Sparkling Cape Town easy on a budget

One of the world's most beautiful cities is probably one of the cheapest.

Cape Town, the sparkling jewel in South Africa's tourist crown, regularly wins international travel awards. It combines excellent infrastructure and hotels with magnificent beaches, wildlife and winelands, making it a favorite among business conventions and wealthy surf and safari seekers.

But even for those on a budget, the so-called Mother City is as welcoming as its name. Best news is the weakness of the South African rand, which make dollars and euros go further.

Getting there

Only a few airlines fly straight to Cape Town, so direct flights from London are full and discount fares rare. Delta flies from New York via Senegal. Emirates via Dubai often has bargains. In addition to South African Airways, budget airlines like 1Time and Kulula Air fly from Johannesburg into Cape Town. (Don't panic if Kulula staff announce the plane has landed in Zimbabwe -- they love joking).

The airport tourism information desk arranges bus shuttles to the city at $12 per person and less for subsequent passengers. The Backpacker bus charges $15 and its Web site has good tips on travel and accommodation. Or ask your hotel or guesthouse to meet you. Metered taxis are expensive and there is no regular bus or train service to the city center. If you are renting a car, shop around for deals for foreigners.

Getting around

Cape Town lacks a decent public transport system. It's worth hiring a car at least for a day or two. Most hotels and hostels offer peninsular and wineland tours. Some take bikes along with them.

Minibus taxis are used by locals and will give you a cheap, genuine taste of South Africa. But they are not for the fainthearted, despite efforts by the government to persuade minibus drivers to upgrade their vehicles and respect basic rules of the road. For a more predictable alternative, the Explorer double-decker open-topped bus has a hop-on, hop-off system, with the red line serving the city and the blue line surrounding areas at a cost of $20 per adult for a universal 24-hour pass. You can walk around most parts of central Cape Town without fear of crime during the day, unlike Johannesburg and Durban. But at night take a taxi, even for short distances.

What to see

Table Mountain

This is Cape Town's icon. You can hike up or down (a steep 1.8 miles on the Platteklip Gorge trail) but check at the information booth on conditions (strong winds are common). The return trip by cable car costs $14.50, with discounts for children and students and sometimes in early morning and evening. Operating times depend on season and weather. Be prepared to wait at busy periods.

A wonderful alternative to Table Mountain lies just across the road. Signal Hill has no lines, no hassle, no fees. Just uninterrupted 360-degree views of the city from the winding road. Join the locals at full moon and walk up and down the mountain (about 90 minutes each way) for an unforgettable experience. Remember, there is safety in numbers.

Robben Island

The wind-swept island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned is a must. The trip takes 3 1/2 hours and costs $15 (children half-price). Book well in advance as it's hugely popular. Also, for just $1.50, visit the District Six Museum, which highlights the injustice of the apartheid era and the forced relocations of nonwhites from the vibrant city center to dismal Cape Flats townships, which are still home to the majority of the population. (Robben Island will be closed the first two weeks of November while authorities remove an infestation of rabbits.)

Waterfront

The harbor and shopping complex is home to pricey hotels and boutiques. But you can soak up the sea air and enjoy live entertainment for free. There are restaurants and fast food joints for all budgets. Or pick up a picnic at the Pick 'N Pay supermarket. The world-class aquarium is fab for both kids and adults.

Beaches

The powder-white sand of Camps Bay and Clifton are the places to chill -- and literally freeze in the Antarctic-influenced currents, even on scorching days. For swimming, the saltwater, open-air pool in Sea Point costs next to nothing and is in a breathtaking location on the beach, with a huge grass area for sunbathing. Weekends are packed but weekdays often empty (unless you coincide with a school outing, which adds to the fun). Take your own padlock for the lockers.

For less frigid waters, head to Fish Hoek and Muizenberg on the other side of the peninsula, which is warmed by the Indian Ocean currents. Muizenberg is a hotspot for surfers. Take time to chat with shark-spotters positioned on the beach and an overlooking hill to sound the alarm about occasional Great White visitors. (If you really want a close encounter, try shark cage-diving in Gansbaaii, a couple of hours drive away with transport offered from the Waterfront.)

Side trips

A Cape Peninsular tour is a full-day highlight either with an organized group or (better) on your own. Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope are the best-known attractions. Beware the baboons who aggressively search for food. (We once watched a hapless tourist getting out of his car for photos as a baboon jumped into the driver's seat next to the man's hysterical wife!!)

Next to Cape Point, an ostrich farm offers guided tours, but you can also watch the mighty birds for free.

Farther down the road toward the naval base of Simons Town, you can swim with penguins at Boulders Beach, which boasts a thriving colony of endangered African penguins. It's magical, and the birds are unfazed by humans.

Watch fishermen at work in the beautiful harbors of Kalk Bay and on the other side of the peninsula, Hout Bay. Hout Bay also offers 45-minute trips (about $4) to smelly but spectacular Seal Island, home to thousands of seals. World of Birds, also in Hout Bay, is great value for the money and popular with families. It also has giant tortoises, wallabies and squirrel monkeys (tourists are allowed into their enclosure twice a day).

Chapman's Peak leading out of Hout Bay is one of the world's most scenic roads but is currently closed following rockfalls. You can go halfway up to the picnic spots and, between August and November, feast your eyes for free on southern right whales. (Hermanus, the main center for whale-watching, is about two hours out of Cape Town).

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens are much loved among locals for their Sunday evening summer concerts. Take a picnic and get there early.

