Travel Agenda: Costa Rica, Wand Week, Tuscany cycling, Sleddog Championships, fly Oxford to Dublin, Snowdrop festival, backpacks for tablets

Where to go and what to know

Cool Costa

Kura Design Villas is now open on Costa Rica's Pacific coast, with six private villas, an infinity pool, restaurant and bar that look out to the Ballena National Marine Park, with rainforest behind and the remote Osa Peninsula, home to Corcovado National Park, to the east (kuracostarica.com).

Half-term magic

Wand Week arrives at The Making of Harry Potter attraction inside Warner Bros' Leavesden Studios from 16 to 24 February (wbstudiotour.co.uk).

Tuscan trip

The new trips from UTracks include a five-day cycling tour of Tuscany. From 1 March, you can pedal from San Gimignano, past vineyards and olive groves, to Siena, for £720pp with B&B, transfers and bike hire, but not flights (utracks.com).

Husky Hop

Alaska's city of North Pole will host the 2013 international Sleddog Championships from 22 February to 17 March. Races occur every two years, bringing together dog mushers and skijorers from around the globe (sleddogsport.net).

Go west

Minoan Air starts flights from Oxford to Dublin (right) from 6 March, departing on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays (minoanair.com).

In bloom

Scotland's Snowdrop Festival starts today, with venues from the Cambo Estate in Fife to Crathes Castle in Aberdeenshire showing off their seasonal blanket with woodland walks and candlelit tours, until 17 March (visitscotland.com).

Safe place

Thule has a new "EnRoute" collection of backpacks, specifically designed to carry laptops and tablets. They come in four different sizes (19 to 26 litres), priced from £69.99 (thule.com).

6

The number of cabins at Woodland Shacks in the Yorkshire Dales. The rustic huts are perfect for a family break, starting at £360 for four nights, based on six sharing (oneoffplaces.co.uk).