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A Relaxing Stop in the Berkshires at the Red Lion Inn

After dropping our son off at Cornell last week, we stopped in the Berkshires to dine with good friends and spend a night at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge. I haven’t stayed at this classic retreat in over a decade and it turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. As soon as we dropped off our bags off in our spacious room in one of the houses on the lot next to the main inn, we went to straight to the pool and hot tub for a plunge. We then washed up just in time to join the sommelier on the Red Lion’s signature wraparound porch for a tasting of roses and white zinfandels. The next morning Lisa woke up early to use the fitness center, located in the O’Brien House, before a typical August in New England breakfast of wild blueberry pancakes and Mass maple syrup in the main dining room. Happy we made the stop instead of rushing home. 

 

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Hotels We’re Booking Right Now

Cliff House, Maine We currently have a group of 15 family members at the Cheeca Lodge in the Florida Keys and a couple who flew in from Atlanta with a negative COVID-19 test to stay at the Cliff House in Maine. We recently booked a family vacation at Wequassett Resort and a romantic retreat at Chatham Bars, both in August on Cape Cod. We also designed a 10-day itinerary for a family headed to South and North Dakota in early August and are currently working on a late September 50th birthday celebration in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains at Primland Resort, where you can stay at a luxurious treehouse. If you want to get away this summer or fall for a therapeutic escape from the pandemic and the news (like we recently did for a week on Cape Cod), please let ActiveTravels know.

Depending on where you’re located, we’ll work within the travel restrictions to not only find you a perfect getaway, but lodging that you feel comfortable in, like an isolated private house or cabin. And since we’re part of Virtuoso, we’ll get you those free amenities. At Cliff House, that translates into upgrade upon arrival, daily continental breakfast, and a Cliff House signature “Sea Bag” tote, made from recycled sails and valued at $150. Don’t forget that we design our coveted Dream Day itineraries across North America. So we’re more than happy to create a detailed tailor-made road trip that includes lodging, all activities, recommended guides, restaurants, and scenic routes. This is easily accessible on a phone app we create. As the motto on our website states, “We Help You Get There.”

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Holiday Stocking Stuffer No. 1, Don Papa Rum

Already a phenomenon in Paris, Don Papa Rum has just arrived in New York and Boston. I went to a rum tasting last week at Shojo in Boston’s Chinatown and was even more enamored with this rum than the last time I tried it in France. The 10-year-old bottle has hints of vanilla which stems not only from the sweeter Noble Cane found in the Philippines, but the result of aging in former bourbon and American oak casks. As the story goes, founder Stephen Carroll was sailing around the volcanic island of Negros, when he learned about the centuries-old Noble Cane and the reason they coined the island Sugarlandia. He went on land and discovered the remains of a small rum distillery. Carroll bought it out and started creating his own “black gold” molasses. In less than a decade, he’s created quite a buzz in the liquor world. Grab your bottle of 7 and 10-year rum at Vinodivino in Boston and Needham, Charles Street Liquor in Boston, Gordon Liquor in Waltham, among many other Boston area liquor stores, and you’ll soon believe the hype. 

 
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Book Rooms Now For Next Summer’s Fête des Vignerons in Vevey, Switzerland

I had the pleasure of having lunch last week with PR Maven, Gayle Conran, and Cindy Maghenzani, head of communications for Switzerland’s Lake Geneva Region. They reminded me that next summer, from July 26 to August 11, 2019, the Fête des Vignerons or Winegrower’s Festival returns to the glorious lakeside town of Vevey, located between Lausanne and Montreux. Why is this significant? Because the event only occurs once every 20 years! Join singers, dancers, wine experts, and loads of other performers for the extravaganza. It would be wise to book rooms now to ensure you have a place to stay. Grand Hotel du Lac, the property Lisa and I stayed on our last visit is a great choice, especially since it’s celebrating its 150th birthday, as Everett Potter reports in his latest column for Forbes. While in Vevey, visit the relatively new Chaplin’s World, where Charlie Chaplin spent his last years, and the majestic Chillon Castle, always a must-see sight when I’m in the area. 

 
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Cape Town’s Rise to Culinary Prominence

It wasn’t so long ago that the signature dinner in Cape Town was a traditional braai, a barbecue featuring copious amounts of meat like boerewors sausages. If that didn’t satiate your carnivorous cravings, you could always stop at the local butcher for a bag of biltong, the popular South African snack of air-dried beef jerky. Then the Apartheid regime ended and the city started to embrace its diversity of cultures, especially when it came to expanding the palate at your nightly meal. The fusion of Dutch, French, Malaysian, Indian, and African cooking has melded to create an exciting new cuisine. 

The latest batch of talented chefs take full advantage of Cape Town’s melting pot and its envied locale, straddling the Atlantic and Indian Oceans as the largest city on the southernmost point of the continent. Everywhere you look is water and thankfully the fresh bounty of the sea now appears on the menu alongside the many types of meat, all washed down with South Africa’s world-class pinotage and sauvignon blanc vintages. You don’t have to step far from your hotel room to find a restaurant that scintillates the taste buds. Fine dining is sprouting up in all parts of the city like the blooming of king proteas, the national flower, at the city’s Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. So pick a neighborhood, any neighborhood. 

My entire story on the Cape Town dining scene can be found in the February/March 2017 issue of Virtuoso Traveler. 

 
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Refurbished Hawks Cay Resort Begins a New Era on the Florida Keys

Almost a year after Hurricane Irma passed through the Florida Keys, Hawks Cay Resort, one of the region’s most renowned properties, has reopened following a $50 million renovation. Owners of Hawks Cay, situated on Duck Key near Marathon, used the opportunity to enhance the resort’s appeal to travelers. Expect completely renovated rooms, two new restaurants and a new oceanfront, adults-only relaxation area called Oasis Cay with pool, food and beverage facilities. With the reopening of Hawks Cay, the Keys lodging inventory is now over 90 percent operational following the Sept. 10, 2017, hurricane and nearly all resorts impacted by Irma are projected to be fully open before the end of 2018. An added bonus is the addition of many new resorts. The all-inclusive adults-only Bungalows Key Largo is to be unveiled later this year. Also in Key Largo, the new 200-room Baker’s Cay Resort, a Curio Collection by Hilton, is scheduled to open by late fall. In Marathon at mile marker 47, the all-new 24-acre, 199-unit Isla Bella Beach Resort will offer a 4,000-square-foot spa, five pools, four food and beverage concepts and a marina when the property opens in early 2019. After last year’s hard winter rebuilding, the Florida Keys is ready to welcome you back this year. 

 
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Family Adventure at AMC Lodges Over February Vacation Week

Hey New Englanders and New Yorkers! Still need something affordable to do with the kids over February Week. The AMC still has openings at two of their lodges, Highland Center at scenic Crawford Notch, New Hampshire, and the Joe Dodge Lodge in Pinkham Notch, at the base of New England’s tallest peak. The activities during this 3-day getaway include snowshoeing, winter hiking, cross-country skiing, snow shelter building, animal tracking, and more. Kids games and kid-friendly meals will be offered each day, as well as social hour for the adults. Rates start at $267 for adult members, $107 for child members and include lodging, meals, guided activities, and a trail pass to Bretton Woods and Great Glen for cross-country skiing. Add an extra two nights in nearby Portland and Freeport, Maine, for art, shopping, and dining and you have yourself a budget-oriented break. 

 

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