Dining out

By international standards, restaurants are cheap in South Africa. It's easy to have a slap-up dinner for around $10. Fish is superb -- try the firm juicy kingklip -- and fish 'n chips on the seafront is hard to beat. Local cuisine includes Cape Malay curries and bobotie (a dish with minced meat). You rarely pay more than $1.50 for a coffee and there are great, cheap local beers and wines.

Unlike other African countries, the water is safe and most restaurants happily supply a big jug of free tap water. Even the Waterfront has cheap options with pizzas, wraps, kebabs and noodles. There are plenty of eateries in Long Street -- the nightlife center -- in the trendy Waterkant district and along the Camps Bay beach. For unrivaled views at affordable prices, book a table in the Ritz hotel's revolving restaurant in Sea Point. Even if you are trying to save money, don't skimp on the customary 10 percent tip as waiters rely heavily on it to supplement their minimal wages.

Sleeping in

At the Waterfront, the Breakwater Lodge -- a former prison -- is the cheapest option. There's an abundance of reasonably priced guest houses and B&Bs in central locations like Gardens, Tamberskloef, Sea Point and Green Point. Prices vary with the season but it's easy to find a double room with private bathroom for less than $100 -- often much less -- and some establishments offer self-catering.

The official Cape Town Web site has listings but doesn't provide links or prices. So try http://www.capestay.co.za. There's plenty of choice in vibey hostels offering clean dormitory as well as private accommodation at even lower prices than guesthouses. These include Long Street Backpackers and Cat & Moose on Long Street. Quieter but also central are the recommended The Backpack and the lovely Ashanti Lodge. In the suburb of Observatory, popular with students, is the Green Elephant. There are also many choices in Cape Town's surrounding areas like Kalk Bay, Hout Bay and the lovely university town of Stellenbosch in the winelands.

When to go

Spring (September to November) offers a floral feast in the Table Mountain national park. Mid-January to April is also a great time to visit. Mid-December to mid-January it seems as if half the country descends upon Cape Town and it gets packed and pricey. Avoid June to August unless you like wind and rain - but even then there are glorious sunny days as well as cut prices.

Tiny, charming island offers taste of pure Italy

The charm of Ventotene is apparent the moment you spot it from the boat transporting you to its shores. Sitting there like a lonely sponge cake protruding from the surface of a clear blue plate, the island's sheer size -- or lack thereof -- promises something not only special but personal.
Arriving on this tiny island off the west coast of Italy, you enter the port built into the side of the volcanic island by the ancient Romans and only recently developed and expanded to provide for heavier traffic. The fishermen's boats lining the harbor along with pizza and scuba shops give the island that quintessential small-town Italian feel.

To get to the center of the island, you walk the winding ramp to Piazza Castello, where the town hall sits. Grab a cappuccino at one of the two cafes there, which moonlight as restaurants during peak season from May to October. If caffeine doesn't satisfy you, grab a bottle of wine at one of the local alimentari and sit in the park right off the square for majestic views of the small uninhabited island of Santo Stefano (used to detain Mussolini's adversaries during his rule).

Part of the cluster of islands known as the Pontines, Ventotene -- which gets its name from the Italian word for wind, "vento" -- lies in the Tyrrhenian Sea just west of the mainland region of Campania.

It occupies less than a square mile, and its history dates to the Roman Empire, when emperors such as Augustus and Tiberius found the island's isolation perfect for banished troublemakers. During World War II, it was used as a listening post by a German garrison before being captured by the Allies in 1943.

The island also has a rich literary history. It is thought that Homer intended this to be the spot where Ulysses confronted the sirens during his long journey home. John Steinbeck wrote about the 1943 U.S. raid on Ventotene while he was a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune.

During the day, you can sunbathe at one of the three main beaches. Cala Nave is the preferred choice for its accessibility, black volcanic sand and rock outcroppings that make for ideal basking in the intense Mediterranean sun.

Ventotene has become a scuba diving destination because of its lush and mostly undisturbed aquatic life. There are several scuba-diving schools on the island, one of which was erected in the late '70s and is the oldest scuba academy in the whole of Italy. Private and group lessons start at 100 euros.

Ventotene's size makes it perfect for simply setting off and exploring. Walking is cheap, and traversing the bright landscape -- which often doubles as cliff's edge because of the island's narrow width -- is rewarding not only for its brilliantly colored vegetation but also for its panoramic views and lack of entry fee.

Lower on the island, discover the chiseled rocks pockmarked by saline (little crevices used to collect fresh salt water in ancient times) and the sea caves down by the port where transparent pools often act as windows into the astonishing marine life that surrounds the island.

If you're looking for something a little less nature-oriented, there are two museums. Villa Giulia -- which is less enclosed museum than outdoor relic -- is the ancient remains of a structure that housed/imprisoned Emperor Augustus' daughter, Giulia, who was exiled there for her promiscuity and immorality. The other is the Archeological Museum, which in its more standard presentation holds many artifacts that have been uncovered on the island over the years.

Unlike its more frantic (by Italian standards) and popular southern neighbors, Ischia and Capri, Ventotene has barely been touched by international tourism. The hotels are affordable, and the food isn't overpriced. Today, it's home to a year-round population of about 600. That number skyrockets during the summer months, especially in August, when it seems that every Italian heads to the seaside, or September, when the Festival of Saint Candice (Festa di Santa Candida) turns the island into one extended party.

