Accommodations Worldwide | International Travel News

July 2006 issue

La Fleur de Lys hotel in Dorset, England

In ENGLAND, an excellent hub from which we visited Avesbury, Stonehenge, Portsmouth, etc., was Shaftesbury, which is worth a stop in itself.

During our 3-day stay in April ’06, we stayed at La Fleur de Lys (Bleke St., Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 8AW, U.K.; phone 01747 853717 or visit www.lafleurdelys.co.uk).

It has a variety of rooms. We had a superior double room that was comfortably sized, had a full bath and shower and was well decorated and exceptionally clean. Its price was £110 ($207), which included breakfast. There was a small fridge in the room with beverages, one of...

February 2006 issue

Les Gains, Les Trois Collines and Mas Shamrock in France

I had the pleasure of traveling with my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter by car through the countryside of FRANCE in June ’05. We stayed in the following delightful homes.

• Les Gains (61310 Survie, Exmes, Normandy, France; phone 0033 [0] 2 33 36 05 56 or visit www. lesgains.tk).

Near Argentan in Normandy, this is the “hard to find but worth it when you get there” home of Kit and Diana Wordsworth. The setting of their 17th-century farmhouse on a working sheep farm is idyllic and relaxing, and they are very welcoming hosts.

They have three double bedrooms with...

April 2006 issue

Argentina's Hotel Glória and Peru's Hotel Antigua Miraflores

At opposite ends of the spectrum of hotel operation, here are experiences we had in South America in December ’05.

• We spent four nights at Hotel Glória (Rua do Russel, 632, Glória, Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL; phone [21] 555 7272 or visit www.hotelgloriario. com.br), a century-old but modernized large hotel. Including buffets for both breakfast and dinner, the daily rate of 313 reals turned into $147 on our Visa bill.

We were not provided the quality of room we had reserved, and we were disappointed when the management refused to adjust the price commensurate with the room we...

July 2006 issue

B&B Torann na dTonn in Ventry, Ireland

We stayed at the B&B Torann na dTonn (Ventry, Dingle, County Kerry, IRELAND; phone 066-915992) for three nights in mid-May ’05. It’s located about two miles from Dingle on the Dingle loop,

Our room was on the second floor, with a most unbelievable view of the bay. You couldn’t find it as nice at the Ritz-Carlton, and the price was only $60 for two!

Our hostess was just wonderful. Her husband is a newscaster for a radio station.

• Also very close by, in Ventry Bay, is the restaurant Stone House, which we got out of Rick Steves’ book. It was a lovely and excellent...

February 2006 issue

Guest houses in Germany, Austria, and Slovenia

A group of five of us traveled by car through Germany, Austria and Slovenia in May ’05. Most of our accommodations during the trip — guest houses, “Zimmers,” “sobe” (in Slovenia) or hostels — combined our double and triple rooms and gave us a per-person rate. All prices listed here include tax and breakfast. I made all of the reservations except one over the Internet, and only the hostel asked for a credit card number to hold. All had free, convenient parking.

Because we were traveling off-season, we often were given apartments instead of just rooms. Most of the rooms were up one...

May 2006 issue

Art Deco-style apartment in Paris

I have visited Paris many times, but our most recent visit was by far our most satisfactory stay. We rented a gem of an apartment in the 11th arrondissement, near Place de la République and Porte St.-Denis, in October ’05. Madame Dervenian Le Pape, a delightful woman, rents this equally delightful seventh-floor apartment for two in a 1927 Art Deco-style building (12 rue Bouchardon, 75010, Paris, FRANCE; phone 33 1 4201 6459).

There is a large sleeping/sitting area with two twin beds, two comfortable lounge chairs, a dining table and chairs and a TV. There’s also a small kitchen...

July 2006 issue

Paris apartment on the southern side of the city

By staying in an apartment for our week in Paris, my son and I saved a whole bunch of money! Compare the approximately $880 a week we spent to a couple of hundred dollars a night in a hotel — I’ll take an apartment anytime. Our stay was in April ’06. (My wife and I stayed in the apartment for two weeks a couple of years ago.)

We rented the apartment from Dr. Selim Morcos (rue 14 Vasco de Gama, 15th Arrondissement, 75015 Paris, FRANCE. . . Contact Dr. Morcos at 28204 Kenton Lane, Santa Clarita, CA 91350; phone/fax 661/296-1034 or visit www.parisaprts.com).

It’s on the southern...

February 2006 issue

India's Clarks Shiraz hotel

On our month-long trip to INDIA in November-December ’04, we found the Clarks Shiraz (54, Taj Road, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, INDIA; phone +91 05622 222 6121 or visit www.hotelclarksshiraz.com) to be a fine and efficient hotel, far better equipped to accommodate travelers than several of the other hotels we stayed in. But somehow it gave us one of the least-satisfying experiences.

From the moment we entered the hotel, we felt we had arrived at a tourist factory. In other hotels in India, we were treated as living, breathing people whose requests deserved polite attention, at the very...