Estes Park in Colorado has been described...

Estes Park in Colorado has been described as “a Rocky Mountain retreat where memories begin.” Amen. Pure air, flawless skies. Rivers/streams spilling into yawning canyons. A spruce-lined highway climbs to the timberline in Rocky Mountain National Park (405 square miles of wilderness on the slopes of the Continental Divide, where the voice of a bird can be as startling as thunder). Vacationers bed down at a lineup of motels, hotels, inns in Estes Park. The queen of the Rocky Mountain resort is the Georgian-style Stanley Hotel (built by F.O. Stanley, inventor of the Stanley Steamer). Guest rooms with brass/four-poster beds, full-length mirrors. Windows frame Estes Lake. The inventor of the wheezing Stanley Steamer placed a solid cherry-wood bar in one of the public rooms where drinks are poured. The hotel features period furniture, brass lighting fixtures, four pianos. (John Philip Sousa used to tune the piano in the Music Room.) As a tribute to the days of the Stanley Steamer, a vintage car is displayed in the lobby of the rambling, three-story hotel.

During summer, the Stanley offers professional theaters/concerts. Guests travel seven miles down Devil’s Gulch Road to the little village of Glen Haven (blink and you’ll miss it), where Dottie Ferguson (a.k.a. Calico Kate) sells Christmas ornaments, dolls, hand-painted plates, antiques. A few doors away, Steve Childs turns out gourmet sandwiches, baked goods and pastries at the Glen Haven General Store. Childs also serves ice cream at an old-fashioned soda fountain.

From Glen Haven, motorists do an about-face to the Stanley Hotel, where weddings are held on the lawn and days are as gentle as snowflakes that fall of a winter day.

Stanley Hotel, P.O. Box 1767, Estes Park, Colo. 80517, (800) 762-5437, (303) 586-3371. Rates: $80/$120. The Stanley also offers condominiums that sleep up to six persons each, $150 a night.

Manhattan Sleeper: Travelers visiting New York can get a feel for Ireland by checking into Paddy Fitzpatrick’s 92-room boutique hotel on Lexington Avenue between 56th and 57th streets. Paddy’s pad features doormen spiffed up in kelly green uniforms, a lobby lined with green carpeting, Waterford crystal chandeliers, Irish prints, suites named for Irish presidents. The Fitzpatrick opened last November. (Look for the Irish flag flying from the marquee.) Trouser pressers in every room. Voice mail, direct telephone links to Aer Lingus (the Irish airline). Whirlpool baths, robes, turn-down service, mini-bars, in-house movies. Paddy Fitzpatrick operates three other hotels in Ireland (the Shannon Shamrock at Bunratty, the Castle Hotel in Dublin, the Silversprings Inn in Cork). In New York, concierges are on duty 24 hours a day. Overnight valet/laundry service is part of the package.

The Fitzpatrick Manhattan, 687 Lexington Ave., New York 10022, (800) 367-7701. Rates start at $160 single, $180 double.

Hotel by the Bay: On the other side of the continent, San Francisco’s Savoy Hotel was chosen “the best small hotel in a city that practically invented them” by Travel & Leisure magazine last year. Rooms redecorated in French Provencal style. Featherbeds, goose-down pillows. Robes, mini-bars, hair dryers, turn-down service. Free shoeshines. Complimentary continental breakfasts, afternoon tea/sherry in the mezzanine. The Savoy is three blocks from Union Square, a short stroll from San Francisco’s top women’s/men’s shops. That gifted pair, Manou and Vesta Mobedshahi, who operate San Francisco’s popular Sherman House (widely acclaimed as one of America’s finest small hotels), are responsible for the renovation of the Savoy. The hotel’s brasserie gets high marks for its seafood/other specialties. This is a new find in a city known for quality hotels.

Savoy Hotel, 580 Geary St., San Francisco 94102, (800) 227-4223, (415) 441-2700. Rates from $89.

