RAVEL STAR TRAVEL TEAM PICKS THE TOP 20 FOR THE NEW YEAR 2020 vision
It’s back. The popular Red Sea resort is open for business again thanks to the lifting of a ban on direct flights. Whether you want a dive experience like no other, or a flop and drop holiday, this winter-sun hotspot has it all.
Snorkel among the technicolour fish in Ras
All eyes will be on the Netherlands in the spring as Rotterdam hosts Eurovision, the Invictus Games hits The Hague, and the Dutch GP at Zandvoort returns to F1 after 35 years.
There is always something happening in Amsterdam and getting back should be even easier, as Eurostar aims to begin a non-stop service from Amsterdam to London. While Lelystad
Muhammad National Park – a Red Sea reef, home to over 1,000 species. By night, go bar hopping on the tree-lined prom in Naama Bay.
Seven nights at the Grand Hotel from around £495, all-inclusive, with flights from Birmingham. See redseaholidays.co.uk.
Airport hosts commercial flights for the first time.
Classic Holland cycle trips with UTracks run from April to September. Seven days from £790pp; utracks.com.
Jamaica’s crystal waters and paradise beaches will soon be seen around the world in the 25th James Bond film, No Time To Die. Visit other 007 movie locations such as Dunn’s River Falls, where Ursula Andress showed off her bikini in Dr No. Book tours via islandroutes.co.uk. A week all-inclusive at Sandals Ochi Beach Resort, staying in a Riviera Bamboo Grove premium room, is from £1,789pp with return Virgin Atlantic Gatwick flights between June 1 and July
31. See sandals. co.uk.
Touted as the new Croatia, Albania was off-limits to the outside world for decades.
Now its glorious beaches, fortress towns including Berat, and spectacular Unesco World Heritage Sites such as ancient Butrint will be just a three-hour, 15-minute flight from London with the summer launch of direct easyJet services from Gatwick to the capital Tirana.
Return fares are from £84.98 at easyjet.com.
It’s going to be a great year for new cruise ships. Two that catch our eye are P&O’s Iona (debuts May) and Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady (from April).
The former, with its fabulous two-deck glass Skydome, will sail to the Norwegian fjords from Southampton. And you can take it as red that Richard Branson’s
This thriving city is now full of architectural allure, with showstopping sights from Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim museum, right – displaying works by Andy Warhol and Mark Rothko – to the soaring Zubizuri bridge.
The spotlight will be on the Basque country gem next summer when San Mamés Stadium, a landmark on Bilbao estuary, hosts Euro 2020 matches.
Rooms at the four-star, waterfront ocean enterprise will thrill and surprise from Florida to the Caribbean. We can’t wait to get on board either of the vessels.
Iona from £749pp for a week from pocruises.com. Or Scarlet Lady from £779 for four nights through virgin voyages.com.
Barceló Bilbao Nervión are from £121 at barcelo.com.
Ferries from Portsmouth to Bilbao from £440 return for two adults with a car and en-suite cabins. See brittany-ferries.co.uk.