Intelligent Travel

Tour Guide: Carb-Free Costa Rica

Beloved Traveler senior researcher Meg is in the midst of planning her honeymoon—she's thinking warm, English- or Spanish-speaking (her fiancé is Salvadorian), and on a budget. She thought Costa Rica would be nice, but found that hotels were either super-luxe (and out of her budget), or very rustic. "I'd like to have hot water," she confesses. "And I want to see the sloths in the trees, but not be in the trees with the sloths." It is her honeymoon, after all.

So the Traveler research team was put to the test, and we think we might have found something that works. Travel company NatureVacations has created a 100% carbon-neutral Costa Rica vacation. That means every pound of carbon emissions their customers use on their seven-day/six-night journey is offset in some way. And travelers like Meg won't have to worry about hot water—the accommodations are definitely eco-chic.

How exactly does this carbon-neutral vacation work? Upon arriving in San Jose, all vehicle transfers from the airport to Finca Rosa Blanca for the first night's stay are carbon-neutral certified and use bio-diesel fuel. The next day, travelers are again transported by the same eco-friendly vehicles to Tobias Bolanos Airport where they will fly (on carbon-neutral airline NatureAir, pictured right) to Lapa Rios Ecolodge (above), located on 1,000 acres of private nature reserve. During the next five days at Lapa Rios, visitors will get to: plant a tree, take a sustainability tour of the lodge, learn about traditional Indian medicines of the rain forest, go on an environmental walking tours of the reserve, and eat organic, sustainable cuisine.

Of course, I couldn't find any information on how the flight from the States to Costa Rica is offset... it looks like that is up to the traveler's own prerogative.

For other eco-conscious tour operators, don't miss our Tours of a Lifetime in the May/June issue of Traveler.

Photos: Lapa Rios Ecolodge (above) NatureVacations (above right)

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Tour Guide: Hike and Feel Good About It

Mount Rainier National Park

If there's anything I miss the most about living on the West Coast, it's the mountains. Sure, D.C.'s got the nearby Appalachians (I visit Shenandoah National Park as often as possible in summer), but there's nothing like looking out your Pacific Northwest window and seeing snow-capped peaks in every direction (Seattle is blessed with the Olympics to the west and the Cascades to the east).

The American Hiking Society has a solution for folks like me who live in a city where the mountains aren't quite at your doorstep. The AHS offers weeklong Volunteer Vacations in 25 states (and even the Virgin Islands) from February through November every year, for hiking gurus, beginners, and everyone in between who are capable of doing trail maintenance. Best of all, their website allows you to search for the volunteer tour that might work best for you. Just select your state, difficulty level, what kind of accommodation you prefer (even the avid backpacker likes a comfortable cabin every once in a while), and age range (from family friendly to 21+).

Tours of a Lifetime: On Sale!

Looking for a deal on a tour? How soon can you leave? Senior editor Norie Quintos, the magazine’s resident tour expert, says, “Now is a good time to find bargains on summer tours because some outfitters still have openings for their May and June departures, which typically are not as popular as departures later in the summer.” We queried outfitters from our Tours of a Lifetime list to see what discounts they had to offer, and here is the best of the lot. And check out Norie's other tips on how to stretch your dollar when booking tours.

CLASSIC TOURS

• Micato Safaris—"An extravagant safari with an emphasis on activities for tots and teens," says Traveler's contributing editor Margaret Loftus—has crafted a special offer exclusively for Traveler readers who book the "Family to Family Safari, Kenya and Tanzania" [download brochure] featured in our current Tours of a Lifetime issue. When travelers book the safari before May 30, each child on safari will receive Micato Safaris' children's safari backpack, complete with safari-themed games, wildlife viewing checklists, and African kids' toys. Especially cool, we think, is the fact that kids also have the chance to become pen pals with children living in Kenya before they travel—meaning they can share stories, customs, drawings, and plans for their upcoming adventure. To book the offer, mention code MSNG508. Travel must be completed by December 31, 2009.
• Check out G.A.P. Adventures's specials page for discounts up to 20 percent off a dozen of their global offerings.
• Maris Freighter & Specialty Cruises lists monthly news and special discounts on their website's "News & Specials" link on the left column of the screen. Click on "June 2008," to find the "Along the Americas' Coasts" voyage to South America, which is highlighted in the current issue of Traveler. "This is the cruise for passengers who have the time—and temperament—to sail long voyages," writes Loftus.

Check out Deals on Active and Cultural Tours after the jump.

