All eyes on the pitch for 2014’s World Cup
A game of beach football in Rio. Image by Yasuhide Fumoto / The Image Bank / Getty Images.
As if endless strands of sun-toasted coast, mountains splashed with
Crayola-green rainforest and some of the planet’s most beautiful
colonial villages didn’t already add up to an unfair share of heaven,
Brazil
goes and snags two of the most coveted sporting events in the world,
beginning with the 2014 FIFA World Cup and followed two years later by
the 2016 Summer Olympics. Tack on a recession-dodging economy, and boom!
Brazil is the belle of the ball. Be it trekking across towering
windswept dunes peppered with cerulean lagoons in Lençóis Maranhenses,
exploring gilded colonial churches in frozen-in-time cities such as
Ouro Preto or swimming in aquarium-like rivers near
Bonito, Brazil’s diversity will leave you slack-jawed.
The adventure of a lifetime
A noisy gentoo penguin in Antarctica. Image by Ralf Hettler / E+ / Getty Images.
Tune into your average wildlife television program and you can’t fail to be dazzled by
Antarctica’s
majestic icebergs, calving glaciers and unexplored mountain ranges. Or
you’ll watch its native penguin species frolic while avoiding fierce
leopard seals and roaming pods of killer whales, as millions of seabirds
spiral over the wild Southern Ocean. This year marks the centenary of
the start of Ernest Shackleton’s infamous attempted Antarctic crossing.
Visiting this pristine continent (which doesn’t have an indigenous
population and is not actually a country) in 2014 is a chance to take
life on and follow in the path of other intrepid explorers – but with
cushier amenities.
An eventful year
The rugged scenery of Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands. Image by Stephen Weaver Photography / Flickr Open / Getty Images.
To coincide with
Glasgow
hosting the XX Commonwealth Games in the summer of 2014, the city has
had a multi-million-pound facelift: new sports venues, improved
transport links and a regeneration of Glasgow Harbour. It is also the
Year of Homecoming, a government initiative to welcome the Scottish
diaspora back to the mother country by celebrating
Scotland’s heritage, food and drink. The phrase ‘there’s something for everyone’ applies: Europe’s biggest brass band festival blasts
Perthshire,
an orienteering contest around Scottish castles, the Spirit of Speyside
Whisky Festival in May... Despite all this, politics will take centre
stage: to be or not to be independent, that is the question. Hold onto
your hats, Scotland.
Food, culture and scary stories
Summertime in Västra Götaland, Sweden. Image by Christer Fredriksson / Lonely Planet Images / Getty Images.
Thanks to the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, most people have a sense of what
Sweden’s
like, even in the far north – cold, beautiful and a bit scary. Sweden
is emerging with a new pop-culture persona. Perhaps not coincidentally,
northern Sweden’s largest city, Umeå, is the European Capital of Culture
for 2014. Then there’s the food. The capital has long been a stylish,
top-notch destination for serious gourmands and boldly experimental
chefs but lately the reputation and influence of Swedish cooking have
spread beyond the country’s borders. Considering that Swedish cuisine is
so strongly tied to locally sourced ingredients (be it seafood, game,
berries, herbs or regional cheeses), it makes perfect sense to go to the
source of all this fine food.
The Big Five and beach life without the crowds
Elephant marches through Majete Wildlife Reserve in Malawi. Image by John Warbuton-Lee / AWL Images / Getty Images.
Picture this: mere hours after touching down in
Malawi’s second-largest city,
Blantyre,
you check into superluxe digs (or pitch your tent) at the Majete
Wildlife Reserve, which only 10 years ago lay decimated by poaching, but
last year gained Big Five status thanks to a wildlife relocation
project. You get up close to the aforementioned elephant, rhino, lion,
leopard and buffalo without the pesky 4WD scrum so common in Africa’s
best-known parks. Then perhaps it’s off to Lake Malawi for a spot of
high-visibility snorkelling, or
Mt Mulanje
for a hike over hazy peaks in an otherworldly moonscape. And there’s
always the Viphya Plateau, a haunting wilderness of grasslands and
whaleback hills that feels downright prehistoric.
The sleeping giant is waking
Roadside fruit and vegetable stall in Oaxaca, Mexico. Image by Greg Elms / Lonely Planet Images / Getty Images.
Sun-baking on a Caribbean beach after partying all night in
Cancún; shopping for brightly coloured handicrafts or gorging on seven types of
mole (chilli sauce) in
Oaxaca; stepping back in time at a Mayan temple – it’s easy to feel optimistic when you’re kicking back in
Mexico.
