Europe | Viator Travel Blog

Why Lara loved her after-hours Vatican Tour

22. July 2008

Editor’s Note: Lara was recently in Rome on assignment, taking Viator’s After-Hours Tour to the Vatican. If you’re planning a trip to Rome, there are four dates left if your want to book this private after-hours Vatican tour: August 2, August 23, September 5, September 22. Let’s face it, the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel – [...]

Suggested Itineraries - 3 Days in Rome

15. July 2008

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Photo: Shelley Ruelle They say all roads lead to Rome, and hopefully the road you are on will eventually wind its way around to the Eternal City as well. A trip to Rome means coming face to face with both ancient history and modern-day European city life, as well as a pinch of some of the [...]

Hamburg: Quietly Rocking the North

13. July 2008

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Here’s a quick quiz for the Eurocentric among you: Massive port? You’d probably think Rotterdam. Great galleries? You’d probably think Paris. Crazy red light district? Amsterdam perhaps? Plenty of space and shots of modern architecture amongst the works of old? Berlin. How about… Hamburg. Not what springs to mind for most perhaps and the locals [...]

Guest Blogger: Jeff Hits the Road, Again

7. July 2008

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Editor’s Note: Loyal readers will remember Jeff Gates’ posts from last summer, when he took his family on an all-American vacation to Yosemite, Las Vegas and the Sierra Nevadas. Happily Jeff is hitting the road again this summer, first to Spain and then to the Pacific Northwest with his family. This is his first post [...]

Belgium’s Gentse Feesten Festival

5. July 2008

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If you’re going to go somewhere, first you have to leave somewhere. Makes sense don’t it. To get to Belgium first I had to get out of the Netherlands. And the Netherlands is a funny place, all flat and below sea-level, 10 metres of dikes holding back the ocean to the north and all these [...]

Austria’s Big Three*: Vienna, Graz, Salzburg

3. July 2008

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Imagine my surprise: I got on a train in Bratislava, Slovakia, bound for Vienna, Austria — the land of mountains and snow, high lakes and skiing skiing skiing! Austria: More than just Alps But out the window all I saw was flat land. As far as the eye could see, it was flat. And covered in wind [...]

Staycations: Arguments For and Against

1. July 2008

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Editor’s Note: Recently we’ve been hearing a lot about ’staycations’. So we asked Viator’s founder (Rod) and one of Viator’s most travel-loving staffers (Kelly) to ponder the following resolution. Resolved: That staycations are the new hot trend in travel. In true Lincoln-Douglas debate style Kelly argues the affirmative, Rod argues the negative. (What, you didn’t [...]

Ode to Midsummer Madness

30. June 2008

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I used to think that “Northern Lights” was just an exotic name for nasty skunk / plutonium-powered hydroponic weed from the boffins back at the Smoking Lab in Amsterdam. Turns out it’s more than just the stars you see on the back of your lids when you’re belly-up in a back alley outside a “coffee [...]

Things to Do in Istanbul: Go Shopping

27. June 2008

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It’s wrong to buy designer ripoffs, right? But when they are being sold as ‘original copies’ do the same rules apply? Because that is the sales pitch of the guys in the markets of Istanbul. Sincerity abounds as they shake Dolce and Gabbana shirts and Prada boots and Versace jeans in front of you: ‘Original [...]

Free Thing to Do in London? Speakers’ Corner

23. June 2008

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Free Thing to Do in London? Speakers’ Corner

London is brimming with life, from the pounding underground nightclubs (catering for every music taste known to mankind) to the chic boudoirs bustling with sparkling Russians in Bond Street. Tourists and natives alike are spoilt for choice on how to spend their days, but rest assured the majority will cost you an arm and a [...]