I'm perched in a wooden treehouse lazing on a cushy double mattress atop a white sand beach along Mexico's Riviera Maya. Overlooking the turquoise Caribbean Sea, I'm about as far away from holiday hoopla and craziness as I can get when the beach butler comes by to see if I need anything.
All Olympic eyes will be on Whistler Blackcomb next year as it hosts the 2010 Winter Games' alpine skiing events. But those in the know will be heading to British Columbia's vast, snowy interior for its cool old-school mountain towns and the best powder and terrain in North America.
Yue-Sai Kan -- one of the most recognizable women in China with a cosmetics empire and her own TV show -- often needs to get away from the grueling pressures and polluted skies of Shanghai and Beijing, where she lives.
We are sitting cross-legged in the water, 60 feet underground in a Mexican cave surrounded by some of the most beautiful formations I've ever seen, as the niece of a famous shaman chants a Mayan prayer asking the gods to let us go in peace.
Hawaii may seem a world away, but there are plenty of big waves, tiny bubbles and tiki-style spots closer to home. Here are some San Diego-based ways to catch the Hawaiian spirit.
The goofy underwater shots of my husband and much-younger son grinning behind their masks always make me smile -- just the way a vacation photo should.
Imagine climbing 276 steps to change a light bulb. That's all in a day's work for Rian Harford.
The title on Chris Doyle's business card reads "mad scientist," but he's not crazy, he's just crazy about snowboarding.
Feeling sluggish after a few too many eggnogs and a halt to your fitness routine?
Yes! No one is yelling, "Hurry up, Mom!" or tapping ski poles impatiently.
I'm perched in a wooden treehouse lazing on a cushy double mattress atop a white sand beach along Mexico's Riviera Maya. Overlooking the turquoise Caribbean Sea, I'm about as far away from holiday hoopla and craziness as I can get when the beach butler comes by to see if I need anything.
All Olympic eyes will be on Whistler Blackcomb next year as it hosts the 2010 Winter Games' alpine skiing events. But those in the know will be heading to British Columbia's vast, snowy interior for its cool old-school mountain towns and the best powder and terrain in North America.
Yue-Sai Kan -- one of the most recognizable women in China with a cosmetics empire and her own TV show -- often needs to get away from the grueling pressures and polluted skies of Shanghai and Beijing, where she lives.
We are sitting cross-legged in the water, 60 feet underground in a Mexican cave surrounded by some of the most beautiful formations I've ever seen, as the niece of a famous shaman chants a Mayan prayer asking the gods to let us go in peace.
Hawaii may seem a world away, but there are plenty of big waves, tiny bubbles and tiki-style spots closer to home. Here are some San Diego-based ways to catch the Hawaiian spirit.
The goofy underwater shots of my husband and much-younger son grinning behind their masks always make me smile -- just the way a vacation photo should.
Imagine climbing 276 steps to change a light bulb. That's all in a day's work for Rian Harford.
The title on Chris Doyle's business card reads "mad scientist," but he's not crazy, he's just crazy about snowboarding.
Feeling sluggish after a few too many eggnogs and a halt to your fitness routine?
Yes! No one is yelling, "Hurry up, Mom!" or tapping ski poles impatiently.
Savvy skiers, listen up: This could just be your year to find great deals at some of America's best ski resorts.
When you have beach on the brain, who wants to bother with a layover? Budget Travel has prepared the ultimate insider's guide to seven resort towns south of the border that are just one quick flight away.
Finally, some good news for traveling families.
Forget the beach. Bridget Kerr, 10, would rather play in the snow.
Colleen Bosler prepays for a hotel at a ski resort during Christmas. But she misses her plane, forcing her to reschedule. The resort offers her credit, but she has to cancel her make-up vacation, too. The hotel is giving her until May to use the credit, or it will expire. Is that fair?
From Mexico's Guadalupe Valley to Blue Hill, Maine, these 10 waterfront getaways offer a toast to the good life.
When I started designing mountain scooters, I didn't have dogs in mind. I grew up in Marin County, Calif., watching guys from the area develop the mountain bike. It didn't take long for me to decide that I wanted to do something similar.
Militants set fire to a hotel at Pakistan's only ski resort Thursday, as security in the Swat Valley continued to deteriorate despite a month-old peace deal.
There are memories everywhere I look.
These island vacations make falling in love even more fun.
You gotta hate that guy. The guy sitting next to you on the plane, at the pool or the chairlift who can't stop bragging about the fantastic vacation deal he snared that saved his family big bucks.
Mary Blilie had been at Big Sky Resort in Montana for just one day but had already snapped more photos of her kids than she had in a long time.
From urban epicurean retreats to snowy chalets accessed by snowmobile, these lofty restaurants will lift your spirits
Call your best girlfriends, throw a few things in a bag and treat yourself to a well-deserved women's getaway.
As far as cities go, London is home to some of the world's most expensive and most exclusive day spas, but you don't have to be an A-list celebrity or have an enormous bank balance to get pampered in the British capital.
Most spas take pride in keeping up with the latest trends, from organic ingredients to Asian massage.
