Accommodations Worldwide

Great Britain

My husband and I spent six weeks driving through Great Britain and Ireland in August and September ’04. Here are some great places to stay that we can recommend. (Also see Nov. ’04, pgs. 4, 116.)

• In London, ENGLAND, the Ridgemont Hotel (65 Gower St.; tel. 44-20-7636-1141), a B&B, is located in the Bloomsbury area, which is by the British Museum and within walking distance of all the theaters. Hosts Mr. and Mrs. Rees are helpful with anything you need. £65 ($125) for a double with bath and breakfast.

• Cathedral Gate Hotel (tel. 44-1227-464381) in Canterbury, Kent, England, is a fantastic hotel, if you don’t mind basic rooms. We had a standard with bath down the hall. £50 ($90) per room, with Continental breakfast.

Best of all, we arrived early and were able to book a room looking right over the Cathedral. The hotel is leased from the Church Council and sits right on the old city wall next to the city gate. Imagine looking from your window at the Cathedral dressed in its night lights!

• In Edinburgh, SCOTLAND, try the Thrums Hotel (14/15 Minto St.; tel. 44-131-667-5545), a B&B. The bus to downtown is right at the door, and there’s free parking in the back.

The sitting room has wireless Internet and they will loan you their laptop to use! £70 ($135) for a double with bath and breakfast.

• The best hostel that we stayed in was at Callander, Scotland, where we went to see the Highland Games. Trossach Backpackers (tel. 44-1877 331200) is a new hostel where we had a room with four bunk beds, a tiny kitchenette, a dining table and a bathroom with shower. The cost was £17.50 ($34) per person.

Best of all, they were housing the Calgary (Canada) Highland fiddlers and dancers, who gave us a free concert in the evening.

You can find out more about Scottish independent hostels at www.hostel-scotland.co.uk.

• Dunrovin Guest House (tel. 44-122-458-6081 or visit www.dunrovin guesthouse.co.uk) in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a good, basic place. We rented a standard room — bath down the hall. £45 (near $81). Hosts Chris and Lena Dellanzo make a mean breakfast.

• The best meal we had in Scotland on this trip was at the Taste of Spey restaurant in Dufftown, on the whiskey trail. £52 ($100) for two including wine.

• If you are on the ISLE OF SKYE, do stop at the Loch Bay Seafood Restaurant (tel. 01470-592235 or visit www.lochbay-seafood-restaurant.co.uk) in Stein. It’s a tiny place and reservations are a must, but the food and setting are lovely. £53 for two with wine.

— J. Bernstein, Albuquerque, NM

Based on a reader’s recommendation (July ’02, pg. 53), we (four adults and two teens) spent two weeks in June ’04 at the J&T Guest House (98 Park Ave. North, Willesden Green, London NW10 1JY, ENGLAND; phone 0181 452 4085, e-mail info@jtguest.itsnet.co.uk or visit www.its.net/j&tguest/home.htm). The website accurately describes the rooms except for the fact that there aren’t phones in the rooms; there was a pay phone in the hall, however.

Jennifer owns and runs the guest house. The rates were from £52 ($96) for a double to £85 ($156) for a room that holds two adults plus a teen or two young children. The tradeoff for these lower rates is that it’s a 15-minute walk to the nearest tube station (Willesden Green) for a 20-minute ride to central London.

— JEAN & MICHAEL FELIX, San Carlos, CA

Europe

While in FRANCE in September ’04, I had the pleasure of staying at Château de Chambost (Route de Panissières, 69770 Chambost-Longessaigne, France; phone 04 74 70 63 26, fax 04 74 26 39 17 or visit www.chateaudechambost.com).

The château is in the hill country about an hour’s drive west of Lyon. The village of Chambost-Longessaigne is charming; it could have doubled as the set for “Chocolat,” complete with honey-colored buildings and a beautiful old church.

The château itself has five chambres

d’hôtes (bed-and-breakfast rooms) furnished with period antiques and 21st-century comforts like new mattresses and baths en suite.

Hostess Veronique de Lescure, who speaks excellent English, and her husband, Vivienne, are charming, and their mealtime conversations gave me real insight into life in modern-day rural France.

