1 SALZBURG, AUSTRIA

POPULATION: 153,377

LANGUAGE: GERMAN

CURRENCY: EURO

The Salzburg Festival is turning 100, and this heart-stealer of an Alpine city is singing about it at the top of its voice.

One of the world’s greatest classical music shindigs, the festival is always a riotous feast of opera, classical music and drama – and never more so than in 2020. Salzburg will be pulling out all the stops for the centenary, with special exhibitions and events taking place all over the historic centre – concerts, plays, readings, Mozart matinees, you name it. Top billing, as always, will go to Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Jedermann, based on several medieval mystery plays and performed in all its glory in Domplatz. So dust off your dirndl or lederhosen, book your tickets months ahead, and get ready to rock into the summer like Amadeus.

For more about Salzburg, turn to p66

UNMISSABLE EXPERIENCE

Belt out Do-Re-Mi and other The Sound of Music faves with a 3½-hour spin around movie locations with Fräulein Maria’s Bicycle Tours. Stops include the Mirabellgarten, Benedictine Nonnberg Abbey and palaces Schloss Leopoldskron and Hellbrunn.

2 WASHINGTON DC,USA

POPULATION: 702,445

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

UNIT OF CURRENCY: US DOLLAR

PHOTOGRAPHS: CANADASTOCK/SHUTTERSTOCK, SHARKSHOCK/SHUTTERSTOCK, PETE SEAWARD

All eyes will be on Washington, DC, this year, as the city celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment – the law that granted American women the right to vote. Iconic museums like the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Women in the Arts will have special exhibitions related to this major milestone in human rights. Tie this in to the excitement over this year’s presidential election and DC will be one of America’s most dynamic cities in 2020.

Politics aside, DC’s renaissance is in full bloom: once-neglected neighbourhoods are suddenly on the rise, with revitalised spaces that have drawn a new wave of restaurateurs, microbrewers and craft makers. One riverfront stretch of Southwest DC has been reborn as the Wharf, home to over 30 new restaurants, several live music venues and a rum distillery. You can hire kayaks for a paddle along Washington Channel or stroll the waterfront, checking out the neighbourhood’s new sustainable features (green roofs, hundreds of newly planted trees and an innovative floating wetlands system).