Europe cities, five for 2025
Amsterdam. Paris. Brussels. Just some of the storied destinations you can reach on the Eurostar from London. But from July there will be another tempting train to ride, a new luxury sleeper service by Belmond, the company behind the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.
Departing from London Victoria, the Britannic Explorer will offer upscale multi-night rail journeys to some of the most picturesque pockets of England and Wales. Three and six-day itineraries will showcase gorgeous slices of coast and countryside in Cornwall, the Lake District, Pembrokeshire and Snowdonia.
The window scenery will be complemented by lots of swanky features and flavours on board. Each of the train's 18 elegantly-furnished cabins have ensuite bathrooms — and you'll get a butler if you book a grand suite. In the dining cars, there's afternoon tea and modern British menus curated by Simon Rogan, chef-patron at L'Enclume, a three Michelin star restaurant in Cumbria, with Sven-Hanson Britt, formerly of The Ritz in London, now the Britannic Explorer's executive head chef.
There's one catch for this train. Fares are not exactly inexpensive. Bank on paying from around $13,000 per passenger. It's expected that services will run annually on dates between March and November.
belmond.com
Distinctly less taxing on the wallet, but requiring a bit more intestinal fortitude, is the prospect of swimming in the Seine. Inspired perhaps by watching the triathletes crawling through the river in last year's Olympics, ordinary folk will be able to test out their strokes in Paris' famous waterway this northern summer following the completion of a $2.4 billion clean-up project to enhance the water quality.
There are three new quayside sites where members of the public can swim freely from, including Bras Marie, which is in the heart of Paris, within strolling distance of the rejuvenated Notre-Dame Cathedral. The Seine swims will add an extra layer to the Paris-Plages project, which has tried to bring a touch of the Cote d'Azur to the French capital's river and canals since 2002, with pop-up beaches and activities from July to early September. If you're still wary about ducking beneath the surface of the Seine — this will be the first public swimming allowed in the river since it was previously banned in 1923 — you could go kayaking or canoeing instead.
parisjetaime.com
Krakow may hog the tourists, but those who make the effort to visit Warsaw are usually impressed by Poland's phoenix-like capital. In ruins after World War II, and under communist rule until 1989, the city has rebounded in recent decades and is now spoken about in glowing terms, similar to when it was dubbed the 'Paris of the East' before all the 20th century turmoil.
From the buzzy cafe terraces in the meticulously-restored old town (Stare Miasto) to the promenades and natural beaches hugging the Vistula River, to the sprinkling of Michelin-starred restaurants and slick galleries, Warsaw is also the setting for one of Europe's most keenly-anticipated cultural openings in 2025.
After being shifted around from temporary home to temporary home for two decades, the city's Museum of Modern Art finally has a permanent base: a purpose-built, light-filled space facing the Palace of Culture and Science, a towering landmark from the Soviet era. Designed by New York-based architect Thomas Phifer, the museum exhibits pieces by late Polish icons Magdalena Abakanowicz and Alina Szapocznikow (who was a Holocaust survivor), as well as from overseas talents like Sandra Mujinga, a Congo-born Norwegian abstract artist who's making waves with her inventive audio-visual installations.
go2warsaw.pl
Birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, backdropped by snow-dusted alps, stirring tunes enlivening its postcard-pretty streets and gardens, Salzburg is rarely anything other than a delight. This year it's upping the ante further with a medley of themed events, exhibitions and experiences to mark the 60th anniversary of The Sound Of Music, a much-loved movie shot in and around the Austrian city.
Whether you're attending a live performance of the musical in one of Salzburg's endearing theatres — such as the Salzburger Marionettentheater, with puppeteers pulling the characters' strings — or admiring the nostalgia-inducing filming locations with charismatic guides (or on new self-guided audio tours), don't be surprised to find yourself grinning and humming along to classic tunes like Do-Re-Mi, Edelweiss and My Favourite Things.
salzburg.info
Malta is a perennial favourite on the Mediterranean cruise ship circuit, both a port of call and a hub for embarking and disembarking, But the dreamy UNESCO sites, cinematic coastline and quaint fishing villages of this sun-baked archipelago makes it worth sticking around for several days at least.