Accommodations, including breakfast, were €70 (near $93) single or €80 ($106) double. Delicious dinners served at the family table were available for a nominal charge. Families with children are welcome.

— DEE POUJADE, Portland, OR

These are two nice apartments in Bernese Oberland, SWITZERLAND. This area, Boenigen (Lake Brienz), is about 20 minutes by car from the Interlaken Ost railway station. We would recommend these apartments for families with up to three children. We discovered them on a trip in August ’03 and stayed one week at the first and two weeks at the second.

• Hess Apartments (Neuenstrasse 13, CH-3806 Boenigen; phone 11 41 33 8266344, fax 11 41 33 8266345 or e-mail evasbedandbreakfast@hotmail.

com) — conveniently located in center of village, close to stores, excellent restaurants, lake.

Large living/dining room (radio, TV), complete kitchen, bath with large sunken tub. Two bedrooms upstairs, with balcony, on third floor of house. CHF120 ($91) per day plus CHF50 final cleanup and CHF2.10 tax per person per day. Parking.

Mr. Hess will pick guests up at the railway station in Interlaken-Ost. He speaks English well, is very friendly and helpful and can give advice and suggestions for excursions to mountains and lakes.

• Even better is the apartment of Ernst Michel (Alpenstrasse 9A, CH-3806 Boenigen; phone 11 41 33 822 3307 or e-mail michel. maler@bluewin.ch) — conveniently located in village center, close to restaurants, shops.

On third floor of private house. Newly renovated. Large living room/dining room (radio, TV), bath, two bedrooms. Bed, kitchen and bath linen. CHF120 ($91) per day, CHF80 final cleanup, CHF2.10 tax per person per day.

Mr. Michel will pick up guests at Interlaken-Ost railway station. He and his wife are friendly and helpful and speak some English.

For more information on these properties, call me at 707/935-8776 or e-mail me at godfrid@aol.com.

— MARTHA WIEDERKEHR, Sonoma, CA

Latin America

My wife and I, having snorkeled more than two dozen of the Caribbean islands, wanted to experience the Belize barrier reef, especially from a resort on one of the atolls. We chose Blackbird Caye Resort (for info and reservations, contact P.O. Box 771270, Miami, FL 33177; phone 888/271-3483 or 305/969-7947, e-mail dive@blackbirdresort.com or visit www.blackbirdersort.com). This resort is on one of the Turneffe atoll islands about 30 miles east of Belize City. Our stay was June 2-9, ’04.

Rebecca, Blackbird’s U.S. liaison in Miami, booked our air, the resort and one night in Belize City for us. She was very efficient in getting all of this processed via e-mail and fax and in answering our questions.

The costs per person were $590 for the flight from Ft. Myers, Florida, connecting in Miami to Belize City on American Airlines; $1,150 for the Blackbird Caye Resort snorkel package in the first week of low season (most reasonable accommodation), and $128 for one night in Belize City at the Great House (13 Cork St., P.O. Box 85, Belize City, Belize; phone 011 501-223-3400, e-mail greathouse@btl.net or visit www.greathousebelize.com).

The Great House, built in 1927 as a Victorian mansion, is conveniently located. We walked to the local shopping district along Albert Street and to the Belize Tourism mall, which was built to accommodate cruise passengers from the several ships that now frequent Belize.

Local crafts for sale included beautiful carvings from the huge variety of native wood plus colorful woven items typical of Guatemala and Honduras. There were a few food vendors in the mall, and we suggest getting a couple of Belikin beers and the local version of a taco and enchilada at Taco Creole for about $8 total.

Use credit cards and take cash, as local banks service only their own cards for ATM use. Most prices are in U.S. dollars, which are accepted everywhere.

The people were friendly and the streets are safe during the day. It is best to take a cab at night. Keep money, jewelry and other temptations out of sight.

We had excellent service and meals at the Great House’s restaurant, Smokey Mermaid. A huge lobster-tail dinner and four drinks for two cost $86. The breakfast menu included American-style offerings as well as local items, such as black beans, fry bread or Johnny Cakes, and was about $25 for two; however, an ample breakfast can be had for $7-$8 per person.

