Budget Travel Editors: If you're staying in San Francisco--and have only one day to spend in wine country--then consider skipping sprawling Napa altogether and opt for smaller, cozier, (and far prettier) Sonoma. Instead of navigating your wine tour from a major highway buzzing with cars, you'll be driving along small two-lane roads, like scenic Route 12 in the heart of Sonoma county. Plus most of Sonoma's wineries offer free wine tastings as opposed to those in Napa which cost anywhere between $5 and $12. As for wineries, there are tons, so if you have a favorite wine that you drink at home, it's always fun to try it on the estate. At Benziger Family Winery (888/490-2739, benziger.com), you'll learn all about how they create their biodynamic wines (try the port!), and at Chateau St. Jean (707/833-4134, chateaustjean.com), you can sip Sauvignon Blanc amidst its outdoor English garden; for more information on wineries try Sonoma.com. And for dinner in Sonoma, be sure to make reservations at The Girl & the Fig (707/938-3634, thegirlandthefig.com) for "country food with a french passion." You won't be dissappointed.

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Rochester, MI: Help! We have three adult women flying to Glascow on September 3rd. We are interested in hiking and seeing the most beautiful areas of Scotland. Someone told us to head to Fort William. Our flight home is September 8th. What are the highlights of Glascow, where should we stay and do you suggest staying in the Fort William area? Thank you!

Budget Travel Editors: You've chosen a good time to visit! Scotland in September is usually dry, even if a little cooler, with average daytime temperatures in the 60s.
 
Glasgow is a center for art and design, with funky, creative neighborhoods springing up in former warehouse districts (Merchant City) and by the University of Glasgow (West End). Glasgow is also known for the European Art Nouveau architecture and designs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (crmsociety.com) and several world-class museums. The highlight is the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which reopened July 11th after a three-year, $51 million restoration. Collections include Impressionist works, paintings by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Whistler, and Botticelli, an arms and armor collection, and Ancient Egyptian artifacts. There is also is the vast collection from the late shipping magnate Sir William Burrell, which now housed in a large gallery surrounded by parkland on Glasgow's South Side. Admission to Kelvingrove museum, the Burrell Collection--and all of Glasgow's civic museums and galleries for that matter--is free (glasgowmuseums.com).
 
Getting to the great outdoors is rather convenient from Glasgow; daily trains and buses make the two-and-a-half-hour trip up to the west Highlands, in which Fort William is the largest city. The area is home to stunning lochs and hills, including Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the UK. You can easily spend a few days exploring the scenery, by taking a boat cruise through Loch Linnhe, or hiking through the area. You can pick up free maps of walking trails in the area from the Glen Nevis visitor center, about 1.5 miles outside of Ft. William. (011-44/1397-922, visithighlands.com).

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Belvidere, IL: My husband and I are going to the Guanacaste beach area of Costa Rica September 2-9, 2006. We want to know how much risk there is of contracting malaria from mosquito bites?

Budget Travel Editors: According to their Tourism and Travel Bureau, malaria is a complete non-threat in Costa Rica, ("eradicated" was the word that they used). However, the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention includes the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica as an at risk zone for malaria. The recommended antimalarial drug for the region is chloroquine, whose side effects do include nausea, headache, dizziness, and blurred vision, (though travelers who take chloroquine generally don't experience these effects dramatically enough to prohibit taking the medicine). Chloroquine is supposed to be taken one week before departure, and once weekly throughout your stay in the area. Many tour operators and language schools in Costa Rica feel that the malaria pills are an unnecessary precaution, but to be on the safe side it is best to check with a doctor who specializes in travel immunizations. The website travelersvaccines.com has a " travel clinic locator" tool, and a quick search turns up 40 different locations throughout Illinois, several of which have their own websites. (The closest facility to Belvidere is the Winnebago County Health Department at 220 South Madison St., Ste 200, Rockford, 815/720-4000, wchd.org). Another precaution worth considering, bring bug-repellent with DEET in it (diethyl-m-toluamide).

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Budget Travel Editors: Thanks for all your great questions. See you next week!

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