A year of no-fly vacations, 2023 style: by rail and sail

January

Volunteering with wildlife trusts in the wild would be a great way to start the new year. There are a lot of projects that need help. This month, volunteers at Heggs-Castle in Arkengarthdale, North Yorkshire, will be planting trees and gathering willow to stop erosion. There will be more work to do throughout the year. Fix the Fells needs people to help keep footpaths in the Lake District in good shape. The National Trust needs help in a lot of cool places as well.

The British coast is a great place to go for a wild winter break, and you can get there for cheap. The new boutique Oyster House in Mumbles, Swansea Bay, has a January Getaway package that includes two nights of bed and breakfast, a three-course meal, and free drinks when you arrive. This package costs £250 for two people. There are also many last-minute deals on cottages, which you can find on sites like independentcottages.co.uk.

February

This month, art lovers are in for a real treat. At the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the most complete show of Johannes Vermeer’s work ever is opening. Vermeer is known to have painted 37 paintings, and 28 of them, including classics like Girl with a Pearl Earring, will be on display. Going to Delft, the artist’s hometown, to see an exhibit about his life at the Museum Prinsenhoff is also a treat. From Newcastle, there are DFDS ferries that go to Amsterdam. The main show will be up until June 4.

March

One of the best things about March is seeing a pair of boxing hares. The people who live in the Yorkshire Wolds are in good health. While you are there, stop by Robert Fuller’s gallery in Thixendale. His wildlife cameras have won him a lot of fans. Anglesey, Orford Ness, and Rathlin Island off of County Antrim are also good places to find leporines. There, the Irish have golden hair and blue eyes. Organic farmers Rhodri and Sarah Lloyd-Williams have opened two beds in a luxurious treehouse on their farm in west Wales, a few miles outside Aberystwyth, where rabbits are very common. These beds are for people who want to watch horses from the comfort of a bed. Also in Wales, the new Museum of Speed at Pendine Sands will open on March 31, and in the spring, a new hotel called Caban will open with a view of the beach. This month, two new cabins in the woods called the Bracken Hide opened on the Scottish island of Skye. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Cairngorms National Park, Wilderness Scotland is putting on an eight-day hike from the coast up into the mountains. For £1,055, you can stay in B&Bs for seven nights and do the hike.

April

The great line of British flowers, which began with snowdrops in February, really gets going this month. The Japanese cherry blossom pilgrimages get a lot of attention, but what about our wonderful wild garlic and bluebells? British and Irish Wildflowers and Plants, a new field guide, will come out this month. The Wild Guide to North-East England by Sarah Banks is another book to look forward to. It is part of a series of very informative books that now cover all of Great Britain. Further away, Inntravel is starting an interesting rail pilgrimage from Bilbao to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. It costs £1,105 for nine nights of bed and breakfast, and it seems like a new way to take this classic route. Also in Spain, On Foot Holidays has a great new walking trip through the gorges of southern Galicia. The trip lasts nine nights and costs £975. If biking is more your thing, there is a new gourmet touring route starting this month that goes south from Trieste, Italy, to the tip of Croatian Istria. Elan Valley, in the heart of Wales, is also launching a new bike hub this month.

May

Eurovision is in May. This year, it’s in Liverpool, so you’d want to stay somewhere with the right amount of style. The Victorian landmark Lime Street Railway Hotel, which used to be a hotel, has been completely remodelled into the newest Radisson RED. If that’s not your thing, the Hay Festival starts this month, and Under the Thatch is a new place to stay in town. In Pembrokeshire, the puffins will be back from their winter break, and Celtic Deep is planning a week-long party with swimming with the cute birds, free-diving lessons, and coastal food foraging. The party will take place at The Old Point House, a newly remodelled 16th-century pub in East Angle Bay that is run by the same people who made the wonderful Cafe Môr. If you miss Puffin Week, there is another one in September for blue sharks. In Gloucestershire, Elmore Court opens its beautiful treehouses on 100 hectares (250 acres) of land that has been returned to the wild. While the railways in Britain argue and get worse, things are moving quickly forward in Europe. This month, a new sleeper train will start running between Berlin, Amsterdam, and Brussels.

June

The Austrian company Nightjet Sleeper trains will complete a massive upgrade to its carriages this month.This means that there will be new routes between Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, Genoa, and a lot of other big cities. This is important for British travellers who don’t want to fly because they can take the ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam (which runs once a week on Wednesdays), spend a day in Amsterdam, and then take the night train to Vienna. How about catching the Amsterdam-Vienna overnight train for about £27 or a private cabin for £88 to see innovative design and art at the Fesch’markt there from June 2 to 4? This month, the beautiful Swedish city of Gothenburg will celebrate its 400th birthday. In rail news, keep an eye on Rail Baltica, which will connect the Polish border with all of the Baltic capital cities. This will be a big change away from Russia that will change how these countries are connected by land.