1,000 Places to See Before You Die

by Patricia Schultz

THE LAS VEGAS STRIP

  Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.

  The 4.5-mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard known as the Strip is the world capital of glitter, festooned with pleasure palaces, 24-hour casinos, and quick-hitch wedding chapels. But the tacky wackiness has slowly been ceding ground to top-of-the-line luxury, and these days the town’s hotels are defined more by high-thread-count sheets and tasteful marble baths than faux-crystal chandeliers and neon.

  Still, much of the Strip retains its outré roots, and you can’t visit here without taking a drive and soaking in the flashy parade of hotels-cum-casinos, from the giant lion outside the MGM Grand to the half-scale copy of the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas.

  In a class all its own is the Bellagio, an imposing Italianate palazzo with almost 4,000 rooms that appears to float on an 8.5-acre manmade lake. The resort’s dancing fountains beckon visitors into its sumptuous casino. Across the way, Wynn Las Vegas and its new annex, Encore, offer guests every luxury imaginable, from high-tech-gadget-embellished rooms to the only golf course on the Strip.

  Sin City’s rebirth has brought with it some of America’s—and the world’s—premier chefs. At Paul Bartolotta’s restaurant in Wynn Las Vegas, named for its chef-owner, you can dine outdoors on fish flown in daily from the Mediterranean. The Bellagio’s multicourse prix-fixe wonders prepared by Julian Serrano are enjoyed under the gaze of the Picassos that give the haute eatery its moniker. And what about those all-you-can-eat buffets? They’re still there, and the uncontested champion is at the Wynn, with everything from Kansas City–style barbecue to five kinds of ceviche.

  Vegas’s classic “showgirl” experience of bare breasts and big headdresses is all but gone, replaced by a wide array of big-name Broadway and Cirque du Soleil shows, the latter multimillion-dollar productions that elevate traditional big-top theatrics to high-concept performance art. But perhaps the pinnacle of Vegas’s journey from crass to class is the new CityCenter, a visually stunning and architecturally sophisticated hotel/residential complex with high-end restaurants and a retail mall designed by Daniel Libeskind. At its center stands the ARIA Resort and Casino, its 61 stories filled with more than 4,000 rooms, a top-of-the-line Asian-themed spa, more than a dozen restaurants and bars, and a theater showing one of Cirque du Soleil’s newer shows, Viva ELVIS.

  Venture north along of the Strip to find the vestiges of the tacky Las Vegas of yore, like the busy Chapel of the Flowers, which, along with more than three dozen other Strip chapels, accounts for nearly 100,000 marriages every year.

  When completed, the Bellagio was the most expensive hotel ever built.

  VISITOR INFO: www.visitlasvegas.com. BELLAGIO: Tel 888-987-6667 or 702-693-7111; www.bellagio.com. Cost: from $160; 4-course prix-fixe dinner at Picasso $115. WYNN LAS VEGAS: Tel 877-321-9966 or 702-770-7100; www.wynnlasvegas.com. Cost: from $159; dinner at Bartolotta’s $140, dinner at The Buffet $28. CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: 866-241-2833 or 702-693-7722 for most shows; www.cirquedusoleil.com. ARIA: Tel 866-359-7757 or 702-590-7757; www.arialasvegas.com. Cost: from $130. BEST TIMES: Jun–Aug for low hotel rates; Apr or Oct for nice weather.

  Luxury in the Heart of the Mountain Wilderness

  THE GREAT NORTH WOODS

  Dixville Notch and Whitefield, New Hampshire, U.S.A.

  Blankets of trees, picturesque lakes, and meandering streams envelop the northernmost part of New Hampshire—an area owned largely by lumber and paper companies, where moose are more common than people. The scenic 98-mile Moose Path Trail offers excellent opportunities for wildlife sightings, running from Gorham to Pittsburg and taking motorists through the town of Dixville Notch into serene wilderness, where idyllic spots for camping, fishing, rafting, and hiking abound.

  Nestled in an isolated mountain pass 16 miles south of the Canadian border, the Balsams, a magnificent, old-fashioned resort, stands at the center of 8,000 mountain acres. Opened in 1866, it has expanded to include over 200 guest rooms and offers loads of activities. For golfers there is the Donald Ross–designed 18-hole Panorama course on Keazer Mountain, a nine-hole executive course, and a top-notch golf school. Those who don’t know drivers from 9-irons can swim in the heated outdoor pool, play tennis, mountain bike, fish, or boat on the resort’s tranquil Lake Gloriette. Sixteen popular and not-too-challenging alpine runs and 59 miles of Nordic trails bring guests back in the winter months; ice-skating is available too. It’s a four-season destination, and three-generation vacations aren’t unusual here. Dinner is a festive affair, and jackets for men are a must.

