Forbes.com’s list of Cell-Phone Free Vacation Spots Across the USA (via USA Today) enlightens travelers seeking respite from the wired world. The feature reminded me of one we have right here on TravelPost.com:

10 No-Tech Escapes

A rose is a rose is a rose. More importantly, TravelPost.com writer Jillian Scheeler can show you where to find them in Top Rose Gardens to Visit in the United States. One of her picks? Portland’s International Rose Test Garden Washington Park (pictured) is one of them.

Mobil Travel Guide has announced its picks for the best North American spas of 2007. Only two establishments won Mobil’s coveted five-star rating: Spa Montage at Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, CA and The Spa at Mandarin Oriental New York. But there were plenty of four-star winners:

Mobil Four-Star Award Winners

Willow Stream, The Spa at The Fairmont, Banff Springs, Banff, AB

The Sanctuary Spa at Sanctuary, Camelback Mountain, Paradise Valley, AZ

Alvadora Spa at Royal Palms, Royal Palms Resort & Casitas, Phoenix, AZ

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort, Scottsdale at Troon North, Scottsdale, AZ

The Centre for Well-Being at The Phoenician, Scottsdale, AZ

Willow Stream, The Spa at The Fairmont, Scottsdale Princess, Scottsdale, AZ

The Spa at Omni Tucson National, Tucson, AZ

Ancient Cedars Spa, Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino, BC

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort, Whistler, BC

The Peninsula Spa, Beverly Hills, The Peninsula Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills, CA

The Beverly Hills Hotel Spa by La Prairie, Beverly Hills, CA

The Spa at Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills, CA

Post Ranch Spa, Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur, CA

The Bathhouse, Calistoga Ranch, Calistoga, CA

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort Aviara, Carlsbad, CA

The Spa at Bernardus Lodge, Carmel Valley, CA

Spa Gaucin, St Regis Monarch Beach, Dana Point, CA

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, CA

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Half Moon Bay, Half Moon Bay, CA

The Spa at Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, CA

The Spa at Torrey Pines, Lodge at Torrey Pines, La Jolla, CA

The Spa at The Carneros Inn, Napa, CA

The Spa at the Island Hotel, Newport Beach, CA

Spa du Sureau, Chateau du Sureau, Oakhurst, CA

Spa Ojai, Ojai Valley Inn and Spa, Ojai, CA

The Spa at Pebble Beach, Pebble Beach Resorts, Pebble Beach, CA

Spa du Soleil, Auberge du Soleil, Rutherford, CA

Remede Spa, St. Regis San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

The Spa at CordeValle, The Lodge at CordeValle, San Martin, CA

Bacara Spa, Bacara Resort and Spa, Santa Barbara, CA

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Bachelor Gulch, Avon, CO

The Spa at the Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, CO

The Spa at the Brown Palace, Denver, CO

The Mayflower Spa, The Mayflower Inn, Washington, CT

The Spa at Mandarin Oriental Washington DC

Willow Stream, The Spa at The Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort, Aventura, FL

Spa Palazzo at The Boca Raton Resort & Club, Boca Raton, FL

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Key Biscayne, Key Biscayne, FL

Canyon Ranch SpaClub at Gaylord Palms Resort, Kissimmee, FL

SpaTerre at Little Palm Island, Little Torch Key, FL

The Spa at Mandarin Oriental Miami

The Spa at The Setai, Miami Beach, FL

The Ritz Carlton Spa, Naples, Naples, FL

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Orlando, Grande Lakes, Orlando, FL

The Spa at The Breakers, Palm Beach, FL

The Ritz-Carlton Members Spa Club, Ritz-Carlton Sarasota, Sarasota, FL

The Ritz Carlton Spa, South Beach, South Beach, FL

The Ritz-Carlton Lodge Spa, Reynolds Plantation, Greensboro, GA

Spa at Sea Island, The Cloister, Sea Island, GA

Spa Halekulani, Halekulani, Honolulu, HI

Spa Suites at The Kahala Hotel and Resort, Honolulu, HI

Hualalai Sports Club and Spa, Four Seasons, Resort Hualalai, Ka’upulehu-Kona, HI

The Spa at Manele Bay, Four Seasons Resort Lanai, Lanai, HI

Spa Grande at The Grand Wailea Resort, Wailea, Maui, HI

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, Wailea, Maui, HI

The Peninsula Spa, Peninsula Chicago, Chicago, IL

The Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, Chicago, IL

The White Barn Inn Spa, White Barn Inn, Kennebunkport, ME

The Spa at Pinehurst, The Carolina at Pinehurst, Pinehurst, NC

The Ritz-Carlton Spa, Lake Las Vegas, Henderson, NV

Canyon Ranch SpaClub at The Venetian Resort Hotel, Las Vegas, NV

Spa Bellagio at Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV

The Spa at Four Seasons, Hotel Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV

The Spa at Wynn Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV

The Spa at Emerson Place, Mount Tremper, NY

The Spa at Four Seasons Hotel New York, New York, NY

The Peninsula Spa, New York, The Peninsula New York, New York, NY

Stillwater Spa, Park Hyatt Toronto, Toronto, ON

Woodlands Spa at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, Farmington, PA

Spa at the Sanctuary at Kiawah Island, Kiawah, SC

The Spa and Salon at Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas, Irving, TX

Trellis, The Spa at The Houstonian, Houston, TX

The Watermark Spa, Watermark Hotel & Spa, San Antonio, TX

The Spa at Stein Eriksen Lodge, Park City, UT

The Greenbrier Spa, White Sulpher Springs, WV

The Spa at Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole, Teton Village, WY

Clearly, finding a top-rated spa is easier when you’re in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Florida or somewhere involving snow.

