6 night minimoon options for mid February?

ivorystraws

Hi, I was just looking for ideas for a six night romantic break for mid February directly after our wedding. Ideally, we would like somewhere with a direct flight from Dublin (mid-haul but with maximum flight duration of 4 hours). I can sort the accommodation myself, just need suggestions for a warm, romantic, inexpensive holiday break?

These are some of the options I'm considering right now but (we'd rather not travel to Spain):

• Malta (Valletta): 6 hours of sunlight 11 C (min average temp 16 C max average temp
• Portugal (Faro (Algarve)): 7 hours of sunlight 11 C (min average temp 17 C max average temp
• Turkey (Antalya): 7 hours of sunlight 10 C (min average temp 18 C max average temp
• Madeira
• Egypt

Also, would there be any decent mid-haul flight options available in the January sales?

We intend to have a longer honeymoon in the summer.
Any/All ideas welcome!

Thanks

annoyedgal

we are going on a mini moon in February to bergamo in northern Italy. There's a direct flight, you actually fly to a Milan /bergamo airport with Ryanair. There won't be sun but the city looks beautiful and very romantic. We found a hotel in the mountains outside of the city that looks lovely. Can't wait!

ivorystraws

annoyedgal wrote: »

we are going on a mini moon in February to bergamo in northern Italy. There's a direct flight, you actually fly to a Milan /bergamo airport with Ryanair. There won't be sun but the city looks beautiful and very romantic. We found a hotel in the mountains outside of the city that looks lovely. Can't wait!

Thanks for responding and for that option but I think the best option for us (so far) now looks like the island of Santorini in Greece. It probably won't be a direct flight as we'll have to go via Athens. However, the positives are that:

• the tempeature will be between 10 and 15 degrees
• It's the low season so prices for eating out and getting around will be considerably lower
• Lufthansa fly to Athens direct from Dublin on our selected dates for €191 return (including taxes)
• We can get a four star hotel for the 6 nights for under €290 (including taxes and fees)

Let me know what people think of this or any other potential option?

bbbbb

Be careful that low season is not "no season".
You don't want to be some where with only one restaurant open and half empty every night, no matter how many degrees there are!

edit: also direct flight is not necessarily non stop

PhoenixParker

I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment in looking for "warm" in February with a direct flight and a maximum of four hours flying time. You might get lucky, but at best you're probably looking at a day or two in the high teens and a few dull days of rain in an off season mostly shut down resort.

I'd suggest either travelling further (Dubai maybe?) or look for super luxury in a city where there's stuff to do.

ivorystraws

PhoenixParker wrote: »

I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment in looking for "warm" in February with a direct flight and a maximum of four hours flying time. You might get lucky, but at best you're probably looking at a day or two in the high teens and a few dull days of rain in an off season mostly shut down resort.

I'd suggest either travelling further (Dubai maybe?) or look for super luxury in a city where there's stuff to do.

I think you're probably right. It's actually a lot of traveling to get to Santorini which is not something we need after a wedding. Looking for a "warm" minimoon destination with only a mid-haul flight usually points to Canaries, Morocco or Egypt which is not something that appeals.

It looks like the next best option now is to look for super luxury on a city break where there's stuff to do. It's a bit disappointing.

annoyedgal

Yep February not a great time to look for sun on a short haul. If you want super luxury in a city Budapest, Prague would have lots to do and excellent hotels. Vienna or salzburg would also be very romantic and not hard to get too. There's lots of lovely things about Europe in winter so better to embrace that and have a long haul in the sun later in the year.

ivorystraws

annoyedgal wrote: »

Yep February not a great time to look for sun on a short haul. If you want super luxury in a city Budapest, Prague would have lots to do and excellent hotels. Vienna or salzburg would also be very romantic and not hard to get too. There's lots of lovely things about Europe in winter so better to embrace that and have a long haul in the sun later in the year.

Thanks for your feedback but we're looking for mid-haul... between 4 to 5 hours max. So to get a relatively "warm" climate in February with a direct flight and a flying time of no longer than five hours, then there definitely are options such as Portugal or Malta because options like Gran Canaria, Morrocco, Spain, Egypt or Turkey don't appeal to us for a minimoon. It's definitely possible to get super luxury in most modern cities but the destination that meets our criteria and budget, currently, is Malta. Ryanair fly directly there and it's quite cheap.
I've been to Budapest and Prague before and Vienna or salzburg may be nice but all would be quite cold in February.

Another option might be Sicily but finding direct flights there seems to be difficult as there doesn't seem to be any direct flights from Dublin around then.

tbeans

Canary Islands might be the job. Direct flights and sunshine

Not sure where else you'll get sun in Europe in Feb

Birdie086

Malta is beautiful. So nice, my mam went on a yoga retreat there four years ago ( taking a break from an engineering degree ) and never came back! She now lives and works there.

