Bali Fun Trip

Top 10 diamond jubilee weekend getaways

balifuntrip — Sat, 12 May 2012 15:03:04 +0000

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The bonus bank holiday is three weeks away, and there’s still time to bag a break. Here are 10 trips to make the most of the four-day weekend

Bologna

Bologna is lively, studenty and has beautiful medieval buildings, not to mention great food. It’s a city worth taking an extra day off work for, in short, as you can fly out on Friday morning and return on Monday for less than £150. Wait until Saturday and you’ll pay another £75 – and think how much ragù and red wine you could get with that. The city’s tourism website (bolognawelcome.com) has a wide range of accommodation options.
• Return flights from Gatwick from £146 with EasyJet (easyjet.com)

Copenhagen

Even if you’re not hooked on BBC4′s The Bridge, Copenhagen is a great place for a chilled-out city break and, contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t have to break the bank. Wander around the centre checking out the classical architecture, hire a bike to explore further afield, or sign up for a sightseeing run (running-copenhagen.dk). It’s true that alcohol is expensive, but quality craft beers such as those served at Mikkeller Bar (mikkeller.dk) are more worthy of your money than Carlsberg. There are some good flight prices over the jubilee weekend, and Visit Copenhagen has a useful directory of accommodation with last-minute availability, such as the cheerful Hotel Löven in the centre.
• Return flight from Stansted from £118, departing 1 June, returning 4 June with EasyJet (easyjet.com). Doubles at Hotel Löven from around £67 a night, visitcopenhagen.com

Amsterdam

Travelling by train and ferry is one of the cheapest, most hassle-free ways of getting to the Netherlands. A “rail and sail” ticket will take you from any Greater Anglia station (London Liverpool Street, Cambridge, Norwich and more), to Harwich and on to the Hook of Holland and most major Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague). There are still a few spaces on sailings for the bank holiday weekend. Try Holland.com for a list of available hotel rooms – Hotel Casa 400 is a decent modern budget hotel in Amsterdam.
• Rail and sail from £78pp, departing 1 June, returning 4 June, stenaline.co.uk. Doubles at Hotel Casa 400 from around £68 a night, holland.com

Brussels

It pays to book in advance on Eurostar, but you can still find reasonable fares for a last-minute jaunt to the Belgian capital. The city rewards a bit of pre-trip research – check out the tips on the Brussels section of Spotted by Locals (spottedbylocals.com) to find secret viewpoints, underground artistic hotspots and the city’s hidden river. For dedicated bargain-hunters there’s a particularly useful post on bars with happy hour deals. The website visitbrussels.be has a section on cheap stays in the city.
• London to Brussels from £89, departing 1 June; Brussels to London from £62 on 5 June, eurostar.com.

Ireland

County Cork offers a classic Irish experience: brilliant live music, fresh seafood, wild untamed coast and, of course, plenty of pubs. Whether you want to eat and party in the city of Cork, walk along the coast or drive between fantastic seaside fish restaurants, a few days here will blow the cobwebs away.
• Flights with Ryanair (ryanair.com) from Liverpool to Cork, departing on the evening of Saturday 2 June cost £41 one way, or £79 on Friday afternoon. Return flights on Monday morning £20, or on Wednesday (arriving back 9.45am), £41

Houseboats, various European cities

HouseTrip, the European holiday rentals website, now has more than 86,000 private rentals to choose from, in every conceivable style. For your jubilee getaway, why not kick back on a houseboat? Choose from a bedroom for two on a barge in central Avignon, with its own shady deck area; a canal boat sleeping up to six in Amsterdam; or a century-old houseboat in Paris with incredible views of the Eiffel Tower.
• Avignon houseboat from £90 a night, (020-3463 0087, housetrip.com)

Turkey

In the middle of a forest, next to a slow-moving river, Bördübet is a beautiful boutique hotel with many sunny decks strung with hammocks, luxurious sun-loungers, little wooden bridges and a private beach club. It is located on a peninsula in a quiet area between Marmaris and Datca, and has the feeling of a glamorous private island. Exclusive Escapes has four nights’ half-board from £825pp, including return flights from Gatwick, departing 1 June.
• 020-8605 3500, exclusiveescapes.co.uk

Village fete, Dartmoor, Devon

If you don’t want to ignore the jubilee altogether, stay at Woodovis holiday park on the western edge of Dartmoor. The five-star park is holding a traditional fete on 4 June, with live music, egg-and-spoon races, welly wanging and a barbecue. Take a tent for a budget break, or rent a cute camping pod – the new tipi, complete with woodburning stove – a mobile home or the converted stable cottage. There’s an indoor pool on site and a family-run pub, The Copper Penny, nearby. For a more luxurious trip, the Prince Hall Hotel is a boutique country house hotel in the middle of the moor.
• Camping at Woodovis (01822 832968, woodovis.com) costs from £49 a night for two adults and two children over five (under-fives stay free). Prince Hall (01822 890403, princehall.co.uk) has doubles from £155 B&B

Bothy with a difference, Scottish Borders

The borders are perfect for walking, cycling, riding and fishing. Crabtree & Crabtree has unusual properties with availability over the bank holiday weekend. It’s a local company dealing in accommodation in the native Tweed valley. All properties will be decorated with bunting for the jubilee, and guests will receive a hamper with a bottle of champagne. The Lauderdale Suite is an elegant apartment sleeping two within Thirlestane Castle, which dates from the 13th century and is just 25 miles south of Edinburgh.
• Three or four nights at the Lauderdale Suite from 2 June costs £300; other properties are also available (01573 226711, crabtreeandcrabtree.com)

Glamping, various locations

Quality Unearthed is a new company devoted to finding the best glamping spots in the UK. (The owner lives in a yurt himself – you can’t get much more devoted than that.) Current finds include a shepherd’s hut, a gamekeeper’s cabin and an ecopod in Wales, and a luxury treehouse in East Sussex. Coming soon are safari tents on the Isle of Wight and a genuine gypsy wagon. The properties tend to be tucked away in woods or on hillsides, so are ideal for those wanting to entirely avoid the right royal knees-up.
• From £42 a night for a hut sleeping four (01348 830922, qualityunearthed.co.uk)

