Angela Hartnett of the respected Connaught Hotel has offered her expert advice to help people find the best restaurants in Venice.

First of all, she strongly recommends avoiding the restaurants around St Marks Square and anywhere with a menu touristica.

Another useful tip is to visit the Rialto fish market in the morning and have a good look at the day’s catch. This is a really useful way to familiarise yourself with the local seafood on offer, much of which is unseen at home.

Classic Venetian dished include spaghetti alle vongole (clams) and bigoli “a fabulous dish of fat tubular spaghetti with sweet, cooked-down onions and anchovies”

Angela Hartnett’s top 10 Venetian restaurants:-
Alla Madonna, Calle de la Madonna, San Polo (00 39 041 522 3824, www.ristoranteallamadonna.com): Buzzy restaurant near the Rialto, popular with family groups; £25pp.

Vini da Arturo, Calle dei Assassini, San Marco (528 6974): Small menu with no seafood, but great beef dishes such as bistecca tagliata; £35pp.

Alle Testiere, Calle del Mondo Nuovo, Castello (522 7220): Small (20 seats) osteria specialising in modern Venetian seafood; £30pp.

Osteria Assassini, Rio tera dei Assassini, San Marco (528 7986, www.osteriaaiassassini.it): Set daily menu (Thursday is beef or salt cod, Friday is fish). If you don’t like offal, avoid Wednesday; £25pp.

Corte Sconta, Calle del Pestrin, Castello (522 7024): Feast on the seafood starters, or try the full menu, which will leave you gasping; £35pp.

Alle Vignole, Isola del Vignole (528 9707): Take a water taxi to the island of Vignole, choose your seafood, beef or chicken and have them grilled while you sit at tables under the trees (April to Sept only); £20pp.

Ruga Rialto, Ruga Rialto, San Polo (521 1243): Cheap and cheerful set lunch of local dishes with coffee, biscotti and a carafe of red; £20pp.

Fiaschetteria Toscana, Salizada San Giovanni Grisostomo, Cannareggio (528 5281, www.fiaschetteriatoscana.it): An elegant choice for a big night out, with a superb cellar and tempting dolci trolley; £40pp.

Source: The Times

Web Certain Service Aug 24, 2007: 6:42 am Edit This | [en]
A survey of customers who have booked holidays through www.holidays-direct.co.uk has revealed that although cost is the most important factor when choosing to book a flight, the option to fly from a local airport is almost as important.

Customers were asked to pick what they consider to be the most important factor when booking flights from a list of options.

Cost was the choice of nearly half of respondents to the survey (44%), but over one third of people stated that the location of the departure airport was the most important factor for them.

Despite a lot of recent hype by airline companies, the option to check-in via the internet is not a feature desired by air travellers. None of the survey respondents claimed this was a major influence when booking a flight.

The full survey results are as follows:

Question: When you book a flight, which of the following is the most important factor?

Cost – 44%
Location of departure airport – 37%
Time of flight – 11%
Option to choose seat – 4%
Reputation of airline – 4%
Option to check-in on the internet – 0%

Paul Reeve of www.holidays-direct.co.uk said: “When we carried out the survey we fully expected cost to be the defining factor, but we have noticed a change in the behaviour of our customers over the last few years, following the mass expansion of local airports in the UK.”

“People are now very used to being able to fly to their favourite holiday destinations from their nearest airport.”

“The days when holidaymakers from the north of England were willing to waste a day of their annual leave just to get to Heathrow Airport are long gone.”

More on this story

American Airlines has announced plans for a second daily flight from London to New York.

The daily flights from London Stansted to New York JFK will launch on April 8 2008, following the airline’s launch of its first daily flights on this route on 29 October 2009.

The airline is extending its services from New York JFK with other new routes to Milan and Barcelona. These routes will start on 2 May 2008.

Recent research has revealed that the ability to fly from a local airport is of great importance to travellers.

New York JFK Airport is the hub for over 40 routes around north America and the Caribbean, as well as being a vital connection point to destinations around the world.

More and more people are choosing to take weekend city break holidays, due to the availability of cheap flights to European cities.

Rome and Paris are two of the most popular citybreak destinations for travellers from the UK, says Holidays-Direct.

Prague and Barcelona are also very popular and cities in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia are growing in popularity.

Neil Smillie, head of Holidays-Direct, said: “It is true to say that the world is getting smaller in terms of city breaks as customers continue to explore new places in shorter amounts of time.

“From America to the Baltics, we are seeing many more people taking their city break explorations further away.”

