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Visit a panda centre

The giant panda is the symbol of China. Once spread across the entire country, these bamboo eaters are now confined to the uninhabited forests of central China. If you’d like to see one, your best bet is to visit one of the breeding centres around Chengdu, where information and knowledge of the pandas are gathered and from where the creatures are eventually returned to the wild. The most famous centre is the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

Nature

Posing for the camera

The slow tempo of the panda

The panda population is decreasing rapidly. One of the reasons for this is that reproduction is a real challenge for pandas. Female pandas are only fertile for a short period each year and male pandas have a weak libido. In successful cases, the pandas mate in the spring and the cub is born after a 4-5 month pregnancy. A newborn panda weighs just 100 grams – a fraction of their fully grown weight of more than 100 kilos. If you’re really lucky, you may come across a panda cub at a research centre. You might even be able to have your photo taken with one... For a fee.

Irresistible panda eyes

Pandas dry each other’s tears

Perhaps it is the black spots around the eyes that make pandas so appealing. There is a Chinese legend that explains where the spots come from. There are various versions of the story. But usually it involves a girl who had befriended the pandas, at a time when the bears were still completely white, except for their black paws. One day, the girl died and the pandas cried and cried. They rubbed their eyes constantly with their paws; hence the black spots. They also hugged each other for comfort and that made their ears and shoulders black as well.

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Nightlife

When it comes to music, you might be inclined to think New Orleans (jazz), Memphis (rock ‘n’ roll), Chicago (blues) or Nashville (country), but Austin is actually the music capital of the US. The city boasts over 250 music venues, more than any other American city. You can choose from countless live performances and a fantastic music festival every month, such as SXSW. Austin lives and breathes music.

Arts & Culture

Houston and Dallas may be bigger and more famous, but Austin is in fact the capital of Texas. It’s also the least Texan city in Texas. And the weirdest city in the country. This is something its residents take pride in, as evidenced by the Austin motto of Keep Austin Weird! Have a peek inside weird houses or admire a cathedral of junk in a city where there is even a museum devoted entirely to the weird and strange.

Nature

In the Rincón de la Vieja National Park, you can hike, swim in natural hot springs, picnic and camp. The park features a variety of ecosystems around nine craters and 32 rivers with spectacular waterfalls during the rainy season. The diversity of flora and fauna is amazing: look up and chances are you’ll see toucans, sloths and monkeys in the treetops.

Beach, Water sports, Nature

The airport in Liberia is the gateway to the Province of Guanacaste, the sunniest part of Costa Rica. Thanks to its large number of snow-white buildings and tree-lined streets made of white gravel, the city itself is also referred to as ‘la ciudad blanca’. But, let’s be honest, most visitors who arrive here are primarily interested in white sand. Only a half hour by car from the airport is the fantastic Pacific coast with beaches that are postcard perfect.

Active & Outdoor

Old towns, stunning constructions and wonderful nature: admire all of this and more in THIS IS HOLLAND, a brand-new 5D movie attraction by the producers of De Nieuwe Wildernis (The New Wilderness). It is the perfect introduction to Holland for first-time visitors, but also an interesting surprise for Dutchies who think they know their country inside out. This is a magical 5D experience with smells, colours, images, sounds, rain and shine.

Culinary

Everyone in Sweden knows Småland as the nation’s culinary centre. The region’s cuisine goes above and beyond the famous meatballs: a Michelin-star restaurant serves innovative Swedish haute cuisine, coffee is elevated to an art, and you can visit a lovely castle and pretend to be Lord or Lady of the manor. Here are three suggestions for typically Swedish restaurants in the city of Växjö.

Arts & Culture

Älmhult is the birthplace of renowned botanist Carl Linnaeus and children’s books author Astrid Lindgren, however its most famous ‘offspring’ is IKEA. Life in this southern Swedish town evolves around the blue-and-yellow furniture giant: from the IKEA Hotel and IKEA Museum to the IKEA Bar and IKEA Spa. Welcome to the one and only IKEA Småland – meatballs and ball pit included.