The hotel offers tours of area attractions. The Belize Zoo is about an hour’s drive west of the city and the hotel’s tour cost $100 for two; however, we saved $25 by making our own arrangements to get there. The zoo features birds and mammals native to Belize and housed in a natural jungle environment without steel bars.

We were picked up mid-afternoon for the boat ride to the caye. Sherry Johnson and her husband, Dave, manage Blackbird Caye Resort, and during our hour-long trip he gave us a great orientation as to what we would be experiencing for the next week.

With sunrise around 5:30 a.m. and sunset at 6:30 p.m. — and no TV, radio, cars, keys or cash — all we had to do was relax on their beautiful beach and get ready to dive or snorkel and dine with the group. All the meals were ample, freshly prepared on site, varied and delicious. Breakfast and lunch were buffet. Wine, alcohol and soft drinks cost less than $4; name-brand alcoholic drinks were $4.50. Our bill was settled up after dinner on the last evening.

There were two snorkel and two dive trips per day plus a day trip to the Blue Hole and Half Moon Caye. With the exception of the Blue Hole trip, the snorkel and dive trips each went separately with their own guide or divemaster.

Our snorkel guide, Francis Cleland, was an expert at knowing which sites to explore, depending on the varied weather conditions, and fantastic at making sure that we saw lots of interesting creatures.

Lobster, angelfish, queen triggerfish, parrotfish and other reef species were in abundance. With little tourist traffic, the reef was in good shape and pristine. In addition to magnificent coral gardens, we also saw huge manta rays, barracuda and nurse sharks as well as squid in formation.

If you’re looking for a low-key retreat that really takes care of snorkelers, this trip is for you. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and highly recommend Blackbird Caye Resort. You can e-mail us for more information at flafrogs2@worldnett.att.net.

— GEORGE & DARIA FABER, Cape Coral, FL

My husband and I spent a delightful week at the Mopan River Resort (Riverside North, Benque Viego del Carmen, Cavo., BELIZE; phone +011 501 823 2047, e-mail pam@ mopanriverresort.com or visit www. mopanriverresort.com), Dec. 6-13, ’03.

We arrived in Belize around 1 p.m. and were met by the van from the resort. Two hours later we pulled off the road next to a residence on the banks of the river and took a short walk down to a waiting boat. A 10-minute ride up the river took us to the resort, where we were greeted by a 5-minute downpour. We were soaked.

Also waiting for us were Pam and Jay Picon, the resort owners, who made this one of the most delightful trips ever. We were quickly checked in and escorted to our cabaña, drinks in hand.

The cabañas were very comfortable, with cable TV, private bath, stocked mini-fridge, basket of snacks and resident geckos. The cabañas are scattered around a narrow 10-acre site, between the banks of the Mopan River and the jungle, and all have a view of the river.

Meals are served in the main building and everything is wonderfully prepared from scratch. There is a set menu. When your reservation is confirmed, you will be asked if you have any special food requirements, and they WILL be accommodated. There is no grocery store “around the corner”; it is two hours away.

Every evening after dinner, Jay filled us in on the scheduled activities for the next day, all included in the price. There might be a trip to Tikal or Xunantunich, or a day will be spent tubing through a cave, etc. You are not required to participate, but there is no refund if you want to spend the week doing nothing.

Absolutely everything is included. For a one-week stay in a cabaña, rates in 2005 are $1,198 (regular) and $1,341 holiday (Dec. 22-Jan. 5 and March 23-30). A suite for seven nights costs $1,443 regular or $1,616 holiday.

The one surprise was the weather. Of course, I knew daytime temperatures would be high and humid. What I wasn’t prepared for were the nighttime temperatures, which hovered around 50°F. While that doesn’t sound very cold, with the humidity from the river and the jungle behind the cabañas we shivered every night. And the jungle is VERY close. Suffice it to say that stepping out of the shower in the morning was invigorating.

Would I go back? In a heartbeat. It was fun getting to know the other guests. There are only 12 cabañas, and Pam and Jay treated everyone like long-lost relatives. While we were there, Jay celebrated his 81st birthday and all the guests were invited to a cocktail party at their beautiful home on the resort property. It was a wonderful evening.

— CAROL A. SCHMIDT, Telford, PA