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We rented an apartment through an agency called Checkin Apartments. The apartment was great - newly renovated with trendy kitchen and bathroom, but still kept the charm of the old building. The location on Kungsholmen in central Stockholm was also perfect.
A family-run hotel located within walking distance of the centre of Soller. Dating back to the Muslim era, its impeccable accommodations and facilities surrounded by the majestic old orange farm provide visitors with a welcoming sense of wanting to be there forever. The memories from the friendly service provided by Andres and his wife Ana during my honeymoon in August 2000 remain unchanged.
Calle La Villalonga, 23, 07100, Soller, Mallorca
Tel: 971 63 33 32
www.cascurial.com/en/finca-cas-curial.htm
Amorgos...what a natural paradise! It is off the beaten track, it is getting famous due to the fact that Luc Besson shot his movie Le Gran Bleu there. This kind of accommodation is perfect if you want to stay in the middle of the island.
Aegiali
GR-84008 Amorgos Greece
Tel. +30.693.799.24.65
Website: www.amorgos-agiospavlos.com
Ask for rooms 805/06 and get a magnificent view of Coloba and the Gate of India.
The owner, Mr Singh is a gentleman of the first order and will (on request) sort everything out for you.
The most sensible thing we did was, as we were arriving at the airport at 11:00pm, pre-order collection by car (four-wheel drive and aircon) from the hotel.
It cost £13 but given the subsequent hassles at every airport/train/bus station involving taxi drivers it was worth every penny and more.
Jasmine Building
41, Garden Road, Colaba,
Mumbai - 400039
www.mumbainet.com/hotels/godwin/
Marmadukes Hotel is a great hotel in the city of York. My wife and I stayed there last summer and always recommend it to our friends whenever they visit. It used to be a Victorian gentleman’s town house and they have re-created it into a beautiful four-star hotel with handcrafted beds and Georgian and Victorian antique furnishings. Amazing service to boot. Perfect place to stay in York!
St Peters Grove
YORK
North Yorkshire
YO30 6AQ
www.marmadukeshotels.co.uk
A beautiful little town on a bay. By far the best place to stay is L'Esplendido hotel which faces the mouth of the bay with the two lighthouses on either side. The hotel is beautifully done up and with lots of interesting spaces so as not to feel too crowded, including two pools on the terraces at the back with the most spectacular view from the infinity pool.
Really experience the chill by taking the tiny tram to Sollier which winds through the village back gardens with the temptation to pick lemons from the trees very high.
Port de Sollier is in the north west of the island nestled on the other side of the amazing mountains. Best way is to drive there (30mins from Palma) and make sure to take the tunnel (small toll).
Village on the north-west side of the island. Drive up from Palma takes 30 minutes (buses every hour). Go down to the fishing port and have lunch in the restaurant there after a dip (beware the jellyfish).
In the evening try Son Moragues - most beautiful restaurant setting I've ever seen. Stay in 'Es Petit Valldemossa' hotel in the heart of the village. In the morning have a coca de patata with a coffee. This is my paradise.
This very friendly family hotel has superb views across the valley of the town of Sartene, snow-capped peaks beyond, as well as the bay at Propriano eight kilometres up the road. Comes with swimmming pool and tennis court. Fifteen minute walk from town. Very affordable.
The one essential reason to visit Kampong Cham is for the Rana Country Homestay - the most rewarding day of our entire trip to Cambodia. 80% of Cambodia’s population are still subsistence farmers, and this place is unique in giving an insider insight into the realities of peasant life.
The delightful and informative owner takes you on tours of the village and farmlands, in between making delicious home-cooked Cambodian meals (best Amok by miles), and in the evening people from the village come to talk to you about whatever you want.
We found it particularly insightful to have this perspective on the Pol Pot years – especially as most information comes from previously wealthy city dwellers dispossessed by the Khmer Rouge or the horrors of Toul Sleng and the killing fields. Strongly recommend you take the short detour required off the road from Phnom Penh – Siem Reap to visit!
The Juma is a small hotel right on the square at the centre of Pollenca and above one of the local cafes. It is comfortable and the owners, a local family are very helpful and welcoming. So are the bar staff.
Plaça Major, Pollenca, Mallorca.
This pension was the best deal we made while travelling around Turkey. We paid only 30 new Turkish Lira for three persons with breakfast. We achieved this price in Kas as well but the quality was incomparable. We did not get a room; we got a whole little house. Huge fully equipped kitchen with fridge, nice big clean bathroom and great bed with mosquito nets as this area is supposed to have lots of insects.
Patara lies on the shore, where in the past used to be a commercial harbour. The harbour no longer exists but the area is still quite wet and therefore an ideal place for insects. Anyway we did not have problems with the mosquitoes at all.
The pension is run by a middle-aged couple, incredibly nice people who have two sons but neither of them wants to take over the business. So if you wish to stay here make sure you do not postpone it too long. The city, pension itself and brilliant breakfast prepared by "mum" and nice evening talks with the "papa" will ensure you will have a wonderful time here. He will also give you a lift to the beach in the morning. If you are interested in the nearby ruins, the pension has some books in English about them. Papa’s English is quite good; Mum's is struggling a bit, but her friendly approach makes up for it. Credit cards accepted.
www.pataraflowerpension.com
Tel: +902428435164
E-mail:info@pataraflowerpension.com
I went on safari to Kenya and it was truly fantastic - go to the Masai Mara - and hopefully your tour guide will venture into the serengeti in Tanzania! The Masai Mara is the biggest and the best park. The serengeti is the next biggest (I think) and the landscape, although beautiful, was not as breathtaking.
