Text size:

News to use

—Phil Marty

February 8, 2009

Here are some of the more interesting deals and Web sites that came across our desk this week:

•Italian Connections' "Simply Italian" option offers savings on select tours and dates for the company's walking tours in Sicily, Piedmont, Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast. italian-connection.com

•For a chance to win an 11-day trip for two to Ecuador with Wildland Adventures, go to wildland.com/free-trip-ecuador.

•Rent an ocean-view condo in San Diego for three nights Valentine's Day weekend for $171 a night. www.zonder.com/United+States/California/San+Diego/13201/vacation-rentals.htm

•Rent a villa in Santorini for five nights and get two nights free at www.wimco.com/specials/greece-villas.aspx?WT.mc_id=20090128&c1;=enl&source;=20090128.

•Fans of the book "Eat, Pray, Love" might be interested in the "Eat, Pray, & Love Bali" tour this May to the Indonesian paradise. spiritquesttours.com.

•The Peabody Memphis' Marching Ducks, famous for their daily sojourn to the hotel's lobby fountain, have a new $200,000 Duck Palace to spend their off hours in. peabodymemphis.com/peabody_ducks.

•Parents who need a break from the kids while on vacation can search for baby-sitters by ZIP code at babysitters4hire.com.

•Ocean Edge Resort & Club on Cape Cod has rooms starting at $89 a night for a family of four Feb. 14-21 using the "No School, Only Pool" rate. Plus, kids 12 and under eat free from the kids menu. oceanedge.com; 800-343-6074 and ask for rate code "No School."

•Get advice on how to evaluate airfares at independenttraveler.com/resources/article.cfm?AID=861&category;=13.

•More than 20 hotels in Montreal are available as part of the "Sweet Deal" rates good through May 31, starting at $127 Canadian, which, due to the once-again decent exchange rate, is only about $103 U.S. tourisme-montreal.org.

•Spend two days on the whitewater of the Tuolumne River and three days hiking Yosemite National Park for $1,895 through O.A.R.S. oars.com/california/yosemiterafting.html.

•The Merrion in Dublin has a "St. Patrick's Shamrock Package" that includes two nights' lodging, full Irish breakfast on both mornings, two Black Velvet cocktails, the hotel's signature drink, and two grandstand tickets for the St. Patrick's Day Festival Parade on March 17. Cost is about $483 per person. The package is good from March 16-19. 800-223-6800; www.merrionhotel.com.

Deals and Web sites listed here have been checked for availability, but the listings are not an endorsement.