Santa Ana is a quiet, small town a few miles out of San José (which we thought rather dirty and poorer-looking) and only 10 miles from Juan Santamaria International Airport. The town has a picturesque town plaza and church.

The hotel is in a quiet neighborhood but a short walk from the shopping area, several banks and simple restaurants.

The rooms are large but basic, very clean and comfortable, and the price includes a very good breakfast made to order. We paid $64 plus $10.49 tax per night for a standard double room.

There’s a small, unheated swimming pool enclosed in a pretty patio dining area.

The people who run the hotel are very friendly and helpful.

— JOHN HICKS, Tehachapi, CA

For our February-March ’09 trip, we stayed in comfortable places and had delightful meals. B&Bs ran between US$47 and $68 per night, including ample breakfasts. Here are some of the highlights.

• I would like to recommend the Keppoch Homestay (39 Grayburn Road, RD2 Ashburton; phone/fax +64 [03] 308 7818, www.keppoch.com), where the hostess had e-mailed to ask if we would like dinner there. We did, it was delicious and our total credit-card charge for bed, dinner and breakfast was US$46.69.

• In Akaroa, The Maples (158 Rue Jolie, Akaroa; phone/fax 03 3048767, www.themaplesakaroa.co.nz) was delightful. I’d read about the historic 1877 home in ITN (March ’06, pg. 84).

The price was NZ$140-$150 (US$85-$91) for the Garden Shed room, a double. The garden was gorgeous during our stay, and the breakfasts were great. We stayed two nights but wished we’d allowed more, as the Akaroa Peninsula, with its hills and bays, is beautiful.

• In Christchurch, the Camelot Cathedral Square Hotel (66 Cathedral Sq.; phone +64 [03] 365 2898, www.thecamelot.co.nz), right across the street from the cathedral, was clean and comfortable and only about US$55 a night.

• There are lots of good places to eat in Christchurch. Two we recommend are the Curator’s House Restaurant (7 Rolleston Ave., Botanic Gardens; phone +64 3 379 2252, fax 379 2258, www.curatorshouse.com), with its view of the Botanic Gardens (main courses, NZ$35), and Cook ’n’ With Gas (23 Worcester Blvd.; phone 03 377 9166, www.cooknwithgas.co.nz), opposite the Court Theatre and across from the Art Centre (main dishes, NZ$32-$40).

• On this, our first trip to New Zealand, we found the people friendly, the country clean, safe and scenic and the gardens spectacular.

In Dunedin, we took the advice of ITN Contributing Editor Dr. Wagenaar (Oct. ’07, pg. 97) and visited the Royal Albatross Reserve on Otago Peninsula. On the other side of the peninsula we saw the endangered yellow-eyed penguins. Both visits were worthwhile.

— NELL McCOMBS, Ventura, CA

Situated on Gundulić Square in the heart of the city center, the hotel is within walking distance of many outstanding restaurants, shops and ancient points of interest.

The Palace combines modern facilities in a splendid old-world atmosphere. Its 17 rooms and two suites are replete with 18th-century Baroque architecture and decorated with rich trappings that include oil paintings, handwoven rugs, copper tubs and Romanesque Italian mosaic showers.

The hotel’s three restaurants serve local and Mediterranean-style food, and there is a wine bar.

When my husband, Bernard, and I stayed there in February ’09, the room rate was €190 ($250) per night, which included a choice of Continental or full breakfast. The fresh-baked goods in the morning included melt-in-your-mouth chocolate and fruit croissants. The breakfast was such a magnificent start to the day, we didn’t need lunch, which left us with more time to explore this pearl of an ancient city.

Our five nights at the Pucić Palace were some of the most romantic and relaxing we’ve experienced anywhere in the world.

— A.J. GOODHEAD, La Jolla, CA

This B&B has five rooms of different sizes. Ours, set well back of a relatively busy street, had a balcony and overlooked a swimming pool and a beautiful, large garden full of lemon trees. Our room was very quiet. While on the small side, it was spotless, as was the bathroom. Daily maid service was provided.

The room rate was €60 ($79), which would increase to €95 ($128) in high season. Included in the price was an excellent breakfast with home-baked pastries, fresh fruit, cheeses, etc.

Sorrento is a lovely town in its own right, and it has frequent bus or train service to Positano, Amalfi, Pompeii, Herculaneum and Naples. Several ferries go daily to Capri. As an added convenience, there is a direct bus from the Naples airport to Sorrento for €10.

We recommend this establishment highly as a base for an active, varied vacation.

— MIRIAM WORTHING, Rockville, MD

The St. Roch is a fine choice if you want something with a bit of atmosphere. Located just outside the walls of Avignon and a short walk from the main sights, restaurants and shops, the hotel has 27 rooms (with facilities en suite) in an old stone-block building.

There was an assortment of room styles, most with beamed ceilings and some with antique furniture, and lovely views of the garden out back. Some of the ground-level rooms opened onto the garden.

The rates were quite reasonable: €50 ($66) per night for a double.

The breakfast buffet, which included croissants, a selection of cheeses, jam, cereal, yogurt and fruit plus juice, coffee and tea, cost €7 ($9). In good weather, breakfast is taken on the patio adjoining the garden, where guests can enjoy the flowers and birds.