Tour Guide: These Streets Are Made For Running

What do Charleston, S.C., San Diego, and New York have in common? They are all cities with these new-fangled things called jogging tours.

Ladies and gentlemen, a new and improved way of sightseeing: City Running Tours. They're more time-efficient than leisurely walking tours, and they're a heck of a lot more eco-friendly than bus tours. And the best thing? They aren't necessarily tailored for running fanatics. The tours (led by an expert jogger/tour guide) span anywhere from six to 13 miles, but there are frequent photo-op stops, giving you and your legs time to regroup and snap a shot.

Tour Guide: Homeless World Cup

Scotland wins the Homeless World Cup 2007 in Copenhagen

For those who can't wait for the soccer World Cup in 2010 in South Africa, there's a different type of World Cup going on this year Down Under.

This year, Melbourne is hosting the annual the Homeless World Cup, an international event featuring 500 footy players from 48 countries. The catch? Every one of the competitors is homeless.

The Homeless World Cup began in 2003, when The Big Issue magazine founder Mel Young decided it was time to take action and change the lives of homeless people worldwide through an internationally loved sport. According to Young, 75 percent of homeless participants give up drug and alcohol dependence and find jobs or go to school after the competitions are over. About 25,000 homeless people participate in soccer events around the world before the top teams are invited in attend the annual World Cup.

Voluntour group Hands Up Holidays offers a 17-day trip (November 29-December 15) that combines sightseeing on Australia's east coast with volunteering at the Homeless World Cup. From November 29 to December 7, participants will work at the World Cup, doing various projects ranging from coordinating the media and catering to working in the locker rooms. After the World Cup is over, participants will get one day to enjoy Melbourne before flying to Sydney for a few days and then on to Cairns (to see the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest). The voluntour adventure officially ends on December 15, with options to extend your stay (about $3,200).

Hands Up Tours offers plenty of other voluntour trips around the world, like teaching English in China or Romania, helping AIDS/HIV relief in Ghana, and even combining honeymoons with volunteer projects!

For more information visit HandsUpHolidays.com.

Photo: Homeless World Cup

Tour Guide: Biking the Underground Railroad

For history buffs out there (you know who you are), the Adventure Cycling Association has a great tour that combines U.S. history lessons with plenty of exercise.

The 48-day, 2,100-mile Undergound Railroad tour takes 14 cyclists from Mobile, Alabama, through the Deep South and the Tennessee River Valley, across the Ohio River, and up through Buffalo, New York, all the way to Owen Sound, Ontario, just like escaped slaves would have done in the 19th century (minus the bicycle, of course). Along the way, cyclists will stop at historic sites, share cooking responsibilities, and camp.

The Adventure Cycling Association is partners with the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Minority Health, which helped create the UGRR route. To get an idea of what the tour is like, check out Joan and Mike's entry on the Review the Ride Registry, who also have a very detailed blog with lots of photos from last year's trip.

The Association has heaps of other multiweek tours, like the brand-new, 79-day Great Western Loop, as well as shorter trips, like the 7-day Cycle Montana route.

For more information about the group's self-contained bicycling trips (you carry your own stuff) and supported tours (they transport your luggage for you), check out their website.

Photo: Adventure Cycling Association/Dennis Coello

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Tour Guide: Experience Oz

Deciding where to go on your next Aussie vacation can prove to be difficult. Many people don't realize that the land Down Under is almost as big as as the U.S., and therefore, one cannot simply drive from Cairns to Melbourne in an afternoon (it's roughly the same distance from L.A. to St. Louis, Missouri – about 1,800 miles – and with little in between).

But I've just discovered a tour company that makes decision-making easier, by providing eco-tours in specific destinations with a choice of activities (walking, cycling, canoeing, etc.), so travelers can find the one that suits them best.

Australia-based Ecotrek specializes in small-group, nature-based tours. From walking on Kangaroo Island, to canoeing the Cooper River from Queensland to South Australia, to cycling the wine regions near Adelaide, every tour allows its participants to share their passion or interest in a certain activity. I'm particularly intrigued by the Mutawintji, Kinchega and Lake Mungo Arid Lands Eco Journey, which is a cultural eco-tour of three national parks with deep Aboriginal roots.

Aside from its 4-to-5-day trips, Ecotrek offers shorter weekend getaways in South Australia and Victoria. Prices include all accommodation (ranging from tents to bed-and-breakfasts to unique heritage-listed mansions, depending on the type of tour), all meals (including one-half bottle of wine per person per meal), trail snacks, tea, equipment, and entrance fees to places you visit on the tours, etc.

