GREAT ESCAPES

Ultimate chill-out experience

The Northern Lights are one of nature’s most dazzling displays, and now you can observe them from your own hotel room on skis – a glass-roofed glamping cabin towed into the Arctic wilderness near Kilpisjärvi in northern Finland. For details, visit offthemap.travel.

Remembrance Trail addition

The Sir John Monash Centre in northern France, which tells the story of of Australia’s part in the battles on the Western Front, has just opened and is a Freechoice tour on Scenic’s 11-day Normandy & Gems of the Seine cruises. The centre is in the Villers-Bretonneux military cemetery. Visit sjmc.gov.au. and scenic.com.au.

Sun worship in Peru

Peru’s Machu Picchu is one of the world’s most alluring destinations, and a fantastic way to experience it is to combine it with the

Inti Raymi festival in the ancient Inca capital, Cusco.

The festival takes place every June 24, to coincide with the winter solstice, and is Cusco’s biggest event of the year, involving hundreds of participants re-enacting the Incas’ veneration of the sun god. Inti Raymi, Machu Piccu and the Sacred Valley are part of five-day packages at tierrasvivas.com/en/inti-raymi.