The sudden and unexpected death of our son-in-law brought about a level of hospitality above and beyond the usual. Eric and Arno, who manage the St. Roch, spent literally hours on the phone translating for us and assisting in the necessary maneuvers through the bureaucratic entanglements required.

An emergency in a foreign country where one does not speak the language can be a harrowing experience, but the people of Avignon, the hotel staff and even the neighbors next door were so warm and helpful, we felt as though we had acquired another family. We will never be able to adequately thank Eric and Arno for all they did for us.

— MARJORIE MAGUIRE MALLOY, San Diego, CA

The front desk manager Marcus Jonnson welcomed us with kindness and good cheer. Four days later, he checked us out with sandwiches and coffee at 6:30 a.m.; the buffet was not yet open and he wanted us to have something to eat before we started our travel home to the USA. He was hospitality made manifest.

For our stay in July ’08 I had booked a 3-night package that included the room, a nice breakfast buffet and the Stockholm à la Carte Card (offering free public transport and entry to 100 attractions) for SEK3,510 (about $670 then). My seven-year-old stayed for free on a pullout sofa bed in the room.

I fully recommend this hotel for its fine service, great hilltop location, delicious food in its patio restaurant, big rooms and good package deals. So what if the maids were a bit sloppy (no fresh towels plus dirty coffee cups not removed)?! Overall, we truly enjoyed the airy and bright Foresta. We would stay there again in a heartbeat!

— JENNIFER EISENLAU, Boulder, CO

Well Cottage is a beautiful, old stone farmhouse in the pretty little community of Ewen. The interior has been extensively remodeled.

Our twin-bedded room (£60 [$86] per night for a double or £50, single) was spacious and handsomely furnished with a fabulous bathroom, white and sparkling clean, with ultracontemporary facilities. With French doors opening into the garden, the room was well lit.

Our hosts, Neil and Bridget, were a warm and lively couple only too happy to please and offer extra kindnesses. The breakfast menu offered lighter choices in addition to the full English breakfast.

We took most of our dinners at The Wild Duck Inn, just up the road from Well Cottage, which was usually filled with local residents enjoying the pleasures of the cheerful bar and fine cuisine. (Main dishes cost £12-£20 [$17-$28].) Take a good flashlight for the walk back to the B&B at night.

We got around on foot, by taxis to nearby towns and also by taking the train from Kemble station, a 1½-mile walk away. One day we hired taxis to visit the nearby towns. This is a place where a car or bike would be ideal, and Well Cottage is a lovely place to stay.

— JEANIE SHERWOOD, Davis, CA

The Standard and Executive rooms are just fine (I think “executive” is the same size as “standard” but on a higher floor), but the true value are the Deluxe rooms — large corner rooms with wraparound balconies and great views of the harbor and esplanade. There are two per floor (the hotel has 11 floors); their room numbers end in 01 and 02.

I stayed five nights over three separate visits and decided I prefer the 02 side, as it received more of the morning sun and seemed cooler in the afternoons, but the 01 side had the same furnishings and was the same size.

All rooms have balconies; the even-numbered rooms have a harbor view. It is well priced: Standard room, AU$185 (near US$117); Executive, AU$215 (US$136), and Deluxe, AU$255 (US$161).

When I booked three consecutive nights’ stay via their website, they gave me a free Continental buffet breakfast (AU$18); the full buffet breakfast cost AU$25 (US$16).

The hotel also has a Brazilian churrasco-style restaurant, the Bushfire Flame Grill (prix fixe about $50), but I didn’t try it since I was never that hungry. There were lots of good seafood and steak restaurants nearby on the Esplanade.

The only tour groups I noticed at the hotel were Japanese. This hotel was a great find, and I’d love to stay there again.

ESTHER PERICA
Arlington Heights, IL

This hotel is a must — perfect service, perfect facilities and perfect location, with views of Lake Rotorua. Novotels are very well managed and I highly recommend them. My wife, Eva, and I stayed at the Novotel in Queensland a year earlier and experienced the same type of fabulous service, facilities and location.

Rotorua itself was not so much of a “must,” we felt. There were lots of ethnic eateries and gifts shops — lots of activity. The Te Puia Maori Cultural Centre (phone +64 7 348 9047, www.nzmaori.co.nz — open daily 8-5. Admission, tour and concert for NZ$50 [$26] adult or NZ$25 child) offered guided tours, craft demos and a walk to view the hot, bubbling mud pools and geysers. We were not impressed.

We were impressed with our dinner at Ali Baba’s Kebab takeout (1146 Tutanakei St.; phone 07 348 2983). A one-man hole-in-the-wall operation run by a man from Tunisia whose English is perfect.

The food is inexpensive and really good. You sit and watch him put together your lamb-and-veggie wrap “kebab” or a salad made to order. Lamb and chickens rotate under the hot lights. No alcohol is served, but this place is a “must.” We liked it so much, we ate there both nights of our stay.

ROBERT A. RINGGENBERG
West Chester, OH

I recommend this pension highly. Rooms each have air-conditioning, cable TV and a bath with hot-water shower. There are only 14 rooms, so reservations are a necessity.

There is a restaurant on the premises, and after a long day of sightseeing it is possible to order room service.

Rates were reasonable at PHP1,200 (near $25) per night for two persons, including breakfast.

ANITA LEES
Vista, CA