Boston Globe -- Travel News

Hostelling community welcomes Hyannis haven

Ron Driscoll, Globe Correspondent — 2010-09-03T14:44:31Z

HYANNIS — With nightly rates of $32 to $35 per person and views of Hyannis Harbor from several of its rooms, the Angeline Crocker Hinckley Hostel has attracted guests from all over the world since it opened in July. They’ve come from Australia, Ireland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Malaysia, and Sardinia.

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2010-09-03T14:44:31Z

BOSTON 101

2010-09-03T14:38:58Z

A SEASIDE CATCH Coming from the Midwest, I am continually shocked by how close together things are in New England. Especially from Boston, distances are short. So although my friend lives two states away in Maine, it was far from difficult to pop up to Portland for a visit. An easy two-hour drive up Interstate 95 or an equally quick ...

Wooden boats enliven New Hampshire museum

Marty Basch, Globe Correspondent — 2010-09-03T14:20:02Z

WOLFEBORO, N.H. — On a quiet July morning in 1910, Captain Frank Woodsum was steering the steamboat Armenia White into Sunapee Harbor when he blew a whistle to summon the purser.

A world of visionaries

Mark Feeney, Globe Staff — 2010-09-03T14:17:39Z

A world of visionaries

Soggy in Seattle? Hit the links anyway

Anthony Flint, Globe Correspondent — 2010-09-03T13:45:30Z

SEATTLE — Think of this city and you think of clouds and rain. But what if you could stay in town and at the same time get out on the links — Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, or Pinehurst?

Once is enough

2010-09-03T13:13:17Z

A murky swim from Alcatraz, a wrong turn in the Golan Heights, a midnight heist in Spain. Misadventures make for travelers’ tales and the often heard: “I’ll never do that again.’’

Omnivores’ dreamworld

Patricia Borns, Globe Correspondent — 2010-08-20T13:09:54Z

BERKELEY — “I didn’t like organically grown health food. It just didn’t taste good,’’ says Alice Waters in her office as she plans her restaurant’s 40th birthday. Waters says she was “into cafes and politics and salad after dinner’’ when she opened Chez Panisse in 1971. Her idea was simple, and at the time, not simple at all: to bring ...

History you can see and feel and a beach that goes forever

John Powers, Globe Staff — 2010-08-20T13:09:21Z

Inside the blacksmith shop next to the 18th-century windmill at Drummer Boy Park, a charcoal fire crackles. “Old school,’’ says Peter Hirst, as he cranks up the Civil War-era blower to fan the flames. “The way we did it 200 years ago.’’

Mass. art, step by step

Necee Regis, Globe Correspondent — 2010-08-20T13:08:31Z

WILLIAMSTOWN — “This being a tourist is exhausting,’’ said Bettye Wehrli. And I had to agree.

Oh, those fragrant wheels

Bonnie Tsui, Globe Correspondent — 2010-08-20T13:07:25Z

PETALUMA — This town is still the kind of farmstead place where, on a winding country road just outside the historic area, traffic stops for a hefty wild turkey hustling across the road, head down and red wattle flying.

Buenos Aires by way of a menu, not a map

Tracey Ceurvels, Globe Correspondent — 2010-08-20T13:07:19Z

BUENOS AIRES — I am about to make a dinner reservation, except that I don’t know where I’ll be eating. I’ve been told that once I book a table the location will be revealed. What is certain: I will be eating at one of the “puertas cerradas,’’ or closed-door restaurants, that are the rage here. These quirky, underground “anti-restaurants’’ are ...

A range of different perspectives from a Montana fire lookout

Brian Schott, Globe Correspondent — 2010-08-20T13:01:46Z

WERNER PEAK, Mont. — Getting above it all, staying at a historic fire lookout perched at 6,960 feet on the spine of this mountain, is a fine way to snuff the stresses of life.

Working to cook up the good life ship ’n’ shore

Joe Ray, Globe Correspondent — 2010-08-20T13:01:21Z

LUMMI ISLAND — On the deck, in the sun, with the juice of local prawns dribbling down our chins, my dining partner lets out a discreet little moan. This is the moment I know that Riley Starks is onto a good thing.

Rural Alabama lures students and sightseers

Bonnie Tsui, Globe Correspondent — 2010-08-13T10:19:16Z

NEWBERN, Ala. — I’m standing at the top of a 100-foot birding tower in Perry Lakes Park, the platform at eye level with the tree canopy and overlooking a magnificent topography of oxbow lakes and tupelo and cypress swamp.

