Avoiding Winter - Mid Feb Holiday

Bunka · 6 Jan 2011 at 12:54

Hi Guys,

The girlfriend and I are looking at going away mid February for a week to get away from this crap weather and find somewhere on the sunnier side!

We've got a budget of 3-3.5k, ideally all inclusive for that price and our only real criteria is somewhere warm, as close to 30degs or above! It doesn't have to be all inc. but that's our maximum budget including spending money on food etc.

So far we've been looking into the Caribbean and the Maldives, does anyone have any other recommendations?

uvarvu · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:02

How about Vietnam and Cambodia?

Teledude · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:03

Around the Cancun area?

Depends weather you want to stay in the hotel or wander?

Bunka · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:19

Every holiday that we've been on together has been a sigh seeing / being generally busy holiday. For example, Vegas, New York, Amsterdam, Milan.

We fancy chilling out somewhere reasonably luxurious with a beach ideally. I'm not one for beach holidays at all, but we've both been working our balls off recently, so a week to relax is much needed.

Uvarvu - Cambodia & Vietnam look awesome, but a lot of sight seeing would need to be done to do it justice. I'd hate to go to a place like that and miss out on everything.

Any other suggestions with the above clarification in mind?

Bunka · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:20

Teledude - Cancun looks pretty nice actually, definitely something worth considering. Is this somewhere you've been?

Steve Zodiac · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:23

Mexico. I was in the riviera maya area. Its great and its hot

J1234 · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:26

Maldives is great for relaxation and the best time of year to go is January/Feburary as it's the Northeast Monsoon (dry season). It's a long way to go for a week though.

£3.5k might get you something reasonably good for a week.

Teledude · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:26

Bunka said:
Teledude - Cancun looks pretty nice actually, definitely something worth considering. Is this somewhere you've been?

Going to a Secrets resort this year - comes highly recommend

http://www.secretsresorts.com/maroma/ -3k for 10 nights all inc

Bunka · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:29

Justin said:
Maldives is great for relaxation and the best time of year to go is January/Feburary as it's the Northeast Monsoon (dry season). It's a long way to go for a week though.

£3.5k might get you something reasonably good for a week.

Thanks Justin,

We've been looking at places like this: http://www.chaayamaldives.com/ with water bungalows etc. Definitely appealing, but i'm a little worried about being on an all inclusive island, and if the food and entertainment is poor, not having any other choice at all.

Do you have any recommendations for the Maldives?

Rotty · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:29

we go here most years in Jan/Feb

3k will cover including premium flight upgrades,awesome place

http://www.excellence-resorts.com/caribbean-and-mexico-destinations/excellence-punta-cana

Bunka · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:30

Teledude said:
Going to a Secrets resort this year - comes highly recommend

http://www.secretsresorts.com/maroma/ -3k for 10 nights all inc

I like it! Definitely running this past the Mrs

Rotty · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:30

Bunka said:
Do you have any recommendations for the Maldives?

my brother has been a few times and your budget prob wont cover a decent AI, also AI in maldives tends to be restrictive, buffets and local drinks only

Bunka · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:32

Rotty said:
we go here most years in Jan/Feb

3k will cover including premium flight upgrades,awesome place

http://www.excellence-resorts.com/caribbean-and-mexico-destinations/excellence-punta-cana

What do you think of the Dominican Republic Rotty?

Given that we'll be staying All inc. then to be honest, it doesn't entirely matter what the surrounding area is like, but I've heard from a few people that the other islands such as Antigua, St Kitts etc. are much nicer.

I have to say though, that does look pretty good for the budget.

Sp00n · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:33

Justin said:
£3.5k might get you something reasonably good for a week.

Man I would love 3.5k to spend on a holiday

Bunka · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:34

Rotty said:
my brother has been a few times and your budget prob wont cover a decent AI, also AI in maldives tends to be restrictive, buffets and local drinks only

Yeah, I'm starting to learn that this is the case, it's a bit gutting to see that spending a 3.5k only gets you a 3 or borderline 4 star place.

Some of these other suggestions cropping up look cracking though.

Bunka · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:36

On a side note, have any of you found it cheaper to book hotel and flights separately or go for a package?

There doesn't seem to be too much difference at the moment, and Virgin holidays comes out slightly cheaper.

J1234 · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:39

Bunka said:
Yeah, I'm starting to learn that this is the case, it's a bit gutting to see that spending a 3.5k only gets you a 3 or borderline 4 star place.

Some of these other suggestions cropping up look cracking though.

Unfortunately that's the case with the Maldives, you have to spend a lot to get somewhere fairly decent.

We went to Bandos Island & Spa Resort and the island itself had various à la carte restaurants as well as the main buffet type restaurant so there was a lot of choice, only it was very expensive.

The Caribbean is probably a better choice with that budget, you can get some really good this time of year over there. We went to Cuba a few Januarys back and it was a cracking deal.

Rotty · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:42

Bunka said:
What do you think of the Dominican Republic Rotty?

Given that we'll be staying All inc. then to be honest, it doesn't entirely matter what the surrounding area is like, but I've heard from a few people that the other islands such as Antigua, St Kitts etc. are much nicer.

I have to say though, that does look pretty good for the budget.

there is little in the DR outside of the resorts but the resorts are as good as any other carribean islands, I would recommend that you only choose the high end resorts though to ensure hygiene standards

teh best bit though is the same holiday as other islands for less money

I have been to Barbados once, Jamaica once, and the DR 5 times ( well 5th time is end of this month ) so that must say something

Rotty · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:44

Bunka said:
On a side note, have any of you found it cheaper to book hotel and flights separately or go for a package?

There doesn't seem to be too much difference at the moment, and Virgin holidays comes out slightly cheaper.

Package tends to be better,look at First Choice

as odd as it sounds for long haul the charter planes tend to be better than the likes of Virgin and BA

a1ex2001 · 6 Jan 2011 at 13:45

Bunka said:
Teledude - Cancun looks pretty nice actually, definitely something worth considering. Is this somewhere you've been?

Honestly if your going to mexico get away from Cancun, Mexico is a fantastic and interesting country the Yucatan has far more to offer than Cancun which is just a hang out for the one thing worse than Brits on holiday and that Yanks on holiday!

Bunka said:
On a side note, have any of you found it cheaper to book hotel and flights separately or go for a package?

There doesn't seem to be too much difference at the moment, and Virgin holidays comes out slightly cheaper.

I've regularly tried to beat the prices that package operators offer and it is pretty difficult especially once you include transfers etc.

A week sadly isn't enough to do somewhere like Thailand/Vietnam or Cambodia justice allthough if you don't mind spending a significant part of your holiday flying then Bali might be an option.

For you holiday requirments, I'd suggest anywhere on the Yucutan that isn't Cancun or Cuba both offer you a stunning beach holiday with some nice sightseeing oppertunities when the beach gets boring! If you want something a bit closer to home then the Seychelles is fantastic if you get away from the big popular bits!