Travel news: Go on a surprise road trip, explore the latest B.C. ale trail, visit Europe’s new Munch museum

Sounds like a plan

Want a weekend getaway, without the actual work of planning one? Guess Where Trips specializes in curating themed, one-day surprise road trips; book one for $55 and you’ll get a series of envelopes (to preserve the mystery), with ideas for what to do, as well as discounts at local businesses. The Ontario company recently expanded, so you can now find itineraries from Halifax to Vancouver.

Season’s greetings

Quebec is home to more than 30 Christmas markets, including European-style ones like the Marché de Noël Allemand de Québec (German Christmas market in Old Quebec), which will run Nov. 25 to Dec. 23, 2021. Warm up with mulled wine as you take in the villagelike atmosphere, with more than 90 exhibitors in traditional wooden kiosks. Beyond the European delicacies on offer, you’ll also find quintessentially local goods, like sugar shack maple products.

Merry and bright

The free Lights On Stratford winter festival will return for its second year (Dec. 17 to Jan. 28, 2022), illuminating Stratford, Ont.’s heritage downtown and parks with light displays designed around the theme of “journey.” The exhibits will include “Sky Castle,” an interactive installation coming all the way from Melbourne, Australia, which will fill Market Square with 20 inflatable arches; as people walk through, the art will respond with changes in colour and sound. Other displays include the Shakespearean Gardens of a Thousand Lights, and Journey to the Stars on Tom Patterson Island.

All-season pass

Sale alert for avid skiers: Vail Resorts has reduced all Epic Pass options for the 2021/22 season by 20 per cent (prices go up Nov. 21). The signature Epic Pass is currently US$819 and offers unlimited access (with no blackout dates) to 37 resorts — including Whistler Blackcomb, Vail and Breckenridge — as well as limited access to partner resorts. The pass also includes 20 per cent off food, lodging, lessons and rentals.

Scoring points

If you’re sitting on a stash of Marriott Bonvoy points, the popular loyalty program has announced big changes: come March 2022, the current award chart will be scrapped and replaced by flexible point redemption rates, which the company says will more closely resemble hotel rates. Each Bonvoy member’s 2021 status will also be extended for another year, through February 2023.

Border update

RV-dwelling snowbirds and other Canadians eager to drive into the United States don’t have to wait much longer: the U.S. land border will reopen on Nov. 8 to non-essential trips by non-citizen travellers, as long as they’re fully vaccinated, with the documents to prove it. In this case, a negative COVID-19 test won’t be needed to enter the U.S. (but at press time, the requirement for a negative PCR test to come back to Canada still stands).

New ale trail

The BC Ale Trail project has just added a new self-guided route: the North of the Fraser Ale Trail, a five-day itinerary of 11 craft breweries across four riverfront communities (New Westminster, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam). You’ll also find recommended stops in between, like hiking spots, galleries and restaurants nearby. The trail is one of 21 itineraries on bcaletrail.ca, a solid introduction to the province’s 180-plus breweries.

Monumental art

The new Munchmuseet, one of the world’s largest museums dedicated to a single artist, has opened its doors in Oslo, Norway. The waterfront destination’s massive collection spans more than 26,700 works by Edvard Munch, plus more than 42,000 objects (photos, letters, personal belongings). Also showing there is Tracey Emin’s first major Nordic exhibition, “The Loneliness of the Soul” (on until Feb. 1, 2022), a tribute to how Munch influenced her artistic practice. The opening of Munchmuseet is one reason Norway landed on the list of top countries to visit in “Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2022.”

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