YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Q I am hoping to travel to Canada next year with my mother, to visit a relative who lives in Prince George, in British Columbia. We would like to see a bit of the country when we are there. Would you recommend using Prince George as a base? It doesn’t strike me as the most exciting place in Canada. As Mum is a teacher we may have to work around school holidays, but we’re open to suggestions about the best time of year to go – and, indeed, how to get there and where to stay.
MM, Dublin
The good news is that the best time to go is also the easiest time to get to the west coast of Canada: the summer. Though flight schedules have not been released yet, Flyglobespan (flyglobespan.ie) has plans to fly to Vancouver and Calgary again next summer. The fares were very good value this year. Keep an eye on the website for details.
Air Canada (aircanada.com) will also resume its Dublin-Toronto service in the summer; a ticket to Prince George will cost about €800.
Arriving or departing from Vancouver would give you the opportunity of taking either Via Rail’s Skeena (viarail.ca) or the Rocky Mountaineer (rockymountaineer.com) train for an amazing journey, exploring the wilderness and seeing the wildlife of western Canada. The two-day journey, which includes a night in Jasper, is in almost constant daylight during the summer.
Another option that might be of interest is the Inside Passage ferry route (bcferries.com/ schedules/inside), which links Prince Rupert, in northern British Columbia, with Port Hardy, on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. It’s one of the world’s most stunning ferry trips, and it would almost certainly be popular with your mum. You can travel quite easily from Prince George to Prince Rupert.
It would be a sin not to spend a little time in Vancouver, too. It has a wealth of options, including Stanley Park, Granville Island (the foodie, artisan neighbourhood), the Museum of Anthropology and Grouse Mountain (easily accessed by cable car). Vancouver is always lively in summer, and there will be lots of things on. Have a look at tourismvancouver.com for some ideas. The Winter Olympics are on in Vancouver in February next year.
Q I am travelling to Berlin in December with my husband and two children, aged 17 and 12. As we only have a few days for sightseeing, can you recommend the must-sees in Berlin? I would be grateful if you could also recommend a central affordable hotel. We’d like a quad room, if possible.
PON, Dublin
After all the events in the city this week to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, I am sure lots of people will be considering a visit. As you are planning to go next month you should definitely visit a Christmas market. The most beautiful are Gendarmenmarkt and a smaller one next to Staatsoper, both in the east of the city, near Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Linden.
For an incredible view of the city, have coffee in the restaurant on the Fernsehturm, the television tower that has been a symbol of east Berlin since the 1960s. The cupola of the Reichstag also has amazing views – and, if you go later in the day, less of a queue.
Don’t miss the Checkpoint Charlie museum, which is touristy but fun – you can have pictures taken with “border guards”. Potsdamer Platz is nice in the evening, when the Sony Centre roof changes colour.
There are also some great flea markets to visit; there’s one in the Tiergarten, and in the one next to the Museumsinsel you can buy old GDR stuff.
The kids will like the shops, cafes and atmosphere in Bergmannstr in Kreuzberg, Simon-Dach-Strasse and Kaastanienallee.
If you can persuade them, then try to see at least one of the museums on Museum Island. The Pergamon has reopened after a huge refurbishment. And if it is not too cold, a boat trip on the River Spree is a great way to see the new state buildings.
There are plenty of good value hotels in Berlin. The Astrid (hotel-astrid.de), very close to Ku’Damm, has quad rooms from €110 per room per night. The recently opened Michelberger Hotel (michelbergerhotel.com), very close to Simon-Dach-Strasse, has rooms from €59 per night.
When I was in Berlin I stayed at Propeller Island hotel (propeller-island.com), which you might have seen on RTÉ’s Time on Their Hands. The rooms, which are very quirky, cost from €99 per room per night. Motel One (motel-one. com), on Alexanderplatz, is very central; it costs from €64 per room per night.
A GDR-inspired retro-styled holiday apartment (ostel.eu) for four will cost from €120 per night. It will give you a taste of the best furniture and design the GDR had to offer.
E-mail questions, with your name and address, to jscales@irishtimes.com