A year before Sochi Olympics

31 January 2013 – 7:54am

By Vestnik Kavkaza

One year is left before the Olympic Games in Sochi. According to Anatoly Pakhomov, Mayor of the city, all the sports and Olympic facilities and infrastructure have been built already.

By the 2000′s in Sochi a lot of long-standing problems had accumulated. There were environmental issues, especially landfill, which had to be rehabilitated and cleaned, the storage and disposal of waste in the city. Next was the issue of traffic jams, because a road that was built under Stalin remained the same  – now three roads parallel to the old system are being built. A railway has been built. There also were energy problems – two CHPs were built – in Sochi, and it generates 160 MW, and in Adler, which generates 360 MW. However, according to Pakhomov, not all the problems are solved: “There is a need to build another CHP – the money is allocated, the tenders have been held, and now we are working on massive reconstruction of the power grid in the city. There are generation capacities, and the high-voltage line through which electricity is supplied to the city is new and modern. But the distribution network of high-voltage lines and substations is cable groups, which were laid in the 1960s. They, of course, are obsolete and should be changed. We have to change 800 km of cable groups. This means that, if two cables are laid, you have to dig up 400 km, put a new cable and replace 413 transformers. This is a tremendous amount of work, of course, but this is a guaranteed power supply that has never existed in Sochi.”

Remembering the history of the resort, Pakhomov complains: “A resort was created for workers under Stalin. Spa resorts and Stalinist architecture appeared, and today it is the decoration of the city. But it was built on a swamp. A magnificent resort was created, but what’s next? Appearance of the city – there is the magnificent nature, the beauty, the only subtropical region in Russia, the main Russian resort. But the appearance could always be better… The city has a program on restoring the architectural appearance of private houses. Let’s just say there are 7000 houses, which, in our view, should be renovated; there should be the top of the roof of the color of wood, I once mentioned red roofs and was criticized by everyone for it 4 years ago, when they said: “The mayor of Sochi has a problem – he settled on the 16th floor and saw that the roofs are ugly, because he decided that they should all be of the same color” Today, if you fly to Sochi, you will see that we have approached European standards. But we still have half of these private houses to be put in order this year. This is the renovation, as I said, of facades, roofs, yards and fences.

We provide 1 billion in the city budget for the improvement of the city, for pedestrian zones and green zones. 2 billion rubles is to put in order and repair the entire road network. This is a large amount of money, but it should be done, because there was massive construction, and more than 7,000 units of construction vehicles, of course, damaged the roads.”

Pakhomov thinks that the Olympics is a mega-project, which is the property of the whole of Russia: “In fact, this project is supervised personally by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. Naturally, the work on this project is implemented by all ministries, all government departments, and by the city and the region. This is our victory. It is our competitive international resort number one, the one that we wanted. The city of Sochi – it’s not a city of Sochi’s residents. This is a city of all Russians. This is our city, because all the Russian people created it – both for themselves and for those guests who will come to us and, in general, understand that Russia also has such resorts.”

Cranwell Resort Extends Popular Serenity Sundays Through Spring

The Spa at a Cranwell features a glass-enclosed pool

“A must visit if in the Berkshires…This is the perfect place for a getaway. My daughter and I have enjoyed coming to Cranwell for our getaways for the past few years…” — Trip Advisor Reviews

(PRWEB) January 29, 2013

Cranwell Resort, Spa and Golf Club, in the heart of the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts, announced that they have extended the top-selling Serenity Sunday special through the end of April. Guests seeking a relaxing spa experience will pay only $159 per room on select Sunday nights, plus they receive 20% off spa treatments. Spa-goers will also have complimentary spa use including the glass-enclosed heated indoor pool, whirlpools, saunas, steam rooms and fitness center. A choice of over 50 spa treatments is available and there is a variety of fitness class offerings from yoga and aqua classes to spinning and Zumba® (additional fees for classes).

About Cranwell Resort, Spa Golf Club

Cranwell is located just over two hours from New York City and Boston in the historic New England village of Lenox, Massachusetts. This award winning resort features 114 distinctive guest rooms and suites, an 18-hole Championship golf course set on 380 hilltop acres, and is home to one of the largest resort Spas in the Northeast. With three restaurants and spacious banquet rooms, Cranwell also hosts numerous year-round conferences, weddings and social events.

