Archive for Italy
Experience Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast 04 Dec 2014
If you have plans to visit Italy for a vacation, make sure you drop by the southern part where the hillside of Sorrento is located. You can go here for your honeymoon, family vacation, or a women-only tour with your girlfriends.
You can do many things while in Sorrento: taste the regional wines and limoncella, enjoy a country cooking class, and learn about the wonders of olive oil. After a couple of days, you can visit Naples and Pompeii. Your local guide will take you there to explore the place. For the shopaholics, be ready to discover the secret shopping places on the isle of Capri.
For the entire week of your tour, you will stay at the lovely Hotel Bristol where you can enjoy the stunning views of Mt. Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples. After an exhausting but fun week, drive to the amazing Amalfi coast and enjoy alfresco dining in the Ravello. It’s a quaint village overlooking the sea so it will be another great experience to end your tour. If you’re still up for more shopping, there are several boutiques in Positano.
Visiting Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast with your girlfriends is something to look forward. This trip can be the most exciting and memorable vacation you and your friends will ever have.
Contact Gateway Destinations if you want to travel to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast.
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Visiting Venice, Verona & Lake Garda 27 Nov 2014
There is so much to see about Italy. If you’re planning another getaway with friends and loved ones, you can choose to visit the beautiful Venice, Verona, and the lovely Lake Garda. Yes, all these places are described as such because they really are sights to behold.
A Lake Garda, Venice & Verona Tour with Gateway Destinations will make you revel in the unique beauty of Italy. You’ll see the impressive architecture and network of romantic and intricate canals. For the art enthusiasts, discover the island of Murano where the famous beautiful glass designs can be found.
For those who enjoy great views, see the picturesque Verona to see the famed Juliet’s balcony. There’s also the ancient well-preserved area and the very lively piazza. It is where Shakespeare set the Romeo and Juliet love story. It’s full of drama and romance that have been the hallmark for many centuries.
Go on a northeastern Italy adventure and explore the lakeside villages of beautiful Lake Garda—the largest of all the Italian lakes. The lake became famous back in the 19th century when the road around it was completed. A lot of people visit the area during summer to enjoy the gentle climate and clean mountain air.
Venice, Verona, and Lake Garda have natural beauty that ought to be explored. Go on a tour of the lake, pass through the lovely villages, and enjoy the shoreline and the mountains in the background.
Contact Gateway Destinations if your want to embark on a Venice, Verona & Lovely Lake Garda Custom Tour.
Travel Guide to Tuscany 16 Oct 2014
The hills are alive….in Tuscany! The rolling hills, vineyards, and olive orchards are only some of the highlights of our women-only tour to this side of Italy. The Tuscan lifestyle can be experienced with your best girlfriends if you go on this very special tour created just for you.
Discover the heart of Italy and explore the hidden regions of the region. Taste the world-renowned Chianti and Brunello wines and enjoy the regional authentic cuisines as part of the special tour.
If you want a more relaxed travel, then a trip to the Tuscany countryside would be perfent. Life is quiet and tranquil in the forested area of Chianti. See for yourself the endless views and beautiful vineyards.
To complete the experience, you’d be staying in a quaint, lovely farmhouse located at the Podere Ciona Vineyard. It will be your home for three nights. The hosts will be gracious to teach you how to cook the famous regional dishes in a cozy country kitchen.
For several days, you will travel to the nearby villages that are as picturesque as the rest of the country. A visit to the magnificent medieval city of Siena will also be part of this women-only trip.
To experience nature, you’ll venture south of Tuscany where a natural hot spring can be found. It’s situated in a small village of Bagno Vignoni. It will be another adventure you don’t want to miss. Enjoy another luxurious day at the Adler Spa Report where excellent fitness, relaxation, and spa services are offered.
MOVING AROUND TUSCANY
You can rent a car to go around town but it is more convenient to use the train as the stations are strategically placed. It’s quite affordable too so there really is no need to worry about gasoline and rental car rates.
WEATHER IN TUSCANY
Climate in Tuscany is mild. Summers are usually hotter in the valley and the coast compared to the mountains and the hills. The best months to visit Tuscany are April, May, October, and November. It’s sunny most of the time with occasional rainy days. During winter, nights can be cold but sunny during the day.
Here are some more places you can visit in Tuscany:
WINERIES. Visit any tourist-friendly wineries so you can meet the makers and get to taste wine in the region.
TOWNS. The towns of Siena, Lucca, Cortona, and San Gimignano are all enthralling and enchanting.
CHURCHS. The churches in Tuscany are considered iconic. You may start touring the Basilico di San Franceso in Arezzo.
SHOPS. Shopping in Tuscany will be fun. Check out the handmade paper products, gold, and leather goods. Shopaholics will love this town.
Gateway Destinations can customize a women-only tour for you and your girlfriends. Your tour will begin and end in beautiful Florence. If you’re interested to visit Tuscany, contact Gateway Destinations.
Learn more about our Chianti Cooking & Tuscany Spa Retreat Package HERE.
