| All-female getaways offer wine, other women and strong bonds | |
| Wrirtten by: | USA TODAY |
| Date: | April 2005 |
From Napa Valley to Mount Kilimanjaro, getaways for women are booming. A sampling of tours and hotel packages: Women & Wine offers group and custom itineraries in grape capitals including the Napa Valley and Tuscany. A two-day, behind-the-scenes ramble in the Santa Ynez Valley, including meals, lodging, wine tasting and spa treatment is $1,695. I The 23-year-old AdventureWomen has active trips for over-30s. Among them: a cowgirl getaway at a Big Sky, Mont., guest ranch ($2,295, not including air); and a luxury barge trip through France's Alsace-Lorraine wine region ($2,995, not including air). Adventures in Good Company has trips including a four-day, $495 biking, hiking, canoeing outing in Harpers Ferry, W.Va. (not including transportation there), to a $3,100 Mount Kilimanjaro expedition and safari (not including air). The Da Vinci Code has spawned a tour just for women. Sacred Journeys for Women has Simon Cox, author of Cracking the Da Vinci Code, leading a luxury, 11-night tour of book locations in Paris, London and Edinburgh. Cost: $5,995 per person, double, in five-star hotels, not including air from the USA. The Four Seasons Hotel Chicago's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" package shakes things up with a visit from "The Martini Man," makeover advice, shopping discounts and free desserts. From about $300 nightly for two. The "Girlfriends Golf & Spa Package" at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes and JW Marriott OrlandoGrande Lakes includes two nights' lodging, golf rounds, lessons, massages, breakfast and $50 golf shop credit. Rates start at about $1,000 for two. I "Girls Will Be Girls" at The Ritz-Carlton Chicago offers makeover advice, gift certificates, Cosmos, popcorn and choice of movie. Rates start at $375 a night for two. The Women's Travel Club organizes dozens of trips yearly. Upcoming getaways include a group visit to the famed Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Arizona (from $1,760, not including air) and a tour of English gardens, The Cotswolds and London from $1,426, not including air. The "Girls Get Grounded Getaway" at Amara Creekside Resort in Sedona, Ariz., includes two-night stay, healing crystal, massage, jeep tour, yoga, wine tasting and psychic reading. From $629 a person. The "Don't Be Desperate Package" at Manhattan's Muse hotel starts at $345 a person nightly, double, and includes breakfast, martinis, bathrobe, lingerie shopping trip and strip club admission. The "Almost Desperate Housewives Package" at Boston's Hotel Commonwealth is $769 nightly for two, with champagne, chocolates, massage and limo service. |
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| For more information about these Girls Getaways and others, contact our Girls Getaways team | |
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