All prices and availability correct at time of going to press

Rachel Dixon

Sicily’s top 10 beach hotels and B&Bs on a budget

balifuntrip — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:06:02 +0000

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Traditional seaside boltholes, beachfront hotels in sleepy fishing villages and old-fashioned B&Bs with spectacular clifftop views – we pick 10 of the best, and affordable, places to stay by the beach in Sicily

La Bianca Scogliera, Scala Dei Turchi

Though illegal building has left its mark on Agrigento’s countryside, this part of Sicily, with its Greek temples and rolling vineyards, is outstandingly beautiful. The beaches too are visually spectacular, thanks to white marlstone cliffs, the so-called Turkish steps, that give this place its name. La Bianca Scogliera sits right on top of the cliffs. It is an old-fashioned B&B and feels very much like staying in someone’s home, in a good way. Signora Graziella offers home-cooked dinners using fresh ingredients from the garden, and they even produce their own wine to wash it down.
• Contrada Scavuzzo 143A, +39 09 2281 4554, realmonte-bb.it/index.html, B&B doubles from €50

Hotel Acqua Marina, Donnalucata

Perched on a crag with a bird’s eye view over Donnalucata’s beautiful beach, Hotel Acqua Marina in Ragusa province is a friendly locally run hotel with an excellent fish restaurant and seaviews to match. It also has a private stretch of grass just above the sand where you can sunbathe, and an upstairs sundeck where breakfast is served. For those wanting a stroll there’s an open air market at the far end of the beach where farmers sell their vegetables from the back of battered little three-wheeled trucks. For anyone wanting a bit more culture, the hotel is within a short drive of Scicli, a stunning baroque town further inland.
• Viale della Repubblica 9, +39 09 3293 7922, acqua-marina.com. B&B doubles from €90

Hotel Santa Lucia, Capo D’Orlando

Though it has one of the best beaches on this stretch of coastline, and is well-connected by road and motorway to the rest of the island, Capo D’Orlando is not instantly charming. But this bustling, built-up seaside town does have the seldom-explored Nebrodi mountains on its doorstep which contain a gorgeous swathe of national park where eagles soar and some of Sicily’s best salami can be found. Hotel Santa Lucia isn’t on the beachfront, but it does have decent rooms, a leafy backyard and affordable rates.
• Via Consolare Antica 166, +39 09 4191 8227, santalucia-hotel.net. B&B doubles from €75

Il Borghetta, Marzamemi

Long a gorgeous but crumbling backwater, this little fishing village now boasts excellent fish restaurants and straightforward B&Bs, one of the best being the newly refurbished Il Borghetta, which is just a stone’s throw from the water’s edge. Magnificent views of the long sandy beaches can be enjoyed from its roof terrace, perhaps with a glass of wine from the nearby Pachino vineyards. Two sisters run the accommodation, while across the road is Al Boccone where their affiliates the Infantino brothers cook great food and also rent rooms. Marzamemi is within easy reach of the wetlands of the Vendicari nature reserve, where wild turtles hatch in the sand and flamingos stop off on their migratory journeys to and from Africa.
• Via San Giardino 17, +39 34 8515 1580, ilborghettobb.it. B&B doubles from €60

Albergo Esperia, Milazzo

Milazzo in Messina province is probably best known as a point of departure for ferries heading to the Aeolian Islands, but it’s well worth exploring in its own right. Albergo Esperia is the only hotel located right in front of Ponente beach, where on a clear day you can see Mount Etna smoking away on the horizon to the left, and the islands of Lipari and Vulcano looming across the sea in front. Behind the hotel, where the friendly owners have built some lovely rental apartments, cliffs rear up topped by Milazzo’s castle, which will open to visitors this summer. It’s all very beautiful, especially at sunset.
• Via Tono 128, +39 09 0922 4951, albergo-esperia.it. B&B doubles from €90

Hotel Torre Bennistra, Scopello

It’s worth paying a few more euros for a sea view at this hotel because what you get when you look down through the floating seagulls is one of the most exquisite inlets in Trapani province. Two ancient watchtowers guard an 18th-century tuna fishery that’s lapped by pristine waters, which can be reached from the hotel via a small steep path down the hillside. The beach is tiny, but there are at least three more excellent beaches within a few minutes’ bus ride. Scopello itself is a truly beautiful village with a gurgling water trough in the centre of the little piazza, and a walled garden behind it overflowing with fruit and vegetables, which the owner sells at the gate. This hotel, the oldest in the village, is run by the Lentini family.
• Via Natale di Roma 19, +39 09 2454 1128, hoteltorrebennistra.it. B&B doubles from €70

Hotel Egitarso, San Vito Lo Capo

With a lighthouse away to the left and low mountains on the right, San Vito Lo Capo’s beachfront has been the holiday setting for generations of Sicilian families escaping the heat of Palermo. They come for the long and sumptuously white sandy beach, but also for the couscous festival, which usually takes place in September (25-30 September in 2012). The town is teeming with budget hotels and B&Bs, but Hotel Egitarso sits right at the top of the beachfront. This traditional family hotel has mostly Italian clients and is full of character, from the bulky Sicilian furniture in the rooms to the colourful Caltanissetta tiles that line the corridors. In addition to rooms, the hotel has serviced apartments further down the road.
• Via Lungomare 54, +39 09 23 0972 0111, hotelegitarso.it. B&B doubles from €60

Siracusa Beach Hotel, Arenella

Anyone wanting to combine museum visits with a lively beach experience should appreciate the Siracusa Beach Hotel’s promixity to Siracusa and the island of Ortigia. The sea and sand of Arenella beach are right on the doorstep, but within a 15-minute drive guests can also reach Greek and Roman amphitheatres and a new museum dedicated to Archimedes (arkimedeion.it) in Siracusa. The town also has the Paolo Orsi museum, packed with Greek and Roman remains. Ortigia is also worth visiting for its myriad bars, restaurants and breezy little alleys that lead down to the harbour. Alternatively, further up the coast there’s the beach resort of Fontane Bianche, with a good selection of pizzerias and restaurants. The hotel has plenty of room for outdoor eating and also a large roof terrace.
• Via Nuova Zelanda 1, +39 09 3172 1607, siracusabeachresidence.com. B&B doubles from €70

