The cheapest cities to visit in Europe, Canadians in love with Japan, top summer travel spots for Americans and a facelift for the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto. I also have items on Via Rail, a new tourism campaign for Canada, and honours for the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. A look at what’s new in the travel and tourism world today. CHEAPEST CITIES TO VISIT IN EUROPE Europe is the favorite overseas getaway spot for American and Canadians. But it can get expensive. Yahoo and Insider Monkey have a nice list of the cheapest places to visit in Europe this summer. Read more
Lisbon
School spring breaks are a hop and a skip away and travel leader Booking.com has compiled data on where Canadian families and students are planning to go. A few common destinations that appear to be popular across the country this spring break season are Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and Playa Del Carmen in Mexico, Punta Cana in Dominican Republic, and our own Toronto, Canada. Tropical beaches are to be expected. A full 43 per cent of Canadian travellers are interested in water-centric vacations in 2024, with three quarters (76%) agree that being close to water instantly makes them feel more relaxed, as reported by Read more
It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and that means it’s time for romance. The folks at Ubuy.com looked at TripAdvisor data to score each European capital city for romance. The criteria included the number of fine dining restaurants, 5-star hotels, and romantic tours. A romantic tour only gets one point, which I don’t understand. I also would put more emphasis on a five-star hotel than an expensive restaurant, if only because you’re likely to have more time to enjoy a hotel than a restaurant. It’s a tad arbitrary, and it doesn’t take the look or feel of a city into account. But Read more
A little bit of this and a little bit of that today. SAFEST EUROPEAN CITIES A story at InsiderMonkey.com lists the safest cities in the world, which is an important topic any time but seemingly more so now given global events. Using data from the Global Peace Index, they assigned cities with a safety score. In this, the lower the number the more safe the city is deemed to be. Here’s the top 25 in descending order 25. Vilnius, Lithuania, 1.671 24. Rome, 1.662 23. Bucharest, 1.649 23. Madrid, 1.649 21. Sofia, 1.643 20. Warsaw, 1.634 19. Stockholm, 1.625 (very Read more
Looking for a great winter/spring getaway? TAP Air Portugal has some terrific deals for flights to Europe. The airline is welcoming 2024 with promotional fares to Portugal and more than 35 destinations across Europe that start as low as $478 CAD from Toronto to Lisbon. The sale runs until Jan. 18, 2024 for travel from Jan. 11 to May 31, 2024. Flights are on sale from all nine US and Canadian gateways, including Boston, Chicago, Miami, Montreal, New York (JFK and Newark), San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington, DC (Dulles). Each TAP roundtrip ticket includes the option of a Portugal Stopover Read more