My mam lives on gozo, a small island off the coast of malta, which is very quiet at this time off year but there is plenty to see and do on the mainland year round.

fits

Egypt! Heard great things about dar es salaam.

ivorystraws

tbeans wrote: »

Canary Islands might be the job. Direct flights and sunshine

Not sure where else you'll get sun in Europe in Feb

Thanks but I already mentioned that above and that's not really of any interest.

I've listed a lot of places in Europe where there's sun in previous posts above.

ivorystraws

Birdie086 wrote: »

Malta is beautiful. So nice, my mam went on a yoga retreat there four years ago ( taking a break from an engineering degree ) and never came back! She now lives and works there.

My mam lives on gozo, a small island off the coast of malta, which is very quiet at this time off year but there is plenty to see and do on the mainland year round.

I agree that Malta is beautiful and a great option that meets all of our criteria... direct flights (mid haul), sunshine with average temoretures of 16 degrees, relatively inexpensive so I think that's our top option now.

Thanks for the feedback and well done to your Mum. I've never heard of gozo but I'll look into it some more once everything is booked.

ivorystraws

fits wrote: »

Egypt! Heard great things about dar es salaam.

No thanks, it doesn't appeal as a minimoon option and from what I've read, although it's hygiene and cleanliness standards have improved, I don't want to take a chance.

ene

why have you limited yourself to a max of 4 hour flight? You can get to places with guaranteed sun in 5-6 hours!

ivorystraws

ene wrote: »

why have you limited yourself to a max of 4 hour flight? You can get to places with guaranteed sun in 5-6 hours!

Obviously the main reason for limiting the flight duration and ensuring that it's a direct flight is to optimise the amount of holiday time available and to reduce costs i.e. we don't want to spend 6 hours flying and that doesn't include the time spent getting to and from airports. It's a minimoon so holiday time is short.

What places with guaranteed sun are you referring to that are not already mentioned in this thread, are direct flights and are not overly expensive??

zagmund

ivorystraws wrote: »

Obviously the main reason for limiting the flight duration and ensuring that it's a direct flight is to optimise the amount of holiday time available and to reduce costs i.e. we don't want to spend 6 hours flying and that doesn't include the time spent getting to and from airports. It's a minimoon so holiday time is short.

What places with guaranteed sun are you referring to that are not already mentioned in this thread, are direct flights and are not overly expensive??

If everything was so obvious, then you wouldn't be on here looking for suggestions, would you?

Note that school mid-term is in the middle of February, so you may end up with a plane (and resort) full of kids.

z

tradhead

annoyedgal wrote: »

we are going on a mini moon in February to bergamo in northern Italy. There's a direct flight, you actually fly to a Milan /bergamo airport with Ryanair. There won't be sun but the city looks beautiful and very romantic. We found a hotel in the mountains outside of the city that looks lovely. Can't wait!

annoyed gal, We were in Bergamo earlier this year and had the most amazing food in La Bruschetta, which is just on the way to the old town. We just stumbled upon it, very reasonable and absolutely exquisite food- if you like lobster(!) the lobster pasta dish (sorry, I can't remember the exact name) is AMAZING and so inexpensive!

ivorystraws

zagmund wrote: »

If everything was so obvious, then you wouldn't be on here looking for suggestions, would you?

Note that school mid-term is in the middle of February, so you may end up with a plane (and resort) full of kids.

z

It was obvious to most posters who have already responded that this was a post looking for options on a minimoon so little or no point travelling for many hours. I specifically outlined my criteria and received lots of helpful suggestions back so far.

The school mid-term is from Monday 09th to Friday the 13th so chances of ending up on a plane full of kids is practically zero plus we're not travelling to a resort.

tomhenryford

Sorry to jump in but I was considering going to Sharm El Sheikh but I couldn't find any non-stop flights. As someone suggested Egypt above, do you know of any airline that fly from Ireland direct, Dublin or Shannon (not Cork). Thanks.

ivorystraws

tomhenryford wrote: »

Sorry to jump in but I was considering going to Sharm El Sheikh but I couldn't find any non-stop flights. As someone suggested Egypt above, do you know of any airline that fly from Ireland direct, Dublin or Shannon (not Cork). Thanks.

It may depend on when you intend on travelling but no direct flights are detailed by skyscanner

zagmund

ivorystraws wrote: »

It was obvious to most posters who have already responded that this was a post looking for options on a minimoon so little or no point travelling for many hours. I specifically outlined my criteria and received lots of helpful suggestions back so far.

The school mid-term is from Monday 09th to Friday the 13th so chances of ending up on a plane full of kids is practically zero plus we're not travelling to a resort.