I'm going to start saving for my next Aussie holiday, especially when the price includes plenty of wine.

Photo: Ecotrek

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Tour Guide: World Summit of Indigenous Cultures

IT contributor Erica Schlaikjer will be attending the World Summit of Indigenous Cultures, and offers an invitation to anyone else able to attend.

For those of you traveling to Asia this month, consider attending the World Summit of Indigenous Cultures, which will be held in Taiwan from April 12-17. The two-day conference and subsequent three-day tour of the island's indigenous areas aims to bring together a diverse representation of the world's indigenous peoples — from artists to government leaders — to discuss the intersections between cultural heritage, globalization, and the environment.

The conference's formal list of speakers includes people from the Philippines' Kalinawa Art Foundation, Australia's Seed Savers' Network (via video presentation), and the Taiwan Indigenous Enterprise and Economic Development Association (TICEDA). They'll be exploring these themes including:

1. Indigenous environmental wisdom and protection of the earth's environment;
2. Indigenous belief systems today; and
3. Developing indigenous enterprise.

The tour, which follows the conference, will explore social interactions in Paiwan and Rukai villages, make a visit to a "hunting school" in Taitung and a wetlands conservation project in Mataian, and discover the intricacies of the Pasibutbut, a harvest song of the Bunun tribe that is known for its complex harmonies (you can watch a video of the song here).

Tour Guide: Scene in New York

Photo: Jane Kratochvil

When anyone who has a TV thinks of New York City, images of Seinfeld, The Sopranos, and Sex and the City immediately come to mind. So in light of the highly anticipated Sex and the City movie, premiering at the end of May, I've found a couple of tour companies that take travelers to all the New York TV hot spots, to see filming locations for movies and shows shot in the Big Apple.

This week, the buzz was about the complete Sex and the City experience (minus the, um, sex), now offered by Destination on Location, a "luxury film and travel company" that specializes in one luxury tour of the city. The four-day, five-night tour includes a cocktail hour at Jimmy Choo, lunch at Balthazar, dinner at TAO, plus lots of stops at Versace, Louis K. Meisel Gallery (Charlotte's Prince Street gallery), and Scoop... and that's just on the first day. One of Patricia Field's stylists will also accompany the tour, giving guests an inside look at New York's famous fashion quartet.

But pretending to be Carrie or Samantha comes with a hefty price tag (and we begin to wonder, as a columnist, how Carrie could afford any of this) – the tour costs $15,000 per person (and, if you decide to take the tour on the movie's premiere weekend, it will cost an extra $9,000).

Tour Guide: Guerillas in the Midst

We've done a fair share of reporting about gorilla tours and the assorted conflicts they face, but we were interested to hear about guerilla-run tours offered by Aceh Explorer Adventure Tours, which delve into the long history of conflicts in the Aceh region of Indonesia. Aceh's abundant natural resources of oil, gas, and timber were the fodder for the 30-year fight for independence between Aceh inhabitants and the Indonesian army, who relied on the island's resources for their economy. But after the tsunami devastated the region, the Indonesian troops pulled out and rebel groups received amnesty. Reuters reports that now, with a growing need for economic development in the region, tourism is quickly taking hold:

The treks in the northwestern tip of Indonesia are an attempt to lift Aceh out of poverty by developing local tourism projects and reviving the crippled economy after a 30-year conflict and a devastating tsunami in 2004. So just as tourists in Vietnam can scramble through the Cu Chi tunnels used by the Vietcong in the Vietnam war, visitors to Aceh can see where the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) hid from or fought against the Indonesian army (TNI) until as recently as 2005 when the two sides signed a peace agreement...[T]ourists scramble over sharp rocky trails, past teak trees cloaked in creepers, and alongside pristine waterfalls and sparkling rock pools.

Wanting to learn more, we wrote to Mendel Pols, Aceh Explorers founder, to get the scoop on how exactly one convinces former guerillas to be tour guides. The Dutch national, who moved to Aceh in 2004, a month before the tsunami struck, quickly got back to us with the details...

Tour Guide: New York Chocolate

I don't think I need to introduce this post with a quirky anecdote about how much we love chocolate here in Traveler's office. But clearly I got a bit excited when I found out that there's a tour company that gives chocolate tours of the Big Apple (yum...apples and chocolate).

