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Arizona (USA) Reviews |
pjcasanis
Travel Writer - Bronze
Visited in:
May 2010
for a period of
3 days
Accommodation:
Hotel
Voted this Destination:
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We had 3 days in Arinsal at the Big Snow Festival in 2010. Arinsal as a ski venue is quite basic but for the purposes of a snow festival it was quite upbeat although the resort is quite small.
I can't really comment on the ski appeal, but the atmosphere of the big Snow Festival was great.
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Alan Gamblin (57)
Guest
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Flew B.A. to Pheonix Arizona. An 11 hour flight but suprisingly agreeable getting through immigration. Officers very friendly & even shared a joke.
Trip was arranged on a fly/drive basis with all accomadation being pre-booked on the internet.duration of trip was 3 weeks & 3 days & we could easily have used another week.The first 3 nights were spent at the Hospitality Suite Resort Scottsdale which is a very affordable Hotel/Motel that we would highly reccomend. It is well positioned,offers a great complimentary breakfast & two free drinks around the pool.If you have never been to Scottsdale then I would say it is agreat place to start a trip out west.The shops & restaraunts are excellent & if you enjoy western art (as in cowboys & indians)you will be in heaven.We also took the opportunity to self drive the Apache trail which is a round trip of about 150 miles & despite what it says in the guide books should hold no terrors for any reasonably competent driver. Also visited "Rawhide" which is a second rate western theme park. Go if you are stuck for something to do but try to avoid eating in the restaraunt as it is overpriced & not very good.
Our next stop was Sedona which is an absolute must. Not so much for the town, which is nice enough but for the fabulous surrounding area. Don't miss Oak Creek Canyon & the Church in the rock also make time for a Pink Jeep tour (unforgettable).
Moved on to Williams which seems to exist for Route 66 memoribilia & the Grand Canyon Railway & little else.The Railway is great fun & well worth takeing the 2 hour trip to the Canyon. It is very much a cowboy experience with a genuinely amusing wild west shootout & "Hold up" on the return journey.We spent a further 2 nights at the canyon which can never be wasted time.We stayed at Bright Angel Lodge which is very basic but vey close to the rim & with an excellent restaraunt.Try to walk at least some of the way down Bright Angel Trail as it is wonderful to see the Burros return in the afternoon. Also try to catch the sunset which is spectacular.
After the canyon we drove a fll day through the Navajo reservation to Canyon De Chelly. A long drve through generally uninteresting, unattractive country but ultimately rewarding as Canyon De Chelly is fantastic.We stayed at the Thunderbird Motel which is owned & run by the Navajo. In our opinion it is overpriced for what it offers & the cafeteria is certainly not a gourmets paradise. We would reccomend eating in the nearby town of Chinley. The only practical way into the canyon is to join an indian guided 6 wheel truck tour. We took the 4 hour morning tour which was brilliant & left us time to drive the canyon rim in the afternoon.
Our next stop was Moab which has an awful lot to offer being situated between Canynlands NP & Arches NP. We stayed 3 nights at The Tomahawk B&B. The Tomahawk boasts a wonderful website & we really expected to be staying at somewhere like the Ponderosa hoasted by the Cartwrights. Instead it was more like staying at Oil Drum Lane hoasted by the Steptoes.Vance the proprieter is a nice enough guy & the room was not too bad but the place is surrounde by junk, generally unattractive, offers no change of towels etc & our stay ws not helped by the promised gourmet breakfast being replaced by a self made banana sandwich because Vance did not appear one morning. No apology was forthcoming & being British of course we did not complain.If in Moab do not miss the National Parks & Canyonlands by night which is wonderful.
Our next stop was Mount Carmel (just outside Zion NP)& we took the very long scenic route over Bolder mountain & through Escalante which with stops was a ten hour drive but well worth while. We stopped overnight At the Arrowhead Country Inn which was everthing the Tomahawk wasn't.A woderful place run by super people.
