Two of Israel’s biggest hotel chains promise some exciting additions for travellers over the next year.

Brown Hotels is opening seven new properties in cities including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ashdod, ranging from capsule hotels to five-star accommodation.

Joining the recently opened vintagey Dave Levinsky in Tel Aviv — second in the group’s affordable range, alongside Dave Gordon — is The Theodor in a landmark Bauhaus building, design Hotel BoBo and pod-style WOM Allenby.

In Jerusalem, Brown JLM is opening in spring 2020, a few minutes walk from the Old City walls. The group also plans four more properties in Israel by 2023.

Dan hotels has also been adding to its portfolio, acquiring the Neptune Eilat hotel this summer, with plans to add the Modani Luxury Spa Tresort north of Netanya as well, due to open in 2021.

The Dan Caesarea also relaunched earlier this year after major renovations, featuring contemporary Israeli artworks.

Anarchy in Lincoln

A new exhibition in Lincoln Castle will be celebrating freedom of speech from 1215 to the punk era.

Bondage to Liberation: Anarchic Collections will feature the city’s copy of Magna Carta, an act of medieval defiance that laid the foundations for democracy, alongside art and clothing from the punk movement of the 70s.

With pieces donated by Vivienne Westwood, the exhibition inside the Norman Castle, later a Victorian prison, will also look at human rights and freedom of speech. 

The exhibition runs to November 16. Tickets cost £14 for adults.

Spotting the Rochdale dinosaur

Plan ahead for the chance to spot Dippy the Dinosaur in Rochdale next year, the only stop in the North West of England during his record-breaking UK tour. 

The dinosaur, which famously stood in the Hintze Hall of the Natural History Museum in London for decades, has already drawn more than one million visitors to the venues where he’s stopped during the tour so far.

Appearing at Number One Riverside from February 10 to June 28, 2020, there’s also a major family-friendly exhibition planned, covering the natural world from prehistoric swamplands to what the planet might look like in years to come.

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