Passau now has the world’s first museum dedicated to dachshunds. The Dackelmuseum (Große Messergasse 1, Passau, Germany; phone +49 851 30439, www.dackelmuseum.de/homepage-english.html) grew out of the owners’ collection of 4,500-plus dachshund-themed items. Dachshund enthusiasts such as Albert Einstein and Leonard Nimoy are highlighted.
Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sat.-Thurs., and on Fri. by request. €5 (near $6) adult; child up to 12 free. Dogs welcome.
In southwestern London, the Temperate House, the largest Victorian-era greenhouse in the world, reopened at Kew Gardens (Richmond, Surrey, England; www.kew.org) on May 5 after a 5-year, £41 million restoration, with some modernization. 15,000 panes of glass were replaced, and 1,160 gallons of paint were used.
The Temperate House contains more than 1,500 species of tropical plants, including the Enchphalantos woodii, known as “the loneliest tree in the world” because it is extinct in the wild. All living examples are clones of the one at Kew.
On April 11, British Airways (800/247-9297, www.ba.com) began offering budget one-way-only fares between London and select cities in the US and elsewhere. These Basic fares are available only on certain dates.
The Basic fares are being offered one-way between London (Heathrow) and either Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia or Phoenix; between London (Gatwick) and Oakland; between Helsinki and New York, and between Madrid and Boston, Chicago or Dallas-Fort Worth.
As of May 1, travelers from the US, Canada, the UK and 56 other countries can visit the Chinese island of Hainan for up to 30 days without a visa. Hainan, just off the southern coast of China in the South China Sea, is China’s largest Special Economic Zone, meaning it has slightly more independence from the Chinese government’s economic policies, allowing it to have a more open free-market system.
To preserve three culturally significant historical sites in the Al-’Ula region of northern Saudi Arabia, they will be closed to visitors until 2020 while an archaeological survey is conducted. The sites are the ancient Nabatean city of Mada’in Salih (Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site), Al-Khuraybah (aka Dadan) and Jabal 'Ikmah.
In addition, on April 1 Saudi Arabia began offering tourist visas for the first time since 2010.
The government of the Philippines closed off the west-central island of Borocay to tourists for six months, starting April 26, in order to upgrade infrastructure and clean up environmental damage caused by a sewage leak. According to the government, less than half of the island’s structures are connected to sewage-treatment facilities.
The island is a popular destination and attracted more than two million visitors in 2017.
The airport in Skopje, Macedonia, in an act of goodwill toward Greece, removed the moniker “Alexander the Great” from its name on April 3 and is now simply Skopje International Airport. (Its IATA code remains SKP.)
Greece has been at odds with Macedonia over the name it took upon declaring its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Macedonia, the nation, and the historical region of Macedonia in Greece, where Alexander the Great’s empire began, are geographically distinct.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the independence of Swaziland (granted on Sept. 6, 1968), an absolute monarchy in Southern Africa, the king declared on April 19 that the country’s official name would henceforth be the Kingdom of eSwatini (Land of the Swazis).
Housed in the former offices of Harland & Wolff, the shipbuilding company that designed and constructed the HMS Titanic, the Titanic Hotel Belfast (Queen’s Road, Titanic Quarter, Belfast, No. Ireland, BT3 9DT, U.K.; phone +44 289 508 2000, www.titanichotelbelfast.com) opened in August 2017.
The hotel’s 119 rooms, some of which face the slipway where the Titanic was launched in May 1911, are furnished in Art Deco style to match the building’s restored original architecture.
On the private “Secret Gardens of Venice” walking tour, you will see three gardens in the Italian lagoon city not normally visited by tourists. Led in English by a member of a Venetian garden association, the 2-hour tour visits two convent gardens and one palace garden.
You must book in advance. The tour cost of €32 (near $38) per person does not include garden entry fees. Avventure Bellissime (5043 San Marco, 30124 Venezia; phone +39 04 197 0499, www.tours-italy.com/tour/private-venice-secret-gardens-walking-tours_124).