Seventeen of the most amazing cultural experiences of 2022

THE TIME Saturday, February 12, 9.30pm

THE MOMENT There's nowhere more retro-hip on Earth than California's desert oasis, Palm Springs, former home to every iconic music star of the '50s and '60s. There's a three-quarter moon lighting up the San Jacinto mountains set beyond ubiquitous palm trees as a touring nine-piece jazz band from LA launch into classic Miles Davis track, So What, on a stage set beside a hipster bar, beside a hipster magnesium pool, underneath a billion, bulging stars in a clear Californian sky. See acehotel.com

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GANGA TALAO, MAURITIUS

THE TIME Saturday, February 26, 11am

THE MOMENT We're surrounded by thousands of Hindu pilgrims amid the exuberant, music-fuelled celebrations of the Maha Shivaratri, an annual festival honouring the god, Lord Shiva. A highlight of Mauritius' cultural calendar, it brings devotees — and their eclectic, brightly-garlanded kanwars (floats) and offerings — to Ganga Talao, a sacred crater lake fringed by temples and shrines in the lushly-forested interior of this beauty-blessed Indian Ocean island. See mymauritius.travel

THE PLACE

LEVUKA, FIJI

THE TIME Monday, March 21, 11.30am

THE MOMENT Fiji's old capital (till 1877) is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its historic buildings – it's the Pacific's best reminder of its colonial age. I came for the leap back in time, but am jolted to the present when I find the whole island assembled at an oval behind its main street. Teams are playing frenetic games of rugby as hundreds cheer on, screaming at every bone-crunching tackle. The sound of it reverberates back from the mountains surrounding us. I grab a seat and get set for a long afternoon. See lervukafiji.com

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ROME, ITALY

THE TIME Monday, March 21, 1pm

THE MOMENT The first time I turn down this little side street in the Esquiline, I have no idea what lies in wait. It's my third or fourth time in Rome and I've tasked my guide with showing me things I haven't seen before. When we step into the unassuming little church of Santa Prassede, I'm dazzled by the mosaics glittering on the nave, the apse and the chapels. Finally back in Rome, I make my way back to the church and am dazzled all over again. See turismoroma.it

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FLORENCE, ITALY

THE TIME Friday, March 25, 3.30pm

THE MOMENT In Italian cities there is a lull between the end of lunch and the start of aperitivo hour when it can be difficult to find refreshments served anywhere other than tourist-trap cafes. It is exactly that point in the afternoon when I first step inside La Menagere, a gloriously stylish boundary-breaking venue near Florence's central market that covers every base you can think of. It's a cafe, a bookshop, a restaurant, a co-working space, a bar, a florist; a place that serves up whatever you want, whenever you want it. See lamenagere.it

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MANCHESTER, UK

THE TIME Sunday, April 10, 8pm

THE MOMENT Birthplace of The Bee Gees, Joy Division/New Order, The Stone Roses and Oasis, Manchester remains the UK's best city to catch live music. And after a drink at the Temple — an intimate basement bar, and musicians' favourite, set in an old Victorian public toilet — I relish my first full-on post-pandemic gig, embracing the joyous noise of veteran rockers Therapy? (yes, the band's name has a question mark at the end) at The Ritz, a sprung-floored former dance hall where The Beatles once played and where The Smiths started out. See visitmanchester.com

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VIENNA, AUSTRIA

THE TIME Sunday May 22, 11.45am

THE MOMENT Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theories found voice in this unassuming office in his family's apartment off Vienna's Berggasse. Taking in the blank walls and vaulted ceiling, I attempt to conjure the great man's ghost; how did his own past shape his present, as his postulations on this very principle took shape in this room? Freud's now long-gone past would have involved gazing out the window into a courtyard which, in my present, is dappled with sunlight and shaded by a tree lush with spring leaves. In it, a young man sits at a table, phone in hand. Is he Googling Freud, I wonder, in a space once spirited with his presence? See freud-museum.at

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VIENNA, AUSTRIA

THE TIME Wednesday, May 25, 11.45am

THE MOMENT A gargantuan crystal ball balancing on a heap of faded orange life jackets is the centrepiece of Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei's largest retrospective, on show at the new Albertina Modern. I stare into it for a long time, musing on its manifold messages. Named "Crystal Ball" (2017), it reflects at once the useless life jackets, the artwork hanging in the background – Ai Weiwei's reproduction of Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi's drowning on a crossing to Greece – and the inhumane politics and policies that give rise to modern-day horrors. See albertina.at/en/albertina-modern

