If you look hard enough on Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu you’ll find a select few bungalow resorts offering an escape from the all-inclusive, buffet-serving, cookie-cutter behemoths that have somehow taken up most of the Coral Coast. The Uprising Beach Resort is one of them.
Perfectly positioned bures along the beachfront and larger villas off the sand make up the resort. It is small enough to give you space on the beach, but large enough to offer all the amenities you might need. The food is good and the bar lively. There’s a field on the resort grounds where the Fiji Rugby 7s train and volleyball courts where the local villagers play each evening. They welcome new players, but be aware: they are serious.
The friendliness of the staff is second to none and they can arrange some amazing nearby activities, from shark feeding off Beqa Island to whitewater rafting in the untouched hinterlands.
“It’s not perfect, it’s paradise” is the motto and it sums the whole place up, well, perfectly.
When cruising the Black River in Jamaica’s southern parish of St Elizabeth, there’s a chance your guide will tell you that the river’s famous crocodiles are tame. They lie stretched out on the river banks, sunning themselves, or hovering just beneath the water’s surface under the cover of mangroves, steely eyes just visible. They look fearsome, but most have names, which many of them actually seem to recognise.
Tame or not, the crocodiles here are certainly abundant. As you make your way along the murky river, you’re guaranteed to get your money’s worth. And you won’t just see crocodiles – you’ll come across egrets, herons and other creatures flitting through the lush vegetation.
Whether they consider the crocs to be tame is another matter that you can ponder as you cruise. The river is the longest in Jamaica, named for the mossy layer on its bed which turns the water black, although you may actually find it more of a sludgy shade of brown.
Towards the end of October, the cobbled streets of Oaxaca are not only filled with the usual stream of tourists who come to enjoy the rich culture and cuisine. Around ever corner and every alleyway lurk papier-mâché skeletons bedecked in their finery, and otherworldly beings setting out to spook. Shop windows are filled with skulls and bony beings carefully crafted in sugar or chocolate, and decorative altars to the dead are erected in hotel lobbies.
But don’t be afraid. This annual festival of the dead, Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is an uplifting celebration. While the evenings buzz with frantic street parties, the traditional activities centre mainly around homes and cemeteries as families welcome back those who have passed on for this briefest of visits. The spirits of the town’s children are the first to return on 31 October, with 1 November the time of the adult spirits and 2 November marking the night of farewell. As important a feature on the calendar as Christmas, this annual event coincides with Halloween, but is quite different from the witches and ghouls you may be familiar with – instead merging the traditions of All Hallows’ Eve, brought to Mexico by Spanish colonisers, with the pre-Colombian traditions of Mexico’s indigenous peoples.
The dead are depicted as smiling and dancing, and are greeted with music and a selection of their favourite foods piled high on the decorative altars. Graves in the cemeteries are decorated with flowers and candles by the friends and families, with many spending the night there to reflect and reminisce.
The Gobbins cliff path wraps its way around the dramatic coast of County Antrim in Northern Ireland – and you’ll find the highway to exhilaration if you take up the challenge of this mile of wonder.
The magnificently restored Edwardian attraction features a series of tubular and suspension bridges, a staircase, caves and tunnels carved through the basalt. It offers a white-knuckle mix of adventure, rugged beauty, spectacular views, heritage, flora and fauna. In all, walkers must brave 23 metal bridges and water-splashed gantries installed along sheer cliff faces. Strictly for thrill-seekers and those who can handle a bracing climb, the route offers not just a walk along a cliff top but also below sea-level experiences of the caves and bridges.
Just a short drive from Belfast, the Gobbins is in Islandmagee, a welcoming peninsula just off the start of the Causeway Coastal Route, and another jewel in its crown. The site also boasts a visitor centre featuring an exhibition on the building of the Gobbins, its history from Edwardian times and the geology and ecology of Islandmagee. If you are not up to the walk, a more relaxing way to see the entire Gobbins Cliff Path is on one of the boat tours from Islandmagee. Near to the celebrated sites of the Giant’s Causeway, the Glens of Antrim, Bushmills Distillery, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and much more, the Gobbins is a reimagined triumph waiting to be explored.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens may be set in a galaxy far far away, but you don’t need a spaceship to reach the craggy peaks of Skywalker’s secluded hideout. With the help of a sailing ship, or just a small boat, sci-fi fans can sail 12 kilometres off the west coast of Ireland to Skellig Michael, a rugged outcrop that transformed from medieval Christian monastery to Jedi hermitage for the film.