A Home in France: Hundreds of vacation residences in France are listed in a new catalogue prepared by a travel company in Virginia. Medieval homes, chateaux, cottages. In the Loire Valley, an ancient windmill has been converted into an apartment that sleeps four persons. A medieval home in Brittany sleeps up to six vacationers. And a chateau in the south of France comes complete with drawbridge and battlements (sleeps 11). All rentals are equipped with kitchens. Rates from $535 per week. Locations throughout France. In the Pyrenees, vacationers can take over a two-story farmhouse with two bedrooms, a kitchen with dishwasher. Several choices on the island of Corsica, including a two-bedroom cottage overlooking the Mediterranean. A small village nearby with a market/bakery.

To order copies of the 200-page Vacances en Campagne, call (800) 327-6097 or send $3 to British Travel Associates, P.O. Box 299, Elkton, Va. 22827.

Yesterday’s Maui: In reply to B.G. of Newhall, who is looking for a hideaway in Hawaii, this note from Luke Heese of Newport Beach tells of a discovery on Maui: “Stayed in a beautiful restored pre-1930s plantation estate between the old towns of Paia and Makawao that has all the charm and serenity of yesterday’s Maui. Our cottage had a sweeping view of mountains framed by the ocean. The property also has a three-bedroom main house that sleeps six. Both the cottage and the house are beautifully furnished. Fully equipped kitchens, washer/dryers, TV/stereos. The estate is only a few minutes from uncrowded beaches, waterfalls, shops, galleries. The owners are Tim and Janet Hodges, who have several other properties in the area.”

For details, write to the Hodges, RR 2, Box 302, Kula, Hawaii 96790. Rates: $60/$75 per night for the guest cottage that Heese rented, $140/$175 for the main house.

British Bargain: For those traveling on a budget, a 14-day bus tour of Britain is being offered for 485 (approximately $890). Figures out to about $64 a day for the tour/accommodations. Visits to the Cotswolds, Stratford-on-Avon, the Yorkshire Dales, the Lake District (England), Snowdonia (North Wales), the Trossachs (Scotland). Three nights each in Bath, York and Edinburgh, two nights each in Chester and Windemere. A maximum of 28 travelers per tour. The trip takes in off-the-beaten-track destinations. A mountain railway trip is being scheduled. Tours run April through September. Brochures from Travellers’ Tours, 9 Pyrland Road, Richmond, Surrey TW10 6JA, England. Other details from your travel agent or the British Tourist Authority, 350 S. Figueroa St., Suite 450, Los Angeles 90071, (213) 628-3525.

Potpourri: For details about animal sitting while you’re on vacation, call (213) 243-9709 . . . . Tips on where to stay/dine in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., are listed in a guide published by the Greater Ft. Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, Dept. MS, 200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Suite 1500, Ft. Lauderdale 33301 . . . . Destination Australia is a 132-page, magazine-style guidebook that’s available free by calling (800) 888-5116 . . . . Copies of the 98-page “Guide to Singapore Hotels” are available from the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board, 8484 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 510, Beverly Hills 90211, (213) 852-1901 . . . . For free copies of a 12-page guide for campers, call (800) 477-8669.

Reader Recommendations

North Carolina--James R. Kincaid, Sierra Madre: “A Jamaican/Cuban restaurant, Latin Border, 76 Haywood St., Asheville. Friendly atmosphere, moderate prices.”

England--Goody and Mandy Parson, Woodland Hills: “Paid about $63 for B&B; at St. Leonards, Warminster Road, Bath BA2 6SQ. King-size beds, beautiful views. One of the best places we stayed.”

Belgium--John and Cathy Kamburoff, Blythe: “Outstanding dinners at restaurant ‘t Kapoentje, St. Salvatorskoor Straat 6, Brugge. We had dinner there three nights in a row and stayed one extra night to experience the fine cuisine again.”

Tasmania--Bill and Joyce Willie, La Habra: “Franklin Lodge B&B;, Franklin, Tasmania 7113. Beautiful accommodations, full breakfast. Rates: $50 for a double.”

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