Tag: hotels

Fairmont Le Château Frontenac Christmas

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Booking to spend our Christmas at the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Québec City, Canada is one of the best decisions that we ever made. This winter wonderland of a luxury hotel just oozes holiday spirit in December. What a wonderful place it was to spend my favorite holiday of the year! Read on if you’re thinking of making it a Le Château Frontenac Christmas.

Lobby Christmas Trees at the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac

Why the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, you may wonder? I have wanted to stay at this hotel since I first glimpsed it in person when I was 15 years old. We were on a family cruise with Holland America Lines, originating in New York and ending in Montreal, with a few days in Québec City. The place is a castle (a real château) – it enchanted me immediately. I had to stay here someday, and that day finally came in December 2016.

A brief note about inclusivity: I’m Catholic by upbringing, I identify as Christian, and I celebrate Christmas. It’s my favorite holiday. However, I believe that if you’re an atheist, Jew, Muslim, agnostic, Hindu, Buddhist, etc., you’ll still have a wonderful time visiting the Château in late December! No shade to other ideologies here – just speaking from my own perspective as a Christmas-lover!

I was not disappointed. If anything, I had underestimated how great this hotel really was. I felt like a Christmas princess all week in this snow-covered palace! And, what better place than to stay in the most iconic symbol of the city itself – Le Château Frontenac?

White Christmas at the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac

Getting There (In A Snowstorm)

Welp, driving to Québec City from New York City on Christmas Eve was not one of my BRIGHTEST ideas. To say the least.

Snowy Quebec City rooftops
Snow-covered rooftops of Québec City

We rented an SUV in NYC (from Laguardia Airport, which we were closer to than JFK) to make the drive up. I knew my Acura TL wasn’t built for snowy roads and we were going to Canada, after all. So, we rented a Nissan Murano and began our trek through upstate New York to the border.

Things were great until we hit a snowstorm around mid-Catskills! It kept snowing all the way until we reached Québec City. It took only about one hour longer than it should have, which was great. However, driving that far and long on snowy roads during a snowstorm means extremely tense shoulders and white knuckles for me.

Just a quick sidenote: drivers between Montreal and Quebec City are insane. We kept getting passed by Toyota Yarises doing 90 mph in a snowstorm. So, be warned!

Christmas Le Château Frontenac
One of the many Christmas decorations at the hotel

We arrived in town and began the meandering drive uphill toward the hotel. I was so glad we had the SUV at that point because there are some steep hills in Vieux-Québec. If you’re in doubt, rent the SUV with 4-wheel drive.

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Valamar Diamant Hotel (Poreč, Croatia)

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We stayed in the Valamar Diamant Hotel in Poreč, Croatia during our family heritage trip in the summer of 2018. This family-friendly and sports-forward property is a huge complex, with residence-type units and regular hotel rooms, a large buffet restaurant, several pools, a beach, and tons of sports facilities and activities for children.

Kiddie beach part of the hotel

This is not a luxury property. It looks like it was built during the communist era and hasn’t been updated since. We weren’t huge fans (especially due to one specific dining experience – read more below!), but I’m reviewing it so that you know what to expect if you decide to stay at the Valamar Diamant Hotel!

Valamar Diamant Hotel’s Location

Sunset view from the beach area

Our family chose the Valamar Diamant Hotel for its location and proximity to the town of Poreč (pronounced “poor-ETCH”), where there are a lot of things to do for those visiting Istria. Poreč is one of Istria’s larger towns and a great home base for exploring the region. The purpose of our trip was to visit our great-grandmother’s house in Nova Vas, about an hour’s drive away. So, it made sense for us to stay in Poreč, where things were a bit livelier.

The Valamar Diamant Hotel is one of the more highly-rated hotels and my cousin had stayed here on a previous trip, and has similar taste to me, so we also stayed here. It was a good choice for such a large group (16 of us, all adults) with various room types for all. There are regular 4-star hotel rooms and there are 3-star one- and two-bedroom apartments for rent, too.

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Hotel More (Dubrovnik, Croatia)

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I can’t take credit for choosing the Hotel More in Dubrovnik, as my uncle picked it for our trip to Croatia last summer. But oh my gosh, I’m so glad he did. The Hotel More in Dubrovnik, Croatia was everything we could have wanted and…well… more!

Hotel More Dubrovnik Croatia
Location, Location, Location.

