Unusual Hotels – Wine Barrels Netherlands

The entrance to the Barrel Hotel in Friesland

The Netherlands’ Hotel de Vrouwe van Stavoren is a barrel of fun. The hotel features four rooms made from 14,500-liter wine casks shipped from Switzerland.

Unusual Hotels – Hobbit Motel NZ

Hobbit Hotel Waitomo - New Zealand

Who knows how J.R.R. Tolkien would have designed a motel but the Hobbit Motel in New Zealand seems to have real fantasy appeal. The strange little building with porthole-style windows is built into the side of a hill in Waitomo, a region on the North Island known for its caves and waterfalls.

Unusual Hotels – Oil Pods A

Sleep in an oil rig escape pod. In this case a novelty bedroom rather than a luxury experience. An oil rig escape pod functions as a capsule hotel in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Oil Rig Capsule Hotel -Amsterdam

Airline safety – New Look

You certainly wouldn’t get this on Alitalia.! But it certainly makes you stop and listen. Perhaps it is the answer to how to get all boring/repetitive/have to listen but heard it all before type of information across.

How to take a Turkish Bath

The Turkish bath, also know as hamam or hammam, is one of the ancient world’s most widely exported customs. The tradition of the Turkish bath was born generations ago, adopted from Romans and Byzantines and then perfected by the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks and has continued even until today.

Unusual Hotels – Cave Hotel, Turkey

Goreme, heart of Cappodoccia

Stay in a cave Hotel in the heart of the Cappadoccia region in Turkey. Kelebek has a wonderful location, right in the heart of Goreme’s historic old village, with spectacular views looking out towards Uchisar and Cavusin.

Unusual Hotels – Durley House

A weekend in…London

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In a year’s time all eyes will be on London as it hosts the 2012 Olympics. But why wait until then to visit this exciting, metropolitan city?

Stay in the Heart of London in a small, all suite hotel in Sloane Street, a few minutes walk from Harrods and the King’s Road.

Valentine’s Day

Dinner at "Le Fief" - Castello Dal Pozzo

Spend a wonderful Valentine’s Day/weekend at the Castello Dal Pozzo – Lake Maggiore

Le Fief Restaurant

Enjoy a romantic weekend

For all information and to book
www.castellodalpozzo.com

Skiing in Piemonte

Although most of the Olympic Piemonte ski stations are suffering from lack of snow, the area around Lake Maggiore has been gifted with abundant snow up in the mountains.

Web Cam Macugnaga 16 January 2012

Stay at Castello Dal Pozzo and spend a day skiing in the area. You can shoose to ski a different area each day, rather like changing your golf course.

Macugnaga, Devero and San Domenico all have from 50 to 240cm of powder snow to offer and excellent promotions to get you onto the pistes.!

- Macugnaga: during this week a day’s skipass  € 19 on Monte Moro.

- Devero: saturday 4 february day’s skipass free for children under 14.

- San Domenico: Happy Monday skipass €14

Web Cam San Domenico 16 January 2012

San Domenico 50-280cm

San Domenico is the starting point in the winter for the ski slopes of the Alpe Ciamporino (1975 m).

The village of San Domenico is situated at an altitude of 1,420 meters. It offers 30 km of ski slopes and facilities for snowboarding and freestyle, open spaces and walking paths, alpine skiing and snowshoeing
The snow park ha been  totally renovated with new equipment for all enthusiasts of acrobatic spins and jumps.
The opening of the lifts is guaranteed from December to early May due to a high quality natural snow
For alpine skiing, 30 km of professional ski runs served by 6 lifts. The easy and wide slopes of the Alpe Ciamporino are ideal for beginners and the excellent skischool allows everyone to improve their technique.
Cross country, hiking and snowshoeing trails. In Trasquera there is a nice cross country trail of medium difficulty, 5 km ski run that runs through an enchanting forest of conifers.

Family ski pass 56€:

Web Cam Alpe Devero 16 January 2012

L’Alpe Devero 60 – 190cm

L’Alpe Devero is the ideal place for skiing in all its forms: from alpine skiing to cross-country, from children to adults, from beginners to experts, the area offers everyone the chance to have fun thanks slopes of easy and medium difficulties.

L’Alpe Devero is also the kingdom of snowboarders, freeriding and backcountry.
You can reach the summit of Monte Cazzola with three lifts: you can ski up to an altitude of 2212 meters in 4 beaten pistes for a  total length of 8 km and many off-piste routes, in the woods. For cross-country skiers, short and easy paths for a total of 7 km.
For snowboarders, Alpe Devero offers “Jambopark”, an area equipped for stunts, jumps and dedicated to freestyle.

Web Cam Macugnaga 16 January 2012

Macugnaga Moro 30-270cm

You can reach Monte Moro (2868 meters) by two cableways. The station offers blue runs, red runs and black runs and over 18km of ski pistes. Macugnaga also has two ski schools for those wanting to improve their technique.

For snowboarders, Monte Moro offers an equipped Pink Snow Park served by two lifts

For Nordic skiers, there is a beautiful trail with sections of varying difficulty.

In town it is possible to rent ski equipment in several sporting goods stores.

Ski pass €23-28 per day.

Unusual Hotels – Hotels of Ice

Hotel de Glace - Quebec Canada

Ice hotels provide a unique experience for its guests. They tend to be located in slightly or very remote regions surrounded by fantastic landscapes and wildlife. Not for the faint hearted but without doubt a very special experience. Available from January to end of March normally.