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A Trip to Venice to get enthralled by its vivacity…

Located in the northern part of the county, an Italian city is famed around the world for its magnificence. Nevertheless, official name of the city is ‘Venice’ but it is more famous by its secondary names such as ‘queen of Adriatic’, ‘City of Water’, City of Bridges’ and ‘City of Light’. One among the most gorgeous cities in the world, Venice is supposed to be the adored destination of lovebirds from all across the globe.

Giving a depiction of fairyland, the city is a treasure trove of cultures and traditions, which are centuries old. Set on almost 117 tiny isles and comprising hundreds of canal, the city covers an area of 458 kilometers. Miles away from the impression of a metropolitan city struck with traffic jam and chaotic setting, Venice trails are as clear as a remote village in oriental Asia. This elegant getaway is all time favorite for beauty-loving expeditors or camera-clad beings of the world.

Accommodation in Venice

Known for its inexhaustible festivity, Venice calls tourists through out the year. Nevertheless, the city is very small and population is less, yet, it is abundant with restaurants and hotels. Venice hotels are full of every facility and available on a good range. Some of the most famous hotels in Venice are respectively Hotel Giorgione, Ca’ Gottardi, Historic palazzo, Hotel Al Vagon, Hotel Ambra, Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo, Hotel Mignon, Hotel Gabrielli, Hotel Torino, Venice Hotels, Hotel San Giorgio etc.

You will be able to find almost every sort of hotel in Venice. Some Venice hotels are budget hotels, while some are specially designed with a corporate look. If are looking forward for something lavish at the dazzling destination, opt for multi-star hotels in Venice, which are ready to offer you the most impeccable services. Comfortable beds, aromatic ambiance, flawless service, good food, plush spas and top quality gym are the normal features of these hotels.

Start your morning with the tawny shade spread outside your window and spend the entire day playing with canal mazes in the city. You can wander around also, as car is a strict ‘no-no’ here. Yes, car is banned in Venice. But if, you do not want to get lost in the watery web of the city, you can opt for busses, which run all across the city.

Best season to go-

Nonetheless, Venice is an year round destination but if you want to take the maximum fun of the party mood of the city, land here in spring. It will be best if you will come here during Easter. This is supposed to be the perfect season to enjoy the vivacity of the city but this time you can face a problem of accommodation in Venice hotels.

By: Nancy E Eben

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Eating out in Venice can be a very unsatisfying experience for the casual traveler. With a local population of only 60.000 people and several millions tourists to feed each year, most restaurant owners in Venice couldn’t care less if you leave feelink like you have been ripped-off. Nevertheless, this attitude, while not uncommon, is not generalized and, if you do your homework, you may still find some ‘local’ places to eat a good meal while paying prices only slightly higher than elsewhere in Italy.

To get a truly Italian experience it is always best to eat where locals eat. This means that the menu will be written only in Italian and you are expected to know what all of the items on the menu are. You should also keep in mind that Venice is a popular destination for Italians as well as foreigners. If you see a crowd of Italian speaking people seating outside of a Restaurants in Venice, do not assume they are ‘locals’. Chances are they are tourists just like you.

As a quick rule of thumb: you should avoid all the places where a ‘tourist menu’ is advertised as well as those with pictures of the food on the outside. Waiters in bow ties or who tout for customers outside the door are also warning signs. Wine prices are another useful indicator. In an average restaurant you’d expect to find house wine (vino della casa) listed by the quarter and half-liter. Half of a liter should only cost something like 5 Euros. Watch out if they only serve bottles of wine at 20 Euros and above.

Although Venice is not considered to be one of the capitals of the Italian cuisine, it is nearly impossible for a traveler to miss one of the most rewarding holiday experiences: enjoying a good meal in a truly unique surrounding. At the very least, an evening meal represents an opportunity to refuel after a day full of activities. Being in Venice, you have to do your homework. Search the Internet for comments coming from people that has already been in Venice or ask a local contact if you know someone you can trust. Booking ahead is always a good idea, especially for evening meals, at busy times like summer weekends, and if you want a special table.

