Viator Travel Blog

Editor’s Note: This is the second installment focusing of Cheryn’s travels in Vietnam. Be sure to read Cheryn’s other blog post about Hanoi’s old quarter. A bridge near Sapa, Vietnam We arrived at the train station in the city of Lao Cai and boarded a bus to Sapa. An hour later, the landscape changed from [...]

Just as I was narrowing the field in my travel wishlist, Kelly beat me to the post (literally!) and blogged her Top Ten Travel Wishes. However, it takes more than a similar theme to dissuade me from my need to blog, so here are the Top 10 destinations on my travel wishlist. Narrowly beating Dubai [...]

Tokyo is a blast! It’s a full-on head-rush and an explosion of sensory stimulation – sights and sounds, and the tastes of real Japanese food. Here the cutting edge and the traditional coexist in ethereal harmony — kimono-clad computer warriors, punk rockers with impeccable manners. There are some excellent multi-day tours that depart from Tokyo, [...]

A former ski chalet in the Swiss Alps? Maybe you’ve been reading Viator’s Earth Day page, or our new Go Carbon Neutral page. Maybe you’re feeling inspired to make a difference, to minimize your impact and offset your carbon footprint wherever and however you can. That’s great and all, but maybe we also hear you [...]

Indian delights Distinguished by an array of nose-tingling spices & herbs, dining in India is a fiery affair, full of heat, exotic flavor, and (for some) perspiration. From savory fried food to tangy relishes, pickled treats, and thick curries, Indian cuisine conjures images of an enormous spice rack stretching from Bombay to Chennai to New [...]

Statues at Wat Phnom, Cambodia I arrived to Phnom Penh by way of the Mekong’s brown muddy waters and pitted highway roads of red dirt. I’d crossed from Vietnam into Cambodia in the heat of the midday sun and immediately felt my spirits lift and my smile brighten – there is something about the place [...]

Hanoi street scene I arrived in Hanoi by train from China, and watching from the windows, I found Vietnam to be wild and unkempt, with reddish orange dirt, dark green vegetation, and a trace of brown everywhere. Vietnam is tropical, and tropical places always have that overgrown feel – a bit wild, a bit less [...]

Balinese Dancer Ah, Bali… gentle and delicate like the petals of a flower. It may sound like a contradiction for some, who only know this island in Indonesia from news reports of the bombings that took place here in 2002 and 2005. But rest assured, Bali is a tranquil island paradise — a little chunk [...]

The ruins of Petra, Jordan Editor’s Note: On July 7 the winners of the new 7 Wonders of the World competition were announced. You can read more about it here. It’s not long now until the New 7 Wonders of the World are announced, after 18 months of global public voting. The initiative was launched [...]

Very few countries have a history free of involvement in war, be it civil war or at the global scale. It is therefore not surprising that many places which have witnessed extraordinary occurences of war are of increasing interest to the weary traveler looking for a more meaningful experience than plastic Eiffel Towers and “I [...]