Getting the flavour of…
La Gomera’s quiet beauty
La Gomera is only a short ferry ride from Tenerife, but it “feels as far from mass tourism as anyone could hope”, says Linda Cookson in The Sunday Times. The secondsmallest island in the archipelago, it is “lowkey and charming”, a place of steep gorges, “vine-clad mountain terraces”, tropical gardens and “time-warp restaurants”. The island is “shaped like a walnut” and its central peak of Alto de Garajonay rises to almost 5,000ft. The beaches are volcanic and authentic – “littered with boulders”, with “not a sunlounger in sight”. The seafront of Valle Gran Rey is where people gather to watch the sunset and play music. This sprawl of villages was colonised by hippies in the late 1960s, and it still has “more than a whiff of patchouli in places”. Sovereign (01293-762003; www.sovereign.com) has seven nights at Hotel Jardin Tecina from £729pp b&b, including flights.
Electric bikes in the Alps Mountain biking in the Alps offers great scenic rewards for those fit enough to power up steep slopes on two wheels, says Nan Spowart in The Scotsman. But when you have a little electric assistance, it’s only the glorious views that will “take your breath away”. In the town of Morzine, you can hire electric bikes to explore the region. Head for Lake Montriond and its dramatic, towering cliffs, and then on to Col de la Joux Verte, a pretty village on the Tour de France route. There’s a “handy chairlift” here to nearby Avoriaz, from where you can make an offroad descent back to Morzine. Whizzing past “ordinary” cyclists “sweating with the toil of pedalling”, you’ll cover much more ground – with the “unexpected thrill” of moving uphill at speed, like a “rocket”. It’s a “revelation”. Alan Bike Shop (www.alanbike-morzine. com) offers one day’s rental from s45.
Diving with crocs in Darwin Saltwater crocodiles are a serious threat in Australia, says Nikki Marshall in The Guardian. But there’s a way to see them up close that is safe, if rather terrifying. More than 200 “salties” live at Crocosaurus Cove, a reptile park in Darwin; the most famous is Chopper, a three-legged, “battle-scarred 5.5metre monster”. Swinging inside the “cage of death”, visitors are lowered into his watery enclosure where, immediately, the 800kg beast lunges. Your heart pounds, until you realise he’s only attacking the chicken carcass dangled by the handler; the “wily old” croc circles and rattles the bars, following verbal commands. At the end, he looks right at you, with “a gleam of amusement in that reptile eye”. Crocosaurus Cove (www. crocosauruscove.com) charges about £150 per cage dive (two people). British Airways flies to Darwin from about £1,065 return.