Archive for the ‘Holiday Destinations’ Category

Top 10 Backpacking Hostels

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Backpackers are exposed to high risks of accident and injury when abroad. While enjoying thrilling adventures and exploring off beaten-tracks, backpackers may be affected by illness or crime. To keep guard against such troubles, it is advisable to purchase a backpacker travel insurance policy before embarking on a holiday. Backpacker policies are an effective and cheaper alternative to a single trip travel insurance policy. These policies should at a minimum cover emergency medical cover, rescue and repatriation in case of medical emergencies, personal liability, holiday cancellation, and baggage cover. Some additional features that may be considered, depending on the holiday plans, may include ski and sports cover, for activities such as scuba diving, paragliding, bungee jumping and winter sports.

1 The Travellers House

Ideally located in Baixa, one of the most historical and central areas of Lisbon, the Travellers House offers double rooms and mixed dorms. The hostel provides facilities such as TV/DVD room, music lounge, reading lounge, free internet access and kitchen. All major tourist attractions, including Comercio Square, Municipal Square and Rua Augusta, are within a walking distance from the hostel.

Google Places
Website
Rua Augusta 89, 1100-048 Lisboa, Portugal

2 Living Lounge

The Living Lounge is located in the heart of Lisbon’s tourist centre, between the Chiado district and historic Baixa. Offering single, double and dorm room accommodation services, the hostel provides guests with great comfort, security and style. Its design reflects the different elements of Lisbon’s rich culture. The Baixa-Chiado metro station makes Lisbon’s finest beaches and nightlife areas highly accessible for the travellers.

Google Places
Website
Rua de São Nicolau 41, 1100-547 Lisboa, Portugal

3 Yes! Lisbon Hostel

The Yes! Lisbon Hostel sets a new standard in the hostel services by offering custom designed and highly affordable bunks to ensure maximum comfort of travellers. It offers free breakfast, internet connectivity, kitchen and private bathrooms on every floor. All must-see tourist attractions are within a walking distance from the hostel.

Google Places
Website
Rua de São Julião 148, 1100 Lisboa, Portugal

4 Hostel Mostel

Located in Sofia, Bulgaria, within a fully renovated 19th century house, the Hostel Mostel offers a romantic wooden veranda, free Wi-Fi and Internet access, breakfast and pool table. The hostel is ideally located near the city’s tourist attractions, outdoor markets, restaurants, clubs and bars. It is at a walking distance from Sveta Nedelia Cathedral and the central railway station as well.

Google Places
Website
bulevard Makedoniya 2, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria

5 Friendly Fun Franks Backpackers Hostel

Based in Riga, Latvia, the Friendly Fun Franks Backpackers Hostel offers an enjoyable and memorable stay experience through a 24-hour licensed bar, free Internet access and computer usage, kitchen and two common rooms. The bus and train station, and all other major attractions, bars, restaurants and museums of the city, are located at a short walk from the hostel.

Google Places
Website
11. novembra krastmala 29, Rīga, LV-1050, Latvia

6 Montreal Central

Located in Montreal, Canada, Montreal Central is situated in the Latin Quarter, which is well-known for its close proximity to cafes, bars, entertainment and transportation stations. The facility offers high quality accommodation services, such as free internet access, fridge, and TV/DVD player in all private and some dorm rooms. The hostel is at a walking distance to Montreal Park Lafontaine, the vibrant St-Laurent street, old Montreal and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Google Places
Website
1586 Rue Saint – Hubert, Montréal, QC H2L 3Z3, Canada

7 Han Tang Inn Youth Hostel

The Han Tang Inn Youth Hostel in Xi’an, China, offers free Wi-Fi, pool table, Chinese lessons and other facilities for the guests. Situated in a traditional residential district in the city center, the hostel provides access to all main cultural sites by a bus. Bookings for tours of Terra-cotta warriors, Panda breeding & research center and Han Tang dynasty are available from the hostel.