Cranwell Resort received the Condé Nast Traveler: 2011 Readers’ Choice Award and is listed in Zagat’s “Top U.S. Hotels, Resorts Spas”. Additional recognitions include SpaFinder Readers’ Choice Award for one of “Best Spa Resorts for Golf” and the Wine Spectator Magazine Award for Excellence.

Cranwell is a partner with Stash Hotel Rewards®, an innovative hotel rewards program that enables travelers to quickly earn free nights at distinctive, independent hotels without blackouts or expiration date restrictions. The resort is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World™ brand and is also a long time member of Historic Hotels of America, which preserves the authenticity of over 200 of America’s most prominent historic hotels and inns.

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Say ‘I do’ to high tea with wedding planning

It’s time to plan that glorious, wonderful wedding with the Best of the Best. High Tea at The Ritz-Carlton of St. Louis is from noon to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24.

Reservations are advised because seating is limited in the elegant surroundings. Once they are made, it is on your calendar, too, to spend quality time with the region’s bset bridal providers. The event is sponsored by St. Louis’ Best Bridal.

Brides and their guests will visit select purveyors of wedding and reception sites, boutique fashions and tuxedos, luxurious flowers, luminous lighting, toe-tapping and romantic music and other exciting details that reliably provide the setting and capture the essence of their special event, while the bride, groom and parents enjoy that special day as they envision. The best outcome follows reliable planning with specialists who connect with the special couple and their unique vision.

Seating for everyone is at tables in the Grand Ballroom for The Ritz’s gracious serving of tea with petits fours, tea breads, miniature sandwiches and fruit tartlets. Then it’s time to watch the runway show with gowns brought from New York.

Brides-to-be can continue to visit with providers and also relax in the aura of the stylishly decorated runway. Tables prepared by local florists provide ideas for four seasons of delightful and unique bridal details.

Brides receive a swag bag and chance to win – thinking honeymoon or getaway, anyone? – a 3-night/4-day Funjet vacation to Mexico courtesy of Travel Haus of St. Louis, Funjet Vacations and El Dorado Spa Resorts.

As the afternoon draws to a close, each bride-to-be receives her swag bag with the Best of the Best magazine, just off the press in time for the tea. Exclusively part of the St. Louis’ Best Bridal program, it is only available at the tea and other bridal shows throughout the year or by joining the program at www.stlouisbestbridal.com.

Reservations can be made by calling 314-475-1202. Admission for the show is $35 for two.

A serious health kick

©Adrian Houston

A suite at Verdura, with private terrace and pool

It is 6.30 on a freezing London morning, and I am standing in my pyjamas, spitting into a plastic test tube. It is one of four I have to fill, part of a medical kit whose contents (which also include multiple drops of my blood, distributed inexpertly across labelled cards) will be shipped to a lab and analysed for hormonal, glycemic, and nutritional imbalances, in preparation for a detoxification programme a few weeks hence at Vita Health, a new wellness centre at Rocco Forte’s sleek Sicilian resort Verdura.

It’s no small task, generating a vial’s worth of saliva before dawn, but I console myself with the thought that the Sicilian surroundings will go a long way towards mitigating the mild discomfort of this expectorating ritual. Opened in late 2009, Verdura is arguably the finest resort on the island. Designed in the low-slung local vernacular by Italian architect Flavio Albanese, it has elegantly austere suites (linen-canopied beds, honey-toned concrete floors, potted lemon trees in the private courtyards), a long white sand beach, an 18-hole golf course designed by Kyle Phillips, and a 44,000 sq ft spa with hydrotherapy pools, hammam and beauty centre. Vita Health, which launched in November, adds a serious wellness component to the luxury already on offer, with programmes that deploy clinical diagnostics, nutritional consultation, and advanced electromagnetic therapies.

