Decisions Decisions

BenEadir

Hi all,

Its the time of year where I'm tasked with booking (or at least planning) the annual holiday. We take one two week family holiday a year and like everyone else we always want to get it right.

Myself and my wife (early 40's) and two kids aged 9 and 5. We like the sun, we like the option of having a sunbed chill out day with the kids messing in a pool and also like the option of an activity day exploring around, doing water sports or whatever but we're not very touristy in the sense of wanting to do organised tours and stuff like that.

We've been to France camping x 2, self catering in a cottage in France and a more tradtitional 2 week 'package' holiday in Cyprus over the past 4 years. We really loved the French trips but are thinking we should do something different this year as we're a bit tired of the whole overnight ferry and 8 hour drive x 2 per trip. the Cyprus holiday had many good elements in that we were in a hotel (single family room) with a pool and loads of pubs and restaurants nearby but after a few days of seeing that as a convienience it soon felt like we were in the middle of one of those holiday rep documentaries and soon disliked the rowdiness and tackiness of the place. It was all "Oirish" bars and cheap breakfasts. We did venture into the middle of the island and had some absolutely fantastic food in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere a few times and we do love our food but other than that it was fairly disappointing.

This year I'm thinking about a couple of weeks in a cottage in West Cork which I have a soft spot for (love Union Hall and surrounds) or try another two weeks in the sun but perhaps somewhere less busy than where we ended up in Cyprus. It's tough times for everyone so on a tight budget. Two weeks in a cottage close to Union Hall is going to be €1,500 + eating out, sports activities (sailing lessons for the kids? fishing trips, maybe surfing lessons) and of course the obligatory pub dinner and few pints listening to a good old trad session then walk back to the cottage. You'd have to budget at least €100 a day and maybe €150 a day which would make it €3,500 all in including petrol (Dublin to Union Hall return etc) so is that the best holiday we could get for €3,500?

If you have taken the time to read through the above (fairly theraputic) ramble above and were in my shoes what options would you be looking at in terms of getting away to the sun for €3,500 all in including spending money for the two weeks?

Lastly, is the idea of two weeks in Union Hall with two young kids mad or what? I know on a warm sunny day you'd say it's a great place to be and the kids can have a great time in and around the water but a full two weeks? What about two weeks of bad weather? I'm afraid we'd be bored to tears after 3-4 days and if it looked like the weather was going to stay bad we'd up sticks and come back to Dublin with our tails betweeen our legs!!

As you can see I'm at a complete loss in terms of what to do. One final option would be to keep my powder dry grow some balls and wait until the very last minute to snap up a fantastic 5 star last minute deal to somewhere really nice in Portugal or Spain.

Come on, help me out here everyone, I'm clearly in need of a lot of help.

Regards,

Ben

undo

I actually did read your entire post . I have no opinion on West Cork as I have never been to that area. But if you want to get out of Ireland, you certainly have lots of options given your budget. As I am sure you will known from your own research, you should book flights and accommodation yourself rather than getting ripped off by a tour operator.

I have been to Greece a few times and found it to be a great place for a summer holiday. There is lots of ancient culture everywhere so that if you decide you want to see something spectacular, it is always just around the corner. But you can equally well hang out at the beach. The key is to avoid touristy areas. For example, western Crete is great, the area around Chania. Eastern Crete is extremely tack and "oirish" - avoid at all cost. Accommodation and rental cars are cheap, food is both cheap and extremely tasty.

Another interesting option are some of the new EU member states such as Romania and Bulgaria. Both have great beaches and lots of sun. And both can offer you a lot of unusual sightseeing that you would never get in Western Europe. Prices are also very good. In Romania, you would be looking at the Constanta region. Constanta itself is a horrid resort town full of concrete hotels. But some of the villages nearby are just amazing. You could fly to Constanta and drive to one of the villages. When we were in Romania, we had a hotel reservation but actually decided to ditch that on the spot and look for a nicer place. We ended up staying in this cottage right on the beach... it was spectacular.

buzz55

my tuppence worth - while I'm as much a fan of West Cork as the next man, no way would I risk staying in Ireland during the Summer. You'd want to be really really lucky to get 10 out of the 14 days anyway reasonable weather wise. Also, everything so expensive compared to elsewhere & food probably middling.

We went to Sitges (seaside town about half an hour by train outside of Barcelona) a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Stayed here - www.sunway.es at the Sunway Playa Golf Hote for around 45pppn at the time, not sure if it has gone up since or not. Beautiful hotel, right on the beach, nice pool and a little bit away from the town (about a mile long promenade walk takes you in to centre of Sitges). Lots of lovely tapas bars for v little money, plus enough cava to sink a ship

Now we had heard before we went that Sitges had a very flamboyant lifestyle but didn't notice it any different/better/worse than any resort town.

Plenty of water sports in the area (there's a marina and a sailing school I believe), plus the train in to Barcelona only takes approx 35 minutes, runs regularly & costs a couple of euro. I'm sure the train goes further down the coast also but we didn't check out that side of it.

Perhaps Union Hall for a long weekend but I do believe that 2 weeks just might be a long time if weather was rubbish.

