Midi-Pyrénées. Photo credit: France Tourism Development Agency.
Cycling through the Midi-Pyrénées is a beautiful way to see France.
In Southwest France, along the Midi Canal and through local towns, you can see and discover Revel, Saint Ferréol,Toulouse, the Saint Sernin Basilisk, Montauban and more.
Eyewitness Family Guide Italy. Photo credit: Dorling Kindersley.
Planning a family holiday to France or Italy? Whether you’re heading to the French Alps or Italy’s Dolomites, take a look at the increasing number of family travel guides and websites.
Among the newest family travel guides by Dorling Kindersley are the Eyewitness Guides – Family Guides for France and Italy.
In the Italy guide (above), the guidebook publisher shows family travelers how they can walk the walls of Renaissance Lucca, explore sea caves on the Amalfi coast and more.
These guidebooks are designed to be all-in-one travel guides and planners for stress-free family holidays. They focus on family-friendly sights or attractions including museums, galleries, landmarks and events.
For each destination, the guides offer ‘The Lowdown” tips (how long to allow, appropriate age range, good places to eat and nearby toilets). While in the ‘Kids Corner’ sections, the guides offer young readers fun info, quizzes, facts and cartoons.
Each Eyewitness Family Guide includes:
For more info, visit the Dorling Kindersley site.
Into the heart of Thrihnukagigur Volcano, Iceland. Photo credit: Hans Strand/Discover the World.
Fancy a truly unforgettable Europe mountain holiday? Volcano tours can be some of the most unforgettable and thrilling mountain experiences.
In Europe, Discover the World offers up-close-and-personal volcano adventures from the United Kingdom to Iceland.
Called the Superjeep Volcano Adventure, the short Iceland break features a journey into the inner cavity of Thrihnukagigur Volcano (above) which experts say has been dormant for 4,000 years.
Hot tours: Volcano walking. Photo credit: Discover the World.
The volcano holiday is available in June and July due to local conditions. On the holiday, travelers will take a short hike across lava fields and attend a safety briefing. Then they will descend 400 ft via a cable car into the heart of the volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula to the ground floor of the magma chamber.
From a Reykjavik base, on daily guided safaris, they will also explore Iceland by Superjeep. They’ll visit Iceland’s natural wonders on the Golden Circle route (Gullfoss waterfall, Geysir and Thingvellir National Park) and the wild lavascapes of the Reykjanes Peninsula on the Volcano tour.
Daily guided Superjeep safaris will take travelers to Iceland’s natural wonders on the Golden Circle route. Photo credit: Discover the World.
The Iceland volcano adventure will include:
Discover the World also operates a Volcano Hotline for travelers who want to find out about the latest volcanic activity in Iceland and last minute trips.
Feeling that mountain love? If you’re living or traveling in the United States, think about heading soon to Mountainfilm in Telluride, Colorado from May 25-28, 2012.
Check out this 2012 film festival video.
Video courtesy of Mountainfilm.
Polar bears in the Arctic. Photo credit: Peregrine Adventures.
Have you always dreamed of seeing polar bears in the wild?
In the High Arctic, you can join Peregrine Adventures on its Arctic voyages to Spitsbergen and Greenland.
Adventure travelers sail the High Arctic aboard the company’s Sea Spirit which offers seven cruise itineraries with kayaking for small group of 16 passengers.
Polar bears. Photo credit: Peregrine Adventures.
See more Mountain Photos.
A car load of Swedish style. Photo credit: Vanessa Arbuthnott Fabrics.
Have a Swedish sense of style in your mountain home? Then you might fancy taking a look at a collection of fabrics by designer Vanessa Arbuthnott.
Known for her English style, Arbuthnott is calling her new fabrics, the Swedish Collection.
For the love of nature. Photo credit: Vanessa Arbuthnott Fabrics.
In the Swedish Collection, Arbuthnott has drawn simple motifs and translated them into four cozy and charming designs:
A mountain farm setting? Photo credit: Vanessa Arbuthnott Fabrics.
The designer’s soft, signature, understated Gustavian tones are blended with a bolder, brighter color palette. These new colors include pumpkin, sweet pea, dusky pink, winter, mushroom, dove, duck egg, lime and teal.
Arbuthnott’s latest collection is printed in the UK on 100% linen. The linen is woven in Scotland from Belgian yarn. The Swedish Collection is ideal for drapes, accessories and domestic upholstery in interiors.
A splash of pumpkin orange. Photo credit: Vanessa Arbuthnott Fabrics.
Says Vanessa Arbuthnott:
“I very much hope that the Swedish Collection, through both its designs and its colors, manages effortlessly to bridge the gap between town and country, classic and contemporary, without ever seeming as though it’s trying too hard or looking out of place.”
Have a lovely seat. Photo credit: Vanessa Arbuthnott Fabrics.
The Swedish Collection by Vanessa Arbuthnott Fabrics is available in the UK, overseas and via mail and phone order.
For more info, go to the designer’s site at www.vanessaarbuthnott.co.uk
A place in Mallorca: Cassellas de Baix is a two-bedroom country cottage with private pool in the village of Campanet, near Pollenca. Photo credit: Mallorca Farmhouses.
We’ve blogged about holidays in the island mountains of Mallorca with Mallorca Farmhouses.
This Mallorca self-catering accommodation specialist offers self-catering villas, fincas and country cottages near to or with views of the mountains.
