Accommodations Worldwide

February 2004 issue

A stay at Costa Rica's Fiesta Hotel

Back in 1996 on a freighter trip down the Pacific coast, the captain of the MV Widukind took five of us passengers ashore at Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica, to while the day away as the ship was being loaded and unloaded. We went to the resort Fiesta Hotel (Apostado Postal 171-5400, El Roble, Puntarenas, Costa Rica; phone 506 663-0808, fax 506 663-1516 or visit www.fiestaresort.com), which impressed us greatly with lots of activities going on for the hotel guests, both children and adults. We were impressed enough to consider returning.

Fast forward to 2002, the year of our golden...

CONTINUE READING »
January 2005 issue

Accommodations Worldwide

Europe

After numerous trips to PARIS during which we stayed in hotels, my two traveling companions and I decided to try apartment living for our 2-week visit in April ’04. We saw the classified ad in ITN for Marie-France LeFebvre’s studio apartment (contact Marie at 15 Chatham Ct., Newport Beach, CA 92660; phone/fax 949/718-1374 or e-mail mariebalboa@cox.net). The studio is furnished with a queen-size bed and a double mattress in the loft, and we believed it would suit our needs.

You can’t imagine our excitement when we punched in the security code to go from the street...

CONTINUE READING »
April 2004 issue

Larkfield Apartments in Richmond-upon-Thames

We are a senior couple who love London. After reading how someone used one location as a hub for sightseeing rather than moving luggage from place to place, we decided to follow that strategy on a visit to London, Sept. 19-Oct. 7, ’03.

We rented a one-bedroom, fully equipped apartment in a London suburb, Richmond-upon-Thames (population, about 172,000), located about 20 minutes by tube from central London. The Larkfield Apartments (Ground Floor, 19 Larkfield Rd., Richmond, Surrey TW9 2PG, U.K.; phone +44 [0] 208 948 6620, e-mail shipplets@ukgateway.net or visit www.shipplets.com)...

CONTINUE READING »
February 2005 issue

Accommodations Worldwide

Europe

Les Gains bed-and-breakfast (home of Diana and Kit Wordsworth, 61310 Survie, Exmes, Normandy, FRANCE; phone 0033 [0] 2 33 36 05 56, e-mail

christopher.wordsworth@libertysurf.fr or visit www.lesgains.tk) — located near Argentan in Normandy and set in the tranquil countryside of cider apple orchards and rolling green hills.

In a 17th-century farmhouse on a working sheep farm, Diana and Kit, a very warm English couple, provide three double bedrooms with facilities en suite plus wonderful home cooking. €50 ($60) per couple per night, with breakfast. Dinner cost €...

CONTINUE READING »
April 2004 issue

Thornton House in Linlithgow

Need a base for exploring the Borders, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling, SCOTLAND? Think about using Linlithgow. It is on the main train line between Edinburgh and Glasgow, with easy train access to Stirling as well. If you are driving, everything from the borders to Perth or the Fife Coast is an easy day trip. Even Aviemore can be done as a day trip.

If you should decide on staying in Linlithgow, the very best B&B I have ever stayed at was Thornton House (Thornton, Edinburgh Road, Linlithgow EH49 6AA, Scotland; phone +44 [0] 1506 844693, fax +44 [0] 1506 844876, e-mail...

CONTINUE READING »
March 2005 issue

Accommodations Worldwide

Europe

If you’re looking for a quiet hotel in Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS, that is within a 5- to 10-minute walk of the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum, then the very quiet Hotel Washington (Frans van Mierisstraat 10, 1071 RS Amsterdam, the Netherlands; phone +31 [0] 20 679 74 53, fax +31 [0] 20 673 44 35, e-mail info@hotelwashington.nl or visit www.hotelwashington.nl) might just be for you.

The hotel regards itself not as a tourist hotel but as a place at which visiting classical musicians stay who perform at the nearby concert hall. The concert hall is across from the...

CONTINUE READING »