Escapism
The small Portuguese garrison border town of Elvas and its fortifications have been accorded Unesco world heritage status. The fort dates from the time when Portugal regained independence from Spain in 1640 and was designed by Dutch Jesuit Padre Cosmander. Stay in one of the area's gorgeous pousadas, such as Pousada de Santa Luzia (castaways.co.uk), £323pp for three nights' B&B.
Weird world
Medical tourism is pushing boundaries with a new retreat at the luxurious Champneys Tring spa in Hertfordshire (champneys.com) – couples struggling to conceive can book an IVF break. A 14-day treatment, in conjunction with the Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre involves blood tests, scans and relaxation.
Travel trash
The sick-making "Keep Calm and Carry On (Ltd)" brand is now partnered with a hotel. The Mercer Street Hotel in London's Covent Garden will be giving guests on its special Patriotic Package (£201 B&B for a double) a mug bearing the slogan, along with a caddy of Newby tea.
Travel terms
"Shop-overs" – stopovers in the world's best shopping cities before you head to somewhere relaxing – was coined by Western & Oriental Travel (we think) this week. It's promoting trips such as New York combined with St Lucia, Rome then the Amalfi coast, or Dubai followed by Sri Lanka.
• wandotravel.com
Trend alert! Cycling, the new rock'n'roll
Guess what? Everyone's booking cycling holidays! I wonder why ... Thanks to the Olympic and Tour de France success of Wiggo, the Trott-ster, Pendle-bum and co., bike holiday companies are reporting a boost to bookings.
HF Holidays (0845 470 8558, hfholidays.co.uk/activities/cycling) said it had seen an increase in bookings since the Olympic medals came flying in, for easy guided tours and family cycling as well as "relax and cycle" trips and more challenging independent breaks.
"Sales are up 20% for the year overall, and we've had our best ever July and August [so far]," said tour operator Saddle Skedaddle (0191-265 1110, skedaddle.co.uk), which offers cycling and mountainbiking trips around the world for riders of all levels. It has just opened a cool Cycle Hub shop, workshop and cafe too, in Newcastle (Quayside, 0191-276 7250, thecyclehub.org), handy for people riding the Coast to Coast and Hadrian's Cycleway Sustrans routes.
It is not the only operator to have diversified into cycle cafes: high-end cycling brand Rapha (rapha.cc/rapha-randonnees), which a couple of years ago launched (expensive) European road cycling holidays, last month opened the Rapha Cycle Club London (85 Brewer Street, Soho, 020-7494 9831, rapha.cc/london-1-2). It has a gallery, shop and cafe, arranges group cycling trips across the capital and is a great place for cyclists to meet up.
This is just the beginning … how long before cycling becomes as big as football?
Gemma Bowes
What's new?
Film festival
Films to make you want to pack up your life and head off on a mammoth journey are the theme of a film fest in Dorset next week. The Adventure Travel Film Festival features rarely seen vintage and modern films, from Grass, following a 1924 journey across Turkey, Mesopotamia and Persia, to Le Grand Détour, by a French couple who rode their tandem around the world.
• Sherborne Girls School, Dorset, 17-20 August, adventuretravel filmfestival.com
Gap year
Fancy a long holiday? Perhaps for the rest of your life? New Zealand needs you! The Committee for Auckland is calling for UK professionals as it has a huge skills shortage "across the board", from technology to catering, but particularly engineers, marketers and digital specialists.
• The Emigration Group (01244 321414, emigrationgroup.co.uk)
Festivals
Festivals are forgoing mud and turning seawards: yep, cruising's getting cool. California's Coachella festival will launch SS Coachella (sscoachella.com, £320pp for four days) this December with Hot Chip, Simian Mobile Disco and Yeasayer sailing from Fort Lauderdale into the Caribbean. Offshore (offshorefestival.com, £1,399pp) is a new event for September 2013 with 18 top guitar bands on a cruise from Venice.
