Holland Art Cities 2009; Twelfth Night festival; Sydney Festival

Today...

Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht are gearing up for Holland Art Cities 2009. The country's top 10 museums will be staging 25 special exhibitions, alongside the reopening of the Hermitage Amsterdam and Stedelijk Museum this year and next (hollandartcities.com ).

This week...

Celebrate the Epiphany and the end of the Christmas season at the centuries-old Twelfth Night festival in London tomorrow, 4 January (thelionspart.co.uk ). More modern pleasures can be found in West Hollywood, where Andaz, Hyatt hotels' "casual luxury" brand, is opening on Thursday (westhollywood.hyatt.com ).

In the diary...

The New Year's Eve fireworks were just the start of festivities in Sydney, where the annual Sydney Festival kicks off on 10 January (sydneyfestival.com.au ). Meanwhile, Miami celebrates its architectural heritage from 16-18 January with the annual Art Deco weekend, which this year focuses on 1930s culture in Argentina (mdpl.org ). And on 17 January, Mexicana will add competition to British Airways' route from London to Mexico City, when it launches direct flights from Gatwick (mexicana.com ).