trolled – are home to thousands of individual Monsoon Aquatics’ founding director. “And corals. Under the glow of the facility’s UV in an aquaculture facility, we have the potenlights, their true colour and characteristics tial to produce millions of corals at scale.” are evident, resulting in something closer to Much like tree nurseries are used for my idealised image of the Great Barrier Reef. reforestation projects, in the future it is I walked between the rows of tanks, hoped that Monsoon Aquatics will be a key peering down at each specimen in the player in replanting the Great Barrier Reef. water. Coral that could only be described “The ultimate goal is to be a piece of as Play-Doh red in colour sat beside scoly- the puzzle in reef restoration,” explained mia, an Australian hard coral prized for its Brooke Kimberley, the company’s business vibrant neon hues. Other flower-like varie- manager. She led me into the nursery where ties blossomed under the water’s surface, they are developing the technology to get their delicate tendrils glowing in shades of the corals to breed on demand. fluorescent blue-green and millennial pink.

The first step is better understanding the It was like a scene from the film Avatar – lives of corals, which are as fascinating as they beautiful and altogether otherworldly. are complex. Coral polyps form a symbiotic This is Monsoon Aquatics, Australia’s larg- relationship with algae called zooxanthelest coral farm. Since 2008, this family-owned lae, which is responsible for their unique ⊲

Alamy; Tourism and Events Queensland

Reef encounters (clockwise from far left) Master reef guides are ambassadors for the Great Barrier Reef, trained to give up-to-date scientific information to visitors; immersive trips with Taribelang Bunda Cultural Tours; Lady Elliot Island isn’t dubbed the ‘Home of the Manta Ray’ for nothing, with the best time to spot one being between June and September; the corals of the Great Barrier Reef aren’t always spectacularly coloured; Lady Elliot Island is named after a ship that sailed these waters in 1816; a clownfish lingers among the reef; overnight stays on the Lady Musgrave pontoon include diving and snorkelling trips

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Bountiful seas (this page; clockwise from top left) Around 30 species of cetacean live within the Great Barrier Reef system; rooms in the Lady Musgrave’s underwater observatory allow you to watch marine life from the comfort of your bed; a boat drifts over a tasselled wobbegong shark; the Lady Musgrave pontoon sits within the lagoon of the eponymous island; a baby crab walks along the sandy beach; (right page) Lady Elliot Island changed owners in 2005, when the Gash family took over and built a sustainable resort here that runs on solar power, composts waste food, offsets the flights of visitors and offers low-impact activities

Shutterstock; Tourism and Events Queensland

pigmentation. Bleaching occurs when the “Being permanently moored out at the coral expels the algae, in turn becoming reef allows us to carry out reef surveys susceptible to disease and starvation. weekly. We can monitor impacts because, Coral has many unusual characteristics. as a tourism provider, we spend more time Far from docile or immobile, some species out there than anybody else,” said Mel Tree, are capable of moving; others can be aggres- general manager of the Lady Musgrave sive, fighting with competitors for space and Experience, when I met her for breakfast at territory. But most compelling of all is how Bundaberg’s Windmill Café. coral reproduces. Just once a year, under the This is just one of dozens of tour operglow of a full moon and when the tides and ators essentially being run as social entrewater temperature are just right, many corals preneurships, with the reef ’s health at the simultaneously release their eggs and sperm forefront. Nearly every day, boats depart into the ocean’s water in an event known for the reef from Cairns, Port Douglas and as spawning. It’s a synchronised phenom- Bundaberg, taking with them not only tourenon that scientists still don’t fully under- ists, but also scientists and scuba divers who stand. It’s also critical to the reef’s survival, painstakingly survey the reef and reattach because while some coral can reproduce coral fragments at nursery sites. The Port asexually by cloning itself, spawning Douglas-based Wavelength Reef Cruises, improves genetic diversity and resilience. for example, has planted more than 65,000 “Coral spawning corals across 27 sites since 2018. In total, is based on magical “Wavelength Reef Queensland’s tourthings that we still ism operators have don’t know about,” Cruises has planted installed over 100 reef explained Brooke. more than 65,000 coral nurseries, prop“The key for us is corals across now conditioning the agating hundreds of mothers to the point thousands of corals 27 sites since 2018” where we can get them across the Great to spawn on demand.”

Barrier Reef.

For visitors, tours of Monsoon’s facility, Research is underway at Lady Elliot Island, which are set to take place in a purpose-built too, where on-site marine biologists such as interpretative centre, are an opportunity Shackleton survey coral health, tag turtles, to understand more about the creature’s track manta rays and sample the water. unique ecology.

“If we didn’t have tourists coming out “To be able to see coral up close makes here, then the resort wouldn’t be able to you understand it more. It makes you want have a scientific team,” said Shackleton. She to protect it and understand why it’s so told me that she remains optimistic about important to do what we do,” said Brooke. the future of the reef, despite the hot and “We want to make sure the reef is here for dry El Niño summer that lies ahead. generations to come.”

“The reef is always going to be here,” said The challenge, of course, is that few trips Shackleton, “but it’s definitely going to be to Australia are possible without racking up different from the way that we see it today.” a massive carbon debt, which is linked to With her words in my ears, I donned my the climate change affecting its waters. But wetsuit and flippers one last time before the countless scientists and marine biolo- heading home. From the dark below, gists that I’ve spoken with along the reef’s a green sea turtle appeared. It saw me but 2,300km length have all told me the same didn’t change tack. Instead, it swam directly thing: the research and restoration they’re under the length of my body, its hard shell doing would be impossible without tourists. close enough to touch and a gentle reminder That’s the case with the Lady Musgrave that even in the dark, hope can appear.

Experience, a pontoon moored near another coral cay, just north of Lady Elliot Island.

Since its launch in 2021, it’s become one of the most sought-after overnight stays for visitors to the reef, with its on-board glamping tents and bunk beds with underwater views.

Soon, the facility will become just as renowned for its citizen-science programmes.

A new dedicated research pontoon will support the work of marine biologists while allowing visitors to participate in coral restoration programmes. But already, the positive impact of its presence is being felt.

NEED TO KNOW Getting there and around: Multiple airlines fly from London Heathrow to Brisbane, typically via a connection in Doha, Dubai, Los Angeles or Singapore, with flights taking from around 23 hours.

Bundaberg is a four-hour drive north of Brisbane International Airport, passing the beaches of the Sunshine Coast and crossing the former gold-mining region of Gympie. It’s also possible to fly direct from Brisbane to Bundaberg Regional Airport with Qantas (qantas.com); this takes about 55 minutes and costs from £109 one way. Scenic flights from Bundaberg to Lady Elliot Island are included in the cost of day visits and overnight packages, which start at £277pp for a day trip (ladyelliot.com.au).

Activities: Bundaberg is the southernmost access point to the Great Barrier Reef islands of Lady Elliot and Lady Musgrave, but it’s best known for its turtle tourism.

Every year, between November and March, hundreds of marine turtles – including endangered loggerheads – come ashore at Mon Repos beach to lay their eggs. Nightly, visitors can watch as babies hatch and scurry down to the sea at the Mon Repos Conservation Park. Round off your visit at the Bundaberg Barrel (bundabergbarrel.com), where the region’s famous ginger beer is brewed, and the Bundaberg Rum Distillery (bundabergrum.com.au).

The author travelled with support from Tourism and Events Queensland.

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Fruits de mer reign supreme on the island of Barbados, where the national dish is fried flying fish served with a spicy gravy and cou-cou, a starchy

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Barbados

Barbados’ diverse food is a reflection of its tapestry of cultures, so to truly understand this island nation, you need to try Bajan cuisine…

Flaming good! (this page; top to bottom) Everyone needs to visit Oistins’ Fish Fry at least once in life; seafood is the ingredient that powers the best Bajan cooking

side made from okra and cornmeal that balances out the richer sauce nicely. For special occasions, a Barbadian table might contain lobster, swordfish or red snapper, but local menus are packed with options, from tuna and marlin to shark and mahi mahi. These are typically paired with sweet potato, breadfruit, cassava, rice, potato, pasta or cou-cou.

More importantly, fish forms a staple part of Bajan culture. Every Friday, the big thing to do is to visit the legendary Oistins Fish Fry, which is packed to the rafters with locals and tourists. The food is the main draw in this quaint village, and it’s as fresh as it comes. Whatever you fancy, from flying fish to lobster, is grilled or fried to your liking in front of your eyes. The entertainment also goes

beyond the plate: there are arts and crafts stalls aplenty, as well as locals dancing on the tables as the reggae music plays and the rum flows. It gets busy, so it’s recommended that you book in advance. Oistins village also hosts an annual fish festival over the Easter weekend.

BIRTHPLACE OF RUM

Barbados is said to be the birthplace of rum; in fact, the drink is entwined with the history of the island. Even before ‘rum’ was common here, locals were brewing up ‘kill devil’, a harsher liquor made from fermented sugar.

Then, when molasses (a by-product of the sugar-refining process) started being fermented into alcohol, the rum we know today was born, with the first use of the word appearing in 1688.

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arbados is the culinary capital of the Caribbean, enticing visitors with its spicy fusion of African, Portuguese, Indian, Irish, Creole and British cuisine. Here, marinated meats fired with incredible flavours are accompanied by a cavalcade of hot side dishes and salads. And then there’s the inimitable souse, a dish of pickled pork served with spiced sweet potatoes. But above all else, this is a nation that loves its seafood…

Visiting sailors developed a taste for the island’s liquor, and demand soon grew back home in Europe as the sugar barons of Barbados saw their fortunes grow. Today, you’ll find the ruins of old distilleries dotted around the island, but Barbados still continues to produce world-class rums using traditional local methods.

The island celebrates an annual Food and Rum Festival each October, where different rums are paired with local dishes by top chefs. You can also explore Barbados’ love affair with rum during special tours organised by the tourist board. Pay a visit to Mount Gay Rum Distillery, said to be the oldest producer of Caribbean rum, or drop by the pretty St Nicholas Abbey to visit the Morgan Lewis Windmill, one of only two restored sugar mills left in the Caribbean. Alternatively, the Foursquare Rum Distillery is set on a former Barbados sugar plantation that dates back to 1720, offering a glimpse of island history alongside a visit to the tasting room.

MORE LOCAL BITES

Originally from Guyana, pepperpot is a stew of spiced pork, beef or mutton that is now synonymous with Barbados. It’s a hearty and warm meal that is traditionally cooked in earthenware jars. Another popular dish is jug jug, a festive treat believed

to have its origins in the Scottish dish haggis, which was introduced by immigrants to Barbados in the 1600s.

Crucial ingredients include pigeon peas or lentils, which are mixed with bacon or pork, hot peppers, beef, onions, chives, cornflour and butter.

Pigtails (typically barbecued) are a sensational Bajan dish, and one that also takes in Asia’s influence on the island. The same goes for sea eggs, a particularly tasty variety of sea urchin that dwells at depths of around 20m, making them hard to catch. And no dish in Barbados is complete without cassava bread, which is also glutenfree. Finish your meal with a slice of black cake, made with prunes, dried cherries, a handful of raisins and, of course… a liberal dash of rum.

Appetisers (this page; clockwise from top left) Bajan fishcakes are the perfect way to whet your appetite; wash that down with a classic rum punch; fish doesn’t get much fresher than straight from the sea; beachside dining is always an option here; Oistins is known for its fish fry and annual food festival; Mount Gay claims to be the oldest rum brand in the world

Three Must-Visit Restaurants

1 LOCAL & CO

This is the place to go for farm-to-table sustainable dining, as it only uses produce from local fishermen and farmers. The restaurant is housed within an 18th-century building in lively Speightstown and has local art exhibitions and a marketplace for guests to browse before their meal.

You can choose to eat inside or beside the ocean.

2 CHAMPERS

Perched on a Christchurch clifftop, Champers is owned by restaurateur Chiryl Newman, who promotes quality, locally sourced food. Feast on fresh seafood or tasty steak as you watch the sun go down or admire the large collection of art hanging on the walls.

3 NARU

Alamy; AWL Images; Shutterstock

This Japanese eatery brings together a fusion of Pan Asian and Caribbean cuisine.

This is one of few places where you can get sushi on the island, and it’s run by one of Barbados’ most celebrated chefs, Barry Taylor. Savour sublime bites with a sea vista before a stroll on the south-coast boardwalk.

For more information, visit: visitbarbados.org

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The rebirth of Florida’s railroad More than 100 years after industrialist Henry Flagler’s railroad across Florida opened up the state to visitors, a new service is resurrecting its old route and offering a glimpse into the past Words Rhodri Andrews

Rhodri Andrews; Brightline

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unshine glittered on the water’s surface like eight-carat diamonds, and every stroke of my paddle set off a chain reaction of sparkling ripples. Swamp laurel oaks and cabbage palms leaned inquisitively over the water’s edge, as if to see who was disturbing their peace. Everything else was still.

I was kayaking through Florida’s Rock Springs Run State Reserve, a 5,700-hectare semi-tropical wilderness that lies a 30-minute drive from Orlando – not that you’d know it.

Just 150 years ago, this was what most of the region looked like, and it was a side to Florida I hadn’t expected to encounter when I set out to explore a newly expanded rail route across the state. But as I followed its tracks further, a remarkable history started to unravel.

Back in the 19th century, Henry Flagler was among the world’s most successful businessmen. He made his fortune launching the Standard Oil company in Cleveland alongside his business partner, John D Rockefeller, in 1870. It soon grew into one of the USA’s most powerful corporations and made them two of the wealthiest people on the planet.

It wasn’t until 1878, when Flagler was in his late 40s, that he first set foot in Florida, heading to Jacksonville under instruction from his doctor, who thought the balmy weather would boost the ailing health of his first wife, Mary. They didn’t stay long but it sowed a seed in him. Flagler saw the tourism potential of the state, and he returned seven years later to break ground on his first hotel, the Ponce de Leon in St Augustine (now Flagler College). Other resorts followed, all straddling the state’s coast, but there was a problem: no one could reach his luxury stays.

The answer Flagler came up with was to buy up Florida’s fragmented railway lines, connect them together and pour his oil-fuelled wealth into building a new track along the coastline. Enter the Florida East

Coast Railway, which, by the time of its completion in 1912, extended from Jacksonville to the state’s southern tip at Key West. Its benefactor wouldn’t live long to see it though; Flagler died just a year later.

His rail legacy was soon in poor health too.

Following a hurricane in 1935 that destroyed large chunks of track, an expanding road network across the state saw the popularity of the Florida East Coast Railway decline.

“Henry Flagler poured his oil-fuelled wealth into building a new track along Florida’s coast” It wasn’t until 2018, 50 years after the last service was discontinued, that it returned to use, when the Brightline railroad began renovating Flagler’s original track to reopen a route between Miami and West Palm Beach.

I began my journey by tracing the path of a new Orlando detour along the Bright-

line route, which eventually opened to the public this September. I was eager to see how much of the old Florida of Flagler’s day had survived. And while my experience kayaking on the fringes of metropolitan Orlando proved a gentle introduction to the state’s wild side, I soon learned that far more wilderness remains here than you might think.

“There are nearly 900 springs across Florida, but few visitors know they even exist,” said my kayaking guide, Brittany Shirley. “I come here most weekends, and I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”

I agreed. The gin-clear water morphed from a toothpaste blue to a mint green as we paddled. Cypress trees appeared to rise from the creek, dipping their toe-like roots into the water. At a balmy 21°C year-round, you could hardly blame them. Otters and alligators are said to inhabit these springs, though I only saw egrets and turtles sunning themselves on half-submerged branches.

Seeing my slackened jaw as we floated back, Brittany added: “It’s a special place, isn’t it? And we want to make sure we keep it as nature intended.” When I spotted ⊲

Exploring the Sunshine State (left page) A clear-bottomed kayak tour through Rock Springs Run State Reserve not only lets you paddle a park that offers a glimpse into what Florida must have looked like 150 years ago, before the railroads opened up the state to visitors and development, but it lets you experience an area of pure wilderness just a short drive from Orlando; (this page) MiamiCentral station is Brightline’s southern terminus in Florida and replaced the original Florida East Coast Railway station that opened here in 1896, which was the state’s southernmost terminus until construction on the Key West track began in 1905

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a local snorkelling for rubbish, I knew she wasn’t lying. I didn’t fancy swimming in water where alligators are known to prowl, but I was reassured that they never bothered visitors, and on our return, the snorkeller proudly showed me his haul of sunken treasure, including a pair of goggles and children’s toys.

A place for all seasons

Just 150 years ago, Florida was one of America’s most sparsely populated states, home to fewer than 270,000 people; today nearly 22 million live here. It was mostly wilderness back then, but within ten years of Flagler opening his first hotel in 1888, he’d transformed some of the USA’s poorest areas into the most desirable new escape for the wealthy travellers of America’s Gilded Age, who were looking to flee the harsh northern winters.

Flagler’s revolution saw a chain reaction of developments across the rest of the state, as more and more resort towns sprouted up, all similarly aimed at attracting seasonal sunseekers. The city of Winter Park, on the eastern outskirts of Orlando, was just one among many built during the gold rush of early Florida tourism, and it was my next stop.

These days people live in Winter Park all year round, but very little else has changed. Its layout hasn’t wavered much since its meticulously thought-out town plan was crafted in the 1880s, and neither has its appearance.

The brick streets, leafy parks and oak-studded pavements greeted me with a touch of the Old South that I thought had long

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“Everywhere I looked, Winter Park seemed effortlessly handsome, like it had been manicured for the set of a period drama” disappeared in Florida. Everything moved at least half a step slower than in neighbouring Orlando; life here seemed more attuned to the gentle sway of the Spanish moss that draped the branches of every tree.

Everywhere I looked, the city seemed effortlessly handsome, like it had been manicured for the set of a period drama.

The prettiest views of all I found among the 12-strong Chain of Lakes, where I had bagged a spot aboard one of its scenic boat tours. This one had been operating here since 1938, and I soon cruised past some of the town’s most exclusive lakeside addresses, as coveted now for their serene location as they must have been at the city’s conception.

Out on the water, the peace was punctured only by the occasional flash of a blue heron or a crane skimming across the still surface.

I wasn’t here just to see how the other half lived; this was also a welcome introduction to the city’s history. As we glided between lakes Osceola and Virginia, connected via a man-made, cypress-shaded canal that was

originally fashioned to transport timber, I spotted the former site of the Seminole Hotel (the largest in the state in 1886) and the Mediterranean Revival architecture of Rollins College campus.The latter is one of Florida’s oldest and most prestigious seats of learning.

It also owns the boutique hotel Alfond Inn, where I stayed, with the profits from guests going towards funding student scholarships.

Henry Flagler may never have visited Winter Park, but I’m confident that if he did, he would have liked what he saw. The city embraces the farm-to-fork philosophy that became the signature of Flagler’s Ponce de Leon hotel, albeit this was not by choice for the latter – it was too remote and costly to source food from anywhere other than the local area back then. I followed its lead during my time here, devouring Florida pink shrimp and grits at lunch spot Boca, alligator tacos at The Pinery and local brews at the Ivanhoe Park Brewing Co, where some of the beers have been infused with pineapple in a nod to the brewery’s former life as a pineapple farm.

After all that, I had ample fuel to explore one of Winter Park’s landmarks: The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, home to one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of pieces by Louis Comfort Tiffany, known for his decorative arts and stained glass. Its vibrant exhibitions of delicate glasswork, lamps and paintings were like peering into a kaleidoscope at times, such was their beauty, and they even provided an unexpected link to my journey. It turned out that Flagler had commissioned the artist to design much of the Ponce de Leon’s interior, and even today its old building lays claim to the largest collection of Tiffany stained-glass windows anywhere on the planet.

By now it was time to make a beeline for Florida’s east coast, where the state first opened up to visitors. Sun-drenched Palm Beach is only a three-hour drive south of Orlando. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this was where Flagler saw the most potential for attracting travellers, building his grandest hotels here. The Royal Ponciana (1894) became the largest resort in the world after its construction, and The Breakers (1895) is the only hotel of his that’s still open today.

Naturally, wherever Flagler’s hotels landed, his railroad dutifully followed, and it eventually reached West Palm Beach in 1896. Back then, this area was wrapped by large swathes of jungle and swamp, but not all of its greenery was local.When Flagler saw the thousands of palm trees lining Palm Beach, he declared it a “veritable paradise”. But according to local legend, this was an idyll born entirely of happenstance. The story goes that the ship Providencia ran aground here in 1878 on its way to Cadiz from Cuba, and after the ⊲

Visit Orlando; Rhodri Andrews; Discover The Palm Beaches

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Visit Orlando; Rhodri Andrews; Discover The Palm Beaches

The unseen Florida (this page; clockwise from top left) The red-brick streets of Winter Park are like a splash of the Old South; the 1930s-built Knowles Memorial Chapel is just one of many examples of Mediterranean Revival architecture on the campus of Rollins College; Buccan in Palm Beach is great for delicious sharing platters; see intricate stained-glass work on display at The Charles Hosmer Museum of American Art; (left page) turtles, terrapins and alligators are among the many reptiles that you can spot in Rock Springs Run State Reserve, though the latter are mercifully quite shy and tend to swim away from visitors

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Gilded Age grandeur (this page; clockwise from top left) Some of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s finest work is found in the collection at The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art; Sea Gull Cottage in Palm Beach was bought by Henry Flagler in 1893 to be his winter residence; the Tiffany Chapel was rescued from artist Louis Comfort Tiffany’s former estate following a fire; the Flagler Museum is every inch a Gilded Age mansion; canals link Winter Park’s network of lakes; Henry Flagler’s personal rail car; the Mediterranean-inspired streets of Palm Beach; strolling Worth Avenue; (right page) the Brightline railway station in West Palm Beach

Rhodri Andrews; Visit Orlando; Discover The Palm Beaches

crew failed to sell most of its 20,000-strong built in 1924 in Spanish Colonial style as a cargo of coconuts, local settlers claimed them chic, monochrome tribute to the Old World. as salvage and planted the fruit, giving rise Nowhere are the more glamorous, to the trees that gave Palm Beach its name. sun-soaked parts of Europe more keenly Flagler fell in love with the area so much evoked than on Worth Avenue, one of the that he made it his winter home, making country’s most exclusive shopping districts. It him one of the prototype ‘snowbirds’ – a was an early launchpad for renowned brands common name now given to Americans such as Gucci and Armani in the US, who from colder parts of the US with second took up residency in the honey-coloured homes in warmer states. He eventually buildings that line the main artery. It was also built a mansion here in 1902 as a birthday a showcase for Mizner’s Mediterranean-inpresent to his third wife, Mary Lily Kenan. spired work, not least in the still-secretive It was christened Whitehall, and the build- Everglades Club that sits at one end. ing now serves as the Flagler Museum.

Rick led me along the nine palm-shaded As I wandered its 75 rooms, it was obvi- streets that peel off Worth Avenue and we ous that no expense had been spared: the entered a warren of pedestrian passageways walls were decadently lined with silk, wood, whose elegant fountains, tiled paths, charmhand-painted plaster cast and aluminium ing courtyards, whitewashed walls and leaf (more expensive than gold at the time). wrought-iron balconies would look more “Most people settle at home in Venice or sun-drenched Spain. for the quiet life when “It was the First they retire, but then “Mizner was creating Hollywood sets,” Henry Flagler isn’t World War that proved most people,” said my said Rick. “He used to be the catalyst guide, David Carson, several techniques to public affairs director intentionally make for Palm Beach’s at the museum. things look older, like evolution” The delightful uneven brickwork and rubbing stucco walls Beaux-Arts architecture of Whitehall did plenty to evoke the sky’s- with buttermilk to age them.” It worked. the-limit ambition of America’s most affluent Indeed, I was surprised to later learn that at the tail-end of the Gilded Age.The wealthy Sea Gull Cottage, which was built in 1886 have been drawn to Palm Beach ever since, at the other end of Palm Beach, was actually and this has been one of Florida’s most stylish the oldest house in the area. addresses for over a century. It was something My time in Florida was coming to an end that became all the more apparent as I later and there was really only one way to finish it: glided past waterfront mansions belonging to a ride on the railroad that had changed Florthe likes of Sylvester Stallone and Jon Bon Jovi ida forever. I caught the Brightline train from on a cruise with Get Wet Watersports. its northern terminus in West Palm Beach, just across the Lake Worth Lagoon that sepaThe American Riviera rates it from Palm Beach, and rode the rails Flagler may have laid the foundations for all the way to Miami. It felt surreal to finally Palm Beach’s future success but he wasn’t be on Flagler’s original track after hearing so around long enough to see them truly blos- much about how it rewrote Florida’s history. som. The railroad was only the first link in Sleek, luxurious and smooth, the Brightline the chain; it was actually the First World War service is both comfortable and a far more that proved to be the catalyst for the area’s sustainable way to travel across the state, even later evolution. By then, wealthy American if its track was first laid by a 19th-century industrialists could no longer escape to the oil baron. Certainly, for a country that has French Riviera, which was the go-to summer favoured flying over long-distance rail travel retreat at the time. This led to Paris Singer in recent years, its return offers hope for (heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune) a more positive change in travel here.

As I approached MiamiCentral station, my and architect Addison Mizner transforming Palm Beach into their own American Riviera. mind was cast back to a sepia-tinged photo“In 1919, Palm Beach was the only place graph that I’d spotted in the Flagler Museum. in the USA to go for a holiday,” explained It showed locals welcoming Henry Flagler my guide, local historian Rick Rose. They in their thousands to Key West, as a way of were certainly faithful in their recreation of saying thanks for changing their lives with the the Mediterranean, with the area’s grand construction of the railroad. We’re unlikely palazzi and its Mediterranean Revival and to see such scenes again, but it is heartening Venetian-style architecture capturing the to see the return of one of the icons of old European blueprint. My hotel, the White Florida. A reminder that tourism still has the Elephant Palm Beach was one such example, power to change somewhere forever.

NEED TO KNOW Getting there and around: Several airlines fly direct to Orlando International, including British Airways (ba.com), which has return flights from £374. These take around nine hours. When you’re in Florida, take advantage of the new Brightline (gobrightline.com) service as an alternative to a hire car; one-way trips from Orlando to Miami start from £65 and take around 3.5 hours.

Currency: US dollar ($), currently around $1.22 to the UK£. Credit cards are widely accepted.

Accommodation: In Winter Park, The Alfond Inn (doubles from £230pn; open year-round; thealfondinn.com) is a stylish boutique bolthole that offers a relaxing sanctuary close to the city’s main Park Avenue thoroughfare. In Palm Beach, the White Elephant (doubles from £405pn; open year-round; whiteelephantpalmbeach.com) feels effortlessly beach-chic, thanks to its combination of Spanish Colonial design and smart monochrome colour scheme.

When to go: Florida enjoys year-round sunshine and can be visited at any time of year, but it can get sweltering during the summer months (Jun–Aug). The author visited during springtime (Mar–May), when the weather is typically milder, making it one of the better times to arrive.

The author travelled with support from Visit Florida, Visit Orlando, Discover The Palm Beaches and Brightline.

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BRITISH COLUMBIA FROM RAINFOREST TO ROCKIES

Traverse diverse landscapes, from lush Pacific rainforest to the open and expansive Rockies, with these inspiring journeys through British Columbia, Canada

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rom the misty pine forests of the Harrison River Valley to the rocky snow-capped summit of Mount Robson, British Columbia (BC) is home to some of Canada’s most cinematic scenery. Even its biggest metropolis – the sprawling city of Vancouver – is flanked by stunning inlets and soaring mountains.

There are several ways to navigate this majestic province, with different itineraries offering the chance to

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travel at your own pace, your own way and make stops as you wish.

So, whether you stick to the mapped journeys or go where your spirit takes you, the options are endless.

You should also consider train travel too. British Columbia’s landscapes demand attention at all times, and sitting back on the Rocky Mountaineer or on a Via Rail service while watching crystalline lakes and rising forests roll by is an endless joy.

Mountain high (top) Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park in the Kootenay Rockies is home to mighty glaciers, glistening lakes and somed aweinspiring peaks

There’s no one definitive journey to take here, but considering BC from a thematic perspective is a great way of choosing your unique journey.

JOURNEY 1: NORTH TO MOUNT ROBSON For the outdoor adventurer

The Sea-to-Sky Highway is an evocative name for good reason.

Destination BC/Kari Medig; Similkameen Valley/Darren Robinson; Destination Vancouver/Kindred & Scout; Rocky Mountaineer and Noel Hendrickson

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Destination BC/Kari Medig; Similkameen Valley/Darren Robinson; Destination Vancouver/Kindred & Scout; Rocky Mountaineer and Noel Hendrickson

From the glassy waters beneath Vancouver’s Lions Gate Bridge to the snowy peaks of Whistler and beyond, Highway 99 is the ideal route for adventurous types.

Begin in Vancouver, where hiring a bike to tour the lush expanse of Stanley Park is a special start to a unique journey. The 10km seawall loop is an easy and meandering escape that switches its gaze from the city’s shimmering skyline to Vancouver Island’s hazy silhouette in the far distance, as low-flying seaplanes hum overhead. Take it all in from sandy beaches like English Bay or get even closer to nature by renting a kayak.

Leaving BC’s largest city behind, the journey north then passes by Howe Sound, a spectacular UNESCOdesignated Biosphere Region.

Highway 99 hugs the mainland coast and there are several viewpoints along the way, including the Porteau Cove Road Lookout where the water, islands, mountains and sky all stack behind each other to form a beautiful, layered scene.

Continuing north past huge glaciers and distant mountain summits, the road passes through arguably Canada’s most famous resort: Whistler. But while skiing is an obvious draw here, there’s a host of breathtaking activities available at different times of the year. Whether it’s black bear viewing tours from Whistler Village Gondola or ziplining above Fitzsimmons Creek, Whistler is a feast for the outdoors purist.

Highway 99 dates from the 1940s but the St’at’imc First Nation people have lived in the area around Lillooet for thousands of years, so drop by

the town and join Xwísten Experience Tours for an eye-opening Indigenous tour of their fishing grounds and replica pithouse (S7istken).

After Lillooet, the landscape opens up into Marble Canyon Park’s widescreen valleys, where its unusual limestone cliffs provide a backdrop for everything from paddling crystalline lakes to camping under the stars.

Turn off Highway 99 and pass through vibrant Kamloops on the way to the sublime Wells Gray Provincial Park. This hidden wilderness playground is home to volcanic plateaus, deep canyons and dramatic waterfalls, including the 141m-high Helmcken Falls.

This journey ends in grandiose fashion with a visit to the mighty Mount Robson, the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies. And for the outdoor adventurer, the finest viewing spot is the majestic Berg Lake, so don’t miss tackling the 19km Berg Lake Trail that passes the mirrorlike Kinney Lake and the powerful Emperor Falls along the way.

JOURNEY 2: ALONG THE TRANS-CANADA HIGHWAY For the active foodie

With the introduction of the Michelin Guide to Vancouver in 2022, the city attained a lofty new status in food circles, but this is a city with a long gastronomic tradition. From the enticing ramen joints of Kitsilano to downtown’s fine dining, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into, but make sure to stop off at Granville Island Public Market while you’re at it. This indoor

For more information, visit: www.hellobc.com/rainforest-to-rockies

A breath of fresh air (clockwise from top) Try the fresh produce and local wines in the Okanagan Valley; stroll or cycle around Vancouver’s lush Stanley Park; the Rocky Mountaineer glides through verdant forests and past endless peaks

smorgasbord is filled with fresh fish, colourful produce and delicate pastries that beg to be devoured.

Three hours east of the west coast metropolis, the landscape flattens out and morphs into the Fraser Valley – better known as BC’s breadbasket.

Passing by roadside fruit stalls and dense vegetable patches, it’s a charming corner of Canada.

Soon you’ll encounter the splendid town of Hope, which sits at the bottom of a canyon surrounded by forested hills. It’s a pretty spot to find a quaint café for lunch before swapping your four wheels for two and cycling a portion of the Kettle Valley Rail Trail, and in particular the unique Othello Tunnels Trail. What was a disused railway line built in the early 20th century is now a gentle trail flanked by deep gorges and rushing streams that passes through five atmospheric tunnels.

These canyons reach a dramatic climax at Hell’s Gate, where the towering rock walls of the Fraser River plunge toward each other, forcing the waters through a ⊲ passage only 35m wide. Take

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Walk this way (this page; clockwise from top) The majestic Mount Robson is the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies; venture across Vancouver’s Capilano Suspension Bridge; the Michelin Guide was introduced to Vancouver in 2022; admire Indigenous artwork at Vancouver’s Museum of Anthropology

JOURNEY 3: CROWSNEST HIGHWAY 3 TO THE CANADIAN ROCKIES For the inquisitive spirit

The First Nations of the Northwest Coast lived and roamed the area now known as Vancouver for thousands of years before it grew into the

metropolis of today, so start by taking in Indigenous artwork at The Museum of Anthropology. Located out on Vancouver’s windswept west coast at the University of British Columbia, there’s a host of local Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh heritage to explore, as well as 9,000 objects from around the world housed inside the Multiversity Galleries.

It’s time now to head east and watch as the urban environment along the Trans-Canada Highway becomes a sea of green pastoral scenes approaching the Fraser Valley. But the landscape changes again as low mists form beneath rolling hills of pine and cedar, with the evocative Harrison River Valley taking shape.

Head up to Harrison Hot Springs and unwind in the mineral waters at the Public Mineral Pool, on land revered as a “healing place” by the local Sts’ailes First Nation people for generations. But don’t forget that this is also Sasquatch country, so pay a visit to the Sasquatch Museum and keep your eyes out for this mysterious and shadowy figure.

In fact, you might see him on the short 20-minute Spirit Trail, where the lush cedar forests are decorated by 50 weird and wonderful masks by local artist Ernie Eaves. Then continue east and jump on Crowsnest Highway 3 toward EC Manning Park, where you can admire both wet coastal rainforests and jagged snowcapped peaks from one viewpoint.

Soak in displays of subalpine flowers across the park’s gentle meadows in summer, but also look out for the wild pink rhododendrons at Rhododendron Flats.

Destination BC/Robert Downie; Destination Vancouver/Capilano Suspension Bridge Park; Destination Vancouver/Rishad Daroo Photography; Destination Vancouver/Destination Canada (CTC)

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the bright-red Hells Gate Airtram cable car right overhead for the most glorious views.

The spectacular Okanagan Valley is home to 86% of the province’s vineyards. With the wine and lush scenery came expert chefs who’ve made use of the valley’s agricultural bounty to offer seasonal, sustainable menus. Head to Naramata Inn or Quails’ Gate Winery’s Old Vines restaurant to treat your taste buds to Okanagan’s incredible produce.

Spend an evening in vibrant Kamloops sampling Rieslings and chardonnays from the local Monte Creek Winery, before heading along the Trans-Canada Highway to nature-

fuelled Salmon Arm. As calm as the name suggests, this city is home to Shuswap Lake, a bird sanctuary and hundreds of kilomotres of hiking trails. Then continue on to Mount Revelstoke National Park, in the heart of the Kootenay Rockies, where you’ll climb even higher into the Meadows in the Sky Parkway. Meandering 26km uphill, this elevated road snakes through handsome forests of cedar and fir and up into the park’s renowned subalpine wildflower meadows.

As dramatic as its name suggests, the alpine vistas of Glacier National Park take this journey to a towering new level. Established in 1886, the park encompasses 1,349sq km of yawning forest and snow-capped peaks, and don’t miss the chance to stop at Rogers Pass, which is the second-highest point along the Trans-Canada Highway.

Finish this epic ride across BC on the western slopes of the Continental Divide of the Americas at Yoho National Park. The word Yoho is a Cree expression of amazement or awe, and there’s no finer journey’s end than watching Chancellor Peak soar ever skyward or witnessing the thundering cascade of the Takakkaw Falls with your own eyes.

Destination BC/Robert Downie; Destination Vancouver/Capilano Suspension Bridge Park; Destination Vancouver/Rishad Daroo Photography; Destination Vancouver/Destination Canada (CTC)

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Further east, the Similkameen Valley is the ancestral territory of the Similamix and Smelqmix peoples, and it’s a fine spot to spend a night riverside camping under the stars.

The drive down the western slopes of the Okanagan Valley into Osoyoos is mesmerising. The desert-like shrub steppe begins to share space with pristine lakes and rows of flourishing vineyards. And speaking of wine, this region boasts almost 200 wineries, many of which tell fascinating stories.

One of the most interesting is Nk’mip Cellars, which is North America’s first Indigenous-owned winery and also

runs both tours and tastings.

Stay at the beautifully perched Spirit Ridge Resort to learn about the heritage of the Osoyoos Indian Band and to sample their wonderful wines.

Venture onwards to the Kootenay Rockies to experience their raw and refreshing natural beauty. Cranbrook is a particularly idyllic base where you can enjoy whitewater rafting on the St. Mary River in the warmer months, admire the golden crisp of leaves in autumn or marvel at blankets of wildflowers in spring. Whatever the season, it’s the perfect end to this journey, from Rainforest to Rockies.

For more information, visit: www.hellobc.com/rainforest-to-rockies

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Finding a happy place Fifty years after Bhutan opened up to travellers, we pay a visit to a nation attempting to still keep tradition, sustainability and, above all else, happiness at the centre of everything Words & photographs George Kipouros

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Dance of smiles (left) Hundreds of villagers join travellers in the courtyard of the Gangtey monastery to watch dancers perform a cham (masked dance) at the tshechu festival; (previous spread) the Taktshang monastery clings to the cliffs above the Paro valley and takes its name (Tiger’s Nest) from a legend surrounding Guru Rinpoche, who is said to have been carried here on the back of a tigress

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ou will live until you are 65, and then in your next life, you will come back as a pigeon,” announced Mr Pema rather icily. As I took in my Buddhist astrological future, the low humming from the monks’ prayers in the hall next door, coupled with the loud fluttering of hundreds of prayer flags in the impending storm, only seemed to add to the grim inevitability of it all. This was certainly not the start I was expecting when visiting the self-proclaimed land of happiness, the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan.

I was on a quest to understand and experience this nation’s unique aura.This is a land known for its celebrated Gross National Happiness philosophy and its unconditional commitment to preserving cultural and spiritual traditions. It also often seems from the outside as if it exists in another era entirely, and I wanted to learn its secret.

My journey had started by being granted an audience with a senior monk, Mr Pema, at the 16th-century Pangri Zampa Monastery, home to Bhutan’s Royal College of Astrology, in capital Thimphu. As Mr Pema took in my vanishing smile, he tried to hit a more upbeat note.

“If your karma is good, then you will be happier and you’ll be adding many more years to your life,” he proclaimed. It was at this point that my guide, Sonam, chimed in: “By karma, he is referring to all your actions as a human,” he intoned, deep in concentration. Even though it was my life that we were unpicking, this was a deeply spiritual experience for him too, because for believers in the Mahayana form of Buddhism, which is widely practised in Bhutan, astrological readings tend to guide all major decisions and life events.

After a somewhat gloomy overview of my past lives – my highpoint was being a naga (half human, half cobra) – I was elated that Mr Pema was eager to wrap up our visit. The hundred or so monks of the college, together with those of all the monasteries in the valley, were busy preparing for the city’s biggest annual religious festival, the Thimphu Tshechu.

“You are blessed that you get to experience a tshechu, so make sure you use your time in Bhutan to be happy,” ordered Mr Pema as he sent me away for my first taste of Bhutan’s miniature of a capital.

There is no denying the grandeur of Thimphu’s setting, but change is afoot in the kingdom’s largest city. While the first thing that caught my eye was a skyline dominated by the imposing peaks of the Himalaya mountains – some over 4,000m high – I saw just as many construction cranes.

“Thimphu has grown dramatically over the last few years, and every time I come back there are new buildings that have popped up,” affirmed Sonam. Indeed, almost one-eighth of Bhutan’s tiny total population of 800,000 now call Thimphu’s narrow valley home. “And to think this was all rice fields just ten years ago,” he added quietly.

One thing yet to arrive in the kingdom is traffic lights.

These are deemed “too impersonal,” explained Sonam, but the personal touch was certainly not helping with the current gridlock. Traffic jams are the norm here now, I discovered, as Bhutan gets ever wealthier and more and more people own cars. “Our roads just haven’t caught up yet,” Sonam told me as we sat patiently waiting. ⊲

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The Tshechu Festival had made traffic unusually heavy. happiness,” he continued, “can be found in simple things It felt like the whole country was headed to Tashichho – in anything and everywhere.”

Dzong, the city’s fort-like administrative and religious While explaining the story of how the Gross National centre, for the celebrations early in the morning.