He also claimed that the rising availability of low-cost flights to the likes of Malaga and Faro has seen many tourists combine “a city break with a beach holiday”.

Yahoo! has discovered that families prefer to take a number of “mini-breaks” each year, but a traditional two-week family holiday is better for stress levels, say experts.

“People tend to have unreasonable expectations of how much they can fit into a short weekend break,” Donna Dawson, an American psychologist told The Independent. “As a result families tend to over-plan and over-complicate holidays that should be kept simple. It’s that difference between their expectations and reality that stresses them out.”

In the poll carried out by YouGov on behalf of Yahoo!, 68 per cent said they had already taken at least two holidays this year, while 61 per cent said they preferred “shorter, action-packed breaks” to the lengthier family holiday.

However, 40 per cent of those polled said that, despite their preference for short holidays, mini-breaks could be more stressful.

Mini-breaks are one of the fastest growing areas of the tourist industry with 16 per cent of ythe holidays taken by British residents being short breaks.

Source: The Independent

Despite the poor weather this summer, a new industry report has revealed that Scottish hotels have been outperforming their counterparts in the rest of the UK.

In June, there was 9.6 per cent increase in the room yield across the country, compared with 6.3 per cent across the whole of the UK.

Room prices in hotels in Edinburgh in June have risen from an average £92.16 in 2006 to £96.26 in 2007, but the rise in hotel room prices has not deterred tourists.

Alistair Rae of PFK business advisors commented: “Judging by the number of Americans on the streets of Edinburgh right now I can’t see any decrease in their numbers.”

Simon Williams, chief executive of Edinburgh Principal Hotels Association, said: “Edinburgh is a destination and has seen growth in terms of airports and new routes from European cities. It is definitely on the up.”

As well as Edinburgh, hotels in Aberdeen and Glasgow have also had a good summer, with Glasgow especially “powering ahead”.

Source: The Scotsman

A Marbella hotel is offering free stays for its guests if it rains.

From the beginning of November to the end of February, the luxury Spanish hotel will offer a free night’s stay got every rainy day endured by guests.

This only applies to days where it has rained for three hours or more.

The Winter Sun Guarantee deal is available for all room categories for stays between November 1st and February 28th, excluding Christmas and New Year, and any complimentary nights must be booked direct through the hotel.

It’s unlikely that the hotel will have to offer many free nights. On average, Marbella, on the Costa Del Sol, enjoys 325 days of sunshine each year. Even in winter the weather is mild with typical temperatures of 18 degrees.

Marbella is the most sophisticated resort in Costa del Sol, considered as the Spanish version of Monte Carlo.

Charlotte Mears, fiance of Tottenham Hotspur footballer Jermain Defoe has teamed up with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to launch the WAG’s guide to travel.

WAGs (wives and girlfriends) have to do a lot of travelling when supporting their partners when they play matches around the world, which is why Meares’ advice was sought.

Here are some extracts from the WAGs guide to travel:

Know Before You Go!

- It might sound trivial but you never know when you might break a nail or your extensions turn green in the pool. To stay looking your best even if you are not taking a personal stylist with you, get a number of good local beauticians or check if the hotel has one before you go!

- Other useful numbers to take with you are that of the local consul or embassy – it could be invaluable if you lose a passport, or if a bit of wild partying gets you into trouble with the local law! Also take the number and details of your insurance company – it will save you loads of time and hassle if your luggage full of designer gear goes missing at the airport!

Insure Those Choos:

- An absolute must is travel insurance - one tumble off a bar table in your Jimmy Choos without insurance could cost you £20,000 worth of shopping money on your hospital bill! And whether you’ve got five Louis Vuitton cases full of designer gear or a beaten up bag full of Primark, you’ll want to know that if anything gets lost or stolen you will be covered.

Full details can be found on Easier.

The Eiffel Tower, one of the most recognised landmarks in the world and a magnet for people taking holidays in Paris, has been voted the world’s most disappointing tourist attraction.

Almost a quarter of British travellers who took part in the survey by Virgin Travel Insurance said they were less than impressed by the monument.

10 most disappointing sights, worldwide:

1. The Eiffel Tower, Paris

2. The Louvre, Paris

3. Times Square, New York

4. Las Ramblas, Barcelona

5. Statue of Liberty, New York

6. Spanish Steps, Rome

7. The White House, Washington

8. The Pyramids, Egypt

9. The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

10. The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The list is dominated by some of the world’s most famous places, so it could be that many people have unreasonable expectations which cannot be met.