Ventotene's real appeal isn't in its breathtaking 360-degree sea views, its clear, clean water or even its architecture and people. There are other places in Italy just as stunning. Its charm is in the sense you get that you're experiencing something not discovered by the tourists who flock en masse to the rest of Italy year-round. A sense you're among Italians.

Getting there: Ferries run from Naples and Formia

Dining: The island's restaurants keep visitors well-fed during peak season from May to October. Da Benito, with an unparalleled location literally inside the foot of a cliff, or Il Giardino, known for its lentils, are popular choices. The choices are more limited off season.

A walk on the moon, in Turkey

"These are the fairy chimneys," our guide Alec said, pointing to a hill covered in large, strangely shaped rocks. "This one is a camel. That one over there is the Virgin Mary."

After driving from the Kayseri airport for an hour surrounded by sunflower fields on a flat, two lane road traversing Turkey's Anatolian plateau, the landscape changed drastically from an even plain to something resembling the moon. My mom and I couldn't believe the sight of these giant objects randomly emerging from the ground.

The "fairy chimneys" were created by a volcanic eruption millions of years ago and shaped over the years by wind and rain. These formations cover Cappadocia, an area in the center of Anatolia, where people built dozens of towns and monasteries using the rugged landscape for protection and shelter.

This remote region in the center of Anatolia is far from any of Turkey's major cities, but it has become a hot spot for backpackers and upscale tourists alike. The captivating landscape, combined with thousands of years of history and recently built luxury hotels, have put this isolated area on the map for travelers looking for something a little off the beaten path.

Our guide explained how the "fairy chimneys" got their name. They were first inhabited thousands of years ago and later abandoned. When people returned to Cappadocia, they didn't know who had built homes inside the rocks and believed that fairies had lived there previously.

Our first stop was Zelve, an almost 2,000-year-old monastery carved into the anthill-like formations. Some of the first Christians fleeing persecution from the Roman Empire found refuge in this remote area.

"Last week we could walk that way," Alec said, pointing to the roped-off path blocked by crumbling rocks. "But the boulders keep falling."

Scaling uneven rocks and ducking under low ceilings, we discovered bedrooms, churches and kitchens that had been carved into the rocks by hand. A tandoori grill was dug into the soft earth below and the outside of each home had a pigeon house, since local people relied heavily on the birds for food and fertilizer.

The Goreme Open-Air Museum, encompassing the site of the most well-known and largest of the preserved towns in the area, was a monastic community for early Christians. There are many intact, rock-hewn churches decorated with paintings and drawings from the town's original inhabitants.

Once inside the open-air museum, there's an extra fee to see the Dark Church, but it's worth the price.

Built into an unpresumptuous cave like the others, very little light is allowed inside, which has helped the colorful frescoes stay perfectly preserved. Many of the paintings were created around the 11th century and depict scenes from the Bible, including one of the Last Supper.

On the road outside Goreme, our guide pulled over to the side of the road and asked if we wanted to see Love Valley. Curious, we obliged, and so he drove us through an unpaved path covered in overgrown shrubbery. After a few minutes, the landscape opened up to a giant field filled with dozens of giant rocks.

As soon as we got out of the car, we realized how this place got its name. Marked by a yellow wooden sign with red phallic objects etched on, we looked up and saw dozens of X-rated rocks. It looked like Mother Nature had a good sense of humor in designing a field full of 70-foot-high erections.

Our guide told us that George Lucas had wanted to film one of his Star Wars movies in the region, but was talked out of it after colleagues took a closer look at the landscape.

We saw once-bustling cities below the ground as well. The first Christians used to escape persecution in underground hideouts such as Derinkuyu, which stretches at least eight floors beneath the earth and only 10 percent of which is open to the public.

Even the bravest of travelers may feel claustrophobic in the sprawling maze of dimly lit tunnels and chambers. Inside, we saw a winery, school and stalls for animals. To protect themselves from possible invaders, people designed round stone doors that could be rolled to open and shut off the hallways.

We were taken to our hotel, the Anatolian Houses, which was a much more upscale version of cave life. Travelers in Cappadocia used to be mainly backpackers, but recently, more upscale hotels have been popping up all over the region.

Our luxury hotel, situated on a hill overlooking the town of Goreme, was built in 2006 and has 19 guest rooms. Our room was built into the soft rock and was complete with a glass case with Anatolian artifacts and a traditional Turkish carpet covering the slate floor.

From our own patio outside our room, we had a beautiful view of the sun setting over Goreme. We relaxed at the end of the day, sipping on world-renowned Cappadocian wine from a flowing tap next to the pool.

How to Eat Out Without Gaining a Pound

Order it your way
You’re the customer, and most restaurants will do everything they can to keep you happy. So don’t be afraid to nicely ask to have that shrimp special grilled instead of fried.

Think tapas
Don’t feel compelled to order an entrée. You can put together a healthier meal out of two or three appetizers and side dishes.

Beware of the four Cs
Crunchy, cheesy, crispy, and creamy. Those words are code for fat-dense foods.

Say bye-bye to bread
There’s no need to test your willpower. Take just one slice, then ask the waiter to remove that breadbasket from the table.

Undress your salad
Dilute your favorite salad dressing with a squeeze of lemon or a few drops of vinegar.

Wrap it up
Get your doggy bag up front. Wrap up half before you dig in—out of sight, out of mind … and mouth.

America’s Healthiest Restaurants

by Health.com

You work out. You watch what you eat. But you don’t want to have to prepare every meal at home for the sake of your health—nor should you have to. We surveyed chain restaurants and found 10 surprisingly healthy standouts. Hit our top 10 for whole foods, good-for-you fats, even green vegetables on—gasp!—the children’s menu. Read on for the winners, great fast-food options, plus, how to eat out without gaining a pound.