You could easily spend a week here, hopping between the three main islands: Malta, Gozo and Comino. From mid-2025, you'll be able to base yourself at the Romegas Hotel, a snazzy 23-room boutique number in a converted 500-year-old aristocratic palazzo in the honey-hued streets of Valletta, Malta's compact yet vibrant capital.
Many of the building's original features have been preserved, including the traditional enclosed Maltese balconies, while there will be a contemporary fizz to the hotel's bar, restaurant and rooftop pool, which looks out towards the sparkling Med. Step out the front door and you're just a five-minute amble from St John's Co-Cathedral, built in the 16th century for the Order of the Knights of St John and renowned for its breathtaking baroque interior and paintings by Caravaggio.
visitmalta.com
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News.com.au
8 hours ago
- News.com.au
The hotel worth splurging on if the rest of your Euro trip in on a budget this summer
Location location location. It's something my parents have drilled into me whenever I bring up wanting to buy my own home one day. And on a recent trip to Europe, I learnt the true power of staying in the right spot. In Rome, I stayed at a nasty budget hotel, and it ended up being on the wrong side of town. Meanwhile in London, I crashed at a family member's home who lived on the city's very edge, which was a 20 minute walk to the nearest train station – and the train itself only came once every 25 minutes. I found myself regretting booking these places and cursing myself for not splashing out a little more cash to be right in the middle of things. That all changed when I got to Paris, and for the purpose of this review — I got to experience what staying somewhere in the perfect location meant for a long weekend in the city of love. The Hotel Dame des Arts, Paris I hadn't even arrived to the hotel's front door, yet I found myself smiling as I walked past Saint Chappelle and crossed the River Seine to get to the property which I knew was just around the corner. I could see the spires of the newly restored Notre Dame in the not-so-distant distance (this turned out to be a four-minute walk from the hotel). And I soon realised the hotel, though expensive, was so close to everything I'd wanted to see — it made my Paris visit the easiest, least stressful part of my trip. After five weeks of travelling in Europe on a jam-packed-but-equally-as-exhausting trip of a lifetime, I was starting to miss my own bed and pillow. When I arrived, the Hotel Dame des Arts looked kind of unremarkable on the outside. I later learned it had been a Holiday Inn but was converted into absolute luxury just two years ago — and when I got inside, the real magic began. The concierge was super helpful when I asked for recommendations of places to go, and the more she talked, the more I realised how everything seemed pretty much walking distance. The Louvre was 15 minutes away, the Pantheon just 10 (which I discovered by accident just by walking around blindly). The Eiffel Tower was a bit further – but the hotel was also very close to about three train stations. The hotel manager even used a contact to get me a ticket to the Musee D'Orsay the next day – they were fully booked out in their website. I also learned that the location was clearly very good – because outsiders also wanted in. The hotel's rooftop bar had to be booked out days in advance as it was highly sought after – from other hotel guests and even locals. When I looked at the view from my table on the rooftop, it wasn't surprising. It gave a panoramic shot of the entire Parisian skyline. I was able to sip on my Aperol Spritz as the sun set over the Eiffel Tower. Dame des Arts also had its own restaurant, Pimpan, with its own courtyard. Although the food was nice, it wasn't nearly as in demand as the rooftop — which gave the space a nice, relaxing retreat from the hustle and bustle of Paris. I was absolutely desperate to tuck into some French cuisine. (I had just come from Amsterdam, which, to put it mildly, isn't known for its food). But I made the mistake of rushing out and finding somewhere. The food was average at best (I got beef bourguignon) and it wasn't any better than French fare I'd had in Australia. When I came back to the hotel, the manager said there were a lot of tourist traps – and she directed me to some of the more authentic French places. A real standout while staying at the hotel was how friendly and helpful the staff were throughout my stay — with every suggestion or recommendation hitting the mark. I wound up at Le Procope and got the coq au van (a fancy French way of roasting chicken). The concierge also helped me organise a walking tour around the area and I learned the restaurant I'd eaten at the night before is the oldest cafe in Paris, founded in 1686, and had one of Napoleon's iconic bicorne hats on display. The street it was on – 13 Rue de l'Ancienne Comédie – was also famous street, crucial to the French Revolution. An important printing shop that spread revolutionary ideas used to operate in the alleyway, and the first guillotine was made here by a carpenter. I also learned the Hotel Dame des Arts is located in the Latin Quarter, which got its name because the first university opened in 1253 and they only spoke Latin. Latin was the common language in Europe at the time. The Hotel Dame des Arts has a lowest pricing offer during off-season for €260 (AU$460) and its lowest pricing during peak is €500 (AU$885).
