Twelve cultural sites in Kyoto, Japan, not open to the public before are open until March 18, 2009. Included is Myoshin-ji, Kyoto’s largest Zen temple, containing 46 sub-temples. And Myoko-ji, a temple in a bamboo forest, is showing a print of the Edo painting “Fujin Raijin Zu Byobu,” which the temple used to protect.

Visit www.kyotowinterspecial.com or contact the Japan National Tourism Office (New York, NY; 212/757-5640, www.jnto.go.jp/kws).

Frommer’s travel guides for Paris and London are available for download on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Each point of interest can be plotted on the map relative to others, with reviews and contact information. Items like restaurants can be sorted by price, cuisine, rating or neighborhood. The guide includes suggested itineraries, with details of each stop.

At $9.99 each, the guides are available through the iPod Touch and iPhone’s built-in App Store. Once downloaded, the guides do not...

Located at Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam, the “luxury pod hotel” citizenM (Janplezierweg 2, 1118 BB Schiphol Airport, Netherlands) has no porters or room service. On the bottom floor is a self-check-in kiosk, a shared “living room” space (with computers) and a “canteenM” with food and beverages for sale.

As compact as ship cabins, the hotel’s modern, high-style, all-in-one rooms each measure 14 square meters and have a king-sized bed, shower, sink, toilet, seating-and-table area,...