It is also testament to the paradigm shift at the top end of the spa industry over the past few years – one that has seen conventional regimens of massages, facials, and low-calorie meals complemented (and in some cases replaced) by medical analysis and treatment, cutting-edge light and laser technology, hormone and intravenous infusion therapies, and surgical procedures. Recently launched “medi-spas” include SHA Wellness in Alicante, Longevity in the Algarve, and ESPA Life (within the Corinthia Hotel in London, Gleneagles in Scotland and, as of later this year, at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore). Last year Bad Ragaz, the Swiss spa resort, began offering plastic surgery at its Medical Health Centre, where other procedures include osteopathy, fertility treatments, and teeth whitening. Treatments once only available to those prepared to be sequestered in a private clinic are now becoming available at spa resorts that also offer restaurants, activities and entertainment for partners and families too.

©Andrea Pacella

Dr Nyjon Eccles, medical director at Vita Health

Dr Nyjon Eccles, Vita Health’s medical director, also runs the Chiron Clinic in London’s Harley Street and several days before I left for Sicily we met to go over my test results and responses to a 13-page questionnaire (for clients not based in the UK, he conducts pre-arrival consultations by phone or on Skype). After discussing my results, Eccles suggested supplements I should begin taking before departure. Meanwhile, Vita Health, with my diagnoses in hand, had started to customise my stay.

More tests on arrival included body composition analysis, an arterial stiffness test and 3D heart mapping, to reveal any electrical imbalance or inflammation.

Vita Health specialises in non-invasive therapies: no facial needles, no Epsom-salt purging, no intravenous ozone therapy, no colonics. Instead, the doctors favour electromagnetic and light technologies. Supplements are prescribed individually as are courses and intensities of treatments: I was prescribed 25-minute daily sessions in the far infrared sauna (which purportedly accelerates detoxification), as well as advanced pulse light therapy, which replaces conventional manual lymphatic drainage massage. Pulses were positioned over lymph nodes at my collarbone and groin, and I was left to doze for half an hour while toxins were circulated and expelled.

Anti-ageing treatments similarly spurn injections, facial lasers or fillers. Rather than traditional mesotherapy, which entails dozens of hypodermic injections, and can result in at least a couple of red-faced days, Vita Health offers mesoporation, which uses a combination of opposing electrical charges and pH balance manipulation to open facial pores and to introduce hyaluronic acid, collagen and vitamins into the lowest layer of the epidermis, triggering cell regeneration. It proved painless, the results were instantly visible and improved over the course of a few days.

Polarity massages – which employ homeopathy and electric currents to target individual “sluggish” organs for specific attention – were also factored in to my programme daily. Classes in the fitness centre are voluntary, ranging from Pilates and stretching to aqua-fitness in the Olympic pool (the only somewhat lacklustre element of the programme, though my experience of them was admittedly limited).

Perhaps most unexpectedly, I was prescribed an electromagnetic amulet, fastened into my underwear, to be worn 24 hours a day during my stay. Eccles cites studies attesting its efficacy in reducing stress and premenstrual and menopausal discomfort, and helping to stabilise sleep patterns.

It is on the nutrition front, though, that Vita Health has a real ace up its sleeve, in the form of executive chef Fulvio Pierangelini. His restaurant in the Tuscan Maremma, Gambero Rosso, was a fixture on the world’s best lists for nearly a decade; he has been consulting chef for Rocco Forte Hotels since 2008.

“She told me what, I decided how,” was his gnomic response when asked about his working method with the London-based nutritionist Amelia Freer (she provides extensive lists of approved ingredients, and Pierangelini combines them as he sees fit, adhering only to proportion guidelines – 25 per cent protein, 50 per cent vegetables, and so on). Off the menu are wheat, red meat, dairy, sugar, salt and all fats except olive oil, as are caffeine and alcohol. He estimates about 85 per cent of the produce comes from Verdura’s organic kitchen gardens (the lemon in my daily hot water came from the tree in my suite’s courtyard). Dishes are as seasonal as possible; thus during my visit this month tomatoes did not feature prominently, but a pumpkin smoothie was delicious, and artichokes were in gratifyingly heavy rotation. There are three meals a day, portions are generous, and presentation is exquisite (one aspect unchanged from Pierangelini’s former life as a star-chef).

