Accommodations Worldwide

We stayed at two wonderful small hotels in ITALY the first week of April ’08. This was slightly early in the season, which meant lower rates. We enjoyed good weather and fewer crowds than during the high season.

• Il Casolare di Libbiano (Loc. Libbiano 3, 50053 San Gimignano [SI], Italy; phone/fax 0039 0577 946002, www.casolarelibbiano.it) is a charming farmhouse eight kilometers from San Gimignano in Tuscany. The inn has its own vineyard and vegetable garden, lovely views and a nice swimming pool (in season).

Here are tips from my trip to SWITZERLAND in May ’08.

The Honey Pot (Polgwyn, Castle St., Bodmin PL31 2DX, Cornwall, England; phone +44 [0] 1208 77553, fax 77885, www.thehoneypot-bodmin. co.uk) — located in Polgwyn, a Victorian house five minutes’ walk up a fairly steep hill from the Bodmin city center (three minutes’ drive from the A30).

The Honey Pot is an outstanding self-contained, first-floor apartment comprising two double bedrooms, a bath, a large sitting room with TV and DVD player and a kitchen fully equipped with dishes, silverware, pots and pans, microwave and stove.

Here are three recommendations from our April ’07 trip to MOROCCO.

In Rome we stayed at the wonderful Best B&B (Corso V. Emanuele II, 21, 00186, Rome, ITALY; phone +39 335 871 4840, www.bestbb.it), centrally located near the Forum and the Pantheon. There were four B&Bs, and this one was near the Pantheon.

Outside our door there was Internet access, and each morning a wonderful breakfast was delivered on a cart to our room.

We spent 12 nights in Sicily, ITALY, in May ’07 (July ’08, pg. 57).

The best hotel we stayed at during our 3-week trip to ITALY in October-November ’07 (also see May ’08, pg. 34 & July ’08, pg. 56) was the Canasta Hotel (Via Campo di Teste 6, 80073 Capri, Italy; phone +39 81 837 0561, fax 837 6675, www.hotel-canasta.com).

The Canasta is one of the lower-price hotels in the high-price tourist area of Capri town. It’s also in a pedestrian zone, which means schlepping your luggage several blocks whether you arrive from the wharf by taxi or via the funicular.

On our trip to ROMANIA in August ’07, my wife, Margi, and I flew into Bucharest, were met at the airport and were driven to Count Kálnoky’s Estate (Miklósvár, Romania; phone 0040 742 202586, fax 0040 267 314088, www.transylvanian castle.com).

In Budapest, we stayed in the excellent Hotel Victoria (Bem rkp 11, 1011 Budapest, Hungary; phone +36 1 457 8080, fax 457 8088, www.victoria.hu). It’s on the Buda side of the Danube, right on the waterfront.

During our stay in March ’08, a single room with facilities en suite cost €91 ($141) and a double, €96 ($149), breakfast included. Credit cards accepted. English spoken.

St. Moritz, SWITZERLAND, is not the sort of place where you expect to spend a budget holiday. That said, an off-season visit allows you to enjoy its glorious setting, soak up its posh ambience and relax at a reasonable cost.

In May ’08 my wife, Paula, and I spent two nights in the 3-star Hotel Waldhaus am See (Via Dim Lej 6, 7500 St. Moritz, Switzerland; phone +41 [0] 81 836 60 00, fax 60 60 or visit [in German only] www.waldhaus-am-see.ch).