As for the various kind of food establishments, Venice is no different from the rest of Italy. A ‘ristorante’ generally indicates an upscale establishment, while a ‘trattoria’ is a more humble, traditional eatery, serving simple filling dishes. A pizzeria is a place where you can eat pizza; not really a specialty in Venice although there are a couple of decent pizza places. An ‘osteria’ (or ostaria) is similar to a trattoria, but with a slant towards drinking: instead of a full meal, you might have some wine along with a plate of food or a lighter snack. Like the osteria, a Venetian ‘bacaro’ offers a chance to eat some food in a less formal context. The busy Venetians frequently eat quickly and lightly, selecting snacks called ‘cicchetti’ from a display at the counter, then eating them standing or seated on stools.

In Venice restaurants (but this is true for the rest of Italy as well) you should expect to pay as much as 2 Euros per person on top of the price of what you have ordered. This is called ‘coperto’ and it accounts for the table dressing and the small basket of bread you will be provided. A few restaurants also add on up to 12% as an additional service charge although this is unusual and should be stated in the price list. Italians tend to tip a few euros rather than the 10% or more which is common elsewhere: However, there is no strict rule about tipping and in family-run restaurants where you are served by the proprietors it is common not to tip at all.

As you may expect, in Venice you will find a lot of seafood and lagoon fish on offer. ‘Polenta’, a coarse ground cornmeal generally made into a mush-like porridge, is a regional specialty, often served with fish, meat, mushrooms or ‘gorgonzola’ cheese. Seasonal specialties include peas and ‘radicchio’, both of which used in the preparation of rice based dishes (‘risotto’). Pasta is not as widely used as it is in other Italian regions but there are a few typical recipes like ‘bigoli in salsa’ (thick homemade spaghetti in anchovy sauce). Other local dishes you might see on a menu include ’sarde in saor’ (marinated sweet and sour sardines), ‘castraure’ (baby artichokes), ’seppie in nero’ (cuttlefish in its ink), ‘granseola’ (spider-crab), ‘fegato alla veneziana’ (calf’s liver with onions) and ‘carpaccio’ (thin-sliced raw beef). Desserts are not usually terribly good in Venice – typically the choice is something like dry local Burano cookies, panna cotta or tiramisù.

The area around Rialto is chock full of eating places and the most popular food shops and bars are here as well. Needless to say, this is also the area where most tourists use to gather. If you are adventurous enough to wander around, you will be not disappointed. Venice lies on an a small island so you really can’t get lost and chances are you will bump into the thriving little ‘baccaro’ where you can get a plate of assorted appetizers for less than 10 euros. Quite often you won’t find tables in there and no waiter service as well, so simply go to the counter, have some snacks and a glass of wine, and enjoy the taste of the hidden Venice.

This article is part of a series covering the most important Italian travel destinations and regional cuisines. You can find similar articles about eating out in Florence, Naples, Milan and Rome.

By: Bob McCormack

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The city of Amsterdam has a longstanding reputation for being a favorite destination in Europe. Amsterdam city provides visitors with a fabulous and diverse selection of interesting attractions and richly historical sites to see and experience. When planning a trip to Amsterdam, one of the most important considerations is determining which Amsterdam hotel will serve as your base camp for your stay.

With so much to see and do, your selection from one of the many, fine Amsterdam hotels will be the place where you can “come home” to recharge your battery and prepare for another day of sightseeing and exploring the Amsterdam city center and all of the surrounding areas. Some of the most popular Amsterdam travel and tourist attractions are the famous world-class art museums that feature the works of many of Holland’s famous masters, such as the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam.

People who love to admire various types of architectural design often make a special effort to plan a trip to Amsterdam so that they can see for themselves the wonderful buildings of the 17th and 18th centuries. These colorful edifices are marked by multiple gables and intriguing facades on house residences, businesses and even an Amsterdam hotel or two.

One of the most famous and often visited tourist attractions is the house where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis during the Second World War. Other people find themselves intrigued by the liberal attitude of the city and find it fascinating to wander through the Amsterdam red light district where prostitution is openly, and legally, marketed.