Vita Health’s other ace is Verdura itself. Far from requiring sequestration inside the spa (though if that’s the best way for guests to stay on the straight and narrow, it’s a gorgeous, light-saturated place to be), the programmes have been designed to work across the resort – and even across the island. When I inquired after a fellow detoxer absent at breakfast, I was told she had rearranged her therapies to go sightseeing in Palermo for a few hours. Pierangelini had packed her lunch, and the concierge had sent her off with a guide and picnic-spot recommendations. (I asked if my smoothies could, in theory, be delivered to me on the golf course; ma certo they could.) All the resort’s restaurants, except the pizzeria, are stocked and equipped to prepare Vita Health menus, so programme participants can dine where they like – which means couples can integrate their stay, even if one is doing Vita Health and the other is enjoying a generous regimen of pasta and steak washed down with Nero d’Avola.

It’s an integrated model that might not appeal to those seeking extreme, quick-fix, cures. For others, though, Vita Health may provide a kick-start to a health drive, with some useful lessons to take home and continue. I lost 1.6kg in three days, and still have notably improved sleep patterns three weeks on.

Details

Maria Shollenbarger stayed as a guest of Verdura Golf Spa Resort (www.verduraresort.com). Vita Health offers three-, five- and seven-day programmes from €1,200 (inclusive of food, treatments and unlimited use of spa facilities) in addition to room rates, which start at €265 per double

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The ‘evil sauna’

Where once spa visits revolved around heat – in saunas, steam rooms and solariums – there is now growing enthusiasm for treatments that involve getting very cold. Hotel spas from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas to the Dolder Grand in Zurich offer snow-filled rooms, while an Austrian company is marketing a real-snow shower. Benefits include boosting circulation and reducing inflammation, but a more extreme version is also on offer. Whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) involves stepping into a chamber cooled to minus 80C or below. The treatment has long been used in eastern Europe, and more recently by professional athletes (the Welsh rugby team dubbed it the “evil sauna”).

It is now becoming increasingly available to the public at venues including the Sparkling Hill resort in British Columbia, US Cryotherapy in Roseville, California, and Champneys spa in Hertfordshire, UK. CryoClinics in London report a surge of interest following Mo Farah’s use of WBC while training for the Olympics.

Fall in Love with San Diego’s Valentine Deals

With spectacular scenery, sun-drenched beaches, world-class restaurants and luxury resorts, San Diego calls to all lovebirds looking for a romantic getaway. This February, special Valentine’s Day offerings from San Diego hotels and resorts make it the perfect time to treat a special friend or loved one to a relaxing retreat or fun-filled adventure in Southern California’s love-drenched destination.

ROMANCE AND RELAXATION

From trendy downtown neighborhoods to stunning coastline settings, San Diego provides many romantic backdrops for fabulous packages designed to tempt lovers with a blissful Valentine’s retreat.

Sweethearts seeking a seaside retreat can head to the newly renovated Hotel La Jolla, in picturesque La Jolla Shores. The Ménage a Trois package offers deluxe accommodations, valet parking, rose petal turndown service, chocolate-covered strawberries, a bottle of wine and champagne, in-room movie, $10 mini-bar credit, a sultry Temptation Intimacy Kit and $20 credit for breakfast at the hotel’s Cusp Restaurant. The package is valid Feb. 1-28, 2013 with rates starting at $219 per night, plus tax. Book online at www.hotellajolla.com or call 800-941-1149.

Couples can fan the flames of love at the beachfront TOWER23 Hotel in Pacific Beach. The Between the Sheets package offers luxury accommodations, two glasses of rose champagne, breakfast in bed and a Kama Sutra intimacy kit. The package is valid Feb. 1-28, 2013 with rates starting at $295 per night, plus tax. Book online at www.t23hotel.com or call 858-270-2323.

Lovebirds seeking an intimate escape should head over to the historic Glorietta Bay Inn overlooking picturesque Glorietta Bay on Coronado Island. The Romance package offers two nights of accommodations in a historic mansion bedroom, chilled champagne upon arrival, daily continental breakfast, a $50 credit for dinner at Peohe’s or Chez Loma restaurants in Coronado and a Coronado historical walking tour. The package is valid Feb.1-28, 2013 with rates starting at $490, plus tax. Book online at www.gloriettabayinn.com or call 800-283-9383.

ADVENTURE AND ALLURE

Filled with fun and unique activities to enjoy with your beloved, San Diego’s exciting Valentine packages are sure to inspire unforgettable moments.

