Start in the United States and follow the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway as he traveled in search of stories and adventure in what was once the Wild West. He is reputed to have written portions of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" in the beautiful Pollard Hotel in Red Lodge, Montana, and the main character in the book hails from this picturesque little town.
The Chamberlin, a charming refurbished art nouveau hotel in Cody, Wyoming, boasts many photographs of its most famous literary guest as well as an authentic Hemingway signature on the old guest register. Here you will feel as if you have stepped back in time and you just might be inspired to do a little writing of your own when you see the antique typewriter in your room. Well, at least a postcard.
Take a trip to Idaho and the Sun Valley Lodge where Hemingway --- as well as Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper --- was a long-term guest of Union railroad magnate Averell Harriman. Here you will see familiar 1939 photographs of the great American author, taken outdoors where he pounded away on his typewriter. It was here that he finished up "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and also where he wrote his one tribute to Idaho, a short story called "The Last Good Country." The lodge retains much of its old-school glamor and you can still book Papa's suite #206. You may also wish to visit his grave site in nearby Ketchum.
Grab your bathing suit and head for the warmer Hemingway haunts of Key West. The historic La Concha Hotel, built in 1926, is now a Crowne Plaza property but the chain has been respectful of the landmark's fabled past. This is, after all, the place where Hemingway began to write "To Have and Have Not," which became a film starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. As an added bonus, the hotel is near the Hemingway Home and Museum.
Sleep in the same rooms once occupied by Ernest Hemingway, Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplain and a host of famous matadors, including the legendary Manolete. An avid aficionado of bull fighting, Hemingway ran with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain nearly every season in his younger days and his hotel of choice was the Gran Hotel La Perla. You can book the very same room --- which remains unchanged and is rumored to be haunted --- in which the famous writer slept.
Get your vaccinations and pack for a trip to Nairobi, Kenya, where you can toss back a drink at the same bar where Hemingway and other guests shared tales of their adventures in the wild. The Lord Delamere Bar is located inside the historic Norfolk Hotel, where Hemingway was a frequent guest during the months he spent in Kenya working on his 1935 book "Green Hills of Africa."