Chocolate Zoom Magazine offers three tasty tours of the city. Sample cacao from five European chocolatiers on the Upper East Side on the Luxury Chocolate Tour (Fridays and Saturdays at 12:30 p.m., $70). The New Cuisine Chocolate Tour (Saturdays at 3:30 or 4 p.m., Sundays at noon, $70) takes guests to five American chocolatiers in downtown Manhattan.

But the icing on the (chocolate) cake is the new Union Square Chocolate, Wine, and Culture Tour (Fridays at 3:30 p.m., $80). Guests on this three-hour tour will sample chocolate and learn how to pair it with wine, all while learning about Union Square's role in the history of sweet-making in the city.

And of course, there's nothing better than being able to walk off the chocolate you just ate.

Photo: Patrick Houlihan via Flickr

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Tour Guide: Paris Paparazzi

L'hotel de ville in Paris

This just in from our friends at Gadling: French tour company Nomade Aventure has a one-day "Paris Paparazzi" tour that takes 4-20 star-crazed fans around celebrity hot spots in the City of Lights. No word yet on how many celebrity sightings the tour groups actually have, but for $43 (29€) per person, plus the cost of lunch, we certainly hope at least one Didier Ludot-wearing, Louis Vuitton-toting diva would cross their path.

Not really the celeb-chasing type? Check out "Authentic Paris" in this month's issue of Traveler.

Photo: Etienne Boucher via Flickr

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Tour Guide: Busabout Europe

We all know that the Eurail is one of the most convenient ways to travel around Europe, but it can also cost a pretty penny (er, euro). But for the young and adventurous (or even young at heart) there's another option: Busabout, or more specifically, Busabout Explorer, which expanded on the "hop-on, hop-off" city tour bus model to create network covering 30 cities in ten European countries.

The cool part: Busabout has its own tour guides that travel with passengers on every bus. So before arriving at each city, they can tell you everything you need to know about that destination, as well as answer questions and give recommendations on where to stay, eat, etc. Once you arrive at your city, the exploration part is up to you, so you're never being dragged on any boring, stereotypical tours. The guides also have an extensive selection of the best accommodations in every city of hostels, budget hotels, and camping villages, all based on Busabout passenger recommendations, so it takes the guesswork out of finding a decent (and affordable) place to stay.

Neat technology: Every Busabout guide carries a handheld computer that has a seat- and bed-booking system. This means that travelers never need to search a city for a cheap Internet café to book the next part of their trip. Every passenger also gets a Busabout Travel Pass, a card which holds your personal details, a full itinerary and other useful information, and is swiped through the handheld computer so that someone in the world knows where you are (worrisome parents, perhaps?).

The best part: Trip options are split into loops, the Northern Loop (like Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, and Munich), Southern Loop (think Venice, Rome, Florence, and Nice), and Western Loop (to Paris, Nice, Avignon, Barcelona, Madrid, Bordeaux, and beyond). Travelers can stay for as many days as they like in each city, and the Busabout buses stop in every city once every two days, making travel easy. Busabout also encourages sustainable tourism, and is part of The Leading Travel Companies of the World Conservation Foundation (which is always a plus in our books).

The pretty penny: Loop passes start at $639 for one loop. The Flexitrip pass costs $549 for six stops along any of the three loops, plus $59 for each additional "hop."

Photo: Busabout

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Tour Guide: Green Tortoise

I'm in the midst of planning a trip to Cabo San Lucas, and while perusing through my guidebooks I came across Green Tortoise, a San Francisco-based company that runs two hostels and operates a series of tours which wind along the Pacific coast, criss-cross the country, and crawl down into Central America. While their two hostels are safely grounded in San Francisco and Seattle, what piqued my interest was that their tours aren't just a series of stops and activities, but actual hostels-on-wheels.

In essence, when you climb into the 36-passenger bus to get to Alaska, Baja, the Yucatán Peninsula, or Yosemite, it turns out that the bus is also your lodging once you get there. Green Tortoise has retrofitted typical tour buses so that their tables and chairs tuck away, allowing a wide swath of mattresses to be spread throughout the cabin, in something akin to kindergarteners putting out their nap-mats (can you imagine if this same idea worked on planes?).

But aside from the comfort you’ll get from snuggling up to your fellow passengers, you’ll be at ease knowing that the company, avowedly committed to green travel, also operates many of its buses using biodiesel fuels, and offers travelers the option of offsetting their carbon count (at $5 per 5,000 miles, it’s a steal).

Teen Trips that Make Us Long for High School

There's not very much that can make us want to go back in time and re-do high school. But when we heard about a set of trips being offered by National Geographic Expeditions, we seriously considered retaking calculus for a chance to come along.

