Top travel picks for 2006

[Jason]

Top travel picks for 2006[/size]

GARY A. WARNER; The Orange County (Calif.) Register

These are the things that dreams are made of (and often nightmares for your wallet). The annual "best of" lists are loaded with $800-a-night hotels and $300-per-couple restaurants. Whether you simply fantasize about trying these hot spots or actually plan to go out and torch your credit card to do it, it's fun to see what the various magazines, Web sites and organizations have tapped as tops for 2006.

Here's a very eclectic, random, incomplete, subjective but fun look at a few of the supposedly superlative travel spots on the lists.

Best city in the world: Florence (Travel and Leisure); Sydney (Conde Nast Traveler).

Best beach: Fleming State Park, Maui ("Dr. Beach"), Ehukai Beach Park – aka "Pipeline" – Oahu (Men's Journal).

Best place to have a beer: The Moan and Dove, Amherst, Mass. (Beer Advocate).

Best town for outdoor life: Boulder, Colo. (Outside).

Best city in the United States: San Francisco (Conde Nast Traveler).

Best little town in America: Austin, Texas (National Geographic Traveler).

Best mountain climb: Mount Rainier (Men's Journal).

Best small arts town: Santa Fe, N.M. (American Style).

Best city for gay travelers: San Francisco (Intellectual Activist).

Best managed World Heritage site: Western fjords of Norway (National Geographic Traveler).

Best island: Bali (Travel and Leisure).

Friendliest people in Caribbean: Jamaica (Caribbean Travel & Life).

Best North American World Heritage site: Glacier-Waterton national parks, Montana and Alberta (National Geographic Traveler).

Best European island: Mykonos and the Cyclades (Conde Nast Traveler).

Best hideaway in South Pacific: Le Taha'a, French Polynesia (Harper's Hideaway Report).

Best Pacific island: Maui (Conde Nast Traveler).

Best baseball park: Wrigley Field, Chicago (Men's Journal).

Best hotel in the world: Four Seasons Bali at Sayan (Conde Nast Traveler), Singita Game Reserve (Travel and Leisure).

Best hotels in the Southwest: Arizona Inn in Tucson and The Lodge at Chama, New Mexico (Harper's Hideaway Report).

Best hotel in Hawaii: Four Seasons Hualalai, Big Island (Travel and Leisure).

Trendiest U.S. hotel: The James, Chicago (Travel and Leisure).

Best Southern California hotel: Tower 23, San Diego (Coastal Living).

Best hotel in San Francisco: Four Seasons (Mobil Five-Star List).

Best hotel in Mexico: Las Alamandas, Costa Alegre (Harper's Hideaway Report).

Best hotel under $250 per night: Inn at Montchanin Village, Montchanin, Del. (Conde Nast Traveler).

Best U.S. golf resort: Kiawah Island Golf Resort, S.C. (Travel and Leisure).

Hot historic island: Angel Island, San Francisco Bay (Smithsonian).

Best European resort: Gleneagles, Scotland (Conde Nast Traveler).

Best hotel in Hawaii: Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, (Travel and Leisure).

Best B&B: The Place at Cayou Cove, Orcas Island (Harper's Hideaway Report).

Best hotel pool: Amangani, Jackson Hole, Wyo. (Harper's Hideaway Report).

Best ski resort: Whistler Blackcomb, B.C. (Skiing), Jackson Hole (Men's Journal).

Best California ski resort: Squaw Valley (Skiing).

Hippest ski spot: Stratton, Vt. (Virtuoso Life).

Best fly-fishing: Spring Creeks, Montana: (Men's Journal).

Most popular restaurant in Las Vegas: Picasso (Zagat Survey).

Best airport: McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas (J.D. Power).

Best airline in the world: Singapore Airlines (Conde Nast Traveler, Travel and Leisure).

Best large U.S. airline: Continental (J.D. Power).

Best U.S. airline: JetBlue (Travel and Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler).

Best place in Italy you've never heard of: Erice (Budget Travel).

Best large-ship cruise line: Regent Seven Seas (Conde Nast Traveler), Crystal Cruises (Travel and Leisure).

Best river cruise line: Peter Deil­mann River and Ocean Cruises (Porthole).

Best small-ship cruise line: SeaDream Yacht Club (Conde Nast Traveler).

Best water park: Schlitterbahn, New Braunfels, Texas (Amusement Today).

Best spa: Chiva-Som International Health Resort, Hua Hin, Thailand (Travel and Leisure).

Best U.S. spa: Mii Amo, A Destination Spa at Enchantment, Sedona, Ariz. (Travel and Leisure).

Best town for surfing: Haleiwa (Outside).

Best snorkeling in Caribbean: Cayman Islands (Caribbean Travel & Life).

[TheSkipper]

Interesting list. Lots of neat places, but I have a problem with the friendiest people in the Caribbean. Everyone I've ever met there was trying to sell me something two for five dollars!!

[Mebert]

The Skipper,

I was just about to comment on the friendliest people in the Caribbean line when I read your message. Some of the folks in Jamaica are very friendly but I don't find them to be the friendliest.

I have found the friendliest people to be in the Bahamas.

[westernmom]

I guess I better drag Frank over to Jackson Hole to check out the best hotel pool! Probably will only be able to afford to just walk in the lobby - if we park somewhere else! Seriously, I am going to have to check that one out the next time I am over there.

I get asked to go over and judge their rodeo queen pageant or put on a pageant clinic almost every year and they comp my room - but I don't think the place they have me stay even has a pool!

[DaCruzNut]

The best snorkeling in the Caribbean may be the Cayman Islands, but the best snorkeling, and the #1 dive/snorkelDestination in the world is off the Florida Keys.

It's a little known fact, but more people snorkel the Keys than anywhere else! I go down to mm100, about an hour and a half away, all the time. There are about a dozen, or more, independent scuba/snorkel tour operators, and they do two trips a day. You usually visit 2-3 different reefs. I've visited over a dozen reefs. The reef system is the third longest in the world and stretches from just off Miami past Key West...