Amazing Grace
The first exhibition dedicated to Grace Kelly is being held in Monaco this
summer to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Hollywood icon’s death.
Highlights will include her wedding dress, the Hermès Kelly bag, film
footage and personal correspondence – but not, presumably details of her
illicit affairs. It runs from July 12 to September 23, and entry costs £7 (www.grimaldiforum.mc).
A Princess Grace trail through the principality will accompany the show. A
two-night break at the four-star Columbus Hotel and flights from Gatwick to
Nice with easyJet costs from £319. Details: Cresta Holidays
(0871 6647963, www.cresta
holidays.co.uk).
Get in the swim with these funky fish
Persuade your children that swimming caps are cool with these funky new Zoggs
Silicone Character Caps. Kids can choose to be a smiling shark or a funky
fish – and Zoggs also makes some latex pool socks to go with them. Perfect.
The caps cost £3.49 and the socks £5.99 a pair from independent sports shops
and leisure centres. Stockists: 01276 486500.
Bars and stars
Howard Cooper has trawled through the Big Apple’s nightlife to write The Best
Small Book of Bars in New York (www.iheartny.co.uk,
£7.99). The pocket-sized reference is the ideal drinking companion. Howard’s
favourite from the 60 reviewed – none of which paid to be included – is the
elegant, 1920s-style Campbell Apartment inside Grand Central Station.
Island dash
Marathonistas will enjoy the St Helena running festival in August. The only
way to reach the island is a sevennight trip from Cape Town on board RMS St
Helena on July 22. You can join the ascent of Jacob’s Ladder, a 700-step
climb from the capital, Jamestown. Details: www.festival-of-running.com.
Have we got moos for you...
If the nearest your family gets to nature is a virtual pet, perhaps some cow
familiarisation classes are in order. They’re included in nature holidays
from July to September in the Austrian village of Gerlos, where local cows
roam freely in the unfenced pastures and through the streets. Guides show
children how to respect, pet and, best of all, milk the animals. Details:
Gerlos tourist board (00 43 5284 52440, www.gerlos.at).
Guides to Italy
For almost 80 years foreign guides have been banned at Italy’s sightseeing
hotspots, but now UK tour operators are celebrating a change to the law that
will allow non-Italians to guide. The Italian State Tourist Board, which
receives regular complaints from operators about these rules, has welcomed
the move. A spokeswoman said: “Tour leaders accompanying accredited guides
were fined if they dared to open their mouths. They were usually just
answering a question and were treated very rudely.” Paul Jolliffe, managing
director of Cosmos Tourama, an escorted touring specialist, said: “It will
benefit consumers. With local guides no longer able to monopolise...
inevitably it will lower prices.” Details: Italian State
Tourist Board (020-7408 1254, www.italiantouristboard.co.uk), Cosmos Tourama
(0871 6224344, www.cosmostourama.co.uk).
New Dehli rising
Two new hotels in New Delhi are breaking the reputation of India’s capital of
having either expensive five-star hotels or dirt-cheap guesthouses. Amarya
Gardens, which greeted its first guests last month, has four large airy
bedrooms, flat-screen televisions, wi-fi, and a shaded garden. Prices for
rooms start at £87, including a top breakfast. A sister property, Amarya
Haveli, has six bedrooms, wi-fi, a large, stylish drawing room and a rooftop
terrace. Rooms cost from £65. Details: 00 91 11417 59268, amaryahaveli@hotmail.com.
Score a birdie
Golf lovers are being encouraged to be just that on new holidays offered by a
specialist operator. Your Golf Travel has begun “golf dating” events in
which single people who enjoy a round can meet like-minded golfers in the
hope of finding romance. The first event will be held on July 20 at Hanbury
Manor golf course in Hertfordshire or Stoke Park in Berkshire. Prices are
yet to be set. A website devoted to dating golfers called www.blinddategolf.com
should be ready in a month. Details: 0800 0436644, www.yourgolftravel.com.
Drift in for a bite
It may look like a giant piece of driftwood – but its owners hope a bizarre
new café will make a statement about seaside holidays in the UK. East Beach
Café, which overlooks the sea in Littlehampton, West Sussex, opens on June
25 with a design by Thomas Heatherwick, who used cuts of rusted steel for
the roof to create a “driftwood effect”. Jane Murray and her daughter Sophie
hope to “make British seaside holidays fashionable again” with their café,
which turns into a restaurant in the evening, serving traditional seaside
food using fresh ingredients. Sophie Murray said: “People deserve really
nice food at the British seaside.” A three-course meal at the restaurant
will cost about £18pp without wine. Details: 01903 731903, www.eastbeachcafe.co.uk.
