Los guiris la han conocido siempre por su sol, pero Málaga, una ciudad grande y dinámica, es mucho más que playa. No sigan leyendo si no quieren desligarse del tópico. En medio de una franja litoral que es sinónimo de medicina para alemanes e ingleses surge esta urbe andaluza y mediterránea que desde hace unos años se está transformando. Lo mejor para comenzar a conocer Málaga es subirse al Monte Gibralfaro, donde se encuentra la alcazaba árabe, el castillo y el parador de turismo. Allí en lo al

Nosara, Costa Rica is renowned for some of the best surfing in Costa Rica, and for being a yoga paradise. But there are plenty of other exciting adventure and nature tours to do as well on this string of beautiful beaches along the Nicoya Peninsula.

Here are five fun tours to try during your visit to Nosara and Playa Guiones:

1. Miss Sky Canopy Tour / 8:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. daily.

You have to try a canopy zip-line tour when you vacation in Costa Rica. The Miss Sky Canopy Tour by Nosara is one of t

 
Go ahead, type in “Perfect Family” in Google images. What do you see? Probably no one you recognize as a “typical” family. Pretty shocking.


New Media Travel once asked “Why Is Hotel Content So Boring?”

The point was that hotels, airlines, and often the entire family travel industry, are inclined to present images of the perfect family: a leggy blonde mother, two gorgeous light-haired kids and a handsome, fit dad playing in the blue water.

Or, worse, lest they offend anyone, their family tra

          The inaugural meeting of the Occasional Sprit Council (OSC) took place on March 31^st at the strikingly beautiful art-filled home of Todd and Susan Montgomery.  It was the perfect setting to launch the council.  Linda Kissam, writer, wine publicist, and Vice President of The International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association, devised the council based on her Occasional Wine Council (OWC).  Like OWC, participants were to bring a dish that they had prepared to pair with their assigned

Portugal exudes a sense of adventure thanks to its deep seated wanderlust heritage. Vasco de Gama, Ferdinand Magellan, and Henry the Navigator charted the course for modern day exploration. Now it's your turn to hit the road on your own journey of this long and narrow country where the inspiration began. Dialect, weather, and attitudes differ markedly between regions like the Douro River Valley, Lisbon (Lisboa), and the sunny Algarve to the South. Walking Lisbon's ancient streets, hitting the Fa

Port St Johns is not some fancy destination but a third-world town which houses a fascinating medley of characters and blends extreme poverty with unsurpassed natural beauty and great outdoor options. Its rural setting has also made it a popular location for various film shoots, including "Shout at the Devil” and the more recent "Blood Diamond" starring Leonardo Di Caprio.

The tow is located in the Eastern Cape roughly 900 km from Johannesburg and can be reached by Route N3 via Underberg and

I have to admit, I’m not real big on bling – aka precious metals and stones. I recognize their beauty and value, but it’s just not me.  For my taste, I prefer materials such as, say, turquoise, jade, and amber, which share a singular earthy beauty no matter how they’re cut.

Amber, in particular, is a fascinating substance. The ancient Greeks called it elektron (this word wasn’t applied to electricity till the late 19th century), and this fossilized tree sap has been used for adornment for at l

Whether you love grand architecture, great art, animals, scandals, generosity, or damn-the-torpedos eccentricity, you've got to love Doris Duke and Rough Point, Duke's seaside mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Known as “the world's richest girl,” Doris Duke inherited her wealthy father's estate when she was 12 and ended up suing her own mother for control of the properties. (And you thought your family had spats?) Judging by what happened later, it's a good thing she did.

Duke grew up to be a

By Allan D. Kissam and Richard W. Kissam

This is a true story of a death at sea. It is a story of weekend sailors and the US Coast Guard.

My father, Richard, was an experienced sailor. He studied sailing and boats, practiced maneuvers, and for years he sailed his sailboat around southern California. His long distance trips had included being crew on a Tahiti bound sailboat. He was better than most for seamanship skills.

