Travellers’ good buys for the week beginning August 5
Combine alpine adventure, chic shopping malls and sophisticated dining on a three-night Hike & City package to Austria’s Innsbruck, self-styled capital of the Alps.
Pay from €169 per person twin-share, including B&B accommodation in a four-star hotel, professionally guided hikes, hiking equipment rental, transport on the hiking bus and a ride on Innsbruck’s spectacular Nordkettenbahnen, which takes passengers from the city centreto an altitude of 2300 metres within 20 minutes.
Phone Innsbruck Tourismus on +43 512 59850 or visithttp://www.innsbruck-packages.com
Travel Indochina’s new 2013-14 India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives program offers a range of new itineraries, including a seven-night Golden Triangle Fort Experience.
Priced from $1149 per person twin-share, it features a unique stay in the secluded, luxurious Fort of Ramathra.
East coast extensions have also been added to several Sri Lanka tours, providing visitors with a mid-tour break at the acclaimed beaches around Trincomalee and Passikudah.
Phone 1300 362 777 or visit http://www.travelindochina.com.au
Australian tour operators have been quick to take advantage of Guangzhou’s new 72-hour- visa-free status and China Southern Airlines’ use of the city as a hub for services to Asia and Europe.
A range of stopover packages are being offered in the home of Cantonese cuisine, with also the opportunity to explore ancient temples and modern shopping centres.
Creative Tours, for instance, is offering two nights’ accommodation, with breakfast and guided tour of Guangzhou, from $213 per person twin-share. Phone 1300 301 711 or visithttp://www.creativeholidays.com
For information about China Southern and the new visa-free stopovers, visit http://www.flychinasouthern.com
Combine a stay at Novotel Pacific Bay Coffs Harbour with a cheese-making workshop that will have you making your own camembert, mascarpone, feta and more.
The price of $229.50 per person twin-share includes a night’s accommodation in a spa suite, a five-hour session led by The Cheese Making Workshop’s founder Lyndall Dykes, morning tea and lunch, plenty of cheese tastings and full buffet breakfast.
Phone 1300 363 360 or visithttp://www.pacificbayresort.com.au
Hertz is offering the new two-seat convertible Jaguar F-TYPE for rental in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands, ushering in the launch of Hertz Europe’s Dream Collection of iconic cars.
The F-TYPE is the first full-blooded Jaguar sports car to be launched for more than 50 years. Rates start from 250 Euros per day and all confirmed reservations are guaranteed.
Visit http://www.hertz.com
To celebrate Father’s Day, the Hunter Valley’s Golden Door Health Retreat & SpaElysiais offering a range of male-focused specialty retreats during September, including a Golf Retreat, Body Blitz Challenge, Men’s Wellness Retreat and Meditation & Mindfulness Retreat.
The five-day Body Blitz Challenge, from September8-13, for instance, will show Dad how to gain control of his health and fitness with a series of fitness activities, workshops and a healthy dose of friendly competition. Prices for the all-inclusive program start from $2335 per person twin-share.
Phone 1800 212 011or visit http://www.goldendoor.com.au
Travelscene American Express is offering limited quarterfinal packages to the 2014 Australian Tennis Open next January.
Prices start at $616 per person twin-share, including three nights accommodation at Travelodge Southbank Melbourne, admission to one day and one night session at Rod Laver Arena, and entry ticket to the National Sports Museum.
Valid for sale until December 3 for travel January 20-22.
Phone 13 13 98 or visit http://www.travelscene.net.au
VariArts Toursis offering a range of ‘insider’ excursions in Beijing and Shanghai, enabling guests to get a more informed culinary, design and historical insight with real experiences and sites the average visitor would never normally visit or ever get to know about.
The Beijing tour takes in intriguing aspects of Cold War history such as Mao’s 85-kilometre network of nuclear bunkers under the capital, and a visit to highly rated micro brewery. The six-hour tour costs US$200, including admission charges and lunch.
Night-life tours of Beijing and Shanghai cost US$35, with visits to alleyway neighbourhoods and markets, and ultra-cool cocktail bars.
Visit http://www.variarts.com
Get free bike hire and a dozen bottles of French wine on Outdoor Travel’s self-skippered motor cruiser journeys on France’s Canal du Midi or Canal du Bourgogne.
Pay from €1420 for a two-berth cruiser to €1998 for a six-berth boat, plus fuel costs and one-way fee if required.
Everyone sleeps on a proper bed; maximum of two people per cabin; each cabin has its own bathroom with shower, basin and toilet and air-conditioning.
Valid September to late October.
Phone 1800 331 582 or visit http://www.outdoortravel.com.au
Save up to $3530 per couple by flying free to join Travelmarvel’s 2014 Vietnam and Cambodia holidays.
Pay, for instance, $3345 per person twin-share on the 12-day Essential Vietnam & Cambodia package.
Includes two nights at SiemReap’sSokha Angkor Resort, an eight-day luxury Mekong River cruise on board the RV La Marguerite, and two nights at the Grand Hotel, Saigon.
Book by October 15 for departures between June next year and April 2015.
Phone 1300 300 036 or visithttp://www.travelmarvel.com.au
Save on family packages to Disneyland.
Pay from $1859 per adult and $1519 per child, including return airfares with Air New Zealand, three nights at the Disneyland Hotel and a two-day Disneyland Resort ticket. Based on two adults and two children aged 3-11.
Guest rooms feature world-class linens, furnishings and amenities as well as contemporary styling with Disney touches such as Sleeping Beauty Castle headboards.
Book by September 19 for travel August 25-September 19 or 15 October-December 1.
Phone 1300 130 481 or visit http://travel.com.au
Receive earlybird savings of $300 per couple on 12 of Avalon Waterways’ most exotic itineraries — journeys on rivers such as the Yangtze, Mekong, Amazon, Nile and Mississippi, and among the Galápagos Islands.
Pay, for instance, from $6099 per person twin-share for the 11-day From the Inca Empire to the Peruvian Amazon package, including a three-night cruise on the boutique Amazon explorer Aria, a contemporary 16-suite ship specifically designed for cruising South America’s greatest river.
Book by September 30 for travel next year.
Phone 1300 230 234 or visit http://www.avalonwaterways.com.au
Pic: Innsbruck … alpine adventure plus chic city life.
