I have a confession to share: I am not an animal person. Friends’ pets frighten me with their pouncing and slobbering; I find zoos rather pedestrian; and don’t get me started on the critters that destroyed my garden last summer. So what, one might ask, was I doing in the …

If you have ever tried to pack too many sights into a 12-day trip, you know how vital it is to build “vacation time” into your vacations. In South America, there is a place that provides nothing but a respite from your travels. The Four Seasons Car-melo in Uruguay (formerly …

“We’ll be stabling tonight in Taynuilt,” said the man across the aisle, looking up from his itinerary as if to savor the word. It was yet another affirmation of why we had chosen this trip. On any other train, it would simply be referred to as pulling off for the …

The South Carolina low country, a pristine region of tidal creeks and serpentine rivers, mansions and marsh grass, provides some of the finest golfing grounds in the country. Here you will find everything from rolling fairways along the Atlantic to murky, gator-filled water hazards on courses surrounded by marshland. It …

Upon your arrival, the glory of Venice strikes you. It is present in the architecture of the palaces, churches, and squares. The city’s onetime prosperity is witnessed in commissioned paintings by Bellini, Carpaccio, Tintoretto, and Titian. And who is not familiar with the unique …

Historians may dismiss the legend that Annie Palmer, mistress of Jamaica’s Rose Hall plantation, murdered three husbands before she was killed in 1831, but that has not stopped the Ritz-Carlton from taking the White Witch of Rose Hall as a cautionary tale.Since opening 18 months ago on the ocean edge …

On the first day of camp, Walter Oetzell listens closely as Jackson Hole veteran ski school instructor Rich Lee presents the agenda for the next day: Meet at 8 am, ride the tram to the top of the mountain, and take a warm-up run. “He sounded so laid back,” says …

Tommy Moe sits on the chairlift, occasionally looking down the steep slopes of Rendezvous Mountain in Wyoming’s high country. There, only a few miles down the peak-ringed valley known as Jackson Hole, he is building a new house, complete with what he calls a “monster” garage. “And, best of all, …

Tim Blixseth stares down from a rocky ledge to a picture-perfect fairway as he describes how he built this course in the hills near Palm Springs, Calif. The 51-year-old timber baron and real estate developer picks up a stick and draws a line in the earth, adding a few curves …

XV Beacon (877.XVBEACON) and the White Barn Inn (207. 967.2321) are offering the best of both worlds—city and country—for weekend travelers to New England. The tony boutique hotel in the heart of Boston and the charming Relais & Châteaux property in the quaint yet cultured seaside community of Kennebunkport, Maine, …