Travel briefs

Upscale hostels

NEW YORK - You won't have to share a bathroom with three dozen backpackers at these hostels.

The Web site www.hostels.com lists a number of lodgings that are considered luxury hostels - and no, that's not an oxymoron.

While hostels are known for inexpensive dorm rooms, some also have private rooms with private bathrooms and amenities that range from saunas and spas to tango lessons and gyms.

The Home Deluxe Hostel in Valencia, Spain, has a balcony on every room, free Internet access and free breakfast, from $28 a person a night for double or twin private rooms.

The Base Backpackers in Auckland, New Zealand, has a sauna and spa and also offers a floor exclusively for female travelers. Twin private rooms start at $29 a night.

Hostel-Inn Tango City in Buenos Aires offers free tango lessons and free massages, with private rooms for two starting at $11 per person per night.

The Clay Hotel/Miami Beach International Hostel, at 1438 Washington Ave., in South Beach, has single private rooms from $56 a night and twin private rooms from $31 a night per person. All rooms have private bathrooms, air conditioners, ceiling fans and a refrigerator.

Reservations, guest comments and ratings are available through www.hostels.com.

Budget Travel

NEW YORK - Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine has launched a new Web site - www.budgettravelonline.com - with several new features to help plan your next vacation.

"Real Deals" are late-breaking travel deals for quick getaways, including airfare, lodging and other package components.

"Snap Guides" are free five-to-10 page downloadable guides that offer quick lists of best bets, including recommendations for museums, shopping, dining and other attractions. So far the site is offering Snap Guides for New York, Santa Fe and London.

The site will also offer audioguides for iPods and other MP3 players. The first of these free downloadable guides is for Las Vegas.

The site also has a searchable archive for past Budget Travel articles.

Civil War museum

FORT WRIGHT, Ky. - A new Civil War museum, the Battery Hooper Site Museum, has opened in northern Kentucky, to mark the site's role as part of a Union defensive line built from Ludlow to Fort Thomas.

Union forces built fortifications in the hills here from 1862 to 1863 to defend Cincinnati and northern Kentucky from a potential Confederate attack. Cincinnati was the sixth-largest U.S. city at the time of the war.

The museum is housed in a two-story home that was built in the 1940s where the fortifications once existed. Exhibits include artifacts from the war, archaeological finds from the Battery Hooper site and presentations about northern Kentucky's role in the war.

The museum is located at 1402 Highland Ave., Fort Wright, and is open weekends, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Fridays and Mondays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For details, call (859) 344-1145.

Across state lines, the Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati is the resting place for 1,000 troops and 41 Civil War generals. Guided tours are available; details at www.springgrove.org.

Jewish guidebook

GRETNA, La. - A Jewish museum in Rio. Kosher pizza in Sao Paulo. A monument to Golda Meir in Montevideo. And kosher tacos in Mexico City.

All this and more is described in "A Travel Guide to the Jewish Caribbean & South America," by Ben G. Frank.

In addition to directing readers to restaurants, museums, synagogues and other attractions, the book describes the fascinating roots of Jewish culture in the New World, which began with Jews who fled Spain and Portugal during the Inquisition.

Sinagoga Kahal Zur Israel in Recife, Brazil, said by the author to be the first synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, was established about 1640. But the Portuguese takeover from the Dutch in 1654 led to the dispersal of the Recife Jewish community to places ranging from New York to Curacao. The congregation that was subsequently established in Curacao in the early 18th century, Mikve Israel, still exists, and remains a magnet for Jewish tourists.

"A Travel Guide to the Jewish Caribbean & South America" also recommends local guides who can give specialized tours of various cities and islands, such as Monica Unikel-Fasja - reachable via www.jewishtours.com.mx - who offers a three-hour tour focusing on Jewish history in Mexico City, including sites where Jewish colonists were killed in the name of the Inquisition.

The book, which costs $25, is published by the Louisiana-based Pelican Publishing Co., www.pelicanpub.com. Pelican also publishes Frank's "A Travel Guide to Jewish Russia & Ukraine" and "A Travel Guide to Jewish Europe."

Kentucky bourbon

BARDSTOWN, Ky. - Bourbon connoisseurs won't want to miss the 14th annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival, Sept. 14-18.

The festival started out as a small event for local aficionados and industry experts, but it gradually expanded and 40,000 people from around the world are expected this year.

The event is sponsored by Jim Beam Brands Co., and Fred Noe, Jim Beam's great-grandson, will take part in the festivities, which include distillery tours, bourbon-tastings, cooking demonstrations, music and games.

While hotels in Bardstown fill up fast, additional accommodations are available in Louisville, about 40 miles away.

For more information, go to www.kybourbonfestival.com or call (800) 638-4877.

GoNOMAD

SOUTH DEERFIELD, Mass. - Far from the world of all-inclusive resorts, motorcoach tours and standard top-10 itineraries is a totally different type of travel.

Here you'll experience places and cultures through activities, interactions and tourism that involves doing instead of just seeing.

To help you plan such a trip, check out www.gonomad.com, which bills itself as being committed not just to alternative travel, but to participatory travel.

You'll find a searchable database of unusual lodgings, events, tours, activities, and opportunities for working, studying and volunteering around the world, from weaving courses in Guatemala to staying with a family in Africa to helping a community in Nepal.

Even in places as familiar to many travelers as western Europe, GoNOMAD's miniguides recommend unusual experiences like horseback riding tours of Ireland and a pilgrimage along El Camino de Santiago, in the Basque countryside. There's also a link to www.untours.com, a tour group that doesn't have buses or guides taking you around by the hand but that can help you feel like a local by providing a fully furnished apartment and a customized itinerary.