Expeditions has partnered with Putney Student Travel to create a new series of travel programs geared for high school students. Better to get the travel bug early, after all. Then you'll have more time to see everything. And with a great list of destinations, including  Belize, the Caribbean, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Galápagos, India, Iceland, Ireland, Mali, Peru, Spain and Tanzania, there's certainly plenty to see.

Student Expeditions will pair National Geographic's expert writers, photographers, scientists, and explorers with students for three-week "On Assignment" trips that will focus on a whole bevy of fantastic offerings: writing, photography, documentary filmmaking, culture and arts, Spanish language, archaeology and ancient culture, climate and geology, wildlife and conservation, music and dance, and spiritual traditions. As part of the trip, students complete projects like writing a short story, shooting a portfolio of photographs, editing a documentary film or presenting findings from an archaeological dig. Even better, students get the opportunity to give back to the places they visit.

“In crafting these expeditions, our aim has been to build in opportunities for adventure, cultural immersion and community service throughout the trip,” said Lynn Cutter, National Geographic’s senior vice president for Travel and Business Development. On many trips, students can participate in such service projects as helping to build a house, clearing forest trails or tutoring students in English. At the end of the trip, students will receive a community service certificate which can be applied towards their schools’ community service requirements.

Students in the 9th through 12th grades are eligible to participate in the trips, and must submit an application with a 150-300 word statement to apply. Get more information and apply online here.

Photo: Putney Student Travel

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Travels with the Mouse

Would you travel with Disney? More and more people are doing just that. Disney's tour-outfitter arm, Adventures by Disney, which began a mere three years ago with six tours, focused mostly in the American West, has expanded to 17 separate itineraries, including China and Australia. Senior editor Norie Quintos, the magazine's resident tour expert, recently returned from an Adventures by Disney trip to Italy with these thoughts.

"Authentic, immersive, and experiential," are how Ed Baklor, senior vice president of the Burbank-based company, describes the trips. These are all buzzwords I (and our magazine) love. And in truth, everyone on my tour—young and old—enjoyed themselves (including me and my kids, by the way). But it did get me thinking, can a Disney trip truly be authentic? And what is authenticity anyway?

Is it hitting the expected high spots (Colosseum, Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo's David, and a gondola ride) with minimum waits in line because Disney had pre-booked admission? Is it the appearance of no, not Mickey, but another costumed character playing Venetian Marco Polo edu-taining the kids with tales of his voyages? Is it the hands-on pasta making lesson at a Renaissance castle in Tuscany? Or the appointment to create your own Carnevale mask in Venice? What about the opportunities to stop and shop at The Disney Stores in Florence, Rome, and Venice? Or the liberal gifting of Disney-logo pins and baseball caps and canvas tote bags to the guests?

Tour Guide: Saving Animals in Africa

When traveling to environmentally fragile places, one can't help but feel a bit conflicted. But here are some Africa tours that will give you a lot to see, without leaving a big footprint (or giving you a headache).

Terra Incognita Ecotours provides direct financial benefits for conservation and empowerment for local people. For every participant traveling on the “Gorillas in the Mist” tour in Rwanda, Terra Incognita donates to the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project. They are also partners with the African Conservation Foundation and the Jane Goodall Institute. Other Terra Incognita tours include Costa Rica (in partnership with the Costa Rican Conservation Foundation), Nicaragua, and Borneo (with Red Ape Encounters and Adventures).

The 61,800-acre (25,000 hectare) Shamwari Game Reserve has its own wildlife department, breeding center, and anti-poaching unit, and its wildlife director (Johan Joubert) was voted one of South Africa’s Top Ten Conservationists by the Endangered Wildlife Trust. Since 1991, Shamwari has bred more than 5,000 head of game, rehabilitated and reseeded overgrazed land, and created 14 separate farms. Check out Ker & Downey for information about tours to Shamwari.

Image: Terra Incognita Ecotours

Tour Guide: Bhutan

Senior editor Norie Quintos—currently hard at work on the annual  Tours of a Lifetime issue (May/June 2008)—is looking for deals.

You won’t find a lot of discounting in the boutique tour industry. (Mega cruise ships and large resorts have spoiled us into thinking you should never pay rack rate.) Outfitters are typically small and operate on extremely tight margins.  Nevertheless, one company recently found a win-win way to sell some distressed inventory. Vermont-based Boundless Journeys occasionally offers up spaces on upcoming tours to the highest bidder. Explains regional manager Karen Cleary,

Last year, we found ourselves in the position of having a cabin on a small Galapagos cruise suddenly come available due to a last-minute cancellation. We decided to send out a call for bids to our relatively small e-mail distribution list. We received several bids and the couple who got it ended up saving 25 percent off the regular price. In this industry that’s a pretty screaming deal.

