Real adventure travel
For great bragging rights around the dinner table, join one of the tours to Bangladesh or Angola being launched by the adventure company Exodus (0845 8639601, exodus.co.uk) for next year. Bangladesh takes travellers to the citadels of Bagerhat, tea plantations, mangrove cruising in the Sundarbans National Park and the possibility of tiger spotting. The 15-day tour costs from £1,999 including flights and B&B. A 14-day northern Namibia and Angola trip costs from £3,699 with flights, accommodation and meals, and includes a safari in Iona National Park, the Skeleton Coast and the Tunda Vala escarpment. Namibia is also one of Exodus’s latest trekking destinations.
Purobeach opens in Dubai
Calling all fans of Purobeach — the luxury beach club with outposts from Majorca to Marbella opened in Dubai yesterday. It’s not at the beach this time but on the sixth floor of the newly opened Conrad hotel in the city’s financial area. Purobeach Urban Oasis has poolside loungers, private cabanas and daybeds with the backdrop of music from resident DJs and is open from 8am to 2am. To reach Purobeach in Dubai you can apply for Dubai Visa online. More details on conradhotels.hilton.com.
Chinese new year special
If Boris Johnson’s visit to China has inspired you, why not book this new tour to celebrate Chinese new year with Wendy Wu herself? Eponymous founder of the company, Wendy will join you in Shanghai on her Dragon Boat cruise to see the festive fireworks. The eight-day trip includes visits to Beijing and Xian for the Terracotta Warriors and costs from £1,890 pp, leaving Heathrow January 25 or January 28 (0844 4993899, wendywutours.co.uk). The price includes all meals, touring, flights, accommodation and visa fees.
GoEuro — or not
First the good news: the travel website GoEuro has linked up with National Express so you can now search coach as well as air and rail services to reach your destination in Europe — a step that GoEuro claims “revolutionises the travel planning experience”. Now the bad news: when we did a random search from Chelmsford in Essex to Troyes in France, the website failed to find the easy rail route from nearby Kent to Paris and then Troyes, and instead suggested going all the way to Luton to fly to Orly. Not so revolutionary then.