West Australian
2 days ago
- West Australian
Shadows falling across the land
From the air, on our recent direct charter flight from Perth to Uluru, I am reliving journeys remembered on the land below. We break free of the sprawling boxes that are the Perth suburbs, follow Great Eastern Highway for a while, and then track north, over the salt lake systems around Bullfinch, near Southern Cross. And in a land journey not so long ago and not so far from here, I watched peregrine falcon chicks, sitting in a row in a cave in Baladjie Rock, as the mother came in and out to feed them. We fly on north of Kalgoorlie and just south of Lake Ballard, where British sculptor Antony Gormley installed the shimmering human figures of his sculpture Inside Australia. From the significant hump of Snake Hill, there are foot tracks between them, as visitors walk the salt lake and feel the space. My wife, sculptor Virginia Ward, is a friend of Antony's and worked with him in London, and at one stage there were maps spread out on our dining table as he looked for a suitable site. I have a personal, family-like connection to Lake Ballard. This is a good time to visit them, in winter. The captain has already told us the direct flight time is just one hour, 45 minutes, as we have a jet stream behind us. Uluru is so much closer to Perth than Broome is (which I still find amazing). The less-than-two-hours flight is in contrast to the road trips I've driven below. We are flying pretty much over Laverton, which is the start of the Great Central Road for me. First day, drive from Perth to Menzies or Kookynie; second day through Laverton and onto the GCR, to be camping the second night. The Central Land Council transit permit to travel the Great Central Road is for three days. I may be one of few people who have an 'I Love Laverton' sticker — but it's there on the back bumper of my old LandCruiser. From Laverton, the plane tracks pretty much along the Great Central Road. Tjukayirla Roadhouse, Warburton, Warakurna Roadhouse, Docker River and, before we know it, Uluru. It is largely due to the establishment of Warburton as a missionary settlement in 1933, as an outstation of the Mt Margaret Mission near Laverton, that the road is here. For a long time it was just a dusty bush supply track between Warburton and Laverton, but by the mid-1950s, it had become a pretty respectable, graded outback track. Things stepped up in 1958 when explorer-surveyor Len Beadell was sent to build a new road from Giles to Warburton as part of the Woomera rocket range project. The British government had created the Woomera Rocket Range in South Australia to test fire rockets across the remote spaces of WA, and access points to places like Giles were needed. I think the three-day drive between Laverton and Uluru is one of the easiest remote journeys for West Australians. Great Central Road is a big gravel but all-weather road. There is fuel, water, help and some sort of accommodation at intervals of about 300km. The road is being sealed but in 'parcels', with the stretches that are most expensive and difficult to maintain being done first. (So they aren't just starting one end and doing it bit by bit.) Forty kilometres east of Laverton was sealed in 2021 and the plan is to seal more near Cosmo Newbery in 2025. The 40km near Laverton was completed under an 'alliance contract' between WA Main Roads, CareyMC and Central Earthmoving Company, which together was called the Wongutha Way Alliance. 'Wongutha' means the broad group of local Aboriginal people that reside in the area, as the objective of the project was to maximise Aboriginal employment and business opportunities to help benefit local communities. Road design is in progress for the last 100km section between Warakurna and the border. Survey, design, environmental, geotechnical and heritage surveys are under way. The program is currently being reviewed to ensure completion of sealing by 2032. There are budgerigars in green-and-yellow flocks down there. One of the world's most popular pets, budgies are endemic to these deserts, but only in these natural colours. The big, dominant males always remind me of lions, with their big, proud, patterned heads. These vibrant parakeets are very social, flying in nomadic flocks, chattering away. They are superbly adapted for the arid and semi-arid regions of Australia, following rainfall and spinifex seed-setting. Budgerigar were first scientifically described by English botanist and zoologist George Shaw in 1805, and given its binomial name by ornithologist John Gould in 1840. In England, Gould had