  Hidden in the small town of Whitefield is another landmark hotel, the Mountain View Grand Resort & Spa, with an award-winning spa, a 100-year-old golf course, and jaw-dropping views of the White Mountains from its enormous front porch. Whitefield’s other claim to fame is Grandma’s Kitchen, a beloved old-timey diner that serves breakfast all day long—and considers pie a reasonable choice first thing in the morning.

  WHERE: Dixville Notch is 210 miles north of Boston. VISITOR INFO: www.northerngatewaychamber.org. THE BALSAMS: Tel 800-255-0600 or 603-255-3400; www.thebalsams.com. Cost: from $180 per person, all-inclusive (off-peak), from $310 (peak). MOUNTAIN VIEW GRAND: Tel 866-484-3843 or 603-837-2100; www.mountainviewgrand.com. Cost: from $140 (off-peak), from $200 (peak); greens fees from $25. GRANDMA’S KITCHEN: Tel 603-837-2525. Cost: breakfast $10. BEST TIMES: late Aug for the Moose Festival in Colebrook; mid-Sep–late Oct for foliage; late Dec for Christmas Celebration and New Year’s Eve Blast at The Balsams.

  Summer Playgrounds and Golden Ponds

  THE LAKES REGION

  Lake Winnipesaukee and environs, New Hampshire, U.S.A.

  Rural villages, rustic summer colonies, extravagant “cottages,” and family-friendly motels dot the shores of the 273 lakes and ponds that comprise New Hampshire’s idyllic Lake Region. At 72 square miles, Lake Winnipesaukee (“Smiling Waters”) is the largest lake in the state with one of its prettiest drives: the 97-mile Lakes Region Tour. Or explore it by boat aboard the popular 230-foot MS Mount Washington, which cruises around the lake’s many islands en route to charming lakeside towns.

  The elegant village of Wolfeboro claims to be America’s oldest summer resort. Meredith is also a lovely town, in a gorgeous spot between lakes Winnipesaukee and Waukewan. Book a stay at the historic Inns & Spa at Mill Falls, a waterside complex partially housed in a renovated waterside textile mill that includes an appealing variety of shops and restaurants.

  If Lake Winnipesaukee seems too bustling, consider quiet Squam Lake, storied location of the 1981 film On Golden Pond. A Yankee summer colony with an exclusive air sits on the pretty lake, which you can explore by canoe, kayak, or boat tour. Stay at the Manor on Golden Pond, an English-style country house built in the early 20th century, with inspiring views of the lake and the foothills of the White Mountains. Its romantic rooms and cottages, some with private decks and fireplaces, and an acclaimed dining room and wine cellar make it the area’s standout inn.

  The Lakes Region isn’t all scenery and serenity. Family-friendly Weirs Beach, on the western shore of Winnipesaukee, lets you mix things up with water slides, souvenir shops, miniature golf, and one of the largest video arcades in the country. The nearby city of Laconia is famous for its rowdy, 9-day motorcycle rally held every June. Dating back to 1923, it draws more than 300,000 bikers and bike fans from all over the country.

  WHERE: Wolfeboro is 100 miles north of Boston. VISITOR INFO: www.lakesregion.org. INNS & SPA AT MILL FALLS: Tel 800-622-6455 or 603-279-7006; www.millfalls.com. Cost: from $110. MANOR ON GOLDEN POND: Tel 800-545-2141 or 603-968-3348; www.manorongoldenpond.com. Cost: from $235; dinner $60. BEST TIMES: mid-Jun for Laconia Motorcycle Week; late Jul for Antique & Classic Boat Show in Meredith; late Sep–Oct for foliage.

  The High Point of the Northeast

  THE WHITE MOUNTAINS

  North Conway and environs, New Hampshire, U.S.A.

  The White Mountains inspire superlatives—tallest, coldest, windiest—and their crowning glory, Mount Washing
ton, at 6,288 feet, claims the title of highest in the Northeast. From its summit you can take in the majesty of the Presidential Range, with its five peaks above 5,000 feet and, if you’re not so lucky, encounter some of the most severe weather in the country.

  Reach the top by car on an 8-mile private road (admission includes a “This Car Climbed Mt. Washington” bumper sticker) or by train. In operation since 1869, the Mount Washington Cog Railway (the first such railway in the world) pushes rather than pulls its cars up the mountain and in the winter transports local skiers up to trails that run parallel to the tracks. The Conway Scenic Railroad is a more horizontal train option, operating restored vintage cars that chug around the Mount Washington Valley and through the dramatic mountain gap of Crawford Notch.

