The LUXE Niseko Mobile App for iPhone. Photo credit: LUXE City Guides.

Planning a Japan ski holiday? If you’re an iPhone ski traveler heading to Niseko, then you may fancy using the LUXE Niseko mobile app.

This winter, LUXE City Guides is offering its LUXE Tokyo mobile app plus LUXE Niseko app, a full guide to Niseko.

“Asia’s powder hounds, glam crew and stylish families are gearing up to head to their favorite winter wonderland,” says LUXE City Guides of Niseko.

“Niseko combines Japanese efficiency and laid-back Aussie hospitality in a happening village of fantastic dining and ski hangouts, luxurious chalets, hot springs and cubic kilometres of the most perfect, powdery snow imaginable – guaranteed.”

The LUXE Niseko app covers skiing, après-skiing or après-ing in the Japanese ski resort destination.

App travel topics include Niseko’s best eating options (sashimi to gelati to udon and comfort carbs), things to do and day trips to Otaru and Sapporo.

While the LUXE Tokyo app offers insider knowledge of the city including maps, dining spots and bars and shopping (clothing and accessories, décor and design).

The LUXE Tokyo plus LUXE Niseko apps are available for download on iTunes and for Nokia and HTC handsets.

For more info on the apps and luxury travel guides, visit LuxeCityGuides.com.

Siam Country Club Plantation Course near Pattaya, Thailand. Photo credit: Golf in a Kingdom: The Thai Golf Experience.

Fancy a luxury golf holiday in Thailand?  If you’re mountain travelers in Thailand or Asia, you can begin your golf holiday breaks with flights to Bangkok.

Once in Bangkok, you could stay at The St. Regis Bangkok which is participating in Golf in a Kingdom: The Thai Experience, a program connecting Thailand’s best golf courses, resorts and hotels.

Grande Deluxe Room at The St. Regis Bangkok. Photo credit: The St. Regis Bangkok.

Member golf courses of Golf in a Kingdom are Banyan and Black Mountain at Hua Hin; Thai Country Club and Muang Kaew in Bangkok; the Old Course and Plantation Course at Siam Country Club near Pattaya and Chiang Mai Highlands in northern Thailand.

Located in central Bangkok,  The St. Regis Bangkok is a popular hotel for leisure and business travelers with its luxury accommodation, food and wine experiences, butler service and spa.

A new luxury hotel, it has 227 rooms including 51 suites and 53 residences on the property’s upper levels.

The St. Regis Bangkok offers guests golf transport and special rates to play at five of Bangkok’s golf courses: Thai Country Club, Alpine Golf & Sports Club, Muang Kaew Golf Club, Navatanee Golf Club and Suwan Golf & Country Club.

“Golf is an upmarket sport in Asia and we would like to attract groups, individual golfers and couples who play golf,” says Andreas Oberoi,The St Regis Bangkok’s general manager.

This post is provided by Easyvoyage.co.uk.

Taxi with skis in India. Photo credit: Indus Tours & Travel.

Crave a different ski holiday experience?  Then take a look at Ski India holidays in Himalayan powder with Indus Tours & Travel.

The UK specialist tour operator to India has launched their 2011/2012 Ski India packages to Gulmarg in Kashmir.

Gulmarg ski area in the Himalaya. Photo credit: Indus Tours & Travel.

Says Yasin Zargar of Indus Tours:

“Winter in Gulmarg offers a whole different aspect to the ‘India Experience’. What better way to get an appreciation for this very special area than enjoy the adventure of pristine powdery slopes, spectacular vistas and the promise of a deliciously rewarding Kashmiri curry at the end of the day?”

One of the highest ski areas, Gulmarg resort features some of the best off-piste skiing with powder runs of over 1,000 vertical metres.

With stunning views of Nanga Parbat peak, the resort offers a new chairlift and gondola ski lift which ascends to 3,980 metres.

Indus Tours & Travel works with Ski Himalaya and the Kashmir Powdercats, locally trained mountain hosts, and ski in/ski out hotel accommodation.

The 9 night/8 day Ski India packages include:

• International and domestic flights;
• Full board accommodation;
• 5 full days of skiing with the Kashmir Powdercats;
• One night on a Kashmir houseboat on Lake Dal;
• A night in Delhi with the optional sightseeing and
• Transfers, visa fee and handling charges.

For more info, visit the Indus Tours & Travel site.

Panjiayuan weekend market in Beijing is one of the best places to shop in China, says The China Guide. Photo credit: The China Guide.

Aki Schilz wrote this guest post on traveling in Beijing. She is a writer and freelance journalist who has written for websites and publications including YH World and EMMA.

Mountain travelers in Asia who want a city break won’t be disappointed in Beijing.

Huge regenerations changed the face of Beijing with the 2008 Summer Olympics.

In an already sprawling city, new buildings spread and money was pumped into innovative architectural structures and cultural projects. And the changes haven’t stopped.

With transport connections to and within Beijing vastly improved, cheap flights to Beijing exploded onto the market and tourist interest has continued to surge.