Sweethearts seeking an urban escape can retreat to THE US GRANT hotel in San Diego’s historic downtown. The Romancing the Epicurean package offers deluxe accommodations, two welcome cocktails, an edible “Artist’s Palate” of desserts and champagne delivered in-room, a $100 dinner credit to the Grant Grill and two tickets to the Chocolate exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. The package is valid Feb. 1-28, 2013 with rates starting at $375 per night, plus tax. Book online at www.usgrant.net or call 866-716-8136; use promotional code LPE.

Couples can be charmed by the Coronado Island Marriott Resort Spa on Coronado Island, surrounded by lush landscaping and lagoons and breathtaking views of San Diego Bay and the downtown skyline. The Coronado Island Romance package offers deluxe accommodations in a bay view room, champagne upon arrival, in-room breakfast, tennis and health club access and complimentary bike rentals for two. The package is valid Feb.1-28, 2013 with rates staring at $364 per night, plus tax. Book online at www.coronadoresortmarriott.com or call 800-228-9290.

Thrill-seeking couples should venture to the Hotel Parisi, nestled in the heart of the village of La Jolla. The Adventure package offers two nights of accommodations in a junior suite with a village view, daily European-style buffet breakfast, complimentary wireless internet and a 30-minute tandem parasailing flight over the Pacific Ocean with a certified instructor at the Torrey Pines Gliderport. The package is valid Feb. 1-28, 2013 with rates starting at $758, plus tax. Book online at www.hotelparisi.com or call 858-454-1511.

LAVISH AND LUSTFUL

Upscale Valentine packages are loaded with luxurious amenities and extras and offer romance and relaxation to lust over.

Lovebirds can retreat to the Paradise Point Resort Spa set on a 44-acre private island in Mission Bay. The Love Learn package offers waterfront bungalow-style accommodations, rose and chocolate turndown service, an 80-minute in-room Balinese couples massage, 25-minute couples massage instruction and an intimate couples cooking class. The package is valid Fridays-Sundays during Feb. 1-28, 2013 with rates starting at $947 per night, plus tax. Book online at www.paradisepoint.com or call 800-344-2626.

Couples can relax in the lap of luxury at the Hilton Carlsbad Oceanfront Resort Spa in Carlsbad in San Diego’s North County. The Valentine’s Dream package offers deluxe accommodations in an ocean view suite, early check-in and late check-out, a dozen long-stemmed roses, bottle of Dom Pérignon Champagne, rose petal turndown service, two luxurious bathrobes and champagne breakfast in bed. Guests can also enjoy roundtrip transportation from the airport, two spa treatments per person followed by lunch in the spa’s couples suite, a yoga lesson on the beach and a wine-pairing dinner with private sommelier at the resort’s Chandler’s Restaurant. The package is valid Feb.1-28, 2013 with rates starting at $2,000, plus tax. Book online at www.hiltoncarlsbadoceanfront.com or call 760-602-0800.

Sweethearts seeking the ultimate luxury getaway should head to the intimate 1906 Lodge at Coronado Beach in the heart of Coronado Island. The Coronado Fantasy Island Romance package offers two nights of accommodations in a spacious suite with a gas fireplace and oversized candle-lit spa tub, two dozen roses, champagne and chocolates, two luxurious spa robes, two crystal 1906 Lodge champagne glasses and in-room breakfast. Guests can also enjoy personal limousine transportation to and from the airport, a private candlelight dinner at the 1906 Lodge catered by Chez Loma French Bistro, a picnic lunch at Coronado Beach, a professional photo shoot with three-photo picture CD, sunset gondola ride with a musician on Coronado Bay and dinner in a private room at Coronado’s Primavera Italian Ristorante. The package is valid Feb.1-28, 2013 with rates starting at $4,500, plus tax. Book online at www.1906lodge.com or call 866-435-1906.

Happiness is calling in San Diego. For more information on San Diego’s offerings, including exciting vacation packages and valuable coupons for attractions, restaurants and more, visit the San Diego Tourism Authority’s website at www.sandiego.org or call 619-236-1212.

