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Fantastic way to find the less explored parts of Beijing. They organise hikes along the Great Wall away from the crowded tourist sections.
Trekking, biking, climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering etc. This outdoor company, founded by local Lion Xu and Scot Lee Mclaughlin will set up/guide trips for you in Sichuan, based on your detailed requirements.
Recent events in the north of the province mean those areas are out of bounds for leisure, but contact them for recommendations for other areas.
A full day trip from Valparaiso is the hike up Cerro la Campana. Darwin made the trip up in 1834 and declared it one of the highlights of his journey. It's a 3-4 hour, reasonably tough but non-technical hike up to the top where you will be rewarded with incredible views of the Andes (including Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas) on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. Quite spectacular.
Take 2-3 litres of water, some snacks, and get there early - 9am at the latest to ensure you're first to the top. Around 8.30am the ranger will turn up and sign you in. You cannot start the climb after 10am.
Sector Granizo just past Olmue, 45 minutes drive from Valparaiso
More info and photos: corrugatedcity.blogspot.com/2008/04/cerro-la-campana-ii.html and corrugatedcity.blogspot.com/2008/04/cerro-la-campana.html
This is a great little hotel in a superb location for both (snow-sure) skiing in winter and outdoor activities the rest of the year. Amazing views in all directions. Good home-cooked food and very reasonable prices. They've got a lovely big garden and sunny terrace where you can relax/read/gaze at the stunning mountains across the valley. It's easy to reach from Salzburg, Linz or Graz airports.
We've been there in winter and also on walking holidays in summer and can't decide which we liked better. The village (Bad Mitterndorf) is really unspoilt by tourism - no package tours go there and the atmosphere is really Austrian. It's on the edge of the Austrian Lake District - great for swimming in the hot summers! We just keep on going back for more. Oh, and they've got mountain bikes that guests can use free of charge, too.
www.austria-skiing.com
www.austria-walking.com
Tel : +43 (0) 3623 2638
email : pensionbinder@aon.at
A sky resort mainly, but there are some mountains you can climb and other trails you can follow.
A local told us you can follow a trail from Puerto de Navacerrada back down to the town of Cercedilla which takes about three hours.
Absoutely amazing views on top of the mountains of Madrid and Castilla y Leon. Makes for an amazing day out.
Take the train from Nuevos Ministerios, Atocha or Charmartin to Cercedilla where you change to take the train up the hill to Puerto de Navacerrada. Takes about two hours in total from Charmartin.
From there, follow other hikers up the hill and the various trail signs.
Los Feliz is a great little neighborhood in north-east Los Angeles, near Griffith Park (I'm a little biased since I live there...). Anytime but mid-July through August are the best times to go - it can get pretty hot some days during those months. Check out Hillhurst north of Franklin, and Vermont north of Hollywood. Lots of great restaurants, bars and hang-outs (Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Hillhurst has a great patio with firepit). Griffith Park is also nearby, with plenty of great hiking trails, pony rides for the kids, picnic areas, etc.
East of Western, north of Franklin, West of Riverside drive, south of Griffith Park. Get there from the west side by taking the 10 east, 110 North, 5 North, get off at Los Feliz Blvd and head west. Griffith Park will be to your right as you drive down Los Feliz Blvd.
The San Juan Islands, a two-hour ferry ride out of Anacortes, Washington, are a great destination for outdoor recreation.
Moran State Park on Orcas Island has lovely scenic campsites with excellent access to hiking, biking, swimming, and boating. The view from the lookout on Mt. Constitution is well worth the hike (or drive).
Orca whale-watching is best off of nearby San Juan Island, where you can also visit the charming village of Friday Harbor.
For more information, and to make reservations (recommended!), visit the Washington State Parks Website:
www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Moran&pageno=1
Just one of the hundreds of hikes in the Sierra de Montanchez walking on original Moorish pathways. This particular walk is made even more interesting by the marvellously romantic ruins of at least 20 old water mills.
Other interests are the birdwatching which is extraordinary all over the Sierra de Montanchez and the many different plants and herbs among the cork and holm oak woods. The walk takes two hours and ends at the Moorish castle of Montánchez.
I stayed at the delightful farmhouse,
Finca al-manzil which I found on this site, a perfect base for exploration of the surrounding area and historical towns of Caceres, Trujillo and Merida and Montánchez.
www.wildspain.com
www.finca-al-manzil.com
www.iberianatura.com
We walked through the Sibillini foothills from Sarnano to San Liberato Monastery near to the hang gliding school and Gabella Nuova, the views up to the mountains and down across the rolling hills to the sea were stunning. San Liberato was a follower and friend of Saint Francis of Assisi and this was one of a number of monasteries built throughout Le Marche by their followers the Frati Fioretti di Jesi.
The monks are renovating all of the monasteries (don't know where they found the capital!) and trying to make them self-sufficient, opening ristorante, bars, hotels, and hosting wedding and functions. The monastery is open daily for visitors and adjacent to this there's a bar, which is stocked with a great selection of wines and a menu of quality Belgian beers no less, the ristorante menu is really seasonal and quite different from anything else available locally. At the moment in November and December there's a robust menu based around game, chesnuts, truffles and wild mushrooms - you can go a-la-carte or take a tour de force plate of everything (€35 inc wine, coffee and grappa). It's open most lunchtimes and Saturday and Sunday evenings phone in advance on 0733 694103 or 071 977128. There's also a website with more information on the monasteries and potential itinararies. www.terradeifioretti.it
There are many comfortable hotels locally or you can rent stylish apartments just outside Sarnano at www.villasanraffaello.com
Flights to the area - Ancona and Pescara 1.5 hrs, Perugia & Rimini 2hrs, Rome & Bologna 2h45mins
San Liberato Monastery, Gabella Nuova, San Ginesio, Macerata, Le Marche
Hidden away among the high Rocky Mountains of southern Colorado, the sand dunes are amazing. Backed into a corner of a huge valley, surrounded by 4,000m snow-capped peaks is an enormous field of dunes, some 200m high.
