It’s your first day back in the office since last year, you can’t face any of those 2,135 emails and there’s no milk. Time to plan some fun for 2012...
EXPERIENCE ALPINE LIFE
Access to Prince William’s former ski instructor, a star-lit spa with a gold-plated Jacuzzi, husky rides and chauffeurs. The Chalet Seven in Crans Montana, Switzerland, opened two weeks ago. The chalet sleeps up to 30 people and is €120,000 (£100,000) a week. Which works out as roughly £475 per person, per night. Not bad if you consider the husky rides.
WALK WALES’ COAST
From May you can walk the entire Welsh coastline when the All Wales Coast Path opens. It will run 850 miles, from Chepstow in the south, to Queensferry in the north. This will be the first continuous path running around the coast of any country in the world and walking the whole thing will take around 70 days. Now, where did we put our walking boots...
SEE THE ECLIPSE
When the total eclipse takes place on 14 November, the best place to see it will be Australia’s Port Douglas (where it lasts the longest). Medway’s 13-day tour will allow you to watch the eclipse with an astronomer and take in the dazzling Great Barrier Reef and Blue Mountains. From £4,136 per person (based on two sharing) including flights from the UK.
FORAGE FOR TRUFFLES
November to March is black truffle season in France’s Provence region. On the truffle and wine weekend at the glorious, romantic Crillon Le Brave, you can forage with top truffier Eric Jaumard, attend a truffle cookery course and end the weekend with a four-course truffle meal. €1,130 (£1,085) based on two people sharing for three nights; includes all meals; flights separate.
SEE SICILY AT ITS BEST
We asked the team at Lonely Planet which country we should visit in 2012. Their answer? Sicily, before completion of the Strait of Messina Bridge connects it to mainland Italy. “For now, Sicily’s end-of-the-world allure is still intact, and prices remain way lower than you’ll find in Rome, Florence or Milan,” they say. See more in the book Best In Travel 2012.