Happiness strategy was first coined by the fourth King of “It’s our biggest event every year; this is a major family Bhutan in 1972, Mr Karma went to great length to underand social occasion,” affirmed Sonam, who was dressed line that this is not just a gimmicky motto but a lived-in accordingly in his finest traditional Bhutanese clothing. experience for all. “Nature and non-economic aspects A tshechu (meaning ‘day ten’) is held in every dzongkhag of wellbeing should sit at the heart of any discussion of (region) of Bhutan on the tenth day of a chosen month in development,” he concluded. the lunar calendar, with the particular month depending I enquired about tourism, which was growing at on where it takes place. Different locations choose differ- a significant pace pre-pandemic. “Our approach to ent seasons, although spring and autumn are busiest. It is development means that we’ll never be a mass-tourism a celebration that can be traced back to the 8th and 9th destination,” he told me. “Low impact, high value is the centuries AD and the early days of the spread of Buddhism simple practice that we want to follow.” across the land. Most are held in honour of Guru Rinpoche, The country made headlines during its post-pandemic who is credited with introducing the religion to Bhutan. reopening to visitors when it raised the daily ‘Sustainable The highlight of every tshechu is the highly stylised Development Fee’, which it charges international tourists, mask dance, known as cham, a performative version of to US$200 (£165).This has since fallen, but it positioned Bhutan among the most expensive oral tradition where visual storytelling is used to convey ancient destinations worldwide, and I was values, mythology and relicurious whether the aim of this “Sustainability and gious teachings. This is a deeply was to attract only wealthy visitors. the protection of the spiritual experience for the “This is about attracting visiBhutanese and I saw many locals environment are pivotal tors who really do care about welcoming the performers with a meaningful experience; visitors – we are still the only prayers and song. who will actually understand and country on the planet The cham dancers, with their respect our environment and way colourful costumes and ornathat is carbon negative” of life,” he countered. “Bhutan is a special place, and a visit here mental masks, blended in with is a unique experience, not least the vibrant traditional dress of the attendees. A vast tapestry of colour lay ahead of me, because of our relationship with nature.” and it turned out to be a much grander affair than I had “Sustainability and the protection of the environment expected, helped by the architectural magnificence of the are pivotal for our future – we are still the only country on Tashichho Dzong serving as a backdrop. the planet that is carbon negative,” continued Mr Karma.

Between the traditional clothes and the rituals, “But the real test is now. As Bhutan opens up more to the I noticed an unusual pattern among the male festival world, with its new technologies and urban lifestyles, we attendees. While all were wearing Bhutanese dress, will see how our society and traditions evolve.” a significant number wore knee-length socks with the I asked whether he felt positive about this? “Of course Ralph Lauren Polo logo clearly on display.

I am. I am Bhutanese!” he smiled.

“Here is the Western influence for you, plus a bit of Before leaving the urban growth of Thimphu behind, status seeking,” explained Sonam.

I met with Ugen Denzen, director of the Royal Textile I was among several hundred Western travellers in Academy and Museum. This institution has been credattendance, all keen to take in the carnival-like atmos- ited with helping invigorate the centuries-old Bhutanese phere. This is the busiest time of year for international expertise in weaving, a predominately female-led craft. visitors in Thimphu and most accommodation sells out Bhutanese textiles are some of the most treasured in the months in advance, but this wasn’t always the case. The world and the museum showcases some exceptionally enigmatic kingdom only opened up to travellers in 1974; intricate pieces. He was eager to highlight the work of the now tourism is the second-biggest earner for the econ- academy and its training programmes, which range from omy, behind hydro-electricity exports to India.Yet Bhutan beginner to expert levels. still retains a uniquely distinctive approach to welcoming “For Bhutanese, our weaving tradition is part of our the world, as I was slowly beginning to discover. national heritage; it is intrinsically linked to our identity,” he explained. He is currently working with international LOW IMPACT, HIGH VALUE partners to establish the first faculty dedicated to the Eager to understand more about Bhutan’s take on devel- subject in Bhutan. opment and tourism, I met with renowned Bhutanese Just outside the academy building, a couple of history scholar and former monk Karma Phuntsho for dozen staff had gathered for a team social event, playa traditional local dinner. ing rounds of khuru (outdoor darts), one of the most “The main goal in life for Bhutanese people is happi- popular sports in Bhutan. There was music, dancing and ness,” began Mr Karma, explaining that “Bhutan is the singing involved, building to a joyous scene of outdoor only Buddhist kingdom in the world, so the principles celebration and games. I was invited to try a round of of Buddhism guide our way of life.” He told me how khuru, but given the proximity of Mr Denzen’s team to economic development, the aim for much of human- the target, I thought I’d decline, sparing him the need ity, is only a means to achieving this ultimate goal. “But for an additional round of personnel recruitment. ⊲

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The greenest land you’ll ever see (clockwise from top left) Thimphu’s Tashichho Dzong is today the seat of the Druk Desi, the head of Bhutan’s civil government, but it was not the original dzong here – that was located higher up the valley and was destroyed by fire in 1771; Thimphu’s tshechu is one of the biggest festivals in Bhutan, with many locals travelling from nearby regions just to attend its celebrations; Sonam leads the way; lush fields of rice surround the Tashichho Dzong; Mr Pema doesn’t sugarcoat his astrological predictions, which are at the centre of many important life decisions for Mahayana Buddhists

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Local life (this page; clockwise from top left) Sangay Dema never stops smiling; Thimphu’s Great Buddha Dordenma is one of the world’s largest Buddha statues; a procession of monks at the opening of Gangtey’s tshechu; it is said that when the migratory black-necked cranes return, they fly around the Gangtey monastery three times; female singers at the Gangtey tshechu; atmospheric Rinchengang village; a weaver at the Gagyel Lhundrup Weaving Centre in Thimphu; this wounded crane was being cared for at the Black-Necked Crane Information Centre in Phobjikha valley; (right page) the civil administration area in Paro Dzong

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COUNTRYSIDE OF WONDERS “Our towering mountains are sacred; they are home My next stop was a good four-hour drive from Thim- to gods, spirits and demons, so they can only be enjoyed phu, with the road trip proving an unexpected highlight. from a distance,” explained Sonam.

Despite travelling just 130km, the country’s unique At the end of our drive lay Gangtey, a small yet picturtopography of Himalayan peaks jostling for space results esque village atop a lone hill at an elevation of 3,200m, in a network of impossibly winding roads and a maxi- with vistas stretching across the wide Phobjikha valley. mum speed of 40kph. Still, I could have enjoyed it at Its namesake monastery dates back to the 16th century even half the speed, as the mountainous wilderness had and it is a frequent stop on itineraries because it is adorned with the finest woodcarvings in Bhutan. I was me constantly glued to the windows.

The scenery was greener and lusher than anything I’d lucky to be visiting during the town’s annual tshechu, joining hundreds of villagers from seen in North America’s Rockies or the European Alps, and vastly across the valley. different to the arid plateau of I managed to catch the first “In Bhutan, the tree line Himalayan Tibet. In Bhutan, the dance sequence of the celebration, reaches up to 4,500m, tree line reaches up to 4,500m, Peling Gingsum, a striking tantric spectacle with a strong tempo. The and over 72% of the country is and over 72% of the covered in protected forests. As four phases of the dance narrated country is covered in we drove on, the evergreen flora a tumultuous story of fighting protected forests” felt like a competition between and the subduing of menacing the giant fir trees and the towering demons, completed by a victorious Himalayan blue pines. ending where virtue and kindness When making a short leg-stretching stop at Dochula prevailed. This was no less spectacular a performance Pass, we were lucky to glimpse the peak of the highest than any I had caught in Thimphu, yet it felt much more mountain in Bhutan, Gangkhar Puensum (7,570m). It intimate and spiritual. also claims the title of the highest unclimbed summit in There was also singing from local women. “Every home the world, as no one ever managed to successfully reach the in the valley contributes a female volunteer to take part in top before mountaineering was banned in Bhutan in 2003. the festivities,” Sonam told me. They were all wearing ⊲

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incredibly colourful, ornate dresses, which was strikingly Yet signs of rapid urbanisation are never far away in evident when they stood in a row for their performance. modern-day Bhutan. Just a few kilometres down the road, Seen from a distance, I thought the group resembled a we passed by the new town of Bajo, where I spied blocks carpet of Himalayan butterflies about to spread their wings. of flats built so densely next to each other that they almost Mentally recharged, we set off on the 4km Gangtey resembled a single unit. There was no attempt to recreate Phobji nature trail, taking in the namesake Ramsar site, the wide-open spaces and beautifully crafted stonework temporary home to the endangered black-necked crane. family homes that I had seen earlier at Rinchengang village.

Multiple viewpoints revealed striking panoramas across the valley, and I could see why the cranes had chosen this THE PALACE OF GREAT HAPPINESS My next stop marked a return to the wide-open vistas that location as a key stop on their annual migratory journey.

I was too early to catch a sighting – the cranes usually had now become familiar to me, as we headed to Punakha, arrive from Tibet by mid-October and leave by the end of the first capital of Bhutan. It was pleasantly warm, thanks to February. Sonam explained that their coming is considered the low elevation of 1,300m, and it had an almost subtropia good omen by locals, and the characteristic echo of their cal feel due to the mighty Pho Chhu (Male River) and Mo calls is a source of spiritual happiness. Unsurprisingly, I Chhu (Female River) waterways running across the valley. learnt that Bhutan is a birdwatcher’s paradise, with over 745 Due to its position at the convergence of these two rivers, bird species sighted across its valleys, many found only here. Punakha’s old town has been largely destroyed by multiple Our hike concluded with a visit to a local farmhouse, floods – the last major one in 1998 – but its dzong managed where we were welcomed by 70-year-old Sangay Dema. to miraculously survive. The Bhutanese were grateful She explained that the building had been in her family for for this twist of fate, as this is not only the most majestic over 240 years and had changed complex in all of Bhutan, but also little since it was built. She now the most important spiritually. welcomes guests from across the The dzong’s full name is “ Life is too short, and world, all of them eager to get Pungthang Dewa chhenbi you don’t know when a glimpse of Bhutanese village life.

Phodrang, loosely translated as you will die, so ‘The Palace of Great Happiness’, She never stopped smiling as and it was first established in 1637 we talked, and I asked her for the you have to be happy

by Ngawang Namgyal. Its design secret of her big smile. “Life is too all the time” has strong influences from Tibetan short, and you don’t know when architecture, yet it feels distinctively you will die, so you have to be Bhutanese. Multiple courtyards happy all the time,” she declared.

“Be satisfied with what you have; this means you will are enveloped by formidable buildings ranging between always be happy.” After a rich serving of Bhutanese butter four and seven storeys, all supported by immense walls. tea, we were sent away with some of her homemade cheese Throughout the visit my attention was drawn to its towering windows with ornate and colourful wooden decorations. strings. Our happiness was guaranteed.

As with every dzong, the country’s former ‘dual system’ Leaving Phobjikha valley behind, we paid a visit to one of the country’s shiniest new attractions, the Wangdue of government (religion and state) is reflected in the Phodrang Dzong. The original dzong (fortified monas- design: the spiritual leader and the administrative leader tery) was built here in 1638 but had burned down during both have their own dedicated quarters. This was the seat restoration work in 2012.Thankfully, most of its historical of the Bhutanese government until 1955, after which it relics had been moved off-site but the building was largely moved to Thimphu; however, like all dzongs, its primary purpose was to act as protection against Tibetan invasion, destroyed by the fire. It only fully reopened in 2022.

I had a hard time believing this was a reconstruction; a function it successfully fulfilled on multiple occasions.

It is the 17th-century monk’s assembly hall, known as the the craftsmanship and restoration work was outstanding.

“In Bhutan, we deeply care for and respect our cultural kunrey, that stands out as the complex’s most impressive heritage,” Sonam told me as we walked around its forti- feature. I would dare say that its interior is one of the most fied walls. “Even if something burns down or an earth- captivating of any Buddhist temple on Earth. At five storeys quake tries to take it away, we will do everything we can high, it is supported by 68 gilded pillars and decorated with magnificent murals and exquisite woodwork. A giant to bring it back, no matter what the cost.”

Just across the river from Wangdue Phodrang, we Present Buddha, made of clay and gold, watches over the reached Rinchengang, a characterful village dating back kunrey and his story is narrated in the hundreds of scenes to the 17th century. Local legend has it that the original painted across the hall. settlers here were builders from India, who had arrived to Such is the importance of the kunrey that it has served erect the dzong opposite. This felt like a true time capsule as the coronation and wedding venues for all Bhutanese and a return to a simpler way of life. Although electricity royalty, including the current Dragon King of Bhutan, and plumbing had recently made their way to the village, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. there were no tourist shops, cafés or restaurants. Despite “It is called the happy fortress because it is associated its beauty, this was not a tourist attraction but a living, with many happy outcomes for the country,” explained working village of farmers, weavers and craftsmen.

Sonam with a smile of conviction. ⊲ Free-flowing (right page) The Mo Chhu (Female River) winds through the valley beneath the town of Punakha. Together with the Pho Chhu (Male River), which it eventually converges with, it has become a popular spot for rafting, although the Mo is considered the gentler of the two and is much more suited to beginner paddlers than its wild counterpart. The two combine under the auspices of the Punakha Dzong, from whereon the waterway is known as Puna Tsang Chhu; this flows on to India and eventually empties into the Brahmaputra River

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Out in the valleys (clockwise from top left) Some local monks contemplate the meaning of happiness in a quiet corner of Thimphu’s Tashichho Dzong while the city’s tshechu rages around them; the Punakha Dzong was only the second dzong to be built in Bhutan, and it served as the capital until 1955; the Punakha valley is scattered with rice fields; archery (or da) is the national sport of Bhutan – targets are placed between 100m and 145m from the archer, and matches take place between two teams; Paro’s Taktshang (Tiger’s Nest) monastery perches on a cliffside 800m above the valley floor, making for a long walk up

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undoubtedly the most photogenic attraction in the country, not to mention a marvel of human ingenuity that dates back to the 17th century. It seemed to me a glorious Buddhist version of Greece’s suspended monasteries in Meteora.

Yet, unlike its Greek equivalent, where a modern road takes you right up to the buildings, visitors need to embark on an arduous two-hour (or longer, depending on one’s GAMES OF THE FUTURE fitness level) hike from the bottom of Paro valley, eventually The last stop on my itinerary was a return to where I first reaching an elevation of about 3,000m. The overall expebegan, Paro, the valley that hosts the country’s only inter- rience leaves one breathless, literally and metaphorically. national airport. Arriving early on a Sunday morning, we This was perhaps the only site in Bhutan – Thimphu’s stopped by a traditional archery game, which was taking tshechu aside – where I witnessed a significant number of place by the side of the highway. Archery is the national visitors. “It is very busy here, always,” remarked Sonam, sport of Bhutan, and much like my experience with khuru yet to me it felt quiet when compared with some of the in Thimphu, I learnt that games are festive events, accompa- world’s equally iconic sites. Bhutan is expected to receive nied by singing, dancing and copious amounts of local beer. just under 90,000 visitors this year – less than Antarctica – In that context, I was shocked and yet for some in the country, even to see teams standing next to the this number is far too many. targets. “Don’t you get acciSonam had not travelled outside “Bhutan is expected to dents?” I asked Kinley, one of of Bhutan before, so I told him of receive just under 90,000 my experiences visiting some of the the local men enjoying the game visitors this year, and with a Druk lager in hand. most famous attractions in Europe “Don’t worry; we’re very and Asia, and having to share them yet for some, even this good. We mostly hit the target,” with thousands, sometimes tens of number is far too many” thousands, of visitors. He gave a he laughed, his voice betraying a distinct Australian twang that thoughtful pause before replying.

“As you should know by now, I duly enquired about.

“I moved to Australia for my studies and spent time Bhutan likes doing things in a different way. We like working there,” he told me. Bhutan has seen plenty of telling our story – the story of the Land of the Thunder its young move abroad, heading mainly to Australia and Dragon – in our own terms. So, it’s not that we don’t want Canada. “You could say we have our own version of a brain that many visitors; it’s that we want those who arrive to drain happening in the country,” remarked Kinley stoically. appreciate our country in the right way. We want them to I pressed further, asking how you can have a Kingdom of be happy when visiting us, and we want our people to be Happiness when its young people want to leave? happy with them visiting,” he concluded.

“With globalisation, people seek opportunities everyAs we departed the monastery, a young monk stopped where, and the same thing happens here. Beyond tourism, to give me his blessing, declaring: “May you live a full there are not that many great jobs for us young people. But and happy life, sir.” I replied with the feedback from my the King and our government are actively trying to change first encounter with a monk in Thimphu, recounting my that, and that’s why I am back here too!” Kinley concluded Buddhist astrological destiny that ordained I would only with an upbeat tone before rushing back to take his shot. make it to 65 before being reborn as a pigeon. “For us Bhutanese, it doesn’t matter how long you live as long as A BREATHTAKING SPECTACLE you are happy for the time you’re living,” he smiled back, Most first-timers in Bhutan finish with a climb up to the then waved me off down the valley. As I began the long walk, country’s most famous sight, the Taktshang monastery I couldn’t help but grin at the thought of how useful my (or Tiger’s Nest), and my experience was no different. pigeon wings would have been right now. Maybe Mr Karma Perched perilously on a cliff 800m above the Paro valley, it is was right: it is the little things that bring happiness. ⊲ Despite the dzong’s world-class artistic features and its overall importance for the Bhutanese people and the broader region’s history, I was astonished to learn that this is still not a UNESCO World Heritage site. Disappointingly, the UN agency has yet to inscribe any of Bhutan’s treasures in its evidently highly politicised list.

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Vital statistics

Capital: Thimphu Population: 778,000 (approx) Languages: Dzongkha; English is widely spoken Time: GMT+6 International dialling code: +975 Visas: Visas should be prearranged by a travel agent or tour operator and approved in advance of arrival. A non-refundable, one-off visa application fee of US$40 (£33) is also payable. As part of the visa

application process, you will also be required to pay Bhutan’s Sustainable Development Fee (SDF) of US$100 per adult per day (£82; concessionary rates apply for children). Visitors with passports issued by India, Maldives and Bangladesh do not require visas.

In the past, all visitors needed to book their travel to and within Bhutan through an accredited tour operator. Any visitor travelling to Bhutan since the country reopened post-COVID in September 2022

can now book aspects of their journey independently, although this can remain a practical challenge. We recommend booking with an accredited tour operator for their expert knowledge and to secure one of the country’s excellent guides for a full immersion in Bhutanese culture.

Money: Ngultrum (BTN), currently BTN101 to the UK£. Indian rupees and US dollars may also be used in some places. ATMs are only available in major towns, though card payments are generally accepted. ⊲

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When to go

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Altitude plays a big role in the conditions, so weather can vary wildly across this mountainous land.

September–November: Autumn is mild and a popular time for hiking. The Thimphu tshechu is held during this period; blacknecked cranes return around mid-October.

December–February: December has warm, sunny days, but passes may become blocked with snow as winter continues.

March–May: Spring is mild but often wetter than autumn. May is rhododendron season; Paro’s tshechu is held around April.

June–August: Monsoon season.

Health & safety

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Safe and clean. Altitude sickness medication may be necessary, as many treks, passes and some towns rise above 2,500m. Do not drink the local tap water; hotels will usually provide filtered water in glass bottles (plastic water bottles are surprisingly rare here).

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Getting there

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National airline Drukair (drukair.com.bt) and the private carrier Bhutan Airlines (bhutanairlines.bt) are the only two carriers allowed to fly into Bhutan’s Paro International Airport, which is famously one of the most challenging places to land in the world. Both fly primarily from India (Delhi, Kolkata), Nepal (Kathmandu) and Thailand (Bangkok), with Drukair offering further connections from Singapore and occasional flights from other Indian destinations, such as Mumbai. Connecting flights from London Heathrow take from about 15 hours and cost from around £1,000 return, but prices are much higher, and flights harder to come by, during the busy festival period.

Due to the changing nature of the weather causing frequent flight delays and cancellations, an overnight before and after the flights to Bhutan is needed and is usually in India or Thailand.

A return flight from London to Paro via Bangkok produces 1,197kg of carbon per passenger.

Wanderlust encourages you to offset your travel footprint through a reputable provider. For advice on how to find one, visit wanderlust.co.uk/sustainable-travel.

Getting around

You will spend a lot of time in cars and minivans, and the winding roads are not in the best state.

We do not recommend self-drive; the cost of a guide and driver is usually included as

part of a tour. Their experience in navigating Himalaya-grade highways is essential. Driving is indeed the only option, as internal flights are limited and are subject to cancellation, and Wanderlust does not recommend taking these unless absolutely necessary.

Cost of travel

Bhutan is a very expensive destination to visit, not least due its isolated location, and the SDF makes the cost of travel even higher.

Accommodation is also on the pricey side, starting at over US$100pn (£82) and rising to more than US$2,000pn (£1,635). Local food can be inexpensive, but Western options are usually included as part of a tour or overnight stay.

Accommodation

The country has invested heavily in top-quality accommodation, and some of the world’s most decorated and sustainability-conscious lodges and resorts are found in Bhutan. The author’s recommended stays include: Six Senses Thimphu is part of a collection of lodges around the kingdom that are the finest addresses in the country, complete with award-winning sustainability credentials, thoughtful architecture and outstanding service. Rooms from around £1,239pn. sixsenses.com Gangtey Lodge is a small boutique passion project in Gangtey that delivers a warm, personalised service and perhaps the best restaurant in the country.

Full-board rooms from around £490pn. gangteylodge.com Pemako Punakha is a brand-new local attempt at ultra-luxury tented camp accommodation in Punakha. It has a particularly strong character and some incredible views. Tents from around £820pn. pemakohotels.com/punakha Pemako Thimphu is the closest thing to a grande dame hotel in the capital. This was the choice of accommodation for the Prince and Princess of Wales for their visit to the country in 2016. Rooms from around £695pn. pemakohotels.com/thimphu Como Uma Paro Resort lies in the Paro Valley and was one of the country’s first luxury lodges. It has an award-winning spa that can prepare a memorable Bhutanese hot-stone bath to help with your recovery from the Tiger’s Nest hike. Rooms from around £455pn. comohotels.com

Food & drink

Bhutanese cuisine is heavy on chilli peppers and fermented

ingredients. Because it’s quite spicy, it may not be to everyone’s taste, but classic dishes such as ema datshi – a cheese and chilli curry – must be savoured at least once and should be washed down with one of the fine local lagers.

Many lodges and resorts boast worldclass dining outlets. Visitors can also find some fine local whiskey blends, including gift-pack-ready K5, as well as a not-for-thefaint-hearted local vodka called Raven.

Sustainable Development Fee

The following statement was released by the Bhutanese Government and Bhutanese people: ‘The SDF is a daily levy paid by visitors to support Bhutan’s development… [It] is collected by the national exchequer and funds are allocated to various projects that create long-term, sustainable opportunities for the Bhutanese people through free healthcare, education and training, upskilling the tourism and hospitality industry, improved infrastructure, environmental preservation and conservation, cultural preservation programmes and initiatives that support local businesses and economies. The SDF is also a vital means of maintaining the exceptional forest cover and carbonneutrality for which our small nation is world-renowned and globally critical.’

For further information on the SDF, its practicalities and rationale, visit bhutan.travel/faqs#planning-your-trip.

Further reading & information

Bhutan.travel – Official tourism website filled with useful information.

Bhutan (Lonely Planet, Dec 2023) Arts & Culture of Bhutan (BICMA, 2019) by Khenpo Phuntsok Tashi – A packed volume taking in Bhutanese cultural wisdom.

The author’s ground travel was organised by specialist tour operator Transindus (transindus.co.uk), which offers a 12-day ‘Highlights of Bhutan’ trip from £4,195 per person, including international flights from the UK and the necessary additional overnights in India.

Support was also provided by the Department of Tourism, Bhutan.

WANDERLUST RECOMMENDS For a thorough introduction to the story of the kingdom from the 7th century on, check out Karma Phuntsho’s The History of Bhutan (Penguin, 2016).

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Experience Queensland’s natural beauty and epic landscapes, from reef to rainforest and Outback.

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Tourism and Events Queensland; Shutterstock

UNCOVER A DIFFERENT SIDE TO

Tourism and Events Queensland; Shutterstock

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ueensland is where the great Australian outdoors goes into overdrive. The aptly named Sunshine State covers a whopping 1.8 million sq km – more than seven times the size of the UK – and packs in an extraordinary number of big-name attractions. From the beaches of the Gold Coast and the shimmering spectacle of the Great Barrier Reef to the ancient wonder of the Daintree Rainforest and the lush islands of the Whitsundays, you’ll find a host of iconic sights.

But these headline draws are just the start. Queensland is a phenomenal, far-reaching destination that offers hidden gems and lesser visited treasure troves at every turn. And with the comfort and ease of flying with Qatar Airways – who connect straight through to Brisbane from Doha – it’s never been easier to reach.

But where do you begin once you’re there? We recommend five of the best regions in the state for travellers to delve into, beyond the more famed spots. From thereon in, the choice is yours…

MINJERRIBAH (NORTH STRADBROKE ISLAND), BRISBANE AND THE SCENIC RIM REGION

Brisbane is an incredible city. When Queensland’s state capital was confirmed as the host of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it was further evidence that this riverside metropolis is a true world city that fuses with nature at every opportunity, including al fresco dining and the chance to climb Kangaroo Cliff Points and visit the Botanic Gardens. As somewhere to spend a few days at the start of a Queensland adventure, it’s perfect.

How you choose to experience the city is all down to personal preference. Classic attractions include wandering the South Bank Parklands, cruising on the Brisbane River and – slightly upstream – visiting the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Other popular options include the Story Bridge Adventure Climb and a trip to the cricketing temple, The Gabba.

Alternatively, there is always the option of just sinking into the easy pace of life that makes Brisbane so likeable by hopping between cafés, farmers’ markets and art galleries.

The Golden Age (clockwise from left page) Tallebudgera Creek boasts golden sands and calm waters; Brisbane fuses city life with a laid-back Aussie vibe; spot curious kangaroos in the Noosa Everglades

When the outdoors starts calling, you won’t have to head far. The glorious Minjerribah – otherwise known as North Stradbroke Island, or Straddie to locals – sits offshore in Moreton Bay, just a 25-minute ferry ride from Brisbane. It’s a gem, stretching 40 beach-fringed kilometres from top to bottom, and offers everything from surf breaks and diving to kangaroo-spotting. During the southern hemisphere winter, experience excellent land-based whale-watching with Yura Tours, as thousands of humpbacks swim north between June and November, skimming past this part of the coast. ⊲

For more information, visit: www.queensland.com and book your flight to Queensland with Qatar Airways

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The headland township of Point Lookout is one of the island’s most obvious highlights, with brilliant swimming beaches and grand coastal views. You’ll also find great walking trails, diverse birdlife and some hugely enjoyable places to eat and drink. More than anything, though, Minjerribah is about unwinding and relishing the good life as the Pacific Ocean rolls in from the great beyond.

A short distance to the south of Brisbane, meanwhile, the lush Scenic Rim region ups the ante even further.

Ringed by mountains and rainforest, this ancient volcanic caldera covers some 4,000 sq km and encompasses a spread of waterfalls, peaks, valleys and relaxed country towns. No fewer than six national parks can be found in the area, including the much-famed Lamington National Park, which has 130km of hiking routes and great koala watching. Just as exciting is the glut of paddock-to-plate food producers that make the local dining scene especially lively. And naturally, the region’s wineries and vineyards hold plenty of rewards.

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NOOSA EVERGLADES, SUNSHINE COAST

Noosa represents something special.

That simple, two-syllable name might contain just five letters, but for those in the know, the region is synonymous with a whole way of life.

Think Noosa, think lazy days, warm sunsets, winding waterways and wide-open beaches. Just two hours north of Brisbane by road, it’s a slowmoving world of coastal greenery and wilderness retreats that shows off laid-back Queensland at its best.

If you think this is hyperbole,

Sunny side up (this page; clockwise from top left) Lady Elliot Island is home to world-class snorkelling and diving; overlook the landscape from the spa at the Laura Sandstone Escarpment; Heron Island has around 20 dive sites to delve into; dive into pristine underwater scenery in the Southern Great Barrier Reef region; the Noosa area has an impressive wild koala population

just remember that Noosa became the state’s first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2007, having been recognised for its unique mix of plants and animals and its sustainable way of life. The Sunshine Coast has also just this year been designated a Biosphere Reserve for its rich biodiversity.

The seaside town of Noosa Heads has become a go-to destination for those in search of high-quality accommodation and unrushed adventure, not to mention cafés and boutiques. Be sure to cast your gaze towards other parts of the region, too. In particular, you won’t want to miss the Noosa Everglades, one of only two everglades systems on the planet and a dreamy swathe of wilderness on the upper reaches of the Noosa River. Whether you explore it on foot, in a kayak, by boat or on a guided river tour, you’ll understand why it’s seen as the ideal place to wind down in nature.

More than 3,000 wildlife species are found in the Noosa region – from kangaroos and black-tailed cockatoos to flying foxes and echidna – while the waters offshore shimmer with loggerhead turtles, reef fish and bottlenose dolphins. Snorkellers, divers, walkers and birdwatchers will all be in their element.

Immediately to Noosa’s north, meanwhile, lies yet another UNESCO Biosphere Reserve: Great Sandy National Park. This coastal stretch is renowned for its pristine beaches, vast sand dunes, freshwater lakes and dense mangrove forests.

Its boundaries also include the

extraordinary K’Gari (Fraser Island), which is the largest sand island on Earth, where dingoes roam and 4WDs cruise along endless beaches. As somewhere that allows you to feel immersed by the sheer scale of Queensland’s East Coast scenery, it’s peerless.

If you’re in need of a little extra persuasion, it’s worth remembering that this whole stretch of coastline – from Caloundra, near Brisbane, to the Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park – is known as the Sunshine Coast. And with around 300 days of sunshine a year, it wasn’t named by accident.

SOUTHERN GREAT BARRIER REEF REGION By any measure, The Great Barrier Reef is one of the natural wonders of the world. Stretching for more than 2,300 kilometres along the

Queensland coast and comprising around 900 islands and almost 3,000 individual reefs, it’s been described as the largest living structure on Earth. Clownfish, turtles and manta rays are among the thousands of species to be found here among the rainbow-hued coral. It’s even large enough to actually be visible from space.

A rich heritage (this page; top to bottom) Glide through the waters of the Noosa Everglades, one of only two everglades systems on the planet; savour the cultural lessons of the Laura Quinkan Indigenous Dance Festival

Most travellers focus their attention on the northern stretches of the reef, particularly around Cairns and the Whitsunday Islands, but there are huge rewards to be had by shifting your attention further south. The rum-producing town of Bundaberg – around four hours’ drive north of Brisbane – is often seen as the gateway to the Southern Great Barrier Reef region, and from here the highlights come thick and fast.

It’s well worth making a tour of Bundaberg’s famous distillery and the nearby, turtle-focused Mon Repos Conservation Park, although few would argue that the region’s richest joys are to be found offshore. First up is the coral cay of Lady Elliot Island, which is essentially the reef’s southernmost isle. This lighthouse-dotted eco-retreat is famed for its world-class snorkelling; it also offers PADI-certified diving courses and glass-bottomed boat tours that reveal the mysteries beneath you. The best way to reach the island is via a light aircraft trip from Bundaberg, or from Redcliffe Aerodrome just outside Brisbane.

Not far north of Lady Elliot Island, the similarly eco-minded Lady Musgrave Island can also be reached from Bundaberg, and it offers an unforgettable reef experience.

Activity options include guided walks, birdwatching, scuba-diving day tours, whale-watching trips and a three-day cultural experience delving into the island’s long Indigenous heritage.

Travellers can even try their hand at being a marine biologist for the day to learn more about the island’s key reef species and delve deeper into its extensive ecosystems.

Further north still, Heron Island is another pretty coral cay with some 20 dive sites accessible from its jetty.

The waters are clear, the stargazing is sensational and the island has Advanced Ecotourism accreditation.

It’s also home to the University of Queensland Research Station, the largest island-based facility of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

Conservation is in the lifeblood of the southern reaches of the Great Barrier Reef, which means that visitors won’t just be treated to wonderful scenery and diverse marine life, they’ll also have the chance to become citizen scientists. Witnessing this extraordinary reef system, after all, is an education in itself.

For more information, visit: www.queensland.com and book your flight to Queensland with Qatar Airways

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The tropical city of Cairns is one of the best known spots along the Queensland coastline, sitting in a prime location for enjoying the Great Barrier Reef. It’s a fun place to spend a couple of days, kicking back among the many restaurants and bars, or visiting highlights such as Cairns Botanic Gardens and the comprehensive Cairns Aquarium.

As well as being a jumping-off point for the reef, however, the city is also the gateway to the beautiful Atherton Tablelands.

Rising up just south-west of Cairns, these rumpled highlands blend rainforest, savannah and wetlands to spectacular effect. The Tablelands are a region of rolling hills, forest hikes and frothing waterfalls,

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with the historical mountain village of Kuranda providing a highly picturesque focal point.

The rainforest that still cloaks Kuranda’s outskirts has been home to the Djabugay people for some 10,000 years. The village itself, meanwhile, is a relative newcomer, dating back to the 1880s, but it retains a traditional feel and is these days famed for its colourful daily markets. Handmade jewellery, Aboriginal artefacts and fresh local produce all feature.

Getting to and from Kuranda, meanwhile, is a big part of the experience. It’s possible to travel by road, winding up into the hills, but more memorable is the chance to board the Kuranda Scenic Railway, which still trundles up through Barron Gorge from Cairns as it has done since 1891.

On the right track (clockwise from top left) Hop aboard the Kuranda Scenic Railway; watch turtles hatching at Mon Repos Turtle Centre; learn about Pamagirri Aboriginal culture at Rainforestation Nature Park; admire Indigenous ingenuity with Jarramali Rock Art Tours; soak up views of the many waterfalls in Tropical North Queensland; the crystalline waters of Heron Island coral cay are ideal for snorkelling

LAURA, OUTBACK QUEENSLAND

One of the truest pleasures of any trip to Australia is the chance to discover more about the country’s millennia-old cultural heritage.

Learning about the destination from the perspective of the traditional landowners is not easily replicated, and as the only meeting place of Australia’s two Indigenous cultures – namely Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander – Queensland is brilliantly positioned to offer an unforgettable experience for visitors.

Travelling past the more touristy areas of the East Coast to reach the relative wilderness of the Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, you’ll feel as though you’ve reached a special part of this colossal nation.

The scenery is rugged, the skies are huge and the rivers are wild. Your destination is the remote township of Laura, a drive of around four hours from Cairns on sealed roads. And as ever in Queensland, the journey is very much part of the adventure.

En route to Laura, stop off at the Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre, an award-winning ecotourism

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KURANDA, TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND

To really get an eye-opening overview of this spectacular region, however, try catching the incredible Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, a phenomenal 7.5km-long scenic cable car ride that carries you above the gorge – at times just metres from the jungle canopy. It departs from north of Cairns and, as with the railway, takes you all the way to Kuranda.

Two cableway stations along the route allow closer exploration of the rainforest. You can disembark at Red Peak for a chance to get up close to fern gardens and rare butterflies, and you can also break the journey at Barron Falls, where you’re granted a superb view of the multi-tiered cascade tumbling far into the valley.

The falls are particularly impressive in the wet season, from December to March.

One popular option is to ascend from Cairns via the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, then enjoy the markets in Kuranda before descending via the charming Kuranda Scenic Railway. But however you choose to experience this show-stopping pocket of tropical Queensland, it’s an experience to remember.

Queensland ’s Top Wildlife Events attraction on the edge of the Daintree Rainforest, where you can join a guided, 2.5-hour Ngadiku Dreamtime Walk through the trees. Take time, too, to call into Cooktown, named after the nearby landing of Captain Cook in 1770; it later drew gold prospectors from across the world.

But it’s when you reach Laura and its spectacular sandstone surrounds that the real highlights arrive. South of town, the Quinkan Reserves Ancient Rock Art is a collection of astonishing prehistoric rock paintings, thought to be between 15,000 and 30,000 years old.

Humans, animals and spirit figures are all depicted, as are far more recent rifles and horses – evidence of the shock that greeted the arrival

of Europeans. The rock-art galleries here have been listed by UNESCO as being among the top ten most significant in the world.

Laura has another show-stopping attraction up its sleeve. The Laura Quinkan Indigenous Dance Festival is a long-running biennial Indigenous gathering, dating back to the 1980s, that sees three days of music, dance, singing and cultural performances.

It’s an electrifying occasion that also involves the Cape York Art Awards, darning circles and a didgeridoo competition. The most recent edition took place in early July 2023, so the next event won’t be until mid-2025.

It’s a camping festival, but you’d be wise to book early – the occasion is deservedly popular.

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HUMPBACK AND MINKE WHALES

Hervey Bay, a 3.5-hour drive from Brisbane, is a particularly beautiful spot for whale watching between June and November. Head out with First Nationowned Yura Tours on North Stradbroke Island (‘Straddie’) for an impressive whale watching experience closer to Brisbane.

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Queensland’s turtle hatching season happens between January and March.

The Southern Great Barrier Reef is a perfect place to see them; head to Mon Repos Turtle Centre near Bundaberg.

Spot green and loggerhead turtles on Lady Elliot Island and Heron Island.

This spectacular sight involves coral releasing eggs and spawn to reproduce, further developing its ever-crucial ecosystem. Naturally, it’s best seen in the northern Great Barrier Reef area and most commonly occurs between November and December.

Tourism and Events Queensland; Shutterstock

Only found in the wild in Australia, koalas are a favourite marsupial of many.

Joeys tend to take their first peek from March onwards. Head to the Lone Pine Sanctuary in Brisbane or the Daisy Hill Koala Centre in between Brisbane and the Gold Coast to get your fix of these calm, sleepy creatures.

Both snorkellers and divers can observe these majestic underwater gliders. Head to North Stradbroke Island (‘Straddie’) during warm summer months, from January to March, to see them.

Alternatively, make your way to Lady Elliot Island in the Southern Great Barrier Reef region to see them during cooler Australian months, from May to August.

Enjoy daily flights to Brisbane from London Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, or Edinburgh on board the World’s Best Business Class, as voted by Skytrax. Visit Qatarairways.com

For more information, visit: www.queensland.com and book your flight to Queensland with Qatar Airways

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Land of promise For decades, Bosnia and Herzegovina has lived with the memory of conflict. But while some locals are keen to move on, its story is important to hear and touches even the most bucolic corners Words Lyn Hughes

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A fall from grace (left–right) The Pliva waterfall, which tumbles beneath the city of Jajce, used to be much higher (around 30m) until an earthquake and an attack on a power plant upriver during the Bosnian War caused the area to flood; the catacombs of Jajce were carved into its rock over 600 years ago and were intended to form a church in which the bodies of town founder Duke Hrvatinić and his family were to be buried, although that never happened; the wild horses of Kruzi plateau were released from a life of farming in the 1970s and now roam here in vast herds; (previous spread) the city of Mostar and its historic bridge

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he’s not going to write about the war, We started at the Mithraeum, a temple dating back to is she?” someone asked my guide, Roman occupation and dedicated to the Persian sun god, Ivance. In truth, I knew little about Mithra, who was widely worshipped at the time. From Bosnia and Herzegovina (often there we headed up to the fortress, first stopping in the abbreviated to BiH) before I arrived. 14th-century catacombs, then at the ruin of the oldest But when we launched Wanderlust in church in Bosnia, a place where monarchs were once 1993, the news was dominated by crowned. I also heard the rather gruesome tale of the last images of Sarajevo under siege from king of Bosnia, Stephen Tomašević, who only ruled for the Serb army. In November that year, as the first magazine two years in the 15th century before being captured and was printed, the iconic Stari Most bridge in Mostar was beheaded by the Ottomans. What is believed to be his destroyed by Bosnian Croat forces, sending shockwaves skeleton is displayed in the town’s Franciscan museum. around Europe.Thirty years later, I felt I was long overdue But the part of history that lures the majority of the city’s a visit to somewhere that had been so much a part of our share of tourists is Jajce’s connection to the Second World collective consciousness in the early days of the magazine. War, Josip Broz Tito and the declaration of the Socialist As we drove out of Sarajevo the morning after my arrival, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at a momentous meeting taking the city’s main boulevard, Ivance casually mentioned of the six republics in November 1943. that this was formerly known as “Our history is so connected together,” remarked Dragan, referSniper Alley during the Bosnian ring to the neighbouring nations War (1992–1995). With a jolt “The country has three I recognised it from the old news that made up former Yugoslavia. presidents, representing “We’re just normal people that footage, and it was at that moment have lived together for hundreds of that I thought, yes, I probably was each of the largest going to at least acknowledge the years,” he continued, while I studied ethnic groups: war in anything I wrote. But once the black-and-white photographs (Bosniak, Serb, Croat)” we were out of the city and headcovering the walls of what had been ing north-west, into the country’s the secret location for the meeting. mountainous heart, I soon realised As I travelled the country, the there were plenty of others stories here waiting to be told. name of the old Yugoslavia president, Tito, came up many We had entered a world of pastoral scenes and plunged times, even among the young people I met. Mostly, it was into valleys with sparkling rivers. Over 40% of the land said with a kind of nostalgia for the united times before the here is forested, and bears, wolves and wild boars lurk in 1990s. Indeed, while Bosnia and Herzegovina might be independent, it is still burdened by the legacy of the last war. the more sparsely populated wilderness areas.

“It’s complicated,” said Ivance, explaining how BiH has Arriving in the small but historically important town of Jajce, the overcast skies and persistent drizzle did little to three presidents, representing each of the largest ethnic distract from its picture-perfect beauty. Down the centu- groups (Bosniak, Serb, Croat). These also account for ries, it has been home to Illyrians, Romans, the Bosnian its trio of official languages, though in reality they are all Kingdom and the Ottomans; now its medieval citadel very similar, Ivance explained: “I like to describe them stands proudly atop a 22m-high waterfall. It was of little as being the equivalent of English, American English and surprise that Jajce lies on the UNESCO tentative list, nor Australian English – fundamentally the same but with that it has 30 national monuments and several museums. some different words and phrases.”

