The Ski Season In Colorado Is Over!

After mid-April the peak ski season is over in almost all ski resorts around the world and skiing areas in Colorado make no exception, closing one by one its doors up to the next winter. Along with Utah, Colorado is one of the most popular travel destinations for ski vacations in USA and entire North America, but to the top resorts settled state-wide take trips also many foreign tourists from Canada, Europe and even Asia. There are several well-known destination resorts like Aspen, Snowmass or Breckenridge, but also popular are Vail, Steamboat Springs, Winter Park, Keystone and Telluride. Besides this top ski spots, in Colorado are also many other smaller ski destinations which offer excellent conditions for practicing winter sports. In the recently closed season, 2009-2010, the big surprise came exactly from this less popular vacation places, all statistics showing that it welcomed a much larger number of skier and holiday makers as previously! Why happened this?

First at all, ski areas like Monarch Mountain, Sunlight Mountain Resort, Ski Cooper and Eldora Mountain Resort are located very close to towns of Colorado Springs, Glenwood Springs or Boulder, allowing tourists to find there more convenient accommodation and generally cheaper services and food. Due to the economic crisis most people looked for the best deals and lower prices, so it's not surprising at all that many of them preferred the less popular cities, but where had the opportunity to save serious money!

It seems that the champion of the best businesses is Monarch Mountain, which reported roughly 7,000 more tourists than two years before. Sunlight Mountain Resort is the second with an increase of 10% , while Ski Cooper must be also satisfied with 6% more visitors! However, it looks that in the entire state of Colorado was a good winter season and most hotels and rental properties owners thinking already how to draw  with very attractive ski packages more holiday makers starting with November 2010!

Alaskan Cruise Season 2010

Soon is starting the Alaskan cruise season 2010! Because the weather is very cold in winter, cruises to Alaska are organized generally between May and late September and take from 7 to 14 days. Most packages include sailing aboard of modern ships featuring luxury amenities and depart from Seattle, Vancouver or Seward. The top attraction during a cruise in Alaskan waters is represented by Glacier Bay - a huge area where can be seen plenty of glaciers on the shores (to some of them are organized land trips or even hiking adventures!) and also immense floating ice pieces (the so named icebergs).

Depending of the length of cruise, there are several ports of call like Anchorage, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Skagway, Haines, Kodiak and others. In this towns tourists have chance to see the rustic charm preserved so well in the northernmost state in US and get in touch with the genuine art of natives, particularly Indian cultures like Tlingit. There are available plenty of land excursions of all kinds, as well as great fishing trips to catch huge salmons - the most emblematic fish in this state.

Of course, the premier landmarks are the glaciers, from which the most popular and as result most visited are the Hubbard Glacier (the largest on the entire North American continent!), the twin Sawyer Glaciers and the 15 glaciers located in the College Fjord. Prices of cruises to Alaska depend on the number of days included and the cabin category, but generally it range between $700 and $2,000. Most cruise packages include round trips, but there are also several one-way deals, in this case tourists returning to home by airplane from Anchorage. Whether is the type of chosen package, any visit in this part of USA turns into an unforgettable life experience and this is one of the main motives why travel packages to Alaska are so popular among holiday makers from all over the world!

Vacationing in Yucatan Peninsula

Mexico is one of the most attractive travel destinations to North American holiday makers, especially the resort towns in Yucatan Peninsula settled on the shores of Caribbean Sea. There are several top vacation spots which feature plenty of all inclusive hotels offering very convenient vacation packages - Cancun, Cozumel Island and Playa del Carmen. But why are this holiday sites so popular among tourists from USA and Canada?

First at all, in the eastern side of Yucatan Peninsula is settled the Caribbean Sea which features awesome beaches, crystal-clear waters and very rich marine life. As result many people vacationing there to have chance to relax on the beautiful sandy beaches and practice numerous water sports from which snorkeling and scuba diving are the most popular daytime activities. By the way, Cozumel Island is one of the leading holiday destinations in the world for scuba diving because of the rich and various coral formations located at short distance off shore. Also great diving packages are offered in Cancun and therefore in the entire zone can be enjoyed great moments observing the stunning aquatic flora and fauna specific to Caribbean.

Secondly, in Cozumel, Cancun and Playa del Carmen have been developed hundreds of high class resort hotels, mostly offering all inclusive vacation packages at very convenient prices. Among other famous hotel chains present in the region, RIU Hotels built in Playa not less as six 5* hotels lining the fantastic beaches and featuring luxury amenities, spacious rooms, facilities for aquatic sports such as scuba diving, golf courses and many others.

A another reason why many people pick vacation packages to Riviera Maya are the numerous artifacts and historical landmarks present there. A large part of the vestiges dating back to the Mayan age, some of the most popular ruins being located in Chichen Itza, at about 3 hours by car from Playa del Carmen. Inside of the historical complex are 2 premier landmarks to visit - a huge pyramid named El Castillo, built 1000 years ago as temple to the Mayan god Kukulcan, and the Observatory, one of the oldest buildings in the area and supposed to be used by Mayans for astronomical observations. To Chichen Itza are organized day excursions by local tour operators, but it can be also visited individually by renting a car - in this way can be seen other landmarks in the region like the old colonial town of Valladolid, established in the 16th century by  Spanish conquistadors, Cenote Samula & Cenote Dzitnup (two sinkholes with underground pools), and others.

The motives described above drawing in the Yucatan Peninsula millions of vacationers every year and consequently on the Mexican travel scene are offered plenty of all inclusive deals to Cancun, Cozumel Island and Playa del Carmen - just take a look and pick a package that fit at best to your needs!