Two travel groups have come up with different lists of the most romantic cities in Europe for Valentine’s Day. Research by Catamaran Charter Croatia ranked Europe’s capital cities based on their number of romantic restaurants (as described on TripAdvisor) and hotels per million residents. A Canadian travel company, redtag.ca, also listed five top romantic cities in Europe and came up with somewhat different results. Here’s the top 10 from Catamaran Charter Croatia: Lisbon Monaco Paris San Marino Rome Andorra La Vella, Andorra Amsterdam Athens Prague Reykjavik, Iceland I’m not so sure about San Marino or Andorra as I’ve never been. Read more
Athens
It’s National Trivia Day, which means I have an excuse to publish a few fun geographical/travel questions. Here goes with 10 questions (answers below). QUESTIONS 1. Which is further west, Los Angeles, California or Reno, Nevada? 2. True or false: St. John’s Newfoundland in Canada is closer to Ireland than it is to Vancouver. 3. Everyone knows (or should) that Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain on the planet. What’s the second tallest? 1. Mount McKinley. 2. K2 3. The Matterhorn 4. China and India are by far the most populous countries on earth. What country is third in population? Read more
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I know. But sometimes I can’t help but get riled up about silly travel lists. For example, there’s this that I found today on a website called mentalfloss.com. The story says a group called Online Mortgage Advisor looked at something called the Golden Ratio (yeah, I’ve never heard of it, either), which measures shapes and building sizes that are pleasing to the eye, and then ranked world cities based on that. It’s interesting, and there are some worthy candidates on the list. But simply focusing on pleasing architectural shapes warps things so Read more
Travel executives are betting that this summer will be one of the busiest yet even with soaring inflation as consumers excited to leave home will splurge on vacations – potentially going further afield and venturing back into tourist hot spots For its part, ToursByLocals, the Canadian-based company that connects discerning travellers in search of customized, private tours with handpicked tour guides in 189 countries worldwide, sees “substantial demand” for travel heading into the busy summer season after more than two years of Covid-19 restrictions. “May was an all time record month for us after nearly 14 years in business,” says Read more
Two of Europe’s most popular destinations are ending travel restrictions on Monday. Published reports say Switzerland’s State Secretariat of Migration (SEM) has lifted all entry restrictions that were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Switzerland is open,” said Pascal Prinz, Director for Switzerland Tourism in Canada. “We warmly welcome travel-starved Canadians to enjoy the fresh air of the Swiss Alps, discover our quirky boutique towns, and explore our four language regions. No tests, no certificate, no forms, and no quarantine are required in Switzerland. ” Prinz said Air Canada and SWISS/Lufthansa Group are ramping up their flight schedule to Read more
