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

Iberostar Bavaro is located in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, the land of white sandy beaches. Plaza Bavaro has everything you need to have a great time: Nightclubs, bars, restaurants, golf course, gift shopping and more. Fabulous gardens and pool area. The beach and the sea clean and beautiful.

In Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus the guests are accommodated in tastefully-decorated, comfortable rooms.

All rooms are equipped with bath or shower, WC, hairdryer, air conditioning, ceiling fan, telephone, satellite TV and mini-bar.

The restaurants includes your, delicious food at a la ca-rte restaurants and buffets, plus drinks, including premium liquors and soft drinks.

Each of Iberostar Hacienda Dominicus’ five all inclusive restaurants bring different flavors to the table. Five all inclusive bars pour domestic, international, and nonalcoholic beverages at your leisure.

Health centre with fitness room, Jacuzzi, massage and spa.

Water sports center offering aqua adventures, glass bottom boat rides and scuba do which is almost like having you own little personal submarine to explore the wonderful marine life underneath.

Because of the natural beauty of its surroundings, it’s the perfect place to pledge your love.

It’s a freaky natural phenomenon at Yamba Beach, Australia. It’ s as if someone had poured tons of coffee and milk into the ocean, then switched on a giant blender. Bizarre, yes? Scientists explain that the foam is created by impurities in the ocean, such as salts, chemicals, dead plants, decomposed fish and excretions from seaweed. Share and enjoy….

The hotel is located right alongside Varadero beach and within the new Varadero golf course. Just 35 km from the airport and only 8 from downtown Varadero, Hotel Melia Las Americas. Here you will find a list of more than 160 locations.

340 rooms: 220 Doubles, 12 Duplex, 14 Suites, 2 Gran Suites and 2 Presidential’s Suites with hydro-massages and 90 Bungalows. The Junior Suites are located outside the main building and surrounded by the lush tropical vegetation. Guests may also make use of Internet access, a laundry service, room service and a car park.

Good taste, functionality and modernity are the elements that compose the design and decoration of these rooms. American breakfast in the room (on request). 

The hotel’s three restaurants offer the very best, most varied and exquisite of international cuisine.Barbecue Restaurant on the beach, specialized in Spanish paellas. Lobby bar and Piano bar.

Melia Las Americas boasts a swimming pool with a waterfall set in lush tropical gardens, a children’s pool, jacuzzi, fitness center, watersports center, activities program and boutiques. Convention Hall with natural light for up to 200 guests.

Melia Las Americas, a great resort for avid golfers.
 

Located on the beautiful south coast of Barbados, close to a variety of restaurants, sports, bars, nightclubs and entertainment.

The Beach Wide white and overlooking a lovely; calm swimming area protected by a coral reef.

The hotel has 130 rooms, standard rooms sleep a max-of 2 in a double or twin beds.Suites sleep 2 adults and up to 3 children in a bedroom and separate living room, and have a balcony or terrace. The rooms have refrigerators and coffeemakers, as well as hair dryers. The TVs have cable; the telephones have voice mail and data ports. There is a kids` club for younger guests as well as a babysitting service.

Activities: tennis, golf, horseback riding, bicycling, fishing, scuba diving and sightseeing excursions are all available and there is also snorkeling.

The Kabira peninsula is located on the north-west part of the Island of Ishigaki, 20 kilometres from the town. Club Med Kabira is awarded as the Best resort in Japan for 2006. This Club Med Village stands opposite a white sandy beach where the sea is extremely clear and beautiful.

The sea here is extremely clear and beautiful. The beach and location are spectacular. The beach is furnished with deckchairs and parasols.

The restaurant features buffets with a diverse range of culinary delights.

Facilities: Shopping, tumble-drier, washing machine, internet corner with WLAN connection (all against payment).

 Activities: Archery, Circus School, Club Med Fitness, Kayaking, Snorkeling, Squash , Hiking, Tennis, Windsurfing.

The Pestana Angra is located in Angra dos Reis, an ecological paradise, one of the most privileged regions of the Brazilian Coast. Occupying an area of 55.000 m² between the Atlantic Forest and the sea.

Pestana Hotel is a small, elegant and exclusive resort offering 27 bungalows decorated with comfort and including a variety of up to date facilities.

Room Amenities: Hair Dryer, In Room Safe, Television, Satellite/Cable, Mini Bar, Balcony/Terrace, Internet.

Portogalo Suite Hotel consists of two bars one located in the lobby area and the other at the pool including a large wooden terrace ideal  .

