Amsterdam is blooming like its famous tulips. Spurred by the reopening of the major museums after years of extensive remodeling, visitors can again explore the Royal Palace in Dam Square.
Most travelers to the Netherlands are familiar with Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague. Travel more widely and discover the Holland that locals know and love. Almost on the Belgium border, Maastricht is where people who live in fast-paced Amsterdam come to relax.
Amsterdam is a city of world-class museums. Three of the best, the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum, are open after multi-year renovations. Bordering the expansive Vondlepark, the museums attract millions of visitors every year.
With Downton Abbey comforts, Llangoed Hall is a good refuge for those in need of a quiet escape from their busy urban lives. Located close by the expansive Brecon Beacons National Park, Llangoed Hall gives travelers the opportunity to explore a countryside rich with history and natural beauty.
Napa is located in a flat, broad plain on the southern end of Highway 29 where some of California's most famous wineries have their tasting rooms.
The Lausanne Palace opened in 1915 and quickly became one of Switzerland’s better known Belle Époch hotels. A member of the Swiss Deluxe Hotels and Leading Hotels of the World, the 5 star Lausanne Palace embraces elegance, old world hospitality and state of the art technology.
In southern Tuscany, the sun was setting as the dusty sedan took my wife and I to Tenuta Poggi Alti also known as the Estate.
I had a simple plan. Relax in Maui and have fun. My first day at the Grand Wailea resort was about as perfect as I could have imagined.
Looking out the train window, I was hypnotized by the mile upon mile of thickly trellised vineyards that followed the contours of the surrounding hills.
Affectionately known as “The Pink Lady” and “La V,” the 5-Star La Valencia Hotel sits on a bluff above La Jolla Cove. Rooms facing the water look out across Ellen Browning Scripps Park to the vast expanse that is the Pacific Ocean--flat, blue and stretching in all directions as far as the eye can see.
Wild geese and ducks circled lazily above Geneva's old town. From the open window in my room, I watched diners gathering on the rooftop of the floating restaurant anchored in the Rhône River.
A man in a suit races to make the final boarding of his London-bound plane. He barely avoids colliding with an exhausted tour group deplaning from their all-night coach flight from Bangkok. He flashes his boarding pass at the gate and disappears down the jet bridge.
When the bellman showed me my room at the Beau-Rivage Geneva, I could see Lake Geneva out the window. In the distance, the French Alps were painted gold by the setting sun. Commuter water taxies scooted across the lake.
A visit to the Grand Del Mar begins at the turn off from Carmel Valley Road. Sheltered by a line of Eucalyptus trees, the private two-lane drive feels like a road from another time. A grassy meadow stretches on one side and to the other, a rolling hill slopes down to a manicured green, part of the 18 hole, par-72 golf course designed by Tom Fazio.
Visitors to the Alpine town of Interlaken stare up at the small dots in the sky. Those dots high overhead circle slowly and descend until finally their shape is revealed. Not falcons or eagles or other birds of prey, but brightly colored airfoils made from paper-thin fabric allowing a tandem ride by two people sharing the magic of flight.
