Any time is a good time to take a holiday, but 2011 will be especially good. With airfares and hotel rates still perched at the lower end of the scale, the Canadian dollar hanging tough, plus a fresh crop of new hotels, restaurants, attractions and milestone anniversaries, travellers have oodles of incentives to take off.
Cuckoo For Cocoa Beans
The Spa at the Hotel Hershey turns 10 and there's a sweet surrender to be had with the debut of a rich, hydrating chocolate and roses decadence body treat. Located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, chocolate fiends can also channel their inner Willy Wonka at Hershey's Chocolate World and at the new, interactive Create Your Own Candy Bar attraction. Put on a hairnet, choose your ingredients, create a sugary sensation and package in a wrapper you've designed. Then eat.
For the first time, the I nternational Children's Games will be held outside Europe. Kelowna and Big White Ski Resort hosts 1,000 athletes, ages 12 to 15, competing in sports such as hockey, skating and curling, from Jan. 26 to 31. I can hear it now: "Mom! Look at me ... Mom, look!"
Feeling elevated
Though there are reports of others discovering Machu Picchu, Peru's most famous attraction, earlier than 1911, American historian Hiram Bingham has netted most of the credit for telling the world about this sacred Inca site built about 1450. The big news is that Yale University (where Bingham lectured) will finally be returning a massive collection of artifacts taken during excavation, back to Peru in time for the centennial of Bingham's official discovery.
Golden years
B.C. Ferries hits a milestone with its 50th anniversary. It's a great time to explore the province's picturesque waterways, especially with the introduction of C Spa on its sailings from Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay. These on-board services are sure to float your boat.
Pop star
His 15 minutes of fame continues at Switzerland's Kunstmuseum Basel. The exhibit, Andy Warhol Early Sixties, winds up Jan. 23. It will make you view the soup cans in your cupboard in an entirely new light.
The right bite
Scotland whoops it up with the Year of Food and Drink, ending in May. Take a wee dram of whisky, a couple of bites of haggis and head north for some of the best seafood on the planet.
Pole to pole
Alberta's Norquay, five minutes from Banff and North America's oldest ski resort, turns 85 years old. No need to bring presents ... just come and take advantage of its el cheapo day passes -- only 85 cents on the first Thursday of January, February and March. Way better than birthday cake!
Hello Dali
More Dali for the dollar is the name of the game as new The Dali museum opens in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Jan. 11. This facility is more than double the size of the old one and will house more of Salvador Dali's surrealistic works than ever before, housed in building constructed with more than 900 triangular-shaped glass panels.
Dinosaurs and hoodoos aren't the only reasons to head to Drumheller, in the heart of Alberta's Badlands. Its famous passion attracts oodles of visitors and, in 2011, there's a doubly good reason to visit. The Canadian Badlands Passion Play Society turns 20 on Jan. 18. On July 15, the 100th performance of the Passion Play gets underway with a new script that chronicles Christ's life through the eyes of John the apostle.
Wheels of fortune
2011 marks the 125th anniversary of Karl Benz getting a patent for his Benz Patent Motor-wagen. The man generally acknowledged as the inventor of the gas-powered car, and pioneering founder of Mercedes-Benz, wins the checkered flag with a special exhibit at the Verkehrsmuseum, part of the German Museum in Munich, from Jan. 27 to June 26. Meanwhile, Mannheim is driving home the history angle with events paying homage to Benz, its hometown hero. They include auto-centric exhibits at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museum, the Bertha Benz (Karl's wife) Memorial Route and -- the climax -- the world premiere of Autosymphonic, a mash up of music and multimedia arts, on Sept. 10.
Hare Today
We say goodbye to the year of the tiger and make way for the hare on Chinese New Year, Feb. 3. There's no better place to whoop it up than Richmond, B.C., home to a population that is 65 per cent Asian-Canadian, and site of one of the biggest celebrations in North America.
Tome and away
San Francisco flips another page with the International Antiquarian Book Fair, Feb. 11 to 13. It's the largest rare book event in the world.
Note worthy
Happy birthday, Franz Liszt. The composer would have turned 200 this year. Even though he's not around, his honorary German hometown, Weimar, is throwing a party without him, starting in February. With more than 200 concerts and the exhibition, A European in Weimar, at his namesake museum, it's going to be a music-filled year.
Good impressions
No need to go to Paris to see works by Matisse. The Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton showcases the print works of the French master until Feb. 13.
Even if you're not cool enough to stay at a W Hotel, you can just drop by and ogle. Come February, Britain gets its first W Hotel in Leicester Square, handy to the splashy shows in London's West End. Incidentally, the glitz and glam are amped up in 2011 with Andrew Lloyd Webber's Wizard of Oz (opening in February), starring Michael Crawford, and Ghost, The Musical, making its debut March.
Tall tales
How are you with heights? The world's tallest hotel will open as the Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, in March. With a suite, possibly on a floor as high as the 118th, you're assured views of Victoria Harbour.
Hot stuff
It's a dry heat. Sun-seeking Canadians, fleeing to Arizona, have another hotel option with the opening of the Westin Phoenix Downtown on March 10. Love those heavenly beds and curved shower curtain rods, made popular by its parent company Starwood.
Prize fight
There's no mid-life crisis with the Junos, Canada's most prestigious music prize, as it turns 40. The beat goes on in Toronto (March 21 to 27) with superstar Drake hosting the prime-time awards broadcast from the Air Canada Centre.
Petal powered
Get in the mood for spring with a visit to Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum where the exhibit, Blossom, showcases the painter's love for the season from March 21 to June 21. While he was confined in the Saint-Remy asylum, he painted famous works featuring the flowering almond trees he saw in the gardens. For a taste of the real thing, visitors can tiptoe through the tulips starting March 24. In April, you'll also be able to see a floral version of Van Gogh's self-portrait.
Living the high life
Elevate your vacation and try Cliffhanger, the newest attraction at the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver. Opening in the spring, brave sorts can navigate their way through forest vegetation and beside granite cliff faces via cantilevered suspended walkways. In some sections, a few sections of glass are all that separates you from the canyon far, far below.
Chew On This
Here's an idea every city should steal. Granville Island's Edible B.C. offers up the greatest foodie hits of the province, from birch syrup to Thomas Haas hot chocolate, at a single location. It's done so well that it is expanding big time this spring. It features a demo kitchen, gourmet-to-go section, patio, tapas and a wine bistro.
Flight Patterns
Sometime early in 2011 (the date is not yet set), Air Canada is to launch 15 daily flights between Toronto and Montreal from the Billy Bishop airport on Toronto's islands, ending the domination of Porter Airlines operating at the downtown hub. Observers say Air Canada flights between Ottawa and Toronto Island are surely coming next.
Hey good lookin'
Her good looks and infectious charms have not waned with the years. Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, turns 250 years old and has events throughout the year.
Wedding daze
What do you get the couple that has everything, including a few palaces? You have until April 29 to decide, before Prince William and Kate tie the knot at Westminster Abbey. But plan now for the Queen's diamond jubilee. HRH celebrates 60 years being on the throne in June, 2012.
Walk this way
Artsy types should mark May 5 to 8 on their calendars for the inaugural West End Art Krall along Vancouver's Davie Street.
