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

Villa River Cat is run by Rinhoo Sehgal, a creative-minded traveler. He designed an idyllic round house deep in the palm trees off a bumpy dirt track in the lost part of north Goa. It is more of a retreat than a hotel: Rinhoo’s many cats and dogs mingle in the grounds, where hammocks and daybeds blow gently in the breeze.
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Situated at the foot of Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa, the Kasbah du Toubkal sits on a rocky crag 5,900 feet (1,800 m) up in the Atlas Mountains. The mountains are just 40 miles (64 km) from the city of Marrakech, Morocco. The restored fort is reached by a fifteen-minute mule ride from the tiny Berber village of Imlil. The Kasbah dose not describe itself as a hotel, it is more an extension of the hospitality. Photo by: Martin and Kathy Dady
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It is hard to imagine a more romantic arrival. After rumbling over gravel roads between fairy-tale forests along Chile’s remote but spectacular Carretera Austral, you come, at last, to a tranquil little hamlet on the edge of a fjord: Puyuhuapi. The last stretch of your journey must be done by boat, crossing the glassy waters to find a cathedral-like wooden building poised right on the water against a backdrop of virgin forest. It seems an unlikely place for a luxurious spa, and yet inside this beautiful structure there are immaculate pools, fed by three kinds of natural waters. There are also healing mineral water hot springs too. From this superb range of combinations, the owners have created a wide specialty of treatments which transformed the guests’ well-being. 
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There is an unwritten low that the most beautiful places are awkward to get to – the farther away, the more isolated, the better. Gite D’Indaiatiba is just such a place. Situated in rain forest between Sao Paulo and Rio, it is hidden in a dense vegetation at the end of a rocky, precarious dirt track 7 miles (12 km) away from the beachside of Paraty.
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On an undeveloped stretch of Brazil’s famous Cacoa Coast, set among 247 acres (100 ha) of rare Atlantic coastal rain forest, Txai Resort is a secluded enclave of guests rooms sprinkled throughout the grounds of a privately owned coconut plantation. Ocean views are unavoidable in this eco-friendly hideaway with natural springs and waterfalls aplenty  in the surroundings lush hills.
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In the 1700s, looming volcanic cones sprayed Lanzarote with molten lava, redefining the vista into a surreal, jagged environment. To some, bedding down in a valley between two volcanic comes may not sound like a sleep – inducing experience, but British owners Tarnya and Richard Norse-Evans have created a tranquil hideaway here on the island.
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Xara Palace was built right into Madina’s ramparts by Sicilian grandees back when the Crusader Knights of St. John ruled the island of Malta. A decade ago, a local family bought the derelict castle and spent years renovating and decorating it with Maltese antiques and paintings. They did a fantastic job, from planting olive trees in the atrium to putting an authentic wind-up gramophone on the landing. The contemporary restaurant on the roof has panoramic views to the coast that attract diners from all over the island, and the intact history of Mdina is known locally as ”The Silent City’‘ because traffic is normally banned from its maze of narrow alleyways between towering palaces, convents and churches. Photo by: Michel27
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