If you’re like us, you eat out more than ever—and, as nice as it is to not have to cook, those meals out can actually feel like work. How do you navigate the minefields of huge portions, hidden fats, and sky-high sodium levels?

You shouldn’t have to resign yourself to paying for restaurant meals with a future cardiac workup. You just need to know where to go to find healthy, fresh food. To that end, we went out into the world of sit-down restaurants, looking to separate the (whole) wheat from the chaff.

Backed by an advisory panel of experts in healthy dining (meet our experts), we sifted through 43 chains with more than 75 locations across the country and, frankly, were astonished by how many restaurants made no nutritional information available. But judge we did (see How We Ranked Them), those brave (and progressive) enough to share their numbers. What you hold in your hands are the 10 that stood at the top of the heap.

Best Casual Dining Spots

Uno Chicago Grill

If you haven’t been to your local Uno’s recently, you’re in for a great surprise. Sure, its famous deep-dish (read high-fat) pizzas still hold court, but nutrition has become the word of the day with a completely trans fat–free menu and plenty of grilled entrees (including antibiotic-free chicken). Adding to the healthy variety: whole-grain pasta and brown rice, organic coffee and tea, and flatbread pizzas that have half the calories of deep-dish ones. Plus, you can add a salad to your pizza for half-price because, according to the menu, “We want you to get some greens in your diet.” Now that’s a blue-ribbon commitment to health. Another reason Uno’s is at the top of our list: You know what you’re eating. In the lobbies of most of the restaurant’s locations, there are Nutrition Information Centers that detail ingredients, fat and sodium contents, and calories and fiber of every item, in addition to gluten-free options.

Danger zone: Deep-dish pizzas can pile on the fat.

We love: The Penne Bolognese—just 16 grams of fat (well within the daily recommended max of 65 grams of fat for a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet).

Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes

Can a buffet-style restaurant—that symbol of American overindulgence—possibly be one of the healthiest restaurants in the country? It can in this case, because this salad-soup-and-bakery eatery (Southern California locations are named Souplantation, everywhere else they’re called Sweet Tomatoes) uses produce so fresh that it’s guaranteed to have been “in the ground” 24 hours before it’s in a refrigerated truck on its way to the restaurant. At the salad bar you’ll find seasonal vegetables like squash and bell peppers, freshly tossed and prepared salads, and a great range of nonfat dressings. San Marino Spinach With Pumpkin Seeds and Cranberries, anyone? This is paradise for vegetarians, vegans, and anyone who’s looking for a low-sodium, low-fat, high-nutrient meal outside the home.

Danger zone: Plate overload—after all, it’s all-you-can-eat.

We love: The Tomato Spinach Whole Wheat pasta, a delicious combo of whole grains and veggies.

Mimi’s Cafe

This cozy café-style restaurant transforms normally less-than-healthy foods into better—and still tasty—options: a half-pound cheeseburger wrapped in lettuce (that’s right, no bun); the cutely named Naked French Market Onion Soup, served without cheese. Another thing to love is the way that Mimi’s clearly steers you toward its healthy options. Its “Lifestyle Menu” points you to low-carb picks like the fish of the day served with fresh steamed veggies. Also, Mimi’s keeps portions small, so you can get away with occasionally having one of their more indulgent entrees like the Sweet & Sour Coconut Shrimp (608 calories).

Danger zone: The “Comfort Classics” page of the menu, with throwbacks like rich (super-high-fat) Chicken Cordon Bleu.

We love: Chicken & Fruit (above)—grilled chicken and a garden salad, plus wedges of fresh orange, honeydew, watermelon, and cantalope.

P.F. Chang’s China Bistro

Take the best aspects of Asian cuisine—a combination of fresh vegetables and protein—surround them with healthy influences such as whole-grain brown rice, wild-caught, sustainable Alaskan salmon, and all-natural chicken, and you have a recipe for delicious, healthy dining. Wok-based cooking (which requires less oil) using soybean oil keeps fat contents low, and less sodium in the sauces rounds out P.F. Chang’s healthy take on Chinese food.

Special credit goes to their nutritional information being based on the whole entrée, not a single serving like at most places.

Danger zone: Traditional, fat-dense items such as Lo Mein Beef.

We love: Carb-free vegetarian lettuce wraps—wok-seared tofu, red onions, and water chestnuts with mint and lime, set in lettuce cups.

Bob Evans Restaurants

You wouldn’t think a restaurant that prides itself on sausage could muscle its way into the top five healthiest restaurants in the country. But Bob Evans scores high on its dinner menu, which has plenty of low-carb, low-fat entrees and alternatives for children and adults (chicken tenders that are grilled instead of fried, potato-crusted flounder, and salmon stir-fry). Look for sides like steamed broccoli florets and fresh fruit, and enjoy old-fashioned family meals in a modern, nutrition-forward way.

Danger zone: Breakfast, where bacon and sausage are kings.

We love: Healthy options on the kid’s menu, like slow-roasted turkey with mashed potatoes and glazed baby carrots, and fruit and yogurt dippers for dessert.

