T hanks for time to be together, turkey, talk, and tangy weather.
H for harvest stored away, home, and hearth, and holiday.
A for autumn’s frosty art, and abundance in the heart.
N for neighbors, and November, nice things, new things to remember.
K for kitchen, kettles’ croon, kith and kin expected soon.
S for sizzles, sights, and sounds, and something special that about.
That spells THANKS for joy in living and a jolly good Thanksgiving.
– Aileen Fisher, All in a Word
Wishing you and family Happy Diwali. May the light always guide your choices, thoughts and actions to serve the greater good and fill you with positive goodness.
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Miss Guanajuato, Georgina Villanueva
The annual Miss Mexico competition has a spectacular category that is an indisputable showstopper. Known as the “traditional outfits” presentation, contestants rock designer-made, artistic representations of the country’s customary clothing. The ensembles are nothing short of incredible and feature sculptural headdresses, fully painted skirts, and, in some cases, woven sandals worn as accents on a dress and as a crown.
Each outfit showcases an expert level of craft with elements that meld traditional and contemporary styles. Each contestant models these garments in a thematic photoshoot. One of the most dramatic and awe-inspiring presentations from Miss Mexico 2020 is worn by Georgina Villanueva, aka Miss Guanajuato. Her look is called María Catrina, and it references traditional “marías” (rag dolls) that are arranged on the black skirt. “The marías are known worldwide, and the design shows two traditions of Mexico, as its name indicates the catrinas, allusive to death, and the marías,” Miss Mexico explains. “The black color means mourning, power, elegance… the makeup was an inspiration from the skulls and traditional hairstyles of our beautiful women.”
Scroll down for more traditional outfits, and look for the winner of Miss Mexico 2020 to be announced on October 31, 2020.
Miss Guerrero, Isabel Ruíz
Miss Chiapas, Rocío Carrillo
Miss Estado De México, Perla Franco
Miss Colima, Daniela Ramírez
Miss Hidalgo, Jaqueline Gómez
Miss Chihuahua, Isela Serrano
Miss Michoacán, Karolina Vidales
Miss Sinaloa, Elizabeth Vidaña
Miss Campeche, Jennifer Álvarez
Miss Veracruz, Andrea Munguía
Miss Nayarit, Blessing Chukwu
Miss Sonora, Ayram Ortíz
Miss Baja California Sur, Diana Ramírez
Miss Quintana Roo, Regina González
Miss Oaxaca, Sabrina Góngora
Miss Ciudad De México, Jéssica Farjat
Trying to attract tourists, restaurateurs build facilities where people can sleep in interesting forms. so, many winemakers have facilities that associate with grapes and wine. For example in Douro, Portugal in the facilities of Quinta da Pacheca sleep is organized in huge wine barrels.
Here, people who want to avoid the hustle and bustle of the cities can relax in these quaint and romantic barrels and savor their original wines.
The estate has existed for 280 years with a 140-acre vineyard. To be there and spend some time is a dream of every wine lover, and with great and original accommodation, this can be near perfection.
The giant wine barrels are designed to look like the actual wine barrels they use in the vineyards. The property owner Paulo Pereira and Maria do Céu Gonçalves designed and built them from pine.
Each apartment is 30 meters long and has a breathtaking view. It has a light window that makes the room feel much bigger than it is.
In this “wine room” tourists can use the shower, the bathroom, and the front deck. They don’t have to do anything but slow down and indulge in the beauty that surrounds them. The bed has a round shape that is rarely found in other tourist places and in real life.
Their grapes grow along the river on steep hillsides. They produce beautiful reds, whites, rosé, and port wines.
Excellent wine connoisseurs know that every wine tastes best when served with local food. In this tourist destination, visitors are also able to taste their wonderful wines with many local delicacies.
Also locally made jams and olive oil can be found here, which is a must-try. The property has a restaurant that offers all the services, so tourists do not have to go elsewhere.
The valley of the Douro wine region is home to ports and enriched wines like Sherry. Mountainous terrains will delight anyone who learns about the region and are in itself a sufficient reason to put it on the list of next destinations.
This region is up to Barca de Alva, which is the oldest branched wine region in the world. It is characterized by a carved deep valley of the river, on the side of which, by the hand of man, mountain areas have been turned into soil and walls and planted with vines. The whole region is green in summer and blue in autumn.
The knowledge of grapes and wine is passed on from generation to generation. The landowners removed the terraces overtime to expose the vines to the sun and thus provide the necessary warmth for the grapes. This unique wine and landscape are created from the fruits of the earth and human labor.
The price is similar to many other accommodations in the area, about $ 250 per night. As this is a great trip for most people, it is necessary to get tickets to Portugal, regulate everything regarding travel documents and head to that destination.
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Cozy up in the coldest hotels in the world © Iglu Dorf / Massimo Cappuccio
Built using traditional igloo techniques, but with tunnels connecting each of the 11 rooms, it takes around 3000 hours to create the Iglu Dorf hotel in Gstaad, Switzerland each winter. With breathtaking views out across the crucible of the vast Bernese Alps and its crown of fir trees, this slice of wonderful isolation can be enjoyed by up to six guests in a room overnight.
With a sauna and swimming pool just outside as well as homemade mulled wine and a traditional hot cheese fondue, this is Switzerland in its purest mountain mode. Iglu Dorf also builds overnight igloos in Davos-Klosters, Stockhorn and Zermatt in Switzerland as well as on Zugspitze in Germany, and the Kühtai ski area in Austria.
