The 10 amazing travel bubbles that have nothing to do with COVID

This University of Arizona research centre, which studies sustainable Earth systems, became famous in the 1990s when scientists were sealed inside its glass pyramid and bubbles for two years. Fortunately, the self-guided visitor experience takes only 65 minutes, leading you around the exterior and through interior biospheres such as rainforest, grassland and mangrove wetlands. It's the closest you'll get to a sci-fi colony on Mars. See biosphere2.org

CHAMPAGNE POOLS, WAI-O-TAPU, NEW ZEALAND

Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, 30 kilometres southeast of Rotorua, is New Zealand's biggest geothermal area and pockmarked with fumaroles, sulphurous pools and burping mud lakes. The most eye-catching feature is Champagne Pools whose minerals stain it aquamarine rimmed with startling orange. A slight fizz inspired its name. For bigger, more unpredictable bubbles, peer into the Devil's Ink Pots. See waiotapu.co.nz

BUBBLEGUM ALLEY, SAN LUIS OBISPO, USA

For reasons unknown, visitors to this leafy, pleasant central-coast Californian town have been leaving chewed gum on the walls of an alley off Higuera Street for decades. A selfie as you blow a bubble provides the chief excitement. Don't stand too close to the wall, otherwise you'll spend the rest of the day extricating bubble gum from your hair. See visitslo.com

CELLAR DOORS, CHAMPAGNE, FRANCE

To learn how the bubbles get into wine and how pressurised bottles are sealed, head to the Champagne region and tour its numerous cellar doors and production houses. The most informative are those of Ruinart and Taittinger, whose cellars in Rheims date back to Roman times. Tastings are included, and surely few travel sounds are more satisfying than that of a champagne cork. See champagne.fr

EDEN PROJECT, CORNWALL, ENGLAND

The crater of this former clay mine has mushroomed huge domes that look as if they're made from bubble wrap. One biodome houses tropical rainforest, another Mediterranean-climate plants, while the sunflower-shaped Core building has interactive exhibitions on the invisible environment, including a nine-metre model of cyanobacteria that puffs out rings of vapour. Weird, but wonderful. You can fly over the biodomes on a zip line. See edenproject.com

WATER CUBE, BEIJING, CHINA

The National Aquatics Centre created for the 2008 Summer Olympics is coated in plastic pillows illuminated to spectacular effect with LED lights. It now houses a large waterpark with slides and various pools including a Bubble Pool and Crazy Tsunami. Video projections of jellyfish and fish swim across the ceiling. Temporarily, it was renamed the Ice Cube during the 2022 Winter Olympics, when it hosted the curling. See visitbeijing.com.cn

HUBBLE-BUBBLES, CAIRO, EGYPT

If you plunged into Cairo's warren-like Khan al Khalili souk, hubble-bubbles (also known as water pipes, shishas, narghiles or hookahs) used to burp and puff from every café – though they're currently under a much-resented coronavirus ban, so for the moment you'll have to make do with tea and pastries. Though they originated in India, hubble-bubbles are now common across the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. See egypt.travel

CLOUD FOREST DOME, SINGAPORE

A blissfully cool climate, 35-metre waterfall and 60,000 high-mountain plants make this bubble a welcome escape from Singapore's sweltering humidity. Multiple levels allow you to get into the tree canopy and descend through cascades of bromeliads, ferns, orchids and insect-eating pitcher plants. The dome is 58 metres high, while the adjacent Flower Dome, which showcases semi-arid plants, is even bigger. See gardensbythebay.com.sg

Brian Johnston has travelled as a guest of numerous tourism offices and travel companies.

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