Ruby Tuesday

If we’d done this survey in 2004, Ruby Tuesday might have won the blue ribbon for printing all its nutritional content right on the menu. It was revolutionary, and, frankly, it didn’t last. But the healthy ethos survived in the chain’s ingredients: organic greens, hormone-free chicken, trans fat–free frying oil, and better-for-you beverages including Jones organic teas and made-to-order drinks like all natural lemonades (think real fruit and juice). It’s easy to find the good stuff—it’s highlighted—and the offerings range from a chicken wrap in a whole-wheat tortilla to broiled tilapia.

Danger zone: Comfort-food entrees like Gourmet Chicken Potpie, which piles more than half your daily calories on the plate.

We love: That they’ve even healthied-up the burgers, offering veggie and turkey versions.

Romano’s Macaroni Grill

This Italian eatery puts its entire menu’s nutritional content online, so you know before you go what to steer clear of—mainly, the massive baked pastas. But what pushed Macaroni Grill onto our best list is its “Sensible Fare” menu, with entrees like Simple Salmon, a grilled fillet sided by grilled asparagus and broccoli. Grazie for whole-wheat penne available as a substitute in any dish. And bravo for including a grilled skinless chicken breast with steamed broccoli and pasta on the kid’s menu.

Danger zone: Heavy entrees like spaghetti and meatballs with meat sauce.

We love: The delicious Italian sorbetto and biscotti—just 330 calories and 4 grams of fat.

Chevy’s Fresh Mex

Chevy’s makes a big deal out of the “fresh” in its name, and with good reason—no cans in the restaurant, fresh salsa blended every hour, fresh avocados smashed every day for guacamole, and watch-them-made tortillas. All oils are trans fat–free, and the Mexican-style fare has lots of healthy options including Grilled Fish Tacos.

Danger zone: Sodium counts. To get below 1,000 milligrams, you’ll need to get those Chicken Fajitas with no tortillas, tomalito, rice, sour cream, or guacamole.

We love: Fresh fish of the day, grilled and served on a skillet with homemade salsa.

Olive Garden

Like Macaroni Grill, this Italian eatery has great-for-you options, as long as you keep your wits about you (again, avoid the baked pastas!). Use the olive-branch icon on the menu to find low-fat “Garden Fare” items such as Venetian Apricot Chicken, (448 calories, 11 grams fat). Even the fries aren’t a disaster, because they’re done in trans fat–free oil. You can grab some whole-grain goodness, too, by choosing the whole-wheat linguine at dinner as a substitute for any pasta.

Danger zone: The non-olive-branch entrees. Olive Garden provides no nutritional information on anything else on the menu.

We love: The low-fat Capellini Pomodoro (644 calories and 14 grams fat).

Denny’s

Yes, the home of the Lumberjack Slam and Moons Over My Hammy offers lots of skinny options to counter its fatty mainstays. “Fit-Fare” dishes such as the grilled-chicken-breast salad, and tilapia with rice and veggies, each have less than 15 grams of fat. Denny’s also posts full nutritional information on its Web site. Its use of trans fats to cook its French fries kept it from landing higher on our list, but the rest of the fried food is trans fat–free.

Danger zone: Breakfast specials, especially the Meat Lover’s Scramble, which is as bad for you as it sounds.

We love: The online nutritional chart has Weight Watchers Food Exchange Values.

Shining Examples of Fast-Food Fare

Noodles & Company

Why does this Colorado-based chain top our quick-serve list? Noodles & Company combines 19 fresh vegetables with seven types of pastas in Asian, Mediterranean, or American entrees (think Indonesian Peanut Sauté or Wisconsin Mac & Cheese).

We love: The Trio—soup, noodles, or salad paired with your favorite protein, plus a side salad or a cup of soup.

Chipotle Mexican Grill

The idea is simple: Build your own gourmet burrito, fajita burrito, taco, or burrito bowl. The flavor and the healthiness are in the details—naturally raised, antibiotic-free meats, organic beans, and even hormone-free sour cream. Corn tortillas give you a whole-grain option, and the tortilla-less Burrito Bowl lets you ramp up the proteins and veggies.

We love: Anything with the chipotle-adobo-marinated grilled steak.

Cosi

Any chain that calls small appetizers “Shareables” has the healthy idea down. Cosi’s central theme—the hearth—yields tasty hearth-baked entrees (in the locations where they serve dinner), from Alpine Chicken to Grilled Wild Alaskan Salmon. High marks for baby carrots as a substitute for chips to go along with sandwiches.

We love: The delicious, healthy fruit smoothies in a green tea base.

Panera

The bread is fresh and tempting (and you can go whole-grain). But look to Panera’s soups for great low-calorie and low-sodium options. Fresh fruit cups and apples make for healthy sides, and we give the restaurant special kudos for offering kids’ meals that come with organic cheese and all-natural peanut butter.

We love: “You Pick Two” combos. You can get half a sandwich paired with a vegetarian soup

Au Bon Pain

This chain boasts hormone-and antibiotic-free chicken. Plus, it provides a great nonfood nutritional tool: computerized kiosks available in most locations allow you to plan your meal and even sort the menu by your goal—whether it be high fiber and protein; or low carb, fat, cholesterol, sodium, or calories.

We love: The restaurant’s recent move to using preservative-free chicken, for better flavor and less sodium.

6 Independents Leading the Way

Los Angeles: M Café

Remember your macrobiotic friends who eschewed refined sugar, eggs, and dairy, and their noble (but bland) dinner parties? Meet your new BFF: This café makes macrobiotic cuisine incredibly tasty fare.

Berkeley, California: Chez Panisse

A longtime leader in the movement to showcase organic ingredients, cooked in simple, healthy, and delicious ways, Alice Waters’s Chez Panisse offers a daily prix-fixe menu that includes vegetables fresh from the garden, fruit right off the branch, and fish straight from the sea.