January 24, 2013
  Posted in: United States West

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50 towns in 50 days: Daylesford never fails to impress

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• Harvest Cafe’s Kim Dobson. PICTURE: ADAM TRAFFORD

• Daylesford’s famous lake. PICTURE: ADAM TRAFFORD

To watch the video on your iPhone, go to the videos tab.

DAYLESFORD is known around Victoria as a tourist town and scenic retreat and with world class food, hospitality and culture – it never fails to impress.

Home to some of Australia’s best day spas and guesthouses, the town is a significant driver of tourism for the Ballarat region.

Harvest Cafe staff member Kim Dobson said the town was busiest on weekends and public holidays but is a great place to live all year round.

“We get a lot of different types of people here in Daylesford with locals and visitors ranging from well established and fancy to alternative people and hippies,” she said.

“It is a great place to live because it suits so many people and has a lot to do.”

Dobson said visitors should sample the top quality restaurants and cafes, visit the bazaars and galleries and climb to the top of the Wombat Gardens tower for a panoramic view.

“We get a lot of visitors who come for the spas or galleries and end up enjoying the whole town and its eccentric lifestyle,” she said.

“There is a bit of a stereotype of what kind of people come here but in reality the town is welcoming of all kinds.”

She said like many restaurants and hotels in Daylesford, Harvest Cafe sold good local produce, with homemade and organic menu options.

The basics

Municipality: Hepburn Shire

Population: 2565

First settled: 1852

Main Industries: Tourism, hospitality, retail  

Claim to fame: Home to regional Australia’s largest gay and lesbian event, the ChillOut Festival

Five fast facts

1. In 1855 Victoria’s Governor Hotham changed the area’s name from Wombat to Daylesford after a small village in Worcester, England

2. There are more than 60 mineral springs in the Daylesford area.  

3. Many of Daylesford’s most historic buildings – The Royal Hotel, the Commercial Hotel, the Belvedere, and other buildings in Vincent Street – attest to its boom period, which was brought to a halt by the First World War

4. The Convent Gallery is housed in the former Holy Cross Convent, bought by the Catholic Church in the 1880s.

5. Daylesford’s spa resorts declined in the 1930s, but have become a drawcard for domestic and international tourism since the redevelopment in the 1970s.

Five things to do

1. Watch Daylesford play in the Central Highland Football League at Victoria Park

2. Join the Lavandula’s Lavender Harvest Festival in mid-January or Autumn Harvest Festival in early May.

3. Enjoy regional dining at its best at the Lake House restaurant

4. Pick up a bargain at the Daylesford Mill Market on Central Spring Road

5. Have a coffee and enjoy the beautiful scenery at the Daylesford lake precinct

Bulgaria Lures Tourists to Ski Resorts with Low Prices

Bulgaria continues to draw tourists to its winter resorts using low prices as a key element. Hotels offer a range of cut-price deals in order to be attractive in this time of the year.

It seems that there aren’t as many visitors as hoteliers would want so they hope that they will get tourists’ interest by providing a 10-15% discount on their prices. With this measure, hotels in Bulgaria’s winter resorts hope to draw tourists from Serbia, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey.

Pamporovo resort view of Bulgaria’s wonderous mountains – courtesy fintbo

“Bulgaria’s winter and spa resorts were fully packed during the holiday season thanks to the nice weather and attractive price-quality ratio. In January however Bulgarians prefer to stay home and focus on their job,” said Blagoy Ragin, the head of the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association.

Hotels have already created offers which include various promotions like discounts for accommodation during working days or even free recreational activities, such as massages and spa treatments.

Bulgaria is known in the region as a destination which offers low prices for both the winter season and the summer one. As the country has just revealed its new branding campaign, Bulgaria continues to focus on its key strong points, while trying to get more famous in the Eastern Europe region as well as worldwide. Affordable offers can definitely attract tourists, and in order to lead to success and become a better known destination, the country and its resorts have to provide excellent services which will make people come back and recommend the country to their friends and family.

Hotels at Bulgaria Ski Resorts Wage Cut-Price War

The fight for tourists has reached fever pitch in Bulgaria‘s winter resorts, where hotels are offering a range of cut-price deals to lure visitors.

Hotels in Bulgaria‘s ski resorts hope to attract more tourists from Serbia, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey in January with a 10-15% discount on its prices in a bid to make up for the outflow of Bulgarian visitors.

