Accommodations Worldwide

May 2008 issue

Inexpensive and comfortable lodgings in South America

I found the following inexpensive but comfortable lodgings during a February-March ’07 visit to South America (see April’08, pg. 49). Each had private bath, cable TV and, where needed, A/C. The price given for each is the approximate dollar amount for my single room.

• Hotel Rosario del Lago (Padres at Costañera, Copacabana, BOLIVIA; phone 591 2 862 2141, fax 862 2140, www.hotelrosario.com/lago).

Copacabana is the center of activity on Bolivia’s side of the lake and the departure point for the Island of the Sun. The hotel’s spacious rooms overlook the lake and the beach from...

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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

Apartment in Berlin

There’s lots to see and do in Berlin. If you want to save money on your accommodations, rent the apartment of Dr. L. Schnitzer (Belziger Str. 21, 10823, Berlin, GERMANY; phone/fax +49/30 44 355 940) as we did Sept. 12-21, 2006. Dr. Schnitzer has been advertising in the Mart pages of ITN for years, and her apartment’s price is still just $490 per week.

The one-bedroom apartment is clean and comfortable (not luxurious or fancy) and very conveniently located, with supermarkets, bakeries, drugstores, banks and many inexpensive ethnic restaurants within two blocks. It has a well-equipped...

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December 2007 issue

Northern Italy's Residence Bella Vista

Searching the Internet for an apartment somewhere around Lake Garda in northern ITALY for our 3-week stay, April 21-May 12, 2007, I found Residence Bella Vista (Via Rimembranza 29, 25080 Manerba del Garda, Italy; phone/fax +39 0365 551805, www.residencebellavista.com).

The former hotel, converted to seven apartments in 2000, is in an ideal, quiet location in a small village on a ridge overlooking the southwestern part of the lake.

An apartment cost €55 ($75) per night in low season and €95 ($130) in high season. Half pension was an additional €17 ($23) per person, and...

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May 2008 issue

Ecuador's Hostal Las Margaritas

In southern Ecuador, “The Valley of Longetivity” is about 25 miles from the border with Peru. In November ’07 I visited this area and stayed at Hostal Las Margaritas (Vilcabamba, Ecuador; phone 5937 2673 3130, e-mail jorgeluis222@latinmail. com or visit www.vilcabamba.org/lasmargaritas.html) — corner of Sucre and Jaramillo, one block from the bus station and downtown.

Excellent location. Friendly staff. Private bath with HOT water in the shower. TV. An excellent deal — $10 for a single or $18 for two to a room. Breakfast included (eggs, toast, juice, tea or coffee).

STEVE...

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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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