And it’s not just the holidaymakers - many Mexicans are happier about
living in Mexico now than most can ever remember. Exciting developments
on the travel scene have continued, from major new Maya museums in
Cancún and
Mérida
to the installation of Latin America’s longest ziplines on the rim of
the awe-inspiring Copper Canyon. Now Mexico’s image is on the cusp of
change – it’s time to dust off your Mexican dream again and enjoy it to
the max before those prices go back up and the crowds really start
rolling in.
Paradise within reach
An
idyllic spot on Anse Lazio beach on Praslin in the Seychelles. Image by
Ruth Eastham & Max Paoli / Lonely Planet Images / Getty Images.
These
115 divine islands strewn across the peacock-blue Indian Ocean have all
the key ingredients for a once-in-a-lifetime holiday, but their
reputation as a millionaire’s playground may have kept you away. Good
news: on top of exclusive island hideaways and elegant eco-villas, you
can benefit from the wallet-friendlier B&Bs, picturesque Creole
guesthouses and self-catering apartments that have sprung up over the
past decade. And if expensive air tickets deterred you from visiting,
rejoice! Increased competition has dramatically changed the situation
over the past few years. And there’s much more to do than sipping
cocktails on the beach. Hiking, diving, snorkelling, boat tours and
other adventure options are all readily available, with the added appeal
of grandiose scenery. Wildlife lovers will get a buzz too – the
Seychelles is not dubbed ‘The Galápagos of the Indian Ocean’ for nothing.
High emotions in Europe's underrated gem
Historic buildings along the River Leie in Ghent, Belgium. Image by Allan Baxter / The Image Bank / Getty Images.
Belgium has picturesque cities –
Bruges,
Antwerp,
Ghent – and in
Brussels
a walkable capital with great museums. The food and drink is a
gustatory blast (think the world’s best beer, chocolate and chips), the
countryside flat and placid, the seaside surprisingly chic, while
cultural treasures range from medieval masters to Tintin. Yet the words
‘Belgium’ and ‘holiday’ don’t usually mix. From 2014, a huge influx of
visitors is expected due to the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of WWI
– a festival of remembrance lasting until 2018 – which may change
preconceptions. Belgo-newbies will find medieval towns where culture and
gastronomy meet, with Gothic buildings, paintings by Breugel, Van Eyck
and Magritte, canals and cool shops. And they’ll discover mellow
meadows, where cows moo beside monuments, and battlefields and
cemeteries that testify to the horrors of a war now shifting from living
memory.
Back to the future, Balkan-style
Church on the shores of Lake Ohrid, Macedonia. Image by Keren Su / Photodisc / Getty Images.
The year 2014 marks the completion of the government’s love-it-or-hate-it makeover of the capital,
Skopje.
The Macedonian capital has at the same time quietly become more
visitor-friendly, with a bevy of cool new hostels, upscale wine bars and
bistros, and one of southeastern Europe’s best club scenes. Beyond
work-in-progress Skopje and the more established tourist sites such as
Lake Ohrid,
Mavrovo ski area and ancient Stobi, new things are happening elsewhere.
Quiet Berovo, on the border with Bulgaria, is an up-and-coming
contender on the spa-hotel scene. Also in
Macedonia’s
idyllic eastern half, sturdy old Kratovo – with Ottoman-era stone
bridges and cobblestone lanes – is revitalising previously derelict
Turkish mansions, attesting the bygone wealth of this old mining town.
And in the arid central vineyard region of Tikveš, new quality wineries
are catering to thirsty visitors.
A revitalised Malaysia goes back to business
Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang, Malaysia. Image by MIXA / Getty Images.
With its sights set on 28 million visitors to the country,
Malaysia is rolling out an array of new attractions. The headline-grabbers are the largest bird park in Southeast Asia in
Melaka
(with 6000 birds featuring 400 species), and Legoland Malaysia and
Hello Kitty Land in Nusajaya, which are packing in both locals and
Singaporeans flocking across the causeway. The new second terminal at
Kuala Lumpur
International Airport (KLIA2), catering mainly to the booming budget
airline sector, is another major factor in attracting more visitors.
Competitive fares offered by Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Firefly and new
operator Malindo Air make getting around this widely spread-out country
a cinch. Further afield, weekly direct links are now scheduled to
destinations as diverse as Istanbul and Pyongyang. Amazing experiences
await in Malaysian Borneo, from exploring off-the-beaten- track
Kudat to indulging at the luxurious Gaya Island Resort on
Pulau Gaya.
And active travellers can discover the country on two wheels as cycle
tourism takes off with guided tours in Sabah, a proposal to build a bike
path around the coast of Penang, and a community project to map out
cycle routes around Kuala Lumpur.
Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
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