Travel desk: alternatives to Cannes, a Jacuzzi on a crane and Russia's holiday gulags

Top five festivals in Provence

The Cannes film festival might be the best-known event on the Provençale festival calendar; here are five other events worth checking out.

Chorégies d'Orange
The Roman Théâtre Antique d'Orange summer opera festival runs from July 9th to August 4th. This summer's programme features Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and two operas by Verdi, Nabucco and Otello. Ticket prices range from €18 to €76; choregies.fr.

Festival d'Avignon
The Pope's Palace and other venues in Avignon play host to France's oldest and most prestigious arts festival. Theatrical performances are divided between the official €6.30."In" and unofficial "Off" programmes that this year will run concurrently from July 4th to 27th; 100,000 spectators will be in attendance; accommodation books up early. See festival-avignon.com.

Festival d'Aix-en-Provence
Classical music, opera, ballet and buskers are on the menu for this month-long festival. This year's programme features Mozart's The Magic Flute and the Freiburger Barockorchester's performances of Haydn, Mozart and Salomon. The festival runs from July 9th to 23rd; performance tickets range from €75 to €210. See festival-aix.com.

Festival International du Cirque, Montecarlo
A prestigious international festival of circus skills, acrobatics and clowning. The highlight is the crowning of the Clown d'Or. The next festival is from January 15th to 25th, 2015; see montecarlofestival.mc.

Les Plages Électroniques, Cannes
For six nights between early July and mid-August, the Cannes beachfront is given over to a dance-music festival that sees top-rated DJs play a variety of styles from dubstep to techno.

Tickets for each night cost €8; a festival pass is €30. This year's event runs from July 10th to August 14th; see plages-electroniques.com.

9/11 museum row

The long-awaited museum, pictured above, dedicated to the victims of the September 11th attacks will open on May 21st, but some of the victims’ relatives have objected to the $24 admission charge.

The memorial plaza will remain free of charge; the museum’s $24 admission is only $1 less than the suggested voluntary contribution to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York’s most visited museum.

Meanwhile, May 12th marks the reopening of the Washington Monument in Washington, DC, three years after it was damaged by an unlikely earthquake that resulted in an €11million repair bill.

Jordan doubles visa fee

Independent travellers to Jordan have been hit by a doubling of the entry visa fee, from 20 dinars to 40 (about €41). Sharon Jordan of Insight Vacations has expressed disappointment with the increase but says that people who travel to exotic destinations like Jordan tend not to be put off by such increases.

Organised tour groups of more than five people are exempt. Insight Vacations (insightvacations.com) sells luxury tours of Jordan (usually coupled with Egypt or Israel) in Ireland.

Ecotourism in the gulag

Russian authorities have proposed turning some of the country’s infamous gulags into holiday villages in an effort to attract more tourists.

The plan, announced by Yekaterina Kormilitsyna, tourism minister of Sakha republic in eastern Siberia, would see tourist villages built on the sites of Yanstroi, Senduchensky and Dalstroi hard-labour camps. The latter was home to 859,911 prisoners between 1932 and 1954, 121,256 of whom died there. Sakha’s remote, pristine wilderness, covers more than three million square kilometres, making it the eighth-largest territory in the world. Kormilitsyna believes that being marginally smaller than India but with a population of less than a million makes it an ideal spot for developing ecotourism.

Controvesy over Haitian island

Plans to develop the small Haitian island of Ile-à-Vache as a luxury ecotourism destination have hit a wall. Residents have objected to not being consulted when the government declared the former 50sq km pirate lair – favoured by Capt Morgan – a public utility, potentially stripping the 14,000 residents of their land.

The island, which was the focus of a 30-strong volunteer programme sponsored by the Irish NGO Haven in 2013, has huge tourist potential, according to the Haitian government.

Suites with a view

A rusting crane in an Amsterdam shipyard has been converted into one of the world's strangest hotels. The Faralda NDSM Crane Hotel (faralda.com) has three opulent suites (modern design, couches, big beds and clawfoot tubs), as well as a Jacuzzi at the crane's highest point, 50m above the ground. As you'd expect, the views of Amsterdam are sensational. Rooms (including use of the Jacuzzi) cost €435.

Deals of the week

€275 Seven nights' B&B at Yiannis Hotel, Ipsos (Corfu), includes Aer Lingus, flights from Dublin, transfers and taxes. May 7th or 18th; see clickandgo.com.

€459 Seven nights' half board (including wine) at Sol Principe Hotel, Malaga. Offer for over-50s; includes flights from Dublin or Cork and transfers; see rorymcdyertravel.ie.

€969 Seven nights' B&B in a suite at Saboey Resort & Villas on Koh Samui, Thailand. Includes flights with Etihad and transfers. For travel up to June 22nd; book by Wednesday. See tropicalsky.ie.

MICROGUIDE: CHICAGO YOUR 60-SECOND CITY GUIDE

STAY Gold Coast Guest House (113 W Elm St; bbchicago.com; rooms $129-$229) Marvellous B&B in the city's most chichi neighbourhood.
EAT Hot Doug's (3324 N California Ave; hotdougs.com; mains $3-$9) The most famous weenie joint in town, transforming hot dogs into haute dogs.
DO Architecture Cruise (Shoreline Sightseeing; shorelinesightseeing.com) The city's wonderful buildings are best appreciated from the water, and the guides are terrific.