Brits chase snow to America
Skiers are turning their backs on Europe and heading to North America next
winter, according to Britain's biggest ski operator. This week Crystal,
which sends more than 160,000 Britons on ski trips each year, said it is
increasing flights from two to five a week for Denver in Colorado and
Calgary in Canada. This follows poor snow in Europe this winter, but better
conditions in North America. “Skiers go where there is snow,” said Marion
Telsnig, for Crystal, which has a lead-in price of £299 for a week’s
room-only in Banff in Canada. Details: 0870 1606040, www.crystalski.co.uk.
Alright in Wight
Green is the new Wight – on the Isle of Wight, which has launched a Green
Getaways guide to eco-friendly holidays. The free guide has been produced by
Isle of Wight Ferries and covers hotels, B&Bs, guesthouses and a camping
site. Details: 0870 5820202, www.wightlink.co.uk.
News in brief
Going green? It doesn’t look like it, according to latest statistics
from OAG, a body that monitors flying. It found that airlines offered
precisely 3,297,362,597 seats worldwide for sale in 2006, almost 4 per cent
more than the previous year. “It’s growing even faster this year,” said a
spokesman. Details: www.oag.com.
Ace holidays. Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina has come out
at the top of the annual Tennis Resorts Online rating of the best places for
a tennis holiday in the United States. Details: www.kiawahisland.com,
www.tennisresortsonline.com.
Going posh. Teletext, best known for its cheap bucket-and-spade breaks,
has launched www.inluxury.co.uk,
offering holidays sold by Abercrombie & Kent, Bales, Cox & Kings and
Virgin.
Cape crusader. Astraeus is to start flying the first direct UK service to
Boa Vista in the Cape Verde islands in the Atlantic Ocean from Gatwick, from
£377 in July. The airline already flies to Sal, another island in Cape
Verde. Details: 01293 819800, www.flyastraeus.com.
Web of the week
www.malariahotspots.co.uk
It’s Malaria Awareness Week from May 14-21, and this excellent site has all
manner of information, cautionary tales and advice for travellers planning
visits to malarial areas, as well as a fun bloodsucker game to highlight the
fact that it takes just one bite...
News in brief from The Sunday Times Travel...
CURE FOR AGRA PHOBIA
The Indian government has announced a £4.85m revitalisation project for the
rundown areas surrounding the Taj Mahal, in Agra. Open sewers, shanty
housing and pungent cowsheds along routes leading to the 17th-century
monument will disappear, promised the minister of tourism and culture Ambika
Soni, in a makeover “strictly in accordance with the archeological norms”.
RYANAIR DROPS BLACKPOOL
Ryanair has announced the demise of its service between London Stansted and
Blackpool, two weeks after Jet 2 cut services from the airport. Ryanair
flights will cease from June 3, but Blackpool airport bosses say that
negotiations for another London link to the resort are under way.
YELLOW CABS GO HIGH-TECH
New York cabbies have reacted with characteristic churlishness to a new scheme
to fit the city’s 13,000 taxis with high-tech touch screens. The technology
allows passengers to browse maps and tourist information – and, crucially,
to pay by credit card. Advocates argue that this will improve efficiency,
but drivers say the computerisation of a $1.8 billion-a-year cash business
“tramples on our constitutional rights”.
LOCK UP YOUR TORTOISE
Lonesome George, the 15-stone giant Galapagos tortoise thought to be the last
of his kind on earth, may not be so lonesome after all. Researchers in the
archipelago have revealed that another tortoise from George’s subspecies – Geochelone
abingdoni – may be living on the neighbouring Galapagos island of
Isabela. The future of the subspecies now depends on George overcoming his
shyness with females. “He needs to come out of his shell,” one researcher
said.
NO MORE 1p FLIGHTS
The 1p flight and the £10 holiday came to an end last week when new
legislation from the Office of Fair Trading came into force, penalising tour
operators and airlines that do not reveal hidden costs when advertising
holidays. So-called nonoptional charges include government taxes, fuel
supplements and security and airport charges, which can add substantially to
the basic cost of a ticket. The Association of British Travel Agents (Abta)
welcomed the move. “The days of the 1p flight have now gone,” said its chief
executive, Mark Tanzer, “but in reality, they were never here.”
SUGAR’S BITTER TASTE
The Ugandan government says that it will press ahead with a plan to raze one
of the country’s last stands of rainforest to make way for a sugar-cane
plantation. Ecologists have warned that nine species found only in the
Mabira forest – the tit hylia bird, six butterflies, a moth and a shrub used
to treat malaria – face extinction, and last month three people died in
riots over the plan. The Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, is unmoved,
saying that the country must balance the need to protect ecosystems with the
need to industrialise.