Local guide Dragan took me on a whistlestop walking tour, offering insight into the city’s multilayered and RUNNING FREE multicultural history. Frankly, it was dizzying. “This was One place where it was easy to escape the politics of the door to Bosnia,” said Dragan. “Thanks to its geog- modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina was sat in the raphy, the country was only accessible from the west.” sunshine on the Kruzi plateau, gazing at a herd of ⊲

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wild horses spread across the We were initially unsuccessful in “The industrialisation open grassland. I had joined a our search for the horses, although of agriculture came there had been compensation in ‘safari’ run by Marin Mamuza the far-reaching views of mounof Continental Adventure, along in the 1970s and a photographer who had received tains, lakes and open meadows many owners turned so much interest in his photos of scattered with limestone boulders. their horses free” the feral horses that roam the high We followed a former Roman plateau near the town of Livno that road, now part of the Via Dinarica he now runs tours to see them. long-distance trail, and stopped for Ivance explained that Marin was keen to move the a picnic lunch. As wooden boards appeared, laden in local narrative on from the war, and he wanted visitors to see cheeses, charcuterie, roasted vegetables and fruit, Marin BiH for the beautiful and diverse travel destination that looked around and started laughing. it is. He and his family run a range of tours of the area “There they are!” He pointed to a nearby hillside where and also offer e-biking and glamping stays at his resort. a herd of horses grazed. “They won’t wander far. Let’s have Marin explained how the horses had originally lunch first.” We washed down exquisite spinach-stuffed belonged to local people, but when the industrialisation of pastries and creamy cheeses with Marin’s own (and very agriculture came along in the 1970s and tractors started good) craft beer and his father’s honey rakia brandy. arriving here, horses suddenly became redundant, so Replete, we set out to find the horses once more, as many of their owners set them free. There are now over grasshoppers bounced all around us and the fragrance 700 roaming here, and there is enough grass for them to of wildflowers scented the air. The herd was even bigger thrive year-round. Both they and the area are not officially than I had realised at first – at least 130 horses – and was protected, but there are increasing calls for this to happen. gathered in small family units. Foals nuzzled into their ⊲

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Free to roam (clockwise from top left) The wild horses of Kruzi plateau are such an attraction that they can now be seen on ‘safari’ tours; Mostar’s historic centre bustles at night; Marin puts on a fine picnic spread; there are waterfalls everywhere in BiH, including in Bunski Kanali where the river Buna flows into the Neretva; the handmade desserts in Baklava Ducan are made from old family recipes and are possibly the best in Sarajevo; pens and keychains made from old bullet casings from the Bosnian War; a view to the medieval fort in Počitelj, an atmospheric and very peaceful old village that is on UNESCO’s tentative list

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Back in time (clockwise from above) Jajce’s St Mary’s church witnessed the coronation of the last king of Bosnia in the late 1400s, not long before the region’s Ottoman conquest, during which its relics were sold off and the church was turned into a mosque; the crowd on Stari Most bridge are whipped into a frenzy before enough money is raised for one of the local divers to leap into the water below; the stećci tombstones of Radimlja make up a vast necropolis that dates back to the latter days of the 15th century; Sarajevo’s Old Town is packed with shops and cafés; the backstreets of Mostar’s historic centre are a joy to stroll at night

mothers, while the various stallions indulged in a bit of argy-bargy, baring their teeth and kicking out at each other.

The rest of the herd just swished their tails against the flies and semi-dozed in the warmth of the afternoon.

A LEAP OF FAITH

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The day was still hot when Ivance and I arrived in Mostar, a city that often captures the hearts and minds of visitors.

My first stop had to be a viewpoint of Stari Most, one of the most beloved and photographed bridges in the world.

Built during Ottoman rule, under the orders of Suleiman the Magnificent, it spans the Neretva river, and its creation even led to the town that grew around it becoming an important trading hub. Over the centuries, Mostar has had its ups and downs, but by the 1990s it was a prosperous and peaceful city with a multi-ethnic population.

However, in 1993, relations between the Bosnian Croat and Bosniak population reached breaking point and the former destroyed the bridge, shocking the world and adding another point of conflict within the wider Bosnian War. Now fully reconstructed, having used as much of the original material as could be salvaged, the bridge is now known for the daredevils who use it to dive 20 metres to the water below. Competitions are held in the summer, notably as part of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, but on any given day you’ll find locals leaping off it as a way to make money from the hordes of tourists who gather here.

Sure enough, as I was admiring the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian buildings overlooking the water, a young man climbed over the bridge railing and posed as ⊲

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Above the fray (clockwise from top left) Lukomir is the highest village in Bosnia, at around 1,500m above sea level, and is a destination for hikers and bikers wanting to stray off the beaten track and sample a taste of rural life among its stone-built homes, cherrywood structures and semi-nomadic herding community; the rocky road up to Lukomir is a picturesque one; military memorabilia for sale in Mostar’s Old Town; the tourist-strewn streets of Mostar’s historic centre look very different these days to how it was back in 1993, when tensions between the Bosnian Croat and Bosniak communities spilled over into direct conflict

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Never forget (this page; clockwise from top left) The Tunnel of Hope was the only connection between Sarajevo’s populace and the outside world during much of the siege, although its existence had to be kept a firm secret; lunching with a family in the remote village of Lukomir, which is known for its wool products; savouring a homemade pita; the closely guarded family recipes of Baklava Ducan have been passed down across three generations; a coppersmith in Sarajevo specialises in turning shell casings into art; (right page) a stone reminds visitors to Mostar not to forget the events that saw its bridge destroyed in 1993

Alamy; Lyn Hughes

if to dive.The crowd on the bridge stopped and excitement 18th-century fountain in Sebilj square, of which it is said levels rose. A hat was passed around, with promises of the that anyone who drinks from it will return to the city again. dive happening when enough cash was raised. Another 20 Eager to learn more of the capital’s 20th-century minutes or so of gamesmanship followed until the takings history, I took a guided tour with a passionate young were considered satisfactory, then a completely different woman called Emina. We started at the spot where Franz man, small and muscular, appeared in tight red Speedos Ferdinand was assassinated in 1914, which changed and duly plunged into the river to gasps and cheers. the course of history by triggering the First World War. I followed him back up a street A replica of the car he was travelto the bridge, its cobbles worn ling in brought the scene to life.

She pointed out that this was smooth by centuries of use. The “It took four months one of three events the city is press of the crowd meant that to construct a tunnel known for, including the 1984 I nearly missed a sign saying, ‘Don’t forget 93’. As dusk fell, the Winter Olympic Games and the to the airport, using hordes of daytrippers left and the infamous Siege of Sarajevo, which whatever metal old town took on a magical quality, lasted from April 1992 to Februcould be found” its cafés and restaurants still lively ary 1996. Astonishingly, the siege but its quieter corners a throwback didn’t officially cease until two and to Ottoman rule. As the call to a half months after the Bosnian prayer rang out, it was easy to imagine the traders and the War ended with the signing of the Dayton Agreement. spice merchants of yesteryear bellowing about their wares.

In this vibrant, modern, multicultural city, the shadow of The next couple of days took me to many more historic the siege still catches you out when you least expect it.The sites where there was little mention of the war. At Radimlja streets are pocked with ‘Sarajevo Roses’, spots where the necropolis, I squinted at medieval tombstones known as shells fell and there had been several mortalities.These had stećci, covered in engravings of little-understood symbols. been filled in with a red resin as a reminder. A third-generIn Stolac, a town known as the ‘Museum under the Sky’ ation coppersmith even showed me vases made from shell due to its many monuments, I dropped in on a restored cartridges collected from the hills: “We turn something 19th-century house now used as a cultural centre and had of war and destruction into something of peace,” he said. a demo on how to make traditional fig cakes. And in Blagaj, There was one place connected to the siege that I still I visited a serene Dervish monastery, or tekke. I realised I’d very much wanted to see before I left. When Serb forces need weeks rather than days to appreciate everything here. encircled the city in 1992, the only gap free from shelling But it took a drive up to the country’s highest village, was where the airport sat. It was under the control of the Lukomir, to truly transport me back to a time before war United Nations, but could only be used for UN purposes touched this land. Its residents now live here on a seasonal and not as an escape route. So, in March 1993, work started basis, arriving in the summer to graze their livestock and on a top-secret tunnel that ran beneath the airport runway. grow their crops, and there were no sounds of modern life The tunnel took four months to construct, using whatwhen I arrived. I wandered through the village to a vantage ever metal could be found. It was 800m long and began at point that looked over to the Visočica Mountain chain and the home of a family called the Kolars. It became a lifeline, allowing food, troops and supplies into the besieged city across Rakitnica canyon, one of the deepest in Europe.

Settling into this quiet life, I had a late lunch at the home and meant the wounded could be evacuated. Grandmother of a family who rented out two of their rooms to walkers and Kolar was always there with a glass of water for the weary. cyclists. They served freshly made zeljanica (pastry stuffed Today you can easily visit the tunnel (also known as with spinach and cheese) the traditional way, with a glass the Tunnel of Hope) and even walk a restored section. of drinking yoghurt on the side.They said that they wished It’s an uplifting reminder of the resilience of the people they’d had more notice of me coming because they would of Sarajevo, and quite by chance that evening, I stumbled have prepared something more, but in truth, as I sat in their on a reception and exhibition at Sarajevo’s Town Hall to garden, I couldn’t have dreamed of anything better. honour the 30th anniversary of the tunnel.

A French journalist there told me how the foreign correRETURNING TO THE PAST spondents covering the siege, including herself, knew of the Many cities claim to be where East meets West, but in tunnel’s existence but helped keep it a secret. One of the Sarajevo it is true. If I looked left from my hotel window, speakers at the event commented on how it was important across the Miljacka River, the architecture was Ottoman; to keep it alive as a memorial so the city didn’t have to live if I looked to the right, it was through a similar experience again.

Austro-Hungarian. It was a trend So, yes, I have written about the that continued as I strolled the war. It would still be wrong not to acknowledge it. But as my plane narrow streets of the Old Town, taxied along the runway, over the pausing for coffee in a former caravanserai that is now home to Tunnel of Hope, I knew my memoa popular café. At a shop called ries would be just as much of the Ducan, I sampled exquisite baklawarm welcome and hospitality of vas, created from family recipes the people I met; of the fortresses, noted down in a handwritten book ancient bridges, mountains and and made with walnuts, hazelnuts rivers; and of the horses running ⊲ or almonds. I also supped from the free on the vast plateau.

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Capital: Sarajevo Population: 3.27 million Language: The three official languages are Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian.

Time: GMT+1 (GMT+2 Nov–Apr) International dialling code: +387 Visas: UK nationals can currently stay for up to 90 days without a visa within a 180-day period.

Money: Convertible mark (KM), currently KM2.24 to the UK£.

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When to go

June to September: The summer period is typically hot and dry.

July & August: Peak season for visiting.

December to March: There is skiing on Bosnia’s mountains; Herzegovina is milder.

Apr–May & Oct–Nov: Good months for visiting, thanks to the fewer crowds.

Health & safety

BiH is generally a safe country with little risk to personal safety,

but watch out for opportunistic crime such as pickpocketing and thefts from cars.

Getting there & around

Wizz Air (wizzair.com) flies direct from London Luton to Sarajavo twice a week from £36 return, taking about three hours. The author flew with Swiss (swiss.com), which goes from London Heathrow via Zurich three times a week.

Car rental is readily available, but there is a very good bus service. The rail system

Map illustration: Scott Jessop; image: Shutterstock

Vital statistics

was damaged during the war but some of it is back in use, with the Sarajevo–Mostar route very scenic and popular with visitors.

A return flight from London to Sarajevo produces 231kg of carbon per passenger.

Wanderlust encourages you to offset your travel footprint through a reputable provider. For advice on how to find one, visit wanderlust.co.uk/sustainable-travel.

Accommodation

Hotel President, Sarajevo, has a great location in the Old Town and is within walking distance of most of the key sights. This upmarket hotel has spacious rooms with huge windows.

Rooms from £80pn. hotelpresident.ba Hotel Kriva Ćuprija, Mostar, is well situated in the Old Town, with terraces and some rooms overlooking the Crooked Bridge. This property is very welcoming.

Rooms from £70pn. hotel-mostar.ba Apartmani Lux Novalic, Konjic, is a modern hotel on the edge of town with a small garden and pool. It overlooks the Neretva River and is a good base for rafting.

Rooms from £45pn. apartmanikonjic.ba

Food & drink

This is a nation of meat-lovers.

One of the most popular dishes is ćevapi, small sausages of lamb and beef served with onions and pitta bread. You’ll also find various pitas, which are pastries stuffed with cheese and spinach (zeljanica), cheese (sirnica) or potato (krompiruša); a borek is a pita pastry filled with meat.

Water is drinkable from the tap and there are many public fountains. There is also a real coffee culture here, with traditional Bosnian coffee similar to Turkish (but not as bitter) and served in a copper džezva (pot).

Further reading & information

Map illustration: Scott Jessop; image: Shutterstock

Bosnia & Herzegovina (Bradt, 2022) – Easily the best and most comprehensive guidebook on the area.

The author travelled with Intrepid Travel (intrepidtravel.com). The eight-day Bosnia and Herzegovina Expedition covers much of the same itinerary, starting from £1,360pp, including ground accommodation, activities, transport and selected meals. Departures from May 2024.

The trip is also available as a private tour; contact Intrepid for details.

Wild waters (below) Most of BiH’s major rivers (Tara, Una, Vrbas) have opportunities for rafting, with the Neretva particularly good around Konjic, where there no dams to slow up the waters.

However, rafting is usually only possible between the months of April and October, when the rivers are high enough to paddle

HIGHLIGHTS

1 Sarajevo

Stroll through the lively Old Town (Baščaršija), browse the artisan shops, visit the spot where Franz Ferdinand was assassinated and marvel at the reconstructed City Hall that served as the National Library until it was bombed in 1992.

Have a beer at the Sarajevo Brewery, which is built on top of a freshwater spring and was a key source of clean water for locals during the siege, then take the cable car for panoramic views over the city.

And don’t miss the Tunnel of Hope, which lies out beyond the airport and is open daily.

2

Have a cooking experience

Learn how to make traditional Bosnian dishes while also experiencing warm hospitality and conversation from hosts Mersiha and Mustafa in their Sarajevo hillside home. bosniancookinglessons.com.

3 See wild horses

Join a photo safari from Livno with Continental Adventure for a close encounter with the hundreds of horses living wild on the beautiful Kruzi plateau. continentaladventure.net

4 Go rafting

Whitewater rafting is available on several of BiH’s rivers, including the Tara, Una and Vrbas. The town of Konjic, also known for its woodcarvers, acts as a base for rafting on the Neretva as well as other outdoor activities.

5 Tito’s bunker

Step back in time to the Cold War at this 100-room bunker that was built under a hill near Konjic but never used. Visit on one of the daily tours (must be prebooked).

6 Jajce

Worth a couple of days at least, this small city packs a mighty punch with its historical and cultural sites, many layers of history and beautiful setting. Don’t miss the collection of watermills just outside town.

7 Mostar

Avoid the hordes of daytrippers by staying a while in this enchanting, historic city, strolling its Ottomanera streets and watching the divers leap from the bridge.

8 Međugorje

The Virgin Mary is said to have first appeared here as an apparition in 1981.

Now this is one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Europe, attracting thousands of people from around the world each day.

9 Lukomir

The country’s highest village makes for a peaceful escape and is set in the heart of some breathtaking scenery.

10 Kravica waterfall

With over 20 falls to gaze on, this exquisitely beautiful spot is unsurprisingly popular with locals, who come here to swim, kayak, picnic and generally hang out.

11 Via Dinarica

This long-distance trail runs from Albania to Slovenia, with many claiming that the most scenic sections are in BiH. WANDERLUST RECOMMENDS The darkly humorous 2001 movie No Man’s Land, set in the midst of the Bosnian War, is a real gem and won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

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TAKE A ROAD TRIP THROUGH

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From musical Memphis to the wilds of the state’s far east, Tennessee almost feels like it was made to be enjoyed from the road

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ennessee’s ample natural beauty, rich civil rights history, iconic whiskey and musical heritage are just some of the reasons to visit the Volunteer State.

But you won’t want to stay in just one place. The state is best explored on a road trip, as you breeze past natural wonders and outdoor adventures to cities where there is always a story to tell. Just gas up and pick a direction…

Alamy; Shutterstock; Alice Kerley

START YOUR ENGINE IN MEMPHIS

One of the best-known cities along the Mississippi is Memphis, which makes a great starting point to get a true taste of Tennessee. It is one of the USA’s great music towns, having launched superstars such as Elvis and Al Green. Along with its civil rights history, the Bluff City is also the beating heart of Tennessee’s barbecue culture, and even vegans can find great ’cue here.

The Mississippi Riverfront is typically the centre for most activities in the city. There are also plenty of music festivals scattering the walkable downtown area, where the National Civil Rights Museum

and other iconic landmarks from Memphis’ past make for unmissable viewing. This was an influential city during the US Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ’60s, and that history is told on almost every street.

Many parts of Memphis have been rejuvenated recently, with a number of formerly rundown areas transformed into hubs for thriving entrepreneurial businesses. Thanks to the recent regeneration of several abandoned industrial sectors, the city has also become more vibrant and culturally diverse, while numerous independent shops and plenty of restaurants are devising fresh spins on the city’s southern food scene.

CENTRAL REVELATIONS

Before heading towards Tennessee’s better-known cities, Franklin is worth adding to your itinerary for a true taste of Americana. Named after Benjamin Franklin, the town is only 45 minutes from Nashville and has some fascinating musical roots. You can even opt to stay on the estate of the Dark Horse Recording studio, a tranquil retreat that has welcomed artists such as Taylor Swift and Neil Diamond.

Franklin is also where one of the

For more information, head to: www.tnvacation.com

A road trip with rhythm (left page) Explore the rich musical heritage of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry show; (this page; top to bottom) soak up the blues scene along Beale Street in Memphis; spy quaint small-town Tennessee in Leipers Fork; cowboy boots are a staple shoe in Tennessee

bloodiest battles in the Civil War took place, and there are guided walking tours of its prominent historic sites.

To the west of Franklin lies Leipers Fork, a quaint village that serves some of the best southern cooking in the state and attracts musical artists from near and far for live performances. Head to the charming Fox & Locke for some excellent barbecue, then grab a table up front to hear some of the local talent. For a more laid-back experience, it is also worth heading to unique spots such as the Lawnchair Theater, a family-friendly outdoor venue that has hosted the likes of Willie Nelson.

Up in Nashville, beyond its honkytonks and buzzing downtown, be sure to explore iconic spots such as Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge after digging

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HEADING EAST…

About an hour away from the bustling streets of Nashville lies Cookeville.

Tennessee is so large that you’ll even drive across time zones as you make your way there. This picturesque town is dotted with boutique shops and is home to artefacts from the historical Tennessee Central Railway at its Depot Museum.

Those with a sweet tooth will want to head to Cream City Ice Cream & Coffee House, where you can try flavours such as Tennessee fudge, butter pecan and cake batter. Or if

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you’d prefer some fresh air, the green spaces at Dogwood Park are perfect for picnics, while the hiking trails at City Lake Falls and Cummins Falls offer solitude among the crashing waters.

Further east lies Knoxville, a city that boasts fantastic breweries and museums. It’s hard to miss the golden Sunsphere building against Knoxville’s skyline, which offers epic views from the top. The city is also home to the oldest continuing symphony orchestra in the Southeast, though its reputation as the ‘cradle of country music’ is what makes it special, having nurtured the early careers of artists such as Dolly Parton, Chet Atkins and Roy Acuff.

One of the coolest haunts you’ll find here is the Knoxville Museum of Art, which spans three floors and celebrates local visual artists across Tennessee. Afterwards, following a stroll past the city’s many impressive murals, wind down with a citrusy Firebelly IPA at Balter Beerworks.

Alternatively, the wetlands of Ijams Nature Center, less than 5km from downtown Knoxville, offer a greener

Diverse pit stops (this page; clockwise from top left) Pause in Tennessee’s east at Cummins Falls; learn about the struggle for equal rights at the National Civil Rights Museum; the Sunsphere is an iconic sight on Knoxville’s skyline; Johnny Cash once performed at the Ryman Auditorium; Market Square is part of Knoxville’s vibrant downtown

option for a finale, with bike rides and great canoeing on the waters.

…AND FURTHER EAST

Eastern Tennessee is famous for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Dollywood, but the area is also laden with little-known towns nearby, such as Gatlinburg, Townsend, Sevierville and Pigeon Forge, which all make entertaining stops en route.

Soak up the history of the city of Sevierville where locals will gladly tell lively tales of moonshining legends from over a century ago. Stop off at Shine Girl, a moonshine company by Danielle Parton (Dolly Parton’s niece), for a quick tasting and to understand how this mountain liquor is made.

It’s not all about booze though. You can also admire rare P-47 Thunderbolt planes at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation before venturing further east to explore vast underground caves at the Forbidden Caverns. But the best is yet to come as you head further south to Pigeon Forge, home of Dollywood.

Here you can spend the entire day in the park and grab lunch at Aunt

Shutterstock; Alamy; Anakeesta; Raphael Tenschert; James Richardson; Nathan Lambrecht; Hunter Lawrence

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into the famous local fried chicken of Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack.

To dive deeper into the city’s musical history, head to Ryman Auditorium, former home of the Grand Ole Opry musical showcase, where you can stand on the same stage that Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash once performed. Opposite lies the excellent and immersive National Museum of African American Music, a space dedicated to celebrating and preserving the many music genres created and inspired by African Americans. You can even find one of Jimi Hendrix’s destroyed (and restored) guitars here. And for Elvis fans, a visit to Nashville’s famed RCA Studio B is a must to see where the legend recorded many of his classics.

WHERE TO REST YOUR HEAD

Tennessee is a state rich in music, southern fare and wild adventure, and there’s a hotel for every sort of traveller.

The Memphian, Memphis

The Memphian goes above and beyond to celebrate its musical heritage and make guests feel like locals. Located on Overton Square, its walls are adorned with eclectic designs and its restaurant, Complicated Pilgrim, offers an incredible breakfast spread.

Hutton Hotel, Nashville Finish your journey in Gatlinburg by hopping on a chairlift to ride up to Anakeesta Adventure Park for sweeping views across the Smoky Mountains. All the activities here are geared around getting you out in nature, and it’s difficult to resist. You can go ziplining or opt to relax by the fire pits and take in the Smokies as the sun starts to fade.

Granny’s, whose southern dishes capture the many tastes of the region.

While Pigeon Forge’s shops have a vintage charm, more unusual stops such as the Titanic Museum (shaped like the famous ship), with its haul of artefacts from the original voyage, stand out. Or for some unique ghost stories, take a tour of the haunted mill at the Old Forge Distillery.

Natural canvas (this page; clockwise from top) Great Smoky Mountains National Park is Eastern Tennessee’s wild jewel; the Cliff Top Restaurant at Anakeesta Adventure Park; celebrate a music legend at Dollywood; legend has it, Tennessee’s Old Forge Distillery is haunted

GET YOUR MOTOR RUNNING

Whether it’s experiencing the tunes of Memphis, Franklin and Nashville or relaxing with grand view of the Smokies, or even going town hopping for southern culture, bring your road trip to life with the wide array of itineraries that are bookable through America As You Like It (americaasyoulikeit.com/tennessee) or North American Travel Service (northamericatravelservice.co.uk).

The Hutton has always been a sanctuary for artists; you might even spot a celebrity in the lobby. It’s got plenty of Southern charm and rooms even have Nashville’s local candy to hand – Goo Goo Clusters. There is also a wide array of albums available for guests to play on a turntable.

Sulfur Ridge Treehouse, Cookeville

Tucked away in the verdant Bloomington Springs, near Cookeville, Sulfur Ridge Treehouse is an oasis of calm.

There are thoughtful details in its inviting interiors, such as antique doors and old stainedglass windows. Just make sure you carry change to spend on the in-house jukebox.

The Tennessean, Knoxville

Shutterstock; Alamy; Anakeesta; Raphael Tenschert; James Richardson; Nathan Lambrecht; Hunter Lawrence

At the heart of Knoxville lies the elegant Tennessean, a luxury property that showcases an array of local art installations. Most rooms are decorated with antique maps of the city and some offer a view of the striking Sunsphere.

There is also a top-notch bar that serves a smoked version of an old fashioned cocktail.

For more information, head to: www.tnvacation.com

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PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

The future of travel Our planet is changing, and so is the way we travel. As we adapt to new climates, technologies and ideas over the next 30 years, we open the door to different ways of seeing the world… and possibly saving it

Writers: Paul Bloomfield, Gareth Clark, John Darlington, Meera Dattani, James Draven, Megan Eaves, Karen Edwards, Tamara Hinson, Lyn Hughes, Katie McGonagle, Gary Noakes, Jessica Reid, Sherry L Rupert, Jenny Southan, Holly Tuppen

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he changes in travel over the past 30 years have been immense. The digital revolution has impacted everything from marketing and booking through to transport and the delivery of travel experiences.

Even who is travelling has changed, as people from more and more countries are undertaking leisure trips. Expectations are also higher, with a large proportion of tourists having travelled since childhood, growing more sophisticated in their tastes.

So, what will this mean for the future? In many respects, travel should be even easier. Technology will surely have a huge impact, dangling the possibility of more personalised itineraries, seamless transactions when booking, five-star accommodation as the norm, and efficient eco-friendly transport. But does all this mean that travel will be almost too easy?

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In the early days of Wanderlust, we often wrote about culture shock and how to deal with it. But the world is increasingly homogenised, with the same fast-food outlets and stores across many cities and countries.

Up-and-coming destinations now even boast of having a Starbucks.

This could lead to a swing back towards travellers wanting to explore the differences in cultures, celebrating all that is unique. To some extent it

Slowing down (top) Will future travellers embrace more traditional experiences as the world speeds up? (bottom) In 2023, the Vermont town of Pomfret voted to close some of its roads to non-residents after a deluge of tourists arrived to take photos of its fall colours

is already happening, with an explosion in bookable local activities that can now be accessed.You can already learn how to paint azulejos (tiles) in Porto, bake delicious dolmas in Sarajevo and take part in a traditional tea ceremony in Kyoto.We will inevitably see further and deeper growth in what is offered. Will people want to learn languages that were once in danger of disappearing? Or try being a shepherd in the Alps for a few days?

There is already a growth in Indigenous tourism, with destinations such as Australia and California already having launched dedicated websites to help promote experiences. At a recent tourism forum in Saskatoon, Matricia Bauer, who hosts a number of Indigenous cultural experiences in Alberta, told the assembled international media present that demand is outstripping supply in Canada. This may be causing short-term problems but bodes well for the future for both members of Indigenous communities and for travellers.

Thanks to modern travellers’ inexhaustible search for the perfect selfie, photography is fast becoming a controversial topic. A town in

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What’s in our future?

Making a splash (bottom) Watching a humpback whale breach the ocean is a timeless joy, no matter which decade you’re seeing it in. But as our climate changes, will migratory patterns and the behaviour of wildlife change with it?

moment once again become more prized instead.

There will be challenges too. The greatest unknown for travel is the impact of climate change on the world and what actions will be taken.

But, hopefully, the world is waking up in time to stabilise and even reverse what is taking place. Whatever happens, our choice of when and where we travel will evolve.

And what about overtourism, you may ask? It is already an issue in many of the most popular cities and sights, although some destinations are fighting back, whether by capping numbers or introducing levies. Replica sites and augmented reality tours could help ease the pressure on the originals. But, while well-known sites are submerged in tourists, they are just islands surrounded by other wonderful and special places that are overlooked and may even be craving tourism.

The bottom line is that there are so many places to discover and explore.

The next few decades should see us travelling far more widely, discovering that there are many more Inca trails than the one that is commonly known; that there are far more Maya sites than Chichen Itza; that Angkor Wat isn’t the only temple complex in Cambodia.

Our world is only getting bigger.

One hope is that we will move past the bucket-list mentality. Technology can be a tool to help us travel deeper and in a more fulfilling way. We may also find ourselves craving simplicity, such as appreciating the joy of just sitting in nature and admiring a view, or immersing ourselves in a quiet corner of an ancient site, or watching a humpback whale breach. Sometimes, just making a connection with someone from a very different heritage and understanding their story is the biggest adventure of all. LH ⊲

Previous spread: Alamy; this spread: Alamy; Shutterstock

Vermont made the news this fall by closing a road to the hordes of people eager for a shot of its autumn leaves.

Around the world, fed-up farmers, such as those who grow lavender in France, get frustrated at the crops trampled by selfie seekers.

Meanwhile, Madrid’s Reina Sofia museum (p234) has just lifted a 30-year ban on photography, as museum officials hope that in doing so, they will ease congestion around Picasso’s iconic Guernica painting by decreasing the amount of time visitors spend in front of it. A spokesperson was quoted as saying: “It only takes a few seconds to take a selfie, and so the pace of the public will flow more.” That’s all very well for the photographers, but not for those who want to savour this great painting. So, will selfie-taking become frowned upon in favour of appreciation of the sight? Could the experience and the

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ome of the destinations we’ll be travelling to in the future will inevitably change, whether due to the climate, overtourism, differing tastes or politics. This has always been the case, but one factor really stands out.

Climate change may be the biggest future influence on when and where people will go for their summer break.

If we’re already talking about Belgium’s tiny strip of coast becoming a summer hotspot, as happened this year, who knows what’s next? It could be that school holidays will change to accommodate shifting weather patterns, or maybe summer breaks in Europe will see us heading to cool off in the Himalaya, Scandinavia or the Arctic?

The same places will surely flourish in winter, as snow becomes less predictable outside of the polar regions.

Changing tastes will have their say too. Currently underrated regions such as the Balkans will likely see a boom, as the world catches on to the beauty of its landscapes, historical sites and traditional culture. In Central

America, for example, El Salvador and Nicaragua have the potential to become as popular as Costa Rica is now. And Guyana could just be the next dream rainforest destination.

There is big tourism potential in the Middle East, where destinations are finally realising their potential. As well as cultural and active escapes, there is room for nature tourism as rewilding efforts increase. Iraqi Kurdistan could be the next adventure-travel hotspot, while Syria and Libya have historical sites that will be a huge pull if their political situation changes. Christmas in Baghdad, anyone?

The next frontiers (this page, top) Just a decade ago, the Svalbard archipelago was unheard of by all but a few people, but as the climate shifts and its frigid Arctic climes look ever more tempting to travellers during the next summer heatwave, it could be a future hotspot; (below) Saudi Arabia has targeted getting 70 million international visitors a year by 2030

THE TOP TRAVEL DESTINATIONS IN THE NEXT 30 YEARS The Arctic

With temperatures rising and sea ice (unfortunately) reducing, will many more of us be heading north to enjoy a bit of midnight sun? Greenland, Svalbard, Arctic Canada, Alaska and Far North Russia will surely benefit from tourism, with visitors wanting to experience traditional culture, wildlife and adventure activities.

Saudi Arabia

With ambitious social and economic changes underway, tourism is one of the key pillars at the heart of the country’s Vision 2030 economic plan, and it has well and truly opened its doors to international travellers. Saudi has set a target of 70 million visitors a year by 2030, and as the biggest country in the Middle East, with a wealth of historic and cultural sites, an unspoiled stretch of Red Sea coast and a variety of landscapes, it should be possible to do.

Central Asia

There are not many phrases more evocative in travel than the Silk Road.

This ancient network of trading routes ran through some of the most scenic and culturally rich countries in the world, yet the region is still massively underrated today. But that will change as several of the ’Stans are now investing in tourism infrastructure and offering visa-free travel to the UK and many other nationalities.

Space or under the sea?

The new frontiers! LH

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f you’d booked a UK break this past autumn, then you might have felt pretty smug about it.

September was the joint-warmest since records began in 1884, as temperatures nudged the high 20s (ºC) in early October. The Costa del Cornwall had never had it so hot.

Conversely, other destinations suffered dire consequences from the unusually warm, arid conditions this past year. In Canada, the wildfire season that typically begins in May flared in March, while the terrible fires afflicting Greece were also linked to extended periods of searing weather.

As long ago as 1999, the World Wildlife Federation predicted that climate change would soon make destinations in the eastern Mediterranean uncomfortably hot in the high season, with temperatures increasingly soaring above 40°C. Why swelter in August when you could soak in the sun comfortably in balmy May or October, many are now asking?

“We have been adapting our itineraries for some time with climate change in mind, expanding our shoulder and off-season departures,” explained Hazel McGuire, general manager for UK & Ireland of tour operator Intrepid Travel. “[In 2023,] we’ve seen a 61% increase in shoulder-season bookings for Western Europe and a 29% increase in Southern Europe.”

Young people are having their say too. A poll commissioned by The Advantage Travel Partnership exploring emerging trends for 2024 showed that 70% of those aged 18 to 24 are somewhat or very likely to change the time of year they travel as a result of changing weather patterns.

“It’s far too early to say if we will see a major shift in when and where Brits take their summer holidays,” said Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of The

Here comes the sun (this page; clockwise from top) With wildlife habits in safari destinations such as Namibia’s Okavango Delta potentially changing due to the shifting climate, peak season for visitors is likely to change; with Western and Southern Europe frying in the heat this summer, will we start visiting in the autumn instead? We needed our shades even in October this past year when travelling in the UK

Advantage Travel Partnership, “but it’s interesting to see the impact adverse weather conditions across Europe have made on the younger generation.”

The effects have been similarly stark when it comes to more active escapes. “We had to shorten our spring Camino hiking seasons in Portugal and Spain – it was too hot,” Intrepid’s Hazel told us. “Elsewhere, we saw heavy snowfall and landslides in March in the Annapurnas.”

Problems facing snow lovers have long been documented, as snowfall becomes less reliable in parts of the Alps that are normally busy in the winter months. “We’re seeing a reduction in our winter snow-based trips,” explained Ben Colbridge, head of commercial at Exodus Adventure Travels. “Could this be because of the well-publicised low snowfall?”

For travellers, it may mean that the Alpine summer and shoulder seasons will expand. The previously narrow hiking windows on major trekking routes such as the Tour du Mont Blanc could stretch, for example, while new kinds of ‘off-season’ tourism develop. Other locations may emerge as winter-sun options – or re-emerge, in the case of the French Riviera, which was more typically known as a winter destination until the outbreak of the First World War.

Of course, humans aren’t alone in feeling the effects of climate change. Shifts in temperature, rainfall and other weather patterns are affecting animal migrations, breeding seasons and habitats. If you’re itching to watch nesting turtles, for example, you might need to rethink your dates: research suggests that rising sea-surface temperatures are causing earlier nesting in loggerheads in the eastern Mediterranean. Peak season for various wildlife spectacles will also likely shift.

East Africa’s great migration is already feeling the heat; one study found that the time herds spent in Kenya’s Masai Mara can fall by over 50% depending on conditions. “The Serengeti migration, which used to ⊲

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Authentic replicas

S Faking it (this page, below) How will ski destinations in places such as the Alps change their approach to tourism if the winters continue to deprive them of fresh snowfall and the environmental cost of fake snow is so high? (top) Socalled ‘fake’ sites, such as the recreated prehistoric grotto at Chauvet, France, are helping to alleviate the burden on some of our most fragile historic attractions

ometimes we can love a place to death. Consider this: at its historic peak, the Inca city of Machu Picchu was home to between 300 and 1,000 people; during the pre-pandemic period, it was visited by over 4,000 tourists each day of the year.

And this is a place where tourism has traditionally been tightly controlled!

Historic sites are being overwhelmed. The ‘Age of Instagram’ and ease of international travel means this is a trend that is set to continue, and it is on us to find solutions that might reduce pressure on our fragile heritage.

So, can replicas provide an answer?

In many ways they already do.

Some of humankind’s earliest works of art have been found in prehistoric caves in France and Spain. The walls of Chauvet in the Ardèche, for example, are covered in hundreds of prehistoric paintings. But lessons were learned from the opening of the nearby Lascaux caves in the Dordogne, after it was discovered that carbon monoxide, caused by the breath of visitors, and artificial lights played havoc with its 17,000-year-old paintings. The solution? Grotte Chauvet 2 is a centimetre-accurate copy of the main chambers of Chauvet Cave but constructed 3km away. In its first year of opening, the replica of Chauvet Cave welcomed almost 600,000 visitors, while Lascaux now has not one but three replicas.

Such experiences are not confined to prehistoric caves. A copy of Tutankhamun’s 3,300-year-old tomb

in the Valley of the Kings was opened in 2014 next to the former Luxor home of British archaeologist Howard Carter, who had discovered the site in 1922. It was less than 3km from the the pharaoh’s resting place, but the new tomb chamber and sarcophagus were created in Madrid. Sheets of polyurethane and plaster matching the dimensions of the original tomb were routed to a resolution of a quarter of a millimetre, based on highly detailed 3D scans. With such accuracy, what is lost by not seeing the ‘real’ thing?

Technology now exists that can recreate a Joshua Reynolds painting down to the micro-millimetre contours of his brushstroke. I defy anyone but a small handful of experts to be able to tell the difference between the replica of The Ladies Waldegrave at Strawberry Hill House in London and the original in Edinburgh’s Scottish National Gallery.

Sometimes the ‘real thing’ may not even be all that it appears. Venice’s iconic clocktower was totally reconstructed in 1902 after the Renaissance structure collapsed; Carcassonne’s town walls have more to do with 19th-century architect Viollet-le-Duc than his medieval predecessors; and Frankfurt’s Old Chicken Market was destroyed during the Second World War, replaced by a modernist centre in the 1970s, and then returned to its medieval form in the 2010s.

With caution and honesty, a good replica can have much to contribute towards future tourism and protecting fragile and over-visited sites.Welcome to the Palaeo-ironic era! JDa John Darlington’s latest book, Amongst the Ruins (Yale University Press), is out now, as is Fake Heritage (2020). Both explore the value of ruins in the 21st century.

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run like clockwork, is now much more variable,” explained Chris McIntyre, managing director of safari specialist Expert Africa. “Yes, it still goes round in a circle, but you can’t time it as accurately as before. Equally, the Okavango Delta flood periods and water levels are much more changeable. In both cases, you may want to choose your camps and timing carefully, to be sure that you enjoy the experience you’re after.”

It’s not only the climate that will affect when we travel, but demand.

Overtourism has become a problem in many places during the traditional high season. Regular Wanderlust readers will be aware of the crowding in cities such as Venice and Barcelona, and of the benefits – for destinations, as well as travellers – of visiting in the off-season and travelling more slowly, more sustainably and more respectfully.

Clearly, when it comes to travel seasons, the old rules may soon no longer apply. One glaring example of this is the rise of international travel from emerging markets – the Gulf states, China, India, etc – where traditional holiday dates can be quite different from those in Europe and North America. Chinese nationals, for example, enjoy extensive breaks during Chinese new year (January or February) and the first weeks in May and October. Currently, the majority mostly travel domestically or visit Asian and Australasian destinations, but as tastes evolve, currencies get stronger or weaker, and more people explore further afield, other already crowded locations could see huge booms in visitor numbers.

Some of this is conjecture, of course. Will we fly to Greece to fry in February, or amble Austrian trails in October? Perhaps. But one way or another, our seasons in the sun – or snow – are certain to change. PB

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p until 2012, the computational power of artificial intelligence doubled every two years. Since then, AI has been learning at an exponential rate, doubling in power every 3.4 months. We already have self-driving vehicles safer than humancontrolled cars, so what can it do to make our hotel stays more special?

Imagine stepping into a hotel room where the environment automatically adjusts to your every preference (accessed from data stored on the Cloud). AI could set the temperature and change the digital artwork based on your previous stays, your personal preferences or even your mood.

If this sounds far fetched, just think about how much personal information you share, or how much could theoretically be learned about you from your Alexa requests, bookings, Google searches, purchase history and your digital airline tickets. Much of this is already used to aim ‘targeted’ advertising at you, so why not in-room virtual concierges that speak your language, offer real-time information about attractions based on your personal tastes and anticipate your every whim?

We’re entering an era where British-Polish firm Walletmor has been injecting contactless payment chips under customers’ skin since 2021.

Even Walt Disney World already requires guests to scan their fingerprints upon entry; next stop: AI-powered robotic porters assisting guests with baggage, delivering room-service

orders and cleaning our hotel rooms like uncanny, humanoid Roombas.

But with any luck, technology will be used not just to sell us things and provide convenience, but to solve problems that arise from travel, such as the mountain of single-use plastics the hotel industry has left in its wake.

Certainly, the trend is going that way. Erik Hansen, senior vice president of government relations at the US Travel Association, has been reported as saying that: “The prevailing wisdom was that consumers held sustainability near to their hearts but they didn’t vote that way with their wallets… [now] 64% say they are making decisions based on sustainable transportation and lodging. 74% say they would even be willing to pay more for [sustainable] travel.” It is certainly starting to sway the way that hotels are thinking.

With demand driving green innovation, we can expect accommodation to fully embrace sustainability, from vertical farming providing fresh, locally

Robot revolution (top) In Japan, we have already seen the first automated hotel – and it’s adorable; (bottom) it might look like a shiny dustbin but this robot hotel attendant is part of a wave of attempts to make hotels more efficient in China

sourced produce to ambient lighting powered by bioluminescent algae.