Hotel More’s Location in Dubrovnik

Located in the slightly more suburban area of Lapad (just north of old town), Hotel More is about a 15-minute bus ride directly from the Old Town main gate, plus a 10-minute walk. It’s actually a lovely walk, where you stroll the coastline of Lapad and pass lots of little shops and restaurants on the way to the hotel.

Three adults shown walking from behind down mediterranean seafront
Walking from the hotel to the bus stop to take us into the Old Town.

You’ll likely arrive at the hotel by street, though, if you come by taxi and you actually arrive at the top of the hotel in the lobby. The hotel offers a pre-booked airport transfer service (for a charge), and we arranged for a minivan to pick us up from the airport and bring us directly to the hotel. The driver was on time, professional and very kind. Nika, the hotel concierge who helped me arrange the transfer and our dinner plans, recommended that we use the minivan since we were 4 adults with 4 big bags.

The hotel is built into a cliffside, so it doesn’t look like much of anything from the street. But once you enter the lobby, the floor-to-ceiling windows show the beautiful coastline behind you and you’re immediately transported into vacation mode.

Hotel More Dubrovnik Croatia
The view from the hallway outside our room.

Arriving at Hotel More in Dubrovnik

The bellmen were really helpful and sweet, and the front desk/reception folks were friendly and professional. We got our room keys and set off in search of our rooms.

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A Winter Weekend in Donegal, Ireland

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A Winter Weekend in Donegal, Ireland

My stepsister got married at Harvey’s Point hotel in Donegal, Ireland on New Year’s Eve this year, so we spent a few days in Dublin and then a stop in Cavan for a night on the way up to Donegal for the festivities. I so wish we had been able to spend more time in Donegal and had gotten to see more of it , and would LOVE to return during the summer season in the near future and really experience the town in all its splendor. Despite the wintry weather, I would counsel anyone to make the trek to Donegal during a trip to the Emerald Isle.

Donegal Castle

Donegal Castle

Apologies first because we barely took any photos of the hotel itself, as with the wedding, it was a whirlwind weekend full of events (and merriment!).

DRINK AND EAT IN DONEGAL: OLDE CASTLE BAR

Although we had a full rehearsal dinner to attend, hubs and I snuck off to town with a friend to check into his hotel and walk around and see the town for a few hours before our call time. As such, we didn’t have a whole lot of time to do much sightseeing, but I had done a bit of research before we headed in and decided that we should drop in to the Olde Castle Bar for a pint or two. Continue reading →

Get Your Sleep On – Majestic Elegance (Punta Cana, Dominican Republic)

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It’s good to be the Queen.

Well, ok, maybe I’m not the Queen of anywhere, although my parents might disagree. But, that’s the way that the Majestic Elegance makes you feel when you book a room at their Elegance Club level – the adults-only part of the all-inclusive luxury resort situated in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Set on Bávaro Beach, this high-end all-inclusive delivers on hospitality and, well, elegance, throughout your stay.

The result of a boozy brunch barbecue, we booked this trip on a whim and decided to spend our Labor Day Weekend in a more tropical locale than the sweltering humidity of New York. It’s a long story and I’ll spare you the details, but we recruited some additional folks and booked on CheapCaribbean, who I am delighted to say made the booking process painless. We had 3 credit cards and 2 different airports of origin, and their customer service line was amazingly accommodating and helpful. I’d always book a stress-free all-inclusive vacation with them from now on. Not a plug, just love the website.

I’m digressing. Dominican Republic. We went there. And this is a review of our amazing resort.

Pro-Tip #1: Book a room with the Elegance Club level.

The CHECK-In Experience:

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Upon arrival in the lobby, we were whisked away by the greeter to the VIP Check-In Area, a separate suite off the main lobby with a buffet of pastries and other snacks, as well as coffee, wine, champagne and other treats. We were invited to take a seat at a table with refreshments as we checked in and were assigned our butler, Bladimir. Continue reading →

Get Your Sleep On – Paradisus La Perla (Playa del Carmen, Mexico)

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The Paradisus La Perla in Playa del Carmen, Mexico is a really beautiful hotel and is kept spotless. On the surface, the staff all seem very nice and polite and seem very eager to help make your stay as enjoyable as possible. However, the food and the service fall seriously short of the experience they claim to deliver and it made for an extremely disappointing stay.

Playa Del Carmen - Mexico-47

It’s almost as if someone read a book about what a luxury resort should have, and bought all those things, and gave the staff brief instructions on what to do, and just left. One example: Continue reading →

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