  At the magnificent Omni Mount Washington Resort at Bretton Woods, a sprawling white 1902 building with a cherry red roof anchors the 1,500-acre complex. Guests fill their days with golf, tennis, horseback riding, and treatments at the top-notch spa, though the resort is probably best known for its downhill and crosscountry skiing.

  The Appalachian Trail (see p. 756) is the most renowned of hundreds of picturesque driving and hiking routes that crisscross the White Mountains. As part of the 100-mile White Mountains Trail, the 26.5-mile section of the Kancamagus Highway that connects the towns of Lincoln and Conway has been designated a National Scenic and Cultural Byway and is a favorite New England drive.

  The “Kanc” twists and turns as it climbs to nearly 3,000 feet, passing the sparkling waterfalls and backcountry lakes of the White Mountain National Forest.

  Locomotives first climbed Mount Washington on the cog railway in 1869.

  WHERE: 135 miles north of Boston. VISITOR INFO: www.visitwhitemountains.com. MT. WASHINGTON ROAD: Tel 603-466-3988; www.mountwashingtonautoroad.com. When: mid-May–mid-Oct. COG RAILWAY: Tel 800-922-8825 or 603-278-5404; www.thecog.com. Cost: $59. When: mid-Jun–Oct. CONWAY SCENIC RAILROAD: Tel 800-232-5251 or 603-356-5251; www.conwayscenic.com. When: closed Jan–mid-Apr. MOUNT WASHINGTON RESORT: Tel 877-873-0626 or 603-278-1000; www.mountwashingtonresort.com. Cost: from $130 (off-peak), from $270 (peak). WHITE MOUNTAIN NATIONAL FOREST: Tel 603-528-8721; www.fs.fed.us/r9/white. BEST TIME: Jun–Aug for summertime activities; late Sep–mid-Oct for foliage.

  A Victorian-Era Town by the Sea

  CAPE MAY

  New Jersey, U.S.A.

  Cape May is the oldest seaside resort in the U.S., but its real appeal is its juxtaposition of Victorian atmosphere and Jersey Shore location. The resort dates back to the mid-1800s, when the area’s salty air, wide beaches, and cool breezes drew elite vacationers such as Abraham Lincoln, P. T. Barnum, and Henry Ford. Scores of homes were built, of which some 600 survived the great fire of 1879 and the century of development that followed.

  Today the whole town of Cape May has National Historic Landmark status; its 2.5-square-mile historic district brims with grand Victorian-dowager houses, the largest such collection in the country. They are best seen via a rented bicycle or a horse-drawn buggy. Bird-watchers come from around the world for the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, where more than 400 recorded species pass through annually.

  The Virginia Hotel, opened in 1879, continues to offer a sublimely Victorian hotel experience with 24 main guest rooms that are furnished in an updated classic style. The hotel’s restaurant, the Ebbitt Room, serves regional American cuisine with international accents. Nearby, the Mainstay Inn was among the town’s first B&Bs and remains one of its best. A dignified Italianate manor dating to 1872, it has 14-foot ceilings, airy rooms, and porch swings on a flower-decked veranda.

  WHERE: 90 miles south of Philadelphia. VISITOR INFO: www.capemaychamber.com. MIGRATORY BIRD REFUGE: Tel 908-879-7262; www.nature.org. VIRGINIA HOTEL: Tel 800-732-4236 or 609-884-5700; www.virginiahotel.com. Cost: from $100 (off-peak), from $300 (peak); dinner $65. MAINSTAY INN: Tel 609-884-8690; www.mainstayinn.com. Cost: from $175 (off-peak), from $295 (peak). BEST TIMES: Mar–May and Nov for bird-watching; late Apr–early May for Spring Festival; mid-Oct for Victorian Week; Christmastime for holiday festivities and decorations.

  Up, Up, and Away Through Technicolor Skies

  ALBUQUERQUE INTERNATIONAL BALLOON FIESTA

  Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A.

  At roughly the size of a house, the average hot-air balloon is mighty impressive. Now imagine more than 600 of them, slowly inflating and lifting off into the sky like the decorations for the world’s biggest birthday party. This is the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, the world’s largest hot-air balloon rally.

  Held every year since 1972, the Balloon Fiesta draws more than 800,000 people, who come to wander among the floating wonders on the 78-acre field. Nearly every morning of the 9-day event sees a dawn patrol—selected balloons launch before sunrise, glowing like giant colorful lightbulbs; a little later comes a mass ascension of all the balloons, a wondrous 2-hour polychromatic spectacle. Some pilots engage in distance competitions while others join the Special Shape Rodeos, an event in which balloons in fanciful forms such as mushrooms, witches, and cows are launched. Show up in the evening for the popular Balloon Glow (when the balloons fire up their burners and are lit up from within like giant ornaments) and the Afterglow fireworks display.

