January
Avoiding ‘The White Lotus’ in Thailand
The return of the HBO series The White Lotus next month seems bound to do for its location — the Thai island of Koh Samui and the Four Seasons resort there — what the last series did for Sicily. Avoid the inevitable crowds and instead go to the less-visited island of Koh Phra Thong, holing up at the Baba Eco Lodge, whose 27 wooden villas are dotted along an empty shoreline — “Think The Beach more than White Lotus,” says Sam Clark of Experience Travel Group, which offers stays at the lodge as part of a two-week trip, “Southern Thailand’s Hidden Gems”. Costing £5,300 per person, the itinerary also includes a stay at a floating hotel in Khao Sok National Park, three nights on the beach at Khao Lak, guided experiences and some meals. experiencetravelgroup.com
A new Mucha museum in Prague
In the heart of the Old Town, the newly restored 18th-century Savarin Palace opens this month as a museum devoted to Alphonse Mucha, pioneer of art nouveau. Run by the Mucha family’s foundation trust (and entirely separate from the existing Mucha museum), it will feature more than 300 works, among them the theatrical posters that the actress Sarah Bernhardt said made her “immortal” and the stamps and banknotes Mucha designed for the Republic of Czechoslovakia when it was created in 1918, as well as works attesting to Mucha’s influence on Japanese manga. Its opening marks the first phase of an urban renewal project overseen by Thomas Heatherwick that will eventually include baroque gardens and further exhibition space in what was an indoor riding hall. Opens January 24; mucha.eu. Stay at The Julius, a five-minute walk away, where double rooms cost from €168; thejulius.eu
Galápagos adventures
Despite being one of the natural world’s most alluring and singular destinations, the Galápagos Islands have had a rough few years. With so much of their economy reliant on tourism, the pandemic had a particularly damaging effect. Then, just as things seemed to be improving, violence and unrest in Guayaquil put people off visiting Ecuador altogether. However, the islands have been exempt from any of that trouble, with flights simply routed through Quito instead. Meanwhile, on the ground fewer tourists and newly designed land-based tours (rather than on live-aboard boats) mean there’s a chance to see the archipelago’s extraordinary menagerie in a more tranquil fashion. Uniquely Galápagos (uniquelygalapagos.com) offers an eight-day tour from $4,200pp half-board, including domestic flights, featuring day trips by boat but staying in hotels each night. Alternatively for keen swimmers, SwimTrek has a few places left on its week-long Galápagos trip, offering the chance to swim with sea lions, sea turtles, manta rays and more. Guests swim about 4.5km per day on average. The trip costs from £4,766; swimtrek.com
Contemporary art in Trondheim
Following the opening of Kunstsilo in Kristiansand last May, the latest Norwegian city hoping to draw visitors with art is Trondheim, where PoMo (pictured above), the city’s first museum of modern and contemporary art, opens next month. The creation of Monica and Ole Robert Reitan, chief executive of the grocery giant Reitan Retail, it will house works from the huge collection they’ve amassed in a former art nouveau post office with interiors by India Mahdavi. Featured artists include Louise Bourgeois, Anne Imhof, Simone Leigh and Catherine Opie, and more than half its future acquisitions will be works by women. Opens on February 15; pomo.no. Stay directly opposite at the Britannia Hotel, doubles from £158; britannia.no
Venice by sleeper train
Start-up night train operator European Sleeper launched its inaugural Brussels to Berlin service in 2023, extending it to Prague last year. In February this year, the company will debut an even more enticing route, from the Belgian capital to Venice — departing Brussels Midi/Zuid at 6pm or 7pm, passing through Innsbruck, Ponte Gardena and Bolzano the following morning (also making it a potentially useful route for ski trips to the Alps and Dolomites) before making the final push across the lagoon to land at Santa Lucia station in the early afternoon. The service runs on certain dates in February and March, starting on February 5. Don’t expect the comfort or glamour of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, but then couchettes start from just €139, one-way. europeansleeper.eu
Artemisia Gentileschi in Paris
Artemisia Gentileschi was the most celebrated female artist of the 17th century and one of the few women of her age to have made a living from painting. If you missed the blockbuster 2020 exhibition of her paintings at London’s National Gallery, the always enchanting Musée Jacquemart-André is offering another chance to see many of them. This time, however, they’ll be shown alongside works by her male contemporaries, notably the French artist Simon Vouet, as well as her father, Orazio, by whom she was trained. Exhibition runs February 14 to June 29; musee-jacquemart-andre.com. Stay at the Hôtel Grand Powers, a 15-minute walk away, double rooms from about €460; hotelgrandpowersparis.com
A (cosier) manor house weekend in Devon