La Terrazza Sul Mare, Avola

Avola is a quiet little town in Siracusa province that is famous – if anything – for its almonds. But its low profile means that its public beach is hardly ever crowded. Extensive restoration work in the town centre has made Avola’s main piazza a lovely place to stroll in the evening. Join the town’s elderly men as they argue about football and politics until it’s time to go in for dinner. Alternatively head to the beautiful baroque town of Noto and the gorgeous Cava Grande canyon, which are both short drives by car. This B&B is just a few minutes’ walk from the sand. The Monello family have their own citrus farm so expect homemade jams at breakfast.
• Via Metastasio 6, +39 09 3182 3973, laterrazzasulmare.com. B&B doubles from €64

Hotel Paguro, Siculiana Marina

This little village, tucked behind the nature reserve of Torre Salsa, is a quiet corner of an often overlooked corner of Sicily. Young hotelier Giacomo Minnella runs his own place right near the beach, and in addition to rooms with balconies overlooking the sea, the hotel has its own restaurant across the road. It’s a good deal for the price and would make an excellent base for heading west towards the sulphur baths of Sciacca and the windswept Greek archaeological park at Selinunte.
• Via Principe di Piemonte 35, Siculiana Marina, +39 09 2281 5510, hotelresidencepaguro.it, B&B doubles from €60

Sicily’s top 10 beach hotels and B&Bs on a budget

balifuntrip — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:00:42 +0000

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La Bianca Scogliera, Scala Dei Turchi

Hotel Acqua Marina, Donnalucata

Hotel Santa Lucia, Capo D’Orlando

Il Borghetta, Marzamemi

Albergo Esperia, Milazzo

Hotel Torre Bennistra, Scopello

Hotel Egitarso, San Vito Lo Capo

Siracusa Beach Hotel, Arenella

La Terrazza Sul Mare, Avola

Hotel Paguro, Siculiana Marina

Hotel review: Primrose Valley Hotel, St Ives, Cornwall

balifuntrip — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:06:04 +0000

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This small hotel in St Ives has a terrific spa – and you’ll need a relaxing treatment there after the terrifying drive to its front door

Driving to the Primrose Valley Hotel takes nerve. “If a vehicle is coming up [the steep hill] it has to give way to you,” says the “getting here” bit on the website. I poke the car around a turning above Porthminster Beach, and the road beneath disappears. Here goes … Thank God nothing is coming up. I turn beneath a railway bridge and into a parking slot at the hotel.

Ooh, that’s nice: guests are sitting in the window having tea. It’s open-plan here – clever. Sitting room on my right, breakfast room opposite, all beneath the gaze of Tamara de Lempicka’s Young Lady with Gloves. A doorway to reception is also the way to the bar (slate-floored with black sofas to match), which is where I need to be right now – I’m still shaking slightly from my descent.

A chalkboard offers Cornish platters for guests who are peckish but don’t want to go out. Salamis, cheeses, smoked salmon, for £8. Cream tea is £5.50, and a nibbles list includes fair-trade olives and nuts from a workers’ co-operative. There is also a REN product list (this really is my kind of bar) since the nine-bedroom three-star also happens to be a purveyor of REN spa treatments.

Rooms on the website look simple and contemporary, but I already know that the only seaview available to me is also due a bathroom upgrade. Well, at least it has all the relevant components, I think, once upstairs. The bay-windowed bedroom worries me more. Edwardian proportions, a balcony with views over the St Ives to St Erth railway line to the sea, and loads of natural light could all add up to budget heaven, but are compromised by slightly shabby and mismatched brown furnishings. Yet details – wooden hangers, REN toiletries – are good.

In the bar, asking Andrew Biss, who owns the hotel with his wife Sue, about the wine list is the right thing to do. He describes a sparkling Italian which is only 5%, then a “Pinot Noir which opens slowly”.

That night, drawing the curtains, I think how the plastic rail is out of kilter with details such as beautifully stripped floors. Distant snoring stops after a bit and I drop off. As I’m brushing my teeth on the balcony next day, a train trundles quietly below, and the sea glitters.

Downstairs – thank goodness – no one is whispering at breakfast. I play spot-the-snorer while negotiating good smoked salmon with unexpectedly pale scrambled eggs – I wonder if cream has been added.

Then, in the tiny sybaritic oasis upstairs, therapist Kim sets about winter skin on legs and arms with something called Guérande salt, and delivers a facial that seems to wake my skin up while almost sending me to sleep.

Never has a hotel combined so much relaxation with so much stress, I think, when I leave. Andrew changes into first and deposits my car up on the main road, with me in the passenger seat. Eyes shut tight, I’m clinging on to every vestige of spa-induced bliss I can.

• REN facials, from £33 for a half-hour, body treatments from £40

sally.shalam@guardian.co.uk, sallyshalamsbritain.co.uk

Sally Shalam

Long way round: the Wales Coast Path

balifuntrip — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:03:40 +0000

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The new 870-mile Wales Coast Path has new stretches joining existing routes to take ramblers round the entire coast. These five one-day hikes show Wales at its uncrowded best

See an interactive map of the Wales Coast Path, including these five walks, here

Dale to Martin’s Haven, Pembrokeshire, 10 miles

The Pembrokeshire path was Wales’s first national trail, established in 1970, and this quiet corner of the county is a perfect introduction to the drama of the Welsh coast.

Starting at the Griffin Inn (griffininndale.co.uk) in Dale, head round St Ann’s Head, savouring the grand views of Milford Haven, a natural harbour used since medieval times. Swim in the sea at Watwick Bay, Westdale Bay or Marloes Sands.

Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) landed at Mill Bay just east of St Anne’s Head in 1485, ending his exile in France. Spend the night on Skomer (welshwildlife.org/skomer), a haven for sea birds. The wild flowers in May are spectacular. Accommodation is basic but the sense of remoteness is memorable (bit.ly/IlA2eZ, £30-£60pp in a twin room, under-13s half price).
• Further information on this walk

Aberaeron to New Quay, Ceredigion, 6½ miles

In Aberaeron, the Harbourmaster Hotel (harbour-master.com, doubles in historic buildings nearby from £110 a night B&B) was once a rowdy whalers’ inn and is now the epitome of Welsh chic-on-sea. The small port is an ordered delight, with Georgian houses lining the harbour.

Between May and September, look out for bottlenose dolphins. The path takes you through an exquisite wood in Cwm Buwch, at the edge of which a waterfall tumbles onto a deserted beach. Reward yourself with a dip in the sea at New Quay, or a pint in the Black Lion (blacklionnewquay.co.uk), one of several former local haunts of Dylan Thomas.

For an extra jaunt, visit the villa, gardens and farm at Llanerchaeron (nationaltrust.org.uk/llanerchaeron), designed by a young John Nash in 1795 – it’s two-and-a-half-miles inland from Aberaeron.
• Further information on this walk

Ogmore-by-Sea to Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, 10 miles

This section of the Glamorgan Heritage Coast path along the Bristol Channel offers wonderful views of Ogmore Castle to the north and south across the water to Exmoor. If the tide is low, you can walk along the beach for two miles, south from Dunraven Bay, avoiding a longer detour inland. At Nash Point, head away from the sea through a wooded cwm to reach the Plough and Harrow in Monknash (ploughandharrow.org). In the 14th century, the site was a grange, or satellite farm – the Vale of Glamorgan is famously rich farmland – attached to the Cistercian abbey in Neath. Today, it’s an excellent pub, renowned for its real ales and ciders, and its food (book a table at the weekends; there’s usually a gig on Saturday nights).

Near Llantwit Major, the St Donat’s Arts Centre (stdonats.com) – in an old tithe barn within St Donats Castle, formerly a home of William Randolph Hearst – puts on regular concerts, plays and exhibitions. You could leave the car here in the morning, catch the bus to Ogmore and arrive back for a performance in the evening. Stay at the Bear Hotel (bearhotel.com) in Cowbridge a few miles inland, or in a tipi beside the castle ruins in Ogmore-by-Sea (tipiwales.co.uk).
• Further information on this walk

Moelfre to Red Wharf Bay/Traeth-Coch, Anglesey, 6 miles

Following cliff-top paths and crossing sandy beaches, this walk winds along the north coast of Anglesey from Moelfre (where there’s a memorial to the Royal Charter, a huge iron clipper wrecked here in the 19th century). Sleep overlooking the Irish Sea at Arlanfor (arlanfor.co.uk, doubles from £75 a night) a cosy B&B in Moelfre. Look out for seals and dolphins, stop for a dip at Traeth Bychan, and marvel at Castell Mawr, a huge lump of limestone at the northern end of Traeth-Coch (or Red Wharf Bay).

Enjoy lunch or a pint at the Ship Inn (shipinnredwharfbay.co.uk), overlooking the grand expanse of beach at Traeth-Coch. Inland you could take in the Oriel Kyffin Williams gallery at Llangefni (kyffinwilliams.info), part of the bigger Oriel Ynys Môn art complex. One of Wales’s most celebrated artists, Williams was born and lived most his life on Anglesey: his art is ingrained with the place. Every September many local artists open their studios as part of Helfa Gelf, or Art Trail (helfagelf.org/en).
• Further information on this walk

Rhossili to Port Eynon, The Gower, 7 miles

A magnificent section of wild coastline, along the extremity of one of Britain’s most beautiful peninsulas, the Gower. Catch the bus from Port Eynon to Rhossili and walk down towards Worm’s Head – where Dylan Thomas claimed he used to take his “devils for an airing” while walking. If the tide is low (check at the National Coastwatch station – nci.org.uk/wormshead), you can walk the mile to the very end of Worm’s Head. There are superb views down the golden expanse of Rhossili, a well-known surf beach, before you turn south east. Follow limestone cliffs and skirt sheltered bays, past ancient earthworks. Even in summer you may well have the path to yourself.

Reward yourself with very good fish and chips at the Captain’s Table in Port Eynon (01792 390980). Stay at Kennoxstone Camping and Touring Park (gowercamping.co.uk, pitches from £13). Note: some campsites on the Gower attract crews of young surfers who party into the night. This is a specifically family-friendly site a few miles inland from Rhosilli Bay.
• Further information on this walk

Rob Penn

North Yorkshire holiday guide: hotels, B&Bs, cheap eats, walks and days out

balifuntrip — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:03:30 +0000

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Browse more than 100 tips, from elegant seaside B&Bs to cosy pubs with rooms; find out where to eat in the most popular tourist spots for under £10 and the best family days out

Guardian Interactive team

Walking, and staying at boutique hotels, in the Alps

balifuntrip — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:03:52 +0000

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A week’s walking in the Alps of Italy and Switzerland doesn’t have to mean nights in basic, and rather grim, refuges. Descend into the valleys each evening and you can dine and sleep well in pretty boutique hotels. At least that was the plan …

Since dawn, we have been hiking across a glacier riven with crevasses, along a narrow path we hope will bear our weight. It is freezing cold, and hard going when the slippery route ascends steeply. At the top the wind drowns out all sound and the air is thin, but a final, shivering traverse brings us to just below the rocky summit of the Klein Matterhorn, at 3,883m. There, automatic glass doors slide open to reveal a restaurant and a gift shop full of Japanese tourists buying cuddly marmots.

That’s the thing about the Alps – they are grand, wild, dangerous, and yet, unlike the wildernesses of the US, Scandinavia or even Scotland, they have been farmed for centuries and are full of villages and ancient trading footpaths. This means that no matter how extreme your trek, you are never far from a decent restaurant, shop, or – increasingly – a stylish little hotel. The trick is finding them.

