Things to Do in Napa & Sonoma

There are lovely beaches tucked away in La Sagesse Nature Center, but bird watching is the bigger draw here. Birds flocking to the estuary’s tranquil mangroves, scrub, cactus, and salt ponds include coots, egrets, herons, and flycatchers. Follow the hiking trails that wind through the park and see how many varieties you can spot.

 

Formerly the estate of Queen Elizabeth’s cousin, Lord Brownlow, La Sagesse Nature Center is located on the southeast coast of the island. This idyllic hideaway offers accommodations, including a colonial-style manor house and cottages. There’s a beachfront restaurant where you can dine under the palms. In addition to birdwatching, the property boasts peaceful beaches and free guided tours. Some island tours also include the nature center, offering time to swim and snorkel at the beaches.

 

La Sagesse is located on the southeast coast of Grenada on La Sagesse Bay in St. David; it is 30 minutes away from St. George’s by taxi. From the cruise terminal, it’s 40-minutes’ drive; you can either prebook a taxi for a set rate or grab one upon arrival and negotiate a fee. Tours of the island typically include round-trip transportation from the hotels.

 

La Sagesse Nature Center is open daily from 8am to 9pm and admission is free. You’ll encounter the biggest crowds during the weekend, but the center’s beaches are known for being secluded and less congested than others.

 

Located inside the Grand Etang Rain Forest on the south side of Grenada, the Seven Sisters Waterfall is a 7-step waterfall with a large pool at the bottom that’s perfect for swimming. This natural attraction is also a popular hiking spot. Guides are available to provide walking sticks and to help hikers navigate slippery rocks.

La Tigra National Park, also known as Parque Nacional La Tigra in Spanish, is the oldest national park in Honduras. It is named after the female puma, which is called la tigra, and true to its name, there are actually several of the elusive creatures around. Other rare animals that can be spotted with some luck are the iridescent red and green quetzals, ocelots, peccaries, hawks and toucans. The wet cloud forest is the ideal habitat for those animals and the condensed moisture and enveloping clouds allow for a lush vegetation to grow. Bromeliads, ferns, colorful mushrooms, orchids, avocado trees and the great ceibos, the sacred trees of the Mayans, are a common sight. 

The park can be explored on eight trails leading through the 240 square kilometer big territory and visitors get to experience the climate as it existed before the spread of the city and heavy logging caused most of the cloud forest in the region to disappear. Today, La Tigra is the largest remaining natural area near Tegucigalpa and covers almost a third of the city’s fresh water consumption. It is not only the most visited national park in the country and a wildlife sanctuary, but is also used to educate about the importance of protecting the environment.

With its dreamlike landscape of sandy beaches, sweeping dunes and volcanic hills, most visitors come to La Graciosa to soak up the scenery and getting around the 30 square-kilometer island is easily done on foot, by jeep or water taxi. Along with swimming and sunbathing, the most popular pastimes for day-trippers include cruising around the surrounding isles, cycling along the coast or scuba diving in the surrounding marine reserve, whereas holidaymakers can rent out one of the traditional whitewashed cottages by the Caleta del Sebo harbor.

La Moneda is easy to spot – its white, neoclassical walls make up the presidential palace that takes up an entire city block in downtown Santiago. Construction began in 1781 and was completed in 1805, when it was used as a mint, which is what the term moneda translates to in English.

The gigantic Chilean flag that waves in front of La Moneda, from a grassy traffic circle in the middle of the Alameda (Avenida Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins), can be seen from blocks away. There are two nearby plazas that serve as popular meeting and lunchtime spots, each with lawns, fountains and benches.

History buffs will remember that this building was bombed in 1973 as part of the coup d’etat that ended Salvador Allende’s presidency and preceded Augusto Pinochet’s rise to power. There are still, a few areas where the damage has been left for visitors to see. There is also a statue of Salvador Allende at the southeast corner of the Plaza de la Constitución, which is occasionally decorated as part of political demonstrations.

Visitors can visit the exterior of La Moneda at any time. Beneath the building is the Centro Cultural Palacio La Moneda, a large space with several art galleries (entry to all is included in one admission ticket), two movie theaters, an independent bookstore, a restaurant  and a high-quality crafts store that sells terra cotta and woven items.

This popular Bavaro and Punta Cana attraction is perfect for the entire family and blends plenty of tropical wonder with outdoor excitement and Dominican culture and tradition.

Travelers who venture out on this wilderness adventure will have the chance to horseback ride on rugged trails that wind through tropical forests, past scenic rivers and towering mountains. A high-speed buggy ride offers up the ideal adventure for thrill seeking adventurers and an island safari showcases the best of this Caribbean destination’s biodiversity. Travelers will learn about the history of farming in the region from their expert guide, as well as the importance of coffee and cocoa plantations that produce some of Dominican Republic’s most-famous exports. The safari even includes a stop at La Hacienda’s own village for a look at local life.