We had a few hours in Zion a place definitely worth a revisit & then on to Vegas where we stopped 3 nights at the Alladin.The Alladin is a great place to stay let down by a disappointing pool & pool area. Vegas is better than ever. The Paris & Venetian are top drawer, New York, New York is vibrant n the evenins with a great Irish pub. The new pirate show outside Treasure Island is rubbish, the Luxor & Statosphere downmarket & too far down the strip.In Vegas the position of your hotel is everything because the town is nothing if not tiring & everything is further away than it appears. We caught 2 shows whilst in town Cirque De Sol (Mystere)& Lance Burton & would happily reccomend either.
Moved on through Death Valley for a one night stay at Mammoth Lakes & spent most of the next day exploring the Tioga Pass & Tuolome Meadows on the way to Yosemite NP.The Tioga Pass was only cleared of snow 2 weeks previously & was absolutely beautiful with it's mountain lakes & thick snow still lying. We actually hit Yosemite Valley on Memorial Day which was not a good idea as although this is truly one of the grandest places on earth njoyment is not enhanced when the place is jam packed & impossible to get around comfortably. For some reason best known to myself our hotel whilst visiting the park was in Mariposa which is about 40 miles away. If possible I would suggest it is better to stay in the park.Our penultimate stop was at Monterey on the California coast. Monterey boasts a large & interesting Aquarium,a lively wharf & a profusion of Sealions & Sea Otters which are quite wonderful. We had pre booked a 4-5 hour Whale watching trip & would say that whilst we did indeed see Blue whales & plenty of Dolphins it was not an experience we would care to repeat.We can only reccomend that unless you are an EXTREMELY good sailor think twice about this trip because it would test Noah.By the time we sighted the whales a large number of the passengers had lost the will to live & it was very little compensation to them that there was ONLY another three hours to go.
Spent our last full day driving down the Big Sur stopping for an interesting couple of hours at Hearst Castle.
Flew ot of LAX after a brillian t if expensive holiday.
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S.Infante-(52,52)
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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Stayed here for 5 nights beginning March.Good sized rooms with fridge inc free bottled water daily,safe deposit box,free local phone calls,local shuttle bus.Nice views over lake/mountains/desert and next to golf course.Good restaurant.Unfortunately we had unseasonable weather,and it rained and was quite chilly.But our last day was 83 degrees!
Assuming you have a car go to the Rustlers Rooste restaurant in Chandler. Quite an experience.Decorated like an old saloon with live bands nightly and great views over the valley.Drove to Tucson-nothing special,and Tombstone wih was a bit touristy.Do not bother going to Phoenix,no shops and nothing particular to see.Go see Sedona and see the countryside round there.
Some great scenery and canyons in Arizona.Worth a visit anytime!
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Hilary - Cheshire (30, 29
Guest
Voted this Destination:Not voted yet
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You could not fault the hotel for its accomodation or amenities. This was a last stop in a 3 week honeymoon tour of the canyons, before winding up at the Fairmont for a 10 day rest.
Room - was beautiful, very elegant furnished with mexican type furniture. Huge bathroom with double sink, separate shower and large bath. Room was more of a suite really with dining table and couch also.
Pools - excellent, with good bar serving lovely cocktails. Quite strange to be the only non americans, expecially on fathers day when the place was besiged by freeloaders being let into the complex by their friends. But this was only one day.
Food - Hacienda restaurant was excellent quality and service, we returned 4 times just to keep sampling it - massize margaritas.
Food in the other restaurants was varaible. I was surprised to find bacon poeces in what was described as a clam pasta when I eat no red or white meat! Service can be hit and miss, for example when asking the restuarant manager to seat us we were abruptly told that wasn't her job!
Definitely recommend trip to the local fashion mall for clothes and shoe bargains and a trip to the ice cream parlour downtown - just like the fonz!!!
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