Europe

Country/location

Activity

Best time

Notes & Links to more info

(note:  some links are cached)

Skiing

Italian alps - Courmayeur

River cruises

May-October

Various companies

Barging, boat-rentals

NYT list

Atlantic Monthly, 2/1996

Directory of canal boat rentals

Le Boat, Inc. -- Self-Drive and Hotel Barges

Crown Blue Line

Connoisseur, Connoisseur Europe & USA

BargingInFrance (and other places)... many links to self drive renters including Rive-de-France, and others.  A.k.a.  "H2Olidays"

Barging on France's waterways (NYT)

Austria

Ski St. Anton

Winter

NYT 2002 (Note: closest airport to St Anton is Zurich)

Salzburg - see Germany-Bavaria

Summer

Salzburg music festival followed by a train & ferry ride to the lakeside village of Hallstatt

Hotels: The Hollmann Beletage, Altstadt Vienna, Pension Suzanne (near opera house) is the cheapest best deal of all

Day hike in the Vienna Woods, W of city. Forests, vineyards, meadows. & Rent a bike for city tour.

France 

Georgia

Hiking in the Caucasus Range

350 mile mountain range with 17000 foot peaks.  Based at the Rusiko Guesthouse in Telavi.  With possible detour to Kakheti region - the wine country.

Germany

Bike tours

Berline wall: Special map illustrate this tour: "Berliner Mauer-Radweg" by Michael Cramer, Elsterbauer Verlag (in German, English version in 2003?) See Amazon.com for:" Bikeline Radtourenbuch, Berliner Mauer-Radweg"

Iron curtain bike tour

Bavaria

Bad Birnbach natural springs

Combine Salzburg & lower Bavaria tour

Upper & Lower Bavarian Forest

Biking lower Bavarian Forest

Soaking in beer hot tubs, beer spas in Germany & Austria

Munich

3 mile riverside park is largest city park in Europe.  Superb for jog; beer gardens allow picnicing with beer purchase.

GB/UK- Scotland

GB 3-day weather

Hadrian wall path: 73 mile wall separating Britain from the "barbarians"; hike East to keep prevailing winds on your back; best section: 15 miles through Northumberland National Park, Banks to Housesteads.  Official site.

Edinburg 36 hours

GB - London

Compendium
The Ridgeway National Trail near London - NYT story, map
Hampstead area

GB - Wales

Hiking coastal trail

National Heritage properties - rentals

NYT: Pembrokeshire Coast Path: 180 miles, isolated, no people

Permbrokeshire Visitor Center: accommodations, maps, buses to path, and lots more

Greece

Food gourmet tour to Athens

NYT: Ouzo and Eats in Athens 2001 2003

Grail Trail: search for sponges

Eat your way through Crete   NYT-1st page   full-story

Mountains

Islands

Rent yacht out of Cos from Moorings, about $2500/wk + $1400 for skipper (optional - self drive OK) and call on islands north of Cos, south to medival Rhodes, Kalimnos, and the passage of Vathi.  Dinner of the day's catch at tavernas along the way.  Also stop at Patmos (mountaintop monastery), Samos, Nissiros, Piscopi, Halki, Simi.

Holland

Wadden Islands

Laid-back Amsterdam

Jewish Historical Museum

Our 2004 4-day plan

Amsterdam: rent small private boat for picinic evening dinner on canals
Recommedned Indonesian food at Coffe&Jazz in Utrechtsesstraat (don't go by the name)
Bike/jog the 10K Amstel river to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. Restaurants at end.
Hotel Ambassade, room overlooking one of the main canals
Concert at the Concertgebouw with seat behind the orchestra... see conductor front.
Anne Frank

Iceland

Treks and day hikes

Iceland cached collection

Remote Iceland: Snaefellsness Peninsula - glaciers, waterfalls, lava, thermal hot springs.  See H2 Outfitters itinerary.