Wortham Manor is a late medieval pile deep in the Devon countryside whose Tudor stairways and oak ceilings make it a perfect spot to play at Wolf Hall for a weekend. It does, however, have one rather anachronistic feature: the manor has just reopened after a year of renovation in which the Landmark Trust installed underfloor heating — plus new radiators and modern plumbing. Prospective lords and ladies can now enjoy its historic interiors over the short winter days without the usual medieval draught in pursuit. There’s space for 15 guests, with four nights in February starting from £1,952; landmarktrust.org.uk
Chinese treasures in Sintra
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to trade with China, a market developed soon after the explorer Jorge Álvares arrived there in 1513. Fascinated by this, the Brazilian civil engineer Renato de Albuquerque, now 87, built what is reckoned to be the largest and finest collection of Chinese ceramics in private hands, works from third-century green glazed stoneware to Ming- and Qing-dynasty pieces, especially those made for export. Next month about a quarter of the 2,600 works in the collection go on show in a new museum, the Albuquerque Foundation, in the grounds of what was the family quinta in Sintra, 25km north-west of Lisbon. Co-founded with his granddaughter, Mariana Teixeira De Carvalho, a former director of Hauser & Wirth and the Michael Werner Gallery, it will also have a contemporary element curated in dialogue with the main collection, first off an exhibition by Theaster Gates. Opens February 22; albuquerquefoundation.pt. Stay at the Palacio de Seteais Valverde, 15 minutes’ drive away, a Baroque palace built in 1787, doubles from €315; valverdepalacioseteais.com
Off-piste in Slovenia
As the powder in the Alps gets tracked out ever more quickly — while prices continue to rise — keen skiers are increasingly looking east. Vertical Adventures Slovenia offers an ideal introduction to the lesser-skied delights of the Julian Alps, a six-night “ski safari” staying in three towns in the Triglav National Park and using a mix of ski lifts and touring to reach the best descents. They include a classic starting from Prestreljenik (pictured above), a window in a limestone mountain ridge on the border between Italy and Slovenia. Led by a local, fully qualified guide, the trips are usually for private groups of two to six, although there’s an “open” week starting March 17, when individuals can sign up. From €1,650pp for groups of three or more, or €1,900pp for groups of two; vertical-adventures.si
New flights to Georgia
Political tensions following elections last October could still derail Georgia’s steadily growing tourist industry, but otherwise the stage looks set for a record year. From April, easyJet is starting flights to the capital Tbilisi — the furthest east it has ever flown — from London Luton, Geneva and Milan. Meanwhile British Airways will restart the London Heathrow-Tbilisi service it last flew in 2013; there are currently no direct flights between the UK and Georgia. Original Travel can arrange tailor-made trips exploring Georgia’s fascinating capital and the mountainous regions of Kazbegi and Svaneti. From £2,485pp for 10 days; originaltravel.co.uk
García Márquez’s Colombia
The dreamy new Netflix adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude has prompted growing interest in Colombia, and coincides with the launch of new cruises along the Magdalena, the river which the author repeatedly travelled in his youth and from which he drew much inspiration. From March, the 60-passenger AmaMagdalena (amawaterways.co.uk) will begin offering week-long trips, starting on the coast in historic Cartagena, then heading south to Mompox, the sleepy colonial town amid the wetlands of the Bolívar department (which is often compared with the fictional Macondo in One Hundred Years of Solitude). The cruises continue to El Banco before turning downstream for the journey back north to Barranquilla. It costs from £4,564, including flights from London. Alternatively, upmarket operator Plan South America has a 12-day private journey inspired by the author, travelling overland from Cartagena to Bogotá via the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and deserts of La Guajira, with expert-led tours throughout. From $10,560pp; plansouthamerica.com
Splendours of Pompeii
A succession of remarkable discoveries was made at Pompeii in 2024, notably the “Black Room” frescoes of scenes from Greek mythology, and the banqueting hall of a house on the Via dell’Abondanza. Andante Travels runs eight archaeological tours a year to the site, about a third of which remains unexcavated, promising exclusive access to otherwise off-limits treasures. Future itineraries include, for example, the House of Leda, which has been under excavation since 2018 and where a fresco of Phrixus and Helle, its colours still vibrant, was recently uncovered. Departures in January, March, April, May, September and October from £2,970pp including flights; andantetravels.co.uk
Europe’s first five-star hotel-cum-museum
Newly branded MACAM (for Museu de Arte Contemporânea Armando Martins), Lisbon’s 18th-century Palácio Condes da Ribeira Grande is due to reopen in March as, it claims, “the first museum and five-star hotel concept in Europe”. Its collection contains more than 600 exhibits, from the late 19th century to the present, notably works by Marina Abramović, Olafur Eliasson and Paula Rego. And they’ll be displayed not just in the public galleries but in the hotel’s 64 bedrooms, restaurant and deconsecrated chapel-turned-bar.