On chuckwagons or at Oktoberfest

2010-08-13T10:18:21Z

SEPT. 17-18 GEORGETOWN, TEXAS

Play's the thing

Shira Springer, Globe Staff — 2010-07-30T13:07:17Z

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Persuading my father to give his golf swing a rest was the easy part. Mastering the basics of the “butt wiggle’’ was another matter.

Start your engines

Ann Silvio, Globe Staff — 2010-07-23T12:52:59Z

LAKEVILLE, Conn. — On a sunny Thursday afternoon in June, a black Lincoln Town Car stopped in front of Paul Battaglino’s house, and the insurance adjuster from Wellesley dutifully climbed into the backseat. Battaglino had no clue where the driver was taking him. For his 40th birthday, his wife, Tammy, had packed him a bag and set up a mystery ...

Bottom up, observatory logs history

Marty Basch, Globe Correspondent — 2010-07-16T13:54:32Z

PORTLAND — In the distance, a ferry shuttles passengers to Peaks Island in Casco Bay a few miles from downtown. Below, coffee-carrying Mainers amble along the funky residential streets of Munjoy Hill in the city’s East End. There is a cooling breeze atop the 86-foot high Portland Observatory, but clouds mask the White Mountains far in the northwest.

The state of its cheeses and wines gets finer

Nancy Heiser, Globe Correspondent — 2010-07-16T13:53:52Z

SCARBOROUGH — The moment I taste a wedge of Deb Hahn’s Noble Hill Reserve at the waterfront farmer’s market in Bath, I am smitten. It’s nutty, smooth, caramel-y, with a slight graininess at the finish. Is it something in the local cows’ milk, the salty air, or the maker’s finesse that makes this cheese so outstanding? It’s time to research ...

The changing scene

Hilary Nangle, Globe Correspondent — 2010-07-16T13:53:15Z

Despite the economy, return visitors will find new attractions, accommodations, exhibits, and places to dine this summer. Here is a sampling.

À la Provençal, in moderation

Sarah Hearn, Globe Correspondent — 2010-07-09T10:49:58Z

ST. REMY DE PROVENCE — Would I care to spend a few days “en Provence’’ at the home of my friend Mireille Guiliano, author of “French Women Don’t Get Fat,’’ and her husband, Edward? With a last-minute deal on Air France , I booked my ticket. I couldn’t wait.

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2010-07-09T10:49:58Z

Old World crafts, cheese to chateau

Patricia Harris, Globe Correspondent — 2010-07-09T10:49:26Z

BOUVERANS — Jean-François Marmier has named each of the 60 cows in his herd, but he still has a favorite. When he yells “allez, allez’’ to summon the girls for the evening milking, Celestine trots in the lead, a heavy bell swinging from her collar.

Spellbound

Patricia Borns, Globe Correspondent — 2010-07-02T13:02:48Z

ORLANDO, Fla. — “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.’’ My niece Erin Sullivan remembers the first sentence of the first Harry Potter book, which she read in second grade. Now, the words tumble out of her as a costumed conductor waves us past a ...

From Falmouth to Provincetown, fairs galore

Ellen Albanese, Globe Correspondent — 2010-07-02T12:06:08Z

Cape Cod loves a party. Dozens of festivals from summer into fall celebrate beaches, fishing, farming, seafood, the arts, and family fun. Here are 10 of them:

An American original

Christopher Klein, Globe Correspondent — 2010-07-02T11:56:54Z

EXETER, N.H. — Live free or die. The state’s simple motto encapsulates its legendary independent streak. Freedom is so deeply venerated in the Granite State that, even though no big Revolutionary War battles were fought on its soil, it’s a natural location for a museum dedicated to the American ideals we celebrate this weekend.

Floating in the wild, trailing orcas and other beasts

Kari Bodnarchuk, Globe Correspondent — 2010-07-02T11:32:12Z

JOHNSTONE STRAIT — We sat on a rocky ledge 15 feet above the water watching the moon rise over Vancouver Island, just 3 miles south across a salty strait. A light haze hung in the air and the mountains stood dark against a twilight sky.

Getting Boston into finer focus

Christopher Klein, Globe Correspondent — 2010-05-28T11:45:21Z

The photo doesn’t do it justice. It’s a mantra that many of us have uttered when showing off our vacation snapshots, perhaps in tribute to the majesty of the subject, but probably more as a wistful lament of our failure to capture its grandeur with our meager skills.