After working up an appetite in the great outdoors, visitors can tuck into a hearty buffet filled with traditional Dominican favorites, including rice, beans, chicken and plantains—served with a jungle view!

The convenient location of some of the world’s best skiing to Chile’s capital city of Santiago might make you consider spending a winter here. Or at least skipping a week or two of your own summer when European and North American pros come down to the Andes to practice in the off-season. If you want to try to spy some US national ski team members, try July and August on the advanced slopes at La Parva, when they just might be training. 

La Parva has about 1,000 acres of terrain, and runs 14 different lifts, of quads, triples and doubles. It’s also one of the ski resorts that caters to the youngest children, starting from age 4, though some of the lessons for the youngest kids are inside. One thing that sets La Parva apart from other ski resorts is that people stay in private homes and condos here as opposed to hotels, which puts more of a family feel to it. Staying on the mountain will give you some of the best possible views of the twinkling lights of the Santiago’s night sky, both the stars above and the city below.

In summer of 2015 in La Parva, they’ll be making improvements to the snowmaking system, as well as changing out some of the ski lift motors. In December 2014, La Parva opened as an experienced downhill cyclist’s paradise, where you take the lift up and pedal back down, with about 2,700 feet of vertical drop.

Located in the center of the city, La Latina is one of the most authentic neighborhoods in Madrid. Medieval roads wind around Plaza de la Cebada and Plaza Paja, and this district was once inside of Madrid's first city walls. Some remains of the walls can still be seen. The area was once occupied by artisans and manual workers, which influenced the names of the two main squares. Cebada means barley and Paja means straw, and these squares were once home to busy markets.

This is a popular district for locals who enjoy frequenting the many bars, pubs, and traditional taverns located here, making for lively nightlife. During the day, be sure to check out the Basilica of San Francisco el Grande and the park of Las Vistillas. The park offers wonderful views of the sunset against the Cathedral of Santa María Real de la Almudena. La Latina also has plenty of options for flamenco and tapas.

Among the many masterpieces inside St. Peter's Basilica, Michelangelo's majestic and moving La Pietà is perhaps the crown jewel. This remarkable life-size sculpture of the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Christ blends classical ideals of beauty with startling naturalism and is among the world’s most important works of art. 

Michelangelo carved La Pietà from a single block of Carrara marble in the late 1490s, and it is the only work the artist signed. Created as a funeral monument for the French cardinal Jean de Bilhères, the statue was moved to its current location in St. Peter’s Basilica in the 18th century. After being damaged by a vandal in 1972, La Pietà was placed behind a protective glass screen. 

Choose an early entrance or skip-the-line tour of St. Peter's Basilica to benefit from the knowledge of a guide and avoid a long wait to enter this popular sight. Tours of the basilica are often combined with a visit to St. Peter’s Dome or the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, where more of Michelangelo's works can be seen. Extended Vatican tours may also include the Vatican Gardens, Necropolis, and Bramante’s Staircase.

St. Peter’s Basilica is located on St. Peter’s Square (Piazza San Pietro) in Vatican City. The closest metro station is Ottaviano. La Pietà stands in the first chapel on the right when you enter the basilica.

St. Peter’s Basilica is one of the most popular attractions in Rome and crowded most of the year. Early morning is the best time to visit to beat the crowds and enjoy the beauty of the largest church in the world and the art inside virtually to yourself.

In addition to Michelangelo’s stunning masterpiece, the basilica is home to a number of important works of art. Be sure to admire Bernini’s ornate Papal altar and baldacchino, as well as his equestrian statue of Constantine. The interior of the church is covered with over 100,000 square feet (9,290 square meters) of mosaics, much of which reproduce famous Renaissance paintings, including Raphael’s Transfiguration. Another work of note is the funerary monument  dedicated to Clement XIII, created by Canova at the end of the 18th century and famous for its meticulously sculpted lions. 

Santiago’s La Iglesia San Vicente Ferrer is a beautiful whitewashed church and national monument that appeared on Chile’s 2,000 peso banknote from 1997-2010. Just to the side of San Vicente Ferrer church, you’ll find Los Dominicos Village — the popular arts, crafts, and antiques market that first opened in a section of the old convent in 1983.  

While the official name of the church is La Iglesia San Vicente Ferrer, if you’re asking for directions to get here, you might just want to call it “Iglesia de los Dominicos” (Church of the Dominicans) like the locals do. What’s in the name? The church used to belong to the Dominican Order, and it was a group of Dominican monks who first began construction of the church and adjacent convent back in 1809. 

