Deals

Autumn is a great time to bike around the Irish countryside, especially when Sceptre Tours is offering an incredibly affordable package.  From September 1 through October 31st, a mere $599 fee gets you airfare from New York to Shannon (fares vary from other North American cities), a six night stay in a villa at Adare Manor, and your own rental car.  From Shannon, it’s an easy drive to Limerick, the Cliffs of Moher, and Blarney Castle.  Bikers have their choice of backcountry roads, seaside trails, or mountain biking in Ballyhoura. 
 

I’ve never seen so many summer deals pour in as they have in the past two weeks.  Regent Hotels & Resorts are offering a 20 percent savings on two- and three-night stays through December 31, 2009.  Such a discount is a first for this luxury brand. Stays must be booked by August 31, 2009.  From now until October 31, the sybaritic Anantara Phuket is offering four nights for the price of three with daily breakfast. Nightly rates start at $467 including service charge and tax.

Surprisingly, the best deal is in Nantucket, where this week the rooms at the Jared Coffin House are as low as $165 a night.  Bike trails on Nantucket spread out in every direction like spokes on a tire.  Head east from old Nantucket town (where the ferries arrive) on a straight ride through the moors and cranberry bogs.  You’ll soon arrive in the quaint town of Sconset, where rose-trellised cottages with names like “The Snuggery” and “Very Snug” line the small streets.  If a thriving college and family scene is more your pleasure, an easy 3-mile bike trail leads to crowded Surfside Beach.  Yet, for sheer romance, it’s hard to top a late afternoon pedal to Madaket Beach.

On the westernmost tip of Nantucket, Madaket’s beach has a narrow, wild feel to it as the white sand quickly drops down to the waters of the Atlantic.  Bring a backpack full of provisions, say fresh sushi from Yoshii (2 East Chestnut Street) and sinfully good truffles from the Nantucket Chocolatier (One Cambridge Street), plop yourself on the beach (preferably after 6 pm when most families have vanished), and get ready to savor the sunset. 

Rent bikes at Young’s Bicycle Shop, just off the ferry on Steamboat Wharf.
 

With lift tickets at most major ski areas closing in on $100 per person and slopeside condos an even greater cost (not to mention the price of equipment and clothing), skiing at well-known resorts has become a costly venture. Come summer, however, when the snow has long melted, replaced by wildflowers, these same ski areas are desperate to rent their accommodations. Over the past decade, they have built golf courses on the base of their mountains and have kept lifts running year-round to entice the summer hiker or mountain biker. Remarkably, even though these peaks stand in the Rockies and other majestic regions in America, summer tourism has remained a slow trickle. This has resulted in the ski areas offering incredibly good package deals that often include lodging, food, and activities. Try these seven ski areas for starters: Stowe, Sugarloaf, Keystone, Crested Butte, Park City, Big Sky, and Whistler. 
 

Now and then I get deals that come across my desk that are so good I want to book it immediately. This one comes from one of my favorite places to stay in New England, The Old Tavern in Grafton, Vermont. Book one night at $175 a night per room and get the second night free, including breakfast both days. For less than ninety bucks a night, you can be staying at one of the most majestic spots in the whole state! Or you can stay two nights and get two free nights, three nights and get the next three nights free. You must book by this Friday, August 7th, and travel August 17 through September 13th. Once there, you can bike, canoe, hike, and eat Grafton cheese to your heart's content.

Never been to Grafton?  Amble along Main Street past the Country Store, where I once spotted a sign posted outside asking if anyone’s seen a missing horse, and you swear you just stepped into a Currier and Ives painting. To the right is the red brick town hall, circa 1816, now home to the post office. Further up the road, past the white clapboard houses spewing smoke from their chimneys is the almost obligatory steeple. Across the street is the Old Tavern, opened in 1801, and once the stagecoach stop on the ride from Boston to Montreal. Ulysses S. Grant spent a night here while campaigning for his presidency and Rudyard Kipling liked the locale so much he honeymooned at the hotel in 1892.

For more information on Grafton, see the story I wrote for The Boston Globe.
 

This is the last week to book Club Med’s “$99 WOW Deals.” For as little as $99 per person, all-inclusive, you can be staying at one of Club Med’s family resorts in Florida, Cancun, Ixtapa, Punta Cana, Guadeloupe and Martinique. And kids get another 50% off the adult rate of $99! Travel does not include airfare and must be booked by 8/31/09 for travel until 4/24/10. So if you’re already thinking of a family trip in winter, this is a good place to start.

Want to get genuinely excited for Ken Burns’ six-part National Parks documentary on PBS? Then head to Grand Teton National Park before “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” starts airing on September 27th. Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park is offering a special $145 a night Elk Lovers Excursion package from September 4 through September 27, 2009. This is a discount of 35% off their usual rate. It’s a terrific time to hike through the foliage, savor the scenery of the jagged peaks, and listen to the elks bugle during rutting season. The bull elk’s bugle starts as a low whistling sound that builds and culminates into the high-pitched sound of a flute. This lets other elk know that the bull has staked claim to his territory and harem. Let it blow, baby!
 

If you’re looking for a decent rate on hotel rooms around the world, check out LastMinuteTravel.com. To the right of the home page is their new “Star Bar” program, where depending on whether you’re looking for a 5-star, 4-star, or 3-star hotel, they have budget prices for lodging in Europe, Asia, and America, all under $100 a night. The one downside is that they won’t tell you the exact name of the hotel, just the location. But they have contracts with Intercontinental, Hyatt, Hilton, and the Trump Collection, so it could be a great deal.
 

