Travel news: Dine in the sky over Venice and trace coffee's roots

Tour Costa Rica coffee farms or watch big cats in Kenya, dine on a crane over Venice or simply visit Dubai's latest hotel.

A handout photo showing the exterior of The Oberoi Dubai hotel (Courtesy: The Oberoi Group)
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Be on the lookout for lions in Big Cat country

The Mara Plains Camp, the latest Kenyan family safari experience, opens this month, close to Maasai Mara National Park in the 30,000-acre Olare Motorogi Conservancy. The plush camp comprises seven "rooms under canvas" on raised decks with views over the savannahs. Activities include early morning, late afternoon and night-time 4x4 game drives, balloon safaris, wildlife walks and local village visits. The camp costs from US$975 (Dh3,681) per adult, full board but not including park fees or flights. Children ages 8 and older are welcome. Book at www.greatplainsconservation.com.

Wake up and smell the coffee ... in Costa Rica

The luxury tour operator, Journeys of Distinction, is offering a one-off tour of Guatemala and Costa Rica tracing the origins of coffee in Central America in association with the Costa coffee chain. Departing on November 25, the 16-day group trip visits Costa's coffee roastery in London, before experiencing Costa Rica's plantations for tastings, its protected national parks, rainforests and beautiful beaches, as well as ancient Mayan sites in Guatemala. The tour costs from £3,495 (Dh19,934) per person departing from London with flights to Guatemala City via Madrid, hotel accommodation and some meals (www.jod.uk.com/costa).

Dining in the sky with views over Venice

Venice's renowned Hotel Cipriani (www.cipriani.it), owned by Orient-Express, will be opening a pop-up restaurant with a difference from June 19 to 23. Dinner in the Sky is a 5-by-9-metre platform lifted, by a crane, 50 metres over the hotel's swimming pool, to allow up to 22 guests to drink or dine overlooking the city aided by the fact that the platform can rotate 180 degrees. Rates start from €50 (Dh243) per person for a 30-minute sitting for drinks and canapés. A three-course dinner, lasting just one hour per sitting, costs from €250 (Dh1,214), including drinks. For enquiries, email dinnerinthesky@hotelcipriani.it or call 00 39 41 240 8843.

Oberoi hotel brand comes to Dubai

The 252-room Oberoi Dubai is set to open tomorrow at the Oberoi Centre, a high-rise development of glass towers at the entrance to Business Bay, a short drive from the Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Mall and Dubai International Financial Centre. The 27-storey business hotel has an all-day dining restaurant, an Indian restaurant, an Asian restaurant and a 24-hour spa offering Ayurvedic as well as beauty treatments and massages. Until August 31, a double room costs from Dh1,200 per night, including an upgrade to the next room category, breakfast, Wi-Fi, an early check-in and late check-out, a voucher worth Dh200 to spend on in-house dining and taxes. For more information and bookings, visit www.oberoihotels.com.

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