Travel Briefs

Using the app Refundit, free on Apple and Android, travelers can easily apply for and receive VAT refunds in Belgium, with other EU countries to be added soon.

To be refunded, a user first takes a photo of his receipt, then uses the app to upload the receipt along with a photo of his passport and boarding pass. A confirmation should arrive within minutes. There is no need to visit a Customs desk or fill out any forms at the airport.

Using Refundit incurs a 9% handling fee on all VAT refunds.

Travelers with a layover of more than six hours at Atatürk Airport (IST) can take a private guided tour of Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district, including Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar and more, in a Mercedes van. The “Istanbul Layover Tour” must be booked in advance, costs $275 for up to six people and includes transfers from and to the airport but not entry fees or food. Visit istanbultourstudio.com/tours/istanbul-layover-tour to book. A custom tour can be arranged.

The Australian travel company The Good Scout Travel Company (thegoodscout.com.au) specializes in helping travelers with impaired mobility plan trips and activities Down Under. Anyone who signs up for the free email newsletter will receive a link to download the PDF book "101 Accessible Australian Adventures." In the PDF, the title of each adventure links to the webpage describing the activity.

The stem segment of the Renaissance-era English ship Mary Rose, along with a pump and an anchor, were put on display with the rest of the ship's remains at the Mary Rose Museum (Main Road, Portsmouth, England; phone +44 23 9281 2931, www.maryrose.org) on Feb. 20.

In Hull, England, a glass tunnel 10 meters beneath a 660,000-gallon tank allows visitors to observe sharks and other fish swimming overhead in the "Endless Ocean" exhibit at The Deep aquarium (Tower St., Hull; phone +41 1482 381000, www.thedeep.co.uk). The aquarium has nine freshwater- and marine-environment exhibits, including "Bugs," "Slime" and (with a penguin enclosure) "Kingdom of Ice."

Open daily, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. £13.50 (near $18), adult; £12.50, senior, or £11.50, child (3-15).

A special exhibit, "Peggy Guggenheim: The Last Dogaressa," Sept. 21, 2019-Jan. 27, 2020, at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, Dorsoduro 701, I-30123 Venezia, Italy; phone +39 041 2405 411, www.guggenheim-venice.it/inglese/default.html) explores the Venetian life of the collection's founder and her procurement of its art.

As of Jan. 1, in order to tackle overcrowding at the Incan-citadel archaeological site of Machu Picchu in Peru, tickets are now being sold for specific entry times, with visits limited to four hours. Entry times, printed on each ticket, are hourly from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. No one will be admitted at any time other than the one on his ticket.

An entry ticket costs PEN152 (near $46) and can be purchased in advance at www.machupicchu.gob.pe/inicio or at the tourism office in nearby Aguas Calientes or at one of two offices in Cusco.

The Vatican is considering measures to reduce the number of visitors to the Vatican Museums, due to overcrowding and health issues.

More than 6 million people visit the museums each year, with up to 30,000 per day during the high season (March-October), when, according to guides, as many as 10 visitors faint each day in the non-air-conditioned corridors, occasionally suffering additional injuries.

Just off the coast of the much larger island of Fuerteventura, Isla de Lobos, one of Spain's Canary Islands, is only 1.8 square miles in area and has no permanent population, yet it has been getting up to 2,000 visitors per day during peak season.

Consequently, in January, the governing council of Fuerteventura introduced a rule limiting tourist visits to Isla de Lobos to 400 per day, split between two groups of 200. Anyone wishing to visit Isla de Lobos must first request and receive a permit. At press time, permits were free; however, a fee may be instituted in the future.

In northeastern Vietnam, Van Don International Airport (VDO) began operations on Dec. 31, 2018. The airport, in Quang Ninh Province, is located only 31 miles north of Hạ Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It was announced that same day that a cruise terminal able to hold two cruise ships, each with a passenger capacity of 4,000-plus, would be built in Halong City (Bãi Cháy). At press time, no completion date had been set. Currently, cruise passengers dock in Hanoi, about three hours away from Hạ Long Bay.