vanhal travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises spa and resorts

Beijing National Stadium
Beijing, China
Cost: $500 million
Capacity: 91,000 (approximately 80,000 post-Olympics)
Opens: April 2008
Continue reading Coolest Stadiums

Imagine going back 100 million years or more to feel the power of the cosmic forces that helped shape our planet, and come face to face with giant dinosaurs.

Restless Planet is a unique electronic media and natural history experience, where visitors enter a prehistoric world.
Continue reading The Restless Planet dinosaur theme park

The new face of Bahrain is really amazing. Durrat Al Bahrain is a inspiration place. Located in and around the blue waters of Bahraini seas, Durrat Al Bahrain is represented as one of the best and most unique island cities of the modern world.
The new city is creating across the 15 inter-connected islands that make up Durrat Al Bahrain. Residents and visitors will find the luxury and the experience of the best architecture. Ernie Els is being one of the region’s leading golf centers.
Jassim Al Jowder, CEO
“With a wide range of property financing now available for GCC nationals and non-nationals, now is the time to discover Durrat Al Bahrain”
Continue reading The pearl of Arab Gulf

Hey divas, Surf Diva is your real hot spot to get out of the town. Located in 2160 Avenida de la Playa La Jolla in sunny
Continue reading The World’s Number One Surf School for Women

I know that I have not written for a long time. However, in this issue
Continue reading The Floating Neighborhood

What a hotel!? Tree house set 13 meters above a Swedish public park, with rope ladder access only. That i say unusual place to stay! The idea, first conjured up by the artist Mikael Genberg seven years ago and it is said to be the smallest of its kind. It is designed for a cosy couple, and can hold no more than two or so people. If you want to visit that place the best time to do it is the summer. It’s open on April 1st of each year,but office is open for booking all seasons.

“The idea came to me in 1999. I had just finished working on a tree house hotel and was in the process of producing an underwater hotel when I saw an article in Expressen: ‘Now Sweden goes for the moon’. My idea was not realistic at all. But it kept coming back to me and by August 2003 I had made quite a few enquiries. Ever since then it has grown into far more than an artwork,” said the artist Mikael Genberg .
Continue reading One of the tallest unusual places for staying

The luxurious Six Senses Spa at Porto Elounda, Crete is undoubtedly one of the most breathtaking spas in the whole of Greece. Located on a peninsular overlooking a stunning expanse of the Aegean Sea, the spa reflects traditional architecture highlighted with cutting edge trends plus some quite stunning contemporary works of art. Designed With Respect To The Architectural Tradition Of The Land. The First View From The Hilltop Is A Panorama Of The Bay Of Mirabello, Where The Foreground Is Dominated By The Porto Elounda De Luxe Resort And The Green Expanse Of Its Golf Course. An Oasis Of Recreation And Discreet Luxury Comprised Of The Hotel And The Seafront Bungalows And Villas. Location Description Spinalonga Island, Kritsa Traditional Village Monastery, Ancient City Of Olus, Byzantine Mosaic Remains.The two levels of the 23 treatment areas includes Tepidarium – the spa’s focal point providing a bravura space that excites all the senses, Junior Suite, Thalassotherapy Suites, Oriental treatment rooms, Ottoman hammam, couples treatment areas with outdoor bubble-tubs, hair salon and Cleopatra bath. There is also a Caldarium, traditional Finnish sauna, plunge pool, and a private spa area named the Spring Suite.
Continue reading Golf, Spa and The Discreet Luxury of Porto Elounda

Once the residence of Maharaja of Tehri-Garhwal, Ananda is undoubtedly one of the best hotels in India and ranked in the Top 10 spa hotels of the world. The calming integration of lush greenery, fresh mountain air, Himalayan spring water, the luxurious therapy rooms overlooking the holy River Ganges and the mystifying Himalayas, together with unbeatable spa facilities provides the ideal environment for rejuvenation of the body, mind and soul. It is, however, not only for those who want to spend time doing little but being pampered – it is also the perfect base from which to go walking, bird watching, star-gazing, rafting, fishing or game viewing.
The 21,000 square foot spa offers an extensive menu of over 79 body and beauty treatments, integrating the traditional Indian systems of Ayurveda with the more contemporary Western spa approach. The spa experience strives to achieve the ultimate harmony between the physical and the mental realms of the individual.
Continue reading Ananda in the Himalayas is One of The Top 10 Spa Hotels of The World

Whether you call it Bauhaus or International Style architecture, Tel Aviv is still the only city in the world that houses such a large collection of buildings designed in this style. It evolved in Germany in the 1920′s, came to an abrupt end (in Germany) with the Nazi’s rise to power and continued to develop in the U.S. and elsewhere. In Tel Aviv of the 1930′s, Bauhaus architecture flourished, as is evidenced by many of the wonderful buildings that line the city’s streets. Since the initial publication of this issue, the “White City of Tel Aviv” has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.When UNESCO added Tel Aviv’s White City to the World Heritage List of sites designated for preservation, it made white fashionable and desireable. Thanks to the White City’s historical designation, that default color of Israeli architecture is now identified with quality.

“This is a trend that began about 15 years ago as part of Tel Aviv’s branding as the White City,” says architect Sharon Rotbard, author of the books “White City, Black City” and “Avraham Yaski: Concrete Architecture.” “In the mid-1990s, Ram Carmi began to talk about white architecture at the same time that architects began whitewashing raw concrete structures in conjunction with Brutalist architecture – for example, the planned Amal School. Eldar Sharon also painted white the Coor Building – now the Beit Amot Hamishpat Building – which he planned with his father, Arieh Sharon.
Continue reading White City of Tel Aviv

Madrid Barajas Airport opened in 1933 and was subsequently extended several times. By the early ‘90s, the existing airport had become over-stretched and the need for a terminal, satellite, ancillary buildings and two new runways in the north-west was identified. The client, the Spanish National Airports Authority (AENA) initiated an international competition which was won by a consortium of Richard Rogers Partnership, the Spanish practice Estudio Lamela and two engineering companies TPS and Initec in 1997. The design was chosen for it simplicity, adaptability and flexibility, allowing for future changes and extensions.
As a 21st-century airport, the New Terminal at Barajas will be efficient, simple, economic and functional, accommodating anticipated growth in passenger traffic, which could be up to 35 million per annum in 2010 and 50 million in 2020, double the capacity of the old airport.

The new NAT is located only three kilometres from the old terminals and, after public transportation links have been completed, will be only 15 minutes by underground from the city centre, enhancing Madrid’s prominence as a major cosmopolitan centre and prime transport hub. When the new Barajas Airport is fully operational, there will be a workforce of 20,000 on site each day.

The New Terminal Building should quickly adapt to economic and social changes and have the capacity to implement new technologies, whilst respecting the environment.
Continue reading Barajas Airport in Madrid