What we will certainly see is a rise in mixed-use edifices, with hotels, shops and private accommodation all sharing the same mid-rise buildings in an attempt to limit urban sprawl. Hotels could even integrate self-driving valet services that upload data to your on-board computer, telling it where to find its assigned wireless-charging parking space. It’s not unrealistic – electric roads that allow EVs to charge while parked or driving are already being tested in Detroit.

And then there are the new frontiers. Advances in space travel could easily see floating hotels orbiting the Earth over the next few decades, while state-of-the-art submersibles could allow for deep-water hotels along whale migration routes. But wherever we go in the future, long-term sustainability must be at the centre of everything that we do.We can’t let this planet continue on autopilot. JDr ⊲

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Generation Alpha (currently aged up to 12) are the children of millennials (Gen Y). By 2025, there will be two billion of them. Given that GenY is the most travelled generation on Earth, it stands to reason that their children will be too, thanks to frequent holidays abroad in between school terms and even extended country-hopping forays with their digital-nomad parents. As Gen Alpha comes of age over the next eight to 18 years, they could well be the most demanding and entitled cohort of travellers. That said, they may also be far more attuned to investing in force-for-good experiences. In all likelihood (and sadly), they might be the last adults to holiday in the Maldives before the islands are submerged.

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ver since the first package holidays debuted in the 1950s, and then cheap flights in the 1990s, travel has become increasingly more accessible. But as populations rise, so too will global air passenger traffic (expected to increase to 23.9 billion in 2050, according to industry forecasts). So who is it that will be travelling with us in the future?

1 GEN Z

Generation Z (currently aged between 13 and 28) makes up about one third of the planet’s population.

Over the next few years, they will become Earth’s biggest consumer group, and by 2025, they are expected to comprise 27% of the global workforce, giving them an annual purchasing power of more than $100 billion globally. A recent study by BCW Movatory revealed that Gen Zs prioritise ‘achievement, hedonism and stimulation’. Combine this with an obsession with hyper-connected culture and you are looking at the future of travel. By 2050, Gen Z will be aged between 40 and 55, and will be travelling with their own offspring – Generation Beta, the first ‘AI natives’.

Talkin’ ‘bout my generation (top) The priorities of different generations shape the world around them, and the same goes for travel, as the more tech-minded Gen Z become the dominant travellers of the future

WA N D E R LU ST R E A D E R P R E D I C T I O N “Airlines will start to cater to people in different situations, such as ‘Fun Flights’ for young families and ‘Sleepy Flights’ for those who want quiet.” Helen McLaughlin, UK

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4 LGBTQ+

Travel spending from the LGBTQ+ market amounted to £179 billion in 2018; by 2030, experts predict that this could exceed £467 billion as the number of people who identify as non-straight rises and their confidence to explore the world goes up too. In the UK, about one in ten young people now identifies as queer; that’s double the rate of five years ago, according to the Office for National Statistics.

5 RETIREES

Not so long ago, travelling as a retiree meant booking a cruise, but these days ageing boomers (aged 59 to 77) are more intrepid than their predecessors (the silent generation; aged 78 to 95). According to the World Health Organization, the number of people

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Who’s sitting next to me?

How population shifts will change the face of travel

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.3 billion people experience a significant disability.

When considering travel, the good news is that there is growing awareness when it comes to making journeys more accessible, with certain destinations in particular going the extra mile to make holidays inclusive.

Take Greece, for example, which is installing wheelchair access to the sea across hundreds of its beaches, while Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea project intends to become the ‘most accessible’ tourism destination on the planet, thanks to special infrastructure such as adaptive equipment for sailing and diving.

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aged 60 years and older will double by 2050 to 2.1 billion. A large portion of them will be silver-haired millennials. Thanks to increased longevity due to healthier lifestyles and medical advances, many will be fighting fit and able to travel well into old age. That said, the life expectancy of people in the US has been declining in recent years due to poor diets and a lack of exercise, so there will still be plenty of gentle escapes with lots of pampering.

6 MILLIONAIRES

By 2032, experts predict that the luxury travel market will be worth more than £2.2 trillion (up from £1.1 trillion in 2023). This will be fuelled by what investment bank Credit Suisse has described as a post-pandemic ‘explosion of wealth’, which is concentrating in Asia. By 2026, Credit Suisse predicts there will be more than 87.5 million people worldwide worth at least US$1 million in wealth, up from 62.5 million in 2021.

INDIA AND CHINA 7 BRAZIL,

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Outbound travel from Brazil, India and China will surge in the years ahead. By 2050, China is expected to overtake the US as the world’s biggest economy, and before the pandemic, Mainland China was the world’s biggest source market for outbound travel (spending was valued at £210 billion). Brazil’s outbound travel market is predicted to account for 15.4 million trips by 2028 (an increase of 35% compared with 2018), while outbound tourism from India (now the world’s most populous country) could be worth almost £50 billion by 2031, according to DPI Research. JS

Spreading the burden: Protecting the local communities of the future Rainbow travel (bottom) The rise in people who identify as LGBTQ+ will have a big effect on future travel, particularly on nations gearing their economies around tourism but which still outlaw homosexuality, as young people vote with their feet; (top) the growth of Airbnb and similar companies has contributed to the rise in property prices in major tourist destinations, pushing out locals

“T

ourists, go home!”

“Airbnb scum!” is not the welcome anyone wants when embarking on a long-anticipated holiday. However, these words were splashed across walls in some of Barcelona’s more touristed neighbourhoods in 2019.

Overtourism is when tourism in one area reaches the point that it significantly decreases local people’s quality of life. It’s nothing new. Pre-pandemic protests swept across Dubrovnik, Barcelona, Lisbon and Venice as high rents pushed locals out and cruise-ship passengers clogged ancient squares.

With tourism edging back to pre-pandemic levels and expected to double by 2050, the phenomenon is rearing its ugly head once more. And it’s not just cities feeling the brunt.

Destinations traditionally associated with responsible tourism, such as Kenya’s Masai Mara, are also under fire. In January, a video showing safari

vehicles closing in on cheetahs hunting went viral, triggering debates about the carrying capacity of some of these fragile ecosystems.

Jeremy Sampson, chief executive of The Travel Foundation, told us: “Unfortunately, much of tourism today continues with a narrow fixation on economic impact, especially growth in arrivals and overnight stays.

This approach ignores the impacts of tourism on the environment, livelihoods, infrastructure, culture, heritage and individual well-being.”

Thankfully, an evolution towards a more balanced tourism model is apparent in some destinations. During the pandemic lockdowns, residents got used to life without tourists, which kick-started a more no-nonsense approach.The most responsible tourist boards and destination-marketing organisations realise that residents are as much their stakeholders as visitors. Amsterdam has banned cruise ships,Venice has introduced ⊲

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homes have also been landed with a premium council tax of up to 300%.

Regarding business doing its bit, UK accommodation site Canopy & Stars is leading the way by introducing caps on its property listings in visitor hotspots. Mike Bevens, managing director of Sawday’s and Canopy & Stars, said: “The constant desire for insatiable growth by some holiday operators, accommodation platforms and large rental companies is unsustainable. Communities need viable visitor numbers in areas affected by overtourism – a more targeted approach with a lighter impact and higher income is better for everyone.”

Tour operator Original Travel is tackling the ‘scourge of overtourism’ through its latest collection – The Secret Series, which sheds new light on classic destinations. In Italy, for example, the collection highlights the likes of the less-visited Campania, Basilicata, Piedmont and Abruzzo regions. Co-founder Tom Barber said: “After all, Italy is still Italy – same

Speaking out (this page, top) Will Venice’s new tourist tax help to reduce the huge crowds that it receives every summer? (bottom) Protests about overtourism have been a common sight in recent years, particularly in Europe’s major cruise destinations

WA N D E R LU ST R E A D E R P R E D I C T I O N “Travel will need to become more inclusive of race, disability, religion and the LGBTQ+ community. Many people have no idea what additional considerations or planning they need to do in order to travel to certain places. Airlines and travel companies need to liaise with customers to see how they can become more inclusive.”Clemma Tag, UK

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heritage, same food, same gorgeous scenery.” If venturing a couple of hours away from the Amalfi Coast means skipping the high-season gridlock, then everyone wins. Meanwhile, Journey by Design’s new RARE collection includes little-visited places and rare experiences not published anywhere to protect their uniqueness.

Another approach has been to introduce tourist taxes. In Venice, the new €5 tax is considered by some not bold enough, while Bhutan has recently cut its daily Sustainable Tourism Fee from $200 to $100 per adult.

Justin Francis, co-founder and chief executive of holiday company Responsible Travel believes tourism taxes and levies are here to stay.

“When we travel, we essentially become a temporary resident in someone else’s home,” explained Justin. “We use their public services and facilities and impact on local infrastructure. It’s fair that we contribute to these things. At the right level, levies won’t ‘drive away’ tourists and can be reinvested into protecting and improving a destination for the benefit of both residents and visitors.”

He echoes the sentiments of many other experts in encouraging travellers to explore off-season, stay in places for longer and avoid Airbnb rentals run by professional hosts. The combined desire to reduce carbon emissions, increase benefits for locals and travel in a slower, more immersive way will see tourists driving change. Let’s hope it happens quickly enough. HT

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a tourist tax and Greece has capped visitor numbers to the Acropolis. In years to come, the added pressures of the climate crisis and decline of nature may make the issue difficult to ignore.

The Travel Foundation, for example, has worked with several places in the US to create a destination stewardship plan. One is Vail in Colorado, which uses a community-driven approach engaging hundreds of local stakeholders. A ten-year plan spells out actions to ‘make Vail more liveable’ by ring-fencing homes and economic opportunities for locals.

The most forward-thinking destinations are now also exploring new business models, such as multi-seasonal offers, pioneering nature-based tourism and adopting approaches that could support greater social engagement between tourists and locals.

Recognising the devastating impact of second homes and holiday lets on local communities, the Welsh government is also rethinking tourism. A government spokesperson stated recently: “We want to develop tourism that supports our communities, cares for and protects our land, and is mutually beneficial to visitors and citizens.”

A new Welsh tourism strategy revolves around the three Ss of Seasonality, Spend and Spread, promoting off-peak tourism, longer stays, and spending more time locally and in less-visited spots. Second

The writing’s on the wall: As social media shapes the way we experience the world, is it time for a new-and-improved traveller 2.0?

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magine a city telling tourists to steer clear because they’re the wrong sort of person. That’s pretty much what Amsterdam’s 2023 ad campaign did, telling boisterous travellers to ‘stay away’, with warnings against over-drinking and drug use in the city. And perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. This summer, we’ve seen a tourist filmed carving his name into Rome’s Colosseum, while another posted a social media photo with his pants around his ankles on top of Bali’s sacred Mount Agung (he was deported).

A desire for ‘likes’ has long fuelled behaviour that attracts the attention that some people crave – and the viral nature of social media means we’re all more likely to hear about it. The Rome ‘carvings’ and Bali mountain incident also suggest that some travellers, albeit a minority, feel they can act in a way that they perhaps wouldn’t at home.

But there is a flip side, with social media also shaming that very same behaviour. Could what some consider to be the scourge of travel also be its saviour? Take the Instagram account

@passengershaming, which shines a spotlight on bad behaviour on planes – with bare feet on seats one of its biggest bugbears.This public shaming taps into a collective mindset that such behaviour isn’t welcome by others.

Questionable behaviour isn’t always for ‘likes’; sometimes it’s an error of judgment, ignorance or a subconscious, mistaken sense of ‘escapism’.

Travellers can be found taking photographs of children abroad (without context, much less permission), taking risky selfies for the thrill of it without considering the consequences, ‘othering’ cultures by calling food or rituals ‘weird’ when they’re simply different, or visiting a township as an ‘attraction’ without any nuance.

Who’s doing the travelling changes the way a holiday destination presents itself, and can change how other travellers view that same experience.

The rise, for example, in LGBTQ+ travel, Black travellers and travellers with a disability has shaped how places market themselves. The reality of showing that a destination is safe, accessible or welcoming

This stops now! (this page, bottom) After years of being Europe’s go-to bachelor- and hen-party destination, thanks to its red-lit streets and ‘coffee shops’, the locals of Amsterdam have grown tired of rowdy tourists disturbing their sleep, and the city has even run campaigns in recent years to deter them

Jessica Nabongo, Ugandan-American travel author “I would like to see a lot more kindness and humanity in travel, because it seems like when people leave their home country, they leave their values at home. Think about travellers taking pictures of African babies – you wouldn’t go to a European country and take pictures of babies. Rather than looking at the people in the destination as an ‘other’, look at them as your neighbour.“

means a more people-led, sensitive approach. As a result, there’s greater awareness of issues that others may never have considered.

Social media plays its part here too.

The rise in Reels and TikTok, and the ease of making videos on your phone, means great initiatives and experiences can be easily highlighted. With its super-engaged audience, a TikTok video can quickly end up with thousands of likes. It works the other way too, of course. It’s easy for a place already suffering from overtourism to get overrun following a viral video, which is particularly detrimental for, say, a wildlife sighting or fragile environments.

Social media can also positively influence travellers. Most people know single-use plastic should be limited and that we should treat nature with respect, but hashtags and campaigns such as #LeaveNoTrace, particularly in national parks and wild spaces, help nudge people towards better behaviour. Just the acknowledgment of the fact that most destinations are someone’s home, or at least a shared space we all want to enjoy, is perhaps the most powerful tool of all when it comes to shaping better travel. MD ⊲

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Leading the way: How Indigenousled tourism experiences are transforming the travel dynamic

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e have 574 tribes across the USA, plus many more that are either state-recognised or seeking recognition. Each of these are sovereign, with their own language, culture, land base and constitution.

Our histories don’t appear in written form because most of our stories were verbal, so it’s only now that many of our Native nations are willing to open up and share these tales. Visitors are also beginning to understand that when you encounter a Native person from a community, who can share authentic stories that have been passed down for thousands of years and for generations of their people, it means so much more.

Our most recent economic impact report found there were 154,350 American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-owned businesses in the USA, and a quarter of those – about 40,600 – were in hospitality.

Those businesses provided nearly 118,000 jobs and had £11.5 billion in annual sales. That figure was based on 2017 US census data, and although there was a decline during the pandemic, now the National Travel and Tourism Office reports that the number of visitors coming to our American Indian communities is increasing. It’s already a huge part of the tourism industry here, and that number is only going to get bigger.

These statistics encompass not only guides but also Native-owned restaurants – many of which are adapting traditional foods for contemporary palates – as well as artists, hotels, cultural centres, museums, hunting guides and outfitters, including many female-owned businesses.

Many of our Native communities and Native-owned businesses are in rural parts of the country, off the main tourist beat. But we’re now seeing tribes working together so that they’re each sharing something different and keeping those dollars within the Native communities.

First choice (clockwise from left) A Chumash boy dressed in traditional clothing; don’t pick up arrowheads that you see lying on the ground – it’d be like stuffing your pockets with artefacts at a museum; there are many ways that you can experience Native American culture, from attending a powwow to visiting a Native-run restaurant or business

Consumers have the power to choose where to spend their money and to make sure that it’s going into an Indigenous-led or Native-owned organisation or company run by people who understand the traditions and values of that culture and the intricacies of what can and can’t be shared.

There are transformative experiences that are unique to Native American culture; they connect us spiritually to the land we live on and teach us to be good stewards of the earth, the water, the animals and the plants. I’m from the Washoe people in Nevada, and I recently visited Cave Rock – which was originally a sacred space for the people of the Washoe tribe – in Lake Tahoe State Park. While I was there, we stood below the rock and a young man pulled out his hand drum and began singing. It came from his heart and everyone there was in awe.

Experiences like this can be emotional because the ancestors are speaking to you through these songs.

They are special teaching moments that can forever change the way that you look at life.

There are hundreds of Native American experiences out there, so it’s not a case of doing one activity and checking that off your list. For example, the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma is very different from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in Palm Springs or the Native Hawaiian people who live on islands and whose foodways revolve around the ocean.

Each Nation has different natural resources, and those dictate their beliefs and traditions. Travellers who are interested in culture and heritage should be respectful of this when they visit. For example, if you see an arrowhead on the ground, don’t pick it up and take it with you; treasure the memory instead. Or if the guide says not to touch the walls of a canyon because we want to preserve them for generations to come, don’t climb up to take a selfie for your Instagram.

I hope that in the future, when people think of the US, they think about doing an Indigenous experience before they consider going to NewYork City or a theme park. We are the first people of our respective nations, and with our collective voice, we should be the first thought, not the last. SLR Sherry L Rupert, who is Paiute/ Washoe, has worked in Native American tourism for more than 20 years and is now chief executive officer of the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA). ⊲

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Transforming travel into a force for good sea ice hit a record-breaking low of 17% below the historical average.

The climate crisis is here and the planet is changing. Travel must change with it, but could carbon labelling, overland adventures and people-led experiences pave the way?

CHANGING PLACES

As the world comes to terms with what an unstable climate could look like, recent extreme events have been a wake-up call for the travel industry.

Experts now suggest that much-loved destinations, such as Greece and

Get waterproofing (this page; top) Sea ice coverage in the Antarctic hit a record low during the 2022–23 cruise season – a stark warning to us all of the potential catastrophe that we face through global warming

“The seasons for trekking and skiing will look different” “Extreme temperatures mean summer holidays in Southern Europe could become a thing of the past. The seasons for activities like trekking and skiing will also look different. In the long term, some of our favourite holiday destinations may no longer even be viable because of rising water levels.”

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Portugal, could eventually become inhospitable during the summer, while stable weather regions, including Scandinavia and the Baltic, could become the places to go instead. As travel insurance for hurricane-prone regions – such as the Caribbean, coastal Mexico and the southern US states – becomes more expensive, travellers will likely start to look elsewhere.

Underrated cities such as Louisville in Kentucky – which is moving towards 100% renewable energy by 2030 – could grow in popularity as it tackles the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Meanwhile, we’ll see more people avoiding overcrowded capitals as they seek space and local interactions.

MEASURE AND REDUCE

As only around 11% of the world’s population travel by plane, and just 1% of the world fly regularly, according to the 2020 report from Envi-

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arlier this year, we watched in horror as wildfires tore through Lahaina town on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

In the aftermath, distraught residents petitioned to delay the return of tourism so that they could rebuild homes and mourn loved ones. On the Greek island of Rhodes, holidaymakers were evacuated as wildfires spread across the centre of the island. Meanwhile, as a record number of people (105,331) achieved their dream of seeing Antarctica during this past 2022-23 cruise season, the continent’s

67%

of consumers would support a recognisable carbon label to verify a product’s eco-credentials Carbon Trust

ronmental Change Journal, frequent travellers will lead the way in reducing emissions. German non-profit Atmosfair reports that a return flight between London and NewYork emits the same carbon emissions per passenger as an average person living in Burundi, Paraguay or 56 other countries would for an entire year.Yet, while most travellers won’t stop flying completely, people will make a concerted effort to fly less – a mindful change that campaigners encourage.

“The climate crisis cannot, of course, be solved by individuals alone,” climate campaigner Greta Thunberg has previously advised. We need both individual action and structural, systemic changes. With young people set to face the consequences of climate change, it’s feasible that the next generation will have carbon calculators on their phones and use this to ration carbon-heavy journeys.

Carbon labelling, which is already used by conscientious operators such as Much Better Adventures and Intrepid, may become widespread over the next ten years. Encompassing everything from on-the-ground transport and accommodation to food, these labels can weed out carbon-intensive experiences. A ‘personal carbon

allowance’, as proposed by the report A Sustainable Future of Travel by Intrepid Travel and The Future Laboratory, could even curb the amount of travel permitted per passenger each year.

“We believe our customers should have the information available to make informed decisions,” reveals Intrepid’s environmental impact lead, Dr Susanne Etti. “That’s why we hope carbon labelling will soon become standard practice across the industry.”

OVERLAND OVERHAUL

This year, the Dutch government revealed plans to reduce Schiphol Airport’s annual flight capacity, cutting emissions and noise pollution.

France, meanwhile, ceased domestic aeroplane journeys to cities less than two-and-a-half hours by train.

“The redefinition of tourism in France is an ongoing process, but it’s imperative to adapt and respond to the challenges we face,” confirmed Gwénaëlle Delos, who is head of the French National Tourist Office in the UK. Cutting the emissions from air travel is likely to gain momentum in Europe because it’s an idea that benefits both the planet and local communities, and because mainland Europe is more navigable by train.

The Travel Foundation’s Envisioning Tourism in 2030 and Beyond report supports this forecast, adding that short-haul travel (up to 900km return) will account for 81% of trips taken globally by 2050, with 28.5% conducted mainly by high-speed rail.

We’ll see a rise in overland specialists such as Byway, which plans flight-free itineraries, as air travel potentially serves those on longer, less frequent and more far-flung adventures. KE ⊲

What’s your carbon count? (this page, bottom) Will travellers of the future be willing to limit their travels to meet a set annual carbon allowance?

Greta Thunberg, climate activist “When I see what others all over the world are experiencing when it comes to the climate crisis, this is not just something that’s to do with polar bears or melting glaciers, it’s all around us everywhere…

We underestimate our own abilities to do something about it – that’s one of the main challenges we are facing. We don’t realise the power that we have.

It is what we do now that will define the future of all of humanity.”

The Climate Conversation, Southbank Centre, 2023

“We are encouraging people to visit alternative regions, or outside peak times”

Alamy

“[In addition to] the ban on domestic flights between cities linked by a train journey of less than 2.5 hours and [the installing of] 100,000 charging points for electric cars in France, a number of urban farms are opening across major French cities to encourage ’farm to fork’ consumption. Our Michelin Green Star holds restaurants accountable to ethical and environmental standards.

We also encourage visiting alternative regions, or outside peak times, to help combat overtourism.”

Gwénaëlle Delos, managing director, French National Tourist Office in the UK & Ireland

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ccording to the World Wildlife Federation’s 2022 Living Planet Report, global wildlife populations declined by an average of 69% between 1970 and 2018. Scientists have warned that this could lead to the planet’s sixth mass-extinction event, and it’s being caused, largely, by human-related activity such as hunting, overfishing, deforestation and climate change.

We’ve seen evidence of this happening in Queensland, Australia, for example, where coral bleaching caused by increased ocean temperatures has damaged over half of the Great Barrier Reef. Scientists also predict Africa could lose over 50% of its bird and mammal species by 2100, thanks to the effects of climate change.

And even in the UK, the National Trust’s State of Nature Report 2023 recently recorded that one in six of the 10,000 species it surveyed is at risk.

As a result of these startling statistics, regenerative initiatives have never

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been more important.We’ve also seen a growth of tourism-backed projects across the world, as travellers become more aware of the threats facing the wildlife and ecosystems that we hold so dear. But there is scope to fund more initiatives that can help through donations and incentives, as travellers come together with conservationists to protect our living planet.

Intrepid Travel’s A Sustainable Future for Travel report claims that 2040’s travellers “will hold themselves accountable”. Certainly, we will likely see a huge portion of experiences tapping into the consciences of these well-meaning people. Businesses, from hotels to restaurants, will have to build effective sustainability policies unique to each region and detail their work through impact reports because this is what people increasingly demand.

Bouncing back! (this page, top) Reports of the Great Barrier Reef’s demise have been everywhere in recent years, but it is starting to bounce back with the aid of conservation projects and local tour operators, which have become vital in both helping replant corals and monitoring them

Itineraries by eco-aware operators, such as Intrepid Travel, Much Better Adventures and G Adventures, are likely to become more popular with a wider market, as more people seek out experiences that have a positive impact on both nature and communities.

ACTION OVER INACTION

We are also likely to see more hotels investing in their environments, and not only through in-house measures such as renewable energy, zero-wasteto-landfill systems and water plantations, but through partnerships with social enterprises and NGOs. Travellers could also have access to an increasing variety of eco-conscious stays through comparison sites where green pledges are highlighted.

Winning the loyalty of travellers will be hotels such as Datai Langkawi

“Eco-tourism brings value to local communities that are vital in nature conservation” “It’s essential that nature conservation projects involve local communities. In recent years, large-area landowners – aware of the need to preserve fauna and flora against the advance of agribusiness – are coming together to interconnect their properties, allowing animals free, protected movement. In places where there is eco-tourism, communities gain important social improvements, bringing value to the area and generating jobs.”Lili Rampin, chief biologist, Onçafari Brazil

Alamy; Datai Langkawai

CLIENT

The natural approach

78%

of consumers say companies should be mandated to give full transparency of their supply chain

Alamy; Datai Langkawai

The Changing Climate of Sustainability, Nielson IQ

in Malaysia, which already works with social enterprises to plant native trees that provide food and nectar for birds, butterflies and mammals.

“Tourism plays a crucial role in the survival of vulnerable environments, such as native forests, mangroves, and coastlines, through both financial support and education,” explained the Datai Langkawi’s general manager, Stephane Duvacher.

Another one to watch is Onçafari Brazil, which continues to reintroduce jaguars and maned wolves into environments ranging from the Cerrado to the Pantanal.

“The scientific community recognises Brazil – with its 116,000 animal and 46,000 plant species – as the country with the greatest biodiversity on the planet. Defend-

ing it, therefore, is defending life on Earth,” explained Lili Rampin, chief biologist at Onçafari Brazil, whose awareness campaign includes wildlife presentations to guests as well as talks at schools and universities.

Tourism through permit-led experiences in national parks and reserves, such as the Iberá wetlands – now a habitat to 30% of Argentina’s biodiversity – will ensure our footprint remains manageable through infrastructure such as walkways and viewing platforms. This will help to keep ecosystems safe, while the surrounding communities benefit from the additional income, job prospects and wider career possibilities.

Elsewhere, marine-based activities such as visits to the Coral Vita Coral Farm on Grand Bahama Island (winner of the 2021 Earthshot Prize) could become a staple on island tour schedules, drawing curious visitors who wish to go beyond the beaches.

Entry fees and donations underpin the vital work of such initiatives – in this case, regrowing and outplanting native corals.

GREENWASHING

As travellers become savvier, greenwashing will hopefully be increasingly recognised and called out,

Room with a viewpoint (this page, top) Hotels such as Malaysia’s Datai Langkawi are working with local NGOs and organisations to help replant trees and aid local wildlife research

with advertising standards becoming stricter to ensure green claims remain truthful. The negative implications of so-called wildlife ‘sanctuaries’ that use animals for entertainment will also hopefully become a thing of the past, with nature-lovers supporting an ethical wildlife tourism industry that invests in research, anti-poaching units, natural habitats and local guides. KE

“We collaborate with organisations that are dedicated to conservation” “Travellers will continue to gain first-hand knowledge of the situations and threats that our environments face through activities such as guided nature explorations and tree planting. [In turn] we collaborate with local and international organisations and NGOs that are dedicated to conservation. These partnerships will lead to more programmes such as our dolphin and hornbill projects, which benefit from the support tourists provide.” Stephane Duvacher, general manger, Datai Langkawi ⊲ www.wanderlustmagazine.com 165

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As we all seek to find solutions to the problems our planet faces, it has become common practice to engage local communities in taking the helm in safeguarding the places we love. As such, people-led hospitality is set to become more popular in the future.

We’re already seeing travellers switch towards more immersive experiences that help them to better understand the cultures and envi-

ronments they visit. A growth in this will bring vital income to regions and communities that have perhaps been overlooked in the past, particularly those areas and regions that are currently located outside the limelight of the travel industry.

“We have worked to empower and engage community members living on the border of Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, in proximity to the endangered mountain gorillas,” conservationist Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka told us. She leads local projects such as Gorilla Guardians, which trains local people to help support community-led human-wildlife conflict resolution. While gorillas are not typically poached in Uganda, says Dr Gladys, they can be seriously

Thinking ahead (bottom) Empowering local communities in Uganda to support themselves without hunting in areas where mountain gorillas live will help to preserve this fragile species; (right page) Onçafari is working to protect jaguars and maned wolves in locations across Brazil

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“A critical source of income means residents are empowered to become stewards of their natural heritage”

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“Initiatives such as guided wildlife experiences, communityled human-wildlife conflict resolution and community-led tourism activities – including crafts, cultural experiences, farm visits and porter services – will continue to provide a critical source of income or alternative livelihood that mean people are not entering national parks illegally to hunt for bushmeat or forage for food. Local residents are empowered to become stewards of their natural heritage.”

Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, conservationist & scientist

or even fatally injured by snares set for smaller wildlife. Funding from tourism is key to making such initiatives a success for years to come.

One recent positive trend has been the growth in Indigenous-owned tourism businesses, with all signs pointing to this continuing in the future.

With more tourism boards and local governments understanding the value of storytelling and heritage in preserving ancient landscapes, this can only grow. After all, we already know that Indigenous people are gatekeepers to an estimated 20% of the Earth’s land – where 80% of the world’s biodiversity can be found. Indigenous involvement in preserving natural landscapes is crucial to the future of the planet, according to the 2018 Nature Sustainability Journal.

INDIGENOUS POWER

Clark Webb is just one of many business owners in Australia who is proving that empowering Indigenous communities goes hand-in-hand with the conservation of natural landscapes. As the founder of Wajanna Yaama Gumbaynggirr Adventure Tours – an outdoor activity firm in Australia’s New South Wales – he says that Indigenous language and cultural representation lies at the

Alamy; Jefferson Grainger; Jo Anne McArthur; Onçafari

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heart of building a more sustainable tourism infrastructure.

“Our intricate knowledge of Country and how to care deeply for [the land] can only be realised through the language that belongs to that place,” he explained to us. “Truth telling by Aboriginal guides is hard to talk about because it can highlight the environmental damage caused by common practices today. But it’s important to talk about those truths because they can contribute to [building] a more sustainable future.”

The value of Indigenous empowerment was recently proven in California, when the Resighini Tribe of Yurok People, Tolowa Dee-Ni’ Nation and Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria recently received the go-ahead to form the first Indigenous-led Marine Stewardship Area, protecting 1,812 sq km of ancestral land and ocean from development.

The move will not only help to ensure California reaches its 2030 biodiversity

55%

of UK consumers say they try to make sustainable choices when they can The Changing Climate of Sustainability, Nielson IQ

targets, but it will preserve the state’s wild coastline, which is a big draw for surfers and travellers, who will now be able to experience this region through the eyes of Native communities.

In essence, the future of travel will become a circle of trust between travellers and those who act as guardians of the environment. If we travel with a more holistic mindset, we will be present for a more transactional experience between the people and places we visit. With that as our priority, the planet will also win. KE

”Our profits support the first bilingual school of Aboriginal language in New South Wales” “Tourism in a natural area that leaves minimal impact on the environment offers interesting ways to learn about that same environment. At Wajanna Yaama, we utilise our eco-tourism mindset to educate visitors from all walks of life on the importance of better ecological practices.

Our profits support the cultural and educational development of our children – particularly through the Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School, which is the first bilingual school of an Aboriginal language in NSW.” Clark Webb, founder of Wajanna Yaama Gumbaynggirr Adventure Tours ⊲

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Infinity and beyond: The future of space tourism

INTO SPACE

Many companies are looking to orbital and suborbital flights for space tourism opportunities.These involve riding in a rocket or aircraft to the limit of Earth’s atmosphere, just above it or all the way to the International Space Station (ISS). Many think space tourism will follow a path similar

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to early aviation, with ultra-high-networth individuals footing the early bill for development and trips becoming more affordable over time. Several private companies are developing orbital flights, and according to data from Northern Sky Research, around 60,000 passengers will go into space over the next decade, many of them with the following three companies…

Virgin Galactic

SpaceShipTwo (VSS Unity) takes off from a runway and is gently carried to 15,000m by a ‘mothership’ plane and then a smaller sub-orbital spaceplane is launched out of the atmosphere before gliding back to Earth and landing like an aeroplane. It seats six passengers and two pilots. Virgin’s

The final frontier (clockwise from top left) Star Trek actor William Shatner (Captain Kirk himself) was among the first passengers on Blue Origin’s flights; the SpaceX Dragon craft attaches to the International Space Station; Blue Origin’s New Shepard blasts off from Texas; Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space in 1961

flights launch from Spaceport America in New Mexico and cost £405,500 per seat.The flights last 2.5 hours with a gentle ascent and three to six minutes of zero-gravity weightlessness, as well as views of Earth’s curvature.

Blue Origin

The New Shepard is a reusable vehicle that takes off in a vertical launch and travels around three times the speed of sound past the Kármán Line (100km above Earth), then makes a gentle descent using parachutes. It seats six people, is fully autonomous and has no pilots. Blue Origin’s flights launch from Launch Site One, near Van Horn in the West Texas desert, and an auction for a seat on the first flight went for £23 million. The journey lasts 11 minutes with several minutes floating in weightlessness.

SpaceX

SpaceX is developing a suite of space experiences with its Dragon and Star-

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n the day 12 April 1961, a young Russian pilot put on an orange jumpsuit and climbed into a tiny capsule aboard a giant Soviet rocket in the dusty flats of western Kazakhstan.

At 6.07 am, it was launched into the atmosphere, and by 6.13 am, he radioed back to say, “I can see Earth…I can see almost everything.” The pilot was Yuri Gagarin, the first human to fly into outer space.

Spaceflight and exploration have grown at a pace in the years since Gagarin’s ground-breaking flight.

According to a report by UBS, the market will be worth £3.2 billion by 2030. However, despite lofty predictions, touristic spaceflight has been slow to start – little surprise given the complexities involved.

Nevertheless, it seems inevitable that humans will add outer space to the list of destinations that keen (and, for now, deep-pocketed) travellers visit.

We’ve taken a look at the different directions space tourism is headed.

FUTURE OF TRAVEL up to the outer reaches of the atmosphere via a helium balloon (helium is a limited resource) and don’t require special passenger training. Though they won’t technically reach outer space, they go much higher than a plane, with multiple companies offering far more geographical diversity.

Operators include Space Perspective, launching from Florida in 2024 with a gentle 19kph ascent. Trips cost £103,000 per seat and take six to eight hours, with dining, drinks, music and, crucially, a toilet on board.World View will launch from the Great Barrier Reef and a handful of global locations at £41,250 a seat, while Zephalto will run balloon trips to the outer atmosphere from France by 2025, including gourmet French meals, wine tasting and pro photography courses on board for £104,000 per person.

HALO Space will offer a similar trip and price point from Spain.

In Japan, Iwaya Giken has a ‘budget-minded’ microcapsule that seats one passenger plus a pilot, which will launch from Hokkaido and rise 25km into the stratosphere over two hours. The trip is currently £132,920 per passenger, with plans to bring the price down to less than a third of that.

A PROPER ‘SPACECATION’

ship spaceships, which launch from several space facilities in the US. The flights range from three days in orbit to ten days aboard the ISS, and they have ambitious plans to take tourists to the moon and, eventually, Mars.

Currently, multi-day trips to the ISS are going for £45 million per seat.

This is a rapidly growing industry with new companies appearing all the time. For example, Axiom Space is utilising a SpaceX rocket to take passengers to the International Space Station for ten-day missions twice per year and had its first successful trip in 2022. Another alternative is SpaceX’s plan to offer point-to-point Earth travel via low orbit, allowing 100 passengers to travel around the world at high speeds – a trip from Shanghai to New York could take 40 minutes.

FLOATING ON AIR

A less expensive option in the works is the emergence of zero-pressure balloons. These involve a slow float

The concept of a longer stay at a space hotel or moonbase is no longer in the realms of science fiction. Multiple companies have plans for space-station-like ‘hotels’ that will orbit Earth, housing guests and enabling science.

Orbital Assembly Corporation looks closest to achieving the first opening, with its small Pioneer Station possibly ready by 2025 and hosting 28 guests. The more ambitious Voyager Station – a resort housing up to 400 guests, with restaurants, bars and a zero-gravity basketball court – is set to begin construction in 2026. These will feature artificial gravity, allowing travellers to stand, walk around and sip cocktails with an Earth view. ME ⊲

Richard Branson Virgin Group founder “I had a dream: to turn commercial space travel into a reality. Today, Virgin Galactic is flying to space on a monthly basis while achieving a bunch of firsts – the first female astronauts from the Caribbean, the youngest person to go into space and the first Olympian to go to space – while also conducting research missions onboard the spacecraft. We’re continuing to push the limits of what’s possible in space travel… I’m planning to go to space for my 80th, 90th and 100th birthdays, and I’m an optimist, so my 110th as well!”

WA N D E R LU ST R E A D E R P R E D I C T I O N “Passports will become obsolete due to biometric technology. Visas, if necessary, will be done electronically through the new passport technology.”

Bonnie McKenna,Texas, USA

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Staying on firm ground

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ack on Earth, there are a variety of ground-based experiences that can fulfil travellers’ space dreams without the vast financial outlay of heading into orbit. Here are just a few ways you can cross the final frontier without leaving terra firma…

NASA space centres, USA

required). Locations include its visitor centre and an engaging display charting NASA’s exploration of our solar system’s moons and planets, as well as the Spacecraft Assembly Facility. And in Huntsville, Alabama, the US Space and Rocket Center is home to one of the most extensive collections of space artefacts, totalling more then 1,500 pieces.

Centre Spatial Guyanais, French Guiana

French Guiana might initially seem like a strange place for ‘Europe’s Spaceport’, but its proximity to the Equator makes it a far more efficient location from which to launch spacecraft, thanks to the Earth’s spin being significantly quicker here.This remote

Keeping your feet on the ground (clockwise from top left) You don’t need to be in space to try on a spacesuit; the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Virginia allows visitors to glimpse the real space shuttle Discovery; zero-G flights mimic weightlessness without leaving the atmosphere; the Saturn V rocket (at the Johnson Space Center) is the heaviest ever flown; the Kennedy Space Center is an iconic site; browse space-travel relics at Alabama’s Space & Rocket Center

space centre also delivers one of the world’s most comprehensive experiences. Its three-hour guided tour takes you all around the facility, with the visit to its huge launchpad being the particular highlight. It’s worth noting that tours need to be booked at least 48 hours in advance and passport information is required. Plan your trip carefully (visit the European

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Alamy; Shutterstock

For around 50 years, the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral have given visitors a taste of space via their immersive tours.The experiences here engage you in every aspect of space exploration, from seeing replica rockets tower overhead to taking part in ‘astronaut training’. You can even enjoy a day-long Mars Base experience, during which you can try your hand at managing a base and harvesting ‘extraterrestrial’ vegetables.

Elsewhere, NASA space centres are dotted all over the US, each one offering a different kind of experience to the next.The Johnson Space Center in Houston lets you explore its astronaut training facility, see the colossal Saturn V rocket and head inside Mission Control (the control centre Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert was addressing when he uttered the immortal phrase: “Houston, we have a problem.”).

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, offers free guided tours (advance booking is

FUTURE OF TRAVEL

Steve Wozniak Apple co-founder “The real gamechanger will be the thing no one’s even thought of yet, or that kernel of an idea that someone’s starting to work on in their garage or at their desk that will grow into something that has potential applications stretching way beyond what they ever could have dreamed up in their wildest moments of fantasy.

Technology is all about change… but it’s there to facilitate the human experience, not replace it.

I hope the solutions are developed by real travellers so that travel will remain a core part of who we are and how we experience the world.”

Space Agency website for the launch schedule) and you might see a live launch yourself.

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Go back to where it all began. The Baikonur Cosmodrome is where Yuri Gagarin took his historic flight over 60 years ago. Once the shining jewel in Soviet space ambition, the cosmodrome was off-limits to visitors for many years but is now open for guided tours. The site is huge, and tours help you absorb many of the 14 launch pads, 34 engineering complexes and two aerodromes. You’ll peer into the very launchpad Gagarin took off from, as well as the cottage he holed up in for the days before his landmark launch.

OTHER EXPERIENCES

There’s a surprising diversity of ways to explore space from Earth beyond the space centres. Indeed, you can get

a sense of what weightlessness would be like on a zero-gravity flight such as the Zero-G Experience, where a modified plane flies in parabolic arcs that create a zero-gravity environment in which passengers float weightlessly on board. You’ll find these in several destinations, including Miami, Long Beach and Houston in the US, as well as at Novespace in Bordeaux.

A number of organisations, such as the International Space Centre and Australia’s Fogarty Foundation, run space boot camps for students that are

designed to foster interest in a broad range of space career paths.

Elsewhere, NASA and other organisations have been known to run experiments in which volunteers live in habitats specially designed to simulate life in a pod on the moon or Mars. These experiments provide crucial data for scientists to better understand the implications of life in space on human mental and physical well-being, though how fun this would be is very much up for debate. China has also reportedly been building a ‘Mars base camp’ visitor experience in the Gobi Desert in Gansu province.

More conventional experiences can still provide plenty to fuel the imagination, from a visit to a space museum, such as the UK National Space Centre in Leicester, or seeing a spacecraft under construction at the Moonshot Museum in Pittsburgh.

The stars have never been more easily within reach. ME ⊲

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Embracing the future of transport

T

he transport that you rely on to see the world is about to become a whole lot more sustainable, comfortable and, in many cases, an exciting travel experience in itself…

IN THE AIR

The future of air travel is literally staring you in the face as soon as you enter the airport and encounter the biometric scanners. It’s sci-fi turned reality, with airports and airlines increasingly digitising your whole journey, while flying becomes, for some, more comfortable and much faster.

Before you fly

Strolling through (this page, top) The airports of the future are going to be keyed around better using our biometric data, allowing passengers to walk on through without having to scan anything at all

and other devices can stay in your hand luggage at major UK airports, as can liquids, with the 100ml limit increased to two litres.