Beijing has blossomed into an innovative and exciting city, marking itself out as the leader in a revolutionary bid for an image overhaul that is leading to a ‘New China’.

With a new mega-airport planned in the country’s capital, Beijing looks set to become one of the top holiday destinations in the world.

With all the changes, travelers can find it confusing and overwhelming and hard to know how to spend their time in Beijing.

Here are 5 Beijing Travel Tips:

1. Ditch the guidebook: Guidebooks featuring ‘top ten must-sees’ can be confusing and there’s pressure to get it right. With long queues and hiked up prices in the most popular tourist hotspots, it can be easy to fall into tourist traps.

2. Make sightseeing exceptions: Crushes and queuing, by-products of a curious appetite that leads tourists to such historic sites as Tiananmen Square cannot be helped.  If you like many others are a history buff wanting simply to stand and soak up the atmosphere, then a trip there is necessary. Equally impressive (once you’re out of the queues) is the day trip that takes you across the Forbidden City, giving a real taste of ancient China.

3. Bring your essentials: Arm yourself with a decent map and a useful phrase book. Plan an itinerary and be prepared to ask the locals for help when you need it. Try workers in bigger shops where people are more likely to speak English.

4. Do as the locals do: For culture vultures, the arty 798 District provides a perfect pavement café culture area that’s bang on trend, but not so hip as to make you feel uncomfortable. An old factory was gutted to create a network of art spaces and exhibitions. If you want something more traditional then try Nan Lu Guo Xiang, a trendy hutong with a bohemian feel and a good mix of locals and ex-pats.

5. Taste the food: Gourmet and designer eateries have boomed and they’re worth a visit.  Dine at traditional restaurants serving the food that has been a staple here for generations. In Beijing, this includes noodles (mian tiao) and dumplings (jiaozi) flavored with ginger and vegetables. Don’t forget the food markets, where you can sample everything from caramelized haw berries to traditional Mongolian lamb, flavored with chilli and cumin.

This is a Guest Post.

Himalaya.

Fancy camping trekking Nepal?  Adventure travel company World Expeditions has set up new permanent campsites throughout the Everest region.

The new campsites are set up in secluded locations with stunning mountain views.

From September 2011, the new permanent campsites will be available at the following locations: Ghat; Monjo; Portse Tenga; Dole; Machhermo; Gorak Shep; Dingboche; and Debouche.

Several World Expeditions’ treks in Nepal will feature these new campsites.

At the campsites, trekkers will get  greater insights into the local culture and interact more with the Nepali crews.

Says Gordon Steer, UK manager of World Expeditions:

“When World Expeditions launched in 1975 offering some of the very first trekking holidays in Nepal no one would have imagined that one day treks like the Everest Base Camp would become such a popular, almost mainstream holiday…We feel that we have a very real responsibility to set the right example and protect the environment – and our Everest permanent campsite initiative demonstrates this best”.

Many mountain travelers in Nepal stay in teahouses and lodges which burn wood for cooking and heating and contribute to local deforestation.

These new permanent campsites will feature:

• A dining room for meals and downtime warmed by a pot belly stove fueled by yak dung;

• Decor mixing Sherpa furnishings (cushions, table cloths and curtains) with memorabilia of past mountain expeditions;

• Large client tents with a camp bed and mattress;

• Flushing western-style toilets and hand basins and

• Permanent camp manager who are responsible for clean up and general maintenance of the campsite.

For more info, visit the World Expeditions Site.

Image courtesy of World Expeditions.

Luxury In Zermatt, Switzerland: Mountain views from Chalet Zermatt Peak.

Fancy a luxury mountain holiday?  LiveTravelMountains.com has blogged about luxury mountain holidays worldwide.

Take a virtual mountain trip with this photo essay to some of these mountain resorts, hotels, chalets and holiday homes.

Luxury In Bali, Indonesia

Luxury In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Richard Branson’s Favorite Places?

Luxury In Vietnam

Luxury In Auckland, New Zealand

Luxury In Mallorca, Spain

Luxury In Niseko, Japan

Luxury On Santorini, Greece

Along Ceylon Tea Trails

Images courtesy of Scott Dunn, W Hotels, Welcome Beyond, Virgin Limited Edition, Anantara, Hotel De Brett, Hotel L’Avenida, Summit Properties, Astarte Suites Hotel, Ceylon Tea Trails.

Cold. Photo via Mountainfilm.

Mountainfilm wrote this guest post on top film picks at this year’s festival.

Next week, Mountainfilm will kick off its 33rd annual festival in Telluride, Colorado, May 27-30, 2011.

Started in 1979, Mountainfilm in Telluride is one of America’s longest-running film festivals.

Through the years, in and out of trends and fads, the festival has always been best described by one unchanging word: inspiring. Far more than any other adjective, that’s how festival audiences describe their experience.

This year, the festival boasts a solid list of films, many focused on mountain-inspired themes. Here are two of our top picks:

Cold trailer.  Video via Mountainfilm.

Cold

Ascending an 8,000-meter peak is never easy. In winter, with temperatures plummeting to 30 below and colder and with snowstorms raging, it is nearly unthinkable.

