Travel Wires
What a beach
Our Aussie cousins have got their Speedos in a bunch over TripAdvisor’s annual rankings of the world’s best beaches. Only Manly made the top 20 and Surfers Paradise was their only other beach in the top 30. To rub salt in, Bournemouth, on England’s south coast — which is like St Heliers on tranquillisers — outranks the Aussies and no Australian beach has made the travellers’ choice top 10 for the past three years. TripAdvisor’s list is based on reviews, which naturally skews in favour of bigger, more obvious destinations. Any fair-minded Kiwi would agree Australia has more than its share of great beaches, so many that Manly and Surfers would struggle to make the top 20. Which goes to show that you can’t rely on TripAdvisor reviews of beaches. Or, for that matter, hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions …
Plenty of empathy
The world’s most expensive hotel room has opened in — where else? — Sin City. The $145,000-a-night Empathy Suite at Las Vegas’ Palms Casino Resort was designed by British artist Damien Hirst. The twostorey, 836sq m suite requires a two-night minimum stay, so you’ll need to put $290,000 on the plastic or drop $1 million in the casino. Features: a pool jutting high above the Strip, Hirst’s signature two bull sharks suspended in formaldehyde beside the games room, a 13-seat bar and a lounge-media area that can accommodate 52 people.
Having a vine time
At Quinta da Pacheca vineyard in Douro, Portugal, guests can now sleep metres from the vines in luxurious, oversized wine-barrel rooms. Each 30m suite includes a bathroom with walk-in shower, round beds, skylight windows and a private terrace. They’re fully air-conditioned and fitted with Wi-Fi. As you’d expect, every inch of the 56.6ha estate is totally Instagrammable.
Jewel in the crown
As if being regularly voted the world’s best airport wasn’t enough, Singapore’s Changi Airport is upping its game with the Jewel hub, opening next month. It’s released images of the $1.8 billion, 10-storey complex that will span 137,000sq m and connect terminals 1, 2 and 3. Four storeys will be an indoor rainforest, the Forest Valley, featuring thousands of plants and trees and the 40m Rain Vortex, the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, running on recycled water. Above that is the glass-floored Canopy Bridge, a 1300sq m walkway suspended 28m above the ground, and the Canopy Maze, Singapore’s largest hedge maze. The new hub will have 280 shops, adding to the 350 operating in the four terminals.