New York City: Blue Hill

The Greenwich Village setting may whisper “speakeasy,” but the menu sings “farm.” Since 2000, this nationally lauded restaurant has been using produce and animals from Stone Barns Center, a four-season farm and educational center 30 miles up the Hudson River.

Chicago: Green Zebra

Green Zebra makes its vegetarian-oriented menu stand out with chef-owner Shawn McClain’s creative, flavorful pairings. Roasted Squash Salad With Chestnut, Pear, and Parsley? Yum.

Detroit: Inn Season Café

In a city where some of the hottest restaurants are cooking up dishes with rich cream sauces, you can thank your lucky stars for the Inn Season Café. Whole-grain burgers and lasagnas with veggies rule the roost.

Atlanta: Bacchanalia

Talk about farm fresh: Husband-and-wife team and co-owners Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison supply much of the restaurant’s organic offerings from their own farm.

And Now the Not-So-Healthiest

Not everything was so rosy out there. Below, some of the scarier items we came across in our travels.

Scary chicken: At Chili’s, 1 serving of Crispy Honey Chipotle Crispers (no dressing) just laid 1,890 calories at your door.

Sides to Die For: Literally. O’Charley’s Onion Rings with Cajun Horseradish Sauce packs 1,800 calories on the plate, and 139 grams of fat.

Worst advice: It’s hard to think healthy when the menu encourages you to fatten up, which is exactly what Cracker Barrel does, telling you to “loosen your belt and enjoy” its Country Boy Breakfast, which offers your choice of country ham, pork chops or steak grilled to order, three eggs cooked to order, fried apples, hashbrown casserole, grits, gravy, homemade buttermilk biscuits, real butter, and preserves or what they call Jam n’ Apple butter.

Is there such a thing as too much cheese? Yes, Pizza Hut: Stuffing cheese into pizza crusts is just plain overkill.

No wonder they sell a lot of soda: The chicken and beef grilled stuft burritos at Taco Bell both have more than 2,000 mg. sodium (and your daily max should be 2,300).

Killing us with silence: These places might look like healthy options, but they provide NO nutritional information. And we begged. Benihana, Bertucci’s, Bonefish Grill, and California Pizza Kitchen, why aren’t you talking?

Fall Inn : Hotels with Amazing Fall Color Views

by T+L

Everyone knows where to find America’s boldest fall colors: the crimson of a maple leaf in Vermont, an oak’s burnished orange in the Smoky Mountains, the brilliant gold of an aspen in, well, you know. But what’s the fun of a great leaf-viewing locale when you’re holed up in a hotel overlooking a parking lot?

This annual metamorphosis happens so fast that when the leaves hit their stride, you want to maximize your time with a winning view. That means staying in a place where you can wake to a sweeping swath of color right outside your window, take morning coffee with the light glinting off the reds and yellows, stroll the grounds kicking leaves, and enjoy a late-afternoon cocktail as shadows begin to blanket nature’s palette.

Unearthing such autumnal accommodations, however, is no easy task: Hoteliers bought up the best vantage points years ago, so your selection of full-color properties is limited. (The upside? In some cases, staying in an historic hotel.) But we did the legwork for you, finding great spots across the country where you can fully embrace the classic fall experience while relaxing in luxury. Plus, we’ll tell you when to go and which rooms offer the best views.

Happy peeping.

Equinox Golf Resort & Spa
Manchester Village, Vermont

The Setting
The maples and oaks around this 2,300-acre resort have been drawing visitors since 1769. Reds and oranges fill the grounds and climb up the surrounding Green and Taconic mountain ranges.

Rooms To Book
You’ll find color outside most of the 195 rooms, but your best bet is to grab a room on the 3rd- or 4th-floor south wing, facing the mountains and their maples and oaks.

Bonus Views
Sit out on the back deck in a rocking chair, or in an Adirondack chair on the lawn facing Mt. Equinox.

Get Outside
Hike the 800-acre preserve behind the hotel with marked trails, or take a fly-fishing lesson on the private trout pond.

The Season
Mid-September through Mid-October.
fall rates start at $449.

Keswick Hall
Keswick, Virginia

The Setting
This Orient-Express hotel is set at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, close to Monticello, surrounded by a color explosion courtesy of maples, oaks, and birches.

Rooms To Book
Since only some rooms offer views of the countryside, stick to the State Rooms and Balcony State Rooms on the 1st and 2nd floors, with their large windows and terraces overlooking colorful oaks, dogwoods, hickories, and poplars. Thomas Jefferson never had it so good.

Bonus Views
Sit down to a meal in Fossett’s Restaurant, with its floor-to-ceiling windows, or have a drink out on Fossett’s terrace.

Get Outside
Play a round of golf surrounded by the colors, or try the off-site horseback riding. For a true bird’s-eye view, though, take off in a hot-air balloon.

The Season
October, into November.
fall rates start at $325 midweek, $395 weekend.

The Balsams
Dixville Notch, New Hampshire

The Setting
The resort’s lakeside spot in the Northern White Mountains offers maple reds and beech yellows in surround-sound, along with color-heavy views of Vermont’s Mt. Monadnock and Quebec’s Mt. Hereford.

Rooms To Book
Since the resort sits at the base of a mountain, the best color views are on the opposite side, overlooking the lake.

Bonus Views
Grab drinks on the veranda, then ask for a lakeside table in the dining room.