Landmannalaugar: orange hills and natural hot springs.  Do as 1 day excursion with ArcticSafari or stay overnight at mountain hut.

Ireland

Boating & barging

Ireland cached collection

Everything on barging the waterways (& lots of links)

Dingle Peninsula (In search of the Ryan's Daughter pub?)

Ireland cached collection

Rick Steve's Dingle page

Rick Steve's Dingle accommodations

Dingle has numerous archeological sites along coastal trails

Very off-the-beaten-path

Ireland in Winter

Killary Harbour, fjord: Gaynor's Pub in Leenane (where the priest is a surfer).  Connemara: lakes, bogs, sea, and mountains.  Stay @ fancy Delphi Lodge, on a lake with mountains in back.

Donegal coast (North end of Ireland, next to N Ireland)

May

Eats

Cycle the coast

Italy

All Italy

NYT May 22, 2005: Hill towns of Le Marche ("next Tuscany")

A quite neighborhood in Rome.

DreamOfItaly - a blog of Italy travel ideas
Prato - in the hills north of Florence

The Aberghi Diffusi experience (live in a village with nothing to do but be a local): e.g. Stano Stefano. See entire article with slide show and more Alberghi Diffusi recommedations.

Mantua- near Verona, the actual location of Rigeletto

Apr-May
Sept-Oct

Small town to hand out in: Perugia (Umbria area), S of Florence.

Monticchiello - hill town
Bagno Vignoni - thermal

Dolomites

Tirano

Trento

July

Fly into Zurich
Bernina Line: Chur Sw to Tirano Italy 4 hours, Unesco world heritage bit.ly/dbHGvl

German speaking Alps region in Italy, 20 miles NE of Bolzano. 
Stay near Villnoss. 

Hiking: & Visit to St Johann church.  Featured in Conde Nast Traveler

Bikinig: "Races open to the public (JULY)"   Bike tours, day rides, rentals

Pizza

April

Pizza International Championship in Salsomaggiore (nr Milan)

Venicia

Do the La Fenice season with apartment on or near canal NYT: Venice aparments

Parker Villas is v. nr La Fenice

Restaurant recommendations (Stefano)
Ostaria Quattro Feri, Dorsoduro, 2754, 30123 Venezia 041 520 6978
Ostaria  La Zucca Phone: +39 041 52 41 570, Address: Santa Croce 1762
Ristorante - Osteria - Trattoria Tre Spiedi Via Cannaregio, 5906 30131 - Cannaregio (VE) Tel: +39 041 5208035

Cooking

Tuscany: Divina Cucina 

Divina Cucina web site / online reservations

Chianti country: NYT on Tutti a Tavola

Tutti-a-Tavola web site

Tuscany:  USA Today- Giancarlo Giannelli's school

ShawGuide: Tuscany cooking classes on-the-web schedules

La Cuicina del Castello (1000 year old castello)

Sicily:  Regaleali cooking school and wine estate run by Anna Tasca Lanza, also see the NYT story

Agritourism stay (e.g., a pasta dude farm)

Cooking: see above

Palermo: market

A week in a villa

Check villas locations on map for quite, nearby motorways.

Parker Villas: 100s of villas; online availability and booking

B&Bs in Italy

Tuscanynow.com - private villas

Any town or villa near Luca

*** Borgo Bastia Creti ($1400/wk), look here under Umbrian properties, villas, food shopping in nearby town, culinary "classes" from owners, biking.  Nearby medival towns are Cortona, Gubbio.  Perugia is also nearby.

Mediterranean

Boating port-to-port

Greek island:

Adriatic sea:

Sardinia:

Portugal

Wine Country

Motocycle tour of wine country (Alentejo Wine Route):  country roads, Refuio da Vila, appetizers at the tavern Fialho in Evora (big town), winery Cortes de Clima, Winery Herdade do Esporao, winery Herdade da Mingorra, wine estate Quinta do Mouro 25 miles NE of Evora.  Back in Lisbon: see performances of Fado (Portugese folk music) at Cafe Luso and O'Faia.

