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The beautiful land of Kerala provides myriad landscapes and experiences to enchant its visitors - not just the beaches and reknowned "backwaters," but also lovely hill stations (mountain towns built by the British to escape the heat of thee lowlands) surrounded by expansive tea and coffee plantations, endless spice gardens, and panoramic views of mist-swathed hills.

Stimulating Wayanad

With its mist clothed mountains and mountainous rivers, Wayanad is an idyllic location for a weekend trip. Its m

The two buildings look across the crowded square at each other. Like Istanbul itself, they both divide and join the citizens and their history. Represented within these two great landmarks is the core of the city’s heritage. If the buildings were people, historical figures even, they would be eyeing each other off with an acceptance of contemporary diplomacy but with memories of a violent past. This is the beauty today of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (aka Blue Mosque) and Hagia Sophia.

Turkey and Ist

Disneyland has long touted itself as the place where dreams come true, and this is one of the rare cases where a slogan perfectly captures the essence of a place. Millions flock to Anaheim, California every year to experience the Magic Kingdom first hand, a place where adults and children alike can toss aside the real world for a few short days and experience a real life fantasy.

However, even Mickey and his friends can't hide Disneyland's seedy underbelly: the public restroom. These days,

Maria Victoria Lopez, sjo

 In 1919, in the immediate wake of the devastation wrought by World War I, an architect named Walter Gropius, one of the pioneering maestros of modern architecture, founded an art school that combined fine arts with crafts and eventually architecture, with a minimalist approach to design that combined all of it with contemporary technology under the maxim "form follows function". Starting in eastern Germany - first in Dessau, then in Weimar, and finally a third school

Erysse Elliott at Haleʻiwa Aliʻi Beach Park on Oahu's North Shore. Ah, endless summer!

courtesy of Christopher Elliott

Ever visited a place that you liked so much that you didn't want to leave? Me too.

I have a short list of destinations that we were so enamored of, we would live there. Some of them might be on your list, like Hawaii and Southern California. Others, like Fort Collins, Colo., New Orleans, and Ketchum, Idaho, might come as a surprise. 

Identifying them isn't hard. They're plac

Iranian architecture reflects the rich history and culture of the country, especially its ornamental tiles and clever engineering masterpieces, yielding for example an amazing 20 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Here are ten that visitors to Iran shouldn't miss.


Nasir-al-Mulk Mosque of Shiraz

A mosque like a jewelry box and one of the great historical places to visit in Iran, this architectural masterpiece of the nineteenth century, apart from its vivid patterns, beautiful windows, owes its repu

by José Alejandro Adamuz

Central America's largest and perhaps most diverse country has many dramatic spots that evoke a marked sense of place - the spectacular Mayan ruins of Tikal; the colonial splendour of Antigua; the castaway Caribbean vibe of Livingston; and much more. But Lake Atitlán, in the highlands a 2 1/2-hour drive north of Guatemala City, does that and more - it evokes something akin to an interior emotion and energy, a soaring of the soul, even a sense of the sublime.

Among

Historic warehouse buildings in Misegura

Edo is the old name for Tokyo and the Edo period was a thriving time in the "Kanto" region of Eastern Japan. There are several places – in both Tokyo and Tochigi [refectures – where the old Edo atmosphere still lives on -- in architecture, crafts, festivals, and cuisine.


Edo Tokyo Museum

A Journey Into History at the Edo-Tokyo Museum


In the downtown Shitamachi area of Tokyo's historic Sumida ward, the Edo-Tokyo Museum displays artifacts and models reve

The latest subject in our series of articles about luxuriously uncommon coastal lodgings in northern California is unique in many respects. This coastal cattle ranch covers 2,000 remote acres chock-full of forests and plains. It’s the perfect location for a wedding, corporate gathering, or a romantic getaway.