Rising improbably from the Atlantic, one of the highlights of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, the island has attracted both admirers and those seeking solitude for centuries. Monks moved ashore in the sixth century, enduring isolation and the occasional Viking rampage over the next 600 years, before abandoning the lonely outpost in the late twelfth century. During their time on the island they carved hundreds of stone steps to the summit, where they established an isolated monastery.
The Skelligs’ charms are not only confined to past glories. Along with their sister group, the Blaskets to the north, the Skelligs support some of the largest collections of manx sheerwater and puffins in the world.
Skellig Michael – and neighbouring Little Skellig – have featured in ancient Irish legends, but it wasn’t until 2014 that these remote peaks welcomed their strangest visitor yet… one of the biggest movie-making phenomena in history.
The World Heritage-listed ruins that sit on the island have remained incredibly well preserved thanks to their remote location and little interest from travellers until The Force Awakens hit the screen.
The neatly stacked shelves and colourful displays of Nishiki Market’s 126 shops and stalls inspire both curiosity and hunger. Although camera-clutching foreigners can be found wandering the 390-metre strip under the shelter of the checkered stained-glass roof, this is no tourist trap – it’s a functioning market packed with fresh, locally produced and procured goods, known by some as the ‘kitchen of Kyoto’.
Glittering fish and gnarled molluscs are carefully laid out on beds of crushed ice, vast wooden barrels are filled with rice to one side and green tea on the other, and trays of crayon-bright sweets add blasts of colour to the scene. Less easy to identify are the yellow-smeared bulbs crammed in wooden crates, or the wood-like sticks stacked side by side. Although its name literally means ‘brocade market’, Nishiki actually started off as a fish market, with the first store opening as early as 1311 and others soon springing up around it. You can still find an incredible array of seafood here, but there are plenty of other items also on sale, as well as several small restaurants close at hand, serving dishes that are just as exciting as the raw ingredients.
The sacred River Ganges has long been a massive tourist drawcard because of its immense significance – both spiritual and practical – to the people who live along it. Fittingly, the vast majority of visitors keen to have an encounter with the river god tend to head to the city of Varanasi to glimpse its grey waters and the throng that surrounds it. But this arm of the river, called the Hooghly, is just as fascinating.
Take a cruise along the water and pray for a sighting of one of the river’s resident Gangetic dolphins as you take in the crumbling edifices of the British Raj, the Howrah Bridge, the funereal burning ghats and temples such as the Dakshineswar Kali Temple. You can also take in some fascinating scenes of daily life – the vibrant fabrics laid out to dry on the river banks, the bullocks wading through the khaki shallows or the mischievous children splashing their way through bath time.
Located on Lexington Avenue – the heart of Manhattan – the Gramercy Park Hotel is the Big Apple at its best. Each of the one-of-a-kind rooms has lush drapes, custom-designed furniture, mahogany drinking cabinets, velvet upholstered beds and walls showcasing the work of world-famous photojournalists. If you can’t get enough, keep your eyes peeled in the public area, where the ever-changing collection features the work of Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
There’s a stunning rooftop terrace that features views of the city that never sleeps, but one of the main reasons to check in is your access to a special slice of Manhattan. Guests have access to the keys to Gramercy Park, one of only two private gardens in all of New York (the other is in Queens). If you want to go all out, check in to the penthouse – it comes with its own kitchen, dining room and library.
Break the shackles of modern civilisation and return to a nomadic state of bliss beneath the wide, open Texas sky at this off-beat camping site. Located in the high plains desert just outside of arts hub Marfa, El Cosmico is the perfect place to unplug, recharge, do something amazing or nothing at all.
The Ritz this ain’t – choose between a gorgeous vintage trailer, magnificent Mongolian yurt, Sioux-style teepee or safari tent, each decked out in style.
Begin your day at the outdoor bath house, share a meal with your fellow nomads at the alfresco communal kitchen, explore the incredible Donald Judd and Chinati Foundation art sites, settle in for an afternoon snooze in the hammock grove, and end your evening by soaking in a wood-fired hot tub under a clear, starry sky.
A cemetery isn’t your typical setting for a summer night’s entertainment, but Cinespia at Hollywood Forever Cemetery isn’t your typical cinema. Thousands of people flock to the cemetery when the weather warms to catch classic films under the Californian night sky against the backdrop of a historic Hollywood landmark.
Picnic on the open lawn lined with LA’s signature palm trees and listen to DJs play until sundown. Then sit back with a bottle of wine (no spirits allowed) for a surreal cinematic experience at the final resting place of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. If you’re lucky one of Hollywood’s A-listers might even make an appearance (in the flesh, not the film). This is a BYO event, bring a blanket or chair – just make sure doesn’t surpass the 68-centimetre height limit.
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