MACAM is part of a thriving museum scene in the city. The Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian, aka CAM, opened in a dramatic new building last September, and more of Rego’s work will be on show there in an exhibition co-curated by the artist Adriana Varejão (April 11 to September 15; gulbenkian.pt). The design museum MUDE (mude.pt) also relaunched last summer after a complete overhaul. And, in February, the Pavilhão Julião Sarmento (juliaosarmento.com), another private collection of blue-chip contemporary art, opens in a former warehouse in the Belém district. MACAM opens March 22, hotel rates not yet set; macam.pt
Kyrgyzstan on horseback
Alexandra Tolstoy first made her name as an adventurer riding 5,000 miles of Central Asia’s Silk Road on horseback in 1999. Of all the landscapes she traversed, the Kyrgyz region of At-Bashi snagged at her the hardest — vast open valleys with the odd yak and yurt. Tolstoy went on to become an author and broadcaster, while also running riding holidays in other parts of Kyrgyzstan during the past two decades, but this year will organise her first eight-day riding trip into remote At-Bashi, departing Bishkek on April 27. You need to be able to ride fast, and be prepared for altitude (the Tash Rabat Pass reaches more than 3,200 metres) and sleeping in snow-dusted tents. The trip includes a night beside Köl-Suu Lake — a dollop of celestial turquoise squeezed between sharp cliffs where snow leopards lurk. From £6,494pp; alexandratolstoytravel.com
Cycling in Portugal
The Slow Cyclist, known for small-group itineraries across Europe and parts of Africa, is running a new trip to Portugal’s Côa River in April to catch the sensational swaths of wildflowers that flourish in this remote, unspoilt region of oak groves. The five-night itinerary by e-bike and on foot begins in the fortified 13th-century town of Sortelha and ends in the Douro Valley, taking a winding route through one of Europe’s largest rewilding projects, which includes the reintroduction of Sorraia horses. From £2,995pp; theslowcyclist.com
A new temple to art in Naoshima
Naoshima has been a destination for art pilgrimages since the Benesse House Museum (benesse-artsite.jp) opened in 1992. By the time the sixth Setouchi Triennale (setouchi-artfest.jp) opens on April 18, the island should have a fifth permanent museum. Designed, like so much else on the island, by Tadao Ando, the Naoshima New Museum of Art will eventually build a permanent collection of work by Asian artists. It opens with a show of works by 11 artists from the continent, among them Takashi Murakami and Cai Guo-Qiang, best known for his gunpowder drawings (and the firework displays that opened and closed the Beijing Olympics). Inside Japan Tours offers bespoke trips as well as a 15-day self-guided art tour of the Seto Inland Sea, including four nights on Naoshima, from £4,100pp excluding flights; insidejapantours.com
A brand new Orient Express
La Dolce Vita Orient Express is the most eye-catching of a new generation of luxury sleeper trains — in contrast to the classic 1920s rolling stock found on the long-standing Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, its new carriages channel mid-century Fellini-esque glamour, with mirrored surfaces, curved banquettes and a giant espresso machine behind the bar. Starting in April, there’s a selection of two- and three-day all-inclusive itineraries across Italy; the pick might be the circular route running south from Rome Ostiense to the caves of Matera then back north to hilltop Pescocostanzo. Bear in mind the price is not so dolce — the trips start from €4,700pp for a one-night trip or €8,180 for the two-night Matera trip. orient-express.com
American art in Arkansas
Founded by art-world insider Karen Stone Talwar, Adventures in Art arranges small escorted tours focused on art fairs and behind-the-scenes visits to museums and the homes of collectors. This year’s itineraries include Paris, Puglia, Washington DC and, intriguingly, Bentonville, Arkansas (about 350 miles north-east of Dallas; nearest airport Fayetteville). This is the home of Crystal Bridges (crystalbridges.org), a museum founded by Alice Walton, heir to the Walmart fortune, to display a collection that spans five centuries of American art and architecture, notably Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1954 Bachman-Wilson house, which was built in New Jersey in 1954 but taken apart and reconstructed on the museum’s 120-acre trail-laced Ozark forest estate. April 29 to May 1, from $2,800pp; adventuresinart.com
Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary
“Set-jetting” — visiting film and television locations — has become a travel industry buzzword, but this year offers the chance for a more immersive sort of artistic pilgrimage. Jane Austen was born 250 years ago this coming December, and the anniversary will be celebrated with a string of events all year, both at her house — now a museum (janeaustens.house) — in the Hampshire village of Chawton, and in Bath, where she spent several years living and writing. First up is the Pride and Prejudice Festival, from January 23-28 at Chawton, but for the chance to feel as if you’ve stepped into an Austen novel, book a ticket to one of the three balls in Bath, to be held in full period costume in the historic Guildhall and Pump Rooms. There’s a Persuasion nautical-themed ball on May 31, a Sanditon seaside-themed ball on June 28 (both with period dance workshops the day before) and a Yuletide ball on December 13. The city’s Jane Austen Festival runs from September 12-21, with myriad events including the costumed Grand Regency Promenade on September 13. Ticket release dates to the balls have yet to be confirmed, for updates see janeausten.co.uk. There are several historic hotels to set the tone when visiting the city that Austen herself called “the most tiresome place in the world”; the Gainsborough and the Francis hotels both have their own Austen-themed experiences this year. thegainsboroughbathspa.co.uk; francishotel.com
A lighthouse on Ischia
German lighthouse enthusiast Tim Wittenbecher is in the process of converting a string of European lighthouses into remarkable places to stay. The latest is Faro Punta Imperatore on the Italian island of Ischia. It has just four rooms, from about €220 per night, a rooftop bar and a small restaurant. The lighthouse sits on a rocky promontory in the island’s south-west, so expect epic sunsets. floatel.de
Rotterdam’s new museums
Two important openings are poised to turn Rotterdam into a museum destination. The first, Fenix, in a former warehouse repurposed by Beijing-based MAD Architects, sits on the harbourside in Katendrecht, a neighbourhood that was home to what was the oldest “Chinatown” in continental Europe. Taking migration as its theme, the museum will, says its director Anne Kremers, examine the subject not just through photographs and objects — including a “labyrinth” of 2,000 donated suitcases — but “through the lens of contemporary artists”, among them Sophie Calle, Rineke Dijkstra, Do Ho Suh, Shilpa Gupta, William Kentridge, Kimsooja, Steve McQueen, Grayson Perry, Yinka Shonibare, Bill Viola and Danh Võ. Also reopening towards the end of the year in the former Santos coffee warehouse is the National Museum of Photography (nederlandsfotomuseum.nl), which has 6.5mn images in its collection, making it one of the largest in the world. Fenix opens on May 16; fenix.nl. Stay directly opposite at Hotel New York, formerly the headquarters of the Holland-America shipping line, from €298; hotelnewyork.com
Palladian villas in the Veneto
While it’s possible to visit the Teatro Olimpico, the earliest-known “modern” theatre still standing, and other civic buildings that Andrea Palladio designed in Vicenza, the town where he lived and died, the villas for which he’s most celebrated are mostly in private hands and closed except by appointment. Martin Randall’s five-night tour “Palladian Villas — the greatest house builder in history” includes visits to half a dozen of them, among them La Rotonda, La Malcontenta and Villa Emo. Departures May 6 and October 28, from £2,350pp; martinrandall.com
Fast track to Greenland
Even before Donald Trump’s latest pronouncements and his son’s visit earlier this week, Greenland was attracting unprecedented attention. A new airport in the capital Nuuk opened at the end of November, with a longer runway that can accommodate larger jets. This promises to transform access to the country (previously most visitors had to fly to the airport at the remote town of Kangerlussuaq, originally built as a US air base, then catch a connecting flight to Nuuk). Direct flights from Copenhagen are already running, and in June, United Airlines will start running twice-weekly flights from New York to Nuuk that are due to continue until late September. Two further new airports are scheduled to open by 2026, at Ilulissat and Qaqortoq, and the openings have prompted a raft of investment in accommodation and travel experiences. Thankfully, visitor numbers remain tiny relative to the country’s vast expanses. To get a real sense of Greenland’s wilderness and Inuit culture, try Nomad Greenland, which runs two upmarket private camps accessed from Nuuk and Ilulissat (from €5,250 for four days; nomadgreenland.com). On the even less inhabited east coast, Pirhuk (expeditiongreenland.com) runs a range of skiing, mountaineering and trekking trips from a base in the village of Kulusuk.
