Travel Agenda: Love Your Museum weekend; Madeira Flower Festival; Houses of Parliament tour

Today: The 11 cultural institutions nominated for this year's Art Fund Prize, from the Ashmolean in Oxford to the Ulster Museum in Belfast, are staging a Love Your Museum weekend, with special events and activities (artfundprize.org.uk). The event coincides with National Museum Weekend in Holland, with over 500 institutions offering free or reduced admission (holland.com/uk).

This week: Portugal's Atlantic outpost celebrates spring with the Madeira Flower Festival from Thursday to Sunday. Events include a flower display, food stalls, parades and music (madeiraislands.travel). For more aesthetical pleasure, look to New York, where the Fashion 26 hotel, pictured, opens in the Garment District on Friday (wyndham.com).

In the diary: With election fever running high, now's the time to book your place on a tour of the Houses of Parliament in London. For the first time, the tours are being offered year-round on Saturdays, starting 3 July (ticketmaster.co.uk/housesofparliament).