The scenery is stunning, wildlife (bison, elk, bears) diverse and there's plenty of opportunity for hiking etc. in the surrounding wilderness area.
Although a bit of a backwater, it can be reached quite easily from Denver or Santa Fe. There's accommodation in nearby Alamosa, and camping on site, but the last time I visited on a fall weekend it was crowded with snowboarders getting some pre-season practice.
The Sierra de Montánchez is a protected area of granite sierra, holm and cork oak forest, with well preserved villages situated right in the middle of Extremadura so ideal for visiting the world heritage towns of Caceres, Trujillo and Merida.
The main town of the Sierra de Montánchez is Montánchez, a place famous for air dried jamon and the romantic Moorish castle. The hiking in the area is fabulous, a gorge with ruined water mills, ancient Moorish paths through the terraced olive groves, endless paths through the cork oak forest. Bird watching is a delight, nothing to disturb the natural habitat of hundreds of species. Microclimate in Montánchez so very equable weather conditions especially in spring when the mountain explodes with millions of wild flowers.
Could try 0034 678447876 Information about the area (English speaking)
Mjlet is an island 1 1/2 hours from Dubrovnik by ferry. The majority of the island is uninhabited, and it hosts a large national park.
I recommend it for 1) Its walking trails. You could walk for days and never take the same trail twice, and 2) Its beauty. The blues and greens of the trees, sky, and water are more vibrant than you'll find elsewhere.
Trip report and photos: shallowmusings.typepad.com/travel_musings/
Here's the national park website:
www.np-mljet.hr/
Arrive at Graz Harbor around 7:15 am to catch a ferry. The ferry is less than $20, entrance into the park is $20. Debark at the second port. Buy a map or you'll get lost. There's a hotel on the island (accessible from the port by bus) but I didn't stay there (and I regret it). The Mali Raj food was overpriced and underquality: hold out for the restaurant at the monastary.
Kootenay follows the Great Divide, west of Banff, bought up for a railway scheme but eventually sold to the government. It's a long winding valley with fine mountains and lots of local as well as backcountry trails.
It's largely ignored compared to Banff and Louise probably because it doesn't have big hotels and tourist infrastructure. But what it does have is fantastic mountain scenery and some quirky sights like the old paint pots, iron laden clays used for dyes, and marble canyon where the river rushes through tight gorges.
The hike up to Stanley glacier is magical, and you'll have plenty of pikas (rock rabbits) whistling you on the way. Kootenay Park Lodge has 10 historic but simple log cabins and good home cooking at affordable rates. Waking up to the sun rising on the mountains here is worth any journey.
Kootenay national park, 2 hours west from Banff, follow the quieter scenic Highway 1a before turning west towards Radium Hot Springs and you're soon in the Park. Lodge details at www.kootenayparklodge.com/
Bryce Canyon's colorful hoodoos (especially at dawn and dusk) give it an ethereal beauty that is more mesmerizing than the much larger Grand Canyon. Geologically, it's not a canyon, but a series of amphitheaters.
The entrance fee is $25 per car and many visitor facilities are closed in winter.
Roughly 100 miles north of the Grand Canyon (north rim) and 270 miles east-northeast of Las Vegas.
www.nps.gov/brca
Tel: 1 (435) 834-5322
Lake Louise is stunningly beautiful, if only you can ignore the enormous and ugly Fairmont Chateau hotel and its $65m refurbishment, the car lot the size of several hypermarkets and the crowds. If you walk for an hour or two up one of the well-laid trails you might get some tranquility.
But my tip, if you're still reading, is to stay on Highway 1, just a few more miles over the Great Divide, and visit Yoho Park across the provincial border. If you can get on the parks bus (book in advance) up to Lake O'Hara, or walk the car-free 11km trail in, you will have delightful lakes and mountains to share with a handful of campers and the lucky few at the lodge built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in Swiss chalet style.
There are miles of beautiful trails and more challenging alpine routes, glaciers and waterfalls, and the odd bear. Bliss! And if you've time to spare, Emerald Lake is great too.
Highway 1 from Banff heading west to Lake Louise, good tourist office for advice on everything. But right next door is Yoho and its well worth the few miles extra
The Cape of Good Hope is part of Table Mountain National Park and apart from the views from the lighthouse on the point overlooking the Indian Ocean at the place where it meets the Atlantic Ocean, there are lots of good, well-marked hiking trails (maps from the Park office at the foot of the lighthouse) in the park with plenty of wildlife to see (dassies, ostriches, springboks, birds etc).
You can get free maps, useful illustrated leaflets and small books at the GNTO offices in Athens at 26 Amalias Street. You can also download free maps of Greece from several interesting websites.
www.gnto.gr/pages.php?pageID=805&langID=2
www.in2greece.com/english/maps/maps.htm
Kingdom Trails in East Burke, Vermont: miles of single-track riding through idyllic rolling terrain.
Not to be missed by mountain bike enthusiasts. There's a local pub and country shop for after ride beer and food.
The Millstone Trails are walking and riding trails that wind through historic quarries and overlook super views of rural, scenic Central Vermont.
Try the wide walking paths atop cliffs around gorgeous Lake Champlain. There are tall maple trees and lovely wildflowers along the paths just minutes from downtown Burlington.
Red Rocks Park, South Burlington, Vermont
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