It must be great to be correct almost all of the time - "Post-primary schools close for a week, from Monday 16 February 2015 to Friday 20 February 2015 inclusive, unless changes are needed to make up for time lost due to unforeseen school closures."

z

[edit] I don't mean to be unduly negative, but you're asking for a very long shot here - February is winter in Europe. Europe is cold in winter. You're only willing to travel a relatively short time to get somewhere hot. It will be hard/impossible to get somewhere that is guaranteed to be hot at that time of year and with that flying time.

annoyedgal

Thanks tradhead, that restaurant recommendation is right up my street and ill definitely check it out! Don't know much about Bergamo so good to get a recommendation.

ivorystraws

zagmund wrote: »

It must be great to be correct almost all of the time - "Post-primary schools close for a week, from Monday 16 February 2015 to Friday 20 February 2015 inclusive, unless changes are needed to make up for time lost due to unforeseen school closures."

z

[edit] I don't mean to be unduly negative, but you're asking for a very long shot here - February is winter in Europe. Europe is cold in winter. You're only willing to travel a relatively short time to get somewhere hot. It will be hard/impossible to get somewhere that is guaranteed to be hot at that time of year and with that flying time.

Great to be correct almost all of the time? You should know 'cos you are correct and I was wrong, which is worrying considering I'm marrying a secondary school teacher.

You may not mean to be negative but you're in no way helpful at all. As I've already confirmed in previous posts, there are direct mid-haul flights to warm destinations in Europe at very reasonable rates - it's not impossible as I've already got the destination which is Malta. Check out the long list of options in the previous posts by myself and other posters which I've outlined which have many hours of daylight, high teen temperatures, direct mid-haul flights and aren't expensive. Many of the posters on here have contributed helpful comments so I'm good to go at this stage and hopefully this thread helps other minimooners.

PhoenixParker

Honestly Ivory, I know you've settled on Malta, but it's not warm in February. 16C is the daily peak temperature, the average is 13C and it's mostly raining. If your key criteria is warmth, I don't think Malta is it. There is Carnival on there around the time you're going so you could maybe focus your holiday around that, but there's better festivals in the rest of Europe at the same time.

For warmth, further afield but still a direct flight, granted there aren't many options, but
Orlando, Abu Dhabi & Dubai would all have temperatures in the 20s and fairly dry weather in February.

ene

i was going to suggest miami, dubai, jordan, mexico (cancun)

carolinespring

ivorystraws wrote: »

Thanks for responding and for that option but I think the best option for us (so far) now looks like the island of Santorini in Greece. It probably won't be a direct flight as we'll have to go via Athens. However, the positives are that:

• the tempeature will be between 10 and 15 degrees
• It's the low season so prices for eating out and getting around will be considerably lower
• Lufthansa fly to Athens direct from Dublin on our selected dates for €191 return (including taxes)
• We can get a four star hotel for the 6 nights for under €290 (including taxes and fees)

Let me know what people think of this or any other potential option?

Santorini is stunning but it pretty much shuts down end of October and reopens at Easter. Just something to be aware of.

What about a city break and treat yourself to a really nice hotel. like Paris, Krakow or Prague. If you do choose Prague try this place to eat..amazing. La Finestra

0lddog

tomhenryford wrote: »

Sorry to jump in but I was considering going to Sharm El Sheikh but I couldn't find any non-stop flights. As someone suggested Egypt above, do you know of any airline that fly from Ireland direct, Dublin or Shannon (not Cork). Thanks.

You might find that TUI ( aka Falcon ) are doing DUB-SSH-DUB on a Friday at present

fits

tomhenryford wrote: »

Sorry to jump in but I was considering going to Sharm El Sheikh but I couldn't find any non-stop flights. As someone suggested Egypt above, do you know of any airline that fly from Ireland direct, Dublin or Shannon (not Cork). Thanks.

That was the place i meant. Some friends go every year and they wouldnt be regular package holidayers. It sounds lovely. No idea on flights though as they go from scotland.

tomhenryford

0lddog wrote: »

You might find that TUI ( aka Falcon ) are doing DUB-SSH-DUB on a Friday at present

Thanks a mill, I'll look into that now.

tomhenryford

fits wrote: »

That was the place i meant. Some friends go every year and they wouldnt be regular package holidayers. It sounds lovely. No idea on flights though as they go from scotland.

Yes, I know couples that go there every year and I know a couple going in a few days time, it's 29 degrees there at the moment. The hotels are stunning and you can get all-inclusive at a lot of the 5 star resorts for around the €650-€700 mark. (Per week that is).

ivorystraws

PhoenixParker wrote: »

Honestly Ivory, I know you've settled on Malta, but it's not warm in February. 16C is the daily peak temperature, the average is 13C and it's mostly raining. If your key criteria is warmth, I don't think Malta is it. There is Carnival on there around the time you're going so you could maybe focus your holiday around that, but there's better festivals in the rest of Europe at the same time.