Mobil Travel Guide’s Best of the Best Spas 2007

Citysearch has just posted its editorial round-up of the Best Hotels Nationwide 2007. You’ll find winners for major cities around the U.S. in the following categories:

* Best Airport Hotel

* Best Bed and Breakfast Hotel

* Best Boutique Hotel

* Best Budget Hotel

* Best Business Hotel

* Best Family-Friendly Hotel

* Best Dining Hotel

* Best Luxury Hotel

* Best Pet-Friendly Hotel

* Best Romantic Hotel

* Best Tourist Hotel

* Best Weekend Getaway Hotel

A lot of web site come up with top ten lists, but Citysearch bases its winners on votes from its site visitors - and over here at TravelPost.com, we love travel advice generated by real people. Check ‘em out before you check in…

For many of today’s frequent travelers, the no-tech vacation is something of a conundrum (Wait, no television? Then how am I supposed to watch The Inferno III?). In fact, the last time most of us were anywhere near being “off the grid” involved an unsolicited power outage followed by disbelief, then sheer panic. Don’t try to deny it.

But as much as we love (and we mean love love, not like love) technology, destinations without plasma televisions, resort-wide wireless Internet access, in-room telephones and the latest gaming consoles give us something that’s often impossible to pin down on the grid: ourselves.

Don’t worry. We’re not talking about destinations where you’ll end up twisted into a yoga pretzel drinking green tea before a mandatory colonic treatment in the “spa.” We’re talking about 10 places you can visit where the sound of the surf is louder than the television in the next room, where news of Anna Nicole’s paternity test doesn’t cause a mad rush to the business center’s Internet kiosks and, finally, where wake-up calls are more likely to come from birds outside than bedside phones.

Check out our list of 10 No-Tech Escapes here.

Road Junky has a feature up on the world’s 10 Worst Cities to Travel To. Instead of telling you who made the list (you’ll have to click through for that), I’ll tell you who didn’t. In the introduction to the story, the writer apologizes to Warsaw, San Salvador and Delhi. For better or for worse, these cities did not make the list. Some surprising ones did. In fact, you may be living in one of them right now (enter scary wind chime music in the background). Read on. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Travelers to Southeast Asia often take advantage of the (relative to Western countries’ prices) inexpensive tailors offering quick turnaround on custom-fit items like suits, pants, men’s dress shirts and silk dresses. But knowing where to go is key. Sure, there are tons of options to choose from in major cities like Bangkok and Saigon, but finding the right place will ensure you’re still wearing that new blazer a year down the road instead of tossing it into the giveaway pile.

Budget Travel’s Custom-Made in Saigon offers six surefire bets in this vibrant Vietnamese city.

Zagat has just released its 2007-8 Guide to America’s Top Golf Courses. The book covers 1,000+ courses in the United States, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.

The guide ranks the following as the Top 10 Best Golf Courses:

1. Bandon Dunes, Bandon Dunes Course, Bandon, OR

2. Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes Course, Bandon, Or

3. Whistling Straits, Straits, WI

4. Arcadia Bluffs, Traverse City, MI

5. Bethpage, Black, Long Island, NY (tied)

5. Cascata, Las Vegas, NV (tied)

6. Kiawah Island, Ocean, Charleston, SC

7. Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula, CA

8. Kapalua, Plantation, Maui, HI

9. Shadow Creek, Las Vegas, NV

For more, you’ll have to pick up a copy of the guide. Cost: $15.95.

We’re trying something new over here at TravelPost.com (just like any good travelers are apt to want to do). We’re putting together weekly stories on some of our favorite travel topics. New this week:

The Best Quick Escapes from San Francisco

Have a certain destination you want us to feature in the future? Maybe you’re heading somewhere and need a little help with the research. Let us be your travel guide. Leave suggestions in the comment boxes, and we may use your idea for an upcoming feature.

Patricia Shultz’s 1,000 Places to See Before You Die has captured the wanderlust of many a traveler. The Travel Channel took note of the book’s popularity and developed a television show based on Shultz’s worldly advice. 1,000 Places premiers tonight at 9 pm on the Travel Channel. To satisfy the modern viewer’s appetite for reality television, the on-screen version follows two newlyweds from Colorado on a 14-week round-the-world journey to 13 countries and 100 of Shultz’s suggested destinations. First stop? Alaska.