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Every Monday throughout January we round up the best travel deals, new openings and things we like in a bid to banish the winter blues
DEALS
Discount luxury in the eastern Med
Sick of Turkey? Go to Turkey! Or, more specifically, to Şövalye, a 1km-long, car-free island in the mouth of Fethiye harbour in Muğla. Being so small and so close to the city it overlooks, Şövalye isn't generally counted as a bonafide Aegean island and hasn't received the same attention from tourists and developers afforded to more isolated Mediterranean suntraps. The widest part of the island remains entirely forested and the scattered Greek and Byzantine remains lie untroubled thanks to the absence of roads. There are one or two restaurants on the island and many more in Fethiye, a short water taxi-ride away. A week at the Ece hotel, departing 27 April, costs from £600pp including flights, transport, sea view room, B&B accommodation and a day's Gulet sailing, if booked before the end of March.
Exclusive Escapes, 020-8605 3500, exclusiveescapes.co.uk/properties/ece-on-sovalye
Under the Thatch January sale
Ethical, self-catering accommodation company Underthethatch.com has discounts on a selection of its UK properties – but hurry as they must be booked by 15 January for stays until 11 February. These include romantic blacksmith's cottage Ty'r Gof on the Cardigan coast, now £176.25 for a long weekend – roughly half what it will be by late February. Popty Pennant, a cosy cottage for two on Chirk castle estate, is reduced by £40 to £162 for two nights.
Underthethatch.co.uk. More offers are available online
NEW ACCOMMODATION
A new solar-powered hostel in Paris
Most visitors who enter Paris via the Eurostar platforms at the Gare du Nord don't revisit that corner of the city until they re-embark for the return leg, either heading south towards the centre, or staying further north in the scruffy hotels on la Butte. From April, however, an eye-catching new hostel in a renovated railway warehouse will provide 100 rooms for those willing to bed down in a less Napoleonic location. Comprising a restaurant, terrace bar and greenhouse-like indoor garden, and claiming to garner its required energy from a field of solar panels on its roof, Pajol Hostel is contributing to the improving reputation of a city not formerly know as a clean or green or cheap destination. Its location is also not without merits; the hostel is a short walk from the foot of Montmartre as well as the noisy African markets of the 18th arrondissement. A few minutes further east is the Canal St-Martin, with its plush bars and multiform iron bridges, and beyond that is Buttes-Chaumont park.
Opens 1 April, rooms from €29.50pp per night B&B. hihostels.com/dba/hostels-Paris---Pajol-020192.en.htm
NEW WEBSITE
Online 'Escape List' itemises decent UK hotels
This new website is gradually compiling a comprehensive list of "affordable, luxury UK hotels" – "affordable" here used somewhat loosely, denoting a hotel with "at least one room, at some point in the year, for under £150 per night". The choices range from the Fox and Anchor in Clerkenwell to Dorset's baldly modern Kaywana Hall. The Escape List is in its infancy and currently displays only 50 or so hotels, but the website is clear, and easily navigable.
theescapelist.com
WELLBEING
Walking and culture in Cuba
Walk Andalucía is expanding its brand of Spanish walking holidays with a new trip to Cuba, launching this April. As well as plenty of hiking in areas such as Topes de Collante, the Ruta el Brujito and the Alturas de Banao, the holiday will take in aspects of the country's history and culture along the way. Highlights include a visit to the historic city of Santa Clara and the mausoleum containing Che Guevara's remains, a concert at the Teatro Centrale in Havana, a visit to artists' ateliers in Soroa and the tropical beaches on Cayo Macho island. From £1,599pp, including flights from London (plus £85 single supplement) for 16 days, 15 nights.Departs 15 April, 9 and 23 November 2013, walk-andalucia.com/cuba_walking_holidays.php, 020-8385 2024
Nordic walking on Dartmoor
These new fitness weekends provide an introduction to Nordic walking in the beautiful landscape of Dartmoor national park. Developed by cross-country skiers wanting to keep fit out of season, Nordic walking uses poles to exercise the upper, as well as the lower body. It provides an all-body workout that's accessible whatever your age or fitness levels. Run by Dartmoor guide and personal trainer Elaine Sylvester of LoveDartmoor, the weekends provide an introduction to Nordic walking, general fitness training and a well-deserved three-course meal each evening.
Price from £190pp including two nights' accommodation with dinner and a six-hour day of Nordic fitness (additional walking sessions can be arranged). Available for groups of two to 10
Weekend yoga retreat in Gloucestershire
Looking to start 2013 in a calmer frame of mind? Each day at this yoga retreat starts with a silent walk in the Cotswolds, in preparation for two hours of yoga in the great hall of Elmore Court – the 13th-century stately home and gardens where you will be based for the weekend. Twice-daily yoga sessions are complemented with a healthy vegetarian "detoxifying" menu, meditation and holistic massage.
Two- and three-night yoga retreats cost from £250pp based on two sharing. adventureyogi.com/retreats/wellbeing-yogi-gloucestershire
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
Pottery by the sea in Devon
Learn the art of raku pottery in the secluded coastal village of Welcombe in north Devon. Morning classes will teach you hand-building techniques including slab building, coiling and moulding as well as how to fire and glaze your pot. In the afternoon choose from free studio time, or explore this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – the coast and beaches are less than half a mile away.
Residential beginners' courses are based at 200-year-old Home Farm in Mead and run 26-27 January, 23-24 February and 9-10 March 2013. Price from £225pp including two days' tuition, accommodation with breakfast and lunch. 01288 331416, potterycoursesuk.co.uk/potteryholidays.html
VIDEO
Yosemite timelapse
And now for some armchair travel ... Sheldon Neill and Colin Delehanty, two like-minded strangers, met on Vimeo and conspired to produce this mouthwatering collection of timelapses, tracking the unearthly glories of Yosemite national park in ravishing HD. Look out for the three climbers struggling like insects across the face of El Capitan.
vimeo.com/35396305