Want to try it? Boundless has a few spots open right now on a 12-day trip to Bhutan departing April 15. The retail price is $3,995 per person. All offers must be submitted to info@boundlessjourneys.com by January 25. To get on the list for future “Make Us an Offer” trips, sign up for the company’s e-newsletter.

Tour Guide: Go Differently to Asia

"Don't follow the crowd. . . Go Differently" is the motto of a sustainable, responsible tour company offering volunteering trips and "ethical holidays" to Bali, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Laos, and Thailand.

For example, an ethical holiday to the North Andaman in Thailand would include sleeping in a homestay, learning sustainable fishing practices, helping your hosts cook a traditional meal, and listening to tsunami-survivor stories from locals. The more adventurous can see the annual two-day Surin Elephant Festival in Thailand and volunteer for a week at the elephant mahout camp near Pattaya.

Go Differently explains its dedication to sustainable travel:

By keeping groups small, using knowledgeable local guides, local transport (from trains to elephants), local family-run hotels and homestays in rural villages, they ensure that as much of the price you pay as possible stays locally. Itineraries include major sites (who could go to India and miss the Taj Mahal?) but also take you off the beaten track to experience the true culture of the country you are visiting.

The company has also recently developed a "Vietnam Voluntourism Venture"—a tour so new, it's not even on the website, yet. But IT's got the scoop.

Tour Guide: Canada's North

Frontiers North Adventures offers guided tours to the most remote destinations in Canada.

At the Elu Inlet Lodge, located just south of Victoria Island in Nunavut, Canada, a knowledgable guide takes guests in a five-passenger skiff to explore islands in the Elu Inlet, and on nature hikes to see archaeological sites of ancient tent rings, kayak stands, and fire pits. Guests will also have a chance to learn about the cultural arts from local Inuit artists.

What we like about the tour is that the Elu Inlet Lodge is owned and operated by Inuit, which means your money is going to help locals. (Frontiers North Adventures was nominated for Parks Canada Sustainable Tourism Award in 2006 for its efforts to encourage appreciation of Canada's cultural, natural, and aesthetic heritage.) The tour price includes two nights at Cambridge Bay, five nights at Elu Inlet Lodge, most meals, and round-trip airfare.

Frontiers North has many other tours around the far reaches of Canada, including tours to the Hudson Strait, Igloolik (to see walruses), and Cape Churchill (to see polar bears). "We've got the best access in the world to wild  polar bears," John Gunter, Frontiers North general manager, told IT. Because of that, they're able to provide one of their Tundra Buggies, as well as lodging and a wireless transmission to the cameraman for National Geographic.com's live Polar Bear Cam -- check it out!
 

Image: © Frontiers North Adventures

Tour Guide: UN Guide to Guides

Here's a useful tool: Friends of World Heritage has a list of community tour operators in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America that have been approved by the UN World Heritage Foundation.

Tour operators include the Shampole Community Trust in Kenya (offering eco-friendly, luxury accommodations which we wrote about here), the Talamanca Initiative in Costa Rica (a biodiversity conservation group that focuses on reducing poverty) and the Bunaken National Marine Park Management Advisory Board in Indonesia (which offers homestays and eco-friendly lodging on Bunaken Island).

One hundred percent of funds raised through the Friends of the World Heritage Fund will go to World Heritage projects. Likewise, Expedia and the UN Foundation frequently match and triple the amount already raised.

Tour Guide: A Presidential Christmas

Since it's increasingly hard to step inside the White House for a tour, we offer up two presidential homes just outside Washington, D.C. that have festive holiday tours every year.

Visit Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home in Charlottesville, Virginia, just two hours south of the District. The guided Holiday Signature Tour will take guests through the main house (designed and built by Jefferson himself) and includes a peek at the third-floor Dome Room, which is excluded from regular house tours. Construction on the mansion began in 1769 and was completed in 1809. Tours begin at 5:30 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. on select Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays throughout December ($40 per person).

