Travel Wires

Travel’s Believe It or Not Continuing our mission to provide you, gentle reader, with a reliable source of useless and unsubstantiated information, here’s this week’s tranche of travel-related “surveys” that you can choose to believe. Or not . . . Have Singapore passport, can travel Singapore has the world’s most powerful passport. Passport Index says its 3.4 million passport-holders can travel to 159 countries without a visa or have one issued on arrival. Germany came second, its citizens able to visit 158 countries, with New Zealand, Australia and Greece seventh. Afghanistan came bottom with visafree access to 22 countries. The US passport’s usefulness has fallen post President Trump; it’s sixth. Elegant Auckland trumps Sydney and Melbourne Tell us something we didn’t know: Auckland is more cultured and fashionable than Sydney, Melbourne and Wellington. German fashion app Zalando polled 5000 architects, fashion designers and journalists to find the world’s 80 most elegant cities. Paris came top, London second, then Vienna, Venice, Florence, Barcelona, New York, Bordeaux, Milan and Rome. Auckland came 36th, ahead of Buenos Aires, Edinburgh and Prague, with Sydney 44th, Melbourne 55th and Wellington 70th. Auckland nearly scored a perfect 5 in accessibility (how affordable each city is for its residents), as well as the cost of items associated with an elegant lifestyle (theatre tickets, upmarket wine, high-quality footwear). Manchester pool up there with the best Best Pool with a View is a thing in the 2018 Mr & Mrs Smith Hotel Awards, along with Sexiest Bedroom. Pools in the running include one in an 18th-century Tuscan villa, a Maldives infinity pool “that will make you go weak at the knees” and a Sri Lankan pool “that’s frankly a work of art with a view ripe for a painting”. Then there’s a seventh-floor spot that affords views of the clock tower and spires of Manchester Town Hall. A surprise, because Manchester certainly did not trouble the judges for the world’s most elegant city. Look no further than the Philippines The Philippines scored a trifecta in the Conde Nast Traveler readers’ choice awards, with Boracay, Cebu and Visayan, and Palawan islands named first, second and third in the Best Island in the World category. Boracay is famous for its 4km White Beach; Cebu and Visayan are a fusion of island life, history and the metropolis of Cebu City, while Palawan boasts one of the longest underground rivers in the world. Travel Wires is miffed that the gem of the Gulf — yes, that unspoilt paradise beginning with W — didn’t rank. So here’s our shout-out for Watchman Island.

— travel@nzherald.co.nz