Luxury Travel Advisor - July 2008 - (Page 10)

very hands-on manner and can be contacted for those arrangements that need extra-special care. He and English can also assist with those clients who want to book local wine tours, go surfing, whale watching or enjoy a helicopter excursion. Clients can fly directly into the nearby Santa Barbara Airport. Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport is 78.5 miles away and LAX is 81 miles away. The Canary Hotel, a member of Small Leading Hotels of the World, happens to adore dogs, so sign your four-legged friend up for “Club Canario,” which will ensure that he’ll receive a cozy bed with real hotel linens, his own eating and drinking bowls, a Frisbee, a personal grooming kit and a Canary Hotel collar tag. Note: Santa Barbara’s State Street is a haven for large luxury shops (i.e. Saks and Nordstrom and smaller designer stores), bistros and boutiques. Since there’s rarely a shortage of dappled California sunlight in Santa Barbara, the walk down to Stearns Wharf, an attractive, vibrant harbour filled with seaside restaurant and shops, is a must experience for your clients. Hint: If they start to grow weary during the long walk, they can always hop on a local beach bus that stops frequently and only costs a quarter. Avid shoppers can also head to the “Funk Zone,” a mixed-use area east of State Street, where they’ll find art studios, local shops, a Segway franchise, wine-tasting rooms and fun galleries. Your foodie clients will want to dine at Santa Barbara’s The Hungry Cat (www. thehungrycat.com), which serves up creative cocktails and an eclectic seafood and rawbar menu. The restaurant, which does not take reservations, is the outpost of the eatery of the same name found in Hollywood. Book the Canary Hotel at least three weeks out during the busy summer months. The Santa Barbara Film Festival (www.sbiff.org) packs the city with celebrities every January; in 2009, the event will be held January 22nd through February 1. Visit www.santabarbaraca.com for information on other events, including the French Festival, which coincides with Bastille Day and draws about 20,000. An ideal complement to a Santa Barbara vacation is a seaside sojourn in Santa Monica, so hook clients up with a fancy convertible and send them south along the Pacific Coast Highway, where they can cruise along the ocean like a celebrity. (Be sure to tell them to bring a designated driver so at least one of them can enjoy the breathtaking surfside views). The two-hour-or-so drive will bring them to the Hotel Casa del Mar (www.hotelcasa delmar.com) whose spiffy location puts it directly on the beach adjacent to the Santa Monica THE HOTEL CASA DEL MAR (below) is a former Hollywood-style beach club. Guest rooms (right) are newly redone with seaside motifs. 10 LUXURY TRAVEL ADVISOR | July 2008 http://www.sbiff.org http://www.santabarbaraca.com http://www.hotelcasadelmar.com http://www.hotelcasadelmar.com http://www.thehungrycat.com http://www.thehungrycat.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Luxury Travel Advisor - July 2008

Luxury Travel Advisor - July 2008 Contents Publisher's Letter Editor's Letter California Coast Tuscan Villas Ranch Vacations Gansevoort South Rancho Las Cruces Reserva Conchal Spas of the Maldives St. Lucia A Gentleman's Touch The Pulse Just Back Sightings Source List

Luxury Travel Advisor - July 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.