A ruggedly beautiful Australian isle

Cat-sized Australian marsupials that look to have an ever-present grin, quokkas are among the internet’s favourite “goofy furballs”, said Mike Atkins in The Times. For the best chance of seeing them in the wild, head to Rottnest Island, which is home to 80% of their global population.

Just 30 minutes by ferry from Fremantle, in Perth’s southern suburbs, this seven-square-mile island was even named after the creatures (“rottnest” means “rat’s nest” in Dutch – a 17th-century sea captain’s taxonomic error). But there are other reasons to visit, too, including its 63 “knockout” beaches, “jagged” limestone sea cliffs, lovely cycling trails, and pleasant places to stay (I chose a “glamping eco-resort”, Discovery Rottnest Island).

Rotto (as the locals call it) is a place of “rugged glory”, and Fremantle is also worth an extended stay en route. It has a “bohemian, laid-back” vibe and a beautiful centre, full of Victorian buildings with “intricate” wrought-iron balconies.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

The quiet days of autumn in Alghero

With its own international airport and a fine old town commanding “dress-circle views of the Med”, the little city of Alghero in northwest Sardinia is a great place for a short break in autumn, said Kerry Walker in The Telegraph.

At this time of year, its “tangle of alleys and cobbled piazzas” is far less crowded than in summer, as are “outstanding” local restaurants such as Musciora and La Saletta (Algheresi cuisine is among the most distinctive in Sardinia, thanks partly to the strong Catalan influence that is a legacy of the island’s near-four centuries of Spanish rule).

And there’s much to explore beyond the city’s “whopping”, honey-coloured ramparts, including nearby white-sand beaches, the “colossal” Grotta di Nettuno sea caves, and the Porto Conte Regional Natural Park, a “coastal wonderland” where much of the spectacular car chase in the 1977 Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me” was filmed.

Memories of Tenzing in North Wales

Before conquering Everest in 1953, Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay and their fellow climbers spent weeks training on Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa). Their memory is still cherished at the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel, where they stayed, said Gareth Roberts in The Guardian.

Built in 1810, the hotel sits alone at the foot of the mountain and feels “timeless”, with its roaring fires and rolltop baths. The hotel’s then landlord, Christopher Briggs, became a friend of Tenzing, and his grandsons – who now run the place – remember the climber from later visits as always smiling and to have been “incredibly kind”.

Photos of him and other climbers adorn the walls, and there’s a cabinet full of equipment and mementoes from the 1953 expedition.