Because Amsterdam is a rather compact city, it is possible to make your accommodations in a centrally located hotel and be able to quite easily take in all of the sites either on foot or by taking a leisurely ride through the canals to different districts. Amsterdam city is considered to be a walking city and most people can easily get to their destinations on foot. Because it is also a very flat city, bicycles are also very popular and there is an efficient system in place for locals and visitors alike to rent bikes.

Any quality hotel in Amsterdam will have a helpful staff that speaks very good English and will be happy to answer questions and direct you to particular points of interest or recommend a favorite local hangout for a drink or a meal. In addition, Amsterdam has an extensive network of tourist and tourism information centers which are always ready to help people make sense of their Amsterdam travel and tourism options while they are in town.

These tourism information centers have loads of information about the local attractions, events, festivals, museums, sightseeing opportunities, and they can also provide tourists with an Amsterdam map to help locate anything else that is happening that might capture the interest of the visitor.

Many people are surprised to learn that Amsterdam has been ranked at the fourth most popular and important tourist destination in Europe, ranking just behind Paris, London and Rome. More than two million foreigners, and a similar number of Dutch, make a trip to Amsterdam each year and that number is growing. As the city continues to grow in popularity, it is even more important to make arrangements for your Amsterdam hotel early if you are particular about your accommodations.

By: Mike Selvon

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Strategically located at the gateway to the Mediterranean Sea and being separated from North Africa by only 14 km of water, Spain has been a crossroad to numerous civilizations in the history. Occupying the southwest corner (Iberian Peninsula) of Europe, Spain happens to be the third largest country of the continent after Russia and France. It is comprised of 17 autonomous regions, the island groups of Canaries in the Atlantic and the Balearics in the Mediterranean and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla.

With more than 300 days of the sun, sand and sea it is not difficult to see why Spain happens to be the 3rd most popular tourist destination in the world. And this is precisely the reason why Spain is easily accessible from any part of the world, with most of its visitors arriving by air. Cheap flights are available, on daily basis, from almost every major airport in the world and nearly all the major airlines operate in and out of Spain. Apart from this, Spain is well connected to rest of Europe by trains and ferry link services, while the intercontinental tourists can hire a car and drive down to this country by some amazing roadways.

Once in Spain, the best way to explore this country is by hiring a car, which can really open up your travel horizons and let you explore some untouched and undiscovered locales. Drive your way, a few miles inland, away from the crowded coastline to explore the most scenic countryside in Western Europe. Hilltop monasteries, flower carpeted mountainsides, medieval age relics, quaint villages with cobbled paths, follow the winding roads crisscrossing the vineyards and olive orchards to discover some of the most scenic spots of this country. With a bit of planning in advance driving in Spain can be very easy. So car hire is indeed the most realistic option for you.

Here are some valuable tips on the Do and Don’ts of car hire in Spain.

1. Plan in advance:

With a trip itinerary in your hand, you would not want to end up stranded at the airport with no clue of how to go around the city or even reach your hotel. Though there are numerous car hire companies at your service at the airports, you surely do not want to spend most of your time trying to decide on the one that caters to your needs. Plus you should be aware of the many spurious car hire companies which will give you an unreliable car at some absurd prices with many hidden costs and so forth. Avoid such places, and book a car with a reliable car rental provider. Make your vacation hassle free by doing some research into the area you intend visiting and the car hire services available in the same. Browse through some reviews and real experiences on the internet which would help you decide where to hire a car from during your holidays.

2. Booking a car:

After a full internet search carefully compare and contrast the offers made by the car hire companies. Compare the companies on parameters such as types of cars offered, car hire rates, mileage, pick up and delivery point of the car, fuel charges, insurance coverage, etc. Some companies offer good package deals (like if you are traveling to more than one destination in the region) which turn out to be pretty economical in comparison to booking a car afresh every time you reach the next destination. Also, always keep a printed copy of your confirmation with you while traveling to avoid any last moment confusions.

