Have you been wishing you could go abroad, but just can’t swing airline expenses for such a long trip? You can still have a great “abroad” experience at a timeshare rental destination closer to home. AAA’s Jamie Coelho offers these suggestions:
- Tuscany. Try the California Wine Country. The beautiful rolling hills of Tuscany, with their lovely vineyards, and even Renaissance castles, can all be found in the Napa and Sonoma region of northern California. World renowned for its premium wines, this grape-growing area of California stretches in valleys along the Pacific coast north of San Francisco. In 1975 there were only 25 wineries but with the advent of tourism that number has grown to over 400.
And you can tour the 107-room Castello di Amorosa (see photo), a winery built in the style of a Tuscan medieval castle. It’s complete with moat and drawbridge, and took over 15 years to build.
Great Napa timeshare rentals here start at just $107/night.
Swiss Alps. The striking Colorado Rockies certainly give you the feel of the Swiss Alps, complete with towering peaks (there are 55 “fourteeners” – peaks that are over 14.000 feet high), and lots of fresh powder for world-class skiing. The Vail ski resort is built in the style of Swiss chalets, furthering the Swiss Alps ambience. In fact, Vail’s village, complete with car-free cobblestone streets, was modeled after the Swiss village of Zermatt.
It’s beautiful in the Rocky Mountains during autumn when you can get a Vail timeshare rental for just $51/night. For a top winter season Swiss Alps ski experience, Vail timeshare rentals are still budget-friendly, starting at just $143/night.
Bali. Puerto Rico is certainly closer than flying clear across the Pacific Ocean, and as a territory of the U.S. there are no customs to go through for American citizens. On top of that, Vieques is a perfect stand in for Bali. Isla de Vieques, an island municipality of Puerto Rico, lies just 8 miles off the Puerto Rican mainland, and is rapidly becoming a popular tourist destination, known for it’s quiet, commercially undeveloped, tropical beach experience. The beaches of Vieques are commonly listed among the top beaches in the Caribbean for their azure-colored waters and sugary white sands. It even has a Bioluminescent bay – of which Bali cannot boast – a must-see at night.
Budget-friendly Puerto Rico timeshare rentals start at just $71/night.
(Photo credits – castellodiamorosa.com, gcpvail.com and ibestbeaches.com)