progressed from skilled taxidermist, handling species brought back by others, to renowned ornithologist. In 1837, after his second voyage on the ship HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin took his bird specimens to Gould for identification. Gould came to Australia himself in 1838, to study the birds here. The result of the trip were the seven groundbreaking volumes of his epic work The Birds Of Australia (1840-48). And just a fun fact, they have zygodactyl feet — two toes facing forward and two backwards, which helps them to balance, perch and waddle round the bloodwood trees. There are zebra finches meep-meeping in and out of bushes and gathering in flitty crowds round the edge of any water they find. The Great Victoria Desert is covered in spinifex — Australia's most prevalent grass. It is beautiful. This is largely ungrazed, unfenced land, and that is a rarity. We have flown over the Great Victoria Desert and Lake Throssell, named for George Throssell, the 13th premier of Western Australia, just as the desert itself was named by legendary explorer Ernest Giles in 1875 to honour Queen Victoria, the reigning monarch. We're heading well south of Great Central Road now, for the border. I'm following it all on with my phone in flight mode, as it uses GPS. We leave WA almost exactly over Surveyor Generals Corner, where our State joins South Australia and the NT. It was named to commemorate the three surveyor-generals who stood here on June 4, 1968, to inaugurate the monument which marks the junction of the three jurisdictions' boundaries. (They were Harold Camm from WA, H.A. Bailey from South Australia and P.J. Wells from the NT.) And then we are descending. Already. But my mind has already been down there, boots in the red dust. The first 800km from Perth to Kalgoorlie is on bitumen highways, then it's another 240km to Laverton on bitumen. Long sections of the Great Central Road are unsealed, corrugated and dusty, but well maintained. There is fuel every 250-300km on the Great Central Road — at Laverton, Cosmo Newbery, Tjukayirla Roadhouse, Warburton, Warakurna Roadhouse and Docker River. Distances east from Laverton are: Cosmo Newbery, 85km; Tjukayirla Roadhouse, 300km; Warburton, 560km; Warakurna Roadhouse, 786km; Docker River, 890km. Camping's easy and there's accommodation along the way. From the WA border to Uluru is about 240km. A permit is needed for three days on the Great Central Road. For the WA stretch, start at and click on 'Apply for a permit to access/travel through Aboriginal land'.
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
Luxury Italian hotel where George Clooney got married enters a new era
A pantheon of names is associated with the famed glamour of Venice, Italy, from writers such as Ernest Hemingway, who haunted her alleyways searching for inspiration, to the modern celebrities photographed riding sleek water taxis on her canals. But few are as synonymous with La Serenissima's allure as hospitality legend Giuseppe Cipriani, founder of the famed Harry's Bar, creator of the Bellini cocktail and the man behind a legendary hotel bearing his name. On the island of Giudecca, just across the way from San Marco, is the Hotel Cipriani, a Belmond hotel that has been loved since the mid-20th century for its privacy, unwavering dedication to impeccable style and service, and of course, the biggest saltwater swimming pool in Venice. It's also been a haven for the truly famous, including George and Amal Clooney, who held their star-studded wedding at the hotel. Now it enters a new era. Under the auspices of Belmond and American starchitect Peter Marino, the hotel is undergoing a renovation, with the first phase unveiled in May. Marino's assignment was to preserve what made the hotel such an attractive sophisticate, while meeting the needs of modern luxury travellers. As chairman of the Venetian Heritage Foundation, Marino used his understanding of Venice to create a new arrival experience with a light-filled double-height lobby while maintaining Cipriani's original and beloved reception area. Loading This arrival is coupled with 13 redesigned rooms including two master suites, Serenissima and Laguna, designed as Venetian apartments featuring a dining room, library and salon apiece. He's also created a new look for 11 suites and junior suites with private balconies overlooking the Casanova Gardens. The renovation marks a significant milestone for the Venetian icon, Hotel Cipriani's general manager Thomas Schwall says: 'We look forward to this exciting new chapter that will set the tone for decades to come.'