Get Outside
The resort runs guided hikes, or take out a mountain bike along the trails—rentals are complimentary.

The Season
The northern clime makes this season short: mid-September to early October.
fall rates from $138.

Little Nell
Aspen, Colorado

The Setting
At the base of Aspen Mountain, this perennial award-winner gives you a prime spot to watch the gold (and a smattering of reds and oranges) cascading down the slope.

Rooms To Book
Those on the top (4th) floor have the best views of Aspen Mountain; choose one of the three suites and you’ll score a balcony.

Bonus Views
Have a drink on the patio outside Montagna restaurant (from Master Sommelier Richard Bett’s award-winning wine list); the Tavern also serves up golden opportunities.

Get Outside
Go hiking or biking; this is Colorado, after all, and the mountain’s right outside the door.

The Season
Autumn in the Rockies can be unpredictable (and short-lived); October’s usually a safe bet.
fall rates from $360 for a mountain-view room.

Inn on Biltmore Estate
Asheville, North Carolina

The Setting
Inspired by the mansion it shares grounds with, the inn is surrounded by sycamores, hickories, oaks, and pines and looks out onto the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Rooms To Book
While most of the 204 rooms have views over the 8,000-acre grounds, the nine suites bring the mountains into view and maximize the color quotient.

Bonus Views
Breakfast and dinner in the Dining Room are practically mandatory for color viewing; in between, have drinks on the Veranda.

Get Outside
A menu of activities gets you into the color, including biking, rafting, horseback riding, flyfishing, and the inn’s Land Rover Driving Experience.

The Season
Color usually begins to show in late Sept.; the long season runs through early November.
fall rates start at $299.

Topnotch Resort and Spa
Stowe, Vermont

The Setting
A European country manor style imbues this 120-acre resort in the Green Mountains, just two miles from Mt. Mansfield, Vermont’s highest mountain.

Rooms To Book
You’ll find the best Green Mountain views on the second and third floors, especially from the Champlain Suite and the Governor’s Suite. Better still? The on-property resort homes, with large terraces and balconies.

Bonus Views
Norma’s Restaurant has floor-to-ceiling windows and offers spectacular vistas of Mt. Mansfield and the surrounding mountains. Or borrow a pashmina and dine outside under a heat lamp.

Get Outside
Soak in the colors while fly-fishing and horseback riding.

The Season
End of September-end of October.
fall rates start at $385.

Columbia Gorge Hotel
Hood River, Oregon

The Setting
This luxury hotel sits 200 feet above Hood River and 45 feet from the edge of the Columbia Gorge, where Oregon ash and vine maples paint a canvas around tightly packed firs and pines.

Rooms To Book
Corner rooms on the hotel’s river side give you two walls of windows to take in the Pacific majesty.

Bonus Views
Have coffee out on the terrace before sitting down to breakfast (and lunch and dinner) in the window-laden dining room.

Get Outside
Drive the colorful “Fruit Loop” up the Hood River Valley.

The Season
Mid-September through Mid-October.
fall rates from $169.

Mount Washington Resort
Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

The Setting
In the shadow of its 6,288-foot namesake mountain, this resort was built specifically to take advantage of the White Mountain National Forest view.

Rooms To Book
Ask for the front side (or sunset view) to get a close-up of a different mountain—Mt. Rosebrook—and its maple, oak, beech, and poplar. The resort is currently renovating all its guest rooms, so ask for availability of a new room.

Bonus Views
Pull up a wicker chair and have a drink on the veranda surrounded by colors, followed by dinner in the renovated dining room with its big picture windows.

Get Outside
Hiking, mountain biking, fishing, golf, and scenic chairlift rides all make for colorful excursions.

The Season
Mid-September to mid-October.
fall rates from $189 per person, (includes breakfast and dinner).

Munich's new modern design

by Aric Chen

For much of the world, Munich is likely to evoke one or more stereotypical images, among them the Glockenspiel in the tower of the neo-Gothic Rathaus, or city hall; the annual Oktoberfest bacchanal; and mustachioed men wearing lederhosen. Style, a word generally not associated with lederhosen, doesn't spring to mind. But these days Munich, Germany's third-largest city and the capital of Bavaria, is shedding its dirndls and feathered caps in favor of cutting-edge design.

Until my latest visit, I hadn't thought much of the city. I had traveled there twice—once as a backpacking teenager lured by the promise of copious beer, and again about 10 years later—and in my more sober moments Munich seemed a bit of a bore. It was as if the Wittelsbachs were still holed up in the royal palace: the spires of Baroque churches soared above winding streets, throngs followed the pied-piping Glockenspiel to the Marienplatz (the historic main square), and the Odeonsplatz and tony Maximilianstrasse presided with Italianate decorum. Munich was charming, elegant and postcard-perfect—but often as riveting as a boiled Bavarian potato. It was a well-preserved time warp rebuilt after World War II with a hint of self-satisfied, Disneyesque preciousness.

That's no longer the case. "In some ways, Munich has always been a creative city," says Christian Haas, a young local designer, over drinks at Heyluigi, a bustling boîte in the fashionable Glockenbach neighborhood, where a herd of wall-mounted plastic animals is the primary décor. "But it's changed a lot in recent years," he adds.

