The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
THE AMERICAS & CARIBBEAN
The really wild show
At times, Costa Rica can feel like a slice of Eden. With its Pacific and Caribbean coasts scalloped by pristine sandy beaches – far better experienced on horseback or from a sunset yoga pose than a sunbed – there is cloud forest and rainforest, and more birds and wildlife than you could ever see in one visit. Exodus takes guests white water rafting on the Balsa River, swimming in waterfall pools, and to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve for the chance to spot sloths, armadillos, porcupines, possums and ring-tailed coatis. There’s a good chance of seeing bottlenose and Central American spinner dolphins on a boat trip from Carrillo beach on the Nicoya peninsula, and the boat drops anchor near Isla Chora, fringed by a white-sand beach teeming with scuttling hermit crabs and iguanas. Accommodation is in small, locally run lodges and hotels.
A nine-day Costa Rica Active Escape (ages 16+) costs from £2,599pp, including flights, accommodation, breakfast and all transport and guided activities (020 3993 2193; exodus.co.uk)
Check in at a desert campsite
Dip into the Coachella Valley’s alternative lifestyle and spend your days exploring desert wilderness and canyon trails around the city of Desert Hot Springs. Many boutique hotels in the area have natural mineral pools, but the Lovelight Ranch is, well… a bit different. Lovelight borders the Joshua Tree National Park and offers glamping, an elevated “Stargazer” cabin with steps to a rooftop bed, and RV pitches with sublime desert views. Evenings are about melting away stress at the hot-water spa, stargazing and chilling around the fire pit. Lovelight has a communal kitchen area with a pizza oven, a Keurig coffee machine, and barbecues, and there’s a pool and shaded hangouts for snoozing.
A Stargazer cabin costs from £52, glamping from £36 and an RV pitch from £36. The ranch is a 90-minute drive from Los Angeles. Expect to pay about £80 a day for a car with fuel and insurance (through hipcamp.com)
Salud!
Combine a visit to the wine regions of Chile and Argentina with vendimias (harvest festivals) and join in with the grape-stomping, feasting and traditional music at village festas. This two-week food- and wine-focused holiday visits wineries in Mendoza and Cafayate in Argentina, and in the Central Valley, near the Chilean capital, Santiago. The accommodation mixes hotels with estancias (working wine lodges) and among these is the Relais & Châteaux property House of Jasmines. It sits on a large estancia in Argentina’s Salta province, with views over the Andean foothills. Harvest falls between February and May.
From £5,290pp, including domestic flights, transfers, B&B accommodation and excursions. Ex-UK flights to Buenos Aires and out of Santiago are extra (020 8747 8315; journeylatinamerica.com)
C’est magnifique
Baguettes for breakfast and rosé for dinner? No, it’s not France, but the Guadeloupe archipelago, where dreamy Deshaies, on Basse-Terre, is the silent star of the Death in Paradise television series. The northwest coast of Guadeloupe is a gateway to the Cousteau Reserve, where Jacques Cousteau filmed Le Monde du Silence. Cousteau rated the Pigeon Islands as one of the best dive spots in the world, and the area offers outstanding diving for all levels, including beginner. Stay in a white-timbered cottage at Les Tamarins, next to the unspoilt beaches of Sainte-Anne. The resort offers diving on the Cousteau Reserve, and with tuition for budding surfers and paragliders, a teen club and volleyball and football pitches on site, there is no room for boredom.
A seven-night self-catered stay at Les Tamarins in a two-bedroom apartment costs from £2,122 (total price for up to six people). Excludes flights and transfers. Flights via Paris with Corsair from £599pp. Car hire from £25 per day (0870 026 7145; pierreetvacances.co.uk)
Sun is shining
All eyes will be on the sunshine isle of Jamaica when a film biopic about the legend that is Bob Marley hits screens in January. See where Marley sang, recorded and spent his formative years, including his childhood church, the neighbourhood of Trench Town and the Tuff Gong recording studios, founded by the singer. Other activities on this Musical Journey holiday include deep-sea fishing, lessons in sailing, and stand-up paddleboarding. Hotels include the stylish Geejam, at the foot of the Blue Mountains, and GoldenEye, where Ian Fleming created James Bond, and where producer and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell set up his recording studio.
An eight-day Musical Journey in Jamaica trip costs from £3,325pp, including flights, hotels and tours (020 3582 4990; originaltravel.co.uk)