Website
NO.7 Nan Chang Xiang, South of Xincheng Square, Xi’an, China

8 Home Lisbon Hostel

The Home Lisbon Hostel in Lisbon, Portugal, offers a modern and fully equipped kitchen, a patio and spacious rooms for the guests. Other facilities include free breakfast, laundry, walking tours, and its famous home-made Mammas Dinner. All major tourist attractions, including Comercio Square, Municipal Square and Rua Augusta, are within a walking distance from the hostel.

Google Places
Website
Rua de São Nicolau 13 – 2nd Floor, 1100-547 Lisbon, Portugal

9 EastSeven Berlin Hostel

Located in Berlin, Germany, the EastSeven Berlin Hostel offers guests spacious rooms, bathrooms, lounges and a large kitchen. The hostel is located between busy central district of Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg. Visitors can find cafés, restaurants, bars, clubs, Alexanderplatz and Mauer Park Flea market, at a walking distance from the hostel.

Website
Schwedter Str.710119 Berlin, Germany

10 Castle Rock Hostel

The Castle Rock Hostel in Edinburgh, Scotland, offers best room facilities, large self-catering kitchen, movie lounge and walking tours. The hostel is located opposite the grand Edinburgh Castle, and presents the visitors a chance to enjoy the royal touch of Scotland. The hostel is conveniently located from bus and train station, which provides easy access to the city’s vibrant nightlife.

Google Places
Website
15 Johnston Terrace, Edinburgh, United Kingdom EH1 2PW

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Heaven on wheels

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

So, its all about the bike isn’t it? To be honest, no not really. my housemate has got a cracking bike but all he ever uses it for is scooting off to work every now and again and occasionally off to town (although the fear of it being nicked often out ways the desire to use it). So, no having a rock and roll bike is good but give me a vaguely half decent one and I would rather be in the best place to use it.

It is all about the location. The adventure. The scenery. And the buzz.
I am not telling you to hit the trails and take part in the in the world’s toughest mountain bike race from Canada all the way down to Mexico but at the very least have a crack at some of the slightly easier and less manic sections surely?!?

The route itself is actually the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route and starts in Banff, Canada going down the spine of the Rockies down to the border of Mexico. A total of 2745 miles- not one for the faint hearted at all. It’s not the extra 500 miles than the Tour de France that makes this so daunting its the prospect of waist deep snow in the mountains, ankle deep mud, below freezing temperatures at the highest points and over 100F in the desert in New Mexico.

The other unusual thing about this trip is that you have to carry everything with you. The trip is self-supported which means no cars, no mechanics and defintiely no masseurs at the end of each 100+ day. What’s more the prize money…well there isn’t any so you are doing this for love!
Rather than give you a blow by blow account of the route the best bet is to check it out yourself.

The route itself can be mixed and matched so if you don’t have a minimum of 17 days, 23 hours and 45 minutes (the winning time from 2009) or want to be one of the 27 non finishers out of 43 then you can jump in and out at any point. The other thing to bear in mind is that this is not a hardcore route. In fact 80% of the tour is on dirt or gravel with a further 10% on paved roads and a further 10% on trails.

If that is a bit too much for you then check out Laos.
The two week cycle trek under consideration is is designed 100% for families. Obviously the question you need to ask is do you want to take your kids away with you when you can have such fun and adventure without them? Well, yes of course you do! Everything is catered for and so you don’t need to carry anything with you. It’s not all go though as there are several days off. lots of swimming holes to enjoy and you can even have a day to ride an elephant- who needs Disney World?

The guys at Grasshopper Adventure can put all this together for you so be sure to have a look at their site.

If you want to stay loyal to these fair shores then there are plenty of options in England of course. The Lake district does sound a little basic doesn’t it? But what about flying around in the dark. At night. Would that float your boat? Cycle Active offer you a full day of activity and then let you head home to either rest in the pub or grab your lights and hit the routes again. Nice!

Night ride!

Just north of the border, and probably generally more expected, in Scotland can I suggest that we try somewhere a little different to the usual Fort Williams (although to be honest it is pretty spectacular there). Why not head to the remote Knoydart Peninsula for a change? The views of the mountains and sea lochs are truly breath taking plus you can have a wee dram in Scotland’s most far flung pub, The Forge. Not bad hey!

