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.
Self-playing pianos, a wind-up banjo, an automatic xylophone and an enormous gramophone are among items on display at Keith Harding’s World of Mechanical Music (The Oak House, High St., Northleach, Glos., GL54 3ET, U.K.; phone +44 [0] 1451 860181).
The shop/restoration workshop/museum displays instruments, music boxes and automata from before the days of broadcasting. Open 10-5 daily except Christmas and Boxing Day. Shop admission is free; museum admission costs £8 (near $13) adult, £7 senior or £3.50 child.
In the Norfolk town of Deepdale, visitors can rent bikes for exploring the countryside. Deepdale Bike Hire (Deepdale Farm Cottages, Burnham Deepdale, Norfolk PE31 8DD, United Kingdom; phone 07747 618424) is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Bike rental costs £16 for seven hours or £10 (near $16) for three hours. Includes helmet, pump, lock, repair kit and self-guided routes.
The silent-running, 2-seat Roadster 2.5 Tesla accelerates from zero to 60 in 3.7 seconds, and the one-day use of this electric sports car can be arranged with a stay at La Resérve Genève Hotel & Spa (301, route de Lausanne, 1293 Bellevue, Geneva, Switzerland; phone +41 22 959 59 02, fax 59 60).
Available year-round to adults over 25, the “Tesla Drive” package includes daily breakfast and spa access. A minimum stay of two nights is required, as is a refundable deposit of CHF8,000 (near $8,345).
More than 300 farms participate in the program Stay on a Farm in Sweden (Bo på Lantgård medlemsservice, Box 865, SE301 18 Halmstad, Sweden; phone +46 0 35 12 78 70), offering farmstays of varying lengths.
On the online directory, farms are rated one to five “corn ears,” with five ears being “first-class” accommodations. Prices generally run SEK350-SEK550 (near $50-$80) per person per night. Example — a B&B stay at an organic farm in Sköllungen costs SEK495 ($70) per person per night, double occupancy.
Visitors to London can ascend a walkway over the roof of the O2 (Peninsula Square, London; phone +44 161 385 3211), formerly called the Millennium Dome. (The shell was completely redesigned; only the roof was kept.)
The climbing surface is made of a tensile fabric and leads to a platform 52 meters (170 feet) above the ground at the top of the structure, with views of the Thames Barrier, Olympic Park and Canary Wharf.
The first time I was in Shanghai, China, in 2000, the skyline of the Pudong district reminded me of the 1960s space-age, animated TV show “The Jetsons.” When I returned in April ’12, I was even more impressed with the city’s development.
Britain’s only working funicular, the Great Orme Tramway (Victoria Station, Church Walks, Llandudno, Wales, LL30 2NB, U.K.; phone 01492 577877), turned 110 on July 31, 2012.
The tramway, using its original tramcars (restored), climbs up a mile-long track in Llandudno, Wales, to the summit of Great Orme (679 feet), Britain’s highest coastal outcropping. At the Halfway Station, visitors can learn about the tramway’s history and change to a second set of trams for the final climb to the summit.
In 2011, workers laying the foundation for a new bar near the pool at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi (15 Ngo Quyen St., Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam; phone +84 4 3826 6919) broke into a 50-year-old air-raid shelter.
Hotel guests can take a free guided tour of the bunker, offered daily at 5 p.m. Among the residents of the bunker during the Vietnam War were an Australian diplomat, Jane Fonda and Joan Baez.
Nightly hotel rates run from $225 double to $580 Prestige Suite to $1,660 Grand Luxury Room.
For their time in any of eight Caribbean ports (Cozumel, Jamaica, Nassau, Freeport, Grand Cayman, Barbados, St. Maarten and Roatan), cruise passengers can get passes for resorts from ResortForaDay (Long Island, NY; 631/630-3907). Guests of any cruise line are welcome; book in advance, as each pass is mailed.