George Washingon's Virginia home (16 miles south of D.C.) can also be toured during the holiday season. Tickets for evening "candlelight" tours (hosted by "Martha Washington") of the Mount Vernon mansion sell out quickly, but visitors can still enjoy a tour of the house and grounds during the day. Enjoy hot cider and cookies, listen to stories about how the Washingtons celebrated Christmas, and take the stairs up to the usually closed third floor. Be sure to bring home the first First Lady's Great Cake recipe, which calls for 40 eggs, four pounds of butter, and four pounds of sugar. (The recipe has been adjusted for "modern" tastes, but still includes ten eggs, one pound of butter, and one pound of sugar.)

Holiday tours of Mount Vernon run everyday through January 6 (adult/child $13/$6; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.). When you need a bit or warming up (the 18th-century mansion does not have central heat, after all), check out the estate's new $24-million Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center, which has 23 gallery and theatre exhibits, and also serves as Washington's presidential library.

Photos: Dining room at Mount Vernon (above) and Martha Washington's Great Cake (right); Mount Vernon Ladies' Association

Tour Guide: San Fran's Chinatown

In many major U.S. cities, you'll find a cultural hub we all know as Chinatown (unless you're in Seattle, where it's the politically-correct "International District"). As many people flock to Chinatown for its cheap eats, the history and cultural aspects of these places often get forgotten.

That's why the Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco offers guided Chinatown Walking Tours through one of the largest Chinese communities outside Asia. San Francisco's Chinatown was settled in the 1860s along what is now Grant Avenue. The tours begin at the Cultural Center (750 Kearny Street) and may stop at the Tin How Temple (the oldest Chinese temple in the U.S., founded in 1852), the Chinese Historical Society of America, and churches, schools, tea shops, and food markets, along with other interesting historical sites.

The two-hour tours cost $18.00 and are available Tuesday-Saturday. Don't miss the Cultural Center's Chinese Culinary Walk, which visits the poultry market and fortune cookie factories, and also includes a dim sum lunch. The Culinary Walk is temporarily unavailable, so be sure to check with the Cultural Center before planning your tour.

If you'd rather brave Chinatown on your own, be sure to check out our Places of a Lifetime walking tours of San Francisco, which include Chinatown, Union Square, and Telegraph Hill.

Photo: Heather Allamon

Tour Guide: Foodies in Argentina

Since IT loves food and travel, a recent Washington Times article tempted our taste buds. They featured one culinary tour company in particular, and it sounded so delicious we just had to spread the word.

Culinaria was founded by Omar and Roxana Gonzalez, a Floridian couple with roots in Honduras, France, and Argentina. They currently offer three culinary tours to Argentina. In Buenos Aires, enjoy grilled beef at "one of the best places in town" and get cooking lessons at Manos de la Tierra (Hands of the Earth; chefs pictured, right). Or, visit the vineyards of Mendoza to enjoy a glass of local wine at the famous Bodega Escorihuela and get a private lesson with Federico Ziegler, chef of La Bourgogne Restaurant at Finca & Bodega Vistalba de Carlos Pulenta (pictured, above) with a view of the Andean mountains. Those who want even more fresh air might enjoy a tour in Salta, where guests visit wineries 7,546 feet (2,300 meters) above sea level.

The website also has a detailed page that describes Argentinian food, such as choripan (grilled sausage in a baguette), gnocchi de papa (potato dumplings), and provoleta, "an inch-thick slice of provolone cheese grilled (until soft) as if it were a steak and seasoned with oregano and other spices.  So simple and so good you’ll wonder why you didn’t think of it." Yum!

Culinaria is adding tours to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Patagonia, so check back soon for details.

Photos: Culinaria

Tour Guide: Earthfoot in Asia

Here's a tour company that offers something many don't: profiles and biographies of each of their tour guides. Earthfoot hosts very small-scale, low-impact, personalized eco-tours around the world. We know that a tour guide can make or break a trip, and were glad to see that Ecofoot provides detailed bios of their hosts so guests know what to expect when they head out on their tour. Here are a few of our Asia picks:

For equestrian enthusiasts, you can ride retired racing thoroughbreds with the daughter of the late His Highness Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, Maharaja of Mysore on the Horse Safari near Mysore (India). You'll travel 12-22 miles (20-35 kilometers) per day and camp in deluxe tents at night for about a week. You can also explore the Golden Triangle along the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Burma with Dr. Jeffrey Petry, a cultural anthropologist. With Dr. Petry as your guide, you can visit Doi Mae Salong, a mountainside village founded by the Kuomintang soldiers 50 years ago, and explore the marketplaces in Chiang Mai and Mae Sai.

Most of the tours have very small groups, so you'll never feel you're another head of tourist cattle. Bravo to Earthfoot for giving us a tour of their tour guides.