Vermeer in New York
When the Frick Collection reopens in April after a $330mn five-year renovation intended to restore it to its Gilded Age splendour, there will also be three new galleries for temporary exhibitions. The first of them, Vermeer’s Love Letters in June, won’t be on the scale of the Rijksmuseum’s 2023 blockbuster, but will offer another chance to see three paintings on a similar theme hung in dialogue with one another. Mistress and Maid, one of three Vermeers belonging to the Frick, will be hung adjacent to loans from the Rijksmuseum and National Gallery of Ireland. The Frick reopens in April; frick.org. ‘Vermeer’s Love Letters’ runs June 18 to September 8. Stay at recently revamped Surrey, a 10-minute walk away, doubles from $895; corinthia.com
Boutique retreats in unspoilt Menorca
Strict restrictions on development, as well as Unesco biosphere status, have helped Menorca remain more unspoilt and rural than the other Balearics. June will see the opening of two boutique hotels, Son Ermità and Binidufà, each conversions of 18th-century fincas and each with just 11 rooms. They share the same 800-hectare estate on the island’s rugged north coast and expectations are high, given that they are the latest openings from the Vestige group, founded by wealthy entrepreneur Victor Madera to give historic buildings new life. Doubles from €525; vestigecollection.com
Bhutan for botany lovers
Botanists, explorers and historians will want to jump on this seasonally sensitive, exploratory trip through northern Bhutan in the footsteps of early 20th-century plant-hunters Frank Ludlow and George Sherriff. Led by American botanists with experience of multiple previous trips to the country, the two-week itinerary takes in the country’s finest cultural sites before winding into the mountains. Hidden in the hills between Trongsa Dzong, where Bhutan’s princes are crowned, and the country’s highest peak, the unclimbed, 7,570m Gangkar Puensum, this is a region that requires special permits (permissions for Ludlow’s botanical journeys in the 1930s were granted by the second king of Bhutan, after which the area remained closed to foreigners until 2023). The journey is bookended with stays in luxury hotels, and includes deluxe camp-to-camp hiking, with a focus on the region’s botanical wonders, including Bhutan’s national flower: the rarely seen giant blue poppy (Meconopsis gakyidiana). Costs from $16,200pp; innerasiaexpeditions.com. (For less expensive alternatives, try Blue Poppy Tours; bluepoppybhutan.com)
A classic Californian road trip
This year marks the centenary of a very American travel icon: the original motel. The Milestone Mo-Tel opened just off California’s storied Route One in San Luis Obispo on December 12, 1925. Although it closed in 1991, parts of it have been incorporated into the next-door Apple Farm Inn, itself a classic of the genre. A pilgrimage there would make an ideal stop on a California road trip, with drivers then having the choice of heading inland to the sumptuous Sierra Nevada mountains and their associated national parks or hugging the coast, passing Big Sur, Monterey and the often foggy but always gorgeous Pebble Beach. Audley Travel offers a 15-day tour from San Francisco to San Diego, including flights from the UK, car rental and accommodation, from £3,195pp; audleytravel.com
Sculpture in Sussex
The closure in 2020 of the Cass Foundation’s sculpture park on the edge of the 11,000-acre Goodwood Estate may have marked the end of an era. But this spring, Rachel Whiteread, one of more than 200 artists whose work was exhibited there, will be back on site installing the inaugural exhibition at the new Goodwood Art Foundation. Hoping to re-establish Goodwood, which already attracts a million visitors a year to its racecourse, Festival of Speed and other events, as “a destination for contemporary art”, the foundation has been set up by the estate’s owner, the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, with support from Blackstone’s chair and chief executive Stephen Schwarzman. May to October; goodwoodartfoundation.org. Stay at The Pig in the South Downs, eight miles east, from £195; thepighotel.com
England’s first luxury sleeper
Despite being the birthplace of railways, England has never had a luxury sleeper train to call its own — something set to change in 2025 with the launch of the Britannic Explorer from high-end rail veterans Belmond. On board there’ll be a bar inspired by “Victorian apothecaries”, a spa and multi-course meals devised by Simon Rogan of L’Enclume fame. Itineraries will see the train depart London Victoria for Cornwall and the Lake District, but the most scenic option may be the July trip over the border into Wales: travelling the sleepy, single-track Cambrian Coast line with the swells of the Irish Sea on one side and the steep slopes of Eryri on the other. Fares are also steep, pitched about £6,300pp for the three-night journey. belmond.com
Opera in a Finnish fortress
