Viator Travel Blog

After three days rest and reparations in my hideaway sanctuary in Spreewald just outside of Berlin – contemplating sunshine and catching up on my colleagues most recent exploits in Casino Royale – a sudden message had me call my accountant, who in turn called my travel agent, who in turn called my mother (as it is with such things Italian) and all was approved: we were to go to Milan immediately, post haste, and the trail was to remain hot.

So you’ve made it to Kuala Lumpur – the capital of Malaysia and one of the undiscovered gems in southeast Asia. Very few tourists pass through KL, as Kuala Lumpur is universally known. Most favor Thailand or Singapore for their southeast Asian adventures, but not you, because you are looking for something different. And we applaud you for that.

When I was a kid I owned a book called This is San Francisco. It was essentially a child’s large-format guidebook to the city, with illustrations of cable cars, sea lions, dungeness crabs, Chinatown, Willie Mays, and other highlights that, to most children and out-of-towners at least, sum up the city.

My awareness of the Golden Gate Bridge, its international orange towers disappearing into the oblivion of a July fog, began with this book. From that point on, even after I was grown and had my own apartment in the city, I tended to view San Francisco through vermilion orange–tinted glasses.

As America continues to look a bleak economy straight in the face, it is more important than ever to leverage all options to find the cheapest flights and trips online, so we can still enjoy an affordable vacation.

Done right, the intelligent traveler can chop considerable dollars off his or her airfare and invest it somewhere else, where it would be better used. Unfortunately, there isn’t one answer to finding the cheapest fare available. Getting the lowest price requires diligence and careful planning.

Haven’t heard of Viva la Summer? Here’s the deal – as part of Viator’s celebration of summer 2009, we’re pointing a spotlight at top summer destinations around the world. This week’s featured destination is New York City (see below for some of our favorite things to do in New York). Our first order of business: we’re pleased to honor our Viva la Summer traveler of the week. This week it’s Jim F. from the USA.

Montenegro is only 5,300 square miles (13,800 sq km), with a total population of 680,000. And let’s be honest: this is not a large country. How hard can it be to see most of it in one day? The answer is very hard. Because Montenegro is not some flat plain you can speed across with barely a glance out the window; it’s a mountainous, beautiful, diverse little gem.

Having said that: I went to Montenegro for a day on a bus tour from Dubrovnik. And it was amazing how much we did manage to see and do.

Do you like to run, but hate running? Maybe you’re tired of running few miles a day, monotonously, on a treadmill or around the block. Not any longer! Why not run over to Europe for a short race or a marathon? Seriously, you can do this without being a fanatical athlete. It’s easy: book a flight, leave the stopwatch at home, and choose one of the following 10 great races in Europe. Most marathons and half-marathons have start dates from mid-September through mid-November.

Why am I fascinated with Cuba? Well there are two Cuba’s as far as tourism goes, and they are quite different. One is the string of beach resorts strung (along Cuba’s best beaches) on the north coast – with direct charter flights from Europe or Canada and all-inclusive resorts. It can probably be compared to [...]

Haven’t heard of Viva la Summer? Here’s the deal – as part of Viator’s celebration of summer 2009, we’re pointing a spotlight at top summer destinations around the world. This week’s featured destination is London (see below for some of our favorite things to do in London).

In November, it will be 20 years since the Berlin Wall came down. In those two decades Berlin has seen incredible change. Eastern areas of the city that suffered under the old Communist regime have been revitalised, and have become the cool places to be. Many of Berlin’s most interesting attractions are in the eastern part of the city or around where the wall used to run. And we’ve picked out 10 of the best things to see and do in Berlin…