Music, wine and gambling – What the Saturday papers say

There’s a high-brow tone to some of today’s coverage. George Brock of The Times visits Salzburg to see how the Austrian city is managing the Mozart brand. Over-managing might be more appropriate as Brock writes that the “overkill is threatening to bury the music”. This overkill includes chocolates, golf balls, musical bras and yoghurt.

Wine lovers will be interested to learn that France’s less well-known, quirkier vineyards offer great variety – “meaty reds, flavourful whites and delicate rosés”. Anthony Peregrine in The Daily Telegraph guides the nose, or is it the palate?

A brace of articles in The Times about high-life hotel stays round out today's coverage. Luckily one of the articles - Tania Cagnoni - rounds up six of the best affordable hotels in Cannes, but at the other end of the market Sally Shalam discovers Spain’s Sandy Lane Hotel – a Majorcan finca with “Balearic bling”.

Macau, China’s tiny neighbour and former Portuguese colony (it was handed back to China in 1999), generates more money from gambling than Las Vegas. Charles Starmer-Smith in a fascinating article (The Daily Telegraph) reports that they take gambling very seriously in Macau. There are no $1 tables or complimentary drinks. Green tea is as strong as the beverages get.

China’s growing moneyed classes account for most of the gamblers, but this is set to change. Macau is undergoing a building boom. The bright lights and big bucks of Las Vegas are moving in and tourists with an eye on the jackpot are expected to visit from other parts of Asia, the United States and Britain.

Elsewhere in The Daily Telegraph, Lisa Grainger journeys to the source of the Nile in Rwanda armed with the most recent map she could find. It was printed by the country’s Belgian colonial government. In 1937. Grainger joins three explorers - Neil McGrigor, Cam McLeay and Garth MacIntyre - who are on a mission to follow the Nile all the way back to its "longest" source way above Lake Victoria.

It reads like a very English sort of expedition. When Grainger joins them on Day 17 of the second phase of their journey, she writes that there is a “a neat double repetition of history”. Not only did The Daily Telegraph co-sponsor Henry Morton Stanley's expedition to the Nile in the 1870s, but the explorers also pick up a hamper from Fortnum & Mason, which also sponsored and supplied Stanley with “provisions such as thick-cut marmalade, humbugs and sardines”.

The Daily Telegraph stays with water, but more relaxed and, em, discovered than the source of the Nile. Alexandra Ferguson says Kerala in Southern India offers a gentle introduction to India. It is, she writes, “less developed than Goa, but with an established tourist infrastructure”, and is good value for money too.

Finally, in The Times, Jill Dawson flies to the Dominican Republic to swim with humpback whales. The best moment was, she says, “drifting over a male whale, simmering with power beneath me, like a Boeing 747”.

Susan Gough Henly (The Guardian) takes to the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia, by foot. The route is probably better known as a drive rather than a walk, but in January Parks Victoria opened a 91km Great Ocean Walk, between Apollo Bay and Glenample Homestead, near the Twelve Apostles. Gough Henly writes that the walk has been designed with lots of access points so that you can sample sections or do the complete trip in about eight days.

The ski season goes on and on, thanks to recent snowfalls. Hamish McRae (The Independent) reports that North America and the Alps have enjoyed great snow this winter, and new arrivals to the market – Finland, Slovenia and Serbia for example – have ensured great choice for tourists too.

There’s an accompanying feature on eastern ski resorts in Canada. Harriet O’Brien offers a complete guide to Quebec, which boasts Mont Tremblant, Mont-Sainte Anne, and Le Massif for winter sports enthusiasts. For city slickers, Montreal is a multicultural metropolis with lots of opportunities for shopping enthusiasts.

Finally, now that spring is here, young men’s minds are beginning to turn to World Cup dreams. Rhiannon Batten (The Independent) checks out where Rooney, Beckham & Co will stay during the competition - the spa town of Baden-Baden in Germany. Young men’s minds may also turn to what’s on offer for the players: longer beds, a Michelin-starred restaurant; a pool with floor-to-ceiling windows and a spa stocked with La Prairie products. It seems a far cry from 1966, but not that far from where we came in today with fine music and fine wines. Let's hope the pampering doesn't spoil them.

© Cheapflights Ltd Oonagh Shiel