Travel Briefs

• Turkey will join the list of countries valid for Eurail Global and Eurail Select Pass travel when TCDD, the Turkish railway company, becomes a member of the Eurail-pass system on Jan. 1, 2013. Although Turkey is accessible by train from Bulgaria, be aware that construction work will affect some routes until fall of 2013.

• Westbahn, which offers hourly passenger train service between Salzburg and Vienna, will be the first private railway company to join the Eurail community. Beginning in January, holders of Eurail passes can ride its high-speed trains between the two cities.

The Observatorio Astronómico Andino, or Andes Astronomical Observatory (Camino del Bollenar 21.974, Lo Barnechea, Santiago; phone +56 02 -221 514 59) outside of Santiago, Chile, offers tours of the facility.

A tour in English starts with a presentation entitled “Discovering the Universe,” then participants may take turns gazing at the cosmos through binoculars, mid-size computer-controlled telescopes or sensitive telescopes used for astrophotography.

A 2-hour tour costs CLP45,000 (near $88) per person and a 3-hour tour, CLP56,500 ($111) each. Book tours more than a week in...

Quito Tour Bus (phone 2435 458 or 2458 010), the city’s first double-decker tourist bus service, allows passengers to hop on and off at 12 bus stops throughout the city. 

The 3-hour ride, departing daily from Ave. Naciones Unidas every hour from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., covers all the major attractions in the north and center of the city. 

A one-day ticket, available at the Tourism Information Office at Foch Square and a number of other locations in Quito, costs $12 for adults and $6 for seniors, disabled travelers and children (those under 5 are free).