Stay:  Evora- 15th C convent Convento do Espinheiro;  castle 70 miles NE of Lisbon - Pausada Flor da Rosa;

Pousadeas (historical hotels such as 15 c palaces): official site and hotel list;

Some examples:  Castelo de Palmela, Palmela, 35 minutes from Lisbon.  Views. Excellent breakfast. Rainha Santa Isabel, Estremoz.  Santa Maria, Marvao.  Mountainous retreat.  Best: Room 403. Loios, Evora, in UNESCO historical site.  Best rooms: 101, 201. WE DID ROOM 101 in 2014

Motorcycle Pousadea to Posusadea!

Eats: Quinta de Catralvos (in vineyard) 15 course meal

Port bar in Lisbon: Solar do Vinoho do Porto

B&B in windmills (moinhos de vento):  Moinho da Senta, Casa do Moinho, Moinho da Bibi

Walter Smith 2014 suggestion list (for a trip to the N, Porto area):

• Douro valley, go to Quinta De La Rosa http://www.quintadelarosa.com
  and look around the village of Pinhão. I had a fantastic lunch there in an Inn between the train tracks and the bend in the river, just where the road crosses the river on a bridge. It may have been the Restaurante Rabelo, though I am not recognizing it in the Google photos. We sat on a terrace overlooking the river and they brought us lunch. It began with a most unusual aperitif, which blended a "Lagrima" porto (a light sweet white‐blond port wine) with tonic water. Sounds odd, but was delicious and most refreshing.
  
• Quinta de la Rosa has a few small guest rooms if you want a B&B, and they make their own wines and olive oils, and you can tour the operation (very small) and do a tasting. I chatted up the assistant wine‐maker, so she opened some rare bottles for me, and it was amazing to taste the difference in the same grape, same year, same hill, but two different hill slopes, one facing east and one facing south. The difference in sunshine was enough to alter the flavor (made for different sugar contents in the grapes, I suppose). But this story will give you an idea of how small the production and bottling runs are, that they don't just blend all that into one massive tank.
  
• Just out of this area on a road running south‐ish, if I remember, is another Quinta that produces the port that goes into some famous name I can't remember. The name has a two‐digit number in it, if I recall, like Sandeman's Cask 57, or Taylor's Barrel 73, or some such thing. Anyway, the source of that particular brand is this small place out of Pinhão. It may be up the Rio Torto, but I don't remember.
  

Poland

Silent Camps

Cracow's old city wall is now a green belt park;  market square is another big attraction.  Good for 2 day visit.

Spain

Hiking: Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, Rioja.  Hike from parador to parador (inn to inn).  Eating/cooking class: El Portal, Ezcaray.  Follow the Boundless Journeys itinerary. & Nearby: City of Girona (62 miles N of Barcelona): HotelHistoric.com, 2 Michelin Star El Celler de Can Roca, La Penyora (another rest.), Europe's oldest Jewish quarters; Feast of St. narcissus (Oct-Nov)

Vermillion Coast Inn to Inn

The Hoopoe yurt hotel in Adaluca. Near Sieville. Hiking area.

Rick Steves Spain

Grail Trail: Madrid crafts - hbaunts - culture of the bullring

NYT: Madrid sleep & eat

The Balearic Islands (Los Baleares): Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza,

    .... Formentera ( the "Sex & Lucia" island) (1 2 3), and Cabrera

Seville

Flamenco festivals in Seville:  April (drik and dance until dawn), September

Pyrenees trekking

Switzerland

July-Aug

Also see Austria

Music in the Alps: hike up to outdoors performance by music quartet  ;  Schedule & web site

Hike/walks: in the Matterhorn, Gemmi

Take trails into cheese factory villages.  Many mom & pop operations open to view by public.  Local cheese can be purchased by slice (for picnic) or wheel.