Hotel Eurotel Altura, Altura

Advantages: Still Innocent - hardly any english
Disadvantages: The portuguese are not very friendly

...Monte Gordo - The Algarve. Ten years ago I chose the hotel Eurotel Altura in Altura/Tavira with the family. This year I took my one remaining teenager and husband back to the Eurotel, which had grown but hardly changed. From Monte Gorda it's a short bus ride or 'road train' to Villa Real de Santo Antonio, where you can hop on the ferry across to Spain. No problem with currency - they willingly take Escudos in Ayamante. This is a lovely border town where backpackers arrive to travel around Spain - they have recently revamped the two town squares - now they have 4 Mannequins pis (copies of the famous Belgian Prince found relieving himself after being lost). There are tiles everywhere in these squares including benches.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Still Innocent - hardly any english
Disadvantages: The portuguese are not very friendly

...Monte Gordo - The Algarve. Ten years ago I chose the hotel Eurotel Altura in Altura/Tavira with the family. This year I took my one remaining teenager and husband back to the Eurotel, which had grown but hardly changed. From Monte Gorda it's a short bus ride or 'road train' to Villa Real de Santo Antonio, where you can hop on the ferry across to Spain. No problem with currency - they willingly take Escudos in Ayamante. This is a lovely border town where backpackers arrive to travel around Spain - they have recently revamped the two town squares - now they have 4 Mannequins pis (copies of the famous Belgian Prince found relieving himself after being lost). There are tiles everywhere in these squares including benches.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: A lively and exciting city
Disadvantages: Thieves all over the place

.... I've heard from my parents that Hotel Rosario is also an excellent if rather more expensive choice. Food My favourite places to eat in La Paz are: Pepe's coffee bar This is a lovely sunny little café just off Linares. It's one tiny room, four or five little tables, with an even smaller kitchen, and they don't do much apart from all-day breakfasts, but the breakfasts are great. Museli, granola, fruit salad, pancakes, toast, bacon and eggs, fruit juices, coffee and tea…For 25 bs ($3.30, £1.70) the fantastic 'trekking breakfast' includes almost all of these things and is for particularly greedy people like Karen and I, who had it twice. (Although, to be fair, we did go trekking in-between. All the weight we lost through walking was simply put back on in pancakes and scrambled eggs.) Alexander coffee Alexander coffee is a bit like... Read review

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Advantages: Cuba!
Disadvantages: Cuban admin & organisation (lack of).

...in the mists of disinterest ~ the drill is to disembark, ooh-aah appreciatively, photograph tree, re-board. We immediately begin to diffuse, seeking our own understanding of the land and its people. Most beguiling for many of us was the local woman using a baseball bat to thrash her washing on a rock, before hanging it to dry & bleach on the nearest bush. Those who had left laundry at hotel reception were beginning to wonder…and in a neat irony would spend most of that evening indulging in the Great Laundry Swap as they try to reunite shirts, socks and unmentionables with their rightful owners. (Lovely chap though Pete is, I’m not sure I’d want him on the open verandah outside my door enquiring “Are these your knickers?” !) Meanwhile back on the beach at the river mouth: for me it is the sea itself that is entrancing. The Atlantic. One... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful