El Cielo Winery and Resort is located in Valle de Guadeloupe - the wine region responsible for 90% of Mexican wine. I received a discount on my stay to post on social media. This review is all my own.
I flew into San Diego. It's about a two hour drive and crossing the border was a breeze.
Tip: Next time, I would arrange a stop for lunch at Porto Nuevo on the way to the winery. The coastline is beautiful and a stop for lunch helps break up the drive.
The grounds are beautiful. The winery and the resort are separate so resort guests have privacy. The accommodations are gorgeous. I was wow'd when I walked into my Master Suite.
Each villa has a master suite on the first floor and two junior suites on the upper floors. If everyone shares a bed and all the sleeper sofas are used, the villa can sleep 12. The main lobby has a restaurant that is open for breakfast based on how full the resort is. I appreciate that the resort and winery are separate for privacy, but it does mean you'll need to arrange a car transfer to get from your villa to the winery's lunch and dinner restaurants, tasting room, and winery experiences.
I recommend planning to get your first dinner at the resort. You can order room service or enjoy the great cuisine at Latitude 32. The winery has great experiences: a wagon ride into the vineyard, a wine tasting, a wine blending, and a six course tasting menu with wine pairings. My favorite wines were the Chenin Blanc and the red blends.
El Cielo also makes a great home base for the exploring the region. The wine route has 80 wineries to explore. Lomas Travel arranged for a great day exploring:
The valley also has some great breweries and other excursions. Your days don't have to be filled with just wine.
If this looks like a trip you'd enjoy, please email Angie@TripswithAngie.com
I loved Anne of Green Gables as a child so I had to book the
Finest Scenic Drive, Anne, and Lobster Celebrity shore excursion during our Canada
& New England cruise. Here’s a short video with the highlights:
We met in the terminal at 11:15 am. I highly recommend exploring
Charlottetown before the town. We arrived back from the tour right at departure
time. We were some of the last people to board before they pulled the gangway
to sail away.
We were on the bus leaving the port area at 11:30 am. The first
order of business was the lunch order. A whole lobster was included. If you
didn’t want lobster, you could choose from chicken crepes, fish cakes, or potato
pie. Prince Edward Island is famous for potatoes.
After an hour drive, we arrived atNorth Rustico Harbor. We spend about twenty
minutes here for a photo stop and learning about lobster fishing. Then, we took
the 10 minute drive to Green Gables Heritage Place. This farm was
the home of David Jr. and Margaret Macneill - cousins of Montgomery's
grandfather. Montgomery cited the farm as her inspiration for Green Gables. The
site offers bathrooms, a gift shop, lovely displays about L.M. Montgomery and the
Anne of Green Gables series, a small restaurant, house, and barn. A small trail
heads into the Haunted Woods. Be sure to stay alert. The short trail ends up at
a golf course.
We had 45 minutes at the site. It felt like enough time to
me, but those who wanted to read all the displays felt rushed.
We had a 15 minute drive to Prince Edward Island Preserve Company for lunch. This is such a charming restaurant. Beers and wine were available
for purchase. Our lunch included tomato soup, a whole lobster, and raspberry preserve
cheesecake pie. We had about 45 minutes for lunch. The Preserve Company had a
small gift shop and a lovely garden. The drive back to the port was around 45
minutes.
I thought the tour gave a great overview of the area.
This is an independent excursion so we walked from the port
to meeting point. It was a quick 10 minute walk from our docking location –
pier 22. Be sure you know where you are docking because it would be a 45 minute
walk from other piers.
Our group had 9 people. The max was 12. Our guide was
wonderful. She grew up in Quebec City and had so much knowledge to share. We started
with two stops in the Lower Town:
Va Bene is an Italian restaurant. We had a wonderful panzanella
salad with a mozzarella foam.
Archibald is a brewery and pub where we had the French Onion
Soup. The French onion soup was great. The soup had a wonderful onion flavor
that was lighter than many I’ve tried.
We headed up the Funicular to explore the Upper Town.
La Continental is one of the oldest restaurants in Quebec
City. It’s known for tableside cooking. We had shrimp flambee prepared in front
of us.
Last stop was the Monastère des Augustines – a monastery converted
into a hotel and restaurant. We had wild boar ribs and dessert.
This was definitely a full and filling five course meal. I
loved the mix of history and food. The focus was on trying a mix of restaurants
– not necessarily trying cuisine unique to Quebec City.
Our ship also docked in Sydney, Nova Scotia. We chose the
Celebrity shore excursion: Lure of
Lighthouses and Fortress of Louisbourg. Honestly, I chose this excursion
because a woman from Halifax recommended visiting the Fortress. Here are the
highlights:
At 9:00 am, we met in the Rendez Vous lounge. At 9:21 am, we
headed to the bus. By 9:34 am, we were on our way. The Louisbourg Fortress is the
reconstruction of a 1744 settlement. It’s the biggest historical reconstruction
in North America. About one-fifth of the settlement has been reconstructed.
After about a 45 minute drive, we arrived at the lighthouse.
We had 15 minutes for a photo stop. I got the best photos as we headed up the
drive to the lighthouse.
We were back on the bus at 10:33 am. It was about a 30 minute
drive around the by to the Fortress. At 10:55 am, we were off the bus. We were
give about an hour and 15 minutes at the site.
The tour guide led us to a large map of the original settlement.
Then, we headed to Engineer’s house for hot chocolate and more information
about the settlement. This took about 15 minutes. The tour guide then guided
the group to meet with a solider. We declined because we wanted more time to
explore the settlement. We had to be back on the bus by 12:10 pm. This was not
enough time.
In September 2023, we took an 11 night Canada / New England cruise on the Celebrity Summit. The first port of call was Bar Harbor, Maine. We took the Celebrity shore excursion: Destination Highlight: Acadia National Park
Here’s a quick video of excursion highlights:
We met at 8:00 am in the theater. We had to go down the
stairs to the front to get the stickers. One member of your party can take all
the tickets down to get thestickers if
you don’t want to go down and back up the stairs.
At 8:20 am, we left the theater. By 8:34 am, we were on the
tender and on our way to shore. The tender
ride was about 12 minutes long. We went down a ramp, across a floating dock,
and up a steep ramp.
Our tour had 50 people in a large bus. We were on the way at
9:05 am.
Acadia National Park makes up about half of Mount Desert
Island. This tour takes the Park Loop Road.
We arrived at the top of Cadillac Mountain at 9:30 am. Cadillac
Mountain is 1,532 feet tall. We had a twenty minute photo stop. Bathrooms and a
gift shop were available.
We left Cadillac Mountain at 9:57 am to complete the tour
of the Park Loop Road. The best side of the bus for this loop is the left side
to get better views of Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, and Otter Cliffs. The right
side had the best views of the beaver dams.
We were back in town at 11:16 am. Our guide shared many
suggestions about how to spend the afternoon exploring Bar Harbor.
In July 2023, I took a Baltics cruise on the Island Princess. One port of call was Stockholm, Sweden. We decided to do an independent excursion: Nordic Food Walk.
I thought this was a terrific excursion. We got to try so many traditional Swedish foods, learn about Stockholm, and even had fika - a traditional Swedish coffee break. This is the perfect orientation to Stockholm. It is a walking tour so be prepared for 15 minutes to 25 minutes of walking at a time. the coffee break and the fish restaurant were sitting down. Bathrooms were available about halfway through the tour. I highly recommend it.
In May 2023, we joined the Rocky Mountaineer from Banff to
Vancouver. This two night journey is a trip of a lifetime. In this post, I’ll
share all the details and the timeline of the experience. Here’s the highlights:
Day 1: Banff, Alberta, Canada
We spent a few pre-nights at the Fairmont Banff Springs
before joining the tour. When you arrive in Banff or the day before your tour
is set to start, if you are in a SilverLeaf hotel, you’’ll head to the Rocky
Mountaineer Guest Center at 220 Bear Street to pick up your packet. If you are staying at Gold Leaf hotel. If you
are staying at Gold Leaf hotel, your package will be at the Rocky Mountaineer
desk in the hotel.