vacations

VillaVida Luxury Collection

Filed under: Estates, Luxury Travel & Hotels

VillaVida owns large and luxurious villas in the Quinta do Lago and Vale do Lobo area of Portugal. Their Luxury Collection of the fifteen most beautiful properties has been selected and published here on their website.

Each of the selected villas features 4+ bedrooms and a swimming pool, and many include saunas, gyms, tennis courts, waterfalls, and more.

The Quinta do Lago Bonaparte 6-bedroom villa you see above includes gardens with extensive flowerbeds, manicured lawns, an ornamental lake, and an orchard of citrus trees alongside the private tennis court. The villa is fully furnished with American-style kitchen conveniences and is just two kilometers from the beach. It is available for €7,000 to €13,000 depending upon the season; maid service included.

Tags: estates, homes, portugal, rentals, travel, vacations, villa, villas

New Tram at Jackson Hole

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spas, Events, Real Estate Developments

Jackson Hole, Wyoming vacation destination extraordinaire, has added a new convenience for its guests and residents alike!

The new tram, currently under construction and opening December 20th, will carry 100 passengers from 6,311 feet to 10,450 feet up in the mountains in just 9 minutes.

The views from the tram promise to be astounding, as with the old tram which has been there since 1966. A beautiful, "visually inspiring" new base terminal will replace the old clock tower base.

The opening of the new tram will feature live music, fireworks, and all kinds of Jackson Hole festivities. Click here for more information.

Whether you head to Jackson Hole for the skiing, the scenery, or just to get away from it all, the new tram, 100% funded by resort ownership, will make your stay more convenient. You can book a Tram-Slam Package this winter for a stay at Teton Village and be one of the first to ride!

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Tags: destinations, jackson hole, JacksonHole, skiing, tram, vacations

Beauties and the Beasts - A Women's Wildlife Adventure at Spring Creek Ranch, Jackson Hole

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Events, Green

Spring Creek Ranch holds photography workshops in September and October

Spring Creek Ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has a long list of luxury, seasonal wildlife-focused getaways. The picture at right is for their photography workshops which they hold in September and October.

This year, Spring Creek Ranch has something new for the ladies: The Beauties and the Beasts Adventure is taking place October 2-6.

Subtitled "A Women's Wildlife Adventure," Beauties and the Beasts is a four day excursion, venturing from Jackson Hole up into Yellowstone, where there will be naturalist-led hiking and driving, a trip to Old Faithful, and finally, massages back at Spring Creek Ranch. Ladies only!

There's still room! The price is $1,710 per person for double occupancy and $2,110 for single occupancy.

If I weren't busy keeping tabs on New York for you, I'd be there!

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Tags: adventures, destinations, jackson hole, safaris, spring creek ranch, vacations, wildlife

Dream Getaways That Can Happen in A Weekend

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Although 2 week vacations are awesome the trouble is that it's often so hard to get away that they rarely (if ever) happen. But why delay that trip to Paris or Buenos Aires til who-knows-when? A long weekend, which is much easier to do for most people, can be more than enough to have a fabulous time in an exotic far-off location if you do things right. Vienna, Milan, and even Sydney are realistic possibilities. Why take the chance that a trip to your dream location might never happen when you can be there later this month? 1, 2, or 3 nights is better than none at all, right? I'd say so.

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Tags: australia, france, italy, journey, journeys, paris, sydney, trip, trips, vacation, vacations, vienna, weekend, weekends

10 of the Best Dream Villas (and Why You Want to Rent One)

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Why rent a luxury hotel room when you can step it up a notch and have a villa instead? Many people don't consider villas by sheer reason that the thought doesn't occur to them, or if it does it's intimidating because people aren't sure how it works. It's really not that complicated, and the benefits of having your own luxury home (as opposed to just a suite in a hotel) at your disposal for the duration of your vacation are amazing.

As far as which villas you might want to consider take a look at the 10 on this slide show, which are complete with villa renting tips like how to consider whether or not you'll need to rent a car and how to choose the best season. Apparently Croatia is becoming one of the hottest villa-vacation hot spots in Europe, and Meikloeur Castle in Scotland is one of the priciest renting for $37,200 per week (but for that you get your own 18 hole golf course).

