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Costa Rica is always great for family vacations, with its exotic wildlife, amazing nature, thrilling adventure tours, and of course, being the safest place to travel in 2016.

Families who travel to Costa Rica know that the charming Central American country is a fun, easy and safe family vacation destination. Costa Rica is not only a most recommended travel hotspot in the world; it also tops the list of safe places to travel in 2016.

Costa Rica is always a great place for families to travel with ki

                    photo | Julian Rotela Rosow 

by Laura Tirado

Perhaps one of the things that most surprised me about the Galapagos is the nonchalance with which the local species still receive human visitors. To this day, the great majority of these islands is unpopulated, and in this largely pristine territory it’s mostly iguanas and sea lions who are your hosts on these shore excursions in the footsteps of Charles Darwin.

In fact, a sea lion was precisely the first creature I encountered

photo: Teri Verbickis

On this blog I recently ate my way through some of the top meatless menus of Europe, and today I’m hopping across the pond for a slightly tougher challenge – the best Latin America vegetarian restaurants. Oh sure, Central America, South America, and the Spanish Caribbean are famously the mother lode of corn, potatoes, and especially rice and beans, but if that’s all you rely upon, things can get pretty monótono pretty fast.

Yet as in much of the rest of the world, things are

You don't book a room in Condado, an isthmus lined with beachfront condos, hotels, fabulous restaurants and bars, clubs, and casinos near downtown San Juan, because you love stand-up paddleboarding. (Stand-up bar-hopping, that's another thing.) But every day more and more locals are shelling out $1,000 and up for paddleboards so they can slice through Condado Lagoon, which separates Condado from the mainland. And now a start-up company named Velauno, which I discovered with a little help from

The rising cost of fuel is a topic that we are all familiar with and it can affect us both in our daily life plus our holiday travel plans. It is not just the UK that is facing this problem; it is a common factor all over the world and with many of us choosing to book holidays that involve a car hire it helps if we know a few ways of conserving the fuel we have and getting the most from it.

Before you depart on your journey you need to make sure your vehicle is in an overall good condition. It’

Our visit to Dubrovnik seemed to be generating lots of hype onboard the ship. As this was our first Mediterranean cruise we were swept up in the added anticipation. Let me tell you, we weren’t disappointed.

There were many ex-pats on board the ship with us who were looking forward to the visit. Also, many with ancestors from the area. Perhaps as a result of the former Yugoslavia’s troubled past, many were returning to their homeland for the first time. You could visibly see the added excitement

Lençóis Maranhenses is surely one of the most wondrous places in a country packed with wondrous places. If we add to its undisputed beauty the fact that mass tourism has not reached the region, we have the perfect tourist destination. The Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in the small northern state of Maranhão spreads over 300 square kilometers of white dunes and lagoons that can be defined as one of the most fascinating places on earth.

The sand dunes spread from the coast, reaching over 50 km

Orhan Cam


In an intensely grumpy, topsy-turvy election year in the United States, many politicians and citizens alike just love to inveigh against Washington and all it stands for. But as an urban experience, I can tell you as a former resident that DC can be a wonderful place to live. And certainly to visit - as many Americans do every year. And especially now, as they begin a long holiday weekend for their Independence Day on July Fourth, those who hit the road and make a week of it – especiall

In the warm waters of the Golfo Dulce in southern Costa Rica, Pacific humpback whales are about to arrive on their annual migration to mate, give birth and socialize from July to October.


A spray of water erupted from the placid blue-green water a few hundred yards off the beach. The long, black and barnacled form of a mother humpback whale surfaced gracefully for air. Our little group standing on the concrete pier pointed excitedly at the huge whale. Then we gasped in delight as we suddenly

by José Alejandro Adamuz


Hilly and cosmopolitan, north Portugal's home of port wine is definitely a place to wander, to lose yourself in its alleyways, stop at its lookout points, and marvel at the sunset and the sky filled with seagulls. With its slightly melancholic air, the country's second largest city is a Portuguese jewel to be discovered from all facets.

From Above

Porto is full of superb lookout points, as the city rises in increments from the Duero River estuary to the surrounding hil

Astride the River Clyde in the western Lowlands, Scotland’s largest city (pop. 1.75 million/greater metro area 2.2 million) is also, in the estimation of many, its most exciting, the grand neoclassical architecture of the past is joined by 21st-century starchitecture (the 2006 Clyde Arc, aka, both now a backdrop to a renaissance that’s been booming since the 1980s in the arts, design, culture, shopping scene, and other areas. And summer is when locals and visitors alike enjoy this heady mix of

photo |  holbox

Several weeks ago, I wrote about top vacation beaches in Croatia, France, and Greece . Here's the second half, covering Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey - all hugely popular with Europeans as well as vacationers from across the world. In the market for some sun, sand 'n' surf this summer? Check out this bunch: 

Italy

The Italian boot being surrounded by water, it boasts a serious abbondanza of spiaggie here. The problem for me, though, has always been that too many are too overr

You have many opportunities for stepping back in time when exploring Connecticut's coastline. One stellar example is the Saybrook Point section of Old Saybrook Connecticut, situated at the confluence of the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound 100 miles equidistant from Boston and NYC. Before interstate highways and multi lane bridges dominated the transportation landscape, a railroad roundhouse marked the spot along with ferry docks that shuttled passengers across the river up until the 1920

The thought of a flight delay can fill any roving traveller with dread, but fear not, after much travelling we have found the best airports to get stranded in:

1. Geneva Airport, Switzerland

You have just returned a car hire in Geneva airport and you’re ready to check in for your return flight home when disaster strikes, they tell you your flight has been delayed for 4 hours! You should take this as a perfect opportunity to head for the airport shops and treat yourself, or buy those last minute

Oktoberfest will take place for the 179th time and rock & roll Munich for almost 3 weeks. The beer feast will begin on 22 September and run till 7 October this year. The city will change into a folk festival with people wearing traditional Bavarian outfits all these days. You will find it surprising to see women hurrying to work on bike in colourful Dirndl (traditional Bavarian dress) in the early morning. Men wear leather trousers and chequered shirts in the office and Wiesn - where the Oktober

photo: LEE SNIDER PHOTO IMAGES


by Myrna Katz Frommer and Harvey Frommer

Recently we needed a place to stay for an appearance for both of us at the National Press Club Book Fair in Washington, D.C. to promote our books It Happened in Miami and When It Was Just a Game: Remembering the First Super Bowl.

How fortunate could we be – right across the street from where we were to appear – DC's property of choice – the historic Willard InterContinental Hotel.

The Willard is a landmark hotel, a stately

Salvador da Bahia has one of most passionate and distinctive culinary traditions in all of Brazil, thanks in large part to the huge African influence on its culture. The African customs (such as the use of dendê (palm) oil, a typical Bahian ingredient) are fused with European and also native traditions, resulting in intense and exotically-tropical dishes.

From small bars on the beaches and streets of the city to sophisticated restaurants, there is a multifaceted and vast range of culinary options