Cool for cats
PUMAS, the South American big cats, are largely solitary and so secretive that even natural scientists rarely encounter them in the wild. The tour operator Wildwings, which is organising a pioneer puma-spotting tour next March, can’t guarantee sightings, but says that there is a high chance of spotting one of these shy creatures in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park. And even if visitors don’t glimpse as much as a whisker, there are at least 40 other mammals to be seen. The price of £3,695 will cover all flights and transport, stays in hotels and pensiones, all meals and guiding.
Wildwings (0117-965 8333, www.wildwings.co.uk).
Advertisement
Med mystery
It’s a mystery why Montenegro, one of the most beautiful little corners of the Med with its mountains, lakes and fjords, jagged coastline and peak-top medieval villages, is still so little-known to holidaymakers. Inghams is putting that right with a variety of seaside, lakes and mountains packages and two-centre stays.
At 945m (3,100 ft), surrounded by pine forests, canyons and national parks, the four-star Hotel Bianca in Kolasin is the mountain hub for nature lovers and walkers. A week’s half board with flights (and free lunch picnics) costs from £392.
Nostalgia seekers might consider the eye-catching Hotel Sveti Stefan (closed for refurbishment until May) on its own tiny island, linked to the mainland by a causeway and two superb beaches. A half-board week costs £514.
Inghams (020-8780 4400, www.inghams.co.uk).
Advertisement
On track
While the French and Swiss railways usually hog the plaudits in Europe, Italy is getting on track with hugh investment in a fast, efficient and ecologically sound network of high-speed lines. The specialist operator Great Rail Journeys has introduced seven new tours there, with destinations ranging from the Lakes and Dolomites to Tuscany, Umbria and the Amalfi Coast.
Another new tour explores the Italian Riviera, travelling there by TGV and the tilting Cisalpino high-speed train; the ten-day itinerary includes boat trips to Portofino; rail excursions to Milan, Lucca and Pisa; and a day on the “milk train”, the vertiginous line along the cliffs of the dramatic Cinque Terre, where the villages are still not linked by road. The cost is from £1,495 for first-class rail travel from the UK, eight nights’ B&B at the Hotel Bristol in Rapallo, some meals and excursions.
Great Rail Journeys (01904 521965, www.greatrail.com).
Advertisement
Hit and myth
With its wild volcanic landscapes, the vast and ancient kingdom of Urartu, which stretched from the Black Sea coast and northeast Turkey as far as Armenia and western Iran, spawned a host of legends from Noah’s Ark to the Golden Fleece, though the area is little known to Western visitors today.
Andante Travel and its guest expert, Charles Burney, promise to bring the region’s myths, archaeology and religions to life on a 13-day tour. The group will travel from Trabzon to Kars and the ruined ghost city of Ani, and to Ayanis and Lake Van visiting medieval Mongol tombs, museums, Byzantine murals, rock inscriptions and the island of Akhtamar, with the 10th-century Church of the Holy Cross. The all-inclusive price of the 13-day tour is £2,200, the dates July 16-28.
Andante Travels(01722 713800, www.andantetravels.co.uk).
Advertisement
Golden oldies
The so-called “grey” holiday market seems to have turned to gold as the over-50s’ specialist Saga launches a new sybaritic Ultimate Retreats programme littered with names such as Shangri-La, Oberoi, Taj and Ritz-Carlton. A far cry from the company’s original offerings — winter weeks in Benidorm, two and three-star Yugoslav hotel stays, and fun-of-the-fair weekends throughout the UK.
New “ultimate retreats” featured include the new Shanti Ananda Maurice in Mauritius (a sister property to Ananda in the Himalayas, featured on page 15), which offers indoor and outdoor showers, cast-iron bathtubs, plasma TVs and a host of other luxuries. A week there costs from £2,374. In the Maldives a week at the Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru costs from £2,513, all prices including flights, transfers and B&B.
Saga (0800 5593961, www.saga.co.uk).