Back at check-in, Dubai International airport is already ahead of the biometric game and has shown what can be achieved. Its face- and iris-recognition system is fully operational, allowing pre-registered Emirates passengers to proceed without showing passports or boarding passes. Signing up means going to the Emirates

WA N D E R LU ST R E A D E R P R E D I C T I O N “I expect new airports to be a destination in their own right… Beautiful gardens (think biodomes) and free cinemas could keep everyone happy, even when delays are encountered.” Jeanette Flewett, England

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check-in and registering personal and facial data. It’s then ‘open sesame’ as barriers swish apart in seconds when cameras recognise the traveller, without requiring any documents to be waved at the check-in, lounge or gate.

Onboard

Airline smartphone apps already permit in-flight menu browsing, baggage tracking, creation of an entertainment playlist and syncing with the onboard system. Some airlines even prompt tardy travellers to hurry.

Onboard, smartphone operation is becoming more of a feature of new in-flight entertainment systems – Aer Lingus, for example, even has it on its new single-aisle transatlantic fleet.

We take on-demand in-flight entertainment for granted these days, but also that economy flying will, for some, be just as uncomfortable as it’s always been. True, seat backrests are now

Alamy; Shutterstock

Key to the new airport experience is the latest authentication technology, which automatically matches the passenger’s facial features with information stored about them. We’re all now used to biometric passports, but Heathrow and British Airways recently conducted trials enabling travellers to proceed without having to show even these. BA passengers received an email days before departure with a link to scan their face, passport and boarding pass. At the airport, smart cameras recognise these travellers, allowing them to proceed to the gate, although a boarding pass was still needed at security. Quite simply, it’s the future.

Security, though, can still involve lengthy queues. Post-pandemic, it was more of a bottleneck than ever as returning travellers forgot the drill; however, another new technological development, 3D security scanners, mean that from June 2024, laptops

FUTURE OF TRAVEL

thinner and so give more legroom, but the standard design has remained unchanged for decades.

Car manufacturers have long extolled the comfort of contoured seats, but a study by Delft University found that the minimal benefits for airline passengers were outweighed by the need to allow for all shapes and sizes, so don’t expect memory-foam comfort any time soon.

Few radical seating ideas for economy passengers have made it

into production. One is Air New Zealand’s ‘Economy Skycouch’, which turns three seats into a bed, albeit one better suited to a parent and small child than two adults.

Seat manufacturer Recaro has also unveiled an economy seat that allows rows to slide back to provide more legroom when flights are not full, but so far, there are no takers.

Designers only really go to town in business class, which is now so good that many airlines have ditched first class. Enclosed cabins with sliding doors are now pretty standard, with the formula even adapted for use in narrow-body jets used by carriers such as American Airlines and JetBlue. Expect to see more of them.

Fuel for thought

Having got through the pandemic, airlines are starting to invest in big ideas again, so expect new cabins

Giving the eye (this page, top right) The technology is already here for airports to use iris-recognition as proof of your identity while travelling; (bottom left) as of June 2024, travellers will no longer have to take their laptops out of their bags to pass through security in major airports in the UK, thanks to the introduction of 3D scanners

and more frills. But carriers must also be seen to be more environmentally friendly, which is driving this investment in different ways. Kerosene remains their greatest expense, and the challenge in the next few years is to produce new fuels affordably.

The added weight of using batteries makes it suitable for only the shortest of hops – across the Irish Sea for example – while hydrogen requires three times the volume of conventional jet fuel, also limiting its range. Scotland’s Loganair is investigating these new forms of power for its shorter flights, but the industry is mostly betting on different varieties of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

SAF derived from household and industrial waste avoids kerosene but still emits greenhouse gases and often burns recyclable resources like plastic. Biofuels are another source but are land-intensive (although as plants grow, they do absorb CO2). At the time of press, Virgin Atlantic was due to operate a flight to New York using 88% waste oil and 12% synthetic fuel, but the barrier to SAF usage is scarcity and cost – it is between two and five times more expensive than kerosene and will continue to be until production increases.

Longer term, the smart money is on a third type of SAF derived from hydrogen and carbon that is literally captured from the air; a process using water and renewable electricity to refine hydrocarbons into liquid fuel.

One manufacturer is even building a new aircraft around SAF. Boom Supersonic’s Overture airliner, essentially a replacement for Concorde, has orders from American Airlines and United Airlines. It aims to cross the Atlantic at 2,092kph from 2029.

Concorde’s last flight was 20 years ago, when aviation took a step back, but supersonic travel may yet return.

It won’t be cheap, but with the pressure now on airlines to be greener, it ⊲ will be more sustainable. GN

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ON THE RAILS

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Wherever you live, it’s likely that you’ll soon be taking a ride on a driverless train, a concept that has existed for longer than many people realise.

In 1981, the Port Liner in Kobe, Japan, became the first fully automated public railway; today, Honolulu and Montréal are just two of several destinations with autonomous mass transit systems. The key benefit is the greater capacity they bring, largely because automated hazard management allows these trains to travel closer together.They also don’t require expensive infrastructure projects, making them easier to adopt.

“This type of precise automatic operation increases capacity without significant infrastructure changes,” explained Stephane Feray Beaumont, vice president of innovation and smart mobility at Alstom, the company behind numerous driverless trains. Beaumont believes the potential to increase capacity shouldn’t be underestimated. “The world’s first automated suburban train is in Paris, and it’s Europe’s busiest regional line,” he added.

Alstom’s current projects include Cairo’s first driverless metro, but the future for long-distance rail travel

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Robot revolution (above) Doha is home to one of the world’s fastest automated transport systems; (below) the modern, driverless Dubai metro system allows for a greater capacity than staffed trains because automated transport can safely accommodate a larger number of services

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might be a whole other story. With a growing focus on efficiency, what does this mean for luxury trains such as those operated by Belmond?

Experts believe that these kind of retro long-distance rail experiences will still have their place, although in Europe, several companies are promising new, speedier twists. One example is French start-up Midnight Trains. In 2024, it will start to roll out luxury sleeper services between Paris and 12 European cities, including Porto, Rome and Copenhagen.

These trains won’t be automated; instead, nods to modernity will include soundproofed accommodation, restaurants offering hotel-style room service and slick cabins with private showers. TH ⊲

“I hope we’ll all learn to value travel more for the joy, privilege and responsibility it really is. We can’t lose travel from our lives in the future, because it’s one of the most powerful ways to grow our minds, gift confidence and feed our souls. But we desperately need to be travelling more sustainably, and we need to be clearer about the personal benefits each of us derive from experiencing other worlds and cultures.”

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ON THE WATER

Ship-to-shore transportation has long made good use of battery packs and electric Zodiacs, and continues to boost the cruise industry’s sustainability credentials. However, Akvile Marozaite, CEO of the Expedition Cruise Network, warns that ports of call will need to upgrade.

“Cruise ships are often at sea for many days before reaching a port that has charging facilities,” explained Akvile. But change is afoot. Ports are increasingly investing in shore power, meaning ships can switch off their engines to recharge and reduce emissions in populated areas.

Recently, HX (formerly Hurtigruten Expeditions) became the first cruise

company to connect to shoreside electricity in Iceland.

Cruise operators HX and Ponant are also both due to launch net-zero ships by 2030. The HX vessel, in particular, will rely on using wind and solar sails alongside rechargeable batteries.

There will also be more reliance on AI, primarily through AI-powered systems that increase the efficiency of the ship’s propulsion while optimising routing based on currents.

Developments in technology will benefit ferries, too. In 2023, Zeabuz launched the world’s first emission-free, autonomous commercial ferry in Stockholm, and there will soon be Zeabuz ferries operating in other destinations too. TH ⊲

Clear waters (above) The growth of cruises fuelled by wind and solar power offers the potential for a more sustainable way of exploring the oceans

Michael Palin Travel icon “The future of travelling will be finding alternatives to air travel. Those who care about these things will have to be smart, rediscovering the joys of trains and buses, and canals and camels – which are better ways of meeting people anyway. Intensity of experience should also override distance. There’s a lot to see close to home.”

Oscar Ferrara, Seamus Ryan

WA N D E R LU ST R E A D E R P R E D I C T I O N “Individualism will prevail: land travel will be by electric- and hydrogenpowered vehicles, we will use more fuel-efficient planes (including electric) and wind power will propel ships. Hopefully, there will still be a market for super-fast planes.” BJ Mikkelsen, Massachusetts, USA

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Francisco,Waymo and Cruise, though the latter has since had its licence pulled. Indeed, Gavin Jackson, chief executive of British autonomous vehicle company Oxa, recently admitted that he feels it could be 20 years before fully autonomous cars are common.

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New York-based start-up Kelekona hopes its electric flying air bus, an eVTOL vehicle that can carry 40 people plus a pilot, could take to the skies in the next decade. The 3D-printed vehicle will be made from aluminium and will whisk passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in one hour.The company believes these buses could double as air ambulances.

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Flying hotels

Finally, we arrive at the most futuristic concept in our line-up. Canada-based HOK is the company behind Driftscape, a concept comprising flying glass pods that detach from a self-sustaining main hub to allow guests to embark on individual two or threeday bespoke adventures. Scientist Hashem Al-Ghaili, meanwhile, is the man behind the conceptual Sky Cruise, an autonomous AI-powered flying hotel that could carry 5,000 people and relies on hypersonic engines, allowing it to stay airborne for years. Supplies and guests would be transported to Sky Cruise – which would have cinemas and shopping malls – by private jet. TH ⊲

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Five transport options you might be using soon…

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Flying taxis are not just limited to video games and science fiction. UAM (urban air mobility) refers to what are known as electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL) – typically drones and helicopters – which transport people and goods. Many experts argue flying taxis could be commonplace by 2035. Professor Seongkyu Lee, UAM expert at the University of California, believes the first regions set to embrace this technology will be South Korea, where the government plans to commercialise UAM by 2025, and Europe, where companies such as Lilium are actively developing UAM solutions. Flying taxis are even set to be trialled at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, so the future is coming soon.

Hyperloop

An estimated 70% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, so

travelling between them at high speed is the next transport evolution. Hyperloop technology – pods propelled at great speed within a semi-vacuum – offers the potential to whizz between London and Edinburgh in 30 minutes.

But Professor Sean Smith, director of the Centre for Future Infrastructure at the University of Edinburgh, believes patience is required when it comes to this. “It’s likely we’ll see full intercity connection services in the next 20 years, but the technologies are at an early stage and require vision from governments to drive infrastructure.”

Just don’t mention Skynet (top) Who needs to pass a driving test?

Self-driving cars are already a part of modern life and will only improve as the technology advances; (right) Waymo recently began operating a ‘robo taxi’ service in San Francisco

Self-driving cars

Autonomous cars refer to everything from vehicles requiring constant supervision through to level-five automation – those which drive themselves under all conditions. Companies focusing on the latter include two that recently started operating ‘robo taxis’ in San

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WA N D E R LU ST R E A D E R P R E D I C T I O N “In the future, you will be able to choose and pack a digital suitcase, then the exact contents will be picked up and transported to your holiday destination, leaving the stress of packing and checking in luggage all in the past.” Foulla Chatzidakis, UK

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his world moves quickly. It was only in 1995 that the first airline ticket was bought online. By 2030, more than 70% of travel bookings will be via the internet, according to Euromonitor International, with half of these made on a phone – a device that didn’t even have internet access in the mid ’90s. If this proves anything, it’s that we’re swift to adopt technology when it makes our life and travel easier.

It’s something that’s only going to snowball as younger, more tech-savvy generations start exploring the world.

Euromonitor studies show that around half of millennials (aged 27–42) and Gen Z (aged 11–26) are comfortable using automated customer service to resolve easy problems, whereas 64% of baby boomers prefer talking to a human. What we accept today is what we long for tomorrow, and it’s only going to be the tip of the AI iceberg.

Tech associated with gaming, in particular, has already made great inroads into travel, often in fascinating ways. Augmented reality (which first made headlines in the game Pokémon Go) has been used by a number of museums and historic sites to enhance experiences, from using AR glasses to bring the history of Ghent’s Adoration of the Mystic Lamb Altarpiece to life, to apps that you can download on your phone to explore Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum or The Louvre in Paris.

At home, the emergence of web 3.0 via the metaverse, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, NFTs and decentralised commerce is changing the way people interact online.What is just as exciting are the possibilities it offers for how we interact with the outside world.

“With over 21 million AR/VR headsets expected to be sold by 2027, more

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people are expected to use virtual/ augmented and even mixed reality to engage with travel brands, destinations and experiences before they travel,” explained Caroline Bremner, head of travel and tourism research at Euromonitor International.

For Caroline, it holds incredible potential for consumers to research their trips, from previewing destinations to immersive tours of hotel rooms. “For travellers, especially those that have mobility requirements, this is a gamechanger for understanding the onsite service provisions,” she told us. “Already, baby boomers are leveraging this type of technology for their benefit, with 40% using AR/VR to preview a holiday destination before they travel, compared to 37% each for Gen X and millennials.”

Destinations have been quick to throw their hats into the ring, with cities building their digital twins in the metaverse. Seoul was among the first to outline plans for this back in 2021; others have since followed. And while strolling a digital clone of a city is not a substitute for the real thing, it offers travellers a taste of a destination in a way that we’ve not seen before.

Reality isn’t what it used to be (bottom) The rise of VR and AR is not only helping us to experience historical sites and museums in fresh ways, but offers travellers a chance to ‘try’ a destination without even setting foot out of the door; our real winners of the tech age are the digital nomads, who have managed to combine travel and work in a way that even benefits the communities they work within

No one is suggesting VR is a substitute for travel. “There may be some business travel that is replaced by VR and metaverse but consumers are still very much into real-life experiences,” Caroline insisted. What it does offer, however, is a chance for tourist boards to promote lesser-seen destinations, helping to potentially divert travellers from the usual overtouristed cities.

But perhaps the real meeting of tech and travel has been the rise of the digital nomad, which offers a more sustainable template for seeing the world: spending time and money in destinations during the off-season. As more and more people seek a greater work-life balance, who knows?

It might even give us more time to spend on our VR headsets. GC

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WA N D E R LU ST R E A D E R P R E D I C T I O N “We will be able to visit anywhere, anytime with virtual reality: have a coffee in Paris for breakfast, grab lunch in Bermuda and dinner in New York.” Karl Atkinson, UK

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Guide to St. Louis

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St. Louis and the USA’s most iconic driving route have been entwined for nearly a century. Here are three ways to connect to Route 66 while you’re there...

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fter leaving Chicago and crossing the farmland of northern Illinois en route to the west coast, Route 66 ploughs on through the heart of St. Louis, Missouri. It is a city that has held great importance for drivers of this road for generations, for whom it makes the perfect stop when exploring the oft-overlooked Midwest.

What’s so unique about travelling this legendary route through St. Louis is that there are so many distinct ways to do so, because the Mother Road (as it’s known) developed over many years here. Route 66 is woven into the fabric of the city, and few communities offer quite so many unique sites to explore...

Old Chain of Rocks Bridge

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The Gateway Arch

As road travel grew in popularity and affordability, Route 66 re-routed around the growing city of St. Louis.

The result is a town sprinkled with icons of the Mother Road and decades-old American experiences.

The original route (1926-1932) cuts through the heart of the city to destinations like Forest Park and the Botanical Garden. They’re just the start. Here are a few other landmarks worth getting out of your car for...

The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge gets its name from the huge rock formations in the Mississippi that make the river so dangerous for boats. Built in 1929 as an original part of Route 66, the two-lane bridge takes a 22-degree kink right in the middle, which became the source of several accidents and eventually led to its closure in 1970.

A new bridge opened just north of the original in 1966, and today the original crossing is preserved as a treasured walking and cycling path across the Mississippi. It’s the perfect spot to summon the spirit of bygone travel at a slower pace.

An American symbol recognised around the world, the Gateway Arch opened in 1965 to honour President Thomas Jefferson and all those who contributed to the American West.

Ride a capsule to the top of the 192m-tall monument for spectacular views of the Mississippi River and all of St. Louis (advance purchase of tickets is highly recommended).

We’d also advise taking a riverboat cruise out on the mighty Mississippi from this spot.

For more information, head to: www.explorestlouis.com

Route 66 icons (opposite page) The Gateway Arch has been the city’s silvery icon since 1965; (this page; top to bottom); the first drivers along Route 66 would cross the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge with trepidation due to its tricky bend; the rainbow-hued St. Louis Wheel at night; historic Maplewood is an essential stop on Route 66

To really understand St. Louis’ role in the American story – from the Lewis and Clark expedition that paved the way for the pioneers to head West, to Dred Scott, an enslaved man who sued for freedom in 1846 – schedule a visit to the free underground museum that is managed by the National Park Service.

Maplewood neighbourhood Few neighbourhoods sum up the energy of Route 66 better than Maplewood. Manchester

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Road, which is the heart of the suburb, is one of the many diversions that Route 66 takes through St. Louis. Look closely as you walk along its 7200 and 7300 blocks to find sidewalk plaques that tell the stories of the businesses that used to serve travellers along this iconic road.

Each September, the Maplewood Route 66 Celebration features a vintage car show, live music and more.

Also check out Crestwood Bowl, which is one of many mom-and-pop businesses in Maplewood that capture the spirit of the route.

Route 66 State Park

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The National Museum of Transportation If you pine for the good old days of travelling Route 66, this museum showcases the old jalopies that made the original 3,939km road trip. Here you’ll find steam-powered cars, Model T and Hudson touring cars and the Overland 61T automobile that featured in the film The Great Race, starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. Peruse the exhibit on the Coral Court Motel, an original stop on Route 66 that was bulldozed in 1995.

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Since the early days of St. Louis, when this was the last town for pioneers to pit stop en route to the West, the city has been known as a place to refuel your body as well as your transport.

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Dine and drive (this page; clockwise from top left) Ted Drewes Frozen Custard is a local favourite; St. Louis loves its barbecue food; Route 66 drivers are drawn to the neon-lit Donut Drive-In; the National Museum of Transportation is a glimpse of the Route 66 of old; sunset over Downtown St. Louis

St. Louis has a large Italian American community in particular, and The Hill neighbourhood is the birthplace of a pair of local specialities known as toasted ravioli and St. Louis-style pizza.

But its barbecue food is where the city really shines, and even across America today, a certain cut of rib is still referred to as a St. Louis-style rib.

Pork steaks and snoots (snouts) – lesser seen in other regions – are commonly found in local barbecue joints, and the award-winning Pappy’s Smokehouse is one of the best places to sample them. Lastly, if you’re hungry for dessert, many restaurants offer a gooey butter cake – a local treat that dates back to the 1930s and requires more butter than flour to make.

Take a bite out of the following eateries to taste the best of St. Louis...

Crown Candy Kitchen Founded by Greek immigrants in 1913, little has changed in more than 100 years here. Just two blocks east of the Mother Road, this remains a daily destination for locals and visitors alike.

This is a great place for old-fashioned and homemade sweets, and it has a wide selection of ice cream. Don’t leave without trying a BLT sandwich, with the bacon especially highly regarded by locals. Good soups and grilled cheese sandwiches are also belly pleasers at Crown Candy.

Ted Drewes’ Frozen Custard On a summer evening in St. Louis, the crowd at Ted Drewes may cause you to consider going elsewhere for a cool treat. But it’s all part of the experience.

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Missouri honours its 450km of Route 66 in a state park that showcases the road’s history as well as nature’s wild beauty. The earliest Route 66 travellers would overnight here at the Bridgehead Inn, which opened in 1935. Over the years, it offered many services to travellers, but today it serves as a visitor centre and museum where you can purchase postcards by Bob Waldmire, who was considered the official artist of Route 66.

Big Chief Road House Of all the Route 66 sites in St. Louis, the Big Chief Road House was here from the start. It first opened in 1929 as a luxury motor court and fullservice restaurant. Over the years, the cabins were demolished and the restaurant closed. But it’s back now, serving the St. Louis speciality of toasted raviolis as well as wood-fired pizza, chicken pot pie and salads fresh from the back garden.

Soulard, one of the city’s oldest neighbourhoods, is studded with live blues cafés. BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soups is a legendary music venue, as is the 1860 Saloon, Game Room & Hardshell Café. Chuck Berry regularly played at the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill, which is still a popular nightlife fixture in St. Louis.

But after the bars and restaurants close, the one thing every driver along Route 66 wants to know is where to get a good night’s sleep…

Spencer’s Grill It’s been like that since 1930, when Ted started serving an ice cream/custard mix so thick that you can turn the cup upside down and it won’t fall out. There are two locations, the South Grand branch is the oldest and the Chippewa branch is found right on Route 66.

Donut Drive-In

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A fixture on Route 66 since 1953, the Donut Drive-In and its neon sign is as popular with locals in South St. Louis as it is with travellers on the Mother Road. Little has altered inside – and nothing has changed in the recipes – these past 70 years. The basic glazed doughnut is still the most popular, but must-trys also include the apple fritters and the Bismark, a chocolateiced, custard-filled doughnut.

Heritage pit stops (this page; clockwise from top left) See St. Louis musical heritage at the National Blues Museum; the Missouri History Museum; Chase Park Plaza bathed in a sunset glow; the Nathan Frank Memorial Bandstand in Forest Park; toasted ravioli is a classic St. Louis dish

There’s no question of where to eat breakfast while in St. Louis. The historic neon sign of Spencer’s Grill, in Kirkwood, points the way. Once inside, bag a counter seat to witness its line cooks at work. A basic American breakfast includes two eggs, bacon or sausage, and hash browns – it’s a classic served here for generations.

Take time to chat to the locals and you’ll remember Spencer’s long after St. Louis is in your rearview mirror.

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Chase Park Plaza Built in 1922, the Chase Park Plaza (now a Royal Sonesta property) has not only hosted down-on-their-luck dreamers heading west in hope but also world leaders and celebrities like Billie Holiday, Elvis Presley and Nat King Cole. It remains one of Route 66’s most elegant hotels, with its grand lobby bedecked with marble floors and fresh floral displays. Stop by for one of its legendary martinis and spy history-soaked, sepia-tinged photography throughout the hotel.

In the early days, travelling Route 66 was an exhilarating yet exhausting, experience. St. Louis made for a natural rest stop and its interesting sites, good food and entertainment were a huge plus after days on the road. Even today, it’s a city rich in American history and cultural experiences, such as the Missouri History Museum and Forest Park, home of the 1904 World’s Fair.

The city is one that moves to the rhythm of the blues, a scene that took off in the 1920s and ’30s – the same time Route 66 opened. It’s a musical genre so associated with the city that even the local professional hockey team is known as The Blues.

For more information, head to: www.explorestlouis.com

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A Lasting

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As the 150th anniversary of the first Paris exhibition of the Impressionists nears, we cross France to visit the areas that inspired them to turn the art world on its head Words Katja Gaskell

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he first thing you notice when you arrive on lights of Paris, then south to Aix-en-Provence. Along the the Normandy coast is not the sweeping way I discovered the people and places that helped to shape beaches or the dusky blue ocean, or even this groundbreaking art movement 150 years ago. I also the towering white cliffs. The first thing found that, as I travelled, I became just as keen to discover that hits you are the vast skies and the what it was about these areas that inspired such work. extraordinary light. No matter where you stand, you are surrounded by a constantly IN SEARCH OF MONET shifting landscape: billowing clouds that A short drive west of Yport lies Le Havre, France’s form and swirl, stormy skies that roll and tumble, and second-largest port, where a teenage Claude Monet first dreamy sunsets in sugar-almond shades of pink and purple. met landscape artist Eugène Boudin in 1858. Nicknamed It’s little wonder that this stretch of coast became a muse for the ‘King of the Skies’, it was Boudin who persuaded some of the greatest painters of the 19th century.

Monet to swap his sketchpad for a paint palette.

I was in Yport, a small seaside town sandwiched Monet later produced the iconic Impression, Sunrise from between Fécamp and Étretat, standing alongside Sophie a hotel room window overlooking the harbour 15 years Justet, a local landscape artist working swiftly with her after this meeting. It was this painting that earned what brushes and paints to capture the moment. Above us were was then a group of young renegade artists their name, cartoon-like clouds hovering in a hazy blue sky, casting after critic Louis Leroy sneered in 1874 that the work was shadows on the sheer cliffs of the Alabaster Coast. merely an “impression” and not a finished piece. Little did “I work with the light,” said Sophie, who has been paint- he know that the name would stick and we would still be ing the Normandy coastline for the last 30 years. “You celebrating these artists and their works 150 years later. need to work quickly because the Little remains of the Le Havre light is constantly changing. Every of Monet’s day. Most of the “The advent of time I get home, I feel as if I have city was flattened during the passenger railways been painting in an entirely new Second World War, although the place because of the way the light town’s glass-and-steel Musée and portable metal changes the landscape.” d’Art Moderne André Malraux paint tubes allowed These fast-moving skies have (MuMa) on the seafront boasts long inspired artists and writers, a similar view and light to that artists to escape their but it was the Impressionist paintwhich Monet would have enjoyed. city studios” ers who, in the mid-19th century, “There is a special light that made their name by reproducing forms above the estuary,” said my these landscapes on canvas. The advent of passenger rail- guide, Lise Legendre-Onijas. “A mixing of the soft river ways and portable metal paint tubes had allowed artists water of the Seine and the salt water of the Channel seems to escape their city studios, venturing to the coast and into to create this light that captivated the artists.” the countryside. In doing so, they turned their backs on I understood what she meant while browsing MuMa’s conventional subjects and traditional techniques, choos- collection, which has a large number of Boudin’s paintings ing instead to work, like Sophie, en plein air, capturing the of big skies, alongside works by the likes of Monet, Alfred beauty of nature in the moment.

Sisley, Édouard Manet and Camille Pissarro.

“Working outdoors is wonderful,” said Sophie. “Like From Le Havre I drove over the Normandy Bridge that the Impressionists, I work outside whatever the weather. crosses the Seine estuary to the beautifully preserved tiny Although if it’s really bad, I will sit in my car to paint.” harbour town of Honfleur. The town is credited as being Yport was just my first stop on an Impressionist-themed the birthplace of Impressionism, and it’s easy to see why. road trip that followed in the brushstrokes of some of Honfleur escaped the Second World War largely intact, France’s greatest artists. My journey traced the curves of and its Vieux Basin (Inner Harbour), lined with tall, slim ⊲ the River Seine through Normandy and on to the bright quayside buildings, is still picture perfect.

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The coast on canvas (this page; clockwise from top left) Impression, Sunrise was one of nine works Claude Monet submitted for the 1874 exhibition in Paris that launched the Impressionists and shocked the capital; the Le Havre harbour looks very different now to when Monet painted it; Eugène Boudin’s A Gust of Wind off Frascati sees the ‘King of the Skies’ in full flow; the chalk cliffs of Yport; Le Havre’s MuMa is packed with works by the Impressionists; (opposite page; left–right) Monet in Giverny, the town where he lived until he died; Monet’s The Museum at Le Havre; (previous spread) the arch at Étretat was a regular subject for Monet

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Life on the Seine (clockwise from top left) Ferme Saint Simeon in Honfleur was where the Impressionists used to meet and trade their paintings for lodgings and food; Monet’s The Seine at Rouen captures everything the artist found compelling about the river that he spent most of his life beside; the grand homes of Honfleur’s Vieux Bassin survived the damage wrought on many of France’s port towns during the Second World War; the astronomical clock on the Rue du Gros Horloge is the pride of Rouen; Monet’s A Cart on the Snowy Road at Honfleur; (right page) Monet’s house and garden in Giverny offer a glimpse of his life

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Young Impressionists gathered here in the mid-19th Today the series is scattered across galleries and musecentury, staying at La Ferme Saint Siméon, a short walk ums around the world, but one hangs in the city’s excelfrom the town centre. There they were looked after by the lent Musée des Beaux-Arts. Rouen Cathedral, the West formidable Mère Toutain, spending their time painting the Portal, Dull Weather was purchased by François Depeaux, ethereal estuary light by day and at communal dining tables a wealthy local coal merchant and avid collector who at night, often swapping canvases for room and board. donated his enormous art collection to the museum in Today the property is a five-star Relais & Châteaux hotel, 1909. Visitors these days are invariably glad that he did. and while the accommodation might have changed since That evening I dined at La Couronne, the oldest restauthe impoverished artists stayed here, the scenery has not. rant in France, established in 1345. Set on the Place du “This spot has always enjoyed wonderful views over the Vieux-Marché, the entrance hall and stairways feature a Seine estuary,” said Xavier Parent, who’s who of celebrities, politicians the hotel’s exuberant concierge. and famous faces. To celebrate the city’s brush with the Impres“The colours change regularly “Dominating the with the seasons. Strong reds and sionists, La Couronne serves a Rouen skyline are the blues emerge during the summer themed menu filled with colourful spires of the Notremonths, and pearl greys, pale blues dishes, including lobsters, oysters, and rose pinks during the winter. roast pork and grilled dorade, all Dame cathedral that This is what the Impressionists inspired by recipes from Monet’s so captivated Monet” wanted to capture.” kitchen in Giverny – the artist was Guests with artistic leanings a well-known gourmet. can today enjoy an art lesson with There were no recipe books on a local painter, but I opted instead for lunch at Bistro La display when I visited Monet’s rose-coloured home in the Boucane, the hotel’s casual dining room. Housed within tiny village of Giverny the following day.The restored house an old cottage, the former outbuilding was the subject of does, however, capture life as it was in Monet’s time. The the Monet painting A Cart on the Snowy Road at Honfleur. artist moved here in 1883 and crafted the gardens and lily The following morning I travelled to Rouen, famous ponds that formed the inspiration for so many of his wellfor its Gothic churches, enormous Renaissance clock and known works, most notably Water Lilies, a series of approxits medieval centre filled with precariously crooked and imately 250 oil paintings. half-timbered houses. Rouen is also where a teenage Joan “Monet came to Giverny not knowing that he would of Arc met her grisly end, burned at the stake for heresy stay for 43 years,” said Philippe Piguet, art historian, critic and the great grandson of Claude Monet, who himself by the English in 1431.

Dominating the city skyline are the spires of the grand spent childhood summers in the village. “But in Giverny he and ornate Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen that found all the conditions that he was searching for: nature, so captivated Monet. Over the course of two years he isolation, space and light.” produced 28 paintings of the cathedral’s intricate west My visit coincided with the final days of summer, when facade, capturing its variations in appearance in a variety the gardens were at their most colourful, wild and free, of different seasons and times of day. and the sensation of wandering among the copious flower “He came to his studio as soon as the sun rose and left beds was akin to stepping inside a Monet canvas. A road only when he could no longer paint,” said local guide Lisa – formerly a railway – separates the Clos Normand flower Concato. “The light changed so quickly that he could garden from the Japanese-inspired water garden where have as many as 14 canvases around him in the studio at gem-coloured lilies in pinks and violets floated upon the glassy pond surface. It proved a fittingly decorous end ⊲ any one time.”

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“On Rue Lepic stands Moulin de la Galette, a reminder of a time when La Butte (Montmartre) was peppered with windmills” to the first part of my journey, as I left the formative days of Impressionism behind for the bright lights of the city.

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Normandy might be the birthplace of Impressionism but it’s in Paris where the movement took root. This is where the young Impressionist artists first met, working in creaky old studios and socialising in tawdry bars and cabarets. It is also where, in 1874, they staged the first of eight historic exhibitions, held in defiant response to the annual official Salon de Paris that dominated the art scene at the time.

I based myself in lively and bohemian Montmartre.

Having escaped the ambitious urban renewal programme led by Baron Haussman between the years 1853 and 1870, this corner of Paris remains largely unchanged and its steep cobbled streets ooze history. On my first morning there, I walked up to Place du Tertre where artists once came to capture the light; now they stay for the tourists. Dozens sat under colourful parasols painting cityscapes or sketching portraits for eager visitors. So coveted are these spots that artists can wait for up to ten years for one to become free.

Rickety roads wind away from the artist’s square, all lined with shops and restaurants. On Rue Saint-Rustique, the oldest street in Montmartre, I stopped by La Bonne Franquette where artists including Paul Cézanne and Alfred Sisley once clinked glasses, and where Vincent Van Gogh painted his Terrace of a Café on Montmartre. Nearby is Au Lapin Agile, a historic cabaret venue said to be a favourite of Edgar Degas and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, whose former home, where he painted The Swing, is only a short walk away and is now host to the Musée de Montmartre.

On Rue Lepic stands Moulin de la Galette, a reminder of a time when La Butte, as Montmartre is known, was peppered with windmills. During the 1870s, this lively open-air dance hall was popular with Monet, Cézanne and Degas. Renoir’s Dance at the Moulin de la Galette now hangs in the Musée d’Orsay, which formed the inevitable next destination for my artistic wanderings.

Located in the heart of Paris, this museum is the magnificent grande dame of the city’s cultural institutions. Housed on the fifth floor of a former train station from the Belle Époque era is the world’s largest collection of Impressionist works. Paintings range from a Water Lilies by Monet to Cézanne’s The Card Players, to The Absinthe Drinker by Degas. Newly acquired in time for the 150th anniversary of the Impressionists’ first Paris exhibition is The Boat Party (see p187) by artist and art patron Gustave Caillebotte.

I spent my time there searching out some of the more scandalous paintings of the era, including Manet’s The Luncheon on the Grass, which was described as a ‘shameful open sore’ when it was first exhibited in 1863.

A short walk across the Léopold Sédar Senghor footbridge brought me to the Tuileries Garden, the oldest and largest in Paris. The raised terraces, manicured and tree-lined pathways and promenading Parisians were ⊲

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The big city (clockwise from top right) Only a few parts of Paris escaped its remodelling in the mid-1800s; Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a founder member of the Impressionsts, though stopped exhibiting with them after 1877; Renoir’s The Swing; Édouard Manet’s work often scandalised French society, and pieces such as Luncheon on the Grass were derided by both critics and the Salon de Paris; Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party captured the mood of Paris at leisure in the late 1800s; the Musée d’Orsay is hosting exhibitions to mark 150 years of the Impressionists in 2024; Monet’s water garden at Giverny inspired his Water Lilies series

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Beyond Paris (clockwise from top right) The balcony at the Maison Fournaise in Chatou is where Renoir painted his Luncheon of the Boating Party; Paul Cézanne was uncomfortable with female models, so tended to paint pieces such as his The Bathers series from imagination; a self portrait of Cézanne; the artist’s final studio at Les Lauves in Aix-en-Provence was where he created his best-known paintings; Cézanne’s Quarry at Bibemus was one of a series of paintings on this subject; wandering the quarries today is a surreal experience knowing the role they played in art history; Aix-en-Provence market is as busy as it was in Cézanne’s day

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a popular subject among the Impressionists. In the western corner lies the Musée de l’Orangerie, home to eight of Monet’s vast and, for the time, daring Water Lilies series. He called them his “grandes décorations”, and they were gifted to the French state after the First World War. “Monet carried out his ‘grandes décorations’ project over 27 years,” explained Philippe Piguet. “At the time, no artist had ever created such a work. To achieve this, he first created a water garden from scratch, then had a huge workshop built to paint these giant canvases. The Water Lilies paintings thus constitute a real environment in which the painter invites us to immerse ourselves.”

The big-name Parisian museums come with big crowds, so I was delighted to discover the quieter Musée Marmottan Monet a short metro ride away. One hundred works by Monet occupy the lower ground floor, including the famed Impression, Sunrise that really should be seen in person at least once in a lifetime. I was equally thrilled to see an exhibition dedicated to Berthe Morisot, one of a small handful of successful female Impressionist painters and the only one to exhibit in the 1874 exhibition.

centre into a riot of colour. Rows of stalls sold trays of tomatoes the size of pétanque balls and overflowed with huge bunches of sunflowers and linen tablecloths in all the shades of the rainbow.

I was here to explore the early years of Paul Cézanne, who was born in Aix-en-Provence in 1839. Although he is now considered a post-Impressionist painter, he was very much part of the group in Paris and exhibited with them twice, including in the first exhibition.

Looking around Aix today, you would be forgiven for thinking that Cézanne was their favourite son. Dedicated walking trails and a life-size bronze statue standing opposite the Fontaine de la Rotonde all speak to a legacy that has been firmly embraced by locals.The reality, however, is that while he was alive, Aix-en-Provence treated him with froideur. “Never in my lifetime,” said the then curator of the Musée Granet, Henri Pontier, when Cézanne offered him dozens of canvases for the gallery’s walls.

Cézanne’s atelier sits halfway up a hill on the outskirts of town. Built in 1902 with floor-to-ceiling north-facing windows, it’s been scrupulously preserved; its easels, palettes and all manner of jugs and vases have been THE SHIFTING OF THE LIGHT brought from the family home, the Bastide du Jas de BoufWhile living in the capital, the Impressionists painted the fan. Also among the display is the wooden drawing model wide boulevards, grand buildings and the comings and that the artist used for many of the figures portrayed in goings of life in Haussmann’s new Paris. Degas is even his The Bathers series. From the studio I walked uphill celebrated as the ‘painter of dancto the plateau where Cézanne ers’ for his portraits of ballerinas often stood in front of his easel to paint the triangular peak of Mont at the Paris opera. But the artists “Stalls sold trays of Sainte-Victoire in the distance, also escaped as often as possible, tomatoes the size catching trains to small towns a mountain he painted 87 times of pétanque balls such as Argenteuil, perched on over the course of his life. the banks of the Seine, or disemTo truly understand his impact and overflowed barking at tiny islands such as on the art world, however, you with sunflowers” that of the Grande Jatte. must visit the Bibémus quarries, I followed in their tracks and which is where I met my guide, took a train to Chatou, a little Arthur Carlier, just as the sun island in the Seine north-west of the city. Nicknamed was beginning to dip.These vast fields of ochre sandstone ‘Impressionist Island’, it became a popular spot for artists, were excavated here until the 18th century and were used painters and all manner of Parisians, who gathered for to construct the town’s grand mansions, leaving behind swimming, boating and merrymaking in the guinguettes tall, angular, oddly shaped slabs of golden rock. (open-air café-bars) that peppered the riverbanks. One “The Bibémus quarries were a great playground for of the most popular was the Maison Fournaise, which Cézanne because of the colours.The yellows of the stone inspired Renoir’s celebrated Luncheon of the Boating Party. contrasted against the green of the vegetation and the blue The restaurant still stands today, and as I sat on the terrace of the sky,” explained Arthur. enjoying lunch beneath its candy cane-striped awning, it Cézanne only discovered the quarries late in life, and was all too easy to imagine the carefree summer days of it’s the works that he produced here, such as The Quarry at Bibémus, that saw him shift from Impressionism to the the late 19th century, filled with chatter and laughter.

Just 15 minutes away by train, where the Seine joins early stages of Cubism. the Oise, is the town of Argenteuil, once a favourite with “Saying that Cézanne was an Impressionist is both true well-heeled Parisians for its summer regattas and chic and false,” said Arthur. “It’s true because he was part of restaurants. Monet was so enamoured with the bucolic the group of Impressionists at one point, but it’s false lifestyle that he moved here with his family in 1871 and because he did something else; he went further than his stayed for six years. He welcomed regular visitors during contemporaries did.” this time, including Sisley, Renoir and Manet, and the As we prepared to leave, we stopped at the final viewartists would often paint together in the garden. Today, ing platform on the marked trail to watch the sun begin Monet’s Swiss chalet-style house is a museum dedicated to set over Mont Sainte-Victoire. The golden evening to the artist’s time in Argenteuil and holds a replica of light shone softly on the limestone peak, giving the the floating studio that he created from a small rowboat. bleached rocks a dreamy pink hue. Shadows formed From here it was time to head south, to trace the within the quarries, creating new shapes and angles, life of another of the movement’s iconic figures. My slowly darkening the stone. Once again it was the light arrival in Aix-en-Provence, the final stop on my jour- shaping and changing the landscape, creating a new ney, coincided with market day transforming the town canvas that was just waiting to be captured. ⊲

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more favourite haunts of the Impressionists

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After spending a year in the Saint-Paul Asylum in Provence, Van Gogh discharged himself and moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, a small village just 30km from Paris. His brother, Théo, arranged for Dr Paul Gachet to look after him, and Van Gogh’s painting of the physician is still one of his most revered. The doctor’s house has been preserved, with his pharmaceutical bottles and jars left on display; you can even see the red table that featured in his portrait.

Van Gogh sadly took his own life during the brief time that he lived here, just 70 days after arriving. Yet during this period he painted 78 canvases. A marked trail winds its way through the streets highlighting some of the sites featured in works such as the Church at Auvers (pictured right). The Auberge Ravoux, where Van Gogh lodged, has reopened as a restaurant and closely resembles the dining room where he dined (his favourite table was at the back of the room). Van Gogh’s room (No 5) has remained empty and untouched since 1890 and is open to visitors. A video detailing the artist’s stay in Auvers-sur-Oise plays in the neighbouring attic room.

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Just an hour south of Paris, on the edge of the scenic forests of Fontainebleau, which were once known as one of the greatest hunting grounds in Europe, lies the genteel town of Barbizon. Today the cobbled streets are lined with chic galleries and upmarket restaurants, but back in the mid-19th century, this little village was home to one of the most important artistic centres in Europe.

The Barbizon School of Painters, initially led by Jean-BaptisteCamille Corot, was established here. These were the first landscape artists in France to discover the joys of painting outdoors, an activity that would later come to define the work of the Impressionists.

