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Avoid the festive crush and make this year’s Christmas shopping an experience to remember at the beautiful Hotel Chadstone Melbourne, MGallery by Sofitel, where shopping in style, dining and relaxing go hand in hand.

Take your time discovering the myriad of high-end boutiques, department stores, local retailers and dining outlets at Chadstone.

The Shopping Spree Package includes overnight accommodation in the room type of choice, undercover self-parking and a $50 Chadstone gift card. Rates for the Shopping Spree package start from $259.

After a long day’s shopping, the hotel’s Holism Day Spa awaits which features nine treatment rooms, a yoga studio, wellness light studio and on the top floor is a beautifully appointed indoor swimming pool.

The hotel features an art-and-design library, rooftop cocktail bar and lounge, and ground floor Pastore Restaurant helmed by award-winning chef, Scott Pickett.

Visit www.hotelchadstone.com.au.

Novotel Sydney Manly Pacific: are you a star-crossed lover?

Novotel Sydney Manly Pacific is inviting travellers to upgrade their Sydney staycation this summer, launching two new offers for added excitement and indulgence this season.

For instance, its Summer Soiree Picnic Upgrade is available for $149 per experience, per night (upgrade price is in addition to the room rate).

Are you a star-crossed lover in need of a romantic rendezvous? Been tasked with planning an elegant night away with friends?  Or perhaps you are looking to celebrate an important but postponed birthday, anniversary or graduation from earlier in the year?

Novotel’s Summer Soiree Picnic upgrade is the summer party option you can enjoy without having to leave the comfort and privacy of your hotel room at Novotel Sydney Manly Pacific.

Guests will enjoy bistro favourites (including macaroons and premium sparkling wine) set up in a casual yet elegant styled picnic on their balcony.

Twinkling lights and candlelight promise added ambiance for a memorable evening with friends or loved ones for a special night away from home.

This feel-good upgrade is best teamed with an indulgent Ocean View Room to enjoy spectacular vistas of the Pacific Ocean and summer breezes from adjacent Manly Beach.

Visit novotelmanlypacific.com.au.

 PS Murray Princess: Christmas cruise is an intimate journey.

Leave your 2020 worries behind and have a magical Christmas, while soaking up the splendour of the Mighty Murray River on Captain Cook Cruises seven-night Renmark-to-Mannum Christmas cruise departing Wednesday 23 December, on-board paddlewheeler, PS Murray Princess.

The Christmas cruise is an intimate journey that will follow in the footsteps of the great 19th-century pioneers.

Join the Murray Princess as she explores Australian history along 420kms of the Murray River passing incredible terrain, towering limestone cliffs and a plethora of birds and wildlife combined with Christmas themed activities, festivities and carols, a traditional South Australian Christmas Day lunch and a Christmas beach party on the banks of the river.

Visit the historic towns of Berri, Waikerie Loxton and Morgan.

Enjoy leisurely afternoons exploring the riverside town of Berri and the picturesque Waikerie established in 1894.

At Loxton be treated to a special excursion to the Christmas Loxton Lights Festival.

See Loxton shine with thousands of twinkling fairy lights, bright colourful banners and large clusters of residential streets decorated with over 350 illuminated Christmas scenes, paintings and coloured light displays.

On Christmas Day enjoy a guided nature walk and learn the secrets of the local flora and fauna before sitting down for a delicious Christmas lunch and delight in some Christmas festivities and even a visit from Santa.

Early Booking Saver Fares start from $2499 per person twin-share.

Visit www.murrayprincess.com.au.

 The Woodbridge: an historic five-star boutique hotel in the Derwent Valley.

Here are four good reasons to stay at Tasmania’s historic five-star boutique hotel in the Derwent Valley.

lt is idyllically located in the lush heart of the Derwent Valley.

The Woodbridge is the perfect place for those seeking a luxe stay in a heritage property.

Guests wanting to get their river on can walk along the banks, swim, hydro bikes, paddle board.

Stand-up paddle or book a sea plane trip – and that’s just the beginning.

Additional bookable experiences include luxury guided fly-fishing (tailored to participants’ experience levels) as well as platypus-spotting kayak adventures.

Created within a mansion that dates back to 1825, all eight one-of-a-kind guest rooms and suites at The Woodbridge have been lovingly restored and renovated and feature every creature comfort as well as stunning river vistas.

The Woodbridge takes pride in serving locally sourced seasonal produce, including fine local meats and seafood as well as the freshest fruit and vegetables.

The breakfast menu is light, healthy and delicious, while the set menu dinner changes every evening and includes a soup taster with hot baked bread, main course and dessert.

Specific dietary requirements (e.g. vegetarian, gluten-free) can usually be accommodated with advance notice.

The Woodbridge is just minutes from The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery.

The renowned restaurant and cooking school celebrates the state’s famed seasonal produce and helps support a community of local growers, farmers and fishermen.

Tasmania is known for its cool climate wines and the pristine waters that help create some of the world’s most prized spirits.

Discover new favourites on a chauffeured wine, whisky, gin or vodka tasting at some of the nearby historic estates.

Visit www.woodbridgenn.com.au.

Rooms are from $395 per night with complimentary breakfast.

  Queen Elizabeth: an eight-night cruise.

Botanica World Discoveries announces its latest holiday offering featuring an eight-night cruise aboard Cunard’s luxurious liner, the Queen Elizabeth.

Starting in Sydney, Botanica’s 10-day journey departs in December 2021 and includes Cunard’s inaugural gardening voyage, allowing guests the opportunity to indulge in their love of horticulture while enjoying a voyage on Queen Elizabeth in Australia’s southern waters.

On board the liner’s garden-themed cruise, guests are invited to attend a variety of special events presented by some of Australia’s leading gardening professionals including television presenter and garden designer Jamie Durie, horticulturalists Sarah Hamilton and Steve Falcioni, as well as some of Australia’s leading gardening writers and magazine editors.

Botanica guests will travel with Botanical Guide Judy Horton who will escort the small group throughout the 10-day tour. In addition to the cruise, and exclusive to Botanica guests, the tour includes visits to private gardens in Sydney, Hobart, Burnie, Melbourne and Eden.

Botanica’s 10-day Garden Cruise aboard Queen Elizabeth with Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart private gardens is priced from $6995 per person twin-share.

Visit www.botanica.travel.

 Riviera Travel River Cruises: has fast-tracked 2022 release.

To help Australians plan ahead for the return of international travel, luxury European cruise line, Riviera Travel River Cruises, has fast-tracked the release here of a selection of departures across Europe for 2022.

This is the earliest a program has ever been released in the cruise line’s 36-year history.

Rivera Travel has released for sale 114 sailings across 11 itineraries across Europe in 2022 – around one third of the entire 2022 program which will be released in full in early 2021.

UK-based Riviera Travel River Cruises has also extended its ‘Sense of Calm’ flexible booking policy to December 31, 2020, with new bookings made until then able to be changed, free of charge, up to 45 days before sailing.

The new 2022 program also includes Riviera Travel’s recently launched, eight-day ‘Amsterdam, Cologne and the Best of Holland and Flanders’ river cruise from Amsterdam to Cologne, showcasing the canals, windmills, palaces and cultural highlights of Holland, the cobbled, medieval streetscapes of Belgium and the Gothic marvels of Cologne in Germany.

Visit www.rivieratravel.com.au.

NOTE: Potential travellers should check the status of individual events and establishments with regard to the coronavirus outbreak.