Patricia Pasechnick was sailing to some of the most romantic ports in Europe, but she'd left her husband home in New Jersey. Instead, she was sharing Rome, Tuscany and the French Riviera with her mother-in-law and 13-year-old daughter.
It's so hard to choose.
Not again!
Four small hotels are setting the standard for a more intimate -- and affordable --experience in the frenetic Thai capital.
When the aspen Ski Company launched its environment division -- a kind of green management team, think tank and consultancy -- it was the first of its kind in the ski industry: an in-house watchdog to prevent the resort from gorging on energy and trampling its fragile ecosystem. Ten years later, the division's director, Auden Schendler, spends at least as much time thinking about saving Aspen as he does about saving its environment. Both, it turns out, are highly vulnerable to climate change.
LAST SUMMER, Allen and Susan Pierce toured a charming hilltop vineyard while vacationing in the South of France. The setting was postcard-perfect: stone walls dating back to the Romans snaked throu...
Three railway officials were killed and 60 people injured early Sunday when two trains collided near the Thailand resort town of Hua Hin, according to the head of the Hua Hin train station.
When that extra piece of chocolate or glass of wine is no longer helping you unwind, you may decide to hit the spa for some professional care and a little "R and R." But how do you choose the right spa, and what do you do once there?
Spa experiences for a wider range of tastes and budgets are springing up all over the world, and weary Americans are taking note.
Oleg, Dmitri and Anton have come a long way from St. Petersburg, Russia.
Riding the Mt. Lincoln Express to Sugar Bowl's summit, you need only look down on your right to see the run that evokes the Tahoe ski area's glory days. A steep, craggy chute, The Silver Belt blasts racers out like a cannon over a giant roller to a precipitous drop.
Prescription drugs aren't the only bargains worth crossing the border for: Canadian travel deals are better too. For a family of five, Canada's clubmed.ca recently quoted a FORTUNE staffer $4,714 (USD) for seven nights at Florida's Club Med Sandpiper, while clubmed.com quoted $6,277. A Club Med spokeswoman says they don't allow U.S. travelers to make reservations on clubmed.ca. But you can go through a Canadian agency like Margaritatravel.ca, and similar discounts can be found for cruises and chains like Sandals. Why the disparity? The exchange rate is a factor, but there's also more competition up north from bulk tour operators, driving all prices down, says Jonathan Carroll, president of itravel2000, Canada's top online travel company. With 15% of itravel's business now coming from the U.S., prescription drugs are no longer the only northern draw.
When Jean-Pierre Boespflug invites you to tour the first U.S. destination ski resort built from scratch in more than two decades, it helps to pack your imagination.
You've heard of extreme skiing, but how about extreme ski resorts?
FORGET OBSESSIVE PUTTING AND MONSTER graphite drivers: A growing number of luxury resorts are touting yoga as the newest way to hone your handicap. California's famed Pebble Beach had such a strong...
Baby, it's cold outside. Just when we think it's going to warm up, Mother Nature sends us another Canadian Clipper or a Nor'easter.
Spring break is just around the corner but it's not too late to find great travel bargains.
Spike Berg slides off the new Comet Express six-pack one sun-splashed afternoon and looks down on Wausau, Wisconsin, from the summit of Granite Peak.
One person and perhaps others may have been caught by a large avalanche that struck Friday afternoon just outside a resort ski area near Park City, Utah, an official said.
There's no need to put your gear in storage now that the ski season has started to melt away.
Once a skier's standard mode of transportation, the traditional incline lift faces competition in 2005, as alternative ski options emerge from beyond the backcountry.
Almost every popular vacation destination has a secret season. It's the little-known sweet spot between peak travel season, when a place is overrun with tourists and sky-high prices, and the off-se...
Being short of time is a common complaint among executive travelers and finding ways to relax before or after a meeting can be difficult.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Iseult Devlin and her husband Wayne Lavertu met while they were both sharing the rent on a winter ski lodge with a bunch of other singles and ski enthusiasts.
If you wanted to launch a new recreation business, you might start with something basic--say, hiking tours or maybe rafting trips. You probably wouldn't choose skiing, which requires a ton of capit...
There's no denying the attraction of Maui, Hawaii's most diverse island.
This was to be the end, but it is not the end. It is the beginning. Deep in the pillows in the pre-dawn darkness, I hear the sound that gladdens the hearts, even the deep-sleeping hearts, of skiers. It is the sound of a snowplow. A big snowplow. Very big. You can judge the virility of a ski town's winters by the size of its snowplows. In diminutive Telluride, average snowplows don't cut it. Here they use machines as big as the houses.
Known for its epic spring skiing, big snows, milder temperatures and lots of open terrain, Whistler Blackcomb throws a 10-day party making April a don't-miss at the British Columbia ski resort.
The coolest things these days on America's ski slopes probably aren't the skiers, or even the snow-covered trails.
WHAT'S THAT CREAKING NOISE? The days are dark and cold, and everything and everybody seems worn down--that's the sound of midwinter.
