Travel Briefs

Wudangshan Airport (WDS), in the city of Shiyan in Hubei Province in central China, began commercial service on Feb. 5. Three airlines — China Express Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Loong Air — currently operate out of WDS, with service to five destinations: Kunming, Tianjin, Wuhan, Hangzhou and Xi’an. The airport is designed to accommodate 900,000 passengers a year.
About 20 kilometers from the airport, the nearby Mount Wudang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is famous for its Taoist temples.

New in Uganda, the Wildlife Card is a reloadable cash card that is accepted at five national parks — Murchison, Lake Mburo, Kibale, Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest — for both entrance fees and making purchases at park stores.
Cards can be picked up and reloaded with money at any of the parks where they are accepted or at the Uganda Wildlife Authority office in Kampala (Plot 7 Kira Road, Kamwokya, Kampala, Uganda; phone +256 414 355000). The entrance fee at parks that accept the card is $40.

The Australian train The Ghan (Great Southern Rail; phone +61 8 8213 4401, www.greatsouthernrail.com.au), which travels between Adelaide and Darwin in 2½ days one way, with a stop in Alice Springs, was scheduled to add Platinum Club cars with full-size suites (each about twice the size of a Gold Twin cabin) on April 1, 2016.
The Platinum Club’s exclusive services include transfers to and from the station within a 50-kilometer radius; en suite breakfast; daily 2-course lunch and 3-course dinner in the Platinum Lounge, and route-specific audio commentary.

To celebrate what would have been author Roald Dahl’s 100th year, these are among events planned in his native Wales in 2016 (visit www.visitwales.com):
• Exhibition of art by Quentin Blake, Roald Dahl’s illustrator, at National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, July 16-Nov. 20.
• Interactive exhibit “The Wondercrump World of Roald Dahl.” Opens in July at Wales Millennium Center in Cardiff.
• “City of the Unexpected” festival, with theatrical performances of Dahl books, in Cardiff, Sept. 17-18.

Held every three years, the third Normandy Impressionist Festival will take place April 16-Sept. 26, 2016. Works of Impressionist artists will be exhibited in cities and towns throughout the province of Normandy, France, including Cherbourg, Caen, Le Havre and Rouen. Impressionist-inspired art, photography, music and performances also will be showcased.
For details of events, visit www.normandie-impressionniste.eu and click on “Download the Normandy Impressionist 2016 press release.”

US and Cuban authorities signed an agreement on Feb. 16 to allow US-based commercial airlines to apply to institute flights to Cuba, with service to begin in fall 2017.
Current US laws still do not allow for tourism to Cuba by Americans, and those who wish to take the flights must fall under one of 12 categories of people for whom travel to Cuba is legal, including Cuban nationals, people visiting relatives, those on educational visits, those on chaperoned “People to People” itineraries, etc.

The city of Shanghai, on the central coast in eastern China, increased the period of its visa-free stays from 72 hours to 144 hours on Jan. 30, 2016. This extension applies to travelers entering at an airport or cruise port and includes the outlying cities of Hangzhou and Nanjing. In Shanghai, specifically, though a traveler’s visit begins upon his arrival, the 144-hour time limit doesn’t start counting down until 12 midnight following his arrival.

Starting in summer of 2016, the Italian government will limit the numbers of visitors allowed on the pathways between the Cinque Terre villages, located on the Riviera in northwestern Italy. The total number of visitors allowed in 2016 will be 1.5 million. (Roughly 2.5 million people visited the Cinque Terre region in 2015.)

Visitors to Stockholm, Sweden, can take a rooftop tour with Takvandring (Stora Gråmunkegra˘nd 12-14, 111 28 Stockholm, Sweden; phone +46 08 22 30 05, www.takvandring.com). The one-hour, 15-minute tour takes climbers along the roofs of Stockholm 142 feet above the streets, across catwalks and up ladders, led by an English-speaking guide.
A rooftop tour costs SEK595 (near $70) and must be booked online in advance. Safety gear is provided. Persons weighing over 264 pounds or with a history of heart disease will not be allowed, and those with a fear of heights should not participate.

Starting every year on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar (June 9 in 2016, May 30 in 2017), 3-day Dragon Boat festivals have been held throughout China for over 2,000 years.
The festivals get their name from the dragon-shaped boats that are raced by teams of men hoping to bring a bountiful harvest and happy life to the people of their villages by winning. Races can be seen all along the Yangtze River and in Hong Kong and Macau.
Zongzi, pyramid-shaped glutinous rice dumplings with various fillings, are traditionally eaten during the festival.