Travel Briefs

Paparoa Track, the tenth Great Walk in New Zealand, opens to hikers Dec. 1, 2019. On the South Island’s west coast, the trail, 55 kilometers (34 miles) one way, is meant to take 2-3 days (with 1-2 nights). For overnights, it offers two fully furnished cabins with running water and a gas stove. (Hikers must pack their own food and utensils.) The cabins are communal, each with 20 beds.

The “Intermediate”-level trail crosses the Paparoa mountain range and passes through the Pororari River Gorge, rainforests and remains of the area’s former mining industry.

With Holland America Line’s smartphone app Navigator, introduced on May 3, passengers can book shore excursions, review onboard restaurant menus and make reservations, view account statements, receive activity reminders and more. It’s available for free for Apple and Android.

At press time, the app and its functions were only available once the ship had been boarded. However, HAL plans to expand access so guests can review cruises before taking them.

As part of its 300th-anniversary celebration, Liechtenstein opened the new, cross-country Liechtenstein Trail on May 26, 2019. Though the nation is only 24 kilometers (near 15 miles) in length, the trail is 75 kilometers long, reaching 3,600 feet in altitude and passing through 11 small villages. The trail runs between the villages of Schaanwald, in the north, and Balzers, in the south, and takes roughly 21 hours to complete.

On the shore of Salhusfjord en, near Bergen, a former textile mill (1859-1989) now houses the Norwegian Knitting Industry Museum (Salhusvegen 201, 5107 Salhus, Norway; phone +47 55 25 10 80, www.muho.no/en/the-norwegian-knitting-industry-museum).

A visit begins with a film about the factory, including interviews with former workers. On a guided tour, visitors see antique knitting machines producing scarves and socks to be sold in the gift shop.

Travelers with a layover at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport (NRT) can take a free tour with a volunteer, English-speaking guide through the airport’s Transit & Stay Program (www.narita-transit-program.jp).

For travelers with more than three hours free, four guided tours are available: a visit to the Shinsho-ji Temple, dining at a Japanese buffet, a countryside bike ride and cosplaying (role playing) at a reproduction Edo-period town. For those with more than six hours free, two bus tours are available, to Sawara and Shibayama.

In Dudley, West Midlands, England, visitors can take a subterranean boat tour through a former limestone quarry, seeing fossils embedded in the quarry’s walls (from the area’s distant past as a coral reef) and reconstructions of the once-thriving mine. Tours are aboard one of two boats built in the 1930s.

On a seaside track on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire, visitors can each race a 3-wheeled landsailing cart (in Dutch, blokart) powered by the same type of sail used on small sailboats.

Blokart speeds average 18-25 mph but can reach 38 mph in strong winds. Less speedy blokarts are available.

Each guest is given safety instructions and lessons before entering the track, with instructors positioned to assist. The experience costs $30 for 30 minutes or $50 for an hour.

Forty miles north of Rome, a restaurant that seats only two people, Solo per Due (Via Villa di Orazio 2, Vacone, Italy; phone +39 0746 676873, www.soloperdue.com), is located in Vacone. It’s housed in a 19th-century home, with the remains of a Roman villa on the grounds plus a palm garden.

Reservations for lunch or dinner can be made only via email (info@soloperdue.it), and guests choose their arrival time.

A fire caused the roof and central spire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, to collapse on April 15. It is believed the fire was caused by an electrical fault associated with ongoing restoration work. Many of the cathedral’s treasures, including a relic of the crown of thorns, were saved. Sixteen historic bronze statues had been removed from the spire four days before the fire and are intact.

Jet Airways, India’s second-largest airline, suspended all future flights on April 17 after being unable to secure funding to pay debts. Though not out of business as of press time, the airline had not said when it would begin offering flights again.