San Francisco Chronicle Travel Stories


		Sunday, September 6, 2009

Budget no barrier to Tahoe food festival Christine Delsol If you can't spring for the Lake Tahoe Autumn Food and Wine Festival's chef luncheon with Traci Des Jardins, right, consider learning to become a celebrity chef in your own home at this year's lineup of free events.... Agriturismi offer country life, Tuscan style Stacy Finz, Chronicle Staff Writer After hopelessly circling the Coop grocery store in Pontassieve more than a dozen times - screaming a number of expletives in both English and Italian - we finally agreed to turn off the GPS and let intuition be our... Double trouble with Hilton hotel points Christopher Elliott Q: I have been a loyal Hilton customer for the past three years, staying about 200 nights a year in its hotels. I have been happy - until recently. A few months ago, I booked four rooms at a promotional rate that... Break out the camcorder for video competition Spud Hilton Break out the camcorder While there's really no shortage of travel-related videos on YouTube, guidebook company Lonely Planet is looking for a few more. As part of its latest promotion, Lonely Planet is asking would-be... Gear: Bushnell BackTrack John Flinn Ah, the joys of traveling over the age of 50: Wandering the backstreets of a strange and exotic city and realizing you have absolutely no idea where your hotel is. Or looking out over a vast and sprawling parking lot... Round up your inner cowboy - or girl Eliza Hussman You don't have to be John Wayne or Annie Oakley to appreciate the thrill of the Old West. What's not to love about rustic life where the longhorn cattle feed on the lowly gypsum weed? (Except, possibly, having to watch... WORLD TRAVEL WATCH Larry Habegger 1 Eritrea: The U.S. State Department is advising against all travel to Eritrea because of travel restriction by that nation's government and possible harassment of U.S. citizens by officials. Eritrea requires a 10-day... New magazine focuses on independent and sustainable travel Spud Hilton Is it even possible to publish an upscale travel magazine without at least, say, 17 glamour shots of infinity pools and eight articles that use the word "pampering"? The folks behind newly launched Afar magazine seem to... �vila, Spain, especially fun for a namesake By April D�vila, Los Angeles I went because: My last name means "from �vila" (from the Spanish "de �vila"). I have wanted to visit the town for a long time. Don't miss: A walk along the wall that surrounds the old town.... More to Ashland than Shakespeare Bonnie Wach, Special to The Chronicle Shakespeare is to Ashland what gambling is to Las Vegas, which is to say, it's almost impossible to talk about a visit to this idyllic Oregon, um, hamlet without assuming that there will be Elizabethan theater involved.... Pinot at the plaza in Sonoma Carey Sweet, Special to The Chronicle "If you like Pinot, Roessler Cellars is the place to go." My friend laughed at his own rhyme. Not particularly clever, perhaps, but he had a point: After its humble start of 225 cases of Pinot Noir from the Sangiacomo...