Activities – Ship travel,  Rafting, Water Ski, Wind Surf  and Spa, sauna, pool.

Tonga is a kingdom. The islands lie south of Samoa and are about one-third of the way from New Zealand.  It is the only South Pacific group of islands (170) that has always ruled itself. Several of the islands are volcanic, with active craters, but most are coral atolls. The entire island is population- just over 100,000.

It became a British protectorate in 1900 and gained independence as a constitutional monarchy in 1970. There is exceptional sailing and snorkeling, and many tiny islands with gorgeous beaches. There’s laid-back resort life around Tonga’s marvelous whale-watching. A relaxing holiday, a fishing trip, an exhilarating dive. There are private resorts, guesthouses, making it a much less populated and more relaxing place to visit.   

Curacao was discovered   in 1499 and became an autonomous part of the Netherlands in 1816. The Curacao Marriott Beach Resort and Emerald Casino is  five star hotel on the island. This luxury Caribbean beach resort offers restful views and lush tropical gardens. It’s 10 minutes from both the airport and Willemstad. This 247-room luxurious resort  features a tropical free-form pool with swim-up bar. All guest rooms have a private balcony or terrace.
Amenities: Alarm clock, air conditioned, coffee maker in room, hairdryers, available iron, multi-line, phone with data port, private bathroom, radio, rollaway beds, safe, sofa bed, TV, telephone. The resort’s and a nightclub/lounge and the casino get busy. The guests may try their luck in popular Emerald casino. There are parties during the week and live entertainment on Saturdays.

Moreover, the hotel features bar, swimming pool, spa, shopping, business center, gym, internet, launderette, 2 tennis courts, jacuzzi, medical service, car park.
The Marriott Curacao Hotel offers  the Portofino Restaurant, which specializes in  international cuisine and fresh seafood.

The water sports center offers kayak rentals, diving, snorkeling lessons and boat trips perfect for outdoor enthusiasts.

This is the most glamorous and most prominent hotel on the island, set beside the largest and most popular beach on Curacao.
Toll-Free: 800-223-6388

Only Ocean Club is located on 35 tropical acres. It is set a beach that stretches along paradise Island’s North Shore. Its graceful architecture reflects the colonial heritage of the Bahamas. The 12th Century Augustinian Cloister inspired by Versailles and the Renaissance.

106 rooms, also a collection of 34 bedroom villas. The rooms  have spacious balconies and patios offering garden or ocean-views. Guests receive 24-hour service and daily champagne and strawberries. All 106 air-conditioned guestrooms in two wings reminiscent of West Indian colonial architecture.

The hotel also has a fitness center, private beach with beach attendants, outdoor pool. The biking is available, also ecologial tourism, kayaking and snorkeling tours. The spa is among the most luxurious in not only the Bahamas.  Tennis courts is offered on four  professionals courts.

  The 5- star Paradisus Varadero hotel is located the most beautiful Varadero beach. The hotel is at 13 km from the town of Varadero, from city center, 30 km from the airport of Varadero and 144 km from the capital – Havana, Cuba.

This resort offers 421 Rooms and 1 Garden Villa. The rooms are with either ocean or tropical garden view. All rooms are equipped with full bathroom with hairdryer, satellite tv, direct dial telephone, safety box, coffeemaker and coffee service, minibar, iron and ironing-board, sauna, jacuzzi.

Resort’s extras – hairdresser, launderette, ironing service, shopping mall, currency exchange, tour desk, spa, souvenir shop, car rental, dive center, medical services.
Also has  elegant restaurants- Gourmet Restaurant Turey,  Mexican Restaurant, Grill Cairi, Aqua-Bar Toa, Beach bar.

Attractions – Ambrosio cave, aerobics, mini-bowling, giant chess game,  shuffleboard, darts, beach volleyball, ping-pong, volleyball court, billiards, 3 tennis courts. The Water sport: windsurfing, sailing, catamaran, kayaking or canoeing,  water ski, banana boat or water polo.

Sandals Grande Resort is located on a slender peninsula surrounded by the Caribbean Sea. It’s a first class resort including different activities, such as water sports, scuba diving. There are some type restaurants and botanical gardens.
All rooms have balcony or patio with lovely views of the magnificent Caribbean Sea. There are four swimming pools – including a lagoon pool that lets guests swim right up to their rooms. Rooms features – personal safe, satellite TV, telephones and bathrooms finished with handmade tiles. The suite’s private hammocks are also ideal for afternoon relaxation.
Resort  include – Palladium night club, hobie cats, waterskiing, paddle boats, kayaks, snorkeling, table tennis, horseshoes, darts, volleyball, billiards, shuffleboard, sauna, fitness center, gift shops.

