Leap into the futureBerlin became the biggest building site in Europe after the fall of the Wall in 1989 when commercial, political and cultural institutions flooded in to make their mark on the German capital. The city is now a showcase for some of
the world’s finest modern architecture — Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, Helmut Jahn and Rafael Moneo are on the roll call of architects who worked there.
Martin Randall Travel’s Berlin: New Architecture tour (September 28-October 1) will notch up many contemporary masterpieces, including the Band des Bundes government building planned by Axel Schultes and Charlotte Frank, the DG Bank by Frank Gehry, and Peter Eisenmann’s Holocaust memorial. The cost is £890, fully inclusive.
Martin Randall Travel (020-8742 3355, www.martinrandalltravel.com).
Thai tasters
Tell Tale Travel offers B&Bs with a difference for independent travellers who want to experience a country and culture at grassroots level. First venue is Thailand, where holidaymakers can stay with local hosts — farmers, potters, cookery experts or keen gardeners. In Bangkok you can have your own little house and your hosts, a working couple, will join you in the evenings, tell you how to avoid the capital’s scams, even teach you how to tackle the vast Chatuchak weekend market. In the province of Nakorn Ratchasima, a foodie couple will take you to pick herbs and mushrooms on an organic plantation. You can meet green-fingered Thais on Gardens of Paradise tours — seven nights with homestays, internal transport and most meals (but not flights) cost £595. Family tours focusing on art and wildlife cost £1,689 for a family of four for six nights.
Tell Tale Travel (020-7659 5430, www.telltaletravel.co.uk).
Mongol horde
Genghis Khan lives again. This summer a re-enactment of the legendary warrior and his cavalry charging across the steppe in full 13th-century battle gear will commemorate the 800th anniversary of the Mongolian empire. A special tour, Mongolia; The Realm of Genghis Khan, has been put together by Cox & Kings to mark the anniversary. The ten-night itinerary explores the South Gobi Desert and Karakorum, seat of the empire, by four-wheel-drive vehicle, and visits the Mongol Naadam Festival, a smaller version of the famous “Mongol Olympics”, the National Naadam Festival featuring traditional sports of archery, wrestling and horsemanship. The tours leave on July 24 and August 23, and cost £2,195 fully inclusive.
Cox & Kings (020-7873 5000, www.coxandkings.co.uk).
Tuareg’s home
Be prepared for army camp beds, tents and campfire meals on Simoon Travel’s Land of the Tuareg tour, which strikes deep into the Libyan Sahara and the vast chain
of mountains known as the Acacus on the Libyan-Algerian border. The group will explore oases and caravan towns known to few except the Tuareg. The dates are November 11-20 and December 9-18. A December 28-January 6 departure will also incorporate a Tuareg festival. Prices start at £1,815pp for 5-9 people, £1,545 for 10-14, fully inclusive.
Simoon Travel (020-7622 6263, www.simoontravel.com).
Secret Med
Corsica’s interior is as stunning as anywhere in the Med with its jagged toothy peaks, slopes carpeted with thyme and rosemary, deep forested gorges and medieval hilltop villages. Unravel its secrets by car, staying at traditional auberges that serve up specialities such as wild boar.
Simpson Travel has a collection of these auberges, including the Hotel Mare e Monti (with pool), owned by the same family for over a century in the Balagne, and the Hotel La Villa (large pool) in the brooding village of Sartène. Three nights’ B&B start at £442 and £456, including flights and car hire.
Simpson Travel (0845 8116501, www.simpson-travel.com).
Fido’s special
The 5,000 pet-friendly properties abroad on self- catering specialist Interhome’s books include Normandy farmhouses, seaside cottages in Brittany, half-timbered houses in Germany’s Black Forest, Swiss chalets and villas on the Côte d’Azur. Prices per person per night range from £6-£18; pooches stay free. Interhome can fix Eurotunnel and Channel crossings for the family and Fido at special rates; with Sea France ferries he will travel free (a saving of £30). For advice on the Pets Passport scheme, contact Dogs Away (020-8441 9311, www.dogsaway.co.uk).
Interhome (020-8891 1294, www.interhome.co.uk).
Great apes
World Primate Safaris, launched in January, has ape and monkey-spotting tours to Africa, Madagascar, Borneo and northern Sumatra. Many primate habitats are in peril, so a donation will be made on each safari towards the preservation of the species.
Tours range from an £855 four-day trip to see the mountain gorillas of Uganda to a 15-day Forest, Ocean and Lagoon Adventure in Gabon, which tracks monkeys, chimps, gorillas, mandrill, forest elephants and red river hog in the Congo basin — for which the cost is £3,250pp. Both prices are fully inclusive, except for international flights.
World Primate Safaris (020-8740 3350, www.worldprimatesafaris.com).
