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I had some business meetings scheduled in downtown Atlanta, and I wanted to find a top rated hotel in the area that offered character, class, and quality.

The Glenn, part of the Marriott Autograph Collection chain, promotes a boutique-ish vibe and looked appealing.  Ditto the upscale Courtyard by Marriott and swank Ritz Carlton.  While all were within walking distance of my confabs and appeared to be perfectly fine choices, I hesitated on the chain thing:  given the uniqueness of Atlanta, my pre

The province of Quebec, Canada has so much to offer the tourist that we found the best way to present the many vacation options was to separate them into several categories; this story zeroes in on just one of Quebec’s major attractions – lighthouses.

On the Trail of the Lighthouses

North America’s most spectacular lighthouse trek is in Canada’s Québec Maritime, located along the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the St. Lawrence River. Central to the Maritime region is the Gaspésie (or Gaspé) Peninsula,

The best way to actually “see” Dubrovnik is to take your time and spend a few days exploring this remarkable destination, at your own pace, as an independent traveler with an inspired itinerary.

Every year, the whales that live close to the Antarctic waters of Chile make a trip of over 8,000 kilometers to the Pacific coast of Colombia to give birth and rear their whale calves. The best time to see them is between July and October, although they start to arrive in June. You can see them throughout the Pacific coast. Sometimes the whales come so close to the shore that they can be seen from the beach or from the viewpoints in the hills.

Some of the most recommendable sites to see these mag

We travel writers, as you can imagine, regularly get questions from people going on holiday. But when someone referred to me by a dear friend asked what she should not miss when she goes to Italy's capital for all of one weekend, I wanted to ask her – “ma sei pazza??”  (Are you nuts?) You could spend every waking hour for weeks barely scratching the surface of this breathtaking city with a history stretching back nearly 3,000 years, so trying to truly capture la Città Eterna in a mere 48 hours

Well, New England Patriots quarterrback Tom Brady may be in the doghouse now, but he'll always have Montezuma, Costa Rica.

Sure, Brady was trying to impress a girl – his wife, Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen – when he shocked the world with his #AirBrady leap off Montezuma Falls near his vacation home of Santa Teresa, Costa Rica. And while Brady posted: “Never doing that again!” on his Facebook page under the video that went viral with close to 11 million views so far, there are plenty o

Between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara runs the US 101, alternating between rolling hills and stunning sea views. Family activities abound at a midpoint in Ventura County West, making for an excellent three day vacation close to the heart of Los Angeles. This area includes Camarillo, Oxnard, and Ventura.

Choose day trips between wine tasting, old airplanes, classic cars, or whale watching, just to name a few, as well as the tourist-friendly downtown shops and eateries with craft beers.

Channel I

Visitors to New York City don’t come for the beaches, certainly. But if you should happen to be in town during the warm weather (say, through September), and want to see where many of the locals get their splash and tan on – especially on weekends – there are some pretty decent spots to get wet, from strands out in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens (reachable from Manhattan by subway) to glorious stretches farther east out along the south shore of Long Island, which also offer a look at a qu

by Atila Ximenes

Nowhere is nature wilder and more striking than at South America’s southernmost reaches, its dense forests and Andes mountains cinematically spectacular and crammed with wildlife including llamas, pumas, and grey foxes, its beaches and frigid waters teeming with penguins, whales, and sea lions.

Just over 402,000 square miles (1,043,000 square kilometres) in size, Patagonia straddles two countries, covering Argentina’s provinces of Neuquén, Chubut, Santa Cruz, Río Negro and th

For many people, exploring Southeast Asia might be on their travel list, but Laos is often overlooked in favor of larger neighboring Vietnam and Thailand. Those who take the time to visit, though, soon discover that this country is their equal, with fantastic scenic beauty, welcoming locals, delicious dishes, impressive temples, and many activities such as kayaking, rock climbing, and biking .

With hidden caves, terraced rice paddies, beautiful limestone mountains, imposing waterfalls, charming

Buda…

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San Gimignano is a classic medieval walled hill town in Tuscany with a history dating back to 63 BC. During the Middle Ages, the town was an important center for trade and for pilgrims traveling to or from Rome. 

“Tower envy” was the name of the game back in the 11th century, when the original San Gimignano had 72 towers, built by patrician families probably to demonstrate their wealth and power. Today, the historic center is a UNESCO world heritage site for its architecture. Its 14 surviving m

Every Tuesday after 6-o’clock mass in the Iglesia de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos, all the parishioners pour into the streets of Pelourinho, the historic center of Salvador da Bahia, and the big party, Bênção (blessing), commences. The whole city gets its glad rags on - because Salvador does not live on Carnaval alone! It is true that, on any day of the week except Monday, you can find concerts, musical performances and improvised dances in any street in the area, but it seems that Tuesd

We love Connecticut. It is a beautiful state that is teeming with interesting tourist attractions. Today we focus on the historic maritime coast of the Constitution State in “Mystic Country.”

The seaside towns and villages of Mystic County run 30 miles along Long Island Sound, starting at the town of Old Lyme and ending at the border of Rhode Island to the east. Our story begins with a visit to famous Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut.

The Mystic Seaport sign proclaims, “The Museum of America

Your next vacation needs to be to the Bocas del Toro Archipelago in Panamá. Easy to get to from North America and Europe via Panama City, or combine with a trip to Costa Rica, Bocas del Toro has everything you could want in a Caribbean vacation – sun, clear turquoise Caribbean Sea, white sand beaches, coral reef, dolphins – but without the crowds.

Located off the Caribbean coast of northwestern Panama, very close to the border with Costa Rica, the Bocas del Toro Archipelago is an area of incredi

Tourism is facing four challenges that are perhaps more threatening than at any time since September 11, 2001.  What is interesting is that just as in the years prior to 9/11, many tourism officials have simply chosen either to ignore threats or to dismiss them with a great deal of verbiage and little actions.  Although Al-Qaeda, as it was constituted some 14 years ago, is less of a threat, terrorism has evolved into new and perhaps more dangerous organizations.  This month, Tourism Tidbits pr

No doubt about it - as you read this, Maryland's largest city, Baltimore, is going through its most wrenching moment in decades. But while like every single large U.S. city, it has its problems, the current difficulties are centered in West Baltimore, home to a fraction of the city's 622,000-plus residents - and caused by a thuggish element that's taken advantage of a tragedy to inflict yet more tragedy on an already stressed community.No doubt about it, this localized eruption was a long time

Both Spain and Mexico are known for their rich ceramics tradition stretching back centuries (that of the latter dating back to the Aztecs, Mayans, Olmecs, and other Amerindian civilizations, and on the Iberian peninsula at least to the pre-Roman-Empire Celto-Iberians). But when it comes to "brand names," probably the most famous in both countries is that of Talavera, which originates in Talavera de la Reina, an hour and a half southwest of Madrid and an hour 20 minutes west of Toledo (it’s a sh

The answer is, quite simply, yes. There’s a direct correlation between the type and number of coats of paint covering an aircraft and both its weight and aerodynamics — and therefore, of course, its fuel consumption. This, in turn, has an impact on the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.

Iberia is one of the first airlines in the world to utilise a new system of paint application which allows savings of some 30 percent in materials — not to mention time, as it requires only a s

Marmaris is a small but popular tourist destination in Turkey which offers something for everyone. Right from Marmaris boat tours to long full day Marmaris excursions , there are plenty of things to do which will make a vacation in Marmaris exciting and memorable for everyone.

The white water rafting activity takes place on the Dalaman river which flows in the most picturesque setting possible. Acting as a border between two of the ancient Greek settlements of Lycia and Caria, the river banks and