Travel briefs
WASHINGTON -- The Travel Industry Association has launched a new Web site, DiscoverAmerica.com, a one-stop site with content on all 50 states, dozens of cities, the five U.S. territories and a community section where travelers can post messages.
The content is primarily geared to international travelers and is available in five languages -- English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese. But browsing through the site provides plenty of inspiration, even for those already on U.S. soil.
The site can help you book hotels, find deals and activities and learn about places with a clickable map. You'll get a quick overview of each destination's geography, history and top attractions, with ideas for trips. In Idaho, for example, the site mentions Lewis and Clark sites, Sun Valley, the Shakespeare Festival in Boise, the Oregon Trail, tribal culture, whitewater rafting, and state parks like Bruneau Dunes and Castle Rocks, among other activities and destinations.
NEW YORK -- Frommer's travel guides are becoming available for download to iPhones and the iPod Touch. Digital editions of Frommer's 2008 guides to New York, San Francisco, London and Paris are $9.99 from Apple.com via the new Apple App Store and from iTunes. More Frommer's guides will be out later this year for downloading.
To view a demo: www.frommers.com/go/mobile.
BOSTON -- The Appalachian Mountain Club has several new programs to help tourists enjoy autumn in the Northeast.
A series of themed, all-inclusive family weekends are planned throughout September and October at AMC's New Hampshire lodges. The programs will include guided nature walks, foliage hikes and naturalist programs, along with activities that vary by weekend like visiting an apple orchard, pumpkin and leaf crafts, wildlife watching and a haunted evening hike.
Rates start at $142, plus taxes, a person for adult non-members ($134 for members), and $92 for children 12 and under ($78 for members). The package includes two nights in a room for up to six people, dinners and breakfasts.
Also new this fall, a "Rivers to Peaks" destination package combines lodging for three nights, meals, and guided activities in New Hampshire's Pinkham Notch. The package includes naturalist-guided walks, canoeing or kayaking, a ride on the Wildcat Express Gondola, and trail running or Nordic walking.
Guests stay at AMC's Joe Dodge Lodge in rooms that accommodate up to five people. The package is $285 a person, plus tax, for adult non-members ($260 for members) and is available for Sunday-Thursday night stays through Oct. 9.
Details at www.outdoors.org/fallguide. Reservations at (603) 466-2727.