Viator Travel Blog

Happy 90th birthday to the Grand Canyon! Yes we’re a day late, hopefully the Grand Canyon isn’t offended that we forgot to call yesterday and sing it birthday greetings. No cupcakes or birthday cake either. Sheesh, what kind of birthday party is this? Let’s call it less of a party and more of an homage. After 90 years as an official National Park, the Grand Canyon continues to dazzle even the most jaded travelers.

No doubt you’ve been hearing about the tragic fires in the Australian state of Victoria. It’s been one of the worst years on record for fires, and already the death toll is approaching 200. Thousands of acres have burned, entire towns have been destroyed. It’s truly staggering to contemplate the destruction. We just had a call from one of our Australian wine-tour operators, based not far from Melbourne in the Yarra Valley wine region. They’re telling us, more than ever, the Yarra Valley and its award-winning wineries need our support.

Have you heard of the ‘dining in the dark’ craze? Sure it sounds fun. And yet we already hear you wondering, what will they possibly think of next? We have the answer! It involves Las Vegas, a very large crane, and an outdoor platform almost 200 feet above the ground with 180-degree views over the city. It’s called Dinner in the Sky. It’s at the Trump International Hotel. And it’s really, really cool.

Editor’s Note: Mea culpa! You may notice a little gap in Viator’s traveler of the month.  Somehow (the guilty have indeed been punished) we skipped July & August. In our defense, that’s the busiest time of the year for us, with thousands of people traveling across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. But we won’t lie [...]

Travel, especially to a place you’ve never been before, inevitably brings rise to a lot of questions. Questions like, do I need a visa? Where is the good scuba diving? Is it crazy to try to travel from city A to city B and back in one day? Are the buses safe? You get the [...]

Try as I might, I can no longer stay quiet about the cyclone in a teacup brewing over at Lonely Planet. You know, the Thomas Kohnstamm firestorm. The travel writer who takes drugs, has sex, fabricates information, and writes a tell-all book about his experiences called Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? FULL DISCLOSURE: I [...]

Last week, Canberra, Australia’s small capital city, played host to the controversial Olympic Torch as it makes its way around the world. Organisers described it as the most successful outing yet for the flame – which isn’t really saying much after the chaotic debacles of Paris, London and San Francisco and the security-deadened, almost invisible [...]

Where have your itchy feet led you? Where have your itchy feet led you? That’s the question Viator, Lonely Planet, and STA Travel want to hear all about, right down to the last blister. Lonely Planet is launching its annual Travellers’ Pulse survey of travel trends — what’s hot, what’s not, how you’re researching your [...]

Are you planning a trip to Australia from the United States, or vice versa? Here’s some good news. On February 15 the two nations signed an open skies agreement that deregulates air traffic between all airports in both countries. In a nutshell, it means that any certified air carrier can now fly between Australia and [...]

Someone said the great thing about travel is the journey, not the destination. At Viator we take issue with that for about 5,000 different reasons — as in the 5,000 tours and things to do you can book in hundreds of destinations worldwide at viator.com. For us travel is all about the destination, and certainly [...]