Travel Briefs

In Portsmouth, England, the Spinnaker Tower (Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 3TT, U.K.; phone +44 0 23 9285 7520), a 557-foot-tall observation tower, offers 360-degree views, including Portsmouth Harbor, the coast and the Isle of Wight.

There’s a glass floor on View Deck 1 and a café on View Deck 2, with Deck 3 open to the elements. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Admission, £8.25 ($13). 15% discount when booked on website. Family tickets (2+2) at www.great2012offers.com.

The second edition of the guidebook “1001 Gardens You Must See Before You Die,” by Rae Spencer-Jones, features an updated selection of gardens in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Including hundreds of color photos, the 960-page guide is available from bookstores, online and from Barron’s Educational Series. It retails at $35.

On Oct. 16, India’s Supreme Court lifted the ban on tourism in tiger reserves that it imposed in July, and tiger-viewing safaris have resumed. The reversal came after the National Tiger Conservation Authority announced new rules and guidelines to address the issues of tourism encroachment into the “core areas” of tiger habitats.

Under the new rules, tourism can continue, but no new tourism infrastructure can be created in core areas and all permanent structures will be removed from...

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• Turkey will join the list of countries valid for Eurail Global and Eurail Select Pass travel when TCDD, the Turkish railway company, becomes a member of the Eurail-pass system on Jan. 1, 2013. Although Turkey is accessible by train from Bulgaria, be aware that construction work will affect some routes until fall of 2013.

• Westbahn, which offers hourly passenger train service between Salzburg and Vienna, will be the first private railway company to join the Eurail community....

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Even if you’ve never sat on the back of a horse in your life, you can learn to play polo at the Capilla Polo Club (Ruta 39 km 7, Capilla del Señor, Buenos Aires, Argentina; phone +44 20 7096 7682).

For a day, a week or longer, the club offers placid horses for beginners as well as polo ponies suitable for more advanced sportsmen. Each morning is devoted to “stick and ball sessions” (English speaking), and there are chukkas each afternoon. Students can stay on site in a traditional...

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High in the Andes of Chile and three miles from the Argentinean border, you can stay in one of the geodesic domes ($121, full board) set up by Nevados de Sollipulli (Temuco Region IX, Chile; phone [56] 45 276000). Alternatively, a B&B room costs $84 per night at the resort, which is closed May and June.

In the summer (December-March), among the resort’s expeditions, you can try the 3-day, 2-night, guided “Overnight Stay in the Volcanic Crater” camping experience ($345).

At...

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Named for its sponsor, Emirates Air Line (or visit www.tfl.gov.uk) is a new cable car system across the Thames in London. It carries passengers one kilometer between the Royal Docks Station, to the east, and Greenwich Peninsula Station, to the west.

On the 5- to 10-minute crossing, each cable car, holding up to 10 people, reaches a height of 90 meters and offers views of the Canary Wharf and Olympic Park.

The line operates until 9 p.m., opening at 7 a.m. on weekends, 8 a.m....

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A karst region covering over 50 square miles of Hunan province in south-central China, Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is notable for its thousands of towering quartz-and-sandstone pillars (many over 650 feet tall) and dozens of stalactite-filled caves.

For info on what to see and do in the park, year-round weather conditions (snow in winter), where to stay (hotels from 2- to 5-star) and tour packages, visit www.zhangjiajietourism.us.

Most tours include park entrance fees and...

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