Mineral springs and cooler climes have drawn vacationers to the resorts of the Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge for more than a century. Civil War campaigns raged up and down the valley, leaving nearly every small town with a tale to tell and a battlefield nearby. Today's visitors come searching for antique treasures, to explore deep caverns, and view the waterfalls and vistas of Shenandoah National Park. Front Royal is known as the Canoe Capital...

This book is based on one special section of our much larger Adventure Guide to the Yucatan. Adventure Guides show you how to experience the places you visit more directly, freshly, intensely than you would otherwise - sometimes best done on foot, in a canoe or through cultural adventures like art courses, cooking classes, learning the language, meeting the people and joining in the festivals and celebrations. This can make your trip life-changing,...

A woman of color raised in a Third World country traces the power dynamics of tourism as a Euro-American mode of consumerism and explores what it means to travel amidst the ruins of colonialism and the ravages of climate change.

Best known around the world as "Punta Cana," the Coconut Coast is nothing less than central casting's vision of a Caribbean beach resort. All the superlatives are here along this 30-mile stretch of powdery white-sand beaches, swaying palm trees, and crystal-clear blue waters. What's more, the climate is as near-perfect as you can find: year-round sunshine, cloudless skies, and warm temperatures cooled by soft ocean breezes. The beaches are lined by...

The continually expanding popularity of Anguilla, especially with the rich and famous, has caught everyone by surprise. After all, at first glance Anguilla looks to be nothing special. It's a long, narrow flat island, 16 miles long by three miles wide, with constant droughts and a notable absence of the lush rainforests, beautiful mountains, rushing rivers or deep canyons that normally provide all the activities today's tourist clamors for. But Anguilla's...

Enchanting, mysterious, romantic. These are the islands where Margaret Mead, Somerset Maugham, Robert Louis Stevenson and Gary Cooper lived for part of their lives. The only U.S. Territory south of the Equator, American Samoa lies 2,300 miles south of Hawaii, 4,200 miles south of San Francisco. It is a mere 77 square miles, and Tutuila, the largest island, has 53 of them. Not much land is left for the other six. The total population of the seven islands,...

From Key Largo to the Dry Tortugas, this true insider's guide to Florida's subtropical islands offers a comprehensive look at famous attractions such as daily sunset celebrations, historic bars, renowned restaurants, and America's only living coral reef. Supplemented with information about local hidden gems, it offers tips about secret gardens, hip diners, and beachfront bistros. The swashbuckling history of the Keys and some of its most famous inhabitants...

The gateway to Nicaragua's eastern and southern regions lies in Boaco and Chontales, ranching departments that adhere to a traditional lifestyle and a slower pace that's easy to adapt to. Known for their cheese industry, these departments receive few visitors. Boaco, capital of the department of the same name, and Juigalpa, capital of Chontales department, are small-scale commercial centers that hum with low-key activity as the area's ranchers come...

Camouflaged images of Mickey Mouse are concealed all around the Disneyland Resort-in the theme parks, hotels, shops, restaurants, and even a parking structure. Author Steve Barrett (aka Hidden Mickey Guy) adds to the fun of finding them by turning the search for these "hidden Mickeys" into three scavenger hunts, complete with clues, hints, and points to be scored. There's a hunt for Disneyland Park, one for Disney California Adventure, and one for...

This is the journal of a 16-day, 4,500-kilometer adventure we undertook to discover some of the least-known areas of Thailand. We were a little apprehensive about leaving the tourist towns and venturing into what was, to us, the unknown. Each day was an exciting new challenge. We had no idea what the roads would be like or what wonders waited around the next bend. We decided to drive from Phuket for the northeastern tour. We took the new northbound...