Its artists would eat, drink and make merry in the Ganne Inn, an auberge in the heart of town that has been transformed into a museum showcasing works by the Barbizon school. Most fascinating are the original drawings and scribblings left on the walls, which are well worth scrutinising. Nearby, the former studio of Barbizon painter Jean-François Millet is also now a museum filled with his paintings (pictured), sketches and his easel.

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3 Deauville & Trouville-sur-Mer

The twin seaside towns of Deauville and Trouville-sur-Mer sit side by side on the Normandy coast, separated only by the narrow Touques river. Nicknamed the ‘Parisian Riviera’, both have long been popular with holidaying Parisians and continue to be fashionable.

The former fishing village of Trouville became one of the first seaside resort towns in France and was the place to be seen in the late 1870s. Witnessing its success, the Duc de Morny established Deauville and built grand hotels, a large casino and a racecourse.

Even today it is still the glitzier of the two, and its streets are lined with Belle Époque villas, half-timbered houses and designer boutiques.

During the heyday of the Belle Époque era, wealthy Parisians travelled by train to these resorts and spent their days parading the boardwalks, sitting under parasols or ‘sea bathing’. They made the perfect subject matter for the Impressionists, including Berthe Morisot, Édouard Manet and Eugène Boudin. Claude Monet, whose work documented life on the coast (pictured), was so enamoured with the Côte Fleurie area that he even spent his honeymoon in Trouville.

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2 Barbizon

WHAT’S ON IN 2024 April 2024 marks 150 years since the ‘Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers, etc’, as the early Impressionists called themselves, held their first exhibition at a Parisian studio on Boulevard des Capucines.

To celebrate its anniversary, exhibitions and events are taking place throughout 2024…

ACROSS NORMANDY

4 Moret-sur-Loing

Continue south from Barbizon and you will hit the ancient fortified town of Moret-sur-Loing, once a strategic outpost on the road to Paris and now a popular weekend break from the capital.

This was the final home of Alfred Sisley, one of the original artists from the first Impressionist exhibition. Sisley moved to Moretsur-Loing in the 1880s and spent the last years of his life painting hundreds of works of the Loing river (pictured) and a series of 14 paintings of the Notre-Dame of the Nativity Church. Despite this huge creative output, however, Sisley lived in poverty and never achieved the same kind of success as his contemporaries during his lifetime. The marked walking trail highlighting his favourite views is a good way to explore the town.

As the cradle of Impressionism, Normandy is pulling out all the stops for the 150th anniversary.

The main event will be the Normandy Impressionist Festival, a six-month-long programme with 150 events taking place in cultural sites and public spaces around the region.

22 Mar–22 Sep; normandieimpressionniste.fr

GIVERNY

One upcoming highlight of the Impressionist Festival is to be found at the Musée des Impressionnismes, where the Impressionism and the Sea exhibition will showcase the works of artists such as Eugène Boudin, Johan Barthold Jongkind, Claude Monet, and Gustave Courbet, exploring their enduring fascination with coastal life. 29 Mar–30 Jun; mdig.fr

ROUEN

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5 Vallée de la Creuse

Despite being one of France’s best kept secrets, the Creuse Valley was a common haunt of the Impressionists. Located in what is now the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, it’s since been nicknamed the ‘Valley of the Painters’, owing to the many artists that discovered the region.

The most famous, of course, was Monet, who spent the spring of 1889 in the village of Fresselines working on a series of paintings (pictured) where the Grand Creuse and Petite Creuse converge.

In Fresselines today, the Espace Monet-Rollinat is a contemporary art space that highlights new artists but also has an exhibition celebrating Monet and the poet-musician Maurice Rollinat, who also called Fresselines home. A 3km-long interpretive trail along the Creuse River invites visitors to walk ‘in the footsteps of Monet’.

Make sure to visit the village of Crozant, perched above the Creuse River. Artists such as Armand Guillaumin, Léon Detroy and Monet travelled here by train and stayed at the Hôtel Lépinat.

Today the hotel is a multimedia museum tracing the history of painting in the Creuse Valley.

Another festival highlight arrives at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, which is staging the James Abbott McNeill Whistler: The Butterfly Effect exhibition. This will feature up to 30 paintings by the American artist alongside works from his Impressionist contemporaries. 24 May– 22 Sep; mbarouen.fr Another one to look out for is La Cathédrale de Lumière, the Rouen Cathedral’s summer sound and light show, which is getting a makeover for the celebrations courtesy

of experimental theatre director Robert Wilson.

Its dates are still to be announced, but it usually runs between June and September.

PARIS

Mark your calendar for a visit to Paris’ Musée d’Orsay, which is planning an immersive experience based on the Impressionists’ first exhibition. The 1874 Immersive Expedition will allow visitors to join Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot and others as they journey back in time to relive the inaugural soiree held in 1874. 26 Mar–11 Aug In advance of the 150th celebrations, the museum is also holding an exhibition devoted to the works that Vincent Van Gogh produced during the final two months of his life, which he spent in Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris. Until 4 Feb. And lastly, following the acquisition of Gustave Caillebotte’s celebrated painting The Boat Party, which was, until recently, one of the last Impressionist masterpieces to remain in private hands, the Musée d’Orsay will be hosting a major exhibition on the trailblazing artist. It is being organised for the autumn of 2024, but dates have yet to be finalised, so keep an eye out. What we do know is that it will feature loans from some of the most respected museums in the ⊲ USA. musee-orsay.fr

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Capital: Paris Population: 68 million Language(s): French Time: GMT +1 International dialling code: +33 Visas: UK nationals can currently stay up to 90 days without a visa within a 180-day period, though a European visa-waiver system (etias.com) is mooted for 2025.

Money: Euro (€), currently around €1.15 to the UK£. ATMs are widely available.

When to go

July–August: Temperatures reach 23°C in Normandy and Paris, rising to 27°C in Provence as the

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lavender fields bloom. August is prime holiday season in France and a busy time.

September–November: Expect fewer visitors and mild weather. Cider festivals take place in Normandy; chestnut festivals in Provence. Many restaurants adopt limited opening from November onwards.

December–March: Christmas markets take place in Normandy, Provence and Paris. January onwards sees fewer visitors and is an ideal time to visit Provence.

April–June: Enjoy mild spring weather.

The D-Day Anniversary is on 6 June.

Health & safety

France is a safe destination, but protests and strikes do occur

and can affect plans. For the latest travel advice, visit the UK’s FCDO site (gov.uk).

Getting there

DFDS (dfds.com) ferries sail from Newhaven to Dieppe, taking four hours and costing £31 one-way per passenger or £83 with a car, although you can hire a car near Dieppe harbour. Ferries also sail from Dover to Dunkirk (no foot passengers allowed) and to Calais.

The Eurostar (eurostar.com) from London’s St Pancras International travels to Paris (from £39 one-way) in 2.5 hours and to Aix-en-Provence (from £86 one-way) in 6.5 hours. The Eurotunnel (eurotunnel.com) has regular daily trains from Folkestone to

Map illustration: Scott Jessop

Vital statistics

Calais from £105 per vehicle one-way for any duration of trip; it takes 35 minutes.

Multiple airlines fly direct to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Marseille Airport (the closest to Aix-en-Provence) from Bristol, London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham and others parts of the UK from around £26 return.

A return flight from London to Marseille produces 236kg of carbon per passenger.

Wanderlust encourages you to offset your travel footprint through a reputable provider. For advice on how to find one, visit wanderlust.co.uk/sustainable-travel.

Getting around

Trains run direct from Paris to Rouen, Vernon-Giverny, Le Havre and Aix-en-Provence. Public transport off the main routes in Normandy is patchy, so driving offers the most flexibility, though the region does have a large cycle path network. Compact and easy-to-navigate Aix-en-Provence is best explored on foot.

Cost of travel

France is one of the more expensive countries in Western Europe for travel. Expect to pay between £17 and £25 for a set menu in an average restaurant. A coffee is around £1.70 and a beer in Paris can cost up to around £6.

Map illustration: Scott Jessop

Accommodation

Chambre d’hôtes de Maia, Moret-sur-Loing, is a delightful B&B run by ex-Parisians Maia and Eric.

Housed in the town where Alfred Sisley once lived, there is currently one guest room that sleeps four but there are plans for two more rooms. Continental breakfast is included. Paris is 50 minutes by train.

Rooms from £100pn. +33 6 37 75 29 60 La Musardière, Giverny, is just a stone’s throw from Monet’s house and was a former convalescent home for women before transforming into a hotel. It’s full of character and has comfortable rooms and a sunny dining terrace. It’s also ideally located for ensuring that you are first in line for Monet’s garden in the morning.

Doubles from £107pn. lamusardiere.fr Hôtel Littéraire Marcel Aymé, Paris, is a fantastic place to stay in the heart of Montmartre. Part of the Hôtels Littéraires, a group of four-star stays dedicated to French authors, this townhouse is themed around the novelist and playwright Marcel Aymé. The 39 rooms are comfortable and quiet. Doubles from £223pn. hotel-litteraire-marcel-ayme.com

Hôtel Littéraire Gustave Flaubert, Rouen, is located in the heart of the medieval city. Dedicated to local author Gustave Flaubert, the convenient location and congenial rooms make this a great choice for discovering Rouen. As with other hotels in this brand, a literary themed walking map is provided to guests. Doubles from £107pn. hotelgustaveflaubert.com Hôtel et Spa Vent d’Ouest, Le Havre, celebrates the city’s history as a major port with its subtle nautical-themed décor.

Located a short walk from the harbour, beach and MuMa museum, the hotel offers a range of welcoming rooms with comfy beds and a very good breakfast. Doubles from £103pn. ventdouest.fr Hôtel Rotonde, Aix-en-Provence, is a contemporary hotel positioned in the heart of town and offers well-appointed rooms of varying sizes. Its ideal location means that the major sights are within walking distance, as is the railway station. A car park is available if needed. Doubles from £140pn. hotel-rotonde.com

Food & drink

In Normandy, specialities include oysters, salt-meadow lamb and apples, all washed down with cider or calvados. Don’t forget Norman cheeses; the four classics to try are Pont-l’Évêque, Livarot, Neufchâtel and Camembert. You can find all kinds of food in Paris, but this is also where croissants first appeared in France. Finally, nothing says Aix-enProvence like a calisson; these diamondshaped sweets date from the 15th century.

Further reading & information

Normandie-tourisme.fr – Normandy Tourism Normandie-impressionniste.fr – Explore the Normandy Impressionist Festival Lehavre-etretat-tourisme.com – Le Havre and Étretat Tourism Honfleur-tourism.co.uk – Honfleur Tourism Visiterouen.com – Rouen Tourism Nouvelle-normandie-tourisme.com – Giverny, Vernon and Les Andelys Tourism Parisjetaime.com – Paris Tourism Aixenprovencetourism.com/en – Aix-en-Provence Tourism Atout-france.fr – Atout France The author travelled with support from Explore France (france.fr/en), Normandy Tourism (en.normandietourisme.fr), Aix-en-Provence Tourism (aixenprovencetourism. com) and Seine & Marne Attractivité (seineetmarnevivreengrand.fr).

FRANCE HIGHLIGHTS Boudin Museum 1 Eugène

Named after the ‘King of Skies’, this museum lies in the former chapel of an Augustine convent and is home to a large collection of Honfleur and Norman landscape paintings. musees-honfleur.fr

2 Jardins d’Étretat

Brave the crowds of the Alabaster Cliffs at these whimsical gardens originally created by Madame Thébault, a friend of Monet. They are home to 150,000 plants, dozens of art installations and fine views over ‘Needle’ rock. etretatgarden.fr

between Giverny and Vernon 3 Cycle

Pedal from Monet’s house in Giverny to the town of Vernon, home to a museum housing a number of works by the painter and his stepdaughter, Blanche Hoschedé Monet.

Don’t miss its collection of works by American artists, including Mary Fairchild MacMonnies Low, who moved here in 1895.

4 The Alabaster coast

Join self-taught landscape artist Sophie Justet for an outdoor painting class. It takes four hours and no experience is needed. Sophie is very patient, ensuring that even beginner artists go home with a painting. boutique.fecamptourisme.com

5 Hôtel de Caumont

Located in the heart of town, the Hôtel de Caumont is a beautiful Baroque-style home with a Versailles-inspired garden and public arts centre that is worth exploring. caumont-centredart.com WANDERLUST RECOMMENDS Sue Roe’s The Private Lives of the Impressionists (Vintage, 2007) is an excellent book detailing the story of these painters and the social changes that took place during their lives.

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Hop around

GREECE’S lesser-known islands with Sunvil

Take your time and discover the slower pleasures of Greece on an island-hopping escape

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TILOS

The route: Kos, Nissyros, Tilos and Rhodes Tilos isn’t far from the tourism heavyweights of Kos and Rhodes, but the difference between them is that on Tilos, nature rules. The first fully energy self-sufficient Greek island, it was also the first to ban hunting back in 1987, allowing its wildlife to flourish (including rare Eleonora’s falcons).

There are only two villages here: seaside Livadia and hilltop Megalo Chorio, which is home to a museum that has on display the bones of dwarf elephants that once roamed here.

Only birdsong interrupts the silence along the island’s 67km of trails, which

Treasure trove (this page) Whitewashed Chora is the main town on Skyros, an isolated Sporades island

pass ruined Crusader castles and country chapels, often ending at lone beaches. Don’t miss the Byzantine monastery of Agios Panteleimonas where falcons soar above the cliffs.

SIFNOS

The route: Athens, Sifnos, Folegandros and Milos In many ways the perfect Cycladic island, Sifnos charms everyone who lands here. Think sugar-soft sandy beaches, elegant white villages and churches with blue bubble domes – some on mountaintops, others teetering over the waves. Ancient, recently restored trails meander over rolling hills and fertile valleys, seeking

Shutterstock; Sunvil

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he Greek islands are more popular than ever these days, and with good reason.

A combination of ancient history, traditional villages set in picturesque landscapes and the infectious Greek love of life make them hard to resist – and that’s before you even mention the beaches. But rather than follow the crowds to Santorini or Mykonos, let Sunvil, with its 48 years of experience and in-depth local knowledge of Greece’s islands, create the perfect handcrafted escape to some of the lesser-known gems.

out whitewashed Venetian dovecotes, chapels and the island’s 50-plus towers – relics of a sophisticated signalling system dating back more than 2,500 years. Sifnos is famous for its pottery and food, particularly soups and stews slow-cooked in locally made clay vessels. Because there is no airport, this beautiful island never gets too overwhelmed, and you can count on Sunvil’s decades of experience to arrange the best locally owned beachfront accommodation.

AMORGOS

The route: Santorini, Amorgos, Astypalea and Kos Calm and pretty ‘Old Greece’ lingers on ruggedly beautiful Amorgos. The most remote of the Cyclades islands, its traditional spirit remains intact, down to the working donkeys, making it well worth spending the few extra hours getting there. Beaches are lapped by seas so clear that film director Luc Besson used Amorgos to shoot his free-diving flick The Big Blue. From capital Chora you can walk to one of the most astonishing monasteries in Greece, Hozoviotissa, built in 1088 AD into a sheer cliff high over the sea. The two ports, Katapola and picturesque Aegialis, where Sunvil’s holidays are based, were long linked only by boat or a spectacular mountain trail, but are now connected by a road and bus.

LEMNOS

The route: Thessaloniki, Lemnos, Lesvos, Chios, Samos and Rhodes Sunvil offers an extended islandhopping holiday that includes Lemnos, one of several large islands in the north-east Aegean sea. Greece’s eighth-largest island figures in plenty of ancient tales involving the Amazons (female warriors), Argonauts and the Trojan War, so perhaps unsurprisingly archaeologists have found one of the oldest settlements in Europe here at Poliochni. Myrina, named after the Queen of the Amazons, is the island capital, a bustling, old-fashioned Greek town set beneath a Venetian castle on a rocky seaside promontory with spectacular views. There are excellent sandy beaches nearby and lots more are found dotted along Lemnos’s 260km coast. Indeed, there is much to explore, including the ouzo-making village of Kontias and a mini desert at Pachies Ammoudies.

SKYROS

The route: Athens and Skyros If you’re visiting Athens and want to contrast the buzzing city with slower island life – one with more sheep than tourists – look no further than Skyros, an isolated Sporades island linked to the capital by small plane.

Whitewashed town Chora is filled

Sail away (this page; clockwise from bottom right) Villas and Neoclassical houses line the waterfront on Spetses; beautiful Amorgos is the most remote of the Cyclades islands; the abandoned village of Mikro Chorio on Tilos is full of historic splendour; mythical Lemnos boasts 260km of glistening coastline and a colourful harbour

with shops and tavernas, and it forms a picture-perfect swirl under a lofty Venetian castle; there is also an excellent museum on Skyros’ unique culture. Below Chora stretches a series of long sandy beaches dotted with family-owned hotels. Boats travel to its remotest shores, and Sunvil can arrange a hire car for touring Skyros’ untouched landscapes. Explore from the wooded north to the wild south, where the poet Rupert Brooke is buried; you’ll also see Skyrian ponies – descendants of the horses on the Parthenon marbles – still roaming.

SPETSES

The route: Athens, Hydra and Spetses As two of the closest islands to Athens, Hydra and Spetses are perfect for combining with a city break. Both played key roles in the 19th-century Greek War of Independence, especially Spetses, which was home to Bouboulina Laskarina, considered the world’s first female admiral. Her house is now a charming museum. Pinewooded Spetses has been a popular spot for wealthy Athenians since the early 1900s and has a different vibe from other islands. Neoclassical houses and villas circle the waterfront and yachts bob near the old harbour.

Cars are banned but horse-drawn carriages, bicycles, mopeds and boats will get you to the beaches.

FEELING INSPIRED?

Plan your tailored trip to Greece: www.sunvil.co.uk/holidays/greece

WIN! A £750 SUNVIL VOUCHER

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Experience your own Sunvil getaway with a £750 voucher valid for travel on any new holiday with Sunvil and GIC The Villa Collection. To enter and be in with a chance to win, visit: wanderlust.co.uk/competitions

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PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

Let the light

SHINE

The legacy of slavery still echoes across Sierra Leone, but discovering its history brings more than solace to the visitors and pilgrims to Freetown – it offers hope Words Peter Moore

REPRO OP SUBS ART PRODUCTION CLIENT

THE PATH TO FREEDOM

That night, to lighten the mood, we headed to Lumley Beach, a 5km stretch of golden sand lined by lively bars, restaurants and clubs on the northernmost part of the Freetown Peninsula. We arrived to a cacophony of duelling ⊲

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his is where they heated the branding by the people who were held captive here. “With what?” irons,” said Osman, my guide, pointing Osman chuckled, giving a mournful grimace. to the remains of a fireplace. “When the There were reminders of Bunce’s horrifying past everyletters were red hot, they’d push them into where we looked: the graveyard where masters and enslaved your chest, right here, above your heart – people had been separated even in death; a dark, cramped R-A-C … the Royal African Company.” chamber where “troublesome” captives were thrown withWe were standing within the walls of Bunce Island, a out food or water; a freshwater well reserved solely for those former slave-trading fort 30km up the Sierra Leone River who ran the fort (the captives washed in saltwater). from capital Freetown. It was built in 1670 and roughly It would be tempting to just abandon Bunce Island named after Captain John Bence, a London merchant and let nature cleanse it of its troubling past; however, for and notorious investor in places such as this. Inside, it was a large percentage of African Americans in particular, this dank and oppressive; the dark walls soaked up all sound tiny isle was the last place that their ancestors stood on and there was no birdsong. The only colour was a splash African soil, and hence a vital link to who they are. of muted orange from a stand of Barbados lilies near the The American historian Joseph Opala once declared entrance to a yard where enslaved Africans were once left to Bunce Island “the most important historic site in Africa the elements, naked and chained. for the United States”. He studied No one is sure how the name the links between the descend“Sierra Leone morphed from Bence to Bunce – a ants of those ferried across the mispronunciation, perhaps, by the Middle Passage and their West is the most frequent African raiders who kept it wellAfrican origins for over 30 years result for DNA tests of stocked with captives. Four separate and discovered that Sierra Leone is London-based companies operated the most frequent result for DNA African Americans” on this site down the years, but the tests of African Americans. most notorious were the Royal AfriActor Isaiah Washington, civil can Company (1678–1728), which introduced the practice rights leader Andrew Young and even the Black Panther of branding, and the Company of John & Alexander Ander- himself, the late Chadwick Boseman, all trace their roots son (1784–1807), which increased the turnover of Bunce back to here. So too can the Gullah people, who scatter Island exponentially. By the time the transatlantic slave the Atlantic coast between North Carolina and Florida; trade was abolished in the US in 1808, more than 30,000 DNA has shown that they are the direct descendants of the kidnapped and abused souls had crossed its gates.

Mende and Vai farmers from Sierra Leone’s ‘Rice Coast’, Osman led me up the path that the newly arrived captives who were kidnapped for their prized rice-growing skills. would have walked, shuffling in chains, terrified and In recognition of this, the Sierra Leone governexhausted. A fisherman in a pirogue tended his nets just ment created the Sierra Leone-Diaspora Citizenship offshore. He was focused on the task at hand, not us; not the programme in 2019. If you can prove a link with Sierra island. He kept his back to it, a monster over his shoulder. Leone through your DNA, you can receive citizenship.

We passed a hand-painted sign that had been nailed I spoke with Dr Gina Paige, co-founder and president of onto one of the ancient baobabs: ‘Welcome to Bunce African Ancestry, a US company helping people trace their Island.’ There were initials and names carved into the heritage. They have the largest database of African DNA gnarled trunk below, and I asked if they had been written in the world, and the Sierra Leone government insists that anyone applying for citizenship use their tests. She told me that while a passport was motivation enough for some, the main driver was the chance to find out who they are.

“African Americans are the original victims of identity theft,” she explained. “When you get this piece of your identity back, you can’t help but feel more complete.”

African Ancestry also organises what they call ‘Family Reunion’ tours, which include a naming and citizenship ceremony as well as a visit to Bunce Island. Osman pointed to the spot where these visitors perform a unique ritual.

“They dress in white and offer a prayer to their ancestors,” he said. “Some of them are angry, most are in tears.”

The spot lies just below the ‘Gate of No Return’, the last place their ancestors’ feet touched African soil before being herded onto cramped ships and a life of hardship and enslavement. I gave the gate one last glance and shuddered, eager to look away but curious at what other tales of redemption and resilience I might find in Sierra Leone.

Previous spread: African Ancestry; this spread: African Ancestry; Peter Moore; Shutterstock

Reckoning with history (clockwise from top) Established in 1670, Bunce Island was one of more than 60 slave-trading forts scattered across the West African coast; even in the graveyard of Bunce Island the tombstones of Europeans were segregated from those of the enslaved Africans who were kept there; remnants of the British guns installed to protect the fort, which was frequently attacked; Osman picks his way past buttress roots to uncover the dark secrets of Bunce Island fort; a warm welcome to a chilling site; (previous spread) the pilgrims on African Ancestry’s Family Reunion tours undertake their ritual dressed all in white

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SIERRA LEONE Bringing down the walls (clockwise from top left) The quiet shores of Bunce Island barely even hint at the tragic stories that unfolded there; all slave-trading forts along the West African coast were fortified enclaves, typically built with high walls and manned by companies of privateers; a group of visitors trace their ancestry on African Heritage’s Family Reunion tour; Osman strides ahead; slave trading slowly ceased on Bunce Island after the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in the UK (1807) and the US (1808), but it wasn’t until 1840 that the fort was abandoned

sound systems, hawkers selling grilled meats, and roving kekehs (tuk tuks) picking up passengers in search of the coolest spot on the strip. Settling on the Oshawa Hotcake Beach Bar, I went to fetch some beers and returned to find Osman dancing to a new track by local rapper Drizilik, known for his musical collaboration with British actor Idris Elba (who has Sierra Leonean heritage and citizenship).

“You know, not all our history is dark in Sierra Leone,” Osman grinned, energised from his time on the dancefloor.

“Where do you think the name Freetown comes from?”

The story goes that Portuguese navigator Pedro de Sintra spotted the mouth of the river on which the city now lies in 1462; he called it Serra Leôa (Lion Mountains) because he thought the peaks that rose up from the harbour looked like lions. Freetown didn’t get its current title until English abolitionist Granville Sharp selected the site in 1787 to become a haven for enslaved Africans who had been freed but still lived in destitution in England. The name stuck.

“Did you notice what the suburb we passed through to get here was called?” continued Osman, warming to his theme: “Aberdeen!” There was also a Leicester, a Kent and a Gloucester. Not only did the city take its name from its newly emancipated citizens, but its suburbs bore the memories of the British cities that they had left behind.

The next day, Osman was determined to show me the other side of his country’s history; it also gave me a chance to get a feel for life here. Freetown shares the characteristics of many other cities in West Africa: it is dusty, chaotic

Alamy; African Ancestry; Peter Moore

“Freetown was the ‘Athens of West Africa’, with a literacy rate higher than that of England” and irresistibly vibrant. We passed women in brightly coloured skirts selling delicious-looking pineapples from bowls resting on their heads and men wheeling unlikely items – from sofas to chest freezers – through a tangle of motorcycles, kekehs, poda podas (minivans) and buses.

Osman’s first stop was the ruins of Fourah Bay College, down by the Queen Elizabeth II Water Quay in Cline Town. Founded in 1827, this was the first European-style university in West Africa, and it remained the only one for more than 100 years. Back then, Freetown was regarded as the ‘Athens of West Africa’, with a literacy rate higher than that of England; its college alumni included Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Anglican bishop of West Africa; Sir Salako Benka-Coker, first Sierra Leonean chief justice of the Supreme Court; and Sir Henry Lightfoot Boston, the first African governor general of Sierra Leone.

Next, we saw the golden statue of Thomas Peters, the defacto founder of the settlement of Freetown and the man credited with giving the city its name. Born in Nigeria, then enslaved and taken to America, his statue stands on a traffic island in the middle of Wallace Johnson Street atop a black marble plinth listing the great and the good.

Slowly, we made our way to the waterfront and the city’s most uplifting story. It was here that we saw the Old Wharf Steps that lead up from Government Wharf; these were built in 1818 and are widely known as the ‘Freedom Steps’.

“This was where those who had been liberated would ⊲ first set foot on Freetown soil,” explained Osman.

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The staircase lies adjacent to King Jimmy Market, scoured the Atlantic in the 1800s hunting for illegal slavers, a jumble of tin shacks and narrow alleyways where hawkers rescuing their captives and bringing them back to Sierra sell fruit, fish and poyo (palm wine) under a sea of umbrel- Leone. Much like everything here, the gate was a history las. It tumbles down to a harbour, of sorts, where wooden I knew little about, yet it opened the door to endless stories. boats disgorge passengers from all points up the river.

Osman pointed out the route that the freed people would TO THE DEAR DEPARTED have taken from the waterfront to the King’s Yard where I wasn’t sure if the gateway’s current anonymity was a good they were checked over medically, given documents and or a bad thing. After walking through it, most of the newly could then enter the city, passing through ‘Freedom Gate’. freed arrivals had headed to Freetown’s famous Cotton In making the case for the gateway’s inclusion on UNES- Tree, Osman told me. Legend has it that they spotted CO’s World Heritage list in 2012, it the towering kapok from the bay and was likened to the Statue of Liberty as made their way up there to pray and “The Cotton Tree a symbol of ‘freedom, human rights, sing hymns as part of a thanksgiving democracy and opportunity’. It was service.We picked our way to it along stood over 70m certainly a heartening sight when cracked pavements, passing streethigh and was compared with Bunce Island, where food hawkers and the intriguingly said to be over hope had disappeared for so many. titled ‘Adventure Hair Salon.’

After the slave trade was ended, “Back then, this would have all been 400 years old” bush,” Osman explained en route. the compound was turned into a The tree was as impressive as permanent medical facility. Today this is the entrance to the ophthalmology department of I had imagined. It stood over 70m high and was said to the Connaught Hospital, though the original stone gateway be over 400 years old. It towered over the buildings that remains, pocked and darkened with age. My attention was surrounded it and formed a roundabout of sorts where drawn to a banner draping its doors that declared, ‘Love Siaka Stevens Street meets Pademba Road and Independyour eyes’, while beside it stood a woman in a leopard-print ence Avenue. Even to this day, it was still a focal point for shawl selling sandwiches made with Zwan luncheon meat. life here, as well as being a symbol of the city’s journey.

Engraved onto a stone atop the gate was the date of its Across the road lies Sierra Leone National Museum and construction in Roman numerals (1817). Below, a more a busy park that was scattered with gatherings of amputees modern plaque honoured the West Africa Squadron, who from a civil war that ended 20 years ago, as well as office ⊲

African Ancestry; Peter Moore

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African Ancestry; Peter Moore

City of enlightenment (this page; clockwise from top right) Fourah Bay College was the first university of Western education in sub-Saharan Africa, but it burnt down during the Sierra Leone Civil War; African Ancestry takes its pilgrims to Bunce Island to see where their ancestors last set foot on African soil; Osman tells the tale of West Africa Squadron, who hunted slavers in the 19th century; King Jimmy Market; Osman at the Gate of No Return; the Cotton Tree was the heart of Freetown before it fell; the statue of Thomas Peters; Osman explores his roots; (left page) Freedom Gate is still in use as an entrance to the Connaught Hospital

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Peter Moore

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Holy matters (this page; clockwise from top) The St John’s Maroon Methodist Church was founded by Jamaican Maroons, descendants of formerly enslaved Africans who had surrendered during the war with the British colonial rulers of Jamaica and arrived in Sierra Leone via Nova Scotia, setting up what is now known as the district of Maroon Town; much of the timber for the church’s beams, pews and windows was recuperated from the former slave ships used to transport the Maroons to Sierra Leone; Alieu Sesay (not the footballer!); the church still retains a small band of worshippers; (right page) the Cotton Tree in better times

workers on their break. A colony of fruit bats rested among the tree’s mighty boughs, squawking and squabbling, waiting for nightfall when they would fly off in search of food.

Not long after I left the country, I learnt that the Cotton Tree had fallen during a storm, causing a national outcry (see below). Looking back, I could see why its loss had been felt so keenly across the country. Damon Haley, an entrepreneur from Los Angeles who had traced his DNA through African Ancestry to the Mende of Sierra Leone, later told me that this was the place where he had heard the echoes of his ancestors the strongest.

Our final stop was the St John’s Maroon Methodist Church, which was built in the early 1800s by Jamaican Maroons, descendants of enslaved Africans who had freed themselves from the Colony of Jamaica. This small, simple whitewashed structure sits in the heart of Maroon Town, on the corner of Percival and Liverpool Street, surrounded by tropical plants. It felt like an oasis in a chaotic part of the city.

The church appeared closed, but Osman rapped on the door and it was eventually opened by a man in a traditional shirt made from kpokpo (a thick, heavy cotton cloth).

“I am Mr Alieu Sesay,” he announced with a grin. “But not the famous footballer!”

Alieu was the church’s custodian and showed us in, explaining the building’s history and that of the Maroons, many of whom had been stone masons and metal workers.

“The roof was built with wood from the slave ships. Once they’d brought the people home, the ships were torn down and salvaged,” he said. This wood also accounted for two of the pews, the windows and an incongruous chandelier.

The church was cool and calm inside. It also seemed an apt metaphor for Sierra Leone itself: a place ravaged by slavery but rebuilt from the bones of its demise. Yet, for a country so inescapably bound to its history, from the darkness manages to emerge something bright and hopeful.

I thought about this more later, after I had returned home to find a video from Damon Haley, who had filmed his ritual on Bunce Island. I watched as he and his fellow pilgrim, Tom Bundy, stood before the Gate of No Return.

“This is where our ancestors began their… tortured voyage and had the strength to preserve and to bring us into existence,” said Tom, looking directly into the camera.

“All those we lost between here and where we are now, we have brought back with us and they are at peace.”

“History and time shine a light on all dark places,” interjected Damon. “And on Bunce Island today, we got lit up.”

Peter Moore

Rest in peace, Cotton Tree At 9.40pm on 23 May 2023, the unthinkable happened: Freetown’s 400-year-old kapok tree was felled by a storm. The Cotton Tree, as it was known, was more than just a local landmark, it was regarded as a symbol of liberty by the formerly enslaved people who founded the city.

During the storm it was stripped of all of its branches by torrential rains and high winds, with only the base of its enormous trunk left standing. President Julius Maada Bio described it as a “great loss” and told reporters: “There is no stronger symbol of our national story than the Cotton Tree, a physical embodiment of where we come from as a country… Our challenge is to rekindle, nurture and develop that powerful African spirit it for so long represented.”

The tree was once visible from all parts of the city, and Freetown’s chief administrator, Festus Kallay, declared the “skyline will hardly be the same again”. Hundreds of Freetown residents gathered at the site to pray and mourn its loss.

Legend had it that a tragedy would befall the nation if the tree fell. Influential pastor Francis Mambu, who heads the Faith Healing Bible Church, was quick to blame wizards and witches, who he said used its roots for witchcraft. Calmer heads prevailed though, and as Sierra Leone’s history shows, the country has a knack for building from a place of tragedy.

President Bio has vowed to create a monument on the site that will bear testament to the great Cotton Tree’s place in Sierra Leone’s history. ⊲

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Capital: Freetown Population: 7.5 million Languages: English; you’ll also hear Krio, an English-based creole widely spoken across Sierra Leone. The country has 23 living languages, with Mende (south) and Temne (north) dominant in rural areas.

Time: GMT International dialling code: +232 Visas: UK nationals can get a visa on arrival in Sierra Leone for US$80 (£62), which

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must be paid in US dollars (cash), or apply in advance for an e-visa (https://evisa.sl).

Money: Leone (SLL), currently SLL25,395 to the UK£. While some restaurants and hotels accept credit cards, cash is king.

There are a few ATMs in the main centres but they are not widely available elsewhere.

When to go

Sierra Leone is hot and humid year-round, with temperatures ranging from the low- to mid-20°s (ºC) on

the coast and the high 20°s and above inland. The country has two seasons.

May–October: Wet season. It is difficult to reach the more remote parts of the country at this time; the tourist industry usually closes down or scales back.

November–April: Dry season.

Health & safety

Proof of immunisation against yellow fever is required for entry into Sierra Leone. You should also be up to

Map illustration: Scott Jessop; image: Peter Moore

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Vital statistics

date with hepatitis A, diphtheria, tetanus and typhoid vaccines, and consider jabs for hepatitis B and rabies. Malaria is widespread, and as well as a course of prophylactics, you should take precautions against being bitten. Sierra Leone is a relatively safe country, but beware of pickpockets in busy areas such as markets and in the bars along Lumley Beach.

Getting there

There are no direct flights to Sierra Leone from the UK. Air France (airfrance.co.uk) flies from London Heathrow via Paris to the new Freetown International Airport in Lungi in just under nine hours and 45 minutes; this costs from around £561 return.

Brussels Airlines (brusselsairlines.com) also flies from Heathrow via Brussels from around £541 return.

A return flight from London to Freetown via Paris produces 701kg of carbon per passenger.

Wanderlust encourages you to offset your travel footprint through a reputable provider. For advice on how to find one, visit wanderlust.co.uk/sustainable-travel.

Getting around

Because Freetown is pressed between the mountains and the sea, its airport lies on the opposite side of the Sierra Leone River, in Lungi. Sea Coach Express (seacoachexpress.com; £35pp) has the fastest and most efficient transfer service to the airport; its terminal lies below the Aberdeen Bridge. You could also catch the ferry from Tagrin, 14 km south of the airport, to the Kissy Ferry Terminal in Freetown for £1.55. It’s crowded and takes longer, but it’s an instant and immersive introduction to life in Sierra Leone.

Cost of travel

Map illustration: Scott Jessop; image: Peter Moore

You’ll save time and money by organising activities, guides, stays and transport with local operators. The author used IPC Travel (ipctravel.com) to visit Freetown, Bunce Island, Banana Island, Tiwai Island and Bureh and Tokeh beaches, guided by the irrepressible Mr Osman S Kamara.

Accommodation

Tasso Ecotourism Project, Tasso Island, offers rustic cabins overlooking a pretty river beach and serves hearty food prepared by locals.

Tasso is only 2km from Bunce Island, so tours there can also be arranged. Chalet doubles from £15.50pn. tassoisland.org

Toma Boutique Hotel, Freetown, is an oasis of calm among the chaos of the capital’s centre. The rooms are decorated in tasteful African motifs and the attached restaurant is highly rated. The bar is also a popular hangout for the city’s glitterati, including Idris Elba when he’s in town. B&B doubles from £200pn. tomaboutique.com Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Freetown, has banda-style rooms in the heart of the reserve. There aren’t too many lodges on Earth where your alarm clock is the sound of wild chimpanzees calling out to each other. Roundhouse doubles from £70pn. tacugama.com/ecolodges The Place at Tokeh Beach, Freetown, has clean, modern lines and understated sophistication. Its beachfront restaurant is equally stylish and is the perfect place to watch the sun sink below the horizon. B&B doubles from £122pn. stayattheplace.com

Food & drink

Rice is the staple of Sierra Leone and it is served with everything. Seafood is abundant and fresh, and barbecued skewers of beef, mutton or chicken are a popular late-night street-food snack. For a sophisticated take on local specialities in Freetown, try Cole Street Guesthouse (colestreetguesthouse.com) in the Murray Town neighbourhood. Here you’ll find Salone favourites like huntu (steamed fish balls) and cassava bread, which look as good as they taste.

Further reading & information

Sierra Leone (Bradt Guides, 2017) by Katrina Manson and James Knight – Invaluable advice on understanding and exploring the country. www.africanancestry.com – Find out if you are eligible for Sierra Leone citizenship.

The author travelled with support from Sierra Leone National Tourism Board (https://ntb.gov.sl)

HIGHLIGHTS Tacugama Chimpanzee 1Sanctuary

This sanctuary for rescued and orphaned chimpanzees sits on the edge of Freetown and is a great place to meet Sierra Leone’s national symbol, the endangered western chimpanzee. tacugama.com

2 Outamba-Kilimi NP

Tucked on the northern border with Guinea, this is Sierra Leone’s oldest national park, home to chimps, hippos and elephants. Locals also talk of an elusive leopard here.

3 Lumley Beach

This 5km stretch of golden sand on Freetown’s coast is the city’s playground. Outdoor gym and football pitch by day, its restaurants, bars and booming speakers take over at night.

4 Tiwai Island

The rest of the world feels far away on this tiny nature reserve on the Moa River. Take a pre-dawn canoe trip to spot wildlife as the forest lights up.

5 Bureh Beach

Backed by mountains and fringed by palm trees, this pristine, laid-back beach is a great place to learn to surf.

6 Banana Islands

Reached via a wooden boat from the fishing village of Kent, these islands were once a staging post for slavers, whose ruins now scatter the jungle.

dance performances 7 Cultural

Traditional life is still strong in rural villages like Kambama, near Tiwai Island, where you’ll likely be greeted with a goboi performance – a masked dancer covered in dry grass.

WANDERLUST RECOMMENDS The PBS documentary Gullah Roots touches on the history of Bunce Island and those stolen from Sierra Leone. pbs.org/video/gullah-roots-tpxcfm

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PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

TOKYO ON TWO FEET

Japan’s capital may seem big on the outside but its cluster of eclectic neighbourhoods make it one of the world’s truly walkable cities

Shutterstock

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For more information, go to: tokyotokyo.jp

othing quite prepares you for the scale and wonder of Tokyo, Japan’s capital and a city of overwhelming superlatives. One of the largest, densest and safest urban areas in the world, Tokyo has the biggest (and most punctual) urban rail network, the most Michelin-starred restaurants, and a wealth of cultural and architectural riches few other cities can match. A compelling blend of the traditional and the futuristic, Tokyo dazzles with electric nightlife, world-beating art and architecture, incense-wreathed temples and shrines, offbeat subcultures and a seemingly endless well of creativity.

In short, there’s nowhere else in the world like it.

Japan’s capital is within easy reach of the UK thanks to direct flights into Tokyo’s two major airports, Narita (NRT) and Haneda (HND). British Airways, JAL and ANA connect Heathrow non-stop with Tokyo in 13.5– 14 hours (hours can vary). Some of the fastest stopover flights – starting at around 15–16 hours, and often far cheaper – are operated by Finnair, Air France, KLM, Swiss, Lufthansa and Air China and many more airlines, with connections from regional UK airports.

The best mode of transport when you arrive in Tokyo is... yourself! For all its epic scale and sci-fi stylings, Tokyo is a superb city for strolling

thanks to its compact and accessible neighbourhoods, vibrant street life, scenic parks, gardens and waterfront areas, cultural attractions and countless places to stop for delicious food and drink. By exploring its characterful neighbourhoods at walking pace, you won’t miss a beat.

Don’t worry about getting lost – in Tokyo, that’s usually how you make the most unforgettable discoveries.

And, wherever you end up, you’re never far from a subway or train.

Whisking you from one walkable neighbourhood to the next, Tokyo’s public transport system is one of the most extensive and efficient in the world. In fact, many train and subway stations are attractions in themselves, home to glitzy department stores, malls and hundreds of restaurants.

Although you might feel bewildered at times, Tokyo’s train and subway system is easy to navigate thanks to English signage and announcements.

Google Maps is a helpful tool, too, with up-to-the-minute public transport information including route-planning suggestions and even tips for which subway exits to use, making travelling around on subway lines and urban trains a breeze.