La Isabela is located within the Puerto Plata province of the Dominican Republic. It is the second-oldest European settlement in the New World, founded by Christopher Columbus during his second voyage in 1493. Columbus named the area after Queen Isabella I of Castile. Columbus established La Isabela to search for gold, but when he found very little, he enslaved people to the island. The inevitable issues of hunger and disease led to a wealth of problems like mutiny, punishment and, of course, more disease and hunger. Combine that with repeated conflicts with the local Taíno, and the colony was doomed. Columbus’ failure got him called back to Spain, and the colony was ultimately abandoned in 1498.

Today, La Isabela is an archaeological and historical park.Excavations started in the late 1980s. It is presumed the ruins were more extensive, but the area was bulldozed in 1960. A military fort was built at that time to ward off potential invasions by associates of Fidel Castro. The Parque Nacional La Isabela still contains a few notable structures and artifacts worth visiting. There are walls that are believed to have been part of Columbus’ home, the church where the first mass was conducted in the New World and an observation tower. Remains were found in the chapel’s cemetery, and the skeleton of a Spaniard who died of malaria is on display.

There is a small museum on-site with some artifacts unearthed during excavations, including a pottery oven, kiln, 16th-century crucifix, containers used to purify gold, Taíno religious icons and pottery shards. 

The dormant La Soufrière volcano (also known as La Grande Soufrière or Qualibou), is described as “the world’s only drive-in volcano.” It’s home to Sulphur Springs Park, the most active geothermal area in the Lesser Antilles, where tourists and locals alike who come to bathe in nature hot springs and enjoy the health benefits of the mineral-rich volcanic mud.  

A walk through the rocky La Soufrière crater reveals bubbling hot springs and plumes of steam that shoot toward the sky—although the water can reach an incredible 300°F (149°C) in some places, there are areas where travelers can take a dip. 

Visitors can book a visit to the mud baths, a walk around the park to see the pools and steam vents in action, or a combined ticket for both activities. It’s also possible to visit as part of a guided sailing or hiking tour or a half- or full-day Soufrière tour, some of which also make a stop at a nearby waterfall for a refreshing swim after the mud bath. Spa treatments such as facials and massages are also available. 

Sulphur Springs Park is located a short distance outside the town of Soufrière, on St. Lucia’s southwest coast. The park is accessible by road and guided tours that provide round-trip transport to and from the park. 

The park is open daily from 9am to 5pm, with the exception of the first Friday in September each year. The site can get busy, especially on weekends—book a guided tour to skip the ticket line at the entrance.

Just a short drive away from La Soufrière volcano, Soufrière is a must-visit on any trip to St. Lucia. The town was once the island’s capital, and many of its colorful colonial buildings still remain. Surrounded by vibrant green hills with views of the Caribbean Sea and the iconic Piton mountains, Soufrière allows visitors to explore the charming streets or visit a working cacao plantation.

La Sebastiana, up on Cerro Bellavista in Valparaíso, one of famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s houses-turned-museums is well worth the trip for a number of reasons. One, it will get you off the main tourist hills of Cerro Concepción and Cerro Alegre, into a quieter part of Valaparaíso where grandmas come out and sweep the front stoop every morning. The second of course, is the museum itself. It’s set inside a grassy yard, with a café at the entrance. There are descriptive texts available at the front door, and museum docents in every room, as well as an audio guide available in several languages.

Of all of the three houses turned museums that famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda left behind, this is perhaps that one that most encourages you to look out the windows, with multicolored houses perched on the hills all around, and an expansive view of the ocean. Inside the house, there are ocean-related relics like seashells, buoys, collections of books, and carved wooden music boxes, in addition to poems printed throughout the house, that explain in Neruda’s own words,  how he felt a need to be close to the ocean, after spending time in landlocked Santiago.

Neruda originally bought the house in the 1960s, and inaugurated it with a big party, similar to the ones he also held every New Years’ Eve to watch the Valparaíso fireworks, which still take place yearly. After his death in 1973, the house suffered some damage, and was later restored, quirky decorations and all, to its current state in the late 1990s, with the help of Telefónica España. The gardens are a pleasant place to sit for a while, and pose sitting on the bench with the Neruda cut-out, a classic La Sebastiana photo.

With its lattice of canal ways and assortment of half-timbered townhouses, La Petite France is one of Strasbourg’s most picturesque neighborhoods and an integral part of the city’s UNESCO World Heritage site. Set at the mouth of the River Ill on Strasbourg’s Grande Île, the historic district is the city’s oldest area, dating back to the 16th century, when it was mostly inhabited by fishermen, tanners and millers. 

Today, the old tanning houses and water mills of La Petite France have been transformed into bijou hotels, waterfront restaurants and nostalgic souvenir shops, but it’s the district’s timeless charm that entices most visitors. Explore the warren of narrow cobblestone alleyways and you’ll find ample photo opportunities—exquisitely preserved medieval buildings, waterside promenades brimming with colorful flower baskets and views stretching down to the nearby Covered Bridges and Vauban Dam.

