Travel

With slides long dried up and the Amazonian themed décor devastated by graffiti, the final days look bleak for the once popular Atlantida Water Park in Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria. The once vibrant palm trees are now wilted and the pipelines that joyful children whizzed through into the waters below now lie rusted. The tourist attraction closed in 2009 and is now set to be transformed into a 26million euro (£22million) shopping centre.

The Train Hostel Hokutosei, located in Tokyo's Nihonbashi business district, is fashioned from the retired Hokutosei sleeper train and opened in December, with beds costing 2,500 Japanese Yen (£17.70) per night. Pictured clockwise from top left, the hostel's convertible bunks and original aluminium ladders; one of its two private sleeping cabins; the communal kitchen area and its fold-out chairs.

Some say the post-fact world has taken off. That may be true, but here you’ll only find grounded information about planes and air travel that will astound, amaze and intrigue. MailOnline Travel has scoured the internet and spoken to insiders at the Royal Aeronautical Society and carriers such as British Airways and easyJet to bring you 39 incredible plane facts. 

The top 10 hotels in the US, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe have been revealed in a prestigious new 2017 ranking, by U.S. News & World Report. Based on expert and consumer ratings, over 5,000 luxury hotels across North America were evaluated, with Chicago’s The Langham crowned the number one hotel in the US (bottom right). Ritz Carlton Montreal took the title for Canada, One&Only; Palmilla, Los Cabos (top left), received the highest praise in Mexico and Eden Rock – St. Barths soared above all competition in the Caribbean. In Europe, 2,096 hotels were recognised as outstanding with The Lanesborough in London lauded as the best on the continent. Las Ventanas al Paraíso, A Rosewood Resort, San José del Cabo (bottom left), and Jamaica Inn, Ocho Rios (top right), also featured highly in the rankings.

London-based landscape photographer Timo Lieber shot the series - dubbed Thaw - in July 2016, perched from small planes and helicopters as he was flown several hundred miles over Greenland. They capture the Arctic's increasingly large body of blue lakes and rivers as they spill over the melting ice, and aim to bring viewers closer to an environmental calamity that is unfolding far from where we'd otherwise witness it.

MailOnline Travel has compiled a collection of frankly terrifying play areas from around the world, which you might want to avoid paying a visit to with your children. Pictured clockwise from top left, a wonky Thomas the Tank Engine in Kazakhstan; a disturbing tunnel arrangement in South Korea; a climbing frame draped with plastic skeletons at the Heilig-Kreuz Kirche church in Munich, Germany; a slide with a scenic view of an unknown graveyard; and (inset) a creepy playground in Russia.

A self-taught photographer, Oscar Keserci has captured mesmerising nocturnal images of millions of stars over the island of Rhodes, Greece, and at home near Kirkkonummi, Finland. Pictured: The Milky Way shot at night over Inkoo, Finland (main); a snap taken on Attaviros mountain in Rhodes (bottom left) and a solitary tree on the island (bottom right).

The winners of the Conde Nast Traveller Spa Awards 2017 have been announced featuring blissful retreats to suit every type of serenity seeker in destinations including Italy, India and Germany. Pictured: Yaan Wellness, Tulum won the best new hideaway award (top left), Anassa in Cyprus was named most consistent high performer (top right), the best fitness regime accolade went to Rancho La Puerta in Mexico (bottom left) and stylish Thai retreat Amanpuri took the gong for best bespoke retreat (bottom right).

Talented professional and amateur aerial and drone photographers hailing from countries including Italy, Iceland and Germany have won accolades in the SkyPixel 2016 aerial imagery contest. This spellbinding capture - Fishermen Closing the Net - taken in China took the Grand Prize (main) followed by a camel train snaking across the desert (bottom right) and a Spillway Selfie (bottom left) in first and second place respectively in the professional photographer beauty category.

The Washington Hilton (inset), Capital Hilton and Hay-Adams in DC have all hosted presidential balls and dinners. Here Mr Hanson reveals how they keep presidents safe and well fed. Pictured clockwise from top left: President Obama at the 2009 MTV Youth Ball at the Washington Hilton, former president Bill Clinton with staff at the hotel, President George Bush at his inaugural ball at the Washington Hilton in 2005 and Ronald Reagan, with Nancy, at the same hotel when he became president in 1981.

Welcome to Les Machines de l'ile, a curious theme park located at the former shipyards of Nantes, western France, where mechanical animals roam amid the crowds. Pictured, clockwise from top left, a huge spider; a 40ft moving elephant that can transport 50 passengers at a time; a dragon-horse hybrid; and (inset) a pair of horses on the arcade's Carrousel des Mondes Marins.

The derelict Imperial building, hidden behind shrubbery and a fence, lies atop a hill overlooking Negishi Forest Park in Japan (top left). Dating back to 1866, Negishi Grandstand was one of the first Western-style racetracks to open in the country. However, it became a printworks around the time of WWII, then a prison then later a bowling alley, before being left to rot in the 1980s. The buckled interior betrays signs of its previous incarnations with discarded sofas (bottom left), signs in English (inset) and a warren of haunting corridors (top right) all captured on film by a French photographer.