First built in 1989 in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, this is the original Icehotel. It’s crafted annually from 2500 two-ton blocks of snice (snow and ice) plucked from the vast meandering Torne River. At the end of the season it simply melts and the water returns to the river. But whilst it’s up, its shimmering catenary arches and individually-designed rooms with snow statues and ice artwork make it a startling imaginative triumph.
Located in northern lights territory, high up into the Arctic Circle, guests can also try husky sledding, snowmobiling and snowshoeing. For the artistic, there’s ice sculpting as well. Can’t wait for winter? The Icehotel 365 offers 20 suites, an ice bar and an art gallery all year round. Plus it’s run entirely on renewable energy.
Rovaniemi‘s Arctic SnowHotel is in Lapland, where Santa Claus kicks back for 364 days each year. Standing on the toes of the Arctic Circle, this part of Finland cycles through eight seasons, but it’s the sparkling magic of winter that’s most alluring: a calming white-scape of thick, crunchy snow; the swirling purples and greens of the northern lights; the excitable yap of huskies waiting to pull their sledges.
But hidden amongst these miles and miles of white wilderness is Arctic SnowHotel, a fully-functioning 30-room igloo that’s built afresh each winter using ice from the nearby Lake Lehtojärvi. The bedrooms are built of snow and ice, as is the bar, the restaurant and the chapel. Snow saunas and outdoor hot tubs also help make the most of this winter wonderland.
Arctic SnowHotel is open December 15–March 31.
Sculpted deep beneath the magnetic gaze of the aurora borealis, the world’s northernmost ice hotel in Alta, Norway, is also one of the biggest. Some 250 tons of ice and 7000cu meters of snow are used each year to freshly carve its 20 double rooms, three family rooms and five suites.
Located on the banks of the Alta River, a short snow sled from the Cathedral of the Northern Lights, the Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel also has uplit ice sculptures, an ice bar and even its own ice chapel for couples hoping to melt hearts. The beds have reindeer leather as a natural sleeping mat and sleeping bags capable of withstanding temperatures of -22°F (-30°C), but the sauna (no, not located inside the ice hotel) opens at 7am each morning. Just in case.
Sorrisniva is open December 20–April 7.
Created from 350 tons of crystal clear natural ice and 20,000 tons of snow, this extravagant SnowVillage in Kittilä, some 125 miles (200km) into the Arctic Circle, is crafted with the care and precision of a medieval church. Decorated with ornate ice sculptures that change year-on-year, each work is lit up in the swirling colors of the aurora borealis.
As its name suggests, this isn’t just an ice hotel. There’s a restaurant made from glacier-clear ice, a chiseled ice bar that gleams like a diamond, and a beautiful ice chapel too. Each snow suite has been individually designed and brought to life and, yes, there are saunas nearby as well.
SnowVillage is open from December 21–April 4.
The Ötztal in Tyrol is one of those striking Austrian gram-oramas: a sweeping valley of glittering chalets dwarfed by the brooding dark hulks of snow-covered schist and gneiss striding starward. But up here, nestled some 2670ft up the mountainside in the ski region of Hochötz, you’ll find Schneedorf Igloo. Beneath what looks like a fresh dump of plump white snow is actually a hotel with enough room for 44 people to survive a blizzard overnight.
The silence is rejuvenating at night as the temperatures drop and the constellations start to twinkle against winter’s blueberry-dark sky. Dinner is gooey cheese fondue and the on-site snow bar has enough potent liqueurs to keep guests warm until sunrise. Thankfully, the igloo toilets here are heated.
Schneedorf is open Wed–Sun from December 26–April 4.
Japan’s only ice hotel is a shades-down dazzler. Surrounded by uplit birch trees, the exclusive genetically-domed igloo sleeps just two people a night on its stylish ice beds, with an outdoor arctic bath and a heated dressing room to keep their lucky bones warm.
Located at Tomamu in Hokkaidō, near the smooth wide runs of Tomamu ski area, the temperatures regularly tumble to -22°F (-30°C). That may sound like visitors are consciously choosing to be cryogenically frozen, but it also means that Ice Village Tomamu guests have access to an ice rink, an ice slide, an ice instrument room, an ice chapel, an ice bar, an ice sweetshop, an ice bakery and – you’ve guessed it – an atelier that only uses ice.
Ice Village Tomamu is open December 10–March 14.
North America’s only ice hotel is in Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, Canada, and will be cutting back on the poutine this winter to present a slimmed and trimmed version of its typical regal self because of COVID-19. However, that doesn’t mean the ice chandeliers and hand-chiseled snow sculptures will come crashing down – if anything, this luxurious igloo, which comes complete with an ice chapel for weddings, becomes even more exclusive.
Hosted on the outskirts of Quebec City, master craftspeople detail the igloo’s fine frozen furniture, gleaming ice entranceways and curved snow roofs each year. With hot tubs and a sauna under the stars as well as real fires in each room, no guests should go to bed cold. There are even real mattresses and an isolating bed sheet to ensure a great night’s kip. Hôtel de Glace usually opens earlier than January 2, depending on the weather.
Hôtel de Glace is open January 2–March 21.
So far up the longitude meridian that there’s only really Svalbard in the way of Kirkenes and the North Pole, this wonderful Norwegian snow hotel is open 365 days a year. In the cold, blizzard-blanketed winters this is reindeer and husky country: a quiet, isolated region endured by only the most hardy of creatures. But for overnight guests, it’s a beautiful once-in-a-lifetime spot for a winter vacation.
Inside the plump hotel itself, artists bring each bedroom to life with snowy bas reliefs of local winter animals like wolves and owls, whilst specialist ice sculptures that line the halls and ice bar area turn frozen water into glacial artworks worthy of Frieze Art Fair.
Snowhotel is open year-round.
DANIEL FAHEYLonely Planet Writer
