Siteseeing: Virtually a holiday

By MONIKA FRY

Fancy a virtual tour around the lost city of the Incas in Peru?

Or perhaps take a gondola cruise down the Grand Canal in Venice from your desktop?

Some internet travel websites, such as Expedia have added virtual tours to their sites.

These electronic explorations are a great way to get the feel of a place before going there, or bring back memories of a happy holiday.

To take a virtual tour, download a panorama of one of the many tourist destinations available. tThen place your pointer on, say, Hong Kong city, hold down the left mouse button and drag.

The scene will move in the direction of your pointer.

As you manoeuvre across Victoria Harbour or climb up Victoria Peak, hotspots on the image link to information captions which describe what you are seeing. If you want a closer view of anywhere, use the shift key to zoom in and the control key to zoom out.

The Expedia site, which has 360 tours, also features a travel advisory section with information about currency and weather, as well as regularly updated travel articles and details on the latest destinations.

Another site that makes excellent use of the virtual tour is the Athenaeum Hotel and Apartments in Piccadilly, London.

This member of the Small luxury Hotels of the World was once owned by the Rank Organisation and is still a favourite of Hollywood stars.

At around $600 a night for a room, $1000 for a suite, their virtual tour at Athenaeum Hotel may be the closest you ever get to staying there.