In fact, of the seventeen efforts to ascend an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan in winter only one has been successful. That winter ascent of Gasherbrum II by Simone Moro, Denis Urubko and Cory Richards is the subject of Cold.

Filmed by Richards and written from his perspective, this is a very personal and frank portrayal of the risks and rigors of high-altitude mountaineering, in this case intensified by the choice of calendar date—fully three months ahead of the standard Himalayan season.

There’s crazy; and then there’s cold crazy. Moro, Urubko and Richards clearly pitch their tents in the latter camp. Of the three, only Richards—the first American to ever achieve an 8,000-meter winter ascent anywhere—seems concerned by the madness.

Towers of the Ennedi. Photo via Mountainfilm.

Towers of the Ennedi

Renan Ozturk heads to the remote and sun-flattened landscape of the Ennedi Desert in northeastern Chad.

It’s a hot, sand-scoured and unfriendly place, but from its vast belly rise clusters of spires, towers and rock formations that are breathtakingly lovely.

In Towers of the Ennedi, Ozturk and veteran climber Mark Synnott—known more for his far-flung adventures than his technical accomplishments—bring young climbing stars Alex Honnold and James Pearson to the Ennedi to explore its untouched landscapes.

Together, Synnott, Honnold and Pearson endure a long, bumpy drive across the sand flats of a godforsaken country to reach an incredible destination: gardens of towers filled with graceful fingers of rock, bottle-shaped formations and lithe arches. With its stark and poetic footage of camels and rock, as well as jarring images of unpleasant travels, this film shows that sometimes you can have just as many adventures trying to reach your destination as you can have once you get there.

Towers of the Ennedi trailer. Video courtesy via Mountainfilm.

Check out the full film list here. And if you can’t make it to Telluride, see if the films will be coming to you with Mountainfilm World Tour.

This is a Guest Post.

Anantara Mui Ne Resort & Spa in southeastern Vietnam will open in 2011.

Planning a Vietnam holiday? Anantara will open its first Vietnamese property, Anantara Mui Ne Resort & Spa, in the summer of 2011.

Situated almost 200 kilometres northeast of Ho Chi Minh City on the South East Coast of Vietnam, next to Phan Thiet, the resort & spa is named after Mui Ne fishing village.

On the central shoreline position, it is surrounded by long beaches, mountains and sand dunes.

Stunning ocean views.

In a tropical setting, Anantara Mui Ne Resort & Spa features a fresh water lagoon, tropical gardens and swimming pool.

The resort’s traditional Vietnamese architecture carries through in its 89 rooms, suites and pool villas.

There will be a range of rooms and suites available including the spacious Presidential Suite.

Some 20 Pool Villas will feature a private lounge, open-air bathroom and private swimming pool.

Popular activities include water sports, golf, and touring local points of interest such as Mui Ne’s fishing village, port and sand dunes, Hon Rom Red Canyon, Lotus Lake, Dragon Fruit Farm, the Poshanu Cham Tower, Ta Ku Mountain, the Fairy Stream, and Water Tower, and Ke Ga Lighthouse.

For more info, visit the resort site.

Image courtesy of Anantara.

X2 Samui Villas by Design in Thailand.

On Thailand’s island of Samui, the luxury travel trend is pool villa resorts.

One of the latest resorts is X2 Samui Villas by Design under the Centara Boutique Collection.

Villa bedroom.

Samui has Khao Pom, a wild mountain jungle.

These villas though are located at Hua Tanon Beach, a quiet area on the southeast side of the island.

X2 (pronounced “cross-to”) has 27 villas, all with private pool or garden areas, set on five acres of gardens with direct beach access.

Villa amenities include flat-screen TV with international satellite programs; iApple TV; radio and in-house music; DVD player; mini-bar and refrigerator and wireless Internet.

The resort restaurant on the beach serves international, European,Thai and Asian dishes.

X2 guest relations will arrange activities such as mountain biking, trekking, kayaking, snorkeling and scuba diving.

Images courtesy of Centara Hotels Resorts

Dilmah Tea’s Ceylon Tea Trails in Sri Lanka has become a member of Relais & Châteaux.

Recognized for its “unique character, gourmet cuisine and outstanding service”, The Tea Trails is the first Sri Lankan property to belong to the association.

Four hours from Colombo and 4,000 ft above sea level, the property features colonial plantation bungalows with turn-of-the-century period furniture.

The four bungalows have their own manager, chef and butler and 24-hour service.

Guests can participate in popular activities including hiking, mountain biking, croquet, tennis, spa treatments and high tea.

For mountain travelers, The Tea Trails Bungalows can be an ideal base for climbing the Adam’s Peak holy mountain and Kandy and Nuwara Eliya.

Guests dine on traditional Sri Lankan and tea inspired dishes such as Earl Grey tea-infused, cured Atlantic salmon.

Established in France in 1954, Relais & Châteaux is considered the hallmark authority on luxury and unique establishments around the world.

For more info, visit the Ceylon Tea Trails site.

Images courtesy of Ceylon Tea Trails