There are few more extraordinary settings for a world-class opera festival than the heavily fortified 15th-century Olavinlinna (St Olaf’s) Castle, 200 miles north-east of Helsinki, on an island in Lake Saimaa built to protect the border with Russia. This summer’s productions — Verdi’s Macbeth (starring Ludovic Tézier), Puccini’s Turandot (with the Polish soprano Ewa Płonka, fresh from her Covent Garden debut, in the title role) and Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov — will be staged in a covered 2,200-seater auditorium in its courtyard. Kirker Holidays is offering four-night trips from £3,559pp departing July 14, including activities ranging from a steamship cruise on the lake to museum visits and a wine tasting; kirkerholidays.com
Contemporary art in Kent
Margate may have Turner Contemporary and Tracey Emin’s art foundation, but 28 miles south along the Kent coast the seaside town of Folkestone (an hour by train from London) has a Triennial, the sixth edition of which opens in July. Details won’t be announced till the spring, but its legacy is that the town is permanently full of public art commissioned by earlier Triennials, making it the UK’s largest urban outdoor contemporary exhibition of blue-chip art. July 19 to October 19; creativefolkestone.org.uk. Stay at Shoreline Folkestone, two new beach houses (sleeping four to eight) from £400 a night; shorelinefolkestone.co.uk. Or Bloom Stays represents holiday lets across the county, from about £300 a night; bloomstays.com
Self-drive safari in Namibia
Namibia’s combination of breathtaking landscapes, smart wilderness lodges and good roads (albeit often gravel rather than tarmac), make it ideal for a self-drive adventure — and August, when temperatures are cooler, is an ideal time. Expert Africa has a range of itineraries with car rental and accommodation; guests typically stay a couple of nights in each lodge before driving on to the next. Its two-week “Caracal” trip includes many of the highlights: Sossusvlei’s vast dunes, the intriguing coastal town of Swakopmund, rock art and desert-adapted elephants in Damaraland and a safari in Etosha National Park. In August, it costs from about £3,230pp; book early, as accommodation can sell out. expertafrica.com
Paddling the River Spey
The River Spey is synonymous with whisky — the puffing chimneys of distilleries rise along its banks — but it’s also the setting for one of Britain’s best canoe journeys, with paddlers tracing its meanders from the foothills of the Cairngorms to where freshwater meets saltwater at Spey Bay. A few dicey rapids mean it’s best done as part of an organised five-day expedition. Late summer is a fine time to set out — when the worst of the midges have relented but with enough evening light to set up a wild camp on the riverbank, or else go in search of the next whisky bar. From £595pp; activeoutdoorpursuits.com
Across Mongolia by train
Russia’s famous Trans-Siberian railway is obviously currently off limits to most outsiders, but for anyone looking for a long-distance rail adventure, the Trans-Mongolian Railway provides an alternative. The original line runs from Ulan-Ude in Russia, where it connects with the Trans-Siberian, south via Ulaanbaatar and on to Ulanqab in China, but today many organised tours run from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar. Intrepid, for example, operates itineraries between these two capitals, using trains on either side of the border but also branching out by road to explore the wilderness in between. This includes time in national parks, around picturesque lakes and across the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia. The 11-day tour with most meals included costs from £2,156pp; intrepidtravel.com
Trekking in northern Pakistan
Northern Pakistan boasts some of the world’s most dramatic mountain scenery, and an improved security situation, easier access and better accommodation options mean that more visitors are discovering it. In August 2024, the country began offering free visas, available online, for citizens of more than 120 nations, while there are growing numbers of flights to Skardu and Gilgit, gateways to the Hunza Valley and Baltistan. Wild Frontiers, which started out offering trips to Pakistan in 1998, is running a guided 14-day group tour that provides a deep immersion in the culture, history and landscapes of the region, and includes six days’ trekking. Departing September 13, it costs £3,850pp; wildfrontierstravel.com
David Bowie in Stratford
The transformation of the area around the former Olympic Park in London’s Stratford into an arts district named East Bank continues with the opening, in May, of V&A East Storehouse. A satellite of the Victoria and Albert Museum, it will house the David Bowie Centre, an archive of more than 90,000 objects acquired from his estate. It will open its inaugural exhibition in September, a display expected to feature stage costumes, album artwork, instruments, photographs, music, lyrics, notes, sketches, even make-up charts, as well as audiovisual installations. Opens September 13; vam.ac.uk. Stay close by at The Stratford, doubles from £151; marriott.com
Madagascar’s unique ecosystems
Madagascar may be one of the world’s great prizes for nature lovers, but so poor is the infrastructure on the wild island that visiting can be a daunting experience. Removing the hassle and adding expert guides, New Scientist’s tour division offers a 16-day deep-dive into Madagascar in September. The itinerary, for a group of no more than a dozen guests, is led by primatologist Erik Patel and includes national parks, visits to local villages and guided treks. Time is spent in the steaming highlands, the sprawling grasslands and the wild coast, a comprehensive introduction to this very particular nation. Oh, and there will be lemurs, of course. The 16-day tour, including most meals, costs from £8,399; newscientist.com