“Bulgaria‘s winter and spa resorts were fully packed during the holiday season thanks to the nice weather and attractive price-quality ratio. In January however Bulgarians prefer to stay home and focus on their job,” the head of the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association Blagoy Ragin commented.

Bulgarian hotels have already mounted their own price-cutting campaigns, which include discounts for accommodation during working days, as well as free of charge massage and spa procedures.

BG Winter Resorts Offer Extras on the House

(Sofia, Jan 21) – Hotel-keepers in the Bulgarian winter resorts vie to attract as many guests as possible during the winter season offering various bonuses and promotions. During the winter vacations all ski and spa resorts were bursting at the seams thanks to mild weather and affordable prices, explained chair of the Bulgarian Hotel- and Restaurant-keepers Association Blagoi Ragin.

Traditionally there is ebb of Bulgarian tourists in the winter resorts at the beginning of January. Currently hotel-keepers count on guests from the neighboring countries – Serbia, Macedonia Greece and the regular customers from Russia and Great Britain. In a competition for the Bulgarian tourists hotels offer “on the house” all kinds of discounts and extras, e.g. wellness programs, free accommodation for children, guided sightseeing tours, features of local customs, etc.

Natalia Malcheva
MG        

Make 2013 The Year For Romance

17 Jan, 2013 11:10 CET

At Vilu Reef and Olhuveli Beach Spa Resorts 

Whether it’s time to pop the question, celebrate a big birthday or simply declare unconditional love to that someone special, make 2013 the year to remember and do it in style. Revel in romance and whisk the other half off with Sun Hotels Resorts to the Maldives where even the coolest of characters will be swept up in all things hearts and love. 

For an unforgettable proposal, Vilu Reef Beach Spa Resort is the ultimate romantic destination. Sprawled across the entire expanse of Meedhuffushi Island in the South Nilandhe Atoll, this luxury four-star resort is the perfect backdrop for getting down on one knee. What’s more, the attentive staff at Vilu Reef are connoisseurs at adding personal touches to help create an everlasting memory. Let the resort organise a jet-ski experience followed by dinner on a secluded beach and ask for her hand as the sun sets over the lagoon, or take a sunset dolphin cruise and enjoy these fascinating creatures play in the Indian Ocean before proposing in front of the glowing horizon.

Olhuveli Beach Spa Resort is another romantic island retreat, with stunning beaches and abundant sandbanks, its own house reef and the new Sand Horizon destination dining experience. With seats dug into the sand for a magical dinner on the beach and ambient candles and lanterns surrounding the table, it’s guaranteed to be a memorable proposal under the Maldivian moonlit sky.

Or for the more extravagant, Olhuveli can organise for a loved one to be whisked off on a 30 minute speedboat, taking in breathtaking scenery before arriving on the sandy shores in style, just in time to be wined and dined at an intimate beach set up. Alternatively, take to the skies in the comfort of a private seaplane and tour the island from above before landing to ask the all-important question looking out to sea.

For those seeking a holiday-of-a-lifetime to celebrate a milestone birthday, there are plenty of romantic options that will make the day special. Wine lovers will enjoy being treated to an exceptional meal at Olhuveli’s Four Spices restaurant. Perfect for big occasions, this over-water pavilion offers a Wine Pairing menu with five-courses, each one complemented by an expertly chosen wine to maximise flavour and get the taste buds tingling.

Finally, old romantics looking for the ultimate way to say those three special words will be spoilt for the choice by the resorts’ indulgent spa and pampering experiences. Both destinations boast tranquil Sun Spas which offer carefully designed treatments to make guests feel special and cared for. With a range of packages including ‘Chocolate Delight’ for couples or a nourishing aromatherapy massage for her, there are endless ways to make them feel loved. Prices for couples’ treatments start from US$270, while massages start from US$60.

Travelbag (0871 703 4240 / www.travelbag.co.uk) offers seven nights at Vilu Reef Beach Spa Resort from just £999 per person and Olhuveli Beach Spa Resort from £1,059 per person. Book by 20 February for selected departures in June, the price includes return flights from London with Etihad, accommodation on a half-board basis, transfers, taxes and surcharges.