It’s never too early to think about an upcoming trip to the Caribbean this winter, especially with temperatures expected to top out in the 40s this weekend in Boston. Consider, for example the “Voyage to the Volcano” package offered on the isle of Montserrat. During the six day/five night package, you’ll take a boat tour along the Leeward Coast of the island culminating in spectacular views of the Soufriere Hills volcano, go kayaking and snorkeling at secluded black sand beaches, take a private tour that stops at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory and AIR Studios where music greats such as the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Paul McCartney once recorded, take a trek with a local guide through one of Montserrat’s numerous hiking trails to view the lush forest and search for the Montserrat Oriole, the island’s national bird, and have dinner at Olveston House, the private home turned guest house of Beatle’s producer Sir George Martin. The $885 per person price includes lodging at a private villa, rental car, some meals, and activities. Visit Dive Montserrat for more information.
 

Three hours north of Boston sits one of the legendary New England properties, The Mountain View Grand. One of three remaining grand hotels in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the 1865 Colonial Revival resort recently underwent a $20 million restoration after being abandoned for most of the 90s. Located in Whitefield, just north of Franconia Notch, this immense resort has been restored to its original state and, in winter, features a free shuttle to nearby Cannon Mountain for downhill skiing, cross-country skiing under the tall pine and spruce, a large outdoor ice rink, sledding, an indoor pool and whirlpool, and a full-service European spa to rest that weary body after a day of play. I just received word that they are offering a rate of $179 per night over February Vacation Week. It’s a pretty good deal for a night at this historic property.
 

Last week, I took the family to Miami Beach and Marco Island for Presidents Week vacation. Flying into Fort Lauderdale Airport, rental car prices were averaging a ridiculous $750 a week for a mid-sized vehicle. But if you picked up that same car down the road from my hotel in Miami Beach, the price was significantly reduced to a more affordable $300 a week. With a cost of taxi from Fort Lauderdale Airport to Miami Beach being a mere $35, I saved myself over $400 simply by not booking the rental car at the airport. It seems that rental car companies are intentionally jacking the prices at airports, assuming that travelers don’t want to hassle with picking up the car at a downtown location. But if you do the search like I did on the Dollar website, you’ll be happy with the savings of dollars!
 

Last December, I wrote about staying at the Hotel @ Times Square, a new hotel that just opened up in Midtown Manhattan, on 46th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. Since the place was spanking new, the beds were comfortable, the baths had large shower heads, and the room was equipped with Wi-Fi, Ipod docking station, and flat screen television. Included in the $150 a night price was a free continental breakfast of bagels, donuts, hot and cold cereal, coffee and juice. Word spreads quickly, because the hotel was already packed with European families when I arrived. New this month in Midtown Manhattan is the Distrikt Hotel, 155-room property located on West 40th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues. Through April, the Distrikt is offering an introductory rate of $159 a night. Each floor of the hotel is decorated in the style of New York’s many neighborhoods, from “SoHo” on the 12th floor to “Chelsea” on the 20th floor. The hotel is also home to Collage restaurant, celebrating New York foodie favorites paired with local microbrews.
 

Staycations, the stay close to home trend of last year continues into this summer as travelers are still trying to save money in this wretched economy. The Fairmont Battery Wharf is doing its part, offering a 10% discount on the best available rate, plus a free upgrade to all New Englanders. Open a little over a year ago, the hotel is located on Battery Wharf, once owned in its entirety by Paul Revere’s son. The 150-room property has good views of Boston Harbor and the Coast Guard carrier on the neighboring dock. It’s a great locale for families, within easy walking distance to the New England Aquarium, Quincy Market, the Freedom Trail, and the Italian restaurants of the North End.
 

The Kingdom Trails, which I’ve often praised as my favorite mountain biking spot in the Northeast, just reopened this past weekend. This has prompted the owners of the Wildflower Inn (another one of my top New England picks), which borders the Kingdom Trails, to offer a Pedal and Paddle Package. For as low as $375 for two people, you receive two nights lodging, full country breakfast each morning, picnic lunch, trail pass for the Kingdom Trails, a $25 voucher good for their restaurant, Juniper’s, and a half-day canoe rental on the Clyde River, part of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. Deep tissue massages, perfect after a day of riding hard, are just down the road at Stepping Stone Spa.
 

Before you book your next jaunt, check out the savings on my friend, Susan Farewell’s website, FarewellTravels. You can save $500 on sea kayaking jaunts to Baja, $800 off the cost of a sailing trip along the spectacular Dalmatian Coast in Croatia, starting in Dubrovnik, and discounts at inns and resorts in northern Vermont, Maine, and the Greek Islands. Just trying to save you a few bucks!
 

America’s natural wonders were chosen to be national parks to preserve their indigenous state. Yet, if you venture to places like Yellowstone in the summer, “forever wild” seems more like “forever congested.” Come winter, these same parks are virtually uninhabited, almost returning to their original state. Who wouldn’t relish the opportunity to cross-country ski or snowshoe with more bison and elk than homo sapiens? Now Yellowstone National Park Lodges has made it even more attractive, reducing their price at the lodge to $109 per person for a two-night stay. Rates include two breakfasts, a one-hour hot tub rental, unlimited ice skating and skate rentals, in-park transportation, and guided tours. Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel makes a great base to look for wolves in Lamar Valley or explore the wondrous travertine terraces just outside the front door of the lodging. Call 866-439-7375 and ask for the "Frosty Fun at Mammoth" package. The rates on the website were incorrect when I last checked.