One of Forbes’s 10 Coolest All-Inclusive Resorts, the Grand Velas Riviera Nayarit is about to enter its summer season. With the kids out of school and summer heat really setting in, the crystal-clear waters of Banderas Bay and the picturesque townscape of Puerto Vallarta might just start beckoning. You should probably go ahead and listen. Read More »
Lessons in Summer Breaks
April 28, 2012 Beach, Culinary, Deal, Family, Golf, Mexico, Romance, Sailing, Spa, Weekend GetawayLessons in Royal Pedigrees
April 15, 2012 Arts, Beach, Culinary, Diving, France, Nature, Romance, Sailing, Spa, Villa living
It’s not just the visitors to the Caribbean’s most exclusive island who have royal pedigrees. The Hotel Carl Gustaf, named for the reigning king of Sweden in honor of the Scandinavian nation’s historic presence on the French island, received specific permission from the King himself to use his name. Come for the shoulder and summer seasons and you can get your culture fix, as well, as Caribbean arts and French culture are on full display for the international jet set. Read More »
Lessons in the Turkish Riviera
April 2, 2012 Uncategorized
You’ve heard of St. Tropez and Capri. You’ve been to Palma and Mykonos. But what about Bodrum? For years now Turkey’s Aegean coast has been “The Next Big Thing.” Well, it’s not ‘next’ anymore, and Aida Tours will show you the best it has to offer. Read More »
Lessons in Rustic France
April 2, 2012 Culinary, Culture & History, Europe, France, Nature, Personalized tour, Romance
Local, sustainable, seasonal: these may be buzzwords in American food circles, but in the South of France they’re just implicit. And at Hotel Crillon le Brave, perched above the fertile fields of Provence, they’re a way of life. Read More »
Lessons in Village Life
March 28, 2012 Beach, Cottages, Family, Golf, Nantucket, Nature, New England, Romance, Sailing, Spa, Weekend Getaway
Nantucket is already one of America’s most beautiful villages. Now experience a village within the village at the new property from the award-winning White Elephant Hotel: White Elephant Village. Read More »
Heard on the Plane: Sikkim with Shakti Himalaya
March 5, 2012 Cottages, Culture & History, Family, Green travel, India, Nature, Uncategorized, Wildlife
The United States may have been founded as an anti-royalist state, but that has never much diminished our national infatuation with royalty. We wake early for royal weddings in England, and refer to the families of great politicians and industrialists as “American Royalty.” Kennedy and Carnegie, Dupont and Rockefeller – these are our benighted American aristocracy, our substitutes for the romance and glamor of the real thing. But every so often an American lives the dream that so many of us harbor (if a bit guiltily), stepping beyond the limits of New World egalitarianism and into the bejeweled life of royalty. Hope Cooke, the former Queen of the Kingdom of Sikkim, did just that. Read More »
Voices from Our Travels: Café Zoe, Mumbai, India
February 22, 2012 Culinary, India, Voices from our Travels
There’s nothing quite like Indian food. The depth and intensity of flavor, the richness of preparation, the saturation of color and texture – few cuisines offer so much and so profligately. Yet after some time on the subcontinent, one’s stomach yearns for a fresh salad, or a sandwich with no more than four constituent ingredients (including the bread), and one’s wallet yearns not to be emptied for such simple pleasures. It’s no wonder, then, that Mumbaikars – and particularly expats – are flocking to Café Zoe. Read More »
Lessons in Los Cabos
February 10, 2012 Beach, Mexico, Nature, Sailing, Spa, Villa living
Like Mexico’s spindly right arm, the Baja Peninsula reaches into the deep blue Pacific, and, at its tip, where its arid index finger daintily taps the surface of the sea, lies the region of Los Cabos. The azure waters of the Pacific lap against the desert coast near the picturesque towns of San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, and the Villas del Mar resort community looks out over the water from its elegant perch. Read More »
Lessons in Luxury, Dominican Style
February 8, 2012 Beach, Cottages, Dominican Republic, Golf, Green travel, Nature, Romance, Spa, Villa living, Wellness, Wildlife
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola, in the present day Dominican Republic. It’s no wonder he came back the New World two more times: he had found paradise. This island nation – the second largest in the Caribbean by area, population and economy – boasts the region’s highest mountain, its largest lake – and one of its most exclusive resort communities: Tortuga Bay. Read More »
Lessons in Underground Worlds
February 8, 2012 Culture & History, Deal, Diving, Mexico, Nature, Spa, Wildlife
Out of the hot jungle sun, far below the ruins erected under the great Mayan empire, flows the lifeblood of the Yucatan Peninsula. Stalagmites and stalactites glitter in dim caverns over the cool fresh water of one of the world’s best-known underground river systems. And from a base at the Grand Velas Riviera Maya, all this is yours to explore. Read More »