Lanzarote, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, is located 80 miles west of Morocco’s southern border with West Sahara. For planning an island visit, the website www.lanzaroteguidebook.com includes maps plus info on transportation, accommodations, finding a guide, dining, events, museums, attractions, festivals and climate. Download the info as a 51-page booklet for free.
You can take a one-week residential course at Christ Church, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The 2013 Oxford Experience (Rewley House, 1 Wellington Sq., Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 2JA, U.K.; phone +44 [0] 1865 270360) runs June 30-Aug. 10, 2013. Classes fill quickly; registration deadline is May 1.
Turespaña, the Tourism Institute of Spain, is offering a free app for iPads, iPhones and iPods, “Experience Spain.” Using data gathered from Minube, the social network for travelers (with 450,000 members), the app includes information about 350 destinations and includes maps, 800 photos and 950 experience stories from travelers plus lists of “favorites.” Download on the Apple App Store.
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.
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.
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).
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).
• 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. Beginning in January, holders of Eurail passes can ride its high-speed trains between the two cities.
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 them. Also, there will be no increases in the numbers of tourists and vehicles.
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.