Australian travel experiences among Lonely Planet’s top 10 things to do in 2017

TWO Australian island experiences have earned a spot on Lonely Planet’s global top 10 list of what’s new in travel for 2017.

Quokka cutie on Rottnest Island — included in Lonely Planet’s top 10 for 2017. Picture: iStock

TWO brand new Australian tourism experiences have been ranked among the best of 2017 by travel bible Lonely Planet.

Designed to give ambitious travellers the chance to get ahead of the curve and be among the first to experience what’s new and exciting in the year ahead, the What’s New in 2017 list features 10 experiences.

Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail, Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island. Picture: DEWNR

• ADELAIDE THE WORLD’S NO.1 RISING STAR

• 7 BARGAIN PRIVATE ISLANDS YOU’LL WANT TO VISIT

• AUSTRALIA’S MOST BEAUTIFUL HIDDEN GEMS

• REVEALED: AUSTRALIA’S BEST SECRET BEACH

Australian entries include the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail in South Australia and Pinky’s Eco Retreat and Beach Club on Rottnest Island.

The wilderness trail opened last October offering a five-day 61km trek through the botanically unique island.

Pinky’s Eco Retreat is due to open this year with 29 four and five-star eco tents with ensuites.

Nestled behind the dunes of Pinky’s Beach and The Basin on the environmentally-sensitive Rottnest Island, the retreat will also have a licensed bar and restaurant area with views over the ocean to Perth.

Stunning Rottnest Island will soon be home to Pinky’s Eco Retreat — named one of the top travel newbies of 2017. Picture: Jessica O’Bree

The two Aussie attractions are in world-class company on the list. Other entries include the Museum of the American Revolution opening in Philadelphia on April 19; and Akagera National Park in Rwanda which will reintroduce black rhinos in 2017.

South America’s first sleeper train to negotiate the world’s highest rail route — the Belmond Andean Explorer — and two museums in Paris and Marrakesh dedicated to famed fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent also made the list.

Other newcomers to the travel scene in 2017, will be the Lava Centre in Iceland, overlooking volcanoes Eyjafjallajökull, Katla and Hekla; the American Writers’ Museum in Chicago documenting the influence of literature on US culture and a 141-day cruise on the Viking Sun from Miami to London.

A 141-day around-the-world cruise on the Royal Viking Sun made Lonely Planet’s top 10 for 2017.

Rounding out the top 10, is a new cultural hub in China known as the Design Society which opens in Shenzhen in October, focusing on groundbreaking designs of the 20th and 21st centuries.