Holiday Advice

ziedth

Hi all,

I'm going to Las Vegas for a stag next summer. All good but it's going to be my third time going there in 5 years so you can imagine how Mrs Ziedth is going to take the news

Basically I'm hoping to buy her love back with a nice holiday of our own and I was hoping for some advice on where would be a fairly impressive spot, rough factors in the decision are:

Can only be 7/8 nights
Last week of July is the time we kinda have to go.
I'd say budget for around €3k total. (not including spending money)
We're not really a "sun holliday" couple so would need a few activities/excursions for a few of the days.
Flights can't really be more the 7/8 hours.

I was kinda thinking somewhere like the Dominican Republic but I'd say it's outside of budget and definately outside of flight time.

I really appreciate any help,

Cheers.

ShallowPockets Lucy

Hey,

I know it's about as far from the Dominican Republic as you can get, but you should definitely consider Norway.

The rugged landscape is absolutely breathe-taking and there's plenty to do such as hiking, boat cruises down the fjords (a killer whale jumped up a few meters away from us when we were on one), swimming in the shallower areas and nature reserves - all lovely, couply bonding activities. The temperature is pretty nice - sunny but as it is Norway, cool when in the shade. Not to mention, the Norwegian food is delicious!

ncmc

I think you could easily do Dominican Republic for €3k for the two of you, it is one of the cheaper caribbean islands. Although, if you are going that far, I would recommend Cuba, amazing place, you could spend 4-5 nights on the beach and 2-3 days in Havana. Definitely the best of both worlds, with beautiful beaches and amazing culture and history.

What about Boston and Cape Cod? Easy, direct flight with Aer Lingus, 3 nights in Boston, 4-5 nights in the Cape. Again, a nice mix of beach and history, and great food and nightlife to boot. I think it would be doable with your budget if you do a bit of shopping around and would just be inside your preffered flight time.

ncmc

Or what about a cruise? Nice lazy way of seeing plenty of different places and you can just flop by the pool when you are at sea. Great food as well. I think it would be doable in your budget, especially if you stick to a European cruise.

ziedth

Hmmmm Boston/Cape Cod is a great idea. Cheers for that. I'll def look into it.

I think I'm going to aim for a Carribean Cruise in a few years time and make a real go of it so I'll prob hold off on that.

The only other think I could think of would be Orlando. Plenty to do down that way too. Not sure about budget too so I need to check it out.

I'd personally also love to give Norway or even Iceland ago sometime. Hard to pick as most of us only get 1/2 a year at best.

ncmc

You could definitely do Orlando for that budget, we have been several times, the last time in 2009 and that cost us €3200 for two adults staying for two weeks, we were in a Disney hotel which tends to be more expensive than staying in a hotel off site. That also included 2 weeks Disney tickets, 1 week Universal tickets and two weeks car hire. So €3k for one week would definitely be doable.

I think 7-8 nights would be a short time for Orlando though, it is a very busy holiday, with a lot of walking. Also at that time of year, you would have crowds and extreme heat to contend with. I think you would need to go for two weeks, so that you could afford a few 'down days'. If you could even stretch it to 10 days, I think you would appreciate the extra time, you could even take a day trip or two to Clearwater Beach, it's about an hour and a half drive from Orlando and is a stunning beach.

If you could stretch to an extra couple of days, you still could definitely do it within your budget. There are tons of hotels in Orlando, you could get a clean, passable place for $50 per night! So the flights would be your main expense. I think you could expect to pay approx €600 per person at that time of year.

ncmc

Or what about somewhere in Italy Ziedth? You could do a few days city break followed by a few days on a beach. So you could do Rome/Rimini, Naples/Sorrento or Venice/Lake Garda. Should be within your budget and definitely within your flight time.