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Tags: hotel, how to, HowTo, journey, journeys, luxury, top 10, top ten, Top10, TopTen, vacation, vacations, villa, villas

Walking Tours Getting Luxury Upgrades

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The luxury market is growing in all kinds of areas, vacations and getaways included. And now some trips that have traditionally been more rugged are getting luxurious touches and attracting more upscale clients. Features being offered more and more frequently are gourmet meals prepared by top chefs, massages, and several different options of what to do while out on the trip. Luxury walking tours are available all over the world, including my personal favorites a trek to see the mountain gorillas of uganda or tramping through the trails of New Zealand.

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Tags: travel, traveling, vacation, vacations, walk, walking, walking tours, WalkingTours

Pets Cruise with You on the Queen Mary 2

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Pets

Now going on a luxury cruise doesn't mean getting sad puppy eyes as you book a boarding house for your favorite pet -- the Atlantic cruise liner Queen Mary 2 gives you the option of bringing them along! The amenities of their "Pets on Deck" program include fresh-baked biscuits at turn-down, a variety of bedding and blanket options, and even a little coat with the QM2 logo. All pet guests also receive a complimentary gift pack with a mix of essentials and fun stuff, such as a food dish with scoop, a name tag, a frisbee, and a complimentary portrait with their owners.

As a dog owner I think it's great when vacations are pet-friendly, but in this case I can't help but wonder: do people's pets ever get seasick? That would not be pleasant!

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Tags: atlantic, boat, cat, cats, cruise, cruises, dog, dogs, Mary, pet, pets, Queen, Queen Mary, Queen Mary 2, QueenMary, QueenMary2, ship, vacation, vacations

Vacation Like James Bond

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The next best thing to being James Bond is living like him. No, we're not talking about facing off with bad guys and thwarting the plans of those bent on world domination (unless you really want to). We're talking about taking vacations in some of the spots around the world that were, in some way, touched by Bond. Forbes Traveler has picked out their top Bond vacation destinations and, as big James Bond fans, we're ready to pack our bags. The list includes:

The Fleming House in Jamaica, where Ian Fleming wrote 17 Bond novels.
James Bond Island in Thailand was made famous by The Man With The Golden Gun, but is just a hop, skip and a jump from where The Beach was filmed, too.
The Stoke Park Club in the UK was the location for many Bond scenes, both when Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan played Bond.
GoldenEye fans might jump at the chance to recreate the opening scene of the Bond film by taking a Bungee Jump from the Verzasca Dam in Switzerland -- the highest commercial bungee jump in the world,

*Note: Martinis and Bond girls not included.

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Tags: action, bond, bungee jump, fleming, hero, james bond, stope park, travel, traveler, vacation, vacations

California Wine Hikes

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Wine

Tours through wine country don't need to be a decadent limo tour through the wineries (although that's nice too). A California-based tour company offers wine hikes that tour through some of California's most beautiful spots. A tour that winds up at the Testarossa winery includes a six-mile hike with a 1300 foot elevation gain. The hike takes you along the trails of the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve, reaching a ridge top at 2,628 feet with views over the Santa Clara Valley. The hike includes a buffet lunch with wine service at the old Novitiate Winery, where Testarossa Vineyards is located. The tour includes trail snacks, bottled water, tasting fees, gourmet lunch served at the winery, transportation, and guided hike. The hike costs $160.

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Tags: napa, santa clara, sonoma, vacations, wine country, wine tours, WineCountry, wineries

Hacienda de San Antonio

by Trey Evans (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Reader Wayne tipped me off to the Hacienda de San Antonio, a hotel at the foot of an active volcano about two hours from Guadalajara in Mexico. It boasts a private airstrip, and 25 suites (which from the website's photos look stunning) Guests can mountain bike, go for a horseback ride, hike the volcano, or relax with a massage on site. Rates start at $800, which isn't horrible if you ask me. Be warned though, the website is entirely flash based and will take a while to load if you're on dial-up (and it's pretty useless, too).

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Tags: mexico, resort, vacations