• Members of a Gnaoua troupe parade along a street in Essaouira on June 21, 2012 ahead of the start of the Gnaoua World Music Festival. The annual festival provides an opportunity for Gnaoua musicians to perform to international audiences and to play with foreign musicians. AFP PHOTO/ FADEL SENNA
    Members of a Gnaoua troupe parade along a street in Essaouira on June 21, 2012 ahead of the start of the Gnaoua World Music Festival. The annual festival provides an opportunity for Gnaoua musicians to perform to international audiences and to play with foreign musicians. AFP PHOTO/ FADEL SENNA
  • JULY Japan’s Gion Katsuri: Gion Katsuri is one of Japan’s most flamboyant festivals, held in one of its most interesting and photogenic cities, Kyoto. The imperial capital until 1868, Kyoto contains some of Japan’s best-loved sights, including the g???
    JULY Japan’s Gion Katsuri: Gion Katsuri is one of Japan’s most flamboyant festivals, held in one of its most interesting and photogenic cities, Kyoto. The imperial capital until 1868, Kyoto contains some of Japan’s best-loved sights, including the g???
  • SEPTEMBER The Quin, New York: The new always creates a buzz in New York and the Quin, a 205-room, much-trailed Midtown hotel, is no exception. What’s more interesting though is the hotel’s heritage: built in the 1930s the original beaux-arts building ???
    SEPTEMBER The Quin, New York: The new always creates a buzz in New York and the Quin, a 205-room, much-trailed Midtown hotel, is no exception. What’s more interesting though is the hotel’s heritage: built in the 1930s the original beaux-arts building ???
  • JULY Escape to Penang: The capital of Penang, George Town, off the coast of Malaysia, has quietly been transforming itself from a scruffy colonial outpost into a travel hot spot with trendy boutique hotels, design studios, new restaurants and private art ???
    JULY Escape to Penang: The capital of Penang, George Town, off the coast of Malaysia, has quietly been transforming itself from a scruffy colonial outpost into a travel hot spot with trendy boutique hotels, design studios, new restaurants and private art ???
  • SEPTEMBER: Strike out in Tibet: Weather-wise, clement September is a good month to visit Himalayan Tibet. In spite of recent modern development and an influx of Chinese tourists, this politically fraught region exercises a powerful hold over travellers’???
    SEPTEMBER: Strike out in Tibet: Weather-wise, clement September is a good month to visit Himalayan Tibet. In spite of recent modern development and an influx of Chinese tourists, this politically fraught region exercises a powerful hold over travellers’???
  • SEPTEMBER Relax on Sir Bani Yas: You’ll soon be able to wake up to new views of Sir Bani Yas, the popular wildlife sanctuary cum attraction just off Abu Dhabi’s coastline in the Western Region. Its Al Yamm Villas are clustered around a saltwater lagoo???
    SEPTEMBER Relax on Sir Bani Yas: You’ll soon be able to wake up to new views of Sir Bani Yas, the popular wildlife sanctuary cum attraction just off Abu Dhabi’s coastline in the Western Region. Its Al Yamm Villas are clustered around a saltwater lagoo???
  • JUNE The Regent Bali: For those looking for a quieter life, the new Regent Bali sits on a sandy beach in Sanur, protected from breaking waves (and the Kuta surf crowd) by a coastal reef. The beachfront resort, which opens this week, comprises 94 suites wi???
    JUNE The Regent Bali: For those looking for a quieter life, the new Regent Bali sits on a sandy beach in Sanur, protected from breaking waves (and the Kuta surf crowd) by a coastal reef. The beachfront resort, which opens this week, comprises 94 suites wi???
  • AUGUST On Kenya’s Great Plains: Mahali Mzuri, the latest property in the Virgin Limited Edition hotel portfolio owned by Sir Richard Branson, opens on Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, west of Nairobi, this month. The 12-tented luxury safari camp ???
    AUGUST On Kenya’s Great Plains: Mahali Mzuri, the latest property in the Virgin Limited Edition hotel portfolio owned by Sir Richard Branson, opens on Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, west of Nairobi, this month. The 12-tented luxury safari camp ???
  • JUNE Waldorf Astoria Berlin: The month of June is a glorious time to visit the German capital. The weather is fine, not suffocatingly hot, and life steps up a gear with a plethora of cultural events, including: a multicultural street party with a jazz sou???
    JUNE Waldorf Astoria Berlin: The month of June is a glorious time to visit the German capital. The weather is fine, not suffocatingly hot, and life steps up a gear with a plethora of cultural events, including: a multicultural street party with a jazz sou???
  • AUGUST St Regis Nation Towers: The second St Regis property in the capital is set to open on August 15 in the striking Nation Towers’ development at the western end of the Corniche, near Khalidiyah. The 64-storey twin glass towers are home to private ap???
    AUGUST St Regis Nation Towers: The second St Regis property in the capital is set to open on August 15 in the striking Nation Towers’ development at the western end of the Corniche, near Khalidiyah. The 64-storey twin glass towers are home to private ap???
  • AUGUST By the Bosphorus: Escape the crowds rushing to Turkey’s cultural capital to celebrate Eid at the luxurious, new Shangri-La Bosphorus. The 186-room hotel recently opened in a converted 1930s tobacco warehouse on the European side of the Bosphorus ???
    AUGUST By the Bosphorus: Escape the crowds rushing to Turkey’s cultural capital to celebrate Eid at the luxurious, new Shangri-La Bosphorus. The 186-room hotel recently opened in a converted 1930s tobacco warehouse on the European side of the Bosphorus ???
  • JULY Cruise the Chindwin: The Orcaella is Orient Express’ luxurious new four-deck river cruiser that will become a home-away-from-home for 50 passengers on seven- and 11-night cultural voyages along the Chindwin and Ayeyarwady rivers in Myanmar. It firs???
    JULY Cruise the Chindwin: The Orcaella is Orient Express’ luxurious new four-deck river cruiser that will become a home-away-from-home for 50 passengers on seven- and 11-night cultural voyages along the Chindwin and Ayeyarwady rivers in Myanmar. It firs???

In pictures: Ultratravel's summer guide

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