Travellers' Checks | Bargain flights to Europe, cycling Sri Lanka, and ancient Pingyao

Air France is offering cheap fares to many European cities for bookings made by April 5. Destinations available from HK$3,650 include Florence (above), Milan, Rome, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Barcelona, Lisbon, London, Vienna and Prague. The small print says that a stopover in Paris, via which flights are routed, is not permitted, but if your return flight leaves for Paris early in the morning, there's nothing to stop you walking out of Charles de Gaulle Airport for the day before catching the 11.20pm flight back to Hong Kong. Fortunately, the cheaper fares involve a longer airport layover - in some cases almost 12 hours - on the way back. With your luggage already checked through to Hong Kong, this leaves enough time to take the airport train into central Paris and have lunch in town. Just make sure you are back at the airport three hours before departure, and look out for the current proliferation of thieves operating on the airport train. Note that taxes and fuel charges for the promotional fares come in at just under HK$1,900. For a full list of destinations and online reservations, go to www.airfrance.com.hk and click "Best offer and promotions".

International cycle tour company SpiceRoads has just launched a new 12-day "Sri Lanka Tip to Tip by Road Bike" package (above). It actually starts in the west of the country, near Colombo, then heads up to Jaffna for the long ride down through the centre of the country, to its most southerly point, Dondra. You'll need to be fairly fit for this one, as the itinerary includes the tea plantations around Hatton, which are more than 1,300 metres above sea level in places. The total distance covered is just over 1,000 kilometres. Five departure dates are slated for this year between May 24 and September 20. Full-board prices start from US$2,750 per person, with 10 per cent discounts currently offered for May and June tours. Road bike rental starts from US$295. For the full itinerary of this and many other cycling tours in Asia, visit www.spiceroads.com.

Discover what still remains of imperial Chinese architecture at street level by visiting the ancient walled city of Pingyao, located deep in the heartland of Shanxi province. Dating back roughly 2,700 years, the Unesco World Heritage Site is popular with domestic tourists but has yet to be widely discovered by foreigner visitors. Nanda Travel is offering a four-night trip to Pingyao (above), which includes extensive guided tours of the city and the surrounding area over three days, with breakfast and lunch, ground transport and round-trip flights with China Eastern between Hong Kong and Taiyuan (which is about 90km from Pingyao). Prices start from HK$8,200 per person, twin share, or you can just take the flight and four nights' hotel accommodation and explore by yourself, from HK$3,360. For further details and reservations, go to www.nandatravel.com and click on Tours.