3 Ways to make your honeymoon trip to Italy extra special 15 Jun 2014
If you are reading this, you probably haven’t tied the knot yet or you have very recently gotten married. You are still in seventh heaven and are probably still euphoric. We congratulate you on finding the right person to spend the rest of your life with. Still, if you want to make your honeymoon trip to Italy extra special and extra memorable, you need to be very clear as to what you want.
The worst thing you can do is to plan your trip using standard commercial Italian travel tour packages. If you do this, you pretty much drain a lot of the romantic potential of your trip. Sure, Italy is historically known as a great romantic destination. After all, this is the same country where both the sleepy, hauntingly romantic canals and gondolas of Venice and the tragic star-crossed scene of Romeo and Juliet, Verona, are located. But if you were to merely use typical travel tour package itineraries, you miss out on layering on a extra level of mystery, romance, and delight to your trip. Keep the following tips in mind when planning your Italian honeymoon.
Explore off-the-beaten track destinations
Sure, just the mere selection of Italy as your honeymoon destination is enough to guarantee at least some truly romantic and memorable moments on your special trip. But given the fact that most people want to only go to one honeymoon trip in their lives, notwithstanding golden anniversary honeymoon trips, do you really want your honeymoon trip to consist of hitting the same trails and destinations as any other packaged Italy vacation tour? By going to off-the-beaten-track destinations, you avoid the maddening crowd and ‘tourist’ feel of many standard commercial travel packages to Italy. With specialized cherry-picked honeymoon destinations, you are sure to savor the quaint, intimate, ‘just for us’ feel many of Italy’s less-publicized towns and travel destinations offer. You want your travel destination to lend as much romantic ambiance to your trip as possible. Sadly, getting on and off a bus trudging with vacation tour groups waving plastic flags and sporting a sticker on your chest probably rubs some of the romantic firepower of your special trip off.
Plan your itinerary around your personalities
You may be into art. Your partner might be into the sampling and exploring the distinctly Italian mystique of wine. You both might be into spicy seafood dishes. Whatever your particular personality combination and personal tastes, planning your itinerary around your personalities goes a long way in creating a trip that is truly personal and truly memorable. Instead of you spending your precious time around the schedule and economics-based selections of your travel tour company, your own special travel itinerary delivers Italy’s charms, with all its history, mystery, glamor, and culinary firepower, on your own terms.
Select travel destinations based on romantic possibilities
From Romeo and Juliet’s Verona to the misty romantic air of Venice’s grand canals, Italy packs more than its fair share of romantic ambiance. In fact, many parts of the country seem like they came out of a romance novel. That’s how in tune some of Italy’s travel destinations are with romantic moods. Sit down with your travel agent and go through the long list of Italy’s famous romantic spots and cross reference them with the considerations raised above.
CHIANTI COOKING & TUSCANY SPA RETREAT 25 Sep 2008
October 5 – 12, 2008, Women-only Tour to Tuscany! Jan Acorn, owner of Gateway Destinations, had the pleasure of leading a small group of ladies into the heart of Tuscany, Italy for eight days in October. We began with a guided walking tour of Florence, a delicious welcome dinner at a local trattoria to get to know each other, and spent the next morning exploring on our own before venturing into the countryside for the rest of the week. Our countryside adventure began in the Chianti region during the bustling grape harvest season and included cooking classes, wine tasting, an introduction to olive oil, market visit, tour of Meleto Castle and much more! Our journey continued further south where we shopped and explored Siena and numerous charming villages, picked chestnuts and wild porcini mushrooms, enjoyed lunch in an authentic country kitchen, and picnicked in picturesque Pienza – all while residing at a luxurious thermal spa resort. Read more about some of the highlights of this women’s journey.
Two delicious evenings were spent in authentic country kitchens as our guests learned to cook treasured Italian family recipes with the Tuscan Mamas. Located in the heart of Tuscany, this cooking school resides in the beautiful forested hills of the Chianti region. From stuffed zucchini flowers, risotto with local fresh mushrooms, to gelato with fresh citrus and limoncello liqueur to name some of the dishes, our dinners were heavenly and fun to prepare. Join us in 2009 as we return for more cooking in this beautiful region of Italy!
Thermal Spa Indulgence in Italy
Our 8-day escorted women’s tour to Italy in October was rounded out by spending several relaxing days at Adler Thermae, a beautiful 5-star natural thermal spa resort in southern Tuscany. Overlooking an expansive valley filled with Cyprus trees, vineyards and olive orchards and located on a picturesque hillside in the tiny village of Bagno Vignoni, this resort has it all. It is blessed with non-odorous thermal water and unbelievable views. The rooms are spacious, well-appointed and all have views of the outdoor pools and valley below. The food and service are great, and the spa includes an array of fitness classes, exercise equipment and a wide variety of spa treatments. There are even bicycles available to tour the countryside.
Local Life in Tuscany’s Val d’Orcia
Aah…the simple pleasures of life lived as a local under the Tuscan sun! Our guide introduced our small group of ladies to authentic country life in this region. We started the morning by picking and sorting chestnuts as well as harvesting wild porcini mushrooms (a rare find), then visited the home of his mother in Castledelpiano. We enjoyed homemade polenta made with chestnut flour, our fresh mushrooms and other tasty regional food, while enjoying young wine made by his brother that morning. All in all, a perfect expression of la dolce vita!
