Whether you want to do nothing in Bardsley, do a lot in Kenya, or go the full monty in Greece – there’s plenty to whet your travel appetite this week.  The categories are City, Escape, Outdoor/Adventure, Ancient Cities (with fleas in golden horseshoes) and Wildlife.  And before you think that the Wildlife category is all pretty birds, wild horses and tropical fish, it’s not.  We’re talking extinct Tasmania tigers that are half kangaroo and apparently not extinct, and bull’s called Bin Laden and Horny King fighting in Korea.  It’s a brutal world out there.  But there’s always Provence…

CITY

• “January ushers in an introspective period best indulged on solitary walks,” writes Paula Deitz in the New York Times. “Since their earliest days in Europe, attached to universities, botanic gardens have thrived in urban centers; their beauty derives from scientific displays required for the orderly study and conservation of plants. But like local parks, they also play an important role as social and community environments.” Deitz visits the Botanic gardens of Brooklyn, Chicago and Santa Barbara in An Earmuff Guide for Winter Garden Strolls.
• In The Independent Mick Webb offers us 48 Hours In: Berlin. “The city at Europe’s heart has awakened for the new year. On 30 January, the Long Night of the Museums provides an opportunity to binge on culture, with more than 100 museums and cultural institutions opening their doors between 6pm and 2am.”
• Amy Virshup in The New York Times brings us 36 Hours in New York City. “In the last year, the city has opened a hot new park, Lincoln Center celebrated its 50th anniversary with a major face-lift that includes a new fountain with 353 custom-made, computer-controlled nozzles, and the center of cool shifted innumerable times (but it’s probably still somewhere in Brooklyn).” Virshup gives us the best of the Big Apple in a weekend.

ESCAPE

• Chris Leadbeater gives us the Traveller’s Guide To: United Arab Emirates in The Independent. “Abu Dhabi is the powerhouse in both wealth and size…Dubai, the most celebrated of the seven thanks to its incredible construction boom over the last two decades, is the most populous. Sharjah is the only emirate to boast coastline on both sides of the country, and pushes itself as a cultural centre. Ras al-Khaimah, the most northerly emirate, is a relatively poor relation, bereft of oil. Ajman and Umm al-Quwain are more modest pockets on the west coast. Fujairah, meanwhile, resides somewhat sleepily on the east coast.”
• There’s more to this Caribbean island than the beach writes Alison Shepherd in the Independent. Taking her family to Cuba, Shepherd enthuses that “Adults and children alike, we were all captivated by the sensory overload: the architecture’s dilapidated elegance; the rich aroma of exotic foliage, with a note of sewer; and, above all, the rhythm of music, that accompanied us like a movie soundtrack…For once, we grown-ups didn’t have to listen to the “I’m bored” whine.”
• In The Telegraph Ferne Arfin writes the Insider’s guide to Provence. “Sun, sand, sea; hot, vivid colours; the scent of rosemary, lemons and lavender, and a summer full of wonderful festivals – jazz at Antibes and Nice, theatre in Avignon and Orange, choral singing in Vaison-la-Romaine…” The Telegraph also covers Alsace, Aquitaine, Brittany, Dordogne-Gascony and Normandy – with an overview of each featuring recommended tours and activities.
• “At first I was worried I might be bored here,” says Gail Simmons in The Observer. “For Bardsey is more defined by what it lacks than by what it has, and this is its appeal. No TVs or radios, music or muzak. No toasters, microwaves or litter. No roads, no cars, no supermarkets, no crowded beaches (in fact, no beaches at all). No pylons, telephone lines, satellite dishes or mobile phone masts. Not even, thankfully, many people….Yes, there is nothing to do here – so I did nothing, and it was blissful.” Bardsey: nothing to do and a great place to do it.
• In The Times Ginny Dougary returns to Greece for a third time – but this time, beyond restaurants and cobbled villages, Dougary explores the historic sites of Halkidiki. “…the real revelation, for me, is some hours away: the royal tombs at Vergina, the old capital of Macedonia, buried under a huge man-made mound and undiscovered for centuries.” Furthermore, in Naked Greece, 30 years on, Dougary gets a “brief taste of my own ancient freedom” and strips off for a swim in the Aegean sea.