The inaugural Bukhara Biennial
A major staging post on the Silk Road, Bukhara remains one of the most intact and beautiful historic cities in Central Asia. If visitors tend to come for its turquoise domes, mosques, madrassas and caravanserais, this autumn the inaugural edition of the Bukhara Biennial is also hoping to draw a contemporary art crowd. Uzbekistan’s first major gathering of artists and artisans, it promises a 10-week celebration of art, craft, cooking, music and dance. And although its focus will be Uzbek culture, Antony Gormley and Subodh Gupta are among the international artists taking part. Visitors transiting through Tashkent can check out the city’s new Centre for Contemporary Arts. September 5 to November 20; bukharabiennial.uz. Wild Frontiers’ group tour ‘Uzbekistan: Land of Silk Road Treasures’ visits Bukhara as part of an 11-day journey, from £2,150pp; wildfrontierstravel.com
Sun, sea and history in Sardinia
In late October, even November, the sea around Sardinia is still warm. The summer’s superyachts no longer thrum along the island’s beach-rich coastline, making this a perfect time for discovering its Phoenician and Roman sites, temples, amphitheatres, necropolises and mysterious fortified villages built during the “Nuraghic civilisation” of the 2nd millennium BC. The Greece-based, British-born classicist and walking guide Rupert Smith wears his erudition lightly, leading unpretentious, intellectually stimulating trips for small groups. Expect modest hotels, superb restaurants (not of the Michelin-starred kind) and a magpie’s eye for the unusual, which — on this new autumn itinerary — includes a few backstreet diversions to discover Sardinia’s living tradition of mural paintings. Costs from £2,500pp, based on a private group size of six people; contact rjhsmith@aol.com
A walking safari in Zambia
A world away from the region’s busier safari parks, Zambia’s North Luangwa National Park covers more than 4,500 sq km but has just three camps, each with only four rooms — a maximum of 24 visitors in an area bigger than Rhode Island. It’s also the site of a conservation success story: black rhinos, which were declared extinct in the country in 1998, have been introduced there and are thriving. Explore it on a nine-night safari that also takes in South Luangwa National Park, travelling by 4×4 and light aircraft and offering a series of expert-led walking safaris. From £6,810pp; expertafrica.com
A Himalayan retreat
When Shakti 360° Leti opened more than 16 years ago, it was a game-changer in posh Himalayan lodges — a contemporary stone, wood and glass retreat in the shadow of Nanda Devi. But one of the ironies of drawing attention to a location is how precious places also get busier. So the original Leti has now closed, replaced by a new lodge with similar views but in an even more remote spot in India’s Kumaon Himalayas. Called Shakti Prana, this seven-cabin retreat is good for hikers who want to explore the goat paths, enjoy yoga and home-cooked suppers. It can be combined with a satellite lodge, Shakti Panchachuli, comprised of three cottages and a 150-year-old converted building. Five nights featuring both locations costs from £4,785pp; shaktihimalaya.com
El Hierro in autumn
Shaped rather like a boomerang, El Hierro is the smallest of the seven main Canary Islands, although like its siblings it packs in a rich diversity of landscapes: windy mountaintops, forests of pine and laurisilva and volcanic shores interspersed with red-sand beaches. See them all as part of a seven-day walking holiday on this unsung island — best done in autumn or winter, when the Canary Islands remain balmy while the rest of Europe shuffles indoors. You’ll find relatively few hikers on the trail — although you may have the company of the El Hierro giant lizard, a critically endangered reptile indigenous to the island. From £755 for six nights; inntravel.co.uk
An Indonesian ‘sea safari’
Whether choosing the Komodo National Park or Raja Ampat, the good ship Tiger Blue (pictured above) offers the chance to literally dive into nature. Marketed as “sea safaris”, these liveaboard trips provide extraordinary experiences above and below the waves. With some of the finest diving anywhere, Komodo National Park is home to manta rays and the eponymous dragons on land. However, over in Raja Ampat there are some of the clearest waters in the world and scenery so idyllic it looks as though it’s been generated by AI. Scuba and free-diving are available in either location. In Raja Ampat, the calmest waters are usually from November to March, while Komodo’s dry season is typically from April to October. A week’s trip, full-board, costs from $5,000pp; tigerblue.info
Saharan adventure in Algeria
Africa’s largest country (since the division of Sudan in 2011), Algeria is dominated by the Sahara but also has a Mediterranean coastline and mountains reaching almost 3,000m. Off limits for many years, since 2023 it has eased the visa process for those coming with a tour operator. Untamed Borders (untamedborders.com) offers a 10-day group trip, departing on November 7, from $2,350, taking in Algiers and the Roman sites at Djémila, before heading south into the desert to see the vast dunes of the Tassili n’Ajjer National Park and the oasis town of Djanet. Alternatively try Wild Frontiers’ “Saharan Desert Adventure”; wildfrontierstravel.com
