Ski biking.  This is where the bicycle has skis not wheels, and rather than pedalling, you just balance.  You think we’re joking?  We’re not.  There are endless ways to enjoy the snow this season as the Outdoor/Adventure category reveals.   Luckily if you want to while away the hours under the sun we’ve got Miami, Thailand, and the Caribbean – or if you want to while away the hours under a book then what about a reading weekend?  Also take a fresh look at Berlin’s bread and China’s cuisine.  There really is something for everyone this week.  The categories are City, Escape, Outdoor/Adventure, Food and Festive Cities.

CITY

• David Owen is seeing Elephants in Copenhagen in the FT. “A big part of 21st-century Copenhagen’s charm is the harmonious balance so often struck between old and new. You can appreciate this at the stunning new Henning Larsen-designed waterfront opera house, whose daring angles offset the building’s immediate surroundings to breathtaking effect. And you can appreciate it at the Norman Foster-designed elephant house, where I arrive after a 20-minute bus ride and a 10-minute stroll past wolves and polar bears.”
• In the New York Times Seth Sherwood discovers The Thriving Global Music Scene in Dakar, Senegal. It is “one of the globe’s most dynamic yet least touristed music centers. With its bevy of international stars — Mr. N’Dour, the acoustic bard Ismael Lo, the adventurous singer-songwriter Baaba Maal — and an ever-increasing crop of new talents, the Senegalese capital is ripe for discovery.” Sherwood reveals the music heritage and the current scenes in Dakar, whilst guiding us around this extraordinary city.
• In the FT, Andrew Jefford is in Australia’s driest capital – Adelaide. “…it is true that it lacks the Asian swagger of Perth, the architectural grain and grandeur of Melbourne or the marine comeliness of Sydney.” But, Jefford urges you to “Allow Adelaide a little time to reveal itself and you’ll find few more rewarding or relaxing centres in Australia, especially if you’re looking to slow your pulse rather than set it pounding. The city is a hymn to the pleasures of the suburb…”
• “South Beach gets a lot of abuse from residents. Too much cologne, critics say; too expensive, too crowded. But like other American meccas of decadence, SoBe still has an irresistible, democratic pull.” Damien Cave in the New York Times talks us through 36 Hours in South Beach, Miami.

ESCAPE

• “I knew that Bedford, a chocolate box commuter town in New York’s Westchester County, was a mecca for celebrities – domestic doyenne Martha Stewart, billionaire businessman Donald Trump and fashion icon Ralph Lauren all have estates in the area,” says Kate Maxwell in the Observer. “And Richard Gere has just opened an inn there called the Bedford Post, which is where I’m staying.” Bedford, New York: a trip down revolutionary road
• “We were going to the Caribbean to camp. Yup, camp. Well, kind of,” says Benji Lanyado in the New York Times. But doing The Caribbean Under Canvas is harder than you would think – “A scan of the Caribbean will find a relative dearth of camp-style accommodations.” But the tiny island of St John, with its large national park, has been accommodating campers since 1976. “My perception of the Caribbean has always been a lustful daydream of how the other half lives…where people who make more money than I do come to play in grand five-star resorts. But staring out over the water from our balcony, we couldn’t imagine being more spoiled. We’d found our Caribbean loophole.”
• In the Independent, Jim Crane asks Does the sun still shine on Dubai? “…it’s true that, just at the moment, Dubai’s gilded name lies in a ditch. But that is precisely why it’s a great time to visit…Now, with the weather cooling alongside Dubai’s financial reputation, is the time to go. Air fares and hotel rates are low; tables are easy to snare at the best restaurants; the barracuda are running off the sailing club’s jetty. And for me, the best sights aren’t even in Dubai. They’re in the peach-coloured dunes and jagged canyons beyond the city, which form some of the best camping grounds to be found anywhere in the world.”
• In the Guardian Ian Belcher finds that Serenity and simplicity cast their spell in Laos. “Hell, it’s relaxing. Most slow boats are high on atmosphere, low on comfort, but the Luang Say cruise has indoor and alfresco seating, excellent food and a rooftop sun deck. I snooze, sporadically sitting up to watch water buffalo browsing on blonde beaches, fishermen, and solitary gold hunters panning through sediment where streams slice into the main flow. When our barge makes one of its regular village stops after lunch, I have to rediscover the use of my legs.”
• “I was intrigued to hear about a holiday where all you do is read: no sightseeing, no watersports, no family and friends to entertain – just serious time with a book,” writes Katie Antoniou in Guardian. “The Reading Weekend is…a residential book club dedicated solely to the enjoyment of literature,” held at Tilton House in Berwick and hosted by journalist and Radio 4 playwright Damian Barr. A weekend where it’s all about the books