Taxis, though relatively expensive, can be useful for short trips, and will always get you back to your accommodation after midnight, when subway trains stop running. ⊲

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CENTRAL TOKYO

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okyo’s heart is home to some of the city’s most prestigious and characterful neighbourhoods, from the shopping boulevards of Ginza to the subcultures of Akihabara.

GINZA

Bavarian sausages at Ginza Lion, Japan’s oldest beer hall, or coffee and cake at Café Paulista – Tokyo’s oldest kissaten, opened in 1910.

AKIHABARA

Long known as an electronics district, ‘Akiba’ is synonymous with Japan’s otaku subcultures – hobbyists obsessed with anime, manga, cosplay and video games. It’s a great place to explore the more weird and wonderful side of contemporary Tokyo. A short hop from Akihabara Station is Akihabara Radio Kaikan, nine floors of geeky retail covering every fantasy and sci-fi franchise imaginable. Akihabara’s main drag, Chuo-dori, runs north–south, a valley of tall neon-lit billboards in kaleidoscopic colours. For a nostalgia hit, stroll over to Super Potato Retro-kan, where you can buy vintage consoles and play on throwback arcade machines from

Eclectic heritage (clockwise from top) Tokyo’s Ginza district at night; inspired by Indian architecture, Tsukiji Hongan-ji replaced an earlier temple levelled by the 1923 quake; Kabuki shows have played at the Kabukiza theatre since the late 19th century

your childhood. For the latest games, or to try your luck at a crane game, check out the Taito Station arcade.

For more otaku fun, Mandarake Complex is the place to go for manga and figurine shopping. Getting your geek on is hungry work, so duck into one of Akiba’s curry restaurants, such as Hinoya Curry, to refuel.

NIHONBASHI

Tokyo’s centre during the Edo period (1603–1868), this commercial district takes its name from Nihonbashi (Japan Bridge), an old stone bridge adorned with kirin (mythical beasts) that was once the point from which all distances to the capital were measured. Stroll north from the bridge and you’ll find Japan’s oldest department store, Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi – the first iteration of which opened as a fabric shop in 1673 – its entrance guarded by bronze lions. The COREDO Muromachi

Map illustration: Scott Jessop; images: Alamy; Shutterstock

One of Japan’s most upscale neighbourhoods, Ginza is famous for luxury shopping, fine dining, and sipping coffee and tea at a traditional Japanese kissaten (café).

Start at lantern-adorned Kabukiza, Tokyo’s top Kabuki theatre. From there, head north-west to the muchphotographed Ginza street crossing.

It’s overlooked by grande-dame department stores such as Wako, with its 1930s Neo-Renaissance clock tower, and Ginza Mitsukoshi, dating from 1930. Browse that store’s depachika (basement food court), then ascend to the intriguing 9th-floor Art Aquarium, where thousands of goldfish dance in illuminated glass tanks. Stroll down Chuo-dori (pedestrianised in the afternoons on weekends and bank holidays), where you’ll find the grand flagship stores of luxury brands. Shop till you nearly drop, then recharge with beer and

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complex opposite is a showcase for Japanese crafts such as chefs’ knives, sake and lacquerware. Admire the treasures of the Mitsui Memorial Museum, housing a collection of superb Japanese art and artefacts, then seek out the shrine of Fukutokujinja, dedicated to the god of prosperity. Aptly, it’s only a short walk to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, open to the public on trading days. Stop en route at Mikado Coffee for coffeeflavoured soft-serve ice cream, or at one of the izakaya (pubs) favoured by traders at happy hour.

TSUKIJI

On the banks of the Sumida River, the old industrial district of Tsukiji is most famous for the vast seafood market that operated here until 2018.

Although the wholesale auction

and tuna auctions have moved elsewhere, the Tsukiji Outer Market remains, a warren of narrow lanes home to market vendors, food stalls and seafood eateries. Come in the morning – many places close after lunch. For kitchen supplies, check out Tsukiji Hitachiya, or for a crash course in cooking sushi rice, book a workshop at Tsukiji Cooking. On the edge of the outer market is Namiyoke-jinja, Tsukiji’s shrine. Note the huge, fierce masks on display, used in a lion dance festival held every June. En route back to Tsukiji Station, visit Tsukiji Hongan-ji, a Buddhist temple built in the 1930s in an eye-catching Indian style.

KAGURAZAKA

From Iidabashi Station, climb the sloping main street into this former

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pleasure quarter. The cobbled alleys of Kagurazaka were full of Geisha teahouses, of which a handful remain alongside restaurants, bars, craft shops and speciality stores.

Zero in on Kukuli for traditional hand-woven textiles, and Rakuzan for roasted green tea. One of the most atmospheric lanes to wander is Hyogo Yokocho, a cobbled alley lined with discreet inns and upscale restaurants. Kagurazaka also boasts hidden gems such as Cave-Ayumi Gallery, showcasing art from Japan and overseas. The nearby shrine of Akagi-jinja, remodelled by superstar architect Kengo Kuma, has an intriguing modern design. Heading south-east, stop for traditional sweets at historic Baikatei, or al-fresco drinks at Canal Café, overlooking what was once a castle moat. ⊲

City of lights (this page, from top) Manga-adorned billboards loom over Akihabara; Tsukiji’s Outer Market; lion masks guard the shrine of Namiyoke-jinja; learn to make sushi in Tsukiji; (opposite page) Ginza’s busy street crossings rival those in Shibuya

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NORTHERN TOKYO

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ess frequented by tourists, the neighbourhoods of northern Tokyo are ideal for getting off the beaten track at uncrowded temples, in quirky museums and on relaxing riverside paths.

IKEBUKURO Thrumming with people and commerce, this district north of Shinjuku has a quirky personality all its own. From Ikebukuro Station, walk east to the vast Sunshine City complex, the perfect place for some Tokyo-style urban hiking. There’s so much to discover – a 60th-floor observation deck, a penguin-bustling aquarium, Japan’s largest Pokémon store and Namjatown, a quirky theme park featuring an alley dedicated to desserts. Getting lost is half the fun.

Ikebukuro has gained a reputation as a place for female otaku – check out the wigs and cosplay gear at Acos, then carry on along Otome Road to Animate, another otaku superstore. Home to a chunk of Tokyo’s Chinese diaspora, Ikebukuro is also great for authentic Chinese food. Wind your way west

to tiny Yong Xiang Sheng Jian Guan for soup-filled Shanghai dumplings, and Yang the 2nd for spicy Sichuan dandan noodles, close to the angular glass facade of the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. Finally, leave behind the urban whirl and cross leafy Nishi-Ikebukuro Park into the peaceful, ivy-clad campus of Rikkyo University.

YANAKA & NEZU Step back in time to Showa-era Tokyo (1926–89) in the districts of narrow lanes, wooden buildings, retro-style snacks and little-visited temples. From Sendagi Station, make your way to Yanaka Ginza, a retro shopping street with an old-time community vibe – spot the seven lucky cat statues. Graze on cat’s-tailshaped donuts, ground-meat cutlets and traditional sweets en route to the ‘sunset steps’ of Yuyake Dandan for an elevated photo opportunity.

From here, it’s a short hop to the Asakura Museum of Sculpture – the former studio and residence of Fumio Asakura, known as the ‘Rodin of Japan’. Nearby Tenno-ji, one of the area’s many temples, is home to an ancient seated Buddha. From there, walk the cherry tree-lined avenue through Yanaka Cemetery and emerge to admire more art at SCAI The Bathhouse, a gallery space within a 200-year-old former bathhouse. Then enjoy a well-earned craft beer at Ueno Sakuragi Atari or a coffee at Kayaba, both in old wooden

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Secret north (this page, clockwise from above) Browse the vendors on Taishakuten Sando, Shibamata; spot Yanaka’s seven lucky cat statues; azaleas blaze in Nezu-jinja; Sunshine City in Ikebukuro is great for urban exploring, and is home to Japan’s biggest Pokémon store; (opposite page, clockwise from top right) Nezu-jinja’s famous red torii (gates); Shibamata’s silver-screen son Tora-san is celebrated in bronze; the Buddhist temple Shibamata Taishakuten is nearly four centuries old; explore Shibamata’s movie heritage at the Tora-san Museum

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shophouses. If you’ve got the energy, keep walking to Nezu-jinja, one of Tokyo’s oldest Shinto shrines, with its path of red torii (gates).

NIPPORI Interested in DIY fashion and fabrics?

This district is for you. East of its namesake station, Nippori Fabric Town is a warren of around 90 shops and outlets selling every type of cloth, button, stitch and accessory, which can be purchased either wholesale or as individual pieces. If you’ve ever dreamed of starting your own fashion brand, or crafting a custom kimono, this is the place for you. Farther north, a short walk from ArakawayuenchiMae Station, the retro-styled riverside Arakawa Amusement Park features rides and sideshows served up with a slice of nostalgia for times past.

ITABASHI

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Also known as Itabashi City, this area was formed when nine towns and villages merged in the 1930s. A hike along the broad, green banks of the Arakawa River is a highlight.

The riverside Arakawa Todabashi Green Space, with its meadow-like expanse of grass, is a fine spot to start out – in summer it hosts a fireworks festival. Flowing parallel to the Arakawa, the Shingashi River is known for its cherry blossoms in spring. For a

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different take on the seasons, head to the Itabashi Botanical Garden. It’s like entering the tropical rainforests of South-East Asia as you stroll between climate-controlled zones home to unique trees and flowers.

SHIBAMATA This nostalgic old neighbourhood is famous in Japan as the setting for a series of films about a vagabond, Tora-san, which ran from the 1960s to the 1990s. You’ll spot a bronze statue of Tora-san outside the entrance to Shibamata Station. From there, walk north-east to Taishakuten Sando, a lively, narrow street of traditional food vendors. Snack on kusa dango (sticky rice dumplings) at Kameya Honpo as you approach the grand wooden gateway of Shibamata Taishakuten, a 400-year-old Buddhist temple. After admiring its intricate wood carvings, centuries-old pine tree and ornate garden, continue to Yamamoto Tei, a former merchant’s residence with a beautiful Japanese strolling garden set around a pond, with a historic teahouse. Moving south, enter Shibamata Park to find the Tora-san Museum, dedicated to the area’s movie heritage, before strolling the banks of the Edo River. If you’re hungry, head back to Taishakuten Sando and seek out Kawachiya, to feast on grilled eel with special sauce on rice, served in a lacquer box. ⊲

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ome of sumo, seafood and Tokyo’s most-visited temple, Senso-ji, the traditional neighbourhoods of eastern Tokyo are overlooked by the hypermodern TOKYO SKYTREE, the tallest freestanding tower in the world.

where vendors have sold goods since the 17th century. After exploring the temple precincts, continue northwest to the delightfully retro theme park of Hanayashiki, operating since 1883. Take a refreshment break along Hoppy-dori, lined with izakaya grilling chicken skewers and pouring cold beer. Make your way west through an appealing grid of narrow residential streets to Kappabashi-dori, aka ‘kitchen town’, where you can shop for Japanese kitchenware and even the realistic food models displayed outside Tokyo restaurants. Higashi Hongan-ji, an off-the-beaten-track Buddhist temple, is a great place to find some peace and quiet.

Classic Tokyo icons (this page, right and bottom) Tomioka Hachimangu is Tokyo’s largest Hachiman shrine and is devoted to the divinity of war; TOKYO SKYTREE soars 634m above the Asakusa skyline

RYOGOKU

ASAKUSA On the west bank of the Sumida River, this charming district retains an air of yesteryear. Overlooked by TOKYO SKYTREE, this highly strollable neighbourhood is centred on the temple complex of Senso-ji, one of the capital’s most visited sights. From Asakusa Station, make straight for the enormous red lantern hanging from the centre of the Kaminari-mon (Thunder Gate). Running north from there towards the temple is the stall-lined avenue of Nakamise-dori,

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The heartland of sumo wrestling, this district on the east bank of the Sumida River is home to the Ryogoku Kokugikan, Japan’s principal sumo stadium – you need to book weeks in advance for bouts during the tournaments staged in January, May and September, but check out its free Sumo Museum. Continue north along the river to reach the Kyu-Yasuda-teien, a historic stroll garden – one designed for gentle roaming – from the 17th century. Farther north is the Japanese Sword Museum, dedicated to the art of crafting the country’s distinctive blades. Reward yourself with a hot soak at Edo-yu, a five-floor spa complex, or a well-earned craft beer at Popeye, just south of Ryogoku Station. Hungry yet? Fill up on chanko-nabe, the hotpot beloved of sumo wrestlers, at Tomoegata – housed on the premises of a sumo training house.

TOYOSU An artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Toyosu is now the home of the famous fish market (formerly sited in Tsukiji) that moved here in 2018. Start at Shijomae Station for Toyosu Wholesale Market; arrive at 5.30am to absorb the fascinating spectacle of locals bidding on bluefin tuna as it’s auctioned off for millions of yen (thousands of pounds) each. Sushi restaurants at the market open in time for breakfast – head to Daiwa Sushi for sets of nigiri (handpressed sushi) made with the finest catch of the day. Toyosu is fringed by landscaped parks and promenades offering breezy sea views. At the tail end of the day, make your way to Toyosu Gururi Park and the water’s edge to admire the sweep of Rainbow Bridge looming large over Tokyo Bay. Amble north-east along the island’s northern promenade, through Shin-toyosu Sakura Park, to reach the unmissable teamLab Planets, an interactive digital modern art gallery.

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KIYOSUMI SHIRAKAWA If you like modern art, coffee roasters and tranquil gardens, this laidback district is the place for you. From Kiyosumi-shirakawa Station, walk south to the artfully landscaped Kiyosumi-teien, gardens laid out around the home of an 18th-century daimyo (feudal lord), where turtles bask on stepping stones in the sun.

Time for a break? If pour-over coffee is your thing, find roastery and café Arise; if you prefer yours espressostyle or with milk, hip California import Blue Bottle Coffee has you covered.

For a dose of history, walk into the

past at Fukagawa Edo Museum, its lifelike dioramas recreating this neighbourhood during the Edo period. Next, take a stroll through residential lanes to the monolithic Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT), with its haul of modern art and a roster of big-name exhibitions.

When you’ve had your fill of art, wind down with a stroll south through Kiba Park, in which MOT stands.

FUKAGAWA Abutting Kiyosumi Shirakawa to the north-east, the walking highlights of Fukagawa lean towards the

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Reckoning with history (above, left to right) TOKYO SKYTREE provides far-reaching views across the capital’s diverse neighbourhoods; Ryogoku’s Kyu-Yasuda-teien stroll garden dates from the 17th century; the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo houses an impressive collection of modern art plus changing exhibitions

spiritual. Tomioka Hachimangu is the largest Hachiman shrine (devoted to the divinity of war) in Tokyo, its pleasant wooded grounds teeming with birdlife. It was here that sumo tournaments were first held in the 17th century – look for the Yokozuna Stone, on which are etched the names of sumo grand champions.

A short walk west is Fukagawa Fudo-do, an important temple of Shingon Buddhism. Several times a day, priests conduct goma rituals here, making offerings of fire on a raised altar; the flames can leap metres into the air. ⊲

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must for fashionistas, trend-hunters and anyone who wants to take the pulse of contemporary Tokyo, this quarter of the city is defined by the skyscrapers and bright lights of Shinjuku and the shop-lined streets of Shibuya and Harajuku.

SHINJUKU With its high-rises and hustle, this is where Tokyoites go to work – and to let down their hair afterwards. East of Shinjuku’s station is the area’s business district. Wander over to the twin-towered Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (or Tocho) and climb to the free observatory, over 200m up, for dazzling skyline vistas – featuring distant Mount Fuji on clear days. Stroll through adjacent Shinjuku Central Park and veer south to the Park Hyatt Tokyo, where Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson stayed in Lost in Translation, to splurge on a drink in the 52nd-floor New York Grill & Bar (closed January–March 2024 for facility improvements).

Backtrack towards the station and the department stores at Shinjuku Southern Terrace, or dive inside Tokyu Kabukicho Tower, Japan’s biggest entertainment complex, for retro fun among its gaming arcades and yokocho-style restaurant. Finish at Golden Gai, a hive of tiny bars that draws an eclectic, arty crowd.

SHIBUYA That a road intersection could become one of Tokyo’s most iconic

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Signs and statues (above and below right) Locals work and play in Tokyo’s neon-lit Shinjuku neighbourhood, just like the locals; the Hachiko statue outside Shibuya Station tells a charming story of canine loyalty

sights says it all about Shibuya.

During peak hours, up to 3,000 people ‘scramble’ across the Shibuya Crossing each time the lights change to green. Join the throng, then head south to Shibuya Station and the statue of Hachiko, a loyal dog who waited in the same spot every day for almost ten years after his owner had passed away. For epic bird’seye views of the district, head atop the SHIBUYA SKY observation deck or the rooftop garden at SHIBUYA FUKURAS. Next, take a stroll along Shibuya Center-gai, a pedestrian

street home to more teen fashion and fast food. Continue to Spainzaka (‘Spanish slope’), a narrow, brick-paved lane lined with diverse European-style buildings, and on to Shibuya Parco, a mall home to youth-focused basement Chaos Kitchen food court, as well as official Nintendo and Pokémon stores. Finish on the rooftop garden after a ‘spiral walk’ into the sky.

HARAJUKU Synonymous with fashion, this district is

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE enclave of picnickers, Frisbee throwers and fashionistas. Before it became a public park, this was the site of the athletes’ village for the 1964 Olympic Games. Seek out the striking Yoyogi National Stadium, built for those games (and used again for handball at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games), then pop out of the park to Nata de Cristiano for a bag of its sumptuous Portuguese custard tarts. Pair them with a single-origin brew from Little Nap Coffee Stand a little to the north, then climb west to Yoyogi Hachimangu, a Shinto shrine founded in the 13th century. Keep heading west and you’ll hit the sleepy suburb of Yoyogi-Uehara, studded with independent bakeries, cafés and Tokyo Camii, Japan’s largest mosque.

NAKANO

fashion, vintage stores, cosmetics and sweet snacks – try the dango (Japanese rice flour dumplings) at Hakata Yamadaya. Discover more kawaii (cuteness) at Cute Cube, a mall with vibrant teen styles. For something more grown up, chill out with a craft beer at Harajuku Taproom nearby.

YOYOGI

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This upscale district sandwiched between Shinjuku and Shibuya has lots of hip nooks to discover. Start at Yoyogi-koen Station and walk through the west gate of Yoyogi Park to find a vibrant, tree-shaded

also home to the Meiji-jingu, one of Tokyo’s grandest and most important spiritual shrines. From Harajuku Station, enter the forested precincts and follow the long gravel path under grand torii to the main shrine, built of plain cypress wood and dedicated to Emperor Meiji in 1920 (though rebuilt after Second World War fire-bombing raids). Next, stroll down the treelined boulevard of Omote-sando, admiring its flagship fashion stores.

For more youthful trends, delve into the boutique-lined alleys of the Ura-Harajuku district to the north, and window-shop your way towards Takeshita Street, a photogenic fashion bazaar. Here you’ll find street

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New wave Tokyo (from top to bottom) Araiyakushi Baishoin temple’s the place to look for a spiritual remedy for eye problems; for youthful fashion trends, browse Takeshita Street in Harajuku; Yoyogi Park in cherry blossom season is loved by local picnickers

Popular with otaku, this neighbourhood has an old-school vibe. From Nakano Station, wander into Nakano Sun Mall, a retro covered shotengai (shopping arcade). Some of the best finds are in the side streets – fans of film photography and vintage camera gear have shopped at Fujiya Camera since 1938. Farther north, Nakano Broadway is a five-floor retail complex specialising in manga, collectible action figures and other otaku staples – western Tokyo’s answer to Akihabara. Time for ice cream? Stop by Daily Chiko, a legendary stand serving skyscrapersized cones stacked with up to eight flavours at once. Finish with a slow amble north through low-key residential streets to Araiyakushi Baishoin, a temple where eye problems are reputedly cured. ⊲

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An island zone of reclaimed land tethered to Tokyo by the Rainbow Bridge, Odaiba offers malls, hi-tech entertainment and sweeping bay views. From Daiba Station, veer east to DiverCity Tokyo Plaza to marvel at a giant statue of Gundam, the robot hero of one of Japan’s most popular sci-fi franchises. Stroll southwards through Central Square to Miraikan – The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, home to yet more robots, then take the grassy seaside promenade north-west through Shiokaze Park and on to Odaiba Marine

Visual spectacles (this page, above and below) ponder modern works at Mori Art Museum; Tokyo City View in Roppongi affords an epic panorama of the city from the 52nd floor of the Mori Tower; (opposite page, clockwise from top) spring cherry blooms pink the Meguro River; stroll the Meguro Sky Garden atop an expressway loop; admire Louis Bourgeois’ 9m-tall Maman spider sculpture; Yebisu Garden Place occupies the site of a historic brewery

Park. Pause for a photo opportunity at the Rainbow Bridge Observation Deck, framing the mini Statue of Liberty in the foreground, then pop into DECKS Tokyo Beach to find Tokyo Joypolis, for some virtual reality gaming, followed by Osaka-style street food at the Odaiba Takoyaki Museum. Finish with a stroll on the sand along Odaiba Beach and, if you’ve got the energy, a walk along Rainbow Promenade.

SHINAGAWA & TENNOZU

Tennozu is a gentrifying island enclave of warehouses where you’ll find plenty of eye-catching public art and a laidback vibe. Starting at Tennozu Isle Station, head to Archi-Depot, a gallery of miniature architectural models, then take a stroll through the warehouses of Bond Street to browse arty shops and cafés. Stop for a craft beer, burger and baked goods at T. Y. Harbor, a hip waterfront hangout. For a warehouse packed full of art, cross Shintokai Bridge west to Terrada Art Complex and take your pick from various galleries. Moving west into businessfocused Shinagawa, check out

Shinagawa Shrine, one of ten forming a wide ring around the Imperial Palace, then head north to the Nikon Museum, a must for shutterbugs (closing for relocation in March 2024).

NAKAMEGURO

Trendy, leafy Nakameguro is studded with designer boutiques and hip cafés – and the place to stroll along the tree-lined Meguro River, which comes alive during sakura (cherryblossom) season. From Naka-meguro Station, cross the canalised river and duck into the Sato Sakura Museum, displaying contemporary art depicting Japan’s beloved cherry blossoms.

Grab a tasty takeaway fruit sandwich from nearby Daiwa Nakameguro, then begin your riverside stroll. For a taste of the area’s modish boutiques, check out Kinto Store Tokyo, a sleek Japanese design emporium. For a toothsome canalside break pause at the Riverside Club, a brunchfocused café-restaurant lounge with fine views. Continue west along the river to reach Meguro Sky Garden, an innovative nature area and urban greening project that conceals a loop of busy expressway.

EBISU

This laidback, residential district boasts Yebisu Garden Place, a lifestyle development just a short walk south of Ebisu Station. The nearby Museum of Yebisu Beer (currently close; reopening as Yebisu Brewery Tokyo in April 2024) is a hit with beer fans, revealing the history of the Yebisu Brewery that operated here for a century until 1988. After enjoying a tasting flight of brews, delve into the excellent Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (TOP) within the same wider complex, showcasing famous photographers and exploring the history of the art form. For an unexpectedly wild

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ramble, make for the Institute for Nature Study, a wildlife-rich reserve of wooded hills and ponds now managed by the National Museum of Nature and Science. After exploring the trails, enjoy some well-earned R&R at the many izakaya along Ebisu Yokocho, a covered arcade tucked away just north of Ebisu Station.

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ROPPONGI

This neighbourhood is all about wild nightlife, highbrow art, shopping and bold contemporary architecture.

Get your bearings from 250m up at Tokyo City View, providing incredible skyline vistas that take in the iconic red-and-white Tokyo Tower. This observation deck is in Mori Tower, part of the exclusive Roppongi Hills development close to Roppongi Station. In the same complex you’ll find the eclectic Mori Art Museum, exhibiting some of Japan’s most thought-provoking contemporary works, and Maman, a 10m-high spider sculpture by the late French artist

Louise Bourgeois. For even more visual culture, walk north-west to the National Art Center, Tokyo, which hosts changing exhibitions featuring internationally renowned artists.

Complete the so-called Roppongi Art Triangle by heading east to Tokyo Midtown, another glitzy Roppongi development where you’ll find the Suntory Museum of Art, displaying decorative arts including ceramics, glass and lacquerware. Afterwards, queue up for a much-coveted bowl of ⊲ umami-rich ramen at Iruca Tokyo.

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OUTLYING AREAS & ISLANDS

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he outskirts of Tokyo’s vast urban sprawl are home to many walkable neighbourhoods, and the idyllic Izu Islands – a volcanic chain stretching hundreds of kilometres south of Tokyo Bay but part of the prefecture – are a boat ride away.

OKUTAMA Okutama may only be a two-hour train ride from Tokyo’s busy core, but it feels worlds apart. Here, natural beauty abounds. Okutama is a wild tapestry of forested mountains, rivers and lush woodland veined by hiking trails and immersive forest bathing opportunities. A must-do while you’re here is to trace the cedar-lined pathways to reach the top of Mitake peak (929m), one of Japan’s sacred mountains. As well as delivering widescreen panoramas of the surrounding lush landscape, it’s topped with a crimson-red shrine that’s been a centre of worship for 2,000 years. If you want a further challenge, Mount Odake (1,266m) lies close by. Its two-and-a-half-hour Rock Garden route is laced with moss-covered stones and revered waterfalls used by priests for takigyo (meditation under a waterfall).

HACHIOJI

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Only 50 minutes from Shinjuku by train, the undisputed icon in the region of Hachioji is Mount Takao

(599m), another of Japan’s sacred mountains that boasts views of Mount Fuji from its summit on clear days.

Several walking routes weave up its slopes, with the Omotesando Trail the most popular and the Inariyama Trail the most challenging with its numerous steep inclines. Go in spring, when Takao’s cherry blossom trees bloom a fortnight later than central Tokyo. Near the mountain’s top lies Takaosan Yakuoin Temple, once a training centre for the ancient Japanese religion of Shugendo. The natural hot springs that flow from the

Escape from the city (this page from top to bottom) Hike among limestone karst plateaus on Mount Odake; the crater of Miharayama last erupted in 1990; (opposite page, clockwise from top left) Oshima Island boasts wild volcanic splendour; autumn is a special time in Tama; Mount Takao serves up epic vistas of the Tokyo cityscape; go on a rafting adventure near Tama

foothills of Mount Takao offer relaxing soaks after your hike.

OSHIMA ISLAND Oshima is the largest of the Izu Islands, a dreamy archipelago of submerged volcanic peaks that stretches south across the Pacific Ocean. It’s also the closest of the islands, and the easiest to reach from the capital – less than two hours away by hydrofoil ferry. Miharayama is the island’s volcanic peak, which last erupted in 1990. It’s laced with walking trails that wind up to the 758m summit, and another path circling the rim of the crater for stunning views. After your hike, head to Motomachi Hama-no-yu, a mixedsex rotemburo (outdoor hot spring) on the west coast near the boat dock.

Nothing beats lolling in volcanically heated water with the ocean stretching out in front of you – in clear weather there’s sometimes even a view of distant Mount Fuji. To learn more about the Izu chain’s volcanoes, check out the Izu-Oshima Volcano Museum, a short walk south.

TOSHIMA ISLAND Two and a half hours from Tokyo by high-speed boat, tiny Toshima Island

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has only about 300 residents. An untouched haven and important bird habitat, 80% of this 4-square-kilometre island is covered in camellia forests; they blaze red with ‘winter rose’ blossoms between January and March, and their seeds are harvested for their oil. Along the coast, keep an eye out for pods of friendly dolphins. Hikers head to Mount Miyatsuka, a conical peak that gives the island its striking volcanic shape; it takes around 40 minutes (the time can vary) to tackle the steep trail to the 507m summit, passing the island’s famously tall daylilies on route. On its southern slopes, Minamigayama Park provides stunning views of the Izu chain fading into the distance far to the south. Come prepared: tiny Toshima has few stores and no pharmacy.

MIYAKE ISLAND Mount Oyama, an active volcano looming 755m over the Pacific, dominates this island – the last major eruption back in 2000 saw all residents evacuated for five years. Accessible by overnight ferry from Tokyo’s Takeshiba Pier, Miyakejima (Miyake Island) has been dramatically affected by lava flows over the centuries. One of the most fascinating hikes to attempt follows the Ako Lava Flow Trail through a desolate landscape of hardened black lava flows. It reveals the impact of a major eruption in the 1980s that engulfed a village and a high school – fortunately, everyone was moved to safety. Miyakejima is also a paradise for snorkellers, and the deep blue waters beyond its craggy coastline teem with dolphins.

For more information, go to: tokyotokyo.jp

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Warm your bones at Shetland’s fire festival, meet the Otavalo of Ecuador’s Andean mountains, take in Madrid’s latest cultural big hitter, and more…

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World Heritage: Trogir

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Museum Cities: Madrid

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European Break: Puglia

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Urban Spotlight: Santiago & Valparaíso

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Home from home The dry-stone trulli of Italy’s Puglia region are instantly recognisable by their conical roofs and whitewashed exteriors, especially in the UNESCO-listed town of Alberobello, which is home to more than 1,500 of these historic dwellings. It’s just one of the area’s many unique sights; see p236

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With its elegant square, medieval stonework and Venetian heritage, an amble through the alleyways of Trogir’s Old Town offers the opportunity to unravel history on every street corner, writes Mary Novakovich

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edged between Croatia’s Dalmatian coast and the sprawling island of Čiovo, Trogir’s medieval Old Town is as hidden as it gets. It even takes a moment just to realise that it is sat on an island all of its own, linked by a pair of bridges to Čiovo on one side and the mainland city of Trogir – which later grew around it – on the other. But as soon as you walk through the Sjeverna Gradska Vrata (Northern Town Gate) and enter the maze of marble lanes and creamy stone houses that lie beyond, its charms become swiftly apparent.

Trogir’s architecture is just one of the tell-tale signs that Venice had a hand in shaping its history. Of course, the Greeks got here before them, arriving in the 3rd century BC, and then the Romans and Byzantines

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had their say; it wasn’t until the 14th century AD that Venice briefly got their hands on Trogir, before taking over more fully in 1420 and ruling for nearly 400 years.Within this compact space – barely 500m from east to west – lies a beautifully preserved collection of Romanesque, Baroque and Renaissance architecture. It’s little wonder that Trogir’s Old Town has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997.

The first instinct of many visitors is to slow down and just meander along

“By day, the Riva waterfront is filled with Croatians getting their caffeine fix”

the gleaming narrow alleyways. Before long you’ll most likely find yourself in one of the town’s many small courtyards, eyeing steps leading up to some lucky person’s brown-shuttered medieval stone house. But even the most dedicated ambler will quickly discover the Old Town’s main square, Trg Ivana Pavla II, where two of Trogir’s biggest architectural showstoppers lie.

Begun in 1213 and not completed for another 300 years, the heavyset Katedrala Svetog Lovre (St Lawrence’s Cathedral) dominates the square. Enter its wrought-iron gates to see the cathedral’s most compelling feature, the western portal, which was carved by Slav master-mason Radovan.You can stand there for ages taking in all the astonishing detail and its jumble of characters, ranging from Old and New Testament figures to seasonal tableaux and scenes from the

A look to savour (above) The view from the bell tower of St Lawrence’s Cathedral, in the Old Town of Trogir, glimpses out over a sea of orange rooftops

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waterfront. By day, the area is filled with Croatians getting their caffeine fix at laid-back cafés; at night, its ambience steps up a few gears as everyone performs the local version of the Italian passeggiata (the korzo) while buskers play, boats come and go and moonlight shimmers on the water.

Carry on to the Riva’s end to see the hulking Kamerlengo Fortress, built by the Venetians in the 15th century to guard against Ottoman attacks. Nowadays it’s a wonderfully atmospheric venue for summertime concerts, and, if you don’t mind clambering up the rather treacherous stone staircase, it has far-reaching views over the water from the fortress’s tower.

By now you might have spotted a strange figure in some of the souvenir and jewellery shops, namely that of the Greek god Kairos, the youngest son of Zeus and an emblem of Trogir.

If not, pop into the 11th-century St Nicholas Benedictine Monastery, near the southern town gate, where the three nuns still cloistered there allow visitors to see the monastery’s small but impressive art collection.

The monastery’s highlight is a relief of Kairos, said to be the god of opportunity and the ‘fleeting moment’ – those elusive few seconds when something special can happen – the period of time that you want to grab with both hands before it disappears. Trogir, that place of countless special moments, couldn’t have picked a better symbol.

NEED TO KNOW

The old world (this page; clockwise from top) A relief of Kairos, the Greek god of opportunity, who was often depicted walking on tiptoes to show the fleeting nature of chance; the town hall and clocktower in the main square of Trogir’s Old Town; the imposing walls of Kamerlengo Fortress double as an unlikely summer music venue; many of the gates and fortifications of Trogir still survive intact; it took so long to complete Trogir’s iconic cathedral that it incorporates a number of different eras of design

Location: Trogir lies in central Dalmatia, a 27km drive west of Split, though it’s actually closer to Split’s airport (which is about 5km away) than the city. Regular buses run from the airport to Trogir and cost about £1.70; the journey time is 10 minutes.

Getting around: Most of Trogir’s Old Town has been pedestrianised and the whole island is so compact that you can walk from one end to the other in less than 10 minutes. If you are staying on the island of Čiovo, where the area’s best beaches are found, you might want to rent a bike.

When to go: Any time, although July and August can be extremely hot and very crowded, so are best avoided.

Try shoulder season or winter for a much more pleasant experience.

Accommodation: The Old Town has several stylish boutique hotels, which are set in historic stone townhouses.

The XII Century Heritage Hotel (heritagehoteltrogir.com) has double rooms from £125 per night and is sat on a prime spot on the Riva waterfront. It has a shaded restaurant terrace and lovely sea views.

Further information: Check out the DK Eyewitness Croatia (2023) guide.

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Nativity and the life of Christ – it’s all there, vividly and exquisitely carved.

Inside lies the 15th-centur y baptistry and its intricate stonework.

It’s worth taking a moment to gaze at the interior’s Romanesque pulpit, Venetian-Gothic choir stalls and Baroque high altar, then it’s on to the Renaissance sculptures found in the Chapel of St John of Trogir. When you leave the cathedral, you’ll see its elegant belltower, whose levels encapsulate the building’s history, starting with Romanesque, Gothic and Venetian and topped by an 18th-century spire. If you want to tackle the tricky narrow staircase towards the top, you’ll discover fine views of the city.

Back in the square, just behind the inviting shade of its café terraces, lie the beautiful marble columns and balustrades of the Gradska Loža, the City Loggia, and its pretty clocktower.

Stop for a while on one of its smooth stone benches and take in the painted beamed ceiling and the reliefs carved by the 15th-century sculptor Nikola Firentinac, as well as the 20th-century work completed by Croatia’s bestknown sculptor, Ivan Meštrović.

Be sure to check out the handsome town hall, a 15th-century former rector’s palace, before plunging back into the labyrinth of lanes. Even if you get lost, you’ll still eventually come to the Južna Gradska Vrata (Southern Town Gate), which opens on to the wide, welcoming expanse of the Riva

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MUSEUM CITIES VERSION

Madrid, Spain

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The Spanish capital is awash in great art and recently welcomed Europe’s most anticipated new museum into its fold, writes Martin Symington

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pain’s capital makes a dazzling pilgrimage for culture lovers. Three world-class museums, venerated as a ‘golden triangle’ of art, allow visitors to revel in as full a breadth and depth of European painting and sculpture as you’ll find on the continent. In addition to this, onto the scene has burst the most important new museum in Europe in some time, adding to what was already a bounty for art fans.

The gigantic Prado Museum, with its vast collection of works by Spanish masters, is indisputably numero uno in the city’s celebrated triangle of cultural institutions. Its counterpart in modern and contemporary art, the Reina Sofia, lies just a stone’s throw away, and the final big name in this triumvirate is the smaller and more eclectic Thyssen-Bornemisza, where every piece on display is a treasure that has been chosen by the museum’s founding couple.

In truth, the word ‘triangle’ is a bit of a misnomer because the trio actually sit in a line along the beautiful Paseo del Prado boulevard, shaded by centuries-old trees. Located between the imperious Plaza del Emperador Carlos V and

Plaza Cibele, the Paseo del Arte (Art Walk), as this stretch is known, even bagged UNESCO World Heritage status in 2021 together with the stately El Retiro Park.

However, all eyes are now on Madrid’s newcomer. The Gallery of the Royal Collections lies over in the Royal Palace complex and was originally greenlit in 1998. That it was only inaugurated in June 2023 offers a hint as to how anticipated its arrival has been. In a surprising juxtaposition of ancient and ultra-modern, the hundreds of windows on this sleek, white concrete building overlook the palace and the Casa de Campo gardens that lie across from the royal residence. Surely the city now has a ‘golden rectangle’.

Madrid also has 50 or so other museums, ranging from large and small to mainstream and quirky. These will lead you happily off the main cultural beat, but you will want to start with the big four. A Paseo del Arte pass (£27.50; esmadrid.com/en/paseo-del-arte-en) allows queue-free access to the ‘golden triangle’ of museums; tickets are valid for a year. The lunch and siesta lull between 3pm and 5pm is usually the quietest time to visit.

War on canvas (clockwise from bottom) Picasso’s Guernica is named after a city in the Basque region that – upon the request of Spain’s General Franco – was heavily bombed during the Spanish Civil War by the German airforce; crowds in The Prado Museum gather around Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez – one of Spain’s 17thcentury masters; the Neoclassical building of Madrid’s National Archeological Museum shares a roof with the city’s National Library

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BEST OF THE REST

The Prado Museum

Housed in a vast Neoclassical building, which opened in 1819 as the Royal Museum of Paintings and Sculptures, this is one of Europe’s most exalted museums. Its purpose was to house the royal collection and to announce to the rest of the continent that Spanish art was among the best.

So, where to begin in a colossus that includes one of the world’s largest collections of paintings? The answer is to think of the Prado more as a museum of artists than of art: whole multiroom galleries are devoted to Diego Velázquez, the Spanish 17th-century master; to Francisco de Goya and his 18th- and 19th-century counterparts; and to the towering figure of the Spanish Renaissance, El Greco.

Away from Spanish art, there are collections

by Caravaggio and Titian, as well as Peter Paul Rubens and the Flemish masters. Beyond painting, large sections are devoted to sculpture and the decorative arts. Open daily. museodelprado.es

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Reina Sofia Museum

When a Gestapo officer in occupied Paris confronted Pablo Picasso with a photo of his Guernica, asking: “Did you do that?”, the artist is said to have replied, “No, you did.” This searing anti-war painting is the jewel in the crown of Spain’s national museum of contemporary and 20th-century art. With the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death this year, throngs of visitors made a beeline for this masterpiece, with many encouraged by the Reina Sofia’s controversial decision to lift the ban on photographing it.

After that, there are thousands more works to explore. The collections are strongly weighted towards Spain, though there are some foreign gems as well. Unmissables include the experimentally Cubist Cards and Dice by Georges Braque, as well as Salvador Dalí’s perplexingly surreal Face of the Great Masturbator.

If you need a breather between artworks, the

museum’s 18th-century buildings are set around a cool courtyard of trees and a central fountain.

Closed Tuesdays. museoreinasofia.es/en

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Aristocrat and industrialist Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and his Spanish wife Carmen amassed 800 or so works over the 20th century, forming a mostly European collection.

The art-crazy couple’s legacy lies in a 19th-century palace on the Paseo del Prado, and it is the smallest of the ‘golden triangle’ by a long way.

The artworks are arranged chronologically, from the 14th through to the mid-20th centuries, making for a thorough course in European art history. The journey takes you from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, through the Impressionist era (Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh) and into the wacky world of Pop Art.Temporary exhibitions close on Mondays. museothyssen.org/en

Gallery of the Royal Collections

Take a trip through the history of the Spanish monarchy, from the Middle Ages through the Habsburg dynasty to the House of Bourbon and beyond. Along the way, view the artworks, artefacts and other treasures they accumulated – many of them never before seen on public display – in a fresh window on Spain’s kings and queens and how society changed over the centuries.

There are some absolute gems. Don’t miss the vainglorious Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s gold and silver suits of armour. Above all, save as much time as you can spare for the bewitching red-, blue- and gold-painted wooden sculpture of the lithely and feminine-looking Archangel Michael Vanquishing the Devil.

It is the 1692 work of Luisa Roldán – known as ‘La Roldana’ – who was the court sculptor to Habsburg King Charles II and the only woman to have held that post. Open daily. galeriadelascoleccionesreales.es/en

National Archaeological Museum Delve into the history of humanity at this Neoclassical museum near the northern end of El Retiro park. Among the outstanding exhibits are Celtic and Egyptian pieces, pre-historic displays from the Iberian Peninsula and an Andalucían collection that includes an incredible Mudéjar ceiling. man.es Museum of the Americas Spain overran much of the Americas, conquering the Aztec, Inca and Maya empires. This museum provides insight into these pre-conquest cultures and civilisations, without shying away from the more difficult aspects of this era of colonisation. Collections include masks, carvings, gold and paintings made from multi-coloured feathers. esmadrid.com Museum of Romanticism A window on the cultural, political and everyday life of Madrid’s aristocracy during the Romantic Period of the 1800s. Set in the former palace of the Marquis of Matallana (built in 1776), it includes a beautifully landscaped Magnolia Garden with an enchanting café. museomadrid.com Sorolla Museum In the centenary year of artist Joaquín Sorolla’s death, the museum in his former home offers a series of exhibitions charting the life and work of this curiously underrated painter. His portraits and landscapes are exquisite, but it is his socially themed works that have the power to move and even shock. esmadrid.com

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EUROPEAN BREAK MINI GUIDE

DISCOVER Italy

Puglia, Italy With its glistening-white trulli, eccentric castles and wild peninsulas, Italy’s ‘heel’ never ceases to surprise visitors, writes Dana Facaros

EUROPEAN BREAK MINI GUIDE Puglia’s cities are no less compelling. Regional capital Bari once competed with Italy’s other great medieval maritime republics. In 1087 AD, Barese sailors even one-upped the body-snatching Venetians in the race to steal the relics of St Nicholas of Myra – aka ‘Santa Claus’ – to place in their Basilica di San Nicola, one of Puglia’s most remarkable Romanesque churches.