Wherever you go, hope you enjoy it. I'm also trying to pick a place, my head's wrecked

thecons

Funny that, we were also considering Cork this year, with 2 kids ages 7 and 10. Tbh, I was absolutely shocked at the prices. In the end, 2 weeks in Cork turned into 2 weeks all inclusive in Egypt! A real spur of the moment decision but that's me. Did have a couple of sleepless nights after I booked it though! We've gone to the sun every year for 2 weeks, usually Greece. All in all, usually costs us about €4500. Got the 2 weeks in Egypt for €3300 and hoping to spend little or nothing when we get there.

Only reason I booked is it was recommended by a friend who has been 4 times. I am almost blind from reading reviews etc, hoping that we've made the right decision! If it all goes according to plan, we'll have a great holiday and be about €1000 better off. Btw, it's the Holiday Village, Red Sea, if you're interested!

If you're prepared to spend the money, you won't go wrong with Zakynthos. Would recommend anywhere but Laganas, we've been to a few places. With the age of your children, if they're anything like mine, a pool and a bit of ould bingo and a disco at night time and they're happy.

Would be interested to hear what you decide, but enjoy it whatever you do!:D

BenEadir

Thanks all, this booking the family holiday lark is head wrecking isn't it? If it was a holiday for just me I'd leave it to the last minute, wait for a cheap flight to the sun and go 100% on spec but it's not and if I f**k up the annual family holiday I'll feel terrible.

thecons - I don't mean to put a downer on you but my own personal experience of all inclusive package holidays haven't been that enjoyable. My expectations were never met and I always felt the "payable local" exceptions undermined the whole idea and it ended up being a cat and mouse game with me trying to squeeze as much out of the all inclusive as possible and the resort trying to minimise the amount and quality of what they provide. I really treasure the option of deciding what to eat and where to go each night and felt the all inclusive options seriously restricted that plus I do believe the fact you've paid in advance and they have your money means they take you for granted once you get their i.e. they don't have to work hard to attract you in or bring you back like a normal restaurant would.

undo - agree entrely with you on the idea of booking your own flights etc. I usually do that with our trips. In fact just before Xmas I booked flights to Helsinki, overnight sleeper train to Rovaniemi in the artic circle Finalnd and "The Santa Claus Hotel" for me, my two kids and a mate and his two kids to do the whole Santa village experience. Had a 100% ball. It was the best trip ever. It was -17c, we visited santas village and spent 1.5 days skiing all for less than €500 a head. The one day package trips were working out around that price!! If anyone wants the itinerary for what was a unique and special way to spend a few days with young kids just before Xmas then PM me. A great "Dad's" trip to do while the mums did the Xmas shopping at home.

buzz55 - I know what you mean, 10 wet days in West Cork could be a disaster but you know what I think we're going to go for that option. My kids have been to the USA, Thailand (we lived there for 3 years and one of them was born in Bangkok), France, Cyprus and Finland (not a bad CV for a 4 year old I guess!!) but they don't know their own country so I think this year we'll fix that, keep a few quid in the Irish economy and support the local industry. A couple of wetsuits, a kayak, some sailing lessons, some fishing and "adventuring" (as my 4 year old calls rambling/hiking) plus some flexibility and a positive attidute should get us over a few wet days I hope and where else can you get a few pints of Murphys to wind down in the evening?

So, it looks like Glandore (rather than Union Hall) in August for 2 weeks. Anyone got any good suggestions for a cottage there? I can pick some off the web but you can't beat a personal recommendation from another boardsie!!

Ben

paddylonglegs

OP, while west Cork is a beautiful place and its great to see money going back into the economy, Im just not sure you'd get the decent weather to really take advantage of Ireland.

We've just booked flights to go back over to Lanzarote in July. Since Ryanair started flying there, flights have plummeted with both Ryanair and Aer Lingus so we got ours for 200euro each. We booked our regular apartment in the Old Town of Puerto Del Carmen for 230euro for the week between us, so thats not bad going so far. A lot of these apartments are one-bed but have pull out couches. I've met families on numerous occasions with young kids like yourself that have stayed on the pull out couch meaning they're only paying for a one-bed place. Quite good value.

Then after that its about getting in all the sights of the Island really. Car rental is cheap so you can visit alot of the buildings, sculptures, and gardens created by the Architect Cesar Manrique (he was responsible for helping ban the construction of high-rise buildings on the island).

We had some surfing lessons through these guys http://www.surfschoolanzarote.com/ while we were there which was great fun, and also went to see Timanfaya which is where a volcanic eruption occured covering most of the island. Its a fun and interestinf thing to learn about as they have lots of interactive diagrams and stories about the volcanos.

The Old Town of Puerto Del Carmen is great food-wise too. While the top-end restaurants are great value, they're not pretentious or anything, I think the locals take real pride in their food production. Theres a good buzz around the place but not rowdy. Overall theres a great atmosphere about the place and its not too commercialised (the new town can provide that for you).

Let me know if you want to know more about it

BenEadir

Hi PaddyLongLegs, appreciate your post. We actually went to Lanzarote a couple of times and very much enjoyed the old town you mention. there is/was a great (as in quality and price) French restaurant called Momarte (I think) and we always found that area very nice.

If we don't get a good deal in West Cork then a DIY trip to Lanzarote would be a real option.

Cheers,

Ben