Keeping with the UK theme, albeit one that incorporates a little bit more…, the 6000km North Sea Cycle Route is defintiely not one for the faint hearted. It is apparently the longest cycle route in the world and is basically a loop down the west coast of Great Britain, hop on a ferry to Belgium then back up the other side through the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Denmark where you then jump back onto a ferry and over to the Shetland Islands.

Although a long distance it might the North Sea route could be perceived to be a little mundane perhaps. How does 11,000m of vertical descent grab you instead then? France is a bit of an adrenaline junkie haven. It’s capital is perhaps deemed to be Chamonix. The Chamonix to Nice route has eight classic cols and winds it’s way around 565km of tarmac. It is not for the easily swayed or weak minded of you as it can be a gruesome but rewarding experience for the experienced cyclist.

Lastly it would only be proper for me to offer you something a little bit on the intense and crazy side. Head over to Costa Rica for one of the most savage races around. In 1561 the Spanish took about 20 years to tek across the mountains. The Ruta de los Conquistadores crosses from the Pacific to the Caribbean in about 4 days! The race tends to take place early November and is open to anyone with a bike, a keen sense of adventure and a little competence on a bike.

As with all of these things there is of course an element of risk attached. whether it be from traveling, damage to your kit or even yourself you should take out some travel cover so please have a look at this offering here.

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Posted in Adventure Travel, Europe, Holiday Destinations, Mountain Biking, Scotland, US, Uncategorized | No Comments »

A Valentines weekend with mud, sweat and tears (of love…)

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

So, bearing in mind its Valentines Day today I thought that perhaps I should incorporate some kind of coupley, loved up adventure just to keep people in the mood as it were.
What better then than going on a mountain biking adventure with your partner.

How many times have you thought, I’d love to go away biking but the Mrs just isn’t having any of it. She would rather go away to somewhere warmer, with a suitcase full of books and lie on a sunbed basically doing nothing. Well there is the opportunity to head up to Scotland and partake in a bit of tuition so that once and for all the “you can’t do it” argument doesn’t rear its ugly head and the “I don’t want to do it” one can take over!

Glentress is about 45 minutes south of Edinburgh with a variety of different routes to allow the novice to learn, the intermediate to improve and the experts to, well show off! The routes criss cross all around the Tweed the hills and there are over 90km of trails that ebb and flow off into the distance from the central Hub. There are flat gravel paths, monstrous drop offs and jumps and kickers with sections of routes so great they are called “Brittany Spears” (so good you want to hit one more time!)

The descent at “Spookey Wood” is a unique classic. You set off on a lactic acid factory up hill climb through the beech and holly forest to the start of the downhill part that you have just climbed up. The bank corners offer the high speed while the clawlike roots keep you on your pedals while the table top jumps offer the fun (or falls). For some other classic routes and worryingly amusing names check out the “Shane McGowan trail” (NB his lack of teeth…).

The forest and location will soon be well supported by the introduction of a new £5 million visitor centre which is being built from wood cut from the Forestry Commission land.
If you do want to actually relax a bit too then there is glorious walking as well as a couple of decent whiskey tour options too. There are several lovely B&Bs around as well as a local Castle to set the heart fluttering a little bit.

Just remember though that if you are learning the chances are you will fall off so be prepared and get your insurance cover sorted out!

Seriously though, doing something like this together may mean you can both enjoy your dream holiday together…rather than halfheartedly smiling your way through it and wishing you were with the boys!!

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Skiing Randomness…

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

So, where is the weirdest and oddest place you have been skiing then?
Up until the last week or so I would probably have said Australia, however that has more than definitely been topped following my ski down the high Street where I live following the unusually large dump last week.

But failing that I thought it quite a prudent option if i open your eyes to a few more lesser known locations around the globe where you can hit the slopes. Rest assured though that i am not talking about your Bulgaria’s and Macedonia’s. Oh no this list is even more random than that!