Other recommendations from the Web site include a relatively affordable trip to Antarctica - $3,000 - and a trek to Bolivia to hunt down the legend of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, who may have ended their days there (depending on which legend you believe).

GoNOMAD also also offers links to Web sites where you can obtain air tickets, visas, passports, travel insurance, rental cars, and lodging.

And while you can use it to explore exotic and unusual places, the Web site is edited and run from a small New England town - South Deerfield, Mass.

Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Looking for a getaway on a budget? Two-for-one hotel nights and nearly three dozen free attractions await visitors in Kansas City.

Participating hotels are offering two nights for the price of one, weekends through Dec. 25, with rates starting as low as $69. The deal must be booked through www.visitKC.com, and it is not available Oct. 7-9.

The Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association has also put together a list of 33 free activities in the area. They include free tours of the Boulevard Brewing Co., a specialty beer-maker (816-474-7095 for reservations); the Harley Davidson Assembly Plant, and the Hallmark Visitors Center (of greeting card fame).

The Kansas City Irish Festival takes place at Crown Center Sept. 2-4, or if you're in town the first Friday of any given month, join the 60-gallery art crawl in the Crossroads Arts District. Quench your thirst with free samples of mineral water at the Hall of Waters Spa and Water Bar, in nearby Excelsior Spring.

Nature-lovers will enjoy the Loose Park Rose Garden, the Overland Park Arboretum, the River Trail in nearby Parkville, the Lakeside Nature Center in Swope Park, and the Ernie Miller Nature Center in Olathe.

History buffs may want to visit the Frontier Army Museum in Fort Leavenworth; the Liberty Jail where Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spent five months; and the Pioneer Spring Cabin, a log cabin in Independence. The town also celebrates its connections to westward migrations of the 19th century during Santa-Cali-Gon Days (named for the Santa Fe, California and Oregon trails), Sept. 2-5.

For more information about visiting Kansas City, go to www.visitKC.com or call (877) 523-5286.

National parks

NEW YORK - If the thought of crowds deters you from visiting popular national parks, this is the time to start planning a trip to many of the country's best-known landmarks and monuments.

Peak season for visiting most national parks is June 15 through Aug. 15 (although some parks like the Smokies and Shenandoah are also extremely busy on peak fall foliage weekends).

January, February and November are the slowest months, although some parks are not accessible in the winter months.

Offseason is also a great time to book yourself into the many famous lodges and historic inns in the park system, according to the TravelSmart newsletter's August issue.

Reservations for places like El Tovar, the Grand Canyon lodge, are accepted 23 months in advance and often book up that far ahead for peak times. But TravelSmart's tips for securing reservations other times of year include going when school is in session, since you won't be vying with families for rooms; booking for the two-week period after major holidays, especially between Thanksgiving and Christmas; and checking every 30 days to see whether anything has opened up.

According to the newsletter, large tour operators who sell packages ahead of time reserve blocks of room but release unsold rooms 30 days before they are due to arrive.

TravelSmart says you might also score a room just by showing up in person after check-in time, when no-show rooms are meted out. Just be sure to have a backup plan in case it doesn't work out.

Finally, pick lesser-known parks. You can bet that Yellowstone will be busy, but there are many other parks that are just as scenic but far less crowded. TravelSmart's recommendations include Badlands in South Dakota, Big Bend in Texas, Kings Canyon and Sequoia in California, the North Cascades in Washington and Dry Tortugas in Florida.

Copies of TravelSmart are available from www.TravelSmartNewsletter.com or (800) 327-3633.

Catskills comedy

NEW YORK - For decades, comedy and the Catskills were linked like Abbott and Costello. But in recent years, as many of the area's storied resorts disappeared, the laughs left with them.

The operators of a Sullivan County "racino" (raceway/casino), in conjunction with the Friars Club, hope to bring back the laughs through a deal where up-and-coming comics will appear regularly at Monticello Raceway.

"We want to reintroduce comedy to the Catskills, which has long been a proving ground for young comedians," said Dave Hanlon, CEO and president of Empire Resorts, Inc., owner and operator of the Monticello Raceway and Mighty M Gaming.

Freddy Roman, president of the New York Friars for the last 11 years, said his group jumped at the chance to get its younger members a steady gig and a chance to hone their craft.

"The younger guys need a lot of work - so they can pay their dues," Roman joked.

In addition to more than 1,700 video gaming machines, the "racino" facility also offers a 350-seat buffet food court and the Lava Lounge with live entertainment that will now include the comedians. Empire opened Mighty M Gaming at the Raceway site on June 30, 2004.

Empire, along with the Cayuga Nation of New York, has also announced plans to develop a $500 million "Class III" Native American casino and resort on a site adjacent to the Raceway.

England

LONDON - The United Kingdom was the No. 1 destination for Americans traveling overseas last year, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Whether the London bombings will change that for this year and next remains to be seen. However, even after the second round of bombings, "there are few reports of cancelled bookings to London," said Nora Brossard, spokeswoman for the European Travel Commission.

Weekly reports of Virgin Atlantic air ticket sales to London for July through October have also kept apace with what is normal for this time of year, as the busy summer season gives way to the travel industry's traditionally slower fall season.

"The growth rates haven't changed at all," said Chris Rossi, Virgin Atlantic Airlines' vice president of sales and marketing for North America. "We haven't seen any negative impact."

Elderhostel, a not-for-profit educational organization for older travelers, reports the bombings have had a "negligible impact" on its Harry Potter-themed tours of England, according to spokesman Adam Hurtubise.

The Potter programs - designed for travelers with grandchildren - include earthbound games of Quidditch; workshops on make-believe wizardry; and visits to an owl conservancy and Alnwick Castle, used in the movie for exterior shots of Hogwarts. Details at www.elderhostel.org or (877) 426-8056.