Photo (Wat Arun in Bangkok, Thailand): Emily Haile

Tour Guide: Eco-Lodges in Belize

We all want to be green these days, and some companies are making it even easier for us to travel that way. Manaca, Inc. offers eco-tours in more than 20 countries, from Nepal to New Zealand to Namibia. The company selects local operators, guides, and eco-lodges and asks them to sign Manaca's Responsible Tourism Pledge to ensure authenticity and sustainability.

Book an eco-tour to Belize and you'll experience the ruins, rain forests, and coral reefs that make Belize's environment unique. After touring the ancient Mayan ruins with Manaca's hand-picked guides, you might stay at DuPlooy's Jungle Lodge, located next to the 45-acre Belize Botanic Gardens. Or you could stay at the Chaa Creek, the first jungle lodge in Belize, which sits on a 365-acre reserve and employs more than 70 local staff. You can see butterfly farms and a medicinal rain forest trail, and have plenty of time to enjoy horseback riding, hiking, bird watching, canoeing, and the spa facilities offered by Chaa Creek.

Macaca's Eco-Assessment rates lodges based on what each does for community, conservation, and education. All of the lodges are tested by Manaca staff members, and while Manaca claims some lodges "vary in rusticity," they promise that "they are all quite clean and pleasingly comfortable."

Manaca's rating system makes life a bit easier when it comes to choosing what tours to go on, so they get a definite plus in our Tour Guide book.

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Tour Guide: Amazon Adventure

Boldly go where no man has gone before. Well, go where few have gone before, anyway. Brazil-based Amazon Nature Tours offers a new boat tour that, by our calculations journeys farther up the Rio Negro than any other tour company.

Impressed? It gets better: Amazon Nature Tours began as a lumber company in the 1980s, but soon realized the importance of rain forest conservation. They began their eco-tour operations in 1989, employing locals and finding other ways to help support local communities. Amazon Nature Tours explains that for many of their crew members, their children are the very first in their families to attend school. So they're no longer harvesting lumber, but cultivating economic development instead.

Tour Guide: Learning from Locals

In Italy, it’s easy to marvel at frescoes painted by the masters. But while gaping at the Sistine Chapel ceiling is nice enough, tour company Context would prefer you try your hand at a more authentic experience: slathering wet plaster with your own artistic finesse during a three-hour fresco workshop in Florence. In addition to scoring a sweet handmade souvenir, participants leave Florence with a greater understanding of why the Renaissance artists preferred fresco best.

A network of architects and historians who lead walking seminars for “intellectually adventurous travelers,” Context offers similarly unique tours and seminars in Paris, Rome, Florence, Naples, and Venice, with New York and London tours soon to debut.

Each tour is centered on a theme, and tour groups are limited to just six people—allowing the groups to tread lightly and support local businesses over tourist traps. Among the highlights: indulging in Parisian chocolate,  studying the ecology of the Venetian lagoon, and diving into Christmas traditions in Naples.

Tour Guide: Scuba and Voluntourism in East Africa

Can't decide whether you want to safari in Africa or scuba dive in a coral reef? Well, one tour company offers a unique scuba sea safari that should satisfy your craving for both land and sea adventures.

One Earth Safaris offers "scuba sea safaris" between Zanzibar, Pemba Island, and Kenya, (where sharks and humpback whales are plentiful) with visits to places like the Samburu National Reserve and Masai Mara National Reserve for sightings of the Big Five (elephant, white rhino, buffalo, lion, and leopard). Company founder Ranjit Sondhi says that seeing the Annual Wildebeest Migration is a must when visiting East Africa. One Earth guests can also track gorillas in Rwanda and Uganda in groups from 4 to 35 people. The company is currently developing plans for an underwater hotel off of Pemba Island.

The One Earth team (comprised of ecologists, ethnologists, and naturalists) has also developed One Earth Sukuma Voluntourism, a volunteer program on a wildlife conservancy that acts as a buffer to Tsavo National Park (the largest in Kenya) and as a safe haven for buffalo, elephants, antelope, giraffes, and zebras. One Earth Safaris supports sustainable tourism, which gets a huge plus in our books.

Photo: Russell Hunkin, One Earth Safaris

Tour Guide: Ghosts

Do you believe in ghosts? Whether you do or not, around this time of year we like to give ghosts the benefit of the doubt. Here are some tours that will leave the hair standing on your neck this Halloween.

Alexandria, Virginia: Check out Old Town Alexandria to catch a glimpse of the spirit of Robert E. Lee in his boyhood home, or the 19th-century bride who