For warmth, further afield but still a direct flight, granted there aren't many options, but
Orlando, Abu Dhabi & Dubai would all have temperatures in the 20s and fairly dry weather in February.

I kinda have settled on Malta right now but haven't booked yet. According to the resources detailed by Wikipedia, "Amongst all capitals in the continent of Europe, Valletta – the capital of Malta has the warmest winters, with average temperatures of around 16 °C (61 °F) during the day and 10 °C (50 °F) at night in the months of January and February". Malta meets all our minimoon key criteria and although your suggestion of the Carnival is a good one, it's apaprently on from the 13th of February to the 17th of February which means we won't be there for it. Festivals wouldn't be a selling point for us though so it's fine.

There are direct flights to Orlando (with Aer Lingus), Abu Dhabi (with Ethihad) and Dubai (with Ethihad) but they are many times more expensive than direct flights to Malta and take much longer than 4 hours!? None of those options fit our criteria.

To get a rough idea of the local price of goods in Malta compared to continent, this site has a helpful index which is similar to The Economist's Big Mac Index and Malta seems like a no brainer at this stage!

ivorystraws

ene wrote: »

i was going to suggest miami, dubai, jordan, mexico (cancun)

But why? None of those destinations meet the criteria I've outlined above.

ivorystraws

carolinespring wrote: »

Santorini is stunning but it pretty much shuts down end of October and reopens at Easter. Just something to be aware of.

What about a city break and treat yourself to a really nice hotel. like Paris, Krakow or Prague. If you do choose Prague try this place to eat..amazing. La Finestra

Santorini does seem to be stunning but it's a nightmare to get to as there's no direct flights for that time of year, that I could find anyway.

ivorystraws

tomhenryford wrote: »

Yes, I know couples that go there every year and I know a couple going in a few days time, it's 29 degrees there at the moment. The hotels are stunning and you can get all-inclusive at a lot of the 5 star resorts for around the €650-€700 mark. (Per week that is).

But you've to rely on package holidays or chartered flights and do you really want all-inclusive? I'd suggest reading some reviews on the lonely planet guide to get more details on the destination, especially on food, water and hygiene and to ensure your safety.

fits

ivorystraws wrote: »

But you've to rely on package holidays or chartered flights and do you really want all-inclusive? I'd suggest reading some reviews on the lonely planet guide to get more details on the destination, especially on food, water and hygiene and to ensure your safety.

Perhaps he trusts the personal recomnendations of his friends?

Maybe the earth should tilt on its axis so you get your sunshine within a four hour flight in february.

ivorystraws

fits wrote: »

Perhaps he trusts the personal recomnendations of his friends?

Maybe the earth should tilt on its axis so you get your sunshine within a four hour flight in february.

Maybe he does trust the personal recomnendations of his friends but then that's why he posted his question on boards i.e. to get independent non-biased recommendations of others who could possibly advise and help him. He can always check with the Foreign Office website for updates plus if he is booking through a reputable tour company, their reps in the hotel will only run excursions if it is safe to do so. Bearing that in mind, there's plenty of positive reviews on Sharm El Sheikh on Tripadvisor and other travel websites in addition to various threads on boards. Anyone travelling should just get as much information as possible and then make an informed decision.

Thanks for the valuable advice fits but there's no need for the earth to tilt on its axis so I get my sunshine within a four hour flight in February as I've already got that sorted now, thanks to the positive helpful feedback of others who have contributed to this thread.

zagmund

Let us know how that guaranteed sun works out for you in February.

z

ivorystraws

zagmund wrote: »

Let us know how that guaranteed sun works out for you in February.

z

You can very simply just quickly check the temps online in February.

tbeans

ivorystraws wrote: »

You can very simply just quickly check the temps online in February.[/quote

With average temps of 13 degrees - don't forget to layer up and bring the brolly.

Pity your so set on European sun in one of the coldest months of the year. What about something a little different (and romantic) cosy up under northern lights (Finland/Iceland), funky city break (Budapest) or festival fun (Venice Carnival)

You will only get decent sun in Canary Islands, Egypt, Morocco, Carpe Verde etc for example and even some of those places will still expect rain,

Even a 5 star irish hotel for a couple of days sounds more appealing than Malta in Feb, great deals too in low season

Best of luck and enjoy what ever you book

tomhenryford

http://www.holiday-weather.com/malta/averages/february/

OP, the weather in Malta won't be great in fairness. The link above is pretty conclusive.

Stheno

A lot of thé restaurants etc in malta May also be shut that time of year it's fairly quiet Dec to feb