Last summer I decided to spend a holiday doing the Tour de Monte Rosa, a classic long-distance hike around Switzerland’s highest mountain, through the Swiss and Italian Alps, among 10 peaks over 4,000m. The joy of the Alps is that the footpaths are so well-established that it is possible to dispense with guides and group tours, and go independently, so I bought maps and guidebooks. Invariably they recommended staying in walkers’ refuges each night (it’s a trip of at least eight days). But being somewhat averse to smelly dormitories full of snoring men, I wondered if there might be an alternative.

It took a lot of research, but after many evenings poring over maps and websites, my boyfriend and I devised a route that deviated slightly from the classic tour, but allowed us to stay at small boutique hotels – most of them fairly new, and costing little more than the one refuge to which there was no alternative, the Rifugio Teodulo above Zermatt, which charged us €45 each.

We start not in the major ski resort of Saas Fee, as many do, but in neighbouring Saas Almagell, a smaller Swiss village easy to reach from Geneva (train to Visp, then a bus) and home to the Hotel Pirmin Zurbriggen. Swiss tradition meets contemporary design at this revamped four-star with spa run by the family of ski-racing stars Pirmin, Heidi and Silvan Zurbriggen. We dine among their medals on “green cappuccino” and haddock and potato cakes served by waitresses in dirndls, in a room decorated with industrial chandeliers by way-out Swiss designer Heinz Julen.

Our first day takes us into Italy’s Piedmont region over the 2,868m Monte Moro pass, named after the Moors who invaded the Saas valley in 939AD, and left a legacy of Moorish place names (and, say locals, noses).

The scenery is like I’d imagine a TV advert for anti-depressants. Wild flowers, sunshine, Christmassy pine trees, cows with giant bells, waterfalls, lurid green fields and the milky blue Mattmark lake. Then the anti-depressants wear off and it’s scree slopes, boulders and cloud, up to the huge golden Madonna statue at the top of the pass, where walkers start saying buon giorno! instead of grüss gott!

The brutal peaks of the Monte Rosa massif occasionally appear through the clouds while we eat our picnic of bread, ham and pickles, bought from a Swiss supermarket for £12 that morning, which seems a rip-off when we go for a beer in the cafe at the top of the cable car from Macugnaga, and see truffle pasta on the menu for €7. Italy is clearly much better value for money than Switzerland, for those converting from pounds.

Macugnaga is beautiful, with its ancient flower-decked chalets beneath the sheer east face of the massif and western Europe’s second-tallest peak, the 4,634m Dufourspitze, Monte Rosa’s summit. But the poshing-up of the Alps seems to have passed it by, and it feels like nothing has changed since the 1950s, including the hotels.

We have booked a room at the Zumstein, where the landlady leads us past a dismal old people’s home lounge to our room, which is dusty as a tomb. We can’t bear to hand over £100 for this so do a runner, ending up instead at the Hotel Flora, which is slightly better, even though the landlady refuses to let us see a room first, insisting, “No! It is bellissima!” When we return from dinner at the ungodly hour of 9.20pm, we have to be let in by the night watchman. Macugnaga is a funny little place, tinged with sadness – there are far too many young adventurers buried in the moving mountaineers’ cemetery beside the 600-year-old Chiesa Vecchia.

The joy of starting a walking day in Italy is buying your picnic. The village has a deli stocked with dozens of salamis, mountain cheeses, chocolates and cakes, which set us up nicely for the strenuous day ahead, a 16km slog over Colle del Turlo (2,738m), passing forests and turquoise whirlpools. It is early September, a wonderful time to hike because most days are warm and sunny, and the lower slopes are covered in wild berry bushes. There are raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries everywhere, and the thought of what they would cost in Sainsbury’s means I just can’t pass without picking.

The old Roman path at the top is surprisingly well-preserved, with neat slab steps. The weather turns misty and rainy, as it often does at the summits, but I’m distracted from impeding misery by a sudden flurry of movement from some German hikers coming the other way. Unlike the busy Tour de Mont Blanc route, the Monte Rosa is quiet, especially at this time of year. Encounters are rare, and we have seen only two other people all day; even so, the enthusiasm with which the Germans are waving seems excessive. Then I spot him. Between us on the misty track stands a magnificent steinbock, or Alpine ibex, with great curling horns.

The eight-hour hike ends in Alagna, the most beautiful Alpine village I’ve seen, tucked into a narrow, steep-sided valley. It’s totally bling-free, its dark wooden buildings housing only small delis, dairies, gelato shops and cafes, its churches painted with frescoes. Hikers often stay at the pretty Rifugio Pastore on a grassy plain under the south wall of the Monte Rosa, but we have set our sights four kilometres further down the valley at the Tre Alberi Liberi, a wonderful family-run B&B, stylishly decorated and reasonably priced, in Riva Valdobbia.

We must look a bedraggled mess when we arrive because lovely owners Elena and Roberto rush to dry us and warm us up, show us our cosy larch-floored room and give us drinks, and even the keys to their car, so that we can drive to the nearest restaurant still open, in Alagna. La Marmotta has delicious ravioli, rösti, and Langhe Nebbiolo wine, perfect service, and Elena’s guests get 10% off.

Fresh homemade peach cake, blueberry tart, smoothies, bresaola and cheese make a feast at breakfast, and then we cheat, accepting a lift (well it is raining) from Roberto up the Vogna valley as far as the rocky track will take us, to the hamlet of Peccia. Most Monte Rosa trekkers take the Passo Salati for this section, but the Vogna is prettier, less spoilt by ski lifts, and allows us a stop at Alpe Lareccho, an agriturismo with a cafe in a tiny wooden hut. There are shoes lined up against the woodburning stove in the corner, a bra hanging above it. The family who live there all summer have a pot of soup on the go, board games and spirits line the shelves, and it is very hard to drag myself back out into the rain.