OUTDOOR/ADVENTURE

• Sir Steve Redgrave skis Olympic Whistler and is interviewed by Tom Chesshyre for The Times. “People who have skied in Europe do not realise what North America offers as a skiing experience. Whistler, the biggest winter sports area on the continent, has few queues, masses of runs and good-quality snow.”
• “My surfcraft that day was an alaia, a replica of the thin, round-nosed, square-tailed boards ridden in pre-20th-century Hawaii,” says Jamie Brisick in the New York Times. “They resemble nothing so much as antique ironing boards, but their most distinctive feature compared with modern equipment is that they are finless.” Brisick reports on the Ancient Surfboard Style Is Finding New Devotees.
• “Ahead of me lay a journey into uninhabited wilderness just 24km shy of the Arctic Circle where, travelling and sleeping on the 18m yacht with eight others, I’d spend four days hiking up snowbound peaks and then snowboarding down to the sea’s edge.” Rupert Mellor goes Sailing to the ski slopes in Iceland for the Guardian.
• “…if you’ve never been skiing, never fancied skiing, or are, God forbid, even feeling a little bored by skiing, there are now lots of other snowy pursuits to try,” says Patrick Thorne in the Independent. There’s an ice-driving circuit, ice-karting, aerial forest adventures, ski-joering, taking a taxi-bob, biathlons…the list goes on. “New ways of sliding downhill seem to be invented each year; some catch on, some don’t. Ski biking – where your bicycle has skis rather than wheels and you just balance rather than pedal – is one of the former more successful ideas.” On your bike. It’s the latest way to slide down a mountain.

FOOD

• Gisela Williams reviews Peter Klann’s Soluna Brot und Öl in Berlin for the New York Times. “Bakers don’t usually have groupies, but Peter Klann is a unique exception. The organic breads he makes from aged flour and bakes in a clay oven have inspired chefs, documentaries, cookbooks and even television production managers like Thomas Schwetje. “I only eat Peter’s bread,” Mr. Schwetje said.” Williams gets behind the scenes and into the kitchen of the “Ferrari of bread.”
• In the Guardian, Allegra McEvedy discovers a culinary culture to China that is not reflected in the Chinese cuisine we have adapted to here in the UK. This is Allegra McEvedy’s food guide to China’s Yunnan province. “Yunnan, a province roughly the size of France, and one, it turned out, with unique cuisine.”

FESTIVE CITIES

• In the Times, Duncan Garwood is in Bari, Puglia. “It’s the last place on Earth you would expect to find Santa’s grotto. Yet here, in the midst of all this Mediterranean bustle, you will find the mortal remains of Santa Claus, otherwise known as St Nicholas.” As well as Seeing Santa’s bones in bustling Bari, Garwood enjoys “Bari’s atmospheric centre, a honeycomb of cobbled lanes, historic churches and intimate corners…”
• Le Monde reporter Simon Roger reveals his December highlights for Paris in the Observer. “In December, Paris resembles a giant fair. The Eiffel Tower has special illuminations for its 120th birthday…The shop windows follow suit. Find the time to stroll through the covered passages, take in a show or visit the Grand Palais for a ride on a merry-go-round under its magnificent glass-domed roof. From 18 December to 1 January, a funfair is settling in at the Grand Palais, with gypsy music to celebrate yet another birthday, the 100th anniversary of Django Reinhardt’s birth.” This is Paris: from our correspondent.
• “Postcard-pretty Innsbruck becomes easier to reach today with the launch of a new British Airways service from Gatwick,” says Harriet O’Brien in the Independent. “This is a striking city in its own right: in the 15th century Emperor Maximilian I made Innsbruck the capital of the Habsburg empire and today his legacy is still very evident in the charming old town. The cobbled streets here look particularly enchanting under traditional Christmas decorations – and Innsbruck’s gloriously old-world Christmas market takes place until 6 January.” 48 Hours In: Innsbruck.

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