The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
CHRIS LEADBEATER
‘Almost every inch is mapped for hikers and cyclists’
WThese things are, of course, relative – but there may just be merit to the argument that the Arctic is less appreciated by travellers than its southern counterpart. Perhaps it is a matter of historical record. Where the Antarctic has its milestones and wild stories (Scott and Amundsen’s race for the Pole in 1911; the former’s heroic demise as a result; Shackleton’s endeavours three years later) the opposite end of the planet has always had a certain intangibility – the first confirmed sighting of 90 degrees north (Amundsen again) was not until 1926.
This coming year will pull it more into focus. An exhibition at the
British Museum (britishmuseum.org), tentatively titled Arctic Homelands, Changing Climates, will gaze at the region through the lens of a steadily warming world (May 28-Aug 23). But while the voices of communities in Greenland and upper Canada will be audible in Bloomsbury, tourists who want a first-hand glimpse of the
Arctic should head for Svalbard.
Norway’s remarkable cluster of glacier-clad mountainous islands is also in the public eye at present – as the effective setting of (though not the filming location for) the BBC’s adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His
Dark Materials. Despite its casting as a realm run by talking polar bears, and its extreme latitude (between 74 and 81 degrees north), the archipelago is remarkably accessible, and can be visited in both high winter (when the 24-hour darkness is spiced by the green-white-red interruptions of the Northern Lights) and midsummer, when round-the-clock daylight aids exploration). The Greg Mortimer – the eco-conscious polar vessel launched by Aurora Expeditions last October, whose inverted bow is meant to reduce seasickness – will make its Arctic debut in 2020.
How to go Spaces are available on the 13-day Svalbard Odyssey that Aurora (0808 189 2005; auroraexpeditions.com.au) has scheduled for Aug 18-30, from AUS$13,100 (£6,930); flights extra. Regent Holidays (01174 533985; regent-holidays. co.uk) offers five-day Spitsbergen Polar Nights winter trips to Svalbard, from £1,670pp, with flights.
‘The archipelago is remarkably accessible’
Julia Bradbury “I might be on the wrong side of 40 but I’m still up for a challenge in 2020. My next goal? Walking in the Chilean Andes.”
Chris Leadbeater is
travel correspondent. He has visited Svalbard twice.
THE BLACK FOREST, GERMANY
KERRY WALKER
WMore green than black in every sense of the word, the Black Forest is blazing a trail in environmentally friendly travel like never before in 2020, with a new Unesco Biosphere Reserve protecting 244 sq miles of its sylvan loveliness. Wildlife roams freely and human intervention is minimal in the reserve, which spreads across fir-draped mountains, meadows and moors, where glacier-carved lakes and the country’s highest waterfalls splash.
Tucked into the pleats and folds of the forest are ridiculously pretty half-timbered towns and cuckoo clocks as big as houses, seemingly plucked straight from the pages of a
Grimm fairy tale. A back-of-beyond farm stay is perhaps the best way to appreciate the woodsy silence, and the region is full of them, many affording views of spruce forests rising like theatre curtains above cow-grazed meadows. When the seasonal dump of snow arrives in winter, the scenery is pure Christmas card stuff.
Even by the loftiest standards, this woodland-gone-wild corner of south-west Germany is remarkably in tune with nature: almost every inch is diligently mapped and signposted for hikers and cyclists, e-bikers and cross-country skiers, persuading travellers to swap the car for the trail. Free with overnight stays, the Konus guest card helps to keep things low-impact, too, letting you explore by public transport without spending a cent.
City-wise, Freiburg flaunts impeccable eco credentials with its 59-home PlusEnergy Solar
Settlement, Green City
Hotel in the car-free Vauban district, and a brand-new town hall that is the world’s first public net-surplus-energy building. Sustainable travel? It’s a piece of (Black Forest) cake.
How to go Stuttgart, Karlsruhe-BadenBaden and EuroAirport BaselMulhouse-Freiburg are the main airports. Or take the Eurostar/SNCF from London to Strasbourg via Paris (five hours), then hop over the border.
Travel writer, guidebook author and photographer Kerry Walker loves mountains, cold places and true wilderness. She lived in the Black Forest for six years.