It was a rather limited year of travel due to health concerns in the summer and fall, but I still managed to check out cool motels in southern Ontario, stylish digs in Hawaii, lovely restaurants in Vancouver, and great places in my home state of California. Not to mention fab stops in Montreal and Florida. Here are some 2025 travel highlights. CANADA Coolest Montreal Hotel: Le Petit Hotel Notre Dame in Montreal. Part of the William Gray Collection, this is a small (hence the name), boutique property in Old Montreal with stylish rooms, a check-in desk that doubles as an Read more
Canada
I love these year-end look-ahead pieces that talk about great places to visit the following year. Earlier I referenced some top picks by National Geographic. Today I’ll look at top choices from Conde Nast Traveler and BBC Travel. CONDE NAST TRAVELER Among their top picks were several of my fave places in the world, and at least one I hope to visit soon. ROUTE 66 I had hoped to do this trip by car next spring. Alas, health concerns got in the way and I won’t make it. Perhaps I can visit some of it later in 2026. I’d really Read more
Congratulations to the True North Strong and Free. A recent report by The Reputation Institute, a corporation with offices in Boston and Copenhagen, ranked the top countries in the world based on how the rest of the world perceives them. They considered such factors as natural beauty, the populace’s outlook and attitude towards their homeland, domestic safety and security, and the competence of the government. Canada came out on top, followed by Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Australia. The U.S. didn’t make the top 20, which seems to suggest what the rest of the world thinks of Donald Trump and his Read more
One of Canada’s finest hotels. A marvelous, family-run winery. A highly-rated spa. And excellent food. Niagara-on-the-Lake is one of the top destinations in North America, a stunningly beautiful Ontario town with a rich, colourful history and one of the top theatre programs in the world, the Shaw Festival. My wife and I were lucky enough to spend a couple days in town earlier this month, a stretch of November that felt more like early October. We had sumptuous meals, wonderful wine, high tea at a posh hotel, relaxing spa treatments, and a fun walking tour. Here’s a look at our Read more
Sustainable, stylish and supremely tasty. I was lucky enough to spend a night at the 1 Hotel Toronto a week or so ago, and it was even better than I remembered it. The experience begins the minute you step into the warm, woodsy lobby of the hotel, which features more than 3,000 plants that provide a fresh, green relief from the bustling city. I find most North American hotels are somewhat lacking in the service department. But the greeting we got from the hotel valet and the front desk staff was as inviting and hospitable as you’d find in a Read more
