Daily Pampering: Mandarin Oriental Prague takes the spa to a spiritual level

by Melanie Nayer on

Few places in the world combine pampering and prayer, but the Mandarin Oriental, Prague figured out a way to do it.

If you’re seeking complete harmony between mind, body and spirit, The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, Prague might be the best starting point.

It’s the only spa in the world located in a former Renaissance chapel and preserves the remnants of its Gothic church under a glass floor.

The spa encompasses two floors and hosts six private treatment rooms. After the treatment, guests dress in robes and retreat to their hotel rooms through an underground passageway that links to the spa to the main building.

Spa treatments in the “church” start at CZK 800 (approximately USD $42) and can run as high as CZK 8,500 (approximately USD $450).

The cost of a religious revival in a spa? Priceless.

Blogger David Farley

by David Farley on

1. Where was your photo taken: La Torre, a great restaurant in Viterbo, about an hour north of Rome . The guy to my left is Paul Steffen, an 87-year-old American dancer who, at one time, was quite famous in Italy for his choreography. Those who have read my book, An Irreverent Curiosity, should be familiar with him. The photo was taken by Pancho Garrison, another good friend and Calcata character who has a sizeable presence in my book.

2. Where do you live now: New York City

3. Scariest airline flown: A “retired” Aeroflot plane that was being chartered by a tour operator. I was flying from Prague to the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria.

4. Favorite city/country/place: People ask me this question all the time and the answer changes depending on where I’ve traveled recently and my mood. I lived in Prague for a few years and was quite attached to the city long after I left. Also I lived in a village near Rome called Calcata and still have a deep fondness for both the Italian capital and Calcata. I was recently in Vietnam and came back home hoping I’ll be able to spend a lot more time there in the future.

5. Most remote corner of the globe visited: I’m not terribly well traveled. I was recently in La Paz, 13,000 feet up in the Andes and with altitude sickness weighing me down as if a truck-sized boulder was on top of me, I felt like I had entered a completely different and very remote dimension.

6. Favorite guidebook series: It depends. Often I just opt to gather my own info via travel articles, news and magazine articles, and info from friends of friends who live in the destination. When I do use a guidebook I tend to gravitate to the Time Out series though.

7. The most unusual food I’ve ever eaten is... I’ve eaten rat in Vietnam, llama in Bolivia, fish sperm ducts in the Czech Republic, but the weirdest thing I’ve eaten is “Italian” food –or, rather, what someone decided to define as Italian food –at American chain restaurants like the Olive Garden.

8. Favorite Foreign Dish/Restaurant? Is there still such a thing as a “foreign dish” in this very globalized 21st century? Some of my favorite restaurants are La Grotta dei Germogli in Calcata, ; Da Enzo in Rome; La Torre in Viterbo, Italy; any taqueria in Los Angeles with a Department of Public Health food facility rating of “B” or worse; Momofuku Ssam Bar and Ipudo in New York City . I also love eating cau lau at the central food market in Hoi An, Vietnam. One of the best meals I had in a long time was a few months ago at David Burke Townhouse in New York.

9. When I’m not writing for Gadling, I’m…eating and drinking and then, usually, writing about it for various travel magazines and newspaper travel sections.

10. Next trip: Oakland, CA. and then Belarus and then …

Adventure Tourism Development Index rates top adventure destinations

by Kraig Becker on

The Adventure Tourism Development Index is a study put together by the Adventure Travel Trade Association, in conjunction with George Washington University and Xola Consulting. The joint effort examines 192 countries and ranks them based on their commitment to sustainable adventure tourism, as well as a number of other factors that influence their ability to host an adventure travel market and offer unique experience to travelers.

The ATDI uses what it calls the “10 Pillars of Adventure Tourism Market Competitiveness” to determine its rankings. Those pillars include Sustainable Development Policy, Safety and Security, Tourism Infrastructure, Natural Resources, Cultural Resources, Adventure Activity Resources, Entrepreneurship, Humanitarian, Health, and Image.

The study used a combination of surveys, gathered from top adventure travel specialists from around the planet, and quantifiable data from each of the countries to establish a list of the top adventure destinations in both the developed and developing world.

The results of the research are quite interesting, offering up some destinations that might not have seemed like viable options in the past. The top ten developing countries are as follows:

1. Slovak Republic
2. Israel
3. Czech Republic
4. Estonia
5. Slovenia
6. Chile
7. Bulgaria
8. Latvia
9. Botswana
10. Lithuania

And the top ten developed countries are:1. Iceland
2. Switzerland
3. New Zealand
4. United Kingdom
5. Australia
6. Luxembourg
7. Denmark
8. Ireland
9. Germany
10. Spain

A quick look at both lists offers some perennial favorites, especially on the rankings of the developed countries. For instance, Iceland, New Zealand, and Australia have long been top destinations for adventure travelers. The list of developing countries is far more interesting however, with long time favorites Chile and Botswana making the list. But even more important is the emergence of the Eastern European countries as increasingly viable options. That region is quickly gaining a reputation for great hiking, backpacking, and paddling destinations, with amazing scenery and fantastic cultures to explore. It doesn’t hurt that they travel in the region is very affordable and not yet over run with tourists too.

To download and read the full ATDI report, click here.

View the beauty of Prague — through the largest panorama photo in the world

by Scott Carmichael on

What happens when you set up a digital camera on top of the Prague TV tower, and let it snap away for a couple of hours? Well, you end up with a 360 degree panoramic shot of the city, measuring 192,000 x 96,000 pixels, for a total of 18 gigapixels.

The image is currently the largest panoramic city shot in the world, and it is hosted by 360cities.net. You can rotate the image, and zoom in on any portion. You’ll be amazed just how far you can zoom in without losing photo quality.

If you want to know what/where you are looking at in the panorama, just click the “show map” tab on the left side. It’ll pull up a Google map of the area. The real fun part is wasting your day, trying to find weird and wacky stuff going on.

Photo of the Day (12/16/09)

by Jamie Rhein on

Taken outside Tyn Church in Prague, this shot by uncorneredmarket does a lovely job of capturing an important aspect of the Czech Republic’s holiday season. Christmas markets offer visitors a variety of Czech crafts and food that are served up with twinkling lights and evergreens.

A cup of hot wine, a traditional beverage of such markets, would make a perfect accompaniment for such an evening.

If you have captured an aspect of your travels, send your best photos our way at Gadling’s Flickr photo pool. One might be chosen for a Photo of the Day.