The property stretches along a mile of picturesque bluffs overlooking the Pacific, complete with magnificent rock formations that rise from the sea and have endured ions of pounding by the

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Increase Website Visitors

They can offer you ROI-driven online advertising options such

India's Bharat Darshan train takes passengers to several popular destinations, focusing mainly on holy places. Its all-inclusive tours target Indians looking to visit temples and go on pilgrimages, and at affordable rates. Accommodating a total of about 500 passengers, the train has sleeper-class carriages that do not have air conditioning. For on-boarding catering there is also a pantry car available. Tours are usually conducted by students who belong to reputable hotel-industry and tourism co

James Sanders

Some getaways you can make without much fuss - on the spur of the moment, even. But certain trips need a degree of organisation, and unless you're going with an upmarket tour operator that takes care of every last detail, an African safari - truly a life-changing experience, clichéd as that phrase has become - is very definitely one of them. Here's our take on the best approach - and some of these tips will strike you as no-brainers, but others may not have occurred to you. Let's

Amazing landscapes that will blow your mind, marvelous creatures you will never be able to forget, beautiful land and sea, as well as the perfection of the air… These are the things you can see in Australia, no matter which side of it you choose to visit. It is time to start an epic journey to remember.

Kangaroos and Koalas will Astonish You

What people love about Australia is the fact that here you get to see astonishing animals called kangaroos and adorable koalas. Prepare a hammock and go to

Killerfishfinger

Relatively small and sparsely populated (400 square kilometers/150 square miles, pop. around 20,000) the Llyn Peninsula of northwest Wales is bucolic, a center of Welsh language and traditional identity, and also one of this country's most sought-after holiday destinations, popular because of its lovely scenery, seascapes, and towns and villages. Here are my top five:

Pwllheli

A spirited market town of just over 4,000 - many of them Welsh speakers - Pwllheli (above) is regarde

Erysse and Iden Elliott in a Southwest Airlines flight simulator in 2016.

courtesy of Christopher Elliott

Flying somewhere with your family? Before you board that plane, before you pack your bags, before you even book your ticket, you'll want to read this.

A solo plane trip can be stressful. But add kids or grandparents to the mix, and it's enough to make you throw yourself out that emergency exit door at cruising altitude. In a recent Yahoo Travel survey, one in five parents surveyed fou

If you're looking to step into the boots of a real cowboy on your riding holiday look no further than Ranch Rider, as the tour operator is run by keen equestrians and horse owners, their passion to help you get more out of your time in the saddle.

Tony Daly, managing director of Ranch Rider, comments, “Even though branding, roping and cattle work are available activities at most working ranches, there are always subtle key differences in the guest experience from one ranch to another. From the be

Svetlana Bykova,

by Cristóbal Ramírez


As we all know, the capital of Costa Rica is San José. But it was not always thus. A bit over an hour's drive to the west is a city dubbed the "Vieja Metrópoli" (Old Metropolis). The first successful settlement by the invading Spaniards, in 1563, Cartago - honoured as "Very Noble and Very Loyal" by Spain's parliament - served as Costa Rica's capital till 1823.

Actually, little remains of Cartago's very first location, as the city was moved twice (and then

Thailand's capital has the proverbial something for everyone - a mix of exotic traditional culture, cuisine and shopping with no shortage of fun from tame to notoriously naughty. Days are sunny and beautiful, nights are exciting, and there's never a dearth of things to do. It's perhaps for this amazing versatility that Bangkok is often referred to as a tourist paradise. The city of course also serves as a gateway to many other parts of Thailand, including Phuket and the other islands and beach d

Argan oil is part of the Moroccan way of life - as well as prized by quite a few international chefs. Apart from a few isolated places in Mexico, the argan tree grows only in Morocco. It yields a lemony-yellow fruit, from the kernel of which argan oil is obtained. If oil is extracted from raw kernels, it’s used for making cosmetics; if the kernels are roasted first, it produces a cooking oil which Moroccans say is even superior to olive oil.

Argan fruit is harvested in a similar way to the ol

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Many holidayers are sceptical about activating international roaming on their phones. We dispel a few myths about these plans.

If you have heard stories about how international roaming plans can cost you a lot of money and the providers charge exorbitantly per minute, then you need to read this post to correct a few notions.

How much do international roaming plans cost?

• It's the age of intense competition among mobile service providers. With some providers floating plans with the low