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Hong Kong, Bangkok, and French Polynesia in the March ActiveTravels Newsletter

In the March issue of the ActiveTravels newsletter, we discuss our recent travels to Hong Kong and Bangkok. When we weren’t downing copious amounts of dim sum, we were checking out the art scene, the food markets, and the temples where residents were preparing for the Chinese New Year celebrations. We also experienced 5 of the best hotels in the region. We now only bring carry-on luggage because we change hotels every two days to experience as much as possible of what our clients will encounter during their stays. Also in this issue is a deal on cruising French Polynesia and the family friendly delights of a relatively new Montage resort just outside of Savannah, Georgia.

Tonight, we’re heading off to Spain to visit our daughter who is studying in Barcelona. We’re also seeing Granada, Ronda, our nephew in Seville, and Madrid. We’ll be back April 8th with more of the best topical travel content you’ve come to expect from ActiveTravels. Thanks again for your interest. 
 

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Ice climb, Then Find Comfort at the Omni Mount Washington Resort

There’s a reason inn-to-inn bike and hike trips are growing in popularity. People love to have a day of adventure and then reward themselves with a night of fine food and pampering. That’s the premise behind Mount Washington Resort’s customized backcountry adventures. Steve Nichipor has been leading the intrepid on winter explorations of the Whites for two decades. Now he’s offering more adventurous guests the chance to partake in an introductory ice climb on the Bretton Woods property or tackle the legendary Frankenstein Cliff. Located in Crawford Notch State Park, Frankenstein Cliff attracts all levels of ice climbers, from beginners just learning to use their ice ax and crampons to experts who can climb up an iced-over waterfall like Spiderman. Then it’s back to the historic Mount Washington to rave about your experience over a four-course meal in the formal dining room, while listening to the pianist play Count Basie tunes. Cost of a semi-private tour with Nichipor is $185 per person, private tour at $275 per person. Rates at the resort start at $170 a night per room in winter.

 
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Introducing Manhattan’s Low Line Park

One of my favorite topics to write about the last couple years is how urban designers and landscape architects have recently created parks from contaminated settings, landfills, abandoned manufacturing plants, and no longer viable space such as an elevated train track on the lower West Side of Manhattan, now the popular High Line Park. Former brownfields like a 9-acre parcel of land on Puget Sound, once dotted with UNOCAL’s oil tanks, is now home to Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park. Landschaftspark in Duisburg-Nord, Germany, is a former coal and steel plant that now features a high ropes course. 

 
Time to add the Delancey Underground project, nicknamed the Low Line, into the mix. James Ramsey and Dan Barasch have already garnered public and political support to take a vacated trolley terminal in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and create a subterranean park. The rectangular space, about three blocks long, was the site where trolleys would turn around to cross the Williamsburg Bridge. Since 1948, it has laid dormant. Ramsey and Barasch not only want to take advantage of this wasted space, but use fiber optics to stimulate natural light and photosynthesis, where trees and plants can thrive. The pair has already started collecting funds on Kick Starter, if you’d like to support the project. 
 
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Kimpton Opens First International Hotel on Grand Cayman

Lovers of the Kimpton Hotels brand will want to know that they opened their first international property on Grand Cayman’s Seven Mile Beach this week. Called the Seafire Resort, it’s the first new hotel to make its debut on Grand Cayman in more than a decade. The 266-room resort is home to an 8,500 square-foot spa, oceanfront bungalows, mega-sized pool, and the restaurant, Avecita, which is already starting to garner attention on an island known for its dining. Expect tapas-style small plates with local fish and vegetables, flavored on a wood grill. 

 
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Top Dream Days of 2018, Checking Out Jasper

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches

Anyone who knows me knows I love the mountains. John Muir’s famous quote, "The mountains are calling and I must go," a sticker found at Yosemite National Park, adorns my laptop. So it’s not a stretch to say one of my dream travel days of 2018 was in Jasper, Alberta high in the Canadian Rockies. 
 
I drove with my husband Josh from Lake Louise to Jasper on the famous Icefields Parkway. It’s 143 miles, with tremendous views (13 viewpoints). I can recommend stopping at the Peyto Lake Overlook, about ½ hour outside of Lake Louise. You are rewarded at the end with the view of the intensely colored lake. 
 
Once in Jasper, we checked into our terrific hotel, The Tekarra Lodge. We had a snack while sitting in Adirondack chairs, high above the confluence of the Athabasca and Miette Rivers, and watched the swirling blue water down below. Then off on a hike we went. 
 
It’s hard to top the Bald Hills Trail from Maligne Lake (5 hours round-trip), recommended by a local we met. It really had it all — forest, alpine meadows of wildflowers, mountains, and a sweeping view back to Maligne Lake. It was a "peak" experience, which we finished off with an excellent meal at Syrahs in downtown Jasper. Elk carpaccio, warm seafood salad, smoked Alberta bison brisket ragout, and port. Fantastic!
 
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O.A.R.S. Multisport Trip to Yellowstone

Along with Sobek, O.A.R.S has been a pioneer in the world of whitewater rafting, first making its debut in 1969. Today, the California-based company runs more than 1,230 miles of rivers in America, plus guiding clientele on rivers in 14 other countries. They include such classic whitewater runs as Alaska’s Tatshenshini, Idaho’s iconic Main Salmon River, Chile’s Futaleufu River, and the legendary Zambezi in Zambia. Lately, however, I’ve been intrigued by the outfitter’s expansion to multisport trips, ideally suited for families who want to sample a different sport each day. Just like Backroads has a strong biking component on their multisport jaunts, O.A.R.S. takes advantage of their expertise, water sports. Rafting and sea kayaking are combined with hiking and horseback riding options. For example, on their 6-day trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons, you’ll paddle on Jackson Lake under the snowcapped peaks of the Tetons, raft the Snake River, and sea kayak Yellowstone Lake, with hikes in Moran Bay and around the geysers thrown in for the landlubbers. The company also leads other multisport adventures to the Galapagos, Fiji, Belize, and my favorite whitewater run in North America, the Chilko in BC. Everett Potter’s Travel Report is now offering a chance to win an O.A.R.S. trip to Yellowstone this summer. The winning prize is for two people. 

 
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A Must-Stop at the Miro Museum in Barcelona

While I found the Picasso Museum to be somewhat of a disappointment (it skips from 1901, the last of his formative years in Barcelona straight to 1917 with barely a word about his breakthrough early Cubism works), I found the Fundacio Joan Miro to be an utter delight. Inside the more than 20 galleries, you’ll find many of his whimsical large-scale paintings, sculptures, even a tapestry. Located in Parc de Montjuïc near the 1992 summer Olympics diving venue, we accessed the museum by first walking down to the beach to take a cable car up over Barcelona’s port. It was a wonderful way to view the sailboats and cruise ships plying the waters of the Mediterranean below. Once we arrived in the park, we walked 10 minutes to find the museum. Inside, you’ll find his colorful dots, lines, and familiar symbols, even some anguish-filled works during the time of the Spanish Civil War, all donated by his family and a top collector from Japan. Then venture outside, atop the museum, to see his works of sculpture and the city below. A real joy. 

 

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