  Learn more about the technology and history of the sport at the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum. If you’ve got your heart set on getting up in the air for real, Rainbow Ryders offers balloon rides year-round.

  Another high-altitude option is the Sandia Peak Tram, which at 2.7 miles long is billed as the world’s longest aerial tramway. It runs from the northeast corner of the city to the top of the Sandia Mountains, 10,378 feet up, where you can hike on trails, then grab a bite with a view at the High Finance Restaurant and Tavern.

  Launch directors coordinate a mass ascent, when hundreds of balloons take off at once.

  INFO: Tel 888-422-7277 or 505-821-1000; www.balloonfiesta.com. When: 9 days in early Oct. BALLOON MUSEUM: Tel 505-880-0500; www.balloonmuseum.com. RAINBOW RYDERS: Tel 800-725-2477 or 505-823-1111; www.rainbowryders.com. Cost: balloon rides $160; from $375 during Fiesta. SANDIA PEAK TRAM: Tel 505-856-7325; www.sandiapeak.com. HIGH FINANCE RESTAURANT: Tel 505-243-9742. Cost: lunch $18.

  Underground Wonder in the Chihuahuan Desert

  CARLSBAD CAVERNS

  Carlsbad, New Mexico, U.S.A.

  One of the world’s most complex, astounding, and easily accessible cave systems winds beneath the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico. Carlsbad Caverns National Park contains more than 100 known caves, the remains of a fossil reef from an inland sea that covered the area some 250 million years ago. Though discovered by settlers in the late 19th century, fascinating Native American pictographs covering the walls point to much earlier visits.

  Above ground is the stark, unforgiving beauty of the northern Chihuahuan Desert. Beneath the surface, though, is another universe entirely. Take the steep walkway down 750 feet to the Big Room, one of the most enormous underground chambers on the planet, large enough to hold six football fields with room to spare. (You can also reach the Big Room by elevator, a ride that evokes a journey-to-the-center-of-the-earth sensation.) From here a mile-long trail winds past speleothems (cave formations), fantastic shapes sculpted by natural forces, resembling soda straws, draperies, frozen waterfalls, totem poles, and draped silk. Many have colorful, descriptive names, from the Rock of Ages to the Painted Grotto.

  For more adventure, take a ranger-guided tour of some of the “wild” caves in the park, including the Queen’s Chamber, part of the Kings Palace tour and a site of astounding beauty. The Left Hand Tunnel tour is the easiest, while trips to grottoes such as Spider Cave are the most strenuous and involve stooping, climbing, wading across pools, and even crawling on your stomach. Access to Lechuguilla Cave is limited to researchers and exploration teams, which have descended 1,604 feet into it and mapped more than 120 miles of passages, establishing it as the fifth-longest cave in the world.


  Another Carlsbad treat happens nightly from spring to fall: the mass exodus of nearly 400,000 Mexican free-tailed bats, spiraling from the mouth of the cave for a frenzied night of insect hunting. Come for the prelaunch ranger talks where you’ll learn that the animals, while astonishing, are hardly threatening and are vital to the area’s ecosystem.

  The park contains over 100 caves, whose unique shapes are due to their corrosive formation.

  WHERE: 304 miles southeast of Albuquerque. www.nps.gov/cave. GUIDED CAVE TOURS: Tel 877-444-6777 or 518-885-3639; www.recreation.gov. BEST TIMES: Bat flights happen from Apr–Nov but are best Jul–Aug.

  Train Buffs: All Aboard!

  CUMBRES & TOLTEC SCENIC RAILROAD

  Chama, New Mexico, U.S.A.

  Pine-covered hillsides, alpine peaks, and one of the highest railroad summits in the western U.S. are all part of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, which winds its steam-powered way across the scenic New Mexico-Colorado border north of the small town of Chama.

  The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad arrived in Chama in 1881, turning the riverside town into a lumber and mining center. Today trains on the Chama line still chug to Antonito, Colorado, offering one of the country’s prettiest and most authentic Old West railroad experiences. The line stands as perhaps the finest example of remote Rocky Mountain railways and the engineering challenges their creators overcame.

  At 128 miles round-trip, the Cumbres & Toltec is the longest narrow-gauge train route in the U.S. The 3-foot-wide train tracks were built more compactly than standard gauge to hug the sheer sides of Toltec Gorge, 600 feet above the Rio Chama, and to pass through two tunnels and over two 100-foot-high trestles. At Cumbres Pass, elevation 10,015 feet and the highest point in the U.S. reached by scheduled passenger trains, you can see the pastoral Chama Valley below, surrounded by the densely wooded Rio Grande, Carson, and Santa Fe national forests.