Holiday Recommendations - Couples?

[Macman]

Looking for a decent sun holiday Aug/Sept time, budget is about £4,000 (exc spending) all in.

Anyone got any recommendations? I don't want to do the usual common places in Spain i.e. Tenerife. Have been looking at Cancun but just don't know what to make of the reviews.

So if anyone has went anywhere with the OH, would appreciate ANY input.

Cheers

[TeePee]

Personally, I'd consider Cuba right now. It's just opened up to Americans, so it will be ruined soon.


For less culture and more beach:
http://conradhotels3.hilton.com/en/h...NCI/index.html

[g8ina]

We honeymooned in Malta, wonderful place, they love the Brits too

[scaryjim]

£4k should get you a nice ~ 2 week cruise if you shop around (particularly if you can go late September after the schools have gone back). Never thought I'd enjoy a cruise, but I'm ruined for "normal" holidays now (partly because we booked Celebrity for our first cruise and they're at the top end of quality/service).

Inside cabins are OK, but since you never get any natural light they can be a bit disconcerting when you wake up, as you'll have no natural cues as to what time it is. We did insides for our first couple of cruises and still really enjoyed the holiday. However, last time we had an outside, and the difference is noticeable - you get natural lighting cues for when its morning, and we used the room a lot more than we'd ever previously done, as the natural daylight makes your room feel like a nicer place to be. If you have £4k excluding spends, then I'd definitely look for an outside. Another benefit is that you can often get deals on the higher grade cabins that include drinks packages, which makes a big difference to the on-ship experience.

There's plenty of European options in September - we've done the Baltic, France & Northern Spain, and Southern Spain on our cruises and really enjoyed all of them, so basically pick which bit of Europe you fancy and there should be a cruise that covers it!

[Spud1]

What sort of holiday do you both prefer? Relaxing, Sight seeing, adventure, mixture...do you like "foodie" type places, boozing? £4k will get you a stunning 2 week holiday outside of school holidays - to be honest you can get an amazing holiday for a fair bit less too.

Personally i've done a couple of 5* luxury all inclusive type holidays in the past few years. Egypt a couple of years ago, Morocco last year. Each cost about £1k each for 11-14 nights and were the best wto holidays we've ever had. They were nothing like the all inclusive holidays of the past! Good quality hand made drinks with decent spirits, ala carte restaurants for food (no dodgy buffets), no kids (both were adults only resorts), bottled water everywhere (critical in hot countries), swim up rooms (one was a lodge on our own, with private pool), good staff, both located close to main tourist/exploration sites, good trips out available through the reps or you can just make your own...I would recommend them to anyone. We spent £1k each on flights/accommodation and then roughly a further £500 on trips/tips etc whilst out there on each occasion.

You do have to be a little careful with where you choose as you certainly can find some "traditional" all inclusive type hotels out there, but if you stick to the high end which are well within your budget you can have a great holiday and you are crucially not stuck in your resort - its easy to get out and about if you want to. I'd strongly recommend the TUI Sensatori resorts, but as you have a bigger budget than me you could go further and look at the places Kuoni sell as they tend to be another level above.

In terms of where to go...I am considering Antigua or Jamaica at the moment for next year..this year we've decided to go to Fuerteventura as a base and then explore the surrounding islands, which isn't quite the same level of luxury but were on a budget of £800 each this year so had to save a bit of cash. ;/

[virtuo]

Considered anything a bit more exotic like Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan?

We went a bit crazy and booked 2 weeks in Bali this summer - not our usual lazy poolside do.

[Smudger]

You could get 10 days in a Sandals resort for that. My wife and I went to their resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica in 2011, and it's a nice, relaxing break. Plenty to do, if you want, or you can just lounge by the pool, getting slowly drunk as the waiting staff come and top you up as soon as you finish your last one. We did 7 nights in one of their Concierge villas, with a pool shared by 4 apartments, it was really nice. That was about £1000 a head at the time, but you don't need much spends after that, all meals and drinks are included, whatever time of day. The only thing we spent money on was a river 'tubing' trip, and a boat trip to Dunns Falls, which was in a Bond film, Dr No, I think.

The next year we went to Secrets Silversands, in Riviera Maya, near Cancun. That was also nice, but different. Our 'swim-up' room was swim up then traverse about 20ft of spiky grass, but it was fine. The advantage was that we weren't near the main pool, where all the Americans were, being noisy. We did have an afternoon where a bunch of Americans arrived in an apartment near us, spent a couple of hours getting smashed, then suddenly went all quiet. I don't think these people can handle afternoon drinking... The advantage of Riviera Maya is that you're close to Cancun, so you can pop in for all the nightlife etc there, but you're far enough away for it to be quiet when you want it to be as well...

The next year, a child was born. We haven't been on a fancy holiday since...

[directhex]

Personally, I'd consider Cuba right now. It's just opened up to Americans, so it will be ruined soon.

We got married in an all-inclusive in Cuba. On a similar budget. T'was nice.

http://www.meliacuba.com/cuba-hotels...disus-riodeoro

[Ferral]

Dominican Republic or Jamaica are beautiful places to go, they are on our to go to lists after looking at what is available there.

I would also HIGHLY recommend the Sentido Orca Lotus Beach at Turkey, we got back from there just over a week ago and loved every minute of it.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Cuba,Iceland or Sri Lanka?? Known people who have gone on holiday to all three(I can vouch for the last one). Cuba has its own unique charm as it was closed off for years,Iceland is just beautiful. If you deffo want to do the whole diving thing,plus want a bit of history,a bit of safari,etc SL will cover all of that.

[ik9000]

We honeymooned in Malta, wonderful place, they love the Brits too

so did we. But the brit love is waning post-brexit.

Have you considered Croydon? All inclusive stay in a genuine British house yours for £4k.

[Smudger]

Sandals currently have a 60% off sale, plus an extra £100 off with the SPRING100 code.

Saying that, I don't think I know anyone who's ever paid full price for a Sandals Holiday...

[b0redom]

Think my favourite place on the planet is Moorea (in French Polyneseia). You can get there via LA, so have a few days there or get a car and drive out to Vegas.

[b0redom]

..or for more conventional....

The Verandah Resort in Antigua is lovely. 2 weeks there in Sep (with Virgin) look to come in at ~£4300 for a villa all inclusive. For bonus points they have Boomerang on the TV so you can watch retro cartoons whilst you're chilling out. Snorks FTW!

[ik9000]

Sorrento, Amalfi coast

[Macman]

Thanks guys, will be doing abit of research on some of the destinations.