February 2nd, 2006, by Mary Winston Nicklin
Rick Steves on Travel in Europe 2006
Check out this exceptional article in The Trib. The European travel guru highlights major changes and trends he’s noticed in updating the new “Europe Through the Back Door” and other guidebooks. Planning a trip to Versailles? It’s undergoing major renovations from 2006-2010. (Who knew? Rick Steves is the man.) Dreaming Dalmatia?
A new expressway and a sleek new “tilting train” with banked tracks connect Zagreb to Split in six hours or less, and budget flights remain a viable option. A speedy new catamaran also now connects Split to the popular Croatian island Koreula four mornings each week.
And the biggest news for 2006: Germany’s hosting the June World Cup Soccer Tournament. (Get cracking on reserving your hotel rooms!)
Back in August I tried to reserve rooms at luxury hotels in many of the German cities for the World Cup. Almost all of the hotels told me that they weren’t even offering rooms because they were already reserved for FIFA Officials, sponsers, and team big-shots. They said the best bet for luxury travels who couldn’t find anything was to look into condo rentals and private homes. I was amazed. I hope that they have started to release some of the rooms that were blocked, but with the schedules being announced, and fans knowing where their teams will be, I bet everyone is having a hard time.
Wow, thanks so much for your helpful hints. Am hard at work compiling some luxury hotel recommendations for the World Cup, which I hope can be of use…