First up Japan.
not the weirdest place to go i grant you but very definitely a long way to go.
Some friends of mine went over there a year or two ago and said it was absolutely awesome.
Imagine a place that gets on average 14m of fresh powder a year, where there are over 700 resorts (that’s more than anywhere else in the world) and near empty hot springs to relax in post ski! Sounds pretty irresistible doesn’t it! One of the best locations in the country is Niseko which is a 2 hour flight then two hour drive from Tokyo.

The biggest problem with Japan though is the 12 hour flight from the UK to Tokyo however with the bullet train available you can get to most places pretty quickly. What’s more due to the fear of spirits the locals very rare;y ski off piste through wooded areas so you know you are going to be pretty much on your own. Plus most resorts have night skiing too.
Nice!

Next up is somewhere many Brits have been to but for a summer holiday rather than looking for the white stuff. If i am honest I didn’t even think you could ski in Portugal, but I guess I am wrong! Although not a vast amount of places to head to, there is in fact only the one resort in Serra da Estrela national park. there is a decent amount of altitude (1,967m) that has 9 different runs with a total of 7.7km of pistes. Even without knowing the difficulty level it is clear it is a resort for weekends or beginners, even more so when you know that there is only one black run available.
The best snow is in February but the season runs from January to April. It gets crazy busy at the weekends but relatively empty during the week and is only 3 hours drive from Lisbon which is accessible by numerous low budget airlines.

How about one of the more weird places to go skiing then. It is the home to many a gap year and start of the trustafarian new age movement where late teens go off to find themselves. I personally associate it with a Friday evening and a few pints or some difficult but incredibly rewarding backpacking. But skiing? In India? Come on surely not!

However it is very easy to forget that many of the hippy hideaways are in the Himalayas and if they aren’t big mountains then I don’t know where else to look. Can you imagine the reaction at the dinner party when you tell everyone you are going skiing in the Himalayas and you are going to ski Everest? If you want to head to one check out Gulmarg. There is awesome off piste potential and the one “managed” piste once you step of the 3980m high gondola.
You can also get off at other points up the slope if you have a crisis of confidence. One of the benefits here is that it covers a really decent sized patch and there are comparatively low numbers of skiers allowing to plough your own furrows.
Gulmarg is an internal flight from Delhi (1.5hrs to Srinagar) and then 60km further on. there are several budget airlines in India to help you out.
Other than this resort there are quite a few other places to go to as well namely: Auli, Kumaon and Kufri.

Remember, if you do go to India to ski you will need a Visa from the Indian High Commission and also check the travel advice from the Foreign Office.

If I was to ask you where the Switzerland of the Middle East where would you say? No I wouldn’t have had a clue either.
But Lebanon is the place to go.
The countries highest resort is Cedars (it also happens to be the furthest away from Beirut too). With 5 lifts, the highest of which going up to 2870m it is absolutely beautiful and relaxed. Surrounded by the an ancient cedar forest and only a few hours from Beirut it is great for both piste and off piste options with weekend passes a snip at £18.

I’ve got a couple more of these but I reckon just one will do. I could go on about Cyprus, South Korea and Turkey, but South Africa seems slightly more unusual!

Although not renowned for its winter holidays there is one place to go to if you want some winter action. Tiffindell has the honour of being the sole resort in the country. Although not great for the amount of skiing, a beginners run and the main slope which is a staggering 700m… the main adventure is getting to it. The resort is on the Drakensberg mountain range, just below Lesotho and is 2720m high. Following the long haul flight to Jo’berg you then have to schlep the 800km to the resort. If you can get to Rhodes or Barkley East then grab a shuttle 4×4 up to the slopes. Given the distance, and effort, to get there it is good to know that there are only package deals available. a 3 day trip including passes, meals and kit hire is £380. Not bad I don’t think.

I hope you have a great time exploring these new ideas.
Next week I will take you through some of those other locations as well as another surprise one too.
Remember though, whatever you do you will need the right insurance for your trip and as ever check out ours.

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