The most disappointing site in the UK, according to the survey, is Stonehenge. The 5,000 standing stones are smaller than visitors would expect from photographs and sit near a busy road.

The “must-see sites” around the world, according to the survey are:

1. The Treasury at Petra, Jordan

2. The Grand Canal, Venice

3. The Masai Mara, Kenya

4. Sydney Harbour Bridge

5. Taroko Gorge, Taiwan

6. Kings Canyon, Northern Territory, Australia

7. Cappadoccia caves, Turkey

8. Lake Titicaca, Peru and Bolivia

9. Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia

10. Jungfraujoch railway, Switzerland

Voting for the 55 categories in the British Travel Awards has begun - and everyone who completes a voting form will be entered into a free draw for a chance to win one of 50 holiday and travel prizes.

The prizes include a 12-day Baltic cruise for two; 40 pairs of tickets to a Jongleurs Comedy Club; Club Class ferry travel to Calais, Bilbao, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge; a Caribbean holiday for two; a seven-night Mediterranean cruise; luxury five-star holidays to Canada, Cuba, Turkey, Spain and Tenerife.

There are both trade and consumer sections for voting in and they can be found at http://www.britishtravelawards.com/.

Voting in all categories closes on 19th September 2007.

As well as awarding agencies and service providers, the Awards also find out about consumer habits. Questions that consumers can vote on include:-

Which is your favourite citybreak destination?

Which is your favourite beach holiday destination?

Which is your favourite European / North American ski destination?

Which is your favourite theme park or attraction?

Travel agents have dismissed claims that the Camp for Climate Change at Heathrow Airport will deter travellers.

BAA forecast that 1.5 million travellers would pass through Heathrow Airport during the weekend when the protests were taking place.

Travel Weekly has interviewed several travel agents around the country about the situation and they are reporting that it is business as usual.

Approximately 1,500 demonstrators took part in the day of action at Heathrow Airport.

Anthony Goord, owner of Peter Goord Travel in Plymouth said: “None of our customers has mentioned the protests.”

Traveltime managing director Barry Moxley said: “I support the right to protest, but wouldn’t support any actions that will affect families going on holiday.”

BAA won a partial injunction against the camp, but failed in their attempts to ban five millions members of environmental groups.

A new Amsterdam hotel will be the newest “yotel” in Europe.

What is a “yotel”? It’s a Japanese-inspired capsule hotel that offers hotel rooms for hire by the hour, designed to be used by weary travellers who need a short rest.

The 55-room hotel will open in early 2008 inside Amerdam’s Schipol Airport terminal building. The first yotel in Europe opened at Gatwick airport in July 2007 and there are plans to open another pod hotel at Heathrow’s terminal 4.

Schipol is one of the busiest airports in Europe with 45 million passengers passing through each year, many catching connecting flights to worldwide holiday destinations, especially New York and north America.

An association of the managers of hotels in Seville recently announced plans to launch a similar scheme to rent out rooms by the hour, so holidaymakers can take siestas and avoid the punishing midday heat in the Spanish city.

The annual Travellers’ Pulse survey by the Lonely Planet travel guides concludes that 32 per cent of travellers consider holiday activities a priority when choosing where to go.

This number has risen from last year and Lonely Planet believe this is in line with the “growing trend towards exploring niche experiences rather than simply visiting destinations for sightseeing”.

Popular holiday destinations are increasingly marketing themselves as active locations, not just as places to relax on the beach. The Algarve is famous for its golf courses, holidays in the Red Sea are promoted for their fabulous diving opportunities and the Canary Islands tourism is boosted by surfers looking to enjoy Atlantic waves.

The survey also claims that 7 out of 10 people try to travel in a low-impact way, carbon off-setting schemes are the most popular method of addressing the problem of emissions from flights.

A new consumer survey has revealed that is more expensive to have a break in Blackpool than a holiday in Barcelona.

The National Consumer Council assessed average costs and discovered that a holiday in the Spanish capital costs an average of £518 per person, compared to £554 for a week in Blackpool.

The assessment is based on people travelling from London, with both the train and air tickets being booked 14 days in advance.

NCC chief executive Ed Mayo said: “People are increasingly being asked to think before flying, but poor value at home means that this is a stick without a carrot.”

The NCC wants to promote more holidays being taken in the UK by the British and recommends reducing the price of train tickets in line with the school holidays.

They also want the British tourist industry and the Government to take measures to help make the UK an attractive and affordable” holiday destination for the UK market.