Founded in 1976, La Laguna Botanical Garden sits within a volcanic crater just outside the city of San Salvador. The sprawling gardens display more than 3,500 species of native and exotic plants, including 35,000 specimens inside the garden’s herbarium. The 7.5-acre (3.15 hectare) gardens are divided into 32 themed zones, with well-labeled collections including medicinal plants, ferns, orchids, desert plants and native vegetation.

The grounds also include a large playground for children and a cafeteria selling refreshments. Seating areas scattered around the gardens are perfect for picnicking or simply enjoying the fresh air and quiet — a welcome break from the noise of San Salvador. Keep an eye out for animal residents, including huge iguanas, fish, turtles and a variety of birds.

Perched on a hilltop looking down over the Cote d’Azur and just minutes from the border of Monaco, La Turbie makes a worthwhile detour for those en-route to Monte Carlo. With its narrow paved streets and stone-brick archways, the small village offers an authentic slice of old Provence, and its baroque church and medieval buildings make for a pleasant walking tour.  

The undisputed star attraction of La Turbie is the striking Tropaeum Alpium or ‘Trophy of the Alps’, a grand 35-meter-tall monument that looms over the town and was built by the Romans in 7 BC. North of the Tropaeum, walking trails run up into the surrounding hills and offer impressive lookouts over the Mediterranean coast below, with views spanning Cap Ferrat, Antibes and as far as Vintimille bay in Italy.

Thousands of green parakeets inhabit the trees at the bottom of this massive plateau, giving rise to its namesake—Sinkhole of Parrots. Each morning between 5:30 and 6 a.m., as well as each evening from 4 until 5 p.m., these colorful birds dart through the sky as they depart for and return from the outside world. Travelers can bear witness to this spectacle, which is unlike any other, and which hits its peak between March and October. Sinkhole of Parrots attracts more than 80 other species of birds, including honeycreepers, thrushes and woodpeckers, making it a destination for avian aficionados. 

In addition to an am impressive array of birds, travelers will find close to 50 ancient rock paintings nearly 70 meters below ground level. Visitors can climb down rocky cliffs to check out these images left by unknown artists between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago. 

La Storia Complex, located just over a mile (2 kilometers) from Mt. Nebo, offers visitors a quirky overview of the culture, religion, history and heritage of Jordan. The museum portion of the complex comprises a series of dioramas (some of them animatronic) depicting mostly Biblical scenes, starting with Noah’s Ark and continuing through the parting of the Red Sea, the birth of Jesus and the Last Supper. Other scenes show what life was like in a traditional Bedouin village, with animatronic villagers performing day-to-day tasks.

Also of interest is the onsite HandiCrafts Centre, where you can buy handmade mosaics, furniture, carpets, Dead Sea products, scarves, shawls and Bedouin jewelry, much of it made by local artists with special needs. Another section of the museum has been reserved to house what could turn out to be the largest mosaic mural in the world, set to measure 98 feet (30 meters) long and 20 feet (6 meters) tall.

Shopping is a popular pastime in Italy, for tourists and Italians alike, but don't be fooled into thinking the Italians are always paying top prices for designer duds. They're often shopping at outlet malls, too. Near Naples, the outlet mall of choice is La Reggia Designer Outlet.

La Reggia is located just south of Caserta, near the town of Marcianise, roughly 30 miles north of Naples. The outlet is designed like a modern outdoor mall, with arcades lined with shops on both sides. There are more than 100 shops in all at La Reggia, featuring discounts of 30 to 70 percent off retail prices.

You'll find Italian, European, American and many other international brands, including Armani, Diesel, Camper, Guess, Michael Kors, Prada, Roberto Cavalli, Replay, Timberland and Valentino.

As Cali’s oldest church, Iglesia de la Merced was established in the 16th century. Built in the typical whitewashed Spanish colonial style, it features wood and stucco construction and a long, narrow nave. Adjacent to the church is the La Merced Church Museum, housed in the oldest building in the city, the former La Merced convent. It features centuries ­old artifacts, including an impressive collection of pre­-Columbian pottery left behind by different cultures from central and southern parts of Colombia. The church and museum can be visited as part of a Cali city sightseeing tour, which includes a visit to the city’s other major attractions, including Plaza Caicedo, San Antonio hill, and El Gato del Rio park.

Adventurers planning to voyage to well-known Lake Titicaca from the town of Cusco will likely find themselves traveling along the famed La Raya Pass. Nestled atop the Andres Mountains, the rugged terrain of La Raya is known for its picturesque sloping hillsides, purple peaks and calm fresh water pools. Popular passenger trains designated for tourists make a quick stop at 4,000 feet, where travelers can snap impressive photos of epic panoramic views that are certain to capture this rare natural beauty.