Mondrian South Beach Hotel is planned for opening in early 2008. It is supposed to combine vary fashion design elements of a fantasy modern get-away along with all the comforts and conveniences of home. Mondrian South Beach Morgans Hotel Group has made a pioneering move away from the bustle of Miami Beach’s oceanfront tourist center to the fashionable, growing neighborhood of Biscayne Bay. The Hotel Residence is built on a prime waterfront location and provides breathtaking views of the Atlantic and downtown Miami.

Facilities will include Agua: a spa featuring wet and dry treatment rooms, a state-of-the-art gym, a world class, five-star restaurant, a dynamic nightlife experience, chic event spaces and a private, 40-slip marina with a private dock master and sand barge. The property fronts Biscayne Bay and offers spectacular views of the downtown Miami skyline, the Atlantic Ocean and South Beach. Marcel Wanders, a world-famous design star and an original member of the influential Droog collective in the Netherlands, has conceived of the hotel as Sleeping Beauty’s castle. Guests will step into a magical world, entering a leisurely oasis of gardens that leads to the spectacular interior. The gardens, designed as indoor/outdoor living spaces, feature comfortable seating areas, an outdoor “sand” bar, a hanging chandelier above the glamorous pool, and cabanas for all ages, including tented play spaces with a sandbox and bouncy toys in the children’s area. For more information visit hotel’s site here.

Majorca (Mallorca in Spanish) is the most popular of Spain’s Mediterranean islands, drawing millions of visitors each year. About 209km from Barcelona and 145km from Valencia, Majorca has a coastline 500km long. Palma comes as a surprise to many people – it is stylish, sophisticated, intimate yet bursting with life. Half of Mallorca’s population live here, enjoying the island’s best restaurants, shops and nightlife as well as a thriving arts scene and a lively cafe society. The cathedral, the Palace of Almudaina, the fish exchange, and Plaza Mayor are just some of the places where visitors must stop. Fishing boats, pine groves and palm trees complement the most beautiful monuments. The capital of the island of Majorca, famous for its beaches and beautiful sea, has a beautiful historic quarter, deeply marked by history. The beautiful island is an explorer’s paradise in its exterior, although horribly overbuilt along certain coastal regions.

The coastal landscape of the island is graced with coves, beaches, and cliffs. A beautiful, diverse landscape, as well as a rich cultural life, are most inviting to a journey through every last inch of Majorca, as well as through the pleasures of its excellent cuisine.
Mallorca’s most popular hiking trail is the climb from the town of Alaro up to a ruined castle and hilltop chapel, which offers panoramic views of the sea and plains as far as Palma. From Alaro the walk takes about two hours to complete. The castle ruins on the hilltop date from the 15th century and dominate the landscape. At the summit there is a restaurant and bar to refresh weary climbers.

The golden sands of Majorca are famous, with lovely beaches such as Can Pastilla and El Arenal, but they tend to be overcrowded with sun worshippers on package tours. There are several good, though usually crowded, beaches accessible by bus from Palma. El Arenal, seven miles (11km) to the southeast of the city, attracts many German visitors as is reflected along its waterfront in the signs on restaurants, bars and hotels. The long beach boasts white sands and turquoise water. Palma Nova and Illetes, between six and ten miles (10 and 16km) to the southwest, are smaller but equally popular beaches. On the road to Palma Nova is Marineland, offering dolphin, sea lion and parrot shows as well as Polynesian pearl-diving demonstrations. The most popular beach on the entire island of Mallorca, Es Trenc, on the southeast coast between Cap de Salinas and Cap Blanc, can be reached by bus from the Plaza Espanya in Palma with departures three times a day. The local tourist office distributes an information leaflet on 40 beaches in the Palma area.

The glory of Palma – a magnificent Gothic cathedral whose sandstone walls and flying buttresses seem to rise out of the sea. You enter through a side door, passing a small museum, head for the west portal and gaze down the long nave. Light pours in through the rose window, one of the world’s largest, 12m across and studded with 1,236 pieces of stained glass. The columns are ringed with wrought-iron candelabra by Gaudi; his most controversial addition is the unfinished Crown of Thorns, fashioned from cardboard and cork and suspended above the altar. It dominates the waterfront and backs on to the old part of the city where medieval and later churches are found along with Renaissance buildings like the City Hall and the stately homes with their beautiful patios. The maze of streets at the back of the cathedral leads to the beautiful Banys Arabs, the old Moorish bath house, which is also worth a visit.

