THE BASICS

Skip to next paragraphBudapest Travel GuideWhere to StayWhere to EatWhat to DoGo to the Budapest Travel Guide »Readers’ Opinions Have you stayed at New York Palace Budapest? Write a Review

Gazing at the grand facade of the New York Palace Budapest, with its Italianate spires and carved figures, you might be forgiven for thinking the 107-room hotel was once actually a palace. In fact, it once housed insurance offices, which is not to say it was never glamorous. When it opened in 1894, it was home to a coffeehouse reputed to be В“the most beautiful cafe in the worldВ” and a renowned literary center. Fast-forward a century or so, and the building was a sorry sight, done in by war and Communism. But last May, after a five-year $105 million restoration effort В— overseen by Maurizio Papiri, Adam Tihany and the lighting designer Ingo Maurer В— Boscolo, a small Italian hotel chain, reopened the В“palaceВ” as BudapestВ’s latest luxury lodgings: a clear attempt at unseating the five-star monarch, the Four Seasons Gresham Palace.

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FREDERICKSBURG, Tex., is В— no doubt about it В— a tourist town. For proof, just drive down Main Street, a wide boulevard lined with wood and stone houses from the 1800s, back when German immigrants first settled this part of the Hill Country west of Austin. Gothic lettering screams from shop signs, German flags dangle next to Texas ones, and thereВ’s even a Marktplatz, where during Oktoberfest you can listen to oompah music till your ears bleed. (This takes, on average, about seven minutes.)

Skip to next paragraphAmerican Road Trip

See the Frugal Traveler’s columns and videos from cross-country road trip, and follow his route on an interactive map.

Tell Matt Where to Go in New MexicoRelatedThe Frugal Traveler Answers ReadersВ’ Questions (July 10, 2007) Frugal Traveler | American Road Trip: Matt Gross Answers Frequently Asked Questions (June 26, 2007) Enlarge This Image Read the rest of this entry »

AS the van cruised north into the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, wisps of clouds clung to the mountaintops and the temperature hovered in the 60s. My friend Tia and I were speeding north toward the starting point of a trip on Le PВ’tit Train du Nord. We planned to cover 124 miles in three days В— under our own power, riding bicycles, not rail cars. The name is a charming relic: the roadbed of the railway (first called В“the little Northern trainВ” by 19th-century passengers) that once took tourists north from Montreal into the mountains is now a recreational trail used by half a million hikers and cyclists every year.

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EVER watch someone entering a garden? Not for nothing is Eden synonymous with bliss. A garden can deliver pleasure on any level of sophistication В— from simple delight in color and scent to the thrill of a horticulturist seeing a new variety for the first time. Joy is the common denominator.

Skip to next paragraphHudson Valley Travel GuideGo to the Hudson Valley Travel Guide В»MultimediaMapHudson Valley, N.Y.Slide ShowIn Bloom Along the Hudson River

In the Hudson Valley В— prime territory for lush gardens В— five that are open to the public showed a variety of personalities on visits this season. At one, a young man in khaki shorts sat sketching formal plantings while a young mother and her toddler son frolicked near multicolored blooming borders and a woman strolled blissfully among fragrant bushes. At another, schoolchildren listened to a guide talk about the scenery.

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DRIVING along the fingerlike peninsulas of Grand Traverse Bay, itВ’s easy to see why this part of Michigan calls itself the cherry capital. In spring, dense orchards explode in creamy blossoms, their pink hues like Impressionist smudges against the brilliant blue of Lake Michigan; come JulyВ’s harvest time, the branches are thick with ruby fruit.

Skip to next paragraphMichigan Travel GuideGo to the Michigan Travel Guide В»MultimediaMapGrand Traverse Bay, MichiganEnlarge This ImageGary Howe for The New York Times

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Skip to next paragraphChile Travel GuideGo to the Chile Travel Guide В»MultimediaMapPucГіn, ChileEnlarge This ImageVictor Ruiz Caballero for The New York Times

Tourists and boats at the city’s pier.

PATAGONIA gets all the attention and renown, but the lake district just to its north has always been one of Chile’s most beautiful regions. In recent years, the area has also become increasingly accessible, as Chile’s fast-growing economy has transformed the once-sleepy and staid resort town of PucГіn, at the east end of Lago Villarrica, into an Andean version of Aspen.

In the language of the Mapuche-Pehuenche Indians who dominated the region before the first European settlers arrived in 1883, PucГіn means В“entrance to the mountains.В” With all the hotels, condos and restaurants going up around town, PucГіn now plays its traditional role in more luxurious fashion, serving as a gateway both to the lake district that stretches southward for 150 miles to Puerto Montt and to the snow-capped volcanoes that form a magnificent backdrop to those expanses of water and forest.

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IT was lunchtime in Palermo, and in the old quarter, a small trattoria was filling up with burly construction workers and fishermen in sodden boots В— all crowded around rickety tables watching a soccer match on a staticky television set. The place was noisy with clanking glasses and men talking over one another. Platters of sautГ©ed vegetables and grilled calamari lined the countertop, and the perfume of sizzling garlic drifted through the room. I scanned the other tables and ordered what everyone else was having: spaghetti, drizzled with olive oil and laden with fresh clams, mussels and tomatoes.

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IN centuries past, it was a perfectly ordinary thing for churches and cathedrals to commission artists to beautify their sanctuaries with stained-glass windows, new altars and other decorations. Think of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, or Piero della Francesca’s frescoes in the cathedral in Arezzo.

Skip to next paragraphInterest GuideArtAlvaro Felgueroso Lobo for The New York Times

Miguel Barceló in the Palma de Majorca Cathedral.

Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter’s design for Cologne’s cathedral.

In more recent history, the association between churches and artists has waned somewhat, partly because religious sanctuaries were not always thought to be the most appropriate settings for modern art. But as a wave of contemporary art installations is being unveiled in cathedrals, churches and chapels across Europe, religious spaces are once again becoming showcases for many artists.

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Strolling the cobbled streets of Grasse В— past cafes, the Notre Dame du Puy cathedral and the 12th-century bishop’s palace В— a visitor would find it hard to imagine that the medieval ProvenГ§al town is associated with a billion-dollar perfume industry. But with soil and climate that are perfect for fields of jasmine, tuberose and hyacinth, perfume has a long history there. And though the fields are not in use the way they once were (thanks to a trend toward synthetic essences, which are often stronger than their natural counterparts), the area is still home to a handful of traditional perfumeries, among them Fragonard.

Skip to next paragraphGrasse Travel GuideWhere to StayWhere to EatWhat to DoGo to the Grasse Travel Guide В»Readers’ Opinions Have you shopped at Parfumerie Fragonard? Read the rest of this entry »

The first Yotel, a low-cost Japanese-style В“capsule hotel,В” opened June 30 at Gatwick Airport, and many of its first guests were travelers in need of a place to stay in London because of security delays following the attack on the Glasgow airport that day.

According to Elizabeth Williams, a spokeswoman for Yotel (www.yotel.com), that first day the hotel had В“a few stranded guests due to security delays.В” The next day, customers called to reserve some of the 46 В“cabinsВ” for only a few hours before early-morning flights, concerned about security lines and traffic В— exactly the marketing niche, along with unexpected flight delays and cancellations, Yotel hopes to fill.

Yotel offers two types of cabins, premium and standard (75 square feet, shown at right), each of which Yotel asserts can sleep two. Both have bathrooms, room to store small bags and suitcases and hang a suit, Wi-Fi, flat screen TVs with 60 stations, radios and even 24-hour room service for light meals and drinks, including beer and wine.

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