the times Saturday January 1 2022
100 trips for 2022 Travel 37
GETTY IMAGES; SERGE CHAPUIS27 Mount Fuji, Japan
Details Seven nights’ B&B from
£2,425pp, including flights, tours and
car hire (wexas.com)29 Get spiritual in India
Best for The maharajah experience
There is no better place to power down
from the stress of the pandemic than
Vana. This glamorous destination spa in
Dehradun is a modern-day maharajah’s
palace, within easy reach of feelgood
activities such as a dunk in the sacred
River Ganges, sunset in Rishikesh, the
birthplace of yoga (and where the Fab
Four sought enlightenment), and hiking
in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Ayurveda is the central focus, but also
try the Sowa Rigpa, the traditional
Tibetan wellness system. The team all
trained at the revered Men-Tsee-Khang
Medical and Astrology Institute that
the Dalai Lama established in 1961.
Happy om-ing.
Details Seven nights’ full board from
£2,499pp, including flights, transfers and
treatments (healingholidays.com)More trips on page 40
one day behind the wheel of this classic
French car, and there’s also time for
guided tours of Roman ruins, flamingo
spotting in a nature park near Arles and
a perfume workshop in Grasse. For your
last day’s drive you switch motors
and jump into a snazzy sports car,
ideal for the glamour-soaked drive from
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat to Monaco.26 Lisbon, Portugal
at the Douro Valley’s wonderfully
authentic bars. For many Portugal is
synonymous with beaches, so bolt on a
week at the contemporary splendour of
Vila Vita Parc near the whitewashed
town of Carvoeiro.
Details Fourteen nights’ B&B from
£3,999pp, including flights, transfers
and some tours (abercrombie.co.uk)27 High-end Tokyo
and Kyoto
Best for Indulgent stays
If you can have a dull moment in Japan
you deserve an award. It is always
intriguing, and interest in its
inscrutable culture has
rocketed during lockdown.
Explore fast-paced
Tokyo from
Aman Tokyo, where
the exquisite
rooms resemble
the inside of a
shoji lantern and
have killer views
of the Imperial
Gardens, Tokyo
Skytree and
Mount Fuji. Then
immerse yourself
in artistic Kyoto at
Shinmonzen, which
Paddy McKillen, the
perfectionist owner of
Claridge’s, spent ten years transforming
into a modern ryokan with nine riverside
suites. The team here specialises in
customised experiences such as
mindfulness meditation at Kenninji,
the city’s oldest Zen Buddhist temple.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from
£6,376pp (smithhotels.com).
Fly to Tokyo28 Glamour on the
French Riviera
Best for Upmarket nostalgia
Downton Abbey decamps to the French
Riviera for its latest film version,
released in March. But the front seat of a
vintage Citroën 2CV beats the front row
of the cinema for lapping up Provence’s
medieval towns and endless lavender
fields. This motoring itinerary includesW uber-property will make you cheerful
include plush decor with plenty of room
for that big family reunion as well as a
cinema room and an indoor heated pool
that opens out on to immaculate lawns
and wide-open sea views and sunsets.
Details Four nights’ self-catering
for 20 from £8,815
(thewowhousecompany.com)
25 Ultimate Australia
Best for Down Under highlights
Australia is home to one of the world’s
oldest cultures, and nowhere on the
planet has reefs to match the majesty
of Queensland’s or desert that outranks
the Red Centre. You have to
take a selfie with Sydney’s
architectural
masterpieces as
a backdrop and
experience a
sunset at Uluru,
but this itinerary
also packs in
three nights at
stylish Lizard
Island on the
Great Barrier
Reef, time in
Cairns to hike in
the rainforests and,
in total contrast, two
nights of out-and-out
luxury at Lilianfels, a historic
country mansion in the world-
heritage-listed Blue Mountains, where
you might even experience a sprinkling
of snow.
Details Thirteen nights’ B&B from
£4,999pp, including flights, transfers
and some meals (trailfinders.com)
26 Portugal uncovered
Best for Beach and city
Lisbon is a pocket rocket of a capital.
There’s the old town’s Instagrammable,
vertiginous streets, mysterious alleyways
and tiled façades, a vibrant social scene
and historical heft thanks to its Moorish
past. But, unlike so many great cities,
Lisbon still has soul and jealously guards
its cultural integrity. Coimbra, the seat of
Portugal’s oldest university with its own
beautiful cathedral, is a worthy diversion
en route to Porto for port wine tastings
28 Domaine de Fontenille, Luberon, France
Sydney, Australia25
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100 ultimate trips
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