The day turns grim – the only really rainy one of the trip. We walk uphill in torrential rain for three hours. I am soaked to the skin, cold, and my feet are covered in blisters. Visibility’s non-existent and we don’t have any food. I am like a pilgrim of old: exhausted, hungry, weak, desperate for a kindly refuge. And this being the Alps, of course, there is one. Ospizio Sottile, on the border of Italy’s Piemonte and Aosta regions, which I fantasise will feature a sauna, soft blankets, Michelin-starred linguine …

When we reach it I strip off all my clothes in the draughty chapel (sorry lord), change into dry ones (a perk of carrying all your clothes on your back) and bound into the dining room. What’s on the menu, we ask the two young men who live up here for months by themselves. “Well, we have soup …” Yes, I think, yes! And what else? Lasagne? Roast chicken? But that’s it. Just watery vegetable soup. Mine has one pasta hoop in it, and they have run out of bread.

After lunch a steep, wiggling descent takes us into Gressoney, a large ski town with many hotels, but we have opted to hike up the other side, to Alpenzu, where there’s a particularly lovely refuge, dating from 1779. I have made an exception for it because it has private rooms. We arrive at 7.20pm, almost 12 hours after setting off (thank god we accepted the lift). The sheets look and feel like Wundaweb, the iron-on stuff you hem trousers with, and there are no towels, but the food is fantastic: cured meats, grilled courgettes and aubergines, cheese and saffron knefflene (a local pasta), salad, sausages and steak, then four types of cheese. We eat it all and really need it.

The next night’s meal is even more fantastic, at a gem of a hotel, Frantze Le Rascard, in the small Walser settlement of Val d’Ayas on a hillside above the ski resort of Champoluc. The Walsers are the people who first inhabited these high pastures, emigrating from south-west Germany in the 1400s and 1700s. The hotel is in a traditional Walser building dating from 1721 and accessible only on foot or by ski lift, but has been made luxurious, with a sauna, shutters with heart-shaped holes, and gorgeous bedrooms in the former hayloft.

Dinner is incredible – mocetta (air-dried beef, more herby than bresaola) with battered courgette flowers, farfalle with mascarpone, homemade gnocchi and thinly sliced beef, then brown-bread semifreddo with honey.

By this time we are well into the swing of the trip, more nimble on our feet, fitter, happier, in love with the landscapes and the ancient way of life – up on the highest pasture, farmers spend all summer with their cattle, as they have for centuries. We have developed habits – dangling our wet washing off our rucksacks to dry in the sun, two lunches a day, long stops for marmot watching, photos and chocolate at every summit, an afternoon pint. Each day we walk for between six and eight hours, up and over moutain passes of around 3,000m. Sometimes we talk, or make up games, or sing. I frequently zone out and it feels like meditation, restorative.

A skiers’ cable car takes us down to Champoluc next morning, and we are on our way back to Switzerland, up a gorgeous valley to the linked ski resorts of Italian Cervinia and Swiss Zermatt. The Matterhorn is visible now, and we spot other famous glaciated peaks, the Weisshorn and Breithorn. After several hours’ climb, passing ice-blue lakes and summery plains, we are faced with a bizarre moonscape, JCBs and pylons on the plateau that links the resorts. It’s a huge, ugly thing to cross, and we make the journey longer by doing a 30-minute detour to use the loo at a cafe, the Gran Sometta, which turns out to be closed.

The family who own it are doing renovations. “So sorry, we have no water!” says the mum. “But please, have a drink, come in! We never see people up here in summer!”

They insist on showing us round, won’t let us pay for our Cokes, and are so disappointed that we don’t think we can carry the bottle of wine they really want to give us as a gift, that they insist we return in winter to drink it.

That night is refuge night, at the Rifugio Teodulo, 3,317m up on the Theodul Pass, which connects the two countries. It is fantastic to stay somewhere so high, and somewhere so important to mountaineering history, one of the classic refuges in this area where the sport began. We have our dormitory to ourselves, the views are staggering, and it is fun and sociable (everyone gets a bedtime shot of génépi to send them to sleep). But as expected, the scratchy blankets are covered in hairs, the food is poor and the bathroom horrible (we queue to clean our teeth at the one working tap while a man washes his feet at it).

But this stretch feels like real adventure, crossing the snowy glacier, avoiding crevasses, seeing one of the most astonishing mountain panoramas in the world: Monte Rosa, Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, Breithorn and hundreds more peaks surround us.

Zermatt, with its Indian TV crews, crowds of tourists, megabucks price-tags and luxury hotels comes as a shock, and though we spend a rest day there, in bars, and the brilliant new museum, we can’t wait to be back in the wilderness on deserted paths.

Rather than head back towards the Saas Valley in the east via Grächen, we head west, taking a train to St Niklaus, a cable car to Jungu, then hike east to Gruben, to stay at the historic but simple Hotel Schwarzhorn, before ending our epic journey with a final night in luxury, at the charming hotel Bella Tola in St-Luc. The spa has taxidermy above the pool, antiques complement floral wallpapers, cowhides and antlers abound, and after several nights in villages without such options, I have to appreciate the vision of the hotel owners who have created such beautiful, contemporary places to stay in such remoteness.

Of course, no matter where you stay, this is an incredible walking route, and it is the mountains that make it so. Our trip over, we take one final look out from our luxurious room, back up the valley to the stupendous Matterhorn, and agree no amount of interior design wizardry can compete with that view.

Gemma Bowes

Lake District tempts recession trade with buses, trains, paths – and petrol expenses

balifuntrip — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:10:27 +0000

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You can get £60 off a trip to see the ospreys at Bassenthwaite. Or try out the new minibus which is venturing into the wilds of Wasdale

Two different approaches to travel are being tried in the Lake District as the UK dips back into recession, with a consequent threat to the appeal of holiday breaks in remoter parts of the country.

The Overwater Hall hotel by Bassenthwaite Lake and Skiddaw is going for the eye-catching and obviously appealing. They will pay 20p a mile towards petrol for the journey to Cumbria, for guests staying at least four nights between the start of May and the end of September.

That knocks £60 off the £400 cost of the minimum stay for visitors from London, and the hotel’s co-owner Angela Hyde says:

We’re calling it fuel relief and hoping that it goes some way to encouraging people to visit our beautiful region. We want to do all we can to make sure that tourists have access to one of the UK’s most stunning national parks.

