Location: France
What's Cool: Taking an au naturel sculpture class
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Travelers looking for an authentic nude beach experience should go to Centre Hélio Montalivet, the birthplace of the international naturist movement. Established in 1950, this nude beach resort on France's Atlantic Coast provides a safe and legal wilderness setting for nudists and their families. Within the complex are more than 1,800 camp sites, 172 bungalows, shops and facilities for art classes, yoga, soccer and more. No other nude beach or camp on earth rivals Mont...
On this Indonesian island, the hills are alive with the music of gamelan - By Mary Roach
The telephone directory for Pengosekan, Bali, is short but confusing. Of 200 listings, almost all contain a Dewa, the name of the person I'm looking for. Dewa is a much used Balinese caste name, and while not everyone chooses to be called by their caste name, that's still a lot of Dewas.
"Better you just go there," says a waiter at my hotel, in the neighboring town of Ubud. I mention that the Dewa I am seeking is a gamelan musician.
"Walk down the street and listen," says the waiter. "You are sure to find him."
The advice is astute: Bali is an island best navigated by the s...
Sunday is the perfect day to go to the beach in Tonga – if you're a visitor; an islander found swimming on the Sabbath is subject to a fine. Yes, they do take their religion seriously in the "Friendly Isles."
Tonga, like its neighbor to the west, Fiji, is not just one island, but an entire archipelago of far-flung isles. In Tonga's case, the islands number about 170 (only about 45 are inhabited), geographically divided into four distinct groups. Tongatapu, with the capital of Nuku'alofa, is the hub of this island chain in western Polynesia. Two of every three Tongans live here ...
If you adjust the dollars for inflation, John D. Rockefeller was twice as wealthy as Bill Gates (at the height of the tech boom). So, in the late 1800s, when Rockefeller and a few of his wealthy playmates (Astor, Gould, Morgan among them) settled on Jekyll Island as a winter getaway, they formed what has been called the richest, most exclusive club in the world. How rich? It’s been estimated that the membership of Jekyll Island Club once represented one-sixth of the world’s wealth.
The clubhouse and many of the mansion-sized “cottages” they built still stand today, but the once-private bar...
It's never been all that easy to get to Hiva Oa – and that was part of the attraction for the likes of Paul Gauguin (who came here to escape the "Western influences" in the Tahiti of 1901), and Thor Heyerdahl (who, a decade before sailing Kon Tiki across the Pacific, came here with his young bride to live the "simple life. " And some things haven't changed – particularly the drop-dead natural beauty of the Marquesas Islands.
The most northern island group in French Polynesia, (nearly a thousand miles from Tahiti), the Marquesas are rugged volcanic islands: There is no barrier reef ...
The Juan Fernandez Islands were used as the basis for Robinson Crusoe –Daniel Defoe’s classic novel. However, tourism has never really taken off here, despite the fact that it is much closer to the mainland than Easter Island.
Named after the Portuguese sailor who found it in the 16th-century, the volcanic islands are valued most for their remoteness, by those who really want to get off the tourist track. Access is via a bumpy two to two and a half hour flight on a light aircraft, and only a determined couple hundred tourists make it here each year - an average of one or two per day....
No, Charles Darwin didn't discover the Galapagos Islands – it just seems that way. Although that most famous of scientists only spent five weeks here, he managed to see enough to keep him thinking for a half-century. And if you don't have at least a passing acquaintance with Darwin and his voyage aboard the HMS Beagle, this archipelago probably isn't your cup of tea. On the other hand, if natural history is your personal connection to the world around you, by all means set sail for this volcanic cluster off the coast of Equador.
Today, many tourists visiting this "living laborat...
Isla Margarita is a Caribbean island no one knows about – except Venezuelans, for whom this semi-desert island has long been a favorite getaway. Located just 25 miles off the South American coast and roughly halfway between Trinidad and Bonaire, Isla Margarita is anything but an undeveloped, back-of-beyond backwater – not with casinos, five-star hotels, a championship golf course, and a disco-rich nightlife in the main city, Porlamar.
The resort-rich eastern part of the island has been called "Cancun South," but even that popular Mexican getaway must envy Margarita’s amazing collection of ...
The Island of Capri lies to the South of the Bay of Naples between the parallels 40°30'40" and 40°16'48" North and the meridians l4°11'54" and 14°16'19" East of Greenwich. The island has a perimetre e of approximately 17 Km and a total area of about 1..036 hectares, it is 6,7 Km long and its width varies between 2,7 Km and 1,2 Km. Map of the Island The highest point is Mount Solaro - 589 metres. There are two towns: Capri and Anacapri. About 8000 people live in Capri and 7000 in Anacapri. The town of Capri is located on the eastern side of the island, Marina Grande - the port -...
Ko Phangan - Overview
Easily visible from Ko Samui and about two-thirds its size, Ko Phangan has beautiful beaches and inexpensive, basic bungalows. It's the simple beach life which attracts many tourists each year, and the island's reputation for full moon parties and hedonistic culture. During the 90's Phangan became popular with backpackers, budget tourists and aging hippies seeking paradise complete with cheap accommodation, New Age therapies and good cheap food. The Full Moon party scene still exists but the original word-of-mouth happening with only a few hundred partici...