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ROME, ITALY

THE TIME Wednesday, May 25, 5pm

THE MOMENT By sheer luck I've scored a ticket to the Farnese Palace, the French Embassy in Rome, designed partly by Michelangelo with a superb barrel-vaulted ceiling painted by Annibale Carracci, the foremost painter of the baroque period. His theme was the power of love and no stone in the carnal compendium is left unturned. The centrepiece is a cavorting Bacchus and Ariadne, surrounded by naked and romping satyrs and chubby nymphs. The guide remarks that this voluptuous display was commissioned by a cardinal, a nephew of Pope Paul III. The Americans in my group gasp, but two Italians who have fastened themselves to us nudge one another and wink. See visite-palazzofarnese.it

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GIANYAR, BALI

THE TIME Friday, June 3, 5pm

THE MOMENT Muscly armed men stand before us wearing traditional masks and cloaked in leafy camouflage robes. This is the battleground for Mepantigan, the traditional Balinese martial art of wrestling tweaked for modern times as a form of community and connection. The men beat drums, stomp feet, yell what sounds like a haka. Attired in chequered sarongs, we gingerly follow them to the mud pit. Soon we're running through the mud, stomping, singing, dancing, laughing, slipping and flipping, our war cries sounding through the rice paddies. See mepantiganbali.com; indonesia.travel

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AVEBURY, ENGLAND

THE TIME Sunday, July 17, 7am

THE MOMENT It's eerily still when I creep out of my B&B before breakfast to explore the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Neolithic stone circle at Avebury in Wiltshire. Thought to have been built in the third millennium BC, it's the world's oldest stone circle and unlike its better-known sibling at Stonehenge, it isn't roped off so you can actually touch the stones. I do one full lap, gently placing my hand on each towering chunk of sandstone, while an early-morning mist hovers quietly on the horizon. See english-heritage.org.uk

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STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, ENGLAND

THE TIME Friday, July 29, 8pm

THE MOMENT Watching Arthur Hughes' captivating performance as the scheming Duke of Gloucester in Shakespeare's Richard III. Hughes is the first disabled actor to play the part and his presence on stage in the Grade II listed Royal Shakespeare Theatre is mesmerising. I struggled with Shakespeare at school, but watching a play here, in the great writer's birthplace, has a special significance. By turns funny, dramatic, clever and wise, Shakespeare's work has a rare enduring appeal. See rsc.org.uk

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MOUGINS, FRANCE

THE TIME Sunday, August 21, 10am

THE MOMENT Cicadas chirp incessantly as I climb a narrow path towards the Chapelle Notre-Dame de Vie, a medieval church perched on the wooded edges of Mougins, a charming hilltop village tucked inland from Cannes on the French Riviera. Winston Churchill once painted the chapel, and inside I find an exhibition dedicated to another, more celebrated artist, Pablo Picasso, who resided on the estate next door for the last 12 years of his life. See mouginstourisme.com

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BHIKAMKOR, INDIA

THE TIME Monday, September 26, 6am

THE MOMENT It's dawn in Bhikamkor village, two hours' drive from Jodhpur and I wake on a rooftop on a traditional charpoy bed. Beside me is Madhu Vaishnav, founder of the ethical fashion social enterprise Saheli Women that I've spent the past week with, learning to handloom cotton and natural dye from the 90 female artisans Madhu employs. Last night, after dinner at an artisan's home, a group of the women joined us on the rooftop to stargaze and gossip, until we fell asleep in our clothes. See saheliwomen.com

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KATHMANDU, NEPAL

THE TIME Sunday, October 9, 7pm

THE MOMENT It's a full moon, and I'm sitting at Pashupatinath Temple's cremation ghats, watching the nightly aarti ceremony. Three Hindu priests perform a choreographed ceremony of offering oil lamps, flowers and incense to the river, while corpses are engulfed by flames on the opposite bank. It's not a comfortable experience. But life, like travel, isn't about staying comfortable. If it's done well, it's about challenging ourselves, and living in a way that isn't led by fear. See nomad.com.np

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ARROYO BURRO BEACH, SANTA BARBARA, US

THE TIME Sunday, October 16, 9am

THE MOMENT I'm barely 10 minutes' drive out of Santa Barbara looking for a nature preserve Michael Douglas sought to protect 25 years ago. I find it and take a walking loop along a cliff top 100 metres above the Pacific. Then I see it, a tiny bay, sheltered by tall cliffs, where locals surf and fishing boats gather just off-shore. I find a road in, and there's a cafe/bar that's all windows built by the sand. I order a mimosa (why not?) and a burrito and pretend I live here. See santabarbaraca.com

Contributors: Paul Chai, Anthony Dennis, Michael Gebicki, Ben Groundwater, Belinda Jackson, Brian Johnston, Ute Junker, Nina Karnikowski, Rob McFarland, Steve Mckenna, Julie Miller, Catherine Marshall, Justin Meneguzzi, Craig Tansley and Penny Watson