At the more modest end of things, just about every organisation you can think of in the Western Lakes, which are relatively under-visited compared with the honeypots around Windermere, Langdale and Derwentwater, has got together to support a multi-vehicle travelling scheme. It uses trains, buses and feet to connect some of the area’s loneliest and most beautiful places, in a manner which avoids car travel on small and windy roads but still allows enough time for a day’s there-and-back-again trip.

The lynchpin is a new minibus into Wasdale from Seascale station on the coast, operating this year only on Saturdays but set to expand into the rest of the week if usage this year suggests sufficient demand. Its timings are co-ordinated with trains on the Cumbrian Coast line and – via advice of timings for those who take the lovely walk from Wasdale over to Eskdale – the ‘Little Ratty’ miniature trains of the Ravenglass and Eskdale line between the coast and the hamlet of Boot.

The bus stops at Nether Wasdale, Wasdale Head and, by request, points in betwee, which opens the way to many other walks. Two years ago, I had my hike-of-the-year from Boot to Keswick, and its many buses, over the Scafells. As Katie Read, West Cumbria’s tourism manager, says:

Community transport is especially important for a rural county such as Cumbria. The most beautiful parts of the county in the Western Lake District are often in accessible to those who wish to use public transport. Innovative projects such as this scheme in Wasdale are a great example of what can be achieved and enables access to some real hidden gems, whilst minimising the environmental impact. Something that we at West Cumbria Tourism whole heartedly support.

Credit then to Northern Rail, Wasdale Meeting, West Cumbria Tourism, the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, Mid-Copeland Parish Partnership, Cumbria County Council, the Lake District National Park and Copeland Borough Council, who sorted this out. More info is here on the website of Sims Travel who run the bus.

Martin Wainwright

Top 10 hotels and B&Bs in Buenos Aires

balifuntrip — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:00:21 +0000

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Buenos Aires is not the bargain basement of a decade ago, but you can still stay in style while still leaving enough pesos to enjoy the nightlife. Here are 10 characterful hotels and B&Bs

Buenos Aires now has more boutique hotels than you can shake a polo whip at. Unfortunately, it also has surging rates of inflation that now puts them out of reach for more budget-conscious visitors. So where does this leave the traveller who wants a place with a comfy bed, a clean shower and plenty of character, but who could happily skip the in-house spa and room service?

If you hunt around (and not necessarily just in the usual hotspots), there are still some good deals to be had. San Telmo and Palermo remain the most popular areas to stay in, but you can easily save a substantial number of pesos by staying a few blocks down the road, while getting more of a barrio (neighbourhood) feel too.

Pop Hotel, Villa Crespo

As the name suggests, pop art is the theme here in Buenos Aires’ “first budget boutique hotel”. It opened late last year in the emerging Villa Crespo neighbourhood, which has a scattering of hip cafes and inventive restaurants but without the tourist saturation of nearby Palermo. Clean, fresh and urban, the 44-room property doesn’t let you forget where you are: its “pop” logo branded on to everything from the hangers to the soaps. You also get plenty of modern extras too, including an iPod dock and a security safe that’s “big enough for a laptop”. Breakfast involves taking a voucher to a cafe down the road, which is unusual but no real inconvenience.
• +54 11 4776 6900, pophotelsbuenosaires.com. Doubles from around £57 per night (special offer of three nights for the price of two available)

Bed and Breakfast Ada & Valentyn, Monserrat, bordering San Telmo

Stepping inside this century-old apartment block and pulling the cage door across the old-fashioned lift takes you back to Buenos Aires of yesteryear. Another newcomer to the scene, this B&B is immaculately clean, with high ceilings, polished wooden floors and vintage furniture that has been hand restored by the owners. The building is also surprisingly quiet considering you are just a couple of blocks from Plaza de Mayo, the site of almost daily protests about one thing or another. Tango fanatics Ada and Valentyn (a multilingual couple from Argentina and Holland respectively) are full of enthusiasm about their new venture and go out of their way to help guests enjoy their stay. All visitors are invited to join them on their Friday evening trip to a milonga (tango dancehall).
• +54 11 4343 6251, bedandbreakfastbuenosaires.com. Doubles from £35, singles from £22

Lola House, Boedo

Painted a sunny shade of yellow, this colonial house is designed in the “chorizo” style, meaning it extends back from a central patio like a sausage. Situated in Boedo, an oft-forgotten barrio to the south, its single-storey frontage opens out to reveal 12 en suite rooms. Original decorations such as Spanish tiles and stained glass windows give it a personality that is characteristically porteño (of Buenos Aires). With a Subte (metro) stop just around the corner, you are a 10-minute ride from San Telmo. Currently, the huge terrace has no outdoor seating, which seems like a missed opportunity, but apparently some changes are afoot.
• +54 11 4932 2139, lolahouse.com.ar. Singles from £57, double £70, triples £86

Abode, Palermo

If you want to stay in the heart of Palermo Soho (home to all the flashest boutiques, restaurants and bars), but don’t fancy paying through nose, this down-to-earth, British-run B&B is your answer. Having the 50-square-metre “grand suite” here feels like having your own apartment. Breakfast is served on the upstairs terrace, which is surrounded by pot plants and is a suntrap even in winter. Hosts David and Zoe are renowned for their local knowledge and attentive service.
•+54 11 4774 3331, abodebuenosaires.com. Doubles from £57 per night B&B

Casa los Angelitos, Balvanera, one block from the Congress building

Chatty porteño owner Sergio runs this place with his retired parents, who live here and give this place a real family feel. It is best suited to stays of a month or more, but you may get lucky with some short-term availability, especially off season. The rooms come together at the central patio, which is surrounded by exposed-brick walls and plenty of greenery. Breakfast is not included, instead you get use of the kitchen, shared with other guests and the hosts. It’s like a mature hostel, attracting guests of all ages, and is a great spot for those sticking around to learn Spanish or tango.
• +54 11 4954 4079, casalosangelitos.com. Double rooms from £13 per person per night