A winter hideaway in Scotland
The wild, sparsely populated Ardnamurchan Peninsula stretches out for 20 miles, ending in a lighthouse that is the most westerly point of mainland Britain. With just one road, a distillery, a few scattered communities and an abundance of beaches where you can watch otters play in the surf, it’s an ideal place for a peaceful escape, and can be stunning in winter when the snow falls. At Glenborrodale, two timber-framed cottages built in the 1990s have been cleverly reimagined, emerging last year as blissful hideaways with Scandi-Scot design, wood-burning stoves and large windows looking out over the loch and surrounding forest. One cottage sleeps six, from £1,750 per week, the other four, from £1,200; borradill.com
Hike the Great Wall
It’s a fiction that the Great Wall of China can be seen with the naked eye from space, but to get a sense of its enormousness you can hike sections of the ancient barrier. The most testing part is often the tricky ascent to reach the ramparts — this was very much part of the design, the extra effort pre-exhausting enemy troops before battle. Great Wall Hiking offers multi-day options to trek some of the prettiest parts of the structure, starting and ending in Beijing, with accommodation along the way either in local inns or homestays. Guides will fill you in on some of the wall’s history, make lunch, and encourage you up the steepest sections. Five-day trips, full-board, cost from $1,080pp; greatwallhiking.com
A return to Sri Lanka
After the terror attacks of Easter 2019, the pandemic and the fuel shortages of 2022, and despite the ongoing economic crisis, Sri Lanka’s tourism sector seems finally to be recovering. In 2024, there were more than 2mn visitors, up from fewer than 1.5mn the previous year, and not far from the 2.3mn record set in 2018. December saw the opening of Amba Yaalu Kandalama, a lakeside hotel set in a mango plantation, which bills itself as the country’s first hotel to be fully managed and staffed by women. Experience Travel Group has included it in a new two-week itinerary championing women-led initiatives, such as walking the Pekoe Trail with the trail’s first female guide and exploring the Pilikuttuwa Cave Temple with a local archaeologist who shares her insights. From £4,895pp; experiencetravelgroup.com
Guyana’s epic waterfall
There are waterfalls more famous than Kaieteur but there are perhaps none more satisfying to witness. Deep in the Guyanese jungle, the 226m-high falls (pictured above) are more than four times the height of those at Niagara, twice that of Victoria Falls. Cupped in a huge bay that it continues to carve for itself, this rare beauty would receive many more visitors if it were in almost any other country in the world. Yet footfall is increasing in Guyana — newly tapped oilfields are bringing attention to the country (British Airways launched flights from London in 2023) and development of Kaieteur seems inevitable. Go now to see it in its flawless, raw form. Wilderness Explorers offers a nine-day tour, full-board, from $4,297; wilderness-explorers.com
A new home for Cartier’s art collection
By December, the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art (fondationcartier.com) will have moved from its headquarters on Paris’s Boulevard Raspail to a new, no less architecturally arresting home in the former Louvre des Antiquaires on the Place du Palais-Royal, designed like its former HQ by Jean Nouvel. The inaugural exhibition will feature about 500 works from the 4,500 the foundation has acquired over the 40 years since it was set up in response to a suggestion by François Mitterrand’s then government that Cartier might be nationalised. It is now under the direction of Chris Dercon, a former director of Tate Modern, who has 6,500 sq m of exhibition space to fill, and there are hopes that it will attract one million visitors a year. Stay at the Grand Hôtel du Palais Royal, a two-minute walk away, doubles from €446; grandhoteldupalaisroyal.com
An Egyptian oasis
About 60 miles south-west of Cairo is Faiyum, an oasis once known as Crocodilopolis in pharaonic times, in honour of the Egyptian crocodile-headed god Sobek. It’s the jumping off point for visits to Wadi al-Hitan, or Valley of the Whales, a Unesco World Heritage Site out in the desert to the west where hundreds of fossilised whale skeletons have been discovered. Dating back about 40mn years, when this part of the Sahara desert used to be an ocean, they demonstrate how whales evolved from land to marine animals. In December, a new 12-room lodge opens in Faiyum from the team behind Luxor’s celebrated Al Moudira hotel, as well as the newly restored Set Nefru, a dahabiya that cruises the Nile. This new lodge, Villa Fayoum, will attract comfort-seeking travellers to a part of Egypt that deserves to be so much more than a sideshow to those Cairene classics. A five-night itinerary combining a private home in Cairo and Faiyum costs from €3,975pp based on a party of four; daunt-travel.com
Additional photographs: Alamy/Paul E Rose/BenThouard
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