DO stay in a luxury lodge for at least 2 days...Not too expensive and everything is usually included and you are guaranteed to see at least the 'big 4' out of 5.
If you decide that you want a more rustic slash back to nature experience, then look around for a guidebook recommended lodge/camping site, as a few friends of mine went for the cheapest, and saw very little as the guides were not as experienced!
We visited Tala Private Game Reserve (about an hour from Durban) on our honeymoon – the accommodation there is wonderful. There are several accommodation lodges within the park, the most expensive and highest quality is Leadwood Lodge where the park owners live, which is truly stunning (and I have exceedingly high standards). Everything to do with the accommodation, the food, the infinity pool, the views, the service was perfection.
Within a package you would have your food and 1 game drive a day included (drinks are extra). You could choose the time of your game drive so you didn't have to get up at 5am like other places.
Tala is a private reserve so there is a controlled animal population which is easily visible - we saw loads of zebras, giraffes, buffalo, and springbok to name just a few. They didn't have the cats though. Our guide was exceptional. A really nice guy who also educated us about the animals and the plants in the area. Overall it was an outstanding experience. 2 game drives over 2 days was enough, but I still wish we had stayed longer than 2 nights - just to enjoy the food and the surroundings. I really didn't want to leave.
The accommodation near the Hluhluwe Umfolozi Game Reserve is sub-standard for the money, which was less expensive than Tala - but far removed from the quality and beauty of Tala. We were booked for 2 nights but decided to leave after 1 night. The River Lodge was a 30 minute drive from the national park - so to do a game drive, you have a round trip of an hour of driving without being in the park. The park is massive and the animals are sparse. We did see an elephant and rhinos which was fantastic, but otherwise our guide didn't have any insightful knowledge beyond the basics, and we spent a lot of time driving around not seeing very much at all. There were cats at the park - but so elusive you seldom saw them. We didn't see any. But mostly the accommodation spoilt the experience of the stay.
We had booked the "honeymoon chalet" since we were on honeymoon and I saw a picture online which showed a lovely freestanding bathtub by a window. However you couldn't use it since the water was thick slug. Overall we found everything about the River Lodge from the food (which was unsophisticated) to the rooms (which smelt musty and had noisy and ineffectual air-conditioning) extremely poor. The "resort" lacked any kind of beauty and catered to groups rather than the independent, discerning traveller. I just wish their marketing had not been so misleading.
The lodge is just outiste the Hluhluwe Umfolozi Game Reserve
tinyurl.com/27ovd7
It is a sort of ancient riad, so private and charming! I was there during Easter holidays
It has only three suites and each of them is called with the name of a colour that personalized the decoration.
The staff are very kind. The palace has also a personal shopper who escorted me in the medina where I did some shopping, he helped me to find some original souvenirs really appreciated by my friends.
There is also a superb hammam where you can relax and if you stay at Dar Darma, try the mint tea: it is great!
Dar Darma, Marrakech
28 Derb El Farnatchi
www.dardarma.com
Fantastic accommodation at fair price. It is a great apartment in Krakow just next to the Skalka shrine - perfect location for sightseeing - close to Vistula river, Wawel Castle and the Old Jewish Quarter.
Lovely and quiet spot with no stag parties in sight! Perfect both for families and romantic couples.
The owners are very helpful. They have a very nice website with lots of useful travel tips.
A wilderness oasis on the edge of the magnificent Namib desert with 10 kulalas (thatched chalets) in the middle of a 46,000-acre private reserve. We saw oryx, springboks, warthogs, mountain zebras, buzzards, hornbills, ostriches and baboons, with none of the jeep scrum you get in many safari destinations. Nearby, you can look out on a sea of golden dunes at Sossusvlei.
I stayed at Tafika camp run by Remote Africa Safaris who specialise in walking safaris. The camp’s reed and thatch chalets overlook the Luangwa river in a far northern corner of South Luangwa national park. The next day we walked four hours to spend a night at Crocodile Camp, a row of simple clay huts on the banks of a watering hole. We didn’t see much big game but that didn’t seem to matter. At night we drank beers in a makeshift bar watching warthogs frolic in front of us.
The Bushcamp Company offers less wild but no less beautiful camps with hot and cold running water, sunken baths and gourmet food.
I went to Botswana in January and stayed in the south at Tuli Lodge - an hour and a half flight from Jo'burg. It was a great time of year to go as it’s the rainy season so although the south is dry we saw plenty of elephants, giraffes, wart hogs, a lion on the first safari and a python on the last. Plenty of herds of Impala, Zebra, Elan and Kudo.
We also stayed at Craigs (organised though Tuli) and we walked there which meant you get to track the animals, get close to the birdlife and flora and fauna. On the walking trip we saw a Black Mamba - something to remember. Craigs is an unfenced camping ground so isolated and with an air of excitement. Steve our guide was excellent. Sundowners every night at a different spot to watch the sunset.
Other highlights included visiting the orphanage in Tuli which has been built by the owner of Tuli Lodge and a quick trip to Victoria Falls.
Our two-week trip felt much longer as you get so much into a day. This was my first safari and I’m now planning a trip to Namibia.
Hot tip: extremely romantic.
De Grey's has had tea rooms for decades and that is lovely, but it also now has superb B&B rooms attached.
The room we stayed in was really comfortable and warm. The bathroom was really nice with fantastic shower.
The breakfasts were huge and delicious, both the pastries and the traditional English. It seems very good value - 3 star price, but feels more than that.
De Grey's, 5-6 Broad Street, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1NG. 01584 872764 www.degreys.co.uk
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