Petit Hotel El Vitraux, Constitución/Monserrat

Argentinian owner Elena is like a whirlwind of buena onda (friendliness). She opened this place with her Dutch partner, Mark, five months ago, and although it is still a bit of a work in progress, a warm welcome is guaranteed. The 90-year-old house has just three guest rooms – all painted lively shades – so there is no chance of feeling like just another anonymous guest. There’s a small shady patio downstairs for taking breakfast or an early evening glass of Argentine wine, plus an additional roof terrace with giant ferns, hibiscus, lime trees and an occasional visiting hummingbird. Note that from here you’ll want to walk towards Monserrat/San Telmo, rather than the rougher part of Constitución.
• +54 11 2064 9354, petithotelelvitraux.com.ar. Rooms from £25 per night

Livian Guesthouse, Palermo

If this stylish guesthouse were just a couple of blocks down the road, it would probably cost double the price. It’s situated on the outer edges of Palermo, meaning you have to walk a little bit to be in the centre of the action, but there are advantages to being on a quiet residential street. This 1920s property is the converted childhood home of owner, Lucila, a former gymnast, who transformed it with her husband, Fernando, a former soap opera star. It’s filled with arty touches and retro furniture, plus the large back garden provides a welcome oasis.
• +54 11 4862 8841, livianguesthouse.com.ar. Doubles from £44 (shared bathroom) or from £73 (en suite and little private garden)

Luba Tango House, Palermo

Many guests have said staying here feels like having your own Argentinian mother for a few days, and host Luba relishes this role. She started welcoming travellers into her home (and guests stay in the rooms of her grown-up children) to make ends meet after the 2001 economic crisis hit the country. Argentine homes tend to be filled with chunky furniture and hand-me-downs rather than Ikea-style home assembly kits and this is no exception. The sideboards are covered with family photos and personal knickknacks. Luba also has the low-down on the milongas within in walking distance.
• +54 11 4831 2654, lubatangohouse.com. Singles from £19, doubles from £35

Teresita B&B, Adrogué, Zona Sur

Around 9 million people live in greater Buenos Aires, yet very few tourists travel outside the city core. Adrogué is a middle-class suburb south of the centre, 30 minutes by train. There are just two little cottages at bottom of the garden, both en suite – so you really do get away from it all. The only time you realise that you are not the only tourist in Gran Buenos Aires is when host Teresa opens the door to cookery students. You can join in to learn how to make empanadas or a real Argentinian barbecue (from £35 per person).
• +54 11 4293 5992, gotraveltoargentina.com. Double from £40 per night B&B

San Telmo Loft, San Telmo

Minimalism rarely works in Buenos Aires. Such a vibrant, creative city is reflected better through bright colours and bold statements. Fortunately, San Telmo Loft knows to take the second route, opting for a modern but cosy design. It isn’t a hotel; it’s an apartment rental service, run by an Argentinian-American team. They started with one “loft” in central San Telmo, just off atmospheric Plaza Dorrego, and now have a small number of similarly stylish properties on their books. Instead of getting a key from an impersonal agent, you’ll be met by one of the company owners, who’ll have plenty of insider knowledge on the neighbourhood and beyond.
• santelmoloft.com. Approx £44 a night

Do you know any affordable places to stay in Buenos Aires? Add your recommendation in the comments below

Vicky Baker

B&B review: Low Mill Guest House, Bainbridge, North Yorkshire

balifuntrip — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:04:52 +0000

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Escape the daily grind at this sympathetically restored water mill in a beautiful spot in Wensleydale’s wonderful walking country

The way they tell it, Neil and Jane McNair became guesthouse owners on a whim. Visiting Wensleydale from London, they fell in love with a neglected water mill, bought it, then had to decide what to do with it. They had no previous with Bainbridge, a remote village in the Yorkshire Dales, no history in hospitality. It could have been a disaster.

Except that Neil, a carpenter, is experienced at renovating houses (very useful), and both have strong opinions about hotels. This is not an attempt to butter up Guardian Travel, they insist, but they used to regularly have weekends away following Sally Shalam’s advice. In other words, they have been training for this for years.

It shows. Opened in September, Low Mill is a destination of memorable warmth and character. The building itself has huge charisma. This old flour mill’s grindstones, for instance, form a centrepiece in the guests’ lounge. Neil has restored the water wheel too, repainting it in West Ham colours. It all works. The cogs and pulleys run up into the exposed eaves in the huge Workshop bedroom, where I stayed.

The mill backs on to the River Bain, reputedly Britain’s shortest. In January, the riverside garden was decorated with gnarled icicles. Beyond, the almost lunar Dales stretch into the distance. It is prime walking country, if not the liveliest destination. On a Monday night, the local pub had shut by 10pm. It was worth venturing out, however, on a clear night, just to see the stars.

The Workshop is the most expensive of Low Mill’s rooms, but all three are sizable and smoothly marry style, wit and practicality. A proper kettle that boils promptly; a flask of fresh milk and homemade biscuits; a log burner primed with paper and wood. Such details turn a good-looking room into a great place to stay. There are even sheepskin rugs beside the bed (a superb six-footer with crisp cotton sheets), so you don’t step directly on to the wooden floor. On a subzero night, vintage cast-iron radiators keep it seductively cosy.

Not only does the room “work”, it also looks fantastic. A handsome canvas of exposed stone walls and old mill gearing has been judiciously dressed with antique pieces, including a freestanding copper bath, and humorous modern objects. A large pottery bulldog guards the fire.

Crucially, the McNairs are easy-going, affable hosts. A guesthouse is an intimate space, impossible to enjoy if the vibe is stiff and diffident. After my evening meal (two courses, £17.50; impressive dinner-party cooking), I settled down in the lounge with a beer from nearby micro the Yorkshire Dales Brewing Co (£2.50), and watched Man City beat Wigan. It was like being at home, only better.

Breakfast seals the deal: greaseless, great local ingredients, the flavours (plain pork sausage, moderately spiced black pudding) correctly modulated for the morning. I left, but reluctantly. Low Mill is a truly great escape.

• Tony travelled from Manchester to Garsdale with Northern Rail (0845 000 0125, northernrail.org)

• For more information on Yorkshire, visit yorkshire.com

Tony Naylor