South of Bari, the Valle d’Itria is Puglia at its most original. Here, rolling hills of ancient olive groves are dotted with one of the most charming and ancient styles of Mediterranean architecture: trulli. These whitewashed dry-stone houses are typically topped with corbelled, pointed domes.

The beautiful town of Alberobello has such a dense concentration of them that UNESCO even designated it a World Heritage site.

Further south lies the ancient Spartan city that became Taranto; then comes the Salento, Puglia’s stiletto-shaped peninsula that divides the Adriatic and Ionian seas. From there it’s only a short hop to lavishly Baroque Lecce (the ‘Florence of the South’), at the heart of the peninsula, followed by the clear turquoise waters that lap the Salento’s beautiful beaches and fishing villages.

Here Gallipoli (from the Greek for ‘beautiful town’), Santa María di Leuca and Otranto, home to a remarkable 11th-century Byzantine-Norman mosaic in its Romanesque cathedral, await.

Ask a local “From the Gargano and Salento to passing through the Tavoliere plain and Valle d’Itria, Puglia is a state of mind. Nardò is the city where I was born and raised, surrounded by the crystal-clear sea and the Mediterranean scrub of the Porto Selvaggio Natural Park. I like getting lost in its historic centre, among the Baroque churches, restaurants and alleys that smell of delicious food from the early hours of the morning.”

Antonietta Martignano, archaeologist and guide

A rare find (above) It seems almost inconceivable that Lecce’s Roman amphitheatre remained undiscovered beneath the city centre until 1901, when construction workers digging the foundations of a bank stumbled on its remains. It was built in the 2nd century AD, back when Lecce was little more than a tiny trading port, and its walls are covered with images of the shows put on there; (previous spread) the whitewashed trulli of Locorotondo

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uglia, the heel of the great Italian boot, packs in just about everything we love about Italy: olive groves and vineyards, picturesque hill towns, extraordinary art and architecture, superb food and wine. But it all comes with a Puglian twist and a host of unexpected influences. This region was, after all, once the stomping ground of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Normans, Angevins and Spaniards, whose legacy is still keenly felt in the architecture of its churches and towns. Add to that 800km of beaches fringing Italy’s easternmost coastline, and you have a region that is forever upending expectations.

Take, for example, the geography north of Puglia, where the limestone cliffs, sea grottoes and woodlands of the Gargano peninsula (now a national park) are the setting for the uncanny Monte Sant’Angelo pilgrimage site. Yet, just inland from here, lies Tavoliere delle Puglie, Italy’s second-largest plain after the Po valley.

Edge south and you will see another national park, the Alta Murgia, whose rocky Apennine foothills are pierced by canyons and dolines.

Lower down lie the masserie (Puglia’s old fortified farmhouses), set amid olive and almond groves.

There is also a truly one-off landmark: the eccentric Castel del Monte, built in the 13th century AD by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.

DISCOVER Italy

PUGLIA IN SIX DAYS

Previous spread: Alamy; this spread: Alamy; Dreamstime; puglia@archeologi.org

Day 1 Bari and Trani

Start in Bari by visiting the Centro Storico neighbourhood, watching the nonnas roll out their pasta in the narrow lanes leading off it and exploring the Romanesque Basilica di San Nicola and Cattedrale di San Sabino. Next, head to the seaport town of Trani, whose waterfront cathedral is a masterpiece of Pugliese Romanesque.

Day 2 Gargano peninsula

Aim for the whitewashed town of Vieste, where you can take a boat tour of the Gargano’s dramatic coast (grottemarinegargano.com). Spare some time to visit the pre-Christian dream cave that became the pilgrim site of Monte Sant’Angelo.

Day 3 Castel del Monte and the trulli of Valle d’Itria

Make a beeline to the most peculiar castle in Italy: Castel del Monte. Then, after a beach break at Polignano a Mare – known for its cliff-diving competitions – tour the Valle d’Itria and its bright-white villages of trulli houses, spending the night in the UNESCO-listed Alberobello.

Day 4 Salento peninsula

Taranto gave its name to tarantula spiders and tarantella music, but it also has a fascinating archaeological museum and a lively fish market. Stop by the ceramics town of Grottaglie later, then stroll the pines or swim at Porto Selvaggio Natural Park before spending the night in Gallipoli.

Day 5 Santa María di Leuca and Otranto

There’s an end of the world feel to Santa María di Leuca, which hangs off the tip of the Salento. It’s a town that lives up to its name (‘luminous’), as you explore long beaches before heading up to the Basilica de Finibus Terrae (‘Church at the End of the Earth’), which was consecrated in 343 AD. Finish with a visit to Otranto to see its unique Byzantine-Norman mosaic.

Day 6 Lecce

Spend a day in Puglia’s most beautiful city, taking in Lecce’s lavishly ornate churches and palazzi. Its Roman amphitheatre and the Greek vases found in the Museo Sigismondo Castromediano are unmissable. ⊲

Southern mystery (this page; clockwise from top left) The perfectly octagonal Castle del Monte remains a conundrum to historians, as it defended little that was of interest and has no traditional defences (moat, arrow slits, etc), so many mystical theories have sprouted over the years as to its existence; the Basilica di San Nicola was among the first Norman churches built in southern Italy; an old tower house peers over the Gargano peninsula

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International dialling code: +39 Currency: Euro (€) Getting there: EasyJet (easyjet.com) and Ryanair (ryanair.com) regularly fly to Bari from London Gatwick and Stansted respectively. Ryanair also flies nonstop to Brindisi from Stansted and operates seasonal flights from Manchester in the summer. Flights cost from around £79 return and take just under three hours.

Getting around: If you are sticking to Puglia’s cities and towns, it’s easy to get around by train and bus.

But if time is short, you’ll want to hire a car at a major train station or airport. Do book early in summer to avoid disappointment.

Weather: Summers are hot and dry, making the area perfect for coastal escapes (do all your touring in the morning, before the afternoon siesta).

Spring and autumn are ideal for walking, cycling and even swimming. The rainy season runs from November to March.

Further info: viaggiareinpuglia.it

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Pride of place (this page; top) Trani’s magnificent waterfront cathedral is dedicated to the 11th-century pilgrim St Nicholas, who wandered Puglia pleading, ‘Lord, have mercy’. He was often considered mad during his lifetime, but later had several miracles posthumously attributed to him; now an annual procession is held in his honour in the last week of July in Trani; (bottom) Santa María di Leuca lies on the edge of the Salento peninsula

Don’t miss...

Outdoors Gargano National Park Better known as the ‘spur’ on Italy’s boot, Gargano NP has beaches lined with white cliffs, sea stacks and natural arches, as well as the Foresta Umbra (‘Forest of Shadows’), a mass of primeval beech and oak. Look out for one of Europe’s oldest pilgrimage shrines at Monte Sant’Angelo, where archangel Michael appeared to a bishop in the 5th century AD.

Indoors Castel del Monte The Castel del Monte was erected by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the mid-13th century AD on a hill overlooking the town of Andria. This mysterious building is shaped like an octagon, has octagonal rooms, an octagonal courtyard and eight octagonal towers. Scholars have puzzled over the significance of this for centuries. casteldelmonte.beniculturali.it

Valle d’Itria The Valle d’Itria consists of gently rolling hills and olive groves dotted with gleaming villages filled with trulli. Pay visits to Ostuni (known as the ‘White City’ for its expanse of whitewashed buildings), Ceglie Messapica, Locorotondo, Martina Franca, Cisternino and the UNESCO-listed Alberobello, whose streets of brilliant-white trulli resemble a kind of Mediterranean version of Hobbiton.

Otranto Mosaic Begun in the 11th century by the Normans, Otranto’s Romanesque cathedral is home to one of the largest and best-preserved Medieval floor mosaics in Europe. The travel writer HV Morton once compared a visit here to ‘walking on the Bayeux Tapestry’, except these days you can’t walk on it. mosaicodiotranto.com

Strolling through Lecce Largely built in the 17th century, Lecce has grown into an outdoor museum of intricately carved Baroque buildings, thanks to the use of a soft limestone that can be chiselled into elaborate decorations before hardening.

Make sure to stroll the Piazza del Duomo and the extraordinary Basilica di Santa Croce – its façade alone took about a century to sculpt.

National Archaeology Museum of Taranto Taranto – founded by the Spartans in 706 BC – boasts one of the world’s largest collections of ancient Greek terracotta votive figures. Its array of vases, mosaics and gold jewellery includes a unique 4th-century BC nutcracker that is shaped like an elegant woman’s hands.

It all hints at Puglia’s ancient wealth and sophistication. museotaranto.beniculturali.it

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Lecce La Fiermontina – Palazzo Bozzi Corso Elegant, art-filled rooms await in this 18th-century Baroque palazzo, along with plenty of Beatles memorabilia (the owners are friends with Yoko Ono), exceptional service and a panoramic roof garden. palazzobozzicorso.com Alberobello Astra B&B Grab your chance to stay in a genuine 16th-century trullo that is set within a romantic garden shaded by ancient olive trees. The hostess also serves a superb breakfast. astralberobello.it

Savelletri di Fasano Borgo Egnazia South of Bari, chic design meets traditional Pugliese style at this luxury beach resort with a golf course, gorgeous spa and Michelin restaurant. Its castle-like interior is especially dreamy in candelight. borgoegnazia.com Punta Palascìa Agriturismo La Palascia On the Salento peninsula, Italy’s easternmost point, you’ll find rustic, charming rooms set within a working 18th-century farm. The surrounding Costa Otranto regional nature park also has excellent birdwatching, hiking and cycling. agriturismolapalascia.it

4 TOP THINGS TO DO CYCLE the Alta

Murgia National Park, where a local company offers mountain-bike and e-bike hire as well as half-day guided tours of the area’s dolines (karstic sinkholes), blazing-red bauxite mines, ancient masserie and almond groves, from which the locals make vegan cheese.

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SAIL to the Tremiti Islands, off the Gargano peninsula, and take a boat tour of their cave-pocked coasts. San Nicola has a fortress-monastery and a beautiful sandy beach, whereas San Domino, the largest of the Tremitis, is famous for its breeding falcons and a cave that was used in the 1961 film The Guns of Navarone.

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LEARN how to create the classics of Puglian cuisine. With the Leccebased Awaiting Table cookery school, you’ll visit the local fish market and prepare homemade orecchiette (the region’s ‘little ears’ pasta), antipasto, two courses, four vegetable side dishes and a dessert, accompanied by rosé wines from the Salento peninsula. awaitingtable.com

Watching over us (this page; clockwise from bottom) At the centre of Lecce’s Piazza Sant’Oronzo is a column crowned with a statue of the city’s patron saint, Oronzo, who is said to have rescued Puglia from a plague in 1656; the 12th-century ‘Tree of Life’ mosaic in Otranto’s cathedral consists of about 600,000 limestone tesserae; one of the bastions of the Angevine-Aragonese castle of Gallipoli, whose walled Old Town lies on the Salento coast

HIKE the ‘Forest of Shadows’ in Gargano National Park, either on the family-friendly 5km Laghetto d’UmbraFalascone loop near Vico del Gargano, which passes a lake where you can spot turtles, or on the more difficult 9.3km Area Baccone via Laghetto d’Umbra walk. www.wanderlustmagazine.com 241

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The Otavalo people of the Andes have kept their traditional festivals, dress and skills alive, offering visitors a rare glimpse of living pre-Columbian history as well as a warm welcome

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ncompassing a sacred landscape of highland lakes, misty valleys and mighty volcanoes, Ecuador’s northern Imbabura Province is also the home of the indigenous Otavalo people. Their eponymous town is where you’ll find the most famous textile and craft market in South America. Bustling along to a soundtrack of keening panpipes, its Plaza de Ponchos market is a riot of rainbow-coloured blankets, wall hangings and fluffy alpaca jumpers, and it has been drawing in backpackers and tour buses since the 1980s.

On the stalls you’ll find men and women in their distinctive traditional dress chatting away in Kichwa, a legacy of the Inca empire that once imposed its rule here. Typically, women wear a white blouse embroidered with bright flowers, multiple strings of golden beads (walcas) around their neck, coral charms (maki watana) on their wrists to ward off evil spirits, and a shawl (fachalina). Two wraparound skirts (anacos) are tied at the waist with a pair of woven belts (fajas) and their hair is usually worn in a single ponytail, often braided with ribbon, while a felt hat or coloured cloth (humaguatarina) keeps off the sun.

Apart from on special occasions, few men wear the traditional Otavalo dress of a white shirt, calf-length white trousers, a dark poncho and white espadrilles (alpargatas), but most wear a felt hat and style their hair in a single braid at the back as a mark of identity and pride.

The history of weaving wool here began well before the conquest of Ecuador that was led by Inca ruler Huayna Capac at the end of the 15th century. The Incas introduced alpaca wool and more elaborate weaving styles but were brutal rulers, then the Spanish arrived in the 16th century and local communities were forced to work for long hours in obrajes (sweatshops) to produce cloth that was exported throughout the Spanish Americas. Nowadays, many of the textiles on sale may be made using electric machines, but the most prized pieces are still created by hand in family workshops.

Renowned as traders, shrewd Otavalo entrepreneurs have successfully taken their handicrafts and music all over the world. Textiles, trade and now tourism have helped them maintain their traditions in a world where many Indigenous cultures are under threat.

A resurgent Indigenous pride over the last 30 years has seen local festivals swell in scope to include sporting events, concerts of Andean music and singing, and prizes for the most delicious market food, such as hornado (whole roast hog) served with crackling, mote (hominy corn) and llapingachos (mashed-potato patties). Many families who once left these valleys to seek their fortunes abroad now return specifically during festival time to re-immerse themselves in the rich culture.

Unravelling the threads (this page; clockwise from top) The traditional dress of the Otavalo is said to be closer to that worn by the Inca than any of the peoples of the Andes; the Otavalo are known for their skill at weaving, and the town of Peguche is celebrated for its creations; Otavalo’s Plaza de Ponchos is filled with stalls full of blankets, hats and colourful clothes; an Otavalo man plays the kena flute during an Inti Raymi parade, an Inca festival that takes place during the winter solstice

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while promoting and preserving traditional crafts.

Cotacachi’s cowboys 5 Meet

If Otavalo is all about weaving, Cotacachi is dedicated to leather.

Stalls selling belts, cowboy boots, saddles and a boggling array of knick-knacks line Calle de Cuero (Leather Street), and many of the workshops are happy for visitors to pop in and see how cow, goat and llama hides are made into leather. The town’s cowboy theme extends to Inti Raymi, when men from different communities don oversized cardboard stetsons, furry leather chaps and horse whips for a rumbunctious zapateado (stomping) dance-off aimed at waking up the Pachamama.

Six ways to experience traditional Otavalo culture

1 Join the fiesta

The Otavalo people’s ties to their ancient Andean cosmovision, a worldview that was shared by many of the pre-Columbian peoples of Mesoamerica, is best seen at festivals following the Inca calendar.

In the town of Peguche, Pawkar Raymi (Flower Blossom Festival) is held in February or March to thank Pachamama, the Earth Mother, for a good harvest. In Otavalo, Inti Raymi (Festival of the Sun) is a full-on fiesta of flute music, dance and feasting in June. And in September, fermented corn beer (chicha de jora) takes centre stage at La Fiesta del Yamor.

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the sacred waterfall of Peguche 2 Visit

Peguche is a small town famous for its weaving workshops and the Cascadas de Peguche, a series of waterfalls considered sacred. To prepare for Inti Raymi, hundreds of Otavalo men come to the falls at midnight to wash away troubles and purify their souls in the company of a yachak (shaman). These rituals are not for gawkers. At all other times, visitors can enjoy the cool spray from the 18m-high cascade.

3 See condors fly

In Andean myth, the highflying condor is revered as a

messenger to Inti, the sun. Sadly, there are now fewer than 100 wild condors in the Ecuadorian Andes and they are classified as endangered. At the hillside Parque Cóndor, near Otavalo, you can get up close to two rescued condors and a harpy eagle, as well as see falconry displays by hawks and owls. Run by a non-profit foundation that aims to foster a greater appreciation of these birds, the park offers incredible views of Imbabura and Cotacachi volcanoes and Cuicocha Lake.

time with a local family 4 Spend

Cowboy culture (this page; top–bottom) During June’s Inti Raymi festivities in Cotacachi, the town’s men dress in elaborately made cowboy costumes; real Indigenous cowboys roam the hills across the Andes

6 Hike a living landscape

Local legend, involving the Imbabura and Cotacachi volcanoes and the crater lakes of Mojanda, tells of Taita Imbabura (Father Imbabura), who was a mighty warrior that fought Mojanda for the love of Mama Cotacachi. He was so worn out by his wooing that the stones he lobbed at Mojanda fell short, scattering the land. It is also said that Cerro Yanahurco, a hill that nestles in the skirts of Cotacachi, is Imbabura’s son. The hike to the summit of Imbabura is not technical but takes four hours. An easier trek is the mini volcano Fuya Fuya (Mist Mist in Kichwa), which takes only two hours and affords fine views of the Mojanda lakes from the top.

Tour company Runa Tupari (runatupari.com) works with Indigenous communities around Otavalo and Cotacachi to offer immersive cultural experiences, alongside hiking, cycling and horse-riding trips. Homestays are with families that have built cosy ‘lodges’ kitted out with hot water and a fireplace. Guests get a taste of family life, feeding chickens and guinea pigs, gathering herbs and vegetables from the garden to prepare meals, and eating with their hosts. Typically run by women, homestays are a great way of bringing the financial benefits of tourism to remote communities

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These Chilean cities are united by a difficult history, a vibrant present and the country’s most enduring cultural figure, the poet and diplomat Pablo Neruda, writes Shafik Meghji

C

hile’s dazzling landscapes – fjords and deserts, rainforests and mountains, ice fields and steppe – tend to overshadow its urban areas, which many travellers treat merely as stopovers or transport interchanges.

But if you dedicate some time to exploring the capital, Santiago, and the nearby port of Valparaíso, you’ll discover two of the most engaging and storied cities in South America.

Above all, they allow you to immerse yourself in Chile’s often tumultuous history In a central valley flanked by tumbling hills and Andean peaks, Santiago is a cultural, political and economic powerhouse, home to almost 7 million people, more than a third of the country’s population. Founded by Spanish conquistadors in 1541 in an area that had been inhabited by Indigenous communities for millennia, it quickly became the heartbeat of Chilean society, as is evident from the array of impressive mansions, government buildings,

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cathedrals and museums fanning out from the buzzing main square, Plaza de Armas. Foremost among them is the presidential palace, the Palacio de La Moneda.Yet, despite its wealth of history, Santiago is far from stuck in the past.

While rarely receiving the plaudits lavished on counterparts such as Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, it is a dynamic, rapidly developing, forward-looking capital.

To the west, Valparaíso has a similarly rich history and spirited present. Consisting of a multitude of cerros (hills) topped with colourful houses and encircling a wide bay, it was one of the continent’s most important ports in the 19th century, a thriving, multicultural trading hub prospering from Chile’s booming silver and copper industries, as well as from ships bound for the California gold rush. Yet a devastating earthquake in 1906, followed by the opening of the Panama Canal eight years later – which provided a handy shortcut between the Atlantic and the Pacific – precipitated ⊲

Besides breakfast, lunch and dinner, Chileans also have a fourth meal, known as la once (the eleven). It was inspired by the British tradition of elevenses, which was brought over by merchants, engineers and miners in the 19th century and is eaten in late afternoon. It often features a mix of sandwiches – or bread, butter, cheese and jam – and cakes, tarts and doughy croissants known as medialunas, as well as pastries that often feature manjar (Chile’s take on dulce de leche). Café de la Candelaria on Avenida Italia in Santiago and Emporio La Rosa (emporiolarosa.cl) in Valparaíso are both good places to try it for yourself.

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Santiago & Valparaíso

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Centre of attention (left page) The Plaza de Armas has been the heart of Chilean capital Santiago since Pedro de Gamboa laid out plans for the city’s grid of streets in the mid-1500s. Originally it was called Plaza Mayor (Main Square), but it was renamed Plaza de Armas (Weapons Square) after an early Indigenous attack, as the city grew into more of a military camp. At its centre stands a statue of the liberator Simón Bolívar, surrounded by a small forest of palms where locals, artists and balloon sellers linger on hot days. Wrapping all this are some of the grandest buildings in the city, including the Neoclassical Metropolitan Cathedral (pictured), which has weathered fires and earthquakes down the centuries; (this page; above) colourful buildings tumble the hillsides of Valparaíso

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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a set of ascensores (funicular lifts) were built to whisk residents of Valparaíso from the lower town ⊲

TOP THINGS TO DO Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Santiago

This museum has a vast collection of Indigenous artworks and artefacts spanning 10,000 years and most of Latin America.

Highlights include exhibits of items from Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Aymara silver jewellery and Inca quipu, an ancient system of colourful knotted threads used to keep records and convey messages. museo.precolombino.cl

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Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, Santiago

A visit to the glass-fronted Museum of Memory and Human Rights is essential for understanding modern Chile. It uses multimedia displays to provide insight into the human rights abuses of the Pinochet dictatorship, during which more than 3,000 people were killed and many more ‘disappeared’, tortured, detained or exiled. mmdh.cl

Cerros Alegre and Concepción, Valparaíso

These labyrinthine neighbourhoods were once home to wealthy European traders. Wander cobbled streets and winding alleys lined with colourful townhouses and faded mansions, many of which have been renovated and converted into guest houses, restaurants, bars and galleries. They are also hotspots for street art.

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STREET ART

Santiago and Valparaíso are both renowned for their street art, murals and graffiti, awash with a riot of colour and creativity adorning walls, underpasses, flyovers, public transport and frequently entire buildings. During the brutal Pinochet dictatorship of the 1970s and ’80s, street art became an important – and safely

anonymous – form of non-violent protest, before expanding rapidly over the following decades. While some pieces are stridently political in nature – many reference the recent waves of mass demonstrations or the heated referendum over a new constitution, for example – others are playful, dream-like, abstract, psychedelic and sometimes lascivious.

Many neighbourhoods have, in effect, become outdoor galleries. In Santiago, these include the barrios of Bellavista, Franklin, Brasil and Yungay, as well as Calle Bandera in the city centre. Meanwhile, the best place to start your exploration in Valparaíso is Cerro Bellavista, home to the Museo a Cielo Abierto (Open-Air Museum), which features works by some of the country’s most feted street artists.

The scenes in both cities are constantly evolving, and many works are left unsigned, so it is worth taking a tour with an outfit such as Valpo Street Art Tours (valpostreetart.com) for a deeper insight.

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a sharp decline. In the words of one former resident, the Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda, the erstwhile Jewel of the Pacific became ‘a heap, a bunch of crazy houses’.

But, ironically, the economic downturn helped to preserve the city’s glorious buildings, while cheap rents attracted writers, musicians and artists, who gave the place a distinctly bohemian vibe. Today, Valpo, as it’s commonly known, is one of South America’s most interesting – and idiosyncratic – cities. The centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site, awash with elegantly decaying industrial infrastructure, churches, banks, townhouses, clocktowers and funicular lifts, and there are strong creative, cultural and culinary scenes. Yet the gritty working port beneath the picturesque cerros ensures the city retains its edge.

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The view from afar (this page, clockwise from top right) A cable car climbs to the summit of San Cristóbal, Santiago; browse Mapuche burial statues at the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino; the funiculars of Valparaíso have been little updated since they were installed over a century ago; the graffiti of Cerros Concepcion and Alegre recall a time when this was as much a form of protest as it was art; the Fountain of Neptune atop Santiago’s Cerro de Santa Lucia; the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos delves into the brutal years under Pinochet; (left page) Pablo Neruda once described Valparaíso as a ‘bunch of crazy houses’

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point in the city and home to a large park, public swimming pools, botanical garden and children’s playground, as well as a small church and a towering statue of the Virgen de la Inmaculada Concepción. If you’re lucky enough to reach the summit of the hill on a clear day, there are sensational views of Santiago and the mountains beyond.

POETS’ CORNERS

‘He who does not travel, who does not read, who does not listen to music, who does not find grace in himself… dies slowly,’ wrote Pablo Neruda, who passed away in suspicious circumstances 50 years ago this September and was perhaps the most influential Chilean

A way with words (this page; clockwise from top) Pablo Neruda began building a house in Santiago for Matilde Urrutia, his secret love, in 1951, nicknaming it La Chascona in her honour after her red hair – it would be two more years before he separated from his wife and moved in; allegations that Neruda was a victim of General Pinochet’s brutal regime surfaced long after his suspicious death; street art on Neruda’s Santiago house; the third floor of Neruda’s Valparaiso home, La Sebastiana, was occupied entirely by a birdcage before the poet bought it; (right page; top) Santiago’s modern capital shines brightly

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(around the port) to the residential neighbourhoods spread across the steep hills above. Only a few are still in operation and, as their cacophony of creaks and rattles indicates, they’ve barely been upgraded over the past hundred years.

Yet the ascensores remain an important – and atmospheric – form of public transport. As well as being an energy saver, they generally deposit you on a scenic street or at a sweeping viewpoint in the cerros, with the El Peral and Concepción routes being two of the most captivating.

Santiago’s own funicular is a relative youngster by comparison, only dating back to 1925. It combines with a more modern cable-car system (the Teleférico) to transport passengers up the 850m-high Cerro San Cristóbal, the highest

cultural figure of the last century. Neruda, whose first anthology, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, sold more than 20 million copies, lived in both Santiago and Valparaíso.

His former homes are now open to the public, providing a glimpse at the poet and diplomat’s eccentric interests and turbulent (and troubling) personal life.

Named after his third wife’s ‘messy hair’, La Chascona was Neruda’s bolthole in the capital. It lies tucked into the base of Cerro San Cristóbal in Santiago and features a quirky selection of knick-knacks – everything from sea shells to coloured glass – plus rooms designed to resemble a lighthouse and a ship’s cabin.

You will find a similarly nautical theme at another of his stays, La Sebastiana, which sits in an elevated location in Valparaíso and was dubbed the ‘house in the air’. Its furnishings include a stuffed ibis, a wooden music box and a carousel horse from a Parisian fairground.

A third Neruda home, Isla Negra, lies in the coastal village of the same name, an hour’s drive south of Valparaíso, and is also now a museum (fundacionneruda.org).

If you’re still after a cultural fix, another renowned Chilean poet, diplomat and Nobel Prize-winner, Gabriela Mistral, lends her name to an eye-catching and innovative cultural and arts space in downtown Santiago called the Centro Gabriela Mistral (aka GAM; gam.cl).

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Stay here...

Luciano K, Santiago Once the tallest building in Chile – though now dwarfed by the capital’s modern skyscrapers – this elegant hotel is named after its architect, Luciano Kulczewski. Dating back to the 1920s, it combines classic Art Deco design with an array of contemporary comforts. Alongside a selection of excellent en suites, there’s a bar-restaurant on the roof terrace, plus a sauna and tiny plunge pool.

A short walk away is lively Barrio Lastarria, one of Santiago’s cultural and culinary hubs. lucianokhotel.com

NEED TO KNOW

Hotel Palacio Astoreca, Valparaíso A lavish mansion built for a wealthy Croatian saltpetr magnate in the 1920s, the eye-catching Palacio Astoreca played host to a local arts college before it was thoughtfully restored and turned into a boutique hotel ten years ago. Sitting in the heart of Cerro Alegre, Valpo’s most picturesque hilltop neighbourhood, it has a collection of bright en-suite rooms, some of which have private balconies and sea views. A well-equipped spa and heated indoor swimming pool complete the package. hotelpalacioastoreca.com

Getting there: British Airways (ba.com) operates regular direct flights between London Heathrow and Santiago from around £784 return, taking from 14.5 hours.

Getting around: Frequent buses connect the cities of Santiago and Valparaíso; the journey takes around 1.5 hours and there is no need to book ahead.

More information: The new edition of Lonely Planet’s Chile guidebook (co-written by the author of this feature) was published in September.

The Chilean tourist board’s official website (chile.travel) is also a useful resource for travellers.

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hetland is so special that they gave us our own box on the weather map,” smiled local guide and proud Shetlander Laurie Goodlad. We were gazing out from Shetland Mainland, squinting past the puffins and drifts of sea mist to Fair Isle, the southernmost of the Shetland Islands, some 38km away. “We’re a really remarkable archipelago with around 100 islands and 100 beaches,” Laurie continued. “No wonder they struggle to fit us on the UK map.”

Shetland is indeed special, an oasis that no longer feels remote, nor empty like it often appears in TV documentaries. It’s an epic land where you are never more than a handful of kilometres from the North Sea or the Atlantic Ocean, and where an endless stream of wildlife dots the 2,702km of coastline – as extensive as that of Brittany. This is a place of big skies, even bigger seas and sunsets that polish the soul.

In Shetland – it’s Shetland or the Shetland Islands, never ‘The Shetlands’ – I spent a lot of moments just gazing off into the middle distance. Most new arrivals are similarly bewitched, but you don’t have much time to zone out; not when there’s the sight of epic seabird colonies to savour. Sitting on a clifftop

watching a bonxie (great skua) knock a gannet clean out of the sky so it can nick its lunch is like climbing into a nature documentary voiced

by Sir David Attenborough. It’s certainly no coincidence that the great documentarian’s last nature series featured Shetland’s orcas. He could just as easily have chosen the fin, minke or humpback whales that drift the waters here, or the islands’ bountiful dolphins and porpoises.

I’ve spent whole trips to Shetland immersed in nature, hiking every inch of Hermaness and coming perilously close to otter fatigue on Yell.

But you soon discover the people here are just as fascinating. This is not the Scotland you think you know. The Norse influence runs deep, and not just in Viking sites and place names, but in the riotous Up Helly Aa fire festival that lights up Lerwick on the last Tuesday of every January.

There are also Iron and Stone Age sites, and the legacies of those pesky ‘Southerners’ – the Scots.

It’s hard writing about a place as deeply diverse as Shetland: like London it has so many incarnations.Wait until you taste those Shetland mussels, savour your first voe (bay), spot a seal leaping away from an orca or ignore yet another puffin so you can see an otter devouring breakfast. As Laurie put it, “Shetland well deserves our peerie box on the weather map.” ⊲

Ask a local

“So many parts of Shetland fire my imagination, especially the beautiful beaches and lonely landscapes in the northern isles of Yell, Unst and Fetlar.

I’ve also grown to love the coastline on Shetland’s Mainland: places like Troswickness and the shores of the South Mainland, such as West Voe and Quendale. I am hugely fortunate to live on a beach, so a lot of my inspiration is right here on my doorstep.”

Ruth Brownlee (ruthbrownlee.co.uk) is a Shetland artist who exhibits at Yell’s The Shetland Gallery

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Britain’s northernmost isles are so remote that they often fall off maps, but this Scottish archipelago deserves its spotlight, writes Robin McKelvie, especially as its fire festival returns

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Northern exposure (clockwise from top) In late January, the streets of Lerwick flicker alive as the island’s Norse-influenced fire festival, Up Helly Aa, takes over; the sea stacks of Foula, the most remote inhabited isle in Britain; artist Ruth Brownlee at work; orcas can be seen year-round in Shetland, though the months of July and between October and January are peak season for sightings; the ruined settlements of Jarlshof; Shetland’s 2,702km of coast is packed with seals and puffins

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The Viking longship moored in the harbour sets the tone for a visit to Shetland capital Lerwick. Kick off at the Shetland Museum (shetlandmuseumandarchives.org.uk) to get a handle on this archipelago’s 5,000 years of human history. Next up, Mareel arts hub (shetlandarts.org) is the place to take the cultural pulse of the islands, then head to Fort Charlotte (historicenvironment.scot) to travel back in time. Skip down Commercial Street (pictured top), flitting through the independent shops on your way to the scenic Bain’s Beach, the first of myriad shores you’ll encounter. Cutting south-west, Scalloway beguiles with its rugged castle and the story of the ‘Shetland Bus’, a special-forces group that took on the Nazis in Norway. Snare boat-fresh seafood for lunch at the revamped KB (facebook.com/TheKBscalloway), then push south to St Ninian’s and its giant tombolo. From there you can hop to Jarlshof (historicenvironment.scot), a prehistoric and Norse settlement site currently bidding for UNESCO World Heritage status, then peer off the Mainland’s southern tip at Sumburgh Head as the seabirds swirl. Finish by dining on slow-cooked Shetland lamb at Fjara (fjaracoffee.com), where, if you’re lucky, you may spy orcas in the waters offshore.

It doesn’t get more Shetland than that.

DAY 2

Explore the north of Shetland Mainland today, driving through the historic heart of the island at Tingwall. The land narrows to barely road-width at Mavis Grind, an isthmus where you can lob a stone between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It’s worth getting up early so you have time to ramble west with the otters to the little-visited Chambered Cairn. Nip to Brae for lunch at Frankie’s (frankiesfishandchips.com), the UK’s most northerly chippie – the smoked haddock is the star – then push on into Northmavine, known for its sea stacks. The cliffs are at their grandest around Esha Ness Lighthouse (nlb.org.uk/lighthouses/esha-ness; pictured top), which is ideal for a bracing seabirdstrewn walk backed by the baleful Atlantic emptiness: it’s next stop the Americas from here. Ease by Sullom Voe, where islanders have neatly managed to constrict the massive fossil fuel installations foisted upon them into one place while cannily siphoning off revenue.

Experienced, well-equipped hikers can ascend Ronas Hill (450m), which is the highest point in Shetland, or you can just admire it from below before easing south to Lerwick for local seafood and maybe a celebratory Shetland gin at The Dowry (thedowry.co.uk), which now has a second venue at Shetland Museum that overlooks the water.

Getting there: Northlink (northlinkferries.co.uk) sail to Lerwick overnight from Aberdeen for £30 one way. The journey takes around 12.5 hours and there are bars and a restaurant onboard.

Berths and sleeper seats are available, but booking is essential.

Loganair (loganair.co.uk) flies to Sumburgh on Shetland Mainland from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow from £77 one way.

Stay at: Shetland artist Ruth Brownlee runs Sea Winds, a Scandichic self-catering hideaway in Lerwick that sleeps four and overlooks Bain’s Beach. Book at facebook.com/seawindsshetland; stays from £110pn (minimum three nights). Another characterful abode is Sumburgh Lighthouse (shetlandlighthouse.com; pictured right), where the puffins and orcas make for a colourful backdrop during summer. It sleeps five and costs from £140pn.

Further information: visitscotland.com

GO WILD at Up Helly Aa in Lerwick. January’s annual ‘fire festival’ creeps into all areas of life here and reaches its zenith with its fiery marches and the burning of a galley ship.

Arrive on 30 January 2024 for the big event and you’ll soon be au fait with terms like ‘guizers’ and ‘squads’.

There really is nothing quite like it. uphellyaa.org ESCAPE to Foula, which lies a spectacular 22km flight west of Mainland or an often hairy ferry ride away. The most remote inhabited isle in Britain is a wild and wildly beautiful place, inhabited by a tight-knit community most city dwellers can only dream of. shetland.org GO NORTH, really north! Take a short ferry ride to the isle of Unst, the UK’s most northerly inhabited isle. See the new spaceport (yes, seriously!), visit the Shetland Reel gin distillery and spy Viking ruins and epic white beaches. You can also hike Hermaness National Nature Reserve to peer over Muckle Flugga, the northernmost tip of the British Isles. visit-unst.com SAIL TO MOUSA. This magical isle is home to the best-preserved broch (Iron Age roundhouse) in Scotland. We know little about these mysterious coastal towers, but this one is about as striking as they come. In summer, storm petrels nest between the stones and the sound of the adults swooping back with dinner is haunting. mousa.co.uk

Alamy; Alex Mazurov for Shetland Amenity Trust

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Retro travel quiz We take you back 30 years to when Wanderlust first launched. But 1993 wasn’t just a big year for us; take our retro quiz to see how well you know your travel history…

1

The Pacific Crest Trail (4,265km) was finished in 1993. It runs between California and which other region? a. The Yukon b. Alberta c. British Columbia d. Alaska

Words: Gareth Clark; images: Shutterstock

2

Which African country formally gained independence on 24 May 1993? a. Namibia b. Eritrea c. Djibouti d. Seychelles

3

Menorca marked its 30th anniversary as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2023. What is the island’s capital?

a. Arrecife b. Palma c. Eivissa d. Mahón

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The Eastern and Oriental Express made its first rail journey between Singapore and which other city in 1993? a. Ho Chi Minh City b. Kuala Lumpur c. Bangkok d. Vientiane

5

This waterside Nordic opera house celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2023.

Where is it? a. Norway b. Finland c. Iceland d. Greenland

Answers: 1C; 2B: 3D; 4C; 5B; 6C; 7A; 8D; 9A; 10B; 11C; 12B

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Buried beneath an eruption in circa 600 AD, Joya de Cerén (pictured) gained World Heritage status in 1993.

In which country is it? a. The Philippines b. Peru c. El Salvador d. Spain

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The TV adaptation of Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence caused Brits to flock to south-east France in 1993. The area is known for its fields of… a. Lavender b. Poppies c. Tulips d. Daffodils

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The 100th anniversary of the

first-ever polar pleasure cruise was in 1993. From which port did it sail? a. Ushuaia b. Punta Arenas c. Aberdeen d. Trondheim

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Which British palace opened to visitors for the first time in 1993? a. Buckingham Palace b. Kensington Palace c. Palace of Holyroodhouse d. Blenheim Palace

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Taiwan’s Museum of Drinking Water (pictured) first opened in 1993. Which of the following isn’t in Taiwan? a. Saba Milkfish Museum b. Cup Noodle Museum

c. Fire Safety Museum d. High-Heel Church

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Delhi’s Humayun’s Tomb (pictured) became a World Heritage site in 1993.

Its design famously inspired which building? a. Lotus Temple b. India Gate c. Taj Mahal d. Hawa Mahal

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Which of the following was not a member of the European Union when the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993? a. Greece b. Sweden c. The Netherlands d. Denmark

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a place in a male-dominated industry.

It became evident that I had to put in ten times the effort just to gain recognition, so I made a personal promise to pave a smoother path for others.

This drove me to initiate efforts aimed at assisting women in vulnerable situations and to pave the way for other females to be tour leaders. My goal is to make their journey easier in a field where gender equality is long overdue.

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How are you working to include more local women in your tours?

Sometimes it’s organising a meal at someone’s home; other times it might mean hosting a henna party. I am always trying to support female-owned businesses or promote experiences run by women. My aim is to provide them with opportunities to generate income and thrive in their communities.

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Sara Lamzouwaq Joint ‘Tour Leader’ winner at Wanderlust’s 2023 World Guide Awards, Sara talks about breaking the glass ceiling for female guides in Morocco and the power of mint tea What inspired you to become a tour guide in Morocco?

I’ve always wanted to be in a job that could change people’s lives. As a tour guide here, I have the chance to make a significant impact, whether it’s ensuring that my guests have a good time or by bringing people together, such as when we visit the tents of nomads or share a meal with a local family. It’s incredible how something as simple as a glass of mint tea can remind us that we are all fundamentally the same.

Was it hard to break into the guiding industry at first?

When I first entered the world of guiding, I faced the challenge of securing

Time for tea (top–bottom) Interactions with local people, such as sharing mint tea in their home, are at the heart of Sara Lamzouwaq’s tours, which aim to show the similarities that bind everyone together; she wants to open the door for other female guides in Morocco

Any tips for seeing Morocco?

My advice to travellers is to not limit your visit to the well-known spots.Try to explore lesser-known towns such as Midelt, up in the high plains. I took a group there during harvest season and everyone was inviting us to have lunch with them and gave us apples. Open yourself up to new experiences, such as trying slow-braised lamb tagine with prunes (my favourite) or ending your day at a traditional hammam.

What’s the strangest question you’ve been asked by a guest?

I was driving through the Atlas mountains in February when one of my group asked me if what was on top of the mountains was salt. I didn’t know if it was a joke or not, so I just told her, “No, my dear, it’s snow.”

Sara Lamzouwaq, FTLO Travel (ftlotravel.com) and Epic Morocco (epic.travel/morocco)

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Which places do you love going back to again and again?

Fes is a place that I always love returning to because there is an experience I do there that is very dear to my heart: organising a home-cooked meal. It lets groups immerse themselves in the lifestyle of Moroccan people. I take pleasure in demonstrating how to make a pastilla [pie], which is a speciality dish of Fes. The family hosting us is warm and hospitable, going the extra mile to make our visit memorable. They even entertain us with lively chaabi music.