As Munich celebrates its 850th birthday this year, its historic center remains pleasantly intact—though it's now also home to a new synagogue and a Jewish Museum, designed by German firm Wandel Hoefer Lorch and opened in 2007. They are signs not just of a reinvigorated Jewish community but of a burst of innovation, powered by a strong economy (companies like BMW and Siemens call Munich home) and by the global boom in contemporary design. Driving in from the airport, one sees the evidence immediately: there's the Allianz soccer stadium, an illuminated doughnut completed for the 2006 World Cup by vanguard Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. Closer to town are the BMW Museum and the glittering new BMW World, a car-delivery center accessorized with restaurants and shops. The swooping glass-and-steel leviathan, designed by Austrian firm Coop Himmelb(l)au, looks like a spaceship touching down.

Even the old center has received a design-driven jump start. Inserted with surgical precision inside a historic city block, Herzog & de Meuron's Fünf Höfe ("five courtyards") complex offers a Kubrickesque take on a 19th-century shopping arcade, its passageways and interior quadrangles distinguished by hanging plants, warped walls and a sculptural sphere by the artist Olafur Eliasson. One night, I met Uli Tredup, a Munich-based interior designer, for dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant called Brenner. The salsiccia was a bit dry, but the scene said it all, as bijoux-laden ladies and Gucci-swathed men navigated the minefield of high-end shopping bags by their chairs. More telling than the conspicuous consumption was the setting of the restaurant itself, which occupies the vaulted cavern of the city's royal stables, now encased within a modern complex built behind a Victorian-era façade. It's an 18th-century relic wrapped in 21st-century glass inside a 19th-century shell—an apt metaphor for the city's hybridization. The new creative energy is welcomed by Tredup, who has designed smart galleries and shops in Munich—including the Nymphenburg porcelain showroom and the Talbot Runhof boutique—as well as a house for Boris Becker.

Locals describe their home, tongue-in-cheek, as Italy's northernmost city. The pace is relaxed, and in summer the beer gardens are packed and the sky is pristine—an ideal habitat for the sun worshipers who stake their ground, full monty, in the R-rated section of the sprawling English Garden. "It's an extremely pleasant city," says Ingo Maurer, 76, the local designer who's legendary for his poetic lighting fixtures. "The feeling is gemütlich [cozy]," he says. Originally from the German side of Lake Constance, Maurer, who lives part-time in New York, settled in Munich four decades ago. With its egg yolk-yellow buildings hemming a quiet courtyard, his compound just off Kaiserstrasse could be described as gemütlich as well. This month, Maurer plans to open his first-ever Munich showroom, where visitors will find his classics—say, an explosive chandelier of shattered china—along with exhibitions, lectures and his latest work.

Munich is also home to designer Konstantin Grcic, renowned for the technological and formal innovations of his space-age products, and furniture maker ClassiCon, which produces several Grcic designs. The haute-modern kitchen manufacturer Bulthaup has its headquarters just outside of town. An emerging generation, including Haas and former Grcic protégés Stefan Diez, Nitzan Cohen and Clemens Weisshaar, are bringing their energy and talent to the city just as surefire, imported names like David Chipperfield and Andrée Putman have contributed interiors for, respectively, the Rena Lange boutique and the historic center's Blue Spa and Restaurant, at the Bayerischer Hof hotel.

The inventive crowd now flocks to a number of newly buzzing establishments. In the historic center they fill the restaurant Schumann's, a standby having a revival, and Saf im Zerwirk, a vegan eatery designed by Cohen. In nearby Glockenbach they savor tagliatelli al ragù at Heyluigi or the all-day breakfast at Café Maria, sip wine at the chilled-out Maroto Bar or the livelier Café King, and browse the tightly edited design bookstore Soda.

Not all is new here in terms of groundbreaking design. Munich was home to the Deutscher Werkbund, the seminal early-20th-century association—a Bauhaus precursor—that sought to integrate crafts with modern industry. Among its members were artists Richard Riemerschmid and Peter Behrens, who would help found the Neue Sammlung museum, which today has the world's largest collection, at around 75,000 objects, of modern and contemporary design. In 2002, the museum left its "provisional" home of nearly 80 years for dramatically expanded quarters in the Pinakothek der Moderne. Among its soaring galleries is one of the most comprehensive design installations I've ever seen, spanning Art Nouveau chairs, the Bauhaus, and mid-20th-century masters, as well as Macintosh computers and Braun appliances.

Nowadays, the city's forward-looking spirit shows up in unexpected ways. Consider the Nymphenburg porcelain manufactory, located in the 17th-century Nymphenburg Palace, its home for more than 250 years. The frilly figurines and Rococo dinner services are still handcrafted using machines powered by water. Swans ripple across the ponds of the palace grounds, where you might spot Franz, the current Duke of Bavaria, walking his dachshund, Wastl. But Nymphenburg's kilns are also producing some of the most notable contemporary designs around: porcelain driftwood candleholders by Ted Muehling, plates by Hella Jongerius that reveal the process of applying decoration, faux-stitched teapots by Grcic. "We want to explore what's possible in porcelain, while creating timeless pieces that have long-term value," Nymphenburg's CEO, Jörg Richtsfeld, tells me.

Munich is remaking itself by engaging its past. Its most radical spaces (think of Fünf Höfe or even Brenner) have emerged from a rich historical fabric, just as Nymphenburg's froufrou porcelain has evolved into pieces now coveted by avant-garde aficionados. The city is wresting innovation from its most entrenched traditions. And that may soon even extend—yes—to lederhosen. "It took me five years of living in Munich before I would even go to Oktoberfest, and 20 years to wear lederhosen there," says the designer Uli Tredup. "But now it's actually sort of cool for the kids to wear traditional clothes."