Estoril is a civil parish of the Portuguese municipality of Cascais. The Estoril coast is close to Lisbon – the capital of Portugal. It starts in Carcavel, 15 kilometres from Lisbon and stretches as far as Guincho. The two main resort towns are Estoril and Cascais. The town has since lost much of its status, but maintains a certain faded grandeur and is still a fashionable cosmopolitan playground with Europe’s largest casino, tennis courts, some of Europe’s finest golf courses, an automobile race track that has held Formula One Grand Prix races, and an attractive sandy beach. Early in the 20th century the resort became the playground of the rich and famous who came here to relax and sunbathe; luxurious hotels accommodated illustrious visitors which included royalty and ex-royalty.

At the bottom of this elegant, tropical style park, Tamariz Beach is accessed by an underground pass. Here the fashionable take in the sun and one can walk westwards to Cascais along a very pleasant promenade which passes various small beaches, taking in a drink on the way. The picturesque beach of Tamariz has a number of bars and restaurants, and a castle overlooking it that is owned by the royal family of Monaco.

The beach and the casino still remain big attractions. Offering a broad stretch of fine sand, Estoril’s Tamariz beach is crowded in summer. The casino has been renovated internally and offers bars, a restaurant, a floor show, gaming machines and comfortable surroundings in which to win or lose a fortune at roulette, baccarat and the like. Behind it is the casino surrounded by attractive gardens with tall palm trees. Estoril also hosts a prestigious crafts fair with artisan works from all over the country, not to mention samples of typical Portuguese fare and folk dancing displays.

Leisure goes hand in hand with relaxing in Estoril. The Tennis Club boasts over 20 courts and is open until the sun sets and not far from the centre, the “Clube de Golfe de Estoril” was established in the 40s offering a 9-hole course as well as the full 18, and has held various championships. A few kilometres towards the town of Sintra, another superb course, Penha Longa, attracts many top golfers who enjoy the terrain as well as the magnificent views. Between the two lies the famous Estoril Autodrome where enthusiasts of motor racing can visit the track where Formula One races have been held.

Beautiful Miami Beach is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The city was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The area offers great sightseeing, entertainment, dining, nightlife, shopping, recreation, fine hotels, and draws many tourists and vacationers. Miami deep sea fishing, freshwater fishing, luxury yachts, speedboats, dining cruises, gaming cruises, bare boat charters and sailboat charters — this and much more awaits you on the Greater Miami waters and beaches. Has come of age and is now one of the top reasons why people choose to vacation here. In fact, several of the area’s spas rank among the “Best Spas in America” and are the favorites of spa connoisseurs throughout the world.

The snorkeling tour begins on the north side of the island aboard a large 30 foot catamaran. On board the snorkeling catamaran you will receive professional snorkeling instruction, sanitized snorkeling gear, and free soft drinks, beer, and wine. You will snorkel above the only live coral reef in the U.S. Glass-bottom boats, boats on air, mangrove creeks, and a unique River of Grass — these are not your typical attractions. But then again what is typical about Miami attractions? The Miami’s attractions capture the imagination and stir the soul.

Coral Castle is truly a monument to the uniqueness of Miami. This attractions was built by a Latvian-born Miami resident named Ed Leedskalnin as a monument to his lover. After 28 years of effort, he introduced his 1100-ton coral creation to the world. It’s a bit of a trip from downtown, but well worth the time. Miami isn’t just about the festivals all around you — it’s about the festive spirit inside you. The one that emerges when surrounded by ocean breezes, swaying palm trees, salsa beats and fun in the streets. Before you check in, check out Miami’s myriad of food, film and sporting events …

Next, venture to the Miami Seaquarium and come face-to-face with world famous stars Lolita the Killer Whale, TV’s Flipper, and Salty the Sea Lion, or check out the sharks or crocodiles. The park overlooks Biscayne Bay. See different shows and marine life exhibits or take the plunge and swim with the dolphins.

South Beach has a very active club and bar scene. It is host to over 150 clubs and other destinations, most of which close at 5 am. South Beach can be expensive, and access to nightclubs is often difficult for non-locals who do not have connections, or do not plan their evenings in advance. Access to the more popular nightspots can cost anywhere from $20-60 for entry (depending on event and venue) and sometimes comes with a wait of several hours, in addition to evaluation by door staff.