He got the first boat in 1958, a 28-foot ketch that quickly became an obsession

I have come to appreciate more and more each day the invigorating light of the Riviera. Henri Matisse once said: “Quand j’ai compris que chaque matin je reverrais cette lumiere, je ne pouvais croire a mon bonheur!” (When I realized that each morning I would see this light again, I could not believe my happiness!). Going out each morning to fetch our croissants and pains au chocolat, I am hit as soon as I step outside with a feeling of happiness and readiness to face another day by the warm light

Locronan

The spectacular region of Brittany, located along France's northern shore, boasts ancient towns, medieval homes, and rugged coastlines with breathtaking views. And impressively, she hosts five of the Most Beautiful Villages of France.

The seasoned traveler knows that one of the greatest pleasures in crossing borders and discovering new places is in sampling different countries’ cuisine; giving oneself up to the endless smells and flavorus that flood the senses and imprint lasting memories on the taste buds. Not all destinations are the same of course, but some are particularly special when it comes to the culinary contrast of colors, textures and sensations.  And Bulgaria is one of them.

Bulgarian cuisine is replete with Sl

If you have not seen the film Chocolat, stop now and go rent / buy / download it so you know what I am talking about. If you have seen it, you know the expressions of ecstasy on the faces of the townspeople as they are transformed by Vianne’s exotic chocolate creations.

In the film – which is perfect for Easter Week – Vianne livens up the inhibited French town with ancient Maya secrets of chocolate preparation from Central America.

Prized by the Mayas, Aztecs and Inkas, and formerly reserved onl

In the travel world, few topics incite more contention and indignation than seatback etiquette—as we learned a while back when we published Six Shocking Stories of Travelers Gone Wild, which stirred up a wild debate among our readers.

In the piece, an editor from Family Vacation Critic (our sister site) and I both shared stories about other passengers reacting churlishly when we inched our seats backward. "When flying out of Portugal," I wrote, "I reclined my seat and fell asleep. I woke up when

por Cristóbal Ramírez

El colorido de sus edificios contrasta con sus montes verdes. Sea cual sea la dirección que tomen sus pies por el centro de Quito, capital de Ecuador, le rodeará la historia. Uno se queda boquiabierto ante tal despliegue de estilos artísticos mientras los quiteños van a su aire y apenas posan la mirada sobre los monumentos. Con razón fue declarada una de las primeras ciudades patrimonio de la Unesco, en 1978.

La Plaza de San Blas da la bienvenida en la parte antigua. Lueg

When the days grow longer and the dreary winter slowly melts away, it’s time to pack your suitcase and head out to meet spring! Our favourite season is simply more beautiful in some places – and some places are simply more beautiful in spring. Stuck for a place to go? Choose one of our top five spring destinations below.

1. Bohemian spring rhapsody in Prague

Prague is the capital of Bohemia – and the Czech Republic, of course. Avoid the summer crowds by visiting in spring, when the Golden City gli

by Andy Jarosz

Walk along the streets of Old Havana, Cuba and you’re quite likely to stop to admire a very curious sight that will pass you by. You’ll probably hear it or even smell its fumes before you see it. You’ll wonder why it looks like a bicycle but sounds like a lawnmower. Welcome to the riquimbili: not quite what Che Guevara rode in The Motorcycle Diaries but a good example of Cuban inventiveness in finding a solution to a very real everyday headache.

Since the Castro revolution in

Samoa - so very serene

A postcard of natural beauty, Samoa won the heart of Bev Malzard on a short break holiday.

It wasn’t quite love at first sight, but a slow feeling of affection growing as I came to know Samoa. After an early (before dawn) arrival at Faleolo Airport to the sound of local singers – and I’m always a sucker for a pretty song – we headed south cutting through the island of Upolu Island from north to south.

Driving through the dark, the soft twilight quietly emerged and we could s

The road warrior, the business traveler, represents a huge 50% or more of a hotel’s revenue, but what we found very interesting is a trend to combine a family vacation with a business trip.

An impressive 67.7 percent of those randomly polled said they combine business travel with family travel, a major shift from just ten years ago when corporations frowned on the practice of mixing business with pleasure.

One study actually suggested that business travelers filed 80% more medical claims than

I was at a Mexican restaurant recently, and its colorful assortment of piñatas reminded me of all my trips to Mexico - not to mention one of my oldest childhood memories. You know that car commercial that’s been all over the tube recently, the one with a kid whaling away at a piñata that stubbornly refuses to break – a stand-in for the durability of this particular make of car? It brought me back to one of my earliest childhood memories, my own kiddie party, when my dad handed me a plastic bat