BOSTON LOGAN The Health Club & Spa at the Hilton
Songs of cheatin' hearts, D-I-V-O-R-C-E and looking for love in all the wrong places -- for my money, there are few things more romantic than a dark, boozy Nashville music hall. And I say this as a man who owns not a single CD by Garth Brooks or any of the other radio-ready, big-name country acts.
Ah, romance. It means different things to different people. Some go for the traditional accoutrements: candlelit dinners, roaring fires, cozy inns and the like. For others, any time spent together ...
Chris Crowley, arms folded over his crisp yellow tie, is staring at a very loud, very wet machine. The contraption--a $600,000 Crown Simplimatic soda canner he bought for $225,000--is working flawl...
Nestled in the upper reaches of Little Cottonwood Canyon, 30 miles southeast of downtown Salt Lake City, Alta ski resort is sacred ground among those who worship the fluffy stuff. The snow is not only plentiful -- 500 inches of it a year -- it's so soft and light that carving turns takes little effort and falling is almost a pleasure.
After reporting a $63 million loss for last year, Philippe Bourguignon, CEO of the French resort group, blamed the Sept. 11 attacks and warned investors that it'll be paradise lost for a while. If ...
You've no doubt heard stories about what it's been like to travel since Sept. 11. Interminable lines snaking through airports. Rifle-toting National Guardsmen. Random bag checks and body searches. ...
Club Med celebrated its 50th anniversary in an unusual fashion, winning a sailboat race with a record circumnavigation: 62 days, six hours, 56 minutes, and 33 seconds.
Some years ago, officials of the U.S. Olympic Committee spotted a curious correlation in international sports. Americans, they noted, do best in low-tech competitions involving simple equipment. As...
If you've ever heard "Happy Birthday" sung by a group of Taiwanese waiters, or eaten at McDonald's in Brasilia, or watched a basketball game in Italy, you can begin to understand Carenage Bay. You ...
In the minds of many Americans, serious skiing takes place primarily at a small number of elite resorts located in Colorado, with Aspen and Vail at or near the top of any short list. The reasons ar...
With gray, wintry weather just around the corner, images of white sand beaches and swaying palms are decidedly appealing. Unfortunately, the price tag for peak-season travel can leave you out in th...
--CAMPING The National Parks Less Traveled.
It was dark. Five-thirty-in-the-morning dark. But instead of slumbering in my Manhattan apartment, I was hustling out of my warm bed at the famed Rancho La Puerta spa for a 3 1/2-mile hike up a mou...
Still stroking those old Caribbean photographs, wishing you had the time and money to return to fantasy island? It's not too late. You can still dive into one of the 162,000 hotel rooms dotting the...
60-MINUTE SPA Used to be you had to spend megabucks at remote resorts for a one-spot revitalizing week of massage, body treatments and workouts. Not anymore. New urban "day spas'' cater to today's ...
If you got caught short of time or cash during the recent air-fare wars and are now hankering after a getaway -- you're in luck. Traditionally, the weeks from Labor Day through mid-December turn up...
There's only one leading indicator in the ski industry: snow. And not the fake stuff made on the slopes. When real snow comes down, the skiers come up -- even if they're buried in recession. In the...
To learn what you can expect from a travel pro, we asked a dozen agents to plan two vacations for a family of four (kids ages eight and 12). When shopping for an agent, you can try a similar, scale...
First, the good news: with travelers on the prowl for bargains and an industry in the doldrums, scores of value-packed vacation packages are popping up. ''All-inclusive vacations have come a long w...
In the 1970s, Club Med (NYSE, $27) thrived by selling singles, who were seeking adventure and romance, vacations on the cheap in Cancun, Eleuthera, Mauritius and other Third World locales. As the b...
CLUB MED 1 The outfit that calls itself ''the antidote for civilization'' is taking a shot at the fast-growing cruise business with a big, big sailboat. The newly christened Club Med 1, a 617-foot,...
At 6:45 a.m., you could excuse Maitland Dimock for wondering why instead of vacationing on the sands at Maui he is huffing up the rock-studded face of a Mexican mountain, wiping sweat from his eyes...
Looking to get away from it all? Club Med plans something for the exotic vacation crowd -- a ''village'' that floats. Billing it as the world's largest sailboat, the hotel chain has a $100 million,...
Gone are the days when a ski trip necessarily meant a long slog to a remote mountainside. Thanks to the growth of the skiing industry, along with improvements in snow making, diehard downhillers in...
Now that so many formerly swinging-single skiers have transformed themselves into upscale moms and dads, the nation's winter resorts are getting family- minded too. Of 650 or so ski areas in 40 sta...
This ski season's forecast calls for several resort operators taking a powder on a base of deep gloom. Lift ticket sales rose less than 1% last year, far from the rapid growth of the Sixties and Se...
Cruising the deep blue Pacific off Mexico, Margaret C. Whitman, 29, a management consultant with Bain & Co. in San Francisco, basked by a pool on Sitmar Cruises' luxurious Fairsky while her 11-mont...
The U.S. ski industry is schussing blithely through a record season. According to the National Ski Areas Association, some 60 million lift tickets will be sold this year, up from a previous high of...
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