Now the company has released A Cook’s Guide To Mallorca’s Culinary Delights – New Recipe Booklet.
Paella. Photo credit: Mallorca Farmhouses.
Showing a love of authentic Mallorcan cuisine, Mallorca Farmhouses has compiled various recipes on how to cook Spanish dishes from simple tapas to traditional Mallorcan dishes using fresh local produce.
Among the recipes guests can cook up in the kitchens or BBQ terraces are pimientos de padron (tapas of fried green peppers); pescado a la mallorquina (Mallorcan style fish); lechona al horno (oven-baked suckling pig) and Spanish paella.
At each property, guests will also find details on Mallorca’s local markets – when they take place and at which village.
Guests can shop at Santanyi or Felanitx market in Mallorca’s southeast for cheese, meat, fish and locally made olive oil and salt. In the island’s north, Pollenca market is a popular food shopping destination for ham, vegetables and wine.
Each farmhouse has a garden which may provide some of the key cooking ingredients like lemons, oranges or figs. Some of the Mallorca Farmhouse properties, such as Es Castell, also produce their own olive oil and wine.
For more info on holidays on Mallorca, visit www.mallorca.co.uk.
Want to learn how to mountain bike? Colorado may be the perfect mountain destination to start. Photo credit: Colorado Tourism.
Mountain destinations can be the perfect places to go on learning holidays. Whether you’re a lifelong learner or just crossing items off your bucket list, you might want to head to the hills.
In USA, Colorado is a four-season mountain destination known for its ski areas and resorts, natural hot springs, rivers and lakes, 12 national parks and monuments, 54 mountain peaks (at 14,000 feet) and more.
This Rocky Mountain state also has endless opportunities for learning from independent to organized holidays. Learning holidays are often relaxed, slower-paced, perfect for retired mountain travelers who need only book their travel plans including senior travel insurance.
Here are 4 Learning Holidays in Colorado:
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Skiing in Europe. Photo credit: Powder White.
Planning your ski holidays in 2013? You’re not alone. Most ski travelers know when they book ski holidays early, they can save money at ski resorts worldwide.
In Europe, Powder White is offering discounts on next season’s chalet bookings in the “snow-sure” and popular resorts of Courchevel, Meribel, Verbier, Val d’Isere and St Anton.
Snowboarding in Europe. Photo credit: Powder White.
Powder White’s chalets are fully catered chalet board or on a self-catered or part-catered basis. The fully catered chalet service includes: champagne and canapés on arrival; breakfast; afternoon tea; canapés with wine and three-course dinner with dinner wine and unlimited house red, white and rosé wine.
The ski holiday company can also arrange international travel (planes, trains and automobiles) and private transfers for every ski traveler’s budget.
In 2003, ski industry veterans Fraser Ewart-White and Claire Freeland joined forces to launch Powder White. The company’s goal is “to unpackage the package and bring the fun and flexibility back to the booking experience.”
Specializing in the French, Austrian and Swiss Alps, the bespoke chalet, hotel and apartment holiday service offers UK and international travelers custom holidays in the mountains.
For more info, visit the Powder White website.
New Hampshire’s White Mountains: Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa has a wind turbine. Photo credit: Mountain View Grand.
David Elliott wrote this guest post about traveling the mountains of New England by car. He is a freelance writer who loves to travel, especially in Europe and Turkey. Elliott has spent most of his adult life in a state of restless excitement but recently decided to settle in North London.
Many mountains can be relatively easily accessible by car.
When you’re mountain traveling, if you’re pushed for time or not qualified for getting up to the summit on foot, car hire is the perfect answer and car hire compare sites make it easy to get a good deal.
Driving in the mountains can be one of the most exhilarating ways of seeing them, as long as you make sure that all is in perfect working order, especially the defroster, windshield wipers and brakes.
Remember that when descending a mountain road your speed should not be greater than that used to go up it. You should get into a lower gear on steep upgrades and switch off the air conditioning if the engine begins to overheat.
Vehicles going uphill are generally given right of way, and taking frequent breaks is always a sensible idea.
In North America, some stunning mountains are found in New England which has good mountain roads that go right to the top for spectacular views across the surrounding landscape.
The starting point for an ascent of Mount Greylock in Massachusetts starts in Lanesborough at the Visitor Centre. From there, it’s an eight-mile drive to the summit at 3491 feet. The views across the Southern Green Mountains and the Taconic Range are breathtaking and you can even see as far east as the Hoosic River without needing binoculars. On the top of Mount Greylock, there’s overnight accommodation at Bascom Lodge with bunk-room and private beds.
A slightly shorter car journey will take you to the top of Pack Monadnock Mountain in New Hampshire. The summit stands at 2290 feet and the views are naturally great. On a radio tower at the top, there’s an observation platform where you can get a view of Mount Monadnock itself, as well as Mount Wachusett in Massachusetts and the Green Mountains of Vermont.
The highest peak in the northeast region is Mount Washington, and you can get right to the top via the Mount Washington Auto Road in New Hampshire. The road has been in place since 1861, and it takes about half an hour either way by car. Not for the nervous, the winds up here are crazy and the route has no guardrail as it takes you through the low clouds and on up into the dizzying heights. From the summit on a reasonable day, you can see for 30 or 40 miles in all directions, all the way to the Adirondacks of New York and the Atlantic shoreline of Maine, at Portland. The Mount Washington Observatory is state-of-the-art and has a small museum attached to it.
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