3. Look out for the hidden costs:

Many car hire companies do not communicate the hidden costs in their quoted rates, for e.g. you might just end up paying some extra amount for choosing a pick up or drop point different from that offered by the company. Feel free to ask your queries about the terms n number of times before confirming.

You could be charged extra if you ask for a car topped with fuel, or don’t return the car with a full tank and these charges could be way more than that at the gas station.

Insurance, covers any damage to the vehicle while in your possession, and can add up a good amount of those extra bucks to your rental quotes.

While there are a few companies making quotes, all inclusive of insurance coverage, most companies charge an additional insurance amount. Also sometimes your banks offer some kind of insurance policies if you use their services elsewhere, so check if car insurance is one of them. You might not need an additional insurance at all!

4. Mileage:

Some car rental providers offer, unlimited mileage, while others offer only a few miles free and charge the remaining. Choose a service provider as per your traveling plans.

5. Taxes:

Depending on where from you hire a car, you could be charged additional taxes.

Airport taxes, value added taxes in Europe could be a costly affair, thus it’s always wise to check with your car hire service provider whether or not these are included in your car rental rates.

6.Time:

Many companies rent a car on a 24 hours basis while the other do it on a day and date basis i.e. you need to return the car on xyz date at any time of the day. The former case is a bit tricky, because if you return the car even a few minutes after the given time/hour you could be unnecessarily charged for an additional 24 hours.

Whatever be your vacation plan be sure to work out all the details of your car hire with the concerned company in details and be sure to go through their terms and conditions, policies etc carefully before finalizing your booking.



By: Tripta

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London travel is exciting for tourists as there are many sites to see and things to do in this historical city. But if you plan on traveling to London, you better map out your destinations carefully as there is a lot to see. Whether you’re looking for nightlife, history, or gardens you are sure to find it in London.

London is home to 200 galleries, 300 museums and over 150 events that happen every day so they are sure to be enough to keep you busy on your London trip. You might visit the Tate Museum after breakfast, pop over to Kensington Palace for lunch, and check out the display of Crown jewels at the Tower of London after supper.

If you’re into history, then Westminster Abbey is sure to be at the top of your list. Here, not only will you find great architecture, but you’ll also be able to see where many of the famous people in history are interred. This working church which performs services for all denominations is the final resting place of many kings and poets as well as scientists including Henry III and Isaac Newton.

Don’t forget to include a visit to some of the many beautiful parks in your London travel itinerary. Regents, Hyde Park and St. James offer gorgeous trails and gardens in addition to outdoor activities such as soccer, model sail boating and tennis to name but a few. Also you want to pencil in a stop at the Japanese gardens at Holland Park and, of course, Kensington Gardens next to Kensington Palace.

Another garden you want to visit which really isn’t a garden at all is Covent Garden. Here you will find a wide array of shops and theaters along with entertaining street performers, pubs and restaurants. Covent Garden is home to the Royal Opera House along with great shopping and dining.

You also want to visit London’s famous outdoor markets such as Portobello Road where you can haggle over antiques just as they did centuries ago. Borough market has been a popular trading place for thousands of years and has the atmosphere of a Moroccan bazaar complete with interesting and unusual foods.

London’s West End, is home to many different pubs and restaurants where you can find anything to suit your palate and pocketbook. While you’re there, don’t forget to take in one of the many shows or performances which are said to rival those on Broadway.

No one would travel to London without visiting one of the museums and you’ll sure have plenty to choose from. From science museums to natural history museums, you be able to see personal items at the Victoria and Albert Museum and of course visit the world-famous British Museum. They’re interesting sites to see also in the museums that the Tower of London and Kensington Palace.

If you want to get a gander at some of the newer things in London check out the Tate modern where you can see the works of great 20th-century artists including Picasso and Matisse or visit the London Eye or you can take a glass gondola boat ride or ride on the world’s largest Ferris wheel.

No matter what your London travel itinerary entails, you’re sure to see plenty of interesting sites. Be sure to write down everything that you missed, so you can visit them the next time you travel to London!

By: Lee Dobbins

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