TRAVEL LOG

Plush digs in Nice, Berlin

Pampered travelers in Europe have two new hotel choices, opened this month: the Palais de la Mediterranee in Nice, France, and the Ritz-Carlton Berlin.

The Palais, a spectacular Art Deco building on the seaside promenade in Nice, has had a $150-million makeover. It was built in 1929 as a casino with a colonnaded front, but it had languished for more than 20 years until new owners began refurbishing it.

The hotel is owned by a subsidiary of the Taittinger Group of Champagne fame, which runs another French Riviera icon, the 415-room Hotel Martinez in Cannes.

The Palais has a heated outdoor-indoor pool with solarium, a restaurant and poolside bistro and 188 guest rooms. A casino is expected to open later in the year.

Rates begin at about $357 per night. 011-33-4-9214-7700, www.lepalaisdelamediterranee.com.

The 302-room Ritz-Carlton Berlin is in a skyscraper overlooking the newly trendy Potsdamer Platz, near the former site of the Berlin Wall.

It offers luxuries such as heated bathroom floors, a marble-inlay spa and Swarovski crystal chandeliers, plus an 1875 brasserie that was moved from Macon, France, and reassembled.

Introductory rates begin at about $211 per night. (800) 241-3333, www.ritzcarlton.com.

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New routes and choices for fliers

Airlines are opening new routes and options for passengers. Among recent news:

* American last month began nonstop weekend service between Los Angeles and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Flights leave LAX on Fridays and Saturdays and San Juan on Saturdays and Sundays. Round-trip fares were recently about $560.

* Southwest on Saturday is to begin nonstop Saturday service between Los Angeles and Tampa, Fla., and between Ontario, Calif., and Reno. Introductory one-way fares begin at $99 to Tampa and $59 to Reno. On March 7, Southwest is scheduled to add a daily nonstop between Los Angeles and St. Louis, with introductory one-way fares beginning at $99.

* Continental on April 4 will begin twice-daily nonstop flights between Bakersfield’s Meadows Field Airport and Houston. Fares vary but were recently $284 to $294 for a round trip in May.

* JetBlue on March 3 will begin what officials say is the first-ever daily nonstop between Sacramento and New York’s JFK airport. One-way introductory fares begin at $99. Cheryl Marcell, spokeswoman for the Sacramento airport, credited business growth but said that publicity about California’s new governor “certainly does help.”

* Airport check-in kiosks are multiplying. American last month clamed to be the first U.S. carrier to offer self-service check-in for international travel from Europe when it installed four kiosks at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport. In Las Vegas, McCarran airport has a single kiosk system that accesses 12 airlines.

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English spa delayed again

The Thermae Bath Spa in Bath, England, which has repeatedly missed its opening dates, hopes to open this spring, a spokeswoman said. No date has been set. The latest problem is peeling paint in the pools.

-- Compiled by

Jane Engle