OUTDOOR/ADVENTURE

• In The Times Toby Symington goes to Ski guide school in Whistler…”You know it isn’t going to be a normal day on the slopes when you’ve got skins strapped to your skis, an avalanche transceiver strapped to your chest, and a 20kg backpack with a sleeping bag and two days‘ worth of dried food.” Symington reveals the trials and tribulations of a four-week ski-instructor course with Alltracks Academy in Canada.
• Phuket, Krabi and Phi Phi “have come to symbolise the ruinous capacities of tourism, with big hotels jostling for space, and refuse, sewage and pollution problems,” reports Gemma Bowes in The Guardian who is Kayaking Thailand’s hidden lagoons. “Yet, particularly if you travel by kayak, it is still possible to find an unspoilt side to Phang Nga…We made stops to examine quivering red anemones, explore Hong island, a glittering “diamond cave” and watch monkeys, before striking out into open water to paddle from island to island…”
• In The Independent Paul Gogarty goes to Mnarani beach, Neilson’s first long-haul destination, where he combines watersports with a safari…”Apart from cycling and sailing, we also made several snorkelling trips to coral-fringed lagoons before kitting up for a dive out on the offshore reef. We also tried windsurfing and “bayak” – canoeing to lunch at a boat club upstream and then cycling back to base…” Gogarty adds that, “The coastal playground and beaches may be huge draws, but to visit Kenya and not go on safari would be like going to Rome and skipping the Colosseum.” Boating (and baboon spotting) for beginners in Kenya.
• “Raw, stark beauty, I thought – much as I had 22 years ago when walking in this very spot,” writes Amar Grover in the Independent from Nepal. “Then I heard noises I would never have heard back then: a tooting horn and the asthmatic wheeze of an engine. A rickety 4WD sped past, full of passengers eyeing me curiously…” A new road in the Annapurna Conservation Area has sparked concern amongst trekkers – but this road is vital to the economic development of the area. Grover reports on The highway at the top of the world.

ANCIENT CITIES

• Kimiko Barber discovers the The ancient charms of Kyoto for the FT. “In this beautiful ancient city, each season and every turn of weather brings something special…Some say that it takes more than a year to visit all the temples and shrines in central Kyoto alone, others say there are plenty of gardens to view.” Barber guides us through her highlights of the former imperial capital of Japan.
• “I’ve been in Syria only a couple of days, but the staggering complexity of history and culture are already clear,” writes Kevin Rushby in The Guardian, exploring Syria’s mysterious Dead Cities. “Several of the Dead Cities have been dug by archaeologists and are laid out for visitors with useful signs and information; others lie within modern villages: strange stone towers sprouting from gardens, fragments of carved lintels lying under the pistachio trees. At one place we stepped through a sheep pen to reach a tomb entrance carved into the rock beneath a family house.”
• Anna Shevchenko, a native of Kiev, writes Kiev, Ukraine: My Kind of Town for The Telegraph. Shevchenko recommends that you “Go to the Bessarabka market to taste, drink and smell the city…[and visit] Pechersk Lavra, a Unesco World Heritage Site. It is one of the oldest monasteries in Eastern Europe and home to almost a hundred monuments and museums: from Scythian gold treasures to a microscopic flea in golden horse-shoes.
• “Istanbul may be European Capital of Culture for 2010, but it by no means needs special events to be worth a visit. Its sublime Ottoman mosques and Byzantine churches, its sprawling palaces and bazaars, and its spectacular location overlooking the waters of the Golden Horn and the Bosporus are without parallel,” writes James Bedding in The Telegraph. Istanbul, European Capital of Culture 2010: city highlights details the best of Istanbul’s offerings – museums, exhibitions, performing arts and local crafts.
• “Hanoi was first named the country’s capital in 1010,” says Catherine Steindler in the FT. “Today it is a city of more than 6m people; still, it has all the charm of a bustling village…Like its fellow watery cities, Venice and New Orleans, Hanoi is romantic and crumbling. Yet, it is also flourishing.” Steindler explores Hanoi’s double heritage.

WILDLIFE

• “Tourists choosing Oman for a holiday may not have turtles at the top of their planned itinery,” writes Michael Evans in The Times. “There are, after all, many other activities to look forward to, not least enjoying the hot sunshine in November, camel-riding and dune-driving…However, to visit Oman and not to see the green turtles performing their extraordinary rituals once they emerge from the sea is to miss out on one of the Gulf state’s finest assets.” Evans is In awe of Oman’s green turtles.
• James Stewart is On the tail of a tiger in Tasmania for the Independent. “There are really only two things you need to know about the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial. The first is that it looks nothing like its namesake except for the sandy orange coat and stripes that extend down to a stiff tail…The second is that it has been extinct for seven decades. Or it has unless you ask around. Then it turns out they’re everywhere.” Stewart digs deeper into Tasmania’s myths.
• If you were wondering where Bin Laden is, fear not, he’s in Korea locking horns. For the Bin Laden that Christian Oliver in the FT speaks of, is a bull. “Korean bullfighting is something of a relief. Two bulls crunch their heads together and shove, slipping and sliding in churning sand, until one decides enough is enough and trots off to the perimeter fence.” In Bullfighting in rural Korea, Oliver finds himself the only Westerner in sight at this unusual tourist destination.