Winter may be unpleasant to experience – but as these stunning drone photographs taken in places such as Russia, the US, Canada and Italy show, its effects are incredible to look at. MailOnline Travel reveals how winter’s icy tentacles leave behind some amazing scenes. The main image shows an epic migration of caribou on lake Ennadai in Canada, bottom left an enchanting snowy wood in Italy and bottom right the Naval Cathedral in Kronstadt, Russia.

The Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah (centre) was annoyed at being geo-tagged in several pictures by guests on Instagram. It complained that some pictures looked like a lingerie shoot. In retaliation, the women staged a display of flesh-flashing outside the front door, which was captured by a drone camera.

This season's new holiday chalets in places like Europe and Canada can cost up to £400k a week. They feature everything from F1 simulators and wine cellars to cigar rooms and beauty salons. MailOnline Travel has rounded up some of the best new openings on the market this season. Pictured clockwise from top left: Ferme de la Corderie chalet in Les Gets, France, Chalet Chouqui in Verbier, France, Chalet Blumen Haus in Lech, Austria, Chalet Chouqui, and Chalet Milou in Verbier, France.

The stunning photos of life across vibrant Iran in the 60s and 70s portray a seemingly cosmopolitan kingdom on the brink of change. MailOnline Travel has rounded up a selection of archive images of this colourful destination, which has long been shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding. Pictured: Female students relax outside Tehran university in 1971 (left), Persian rugs line the road for President Eisenhower's motorcade in Tehran in 1960 (top right) and the capital's glamorous locals kick off their heels to do the Tehran twist in the 1960s (bottom right).

The Kardashian-Jenner clan holidayed at Villa Manzu on the Peninsula Papagayo in Costa Rica. The eight-suite estate sits on five acres on an isolated peninsula, with two swimming pools, a spa, a cinema room and 180-degree sea views. It comes with a 'naturalist guide', chef, bartender, concierge and a butler. Plus a range of sports vehicles for guests to use.

Pepper Cottage in Kemerton is a gem of a B&B;, with a worldly, charming host, opulent rooms and a very green and pleasant setting. It is the quintessential, delightful English country cottage. It has a thatched roof and nestles down a narrow lane between two orchards in a village that's barely more than a handful of houses. Inside it's wonderfully olde worlde with lots of wooden beams – the building dates back to the late 1500s – and slightly uneven floors.

Reporter Frank Gardner, centre, fulfilled a lifelong dream when he and explorer Benedict Allen, pictured behind him, voyaged to Papua New Guinea to reside with members of the Kandengi village. Frank's legs were paralysed after he was shot by terrorists in Saudi Arabia 13 years ago, while Benedict had already spent several months in Kandengi during the 1980s, undergoing a brutal initiation ceremony. Their hunt for the elusive bird of paradise, inset, was never going to be easy...

Florida couple Victoria Yore, 24, and Terrence Drysdale, 28, spend their days roaming the world in search of its most beautiful, unspoiled frontiers. Armed with Terrence's camera and a selection of Pre-Raphaelite dresses for Victoria, they have captured breathtaking images in places like Arizona's Grand Canyon, left, Iceland's Skaftafell National Park, top right, and the Bunbeg shipwreck in Donegal, Ireland, bottom right.

The Forbidden Forest may be off limits to Hogwarts students but visitors to The Making of Harry Potter attraction will soon be able to explore its grounds. The Warner Brothers Studio Tour London is inviting guests, from March, to follow in the footsteps of Harry, Ron and Hermione into the magical lair, pictured. The tree-filled attraction will be populated by eerie creatures from the books and films.

Anyone keen to unleash their inner Robinson Crusoe can buy a private island off the coast of Belize - on eBay.The four acre hideaway comes with a one bed wooden house (bottom left), a timber cabin on the beach (bottom right) and a boat jetty.The caye's mangrove is a nature haven and the island has coral reef that is perfect for snorkelling, dolphin spotting and bird watching.

These vast ships once waged war and carried cargo across the ocean, but today they sit submerged like ghostly skeletons for divers to explore. Pictured, top, the bow of the USS Saratoga, a World War II aircraft carrier which sank in July 1946 in the waters of Bikini Atoll, the Marshall Islands; bottom left, the wreck of a small boat nestled amid the Shangri-La reef in the Philippines; and bottom right, the remains of Umbria, an Italian freighter that was sunk by its own captain in 1940 in the Sudanese Red Sea to stop British forces from stealing its precious cargo.

The study of flags is known as vexillology, which is taken from the Latin word vexillum meaning flag or banner. National flags are often used as symbols of patriotism - and this is true for UK county flags, too. They are often used to represent an important historical event in a county's past.

Disneyland Resort in California, top left, is now taking reservations for its '21 Royal' private dining experience, pictured. The elaborate custom-themed meal, main left, is hosted in a space once intended to be Walt Disney's apartment, designed using its original lavish plans. The evening costs $15,000 (£12,000) for up to 12 guests.