Accommodations Worldwide

September 2008 issue

Ryad Bahia, Riad Al Bartal, and Kasbah du Toubkal, Morocco

Here are three recommendations from our April ’07 trip to MOROCCO.

• Ryad Bahia (Tiberbarine, Ancienne Medina, Meknès, Morocco; phone 212 055 5545 41, e-mail bouchra_jamai@yahoo.com or contact@ryad-bahia.com or visit www.ryad-bahia.com), located behind the Dar Jamai museum.

This is a very comfortable, family-run B&B in a ryad (traditional Moroccan home with an inner courtyard) with its own restaurant. The ryad has antiques and traditional furnishings. The restaurant serves excellent food for lunch and dinner and specializes in tagines.

€60 ($88) for a double or €90...

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March 2007 issue

Hotels in the Northern Territory

From a 2-week March ’06 trip to AUSTRALIA, here are some of the hotels I stayed at in the Northern Territory. (Also see the September and January articles)

• Back in Alice Springs, I had reservations at the Best Western Elkira Motel (65 Bath St., Alice Springs, N.T. 0870, Australia; phone [08] 8952 1222, fax 8953 1370 or visit http://elkira.bestwestern.com.au). The room cost Aus$108 (US$80).

Alice Springs has a compact central district centered around Todd Mall, a shopping street. There, I met Nick Le Souëf, owner of the Lightning Ridge Opal Mines stores at 75 Todd Mall (www....

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July 2007 issue

Best Western Hotel Carlos V in Madrid

The Best Western Hotel Carlos V (Maestro Victoria 5, 28013 Madrid, SPAIN; phone [34] 91 531 4100 or visit www.hotelcarlosv.com) is located on a pedestrian street just a minute or two on foot from Puerta del Sol. It is convenient to popular tourist sites, restaurants, shopping and two metro stations.

This 3-star hotel offered a modern elevator and a friendly staff. As we had requested when booking, we were provided with a very quiet room (but located on the back of the hotel with no view). Our double room with A/C and a very comfortable queen-sized bed was reasonably sized and very...

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December 2007 issue

Turquoise Bay Resort, Honduras

We have been visiting HONDURAS on a regular basis for 15 years and remember when the West End of Roatan was a sleepy place with just a few small hotels. Now condos, expensive homes and hotels are dotting the shoreline. We thought our island paradise was gone, but then we discovered the new Turquoise Bay Resort (Milton Bight, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras; in the U.S., phone 786/623-6121 or visit http:// turquoisebayresort.com).

Beautiful Milton Bight (another word for “bay”) is protected by a reef, which moderates the waves. The upscale resort is small but complete with a...

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July 2008 issue

Private Apartment in Amsterdam

When in Amsterdam, we cannot imagine staying anywhere else but this Private Apartment (728 Prinsengracht, 1017 LB, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS; phone +31 [0] 20-4203314 or [0] 638303660, e-mail lhaak@live.nl, www.prinsengracht728.nl).

For our 2-week stay, March 20-April 3, 2008, we paid €950 ($1,475). She gave us a discount for our long stay; the usual rate is €600 per week.

The location is absolutely the best, right on a canal in a quiet neighborhood with convenient shops nearby. You are away from the tourist crowds but close enough to walk to most museums and other attractions....

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October 2008 issue

The Honey Pot, Bedknobs B&B in Cornwall, England

The Honey Pot (Polgwyn, Castle St., Bodmin PL31 2DX, Cornwall, England; phone +44 [0] 1208 77553, fax 77885, www.thehoneypot-bodmin. co.uk) — located in Polgwyn, a Victorian house five minutes’ walk up a fairly steep hill from the Bodmin city center (three minutes’ drive from the A30).

The Honey Pot is an outstanding self-contained, first-floor apartment comprising two double bedrooms, a bath, a large sitting room with TV and DVD player and a kitchen fully equipped with dishes, silverware, pots and pans, microwave and stove.

£90 ($177) per night during our stay in March ’08....

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April 2007 issue

Grand Circle’s 16-day “Russian Waterways” tour

Usually, the ships that cruise in Russia are rather sparse in amenities, unless you upgrade to a suite, but our cabin aboard the M/S Tikhi Don, with Grand Circle Travel (347 Congress Ave., Boston, MA 02210; 800/959-0405, www.gct.com), had regular beds, a TV, a Western-style bath, a phone, an in-room safe, a fridge, two chairs and a table as well as closet space. We even had great reading lights above the beds, which we’ve never seen before. We chose the middle deck, where the cabins are 150 square feet and each have a picture window.

We sailed on the Tikhi Don on Grand Circle’s 16-...

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July 2007 issue

Country House Montali, Dal Moro Gallery, Bellavista Hotel

During our 3-week stay in Italy in October ’06, the most unusual hotel we stayed in was Country House Montali (Via Montali 23, 06068 Tavernelle di Panicale, ITALY; phone +39 075 8350 680, fax 144 or visit www.montalionline.com). I think it might appeal to many ITN readers.

Its exquisite and varied cuisine is vegetarian. The Umbria region of Italy may be a meat eater’s paradise, but even meat eaters like me relish a change. For €80 ($106) per person per day, our half-board included breakfast and dinner — superb cuisine, lovingly served.

Here’s an example of a typical breakfast...

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