Suggestions Feb/Apr warm weather...

SarahMollie

Hi everyone,

Myself and my OH are looking to get away somewhere sometime over the next few months. We'd previously been exploring Argentina as an option, but we really only have 2 weeks to play with, and we would have ended up compromising on our list of places to see in our trip, and ultimately decided to postpone until another year when we won't have so much going on, any maybe do it as a honeymoon next year over 3 weeks instead.

Anyhow, we still want to go somewhere between Feb/April. Requirements include;

- multi destination holiday (ie, moving around a bit but within the same country)
- warm weather but not sweltering as we're both pasty Irish people
- not besieged by mosquito's (i get really badly bitten and end up miserable)
- mix of culture and relaxation - my OH particular doesnt do sitting by the pool for endless periods, so we'd need some options to do activities/day trips etc.
- duration of 2 weeks, and we'd like to go long haul so probably we're be staying for 12 nights there accounting for travel time
- max €2k per person for flights, accommodation and transfers


Pretty open on where we end up, but I'm thinking of maybe Sri Lanka, Goa, Vietnam etc. Really open to suggestions.

I'd also be really interested in other peoples experience of building their own trips in these areas. Anything I've seen through mainstream travel agents seem to be based on staying in a resort non stop for 2 weeks which just isnt us. If we could get something where an agent could book us a bespoke trip, staying in 2 or 3 places, that would be ideal, but if anyone has any advice on how best to DIY the whole thing, I'd be very interested.

AgileMyth

Vietnam ticks all your boxes alright.

Don't worry too much about organising everything, it's a well travelled country, you can sort it as you go.

SarahMollie

AgileMyth wrote: »

Vietnam ticks all your boxes alright.

Don't worry too much about organising everything, it's a well travelled country, you can sort it as you go.

Thanks - funnily enough last night I spent a few hours googling things and Vietnam was coming out infront in my mind too!

Has anyone any experience traveling from either Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh or vice versa in 2 weeks? Would it be too rushed and if not, where are the key spots to stop along the way?

lc180

Would Japan interest you? It's perfect for 2 weeks of travel. Weather wise February and March would probably be too cold. April would be nice but you need to avoid Golden Week.

It would be quite more expensive than Vietnam though!

HeidiHeidi

Cuba?

We did a two-week, four-location trip that we put together ourselves a few years ago, and it was fantastic. I can bore you to tears with recommendations and advice if you want, but don't know if that would be your thing, since you mentioned mostly Asian destinations.

It'll have changed beyond all recognition in a few years I reckon so now is the time to go.

SarahMollie

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Cuba?

We did a two-week, four-location trip that we put together ourselves a few years ago, and it was fantastic. I can bore you to tears with recommendations and advice if you want, but don't know if that would be your thing, since you mentioned mostly Asian destinations.

It'll have changed beyond all recognition in a few years I reckon so now is the time to go.

Thanks, but we actually did a 3 stop holiday in Cuba in 2015 (loved it by the way). We were in Havana, Trinidad and Varadero, and interestingly the resort part (Varadero) was our least favourite part of the trip, even though the place was very luxurious, I think we both felt a bit infantilized by the level of service! I also got destroyed by mosquitos there (was fine at the other 2 locations) so was a bit off colour and miserable.

I'd like maybe 2 nights in a nice resort but definitely somewhere we can do our own thing and have a bit of independence. I think we're both generally happier out and about with things to do

SarahMollie

lc180 wrote: »

Would Japan interest you? It's perfect for 2 weeks of travel. Weather wise February and March would probably be too cold. April would be nice but you need to avoid Golden Week.

It would be quite more expensive than Vietnam though!

Japan is on our list as it happens, but this time I'm looking for a bit of warm weather. I think if we go to Japan it would be closer to the summer some year

HeidiHeidi

SarahMollie wrote: »

Thanks, but we actually did a 3 stop holiday in Cuba in 2015 (loved it by the way). We were in Havana, Trinidad and Varadero, and interestingly the resort part (Varadero) was our least favourite part of the trip, even though the place was very luxurious, I think we both felt a bit infantilized by the level of service! I also got destroyed by mosquitos there (was fine at the other 2 locations) so was a bit off colour and miserable.

I'd like maybe 2 nights in a nice resort but definitely somewhere we can do our own thing and have a bit of independence. I think we're both generally happier out and about with things to do

Fair enough! We did four locations, not including Varadero - part of me wanted to go for a night or two just to see what it was like, but going by your comments and others I've heard I'm glad we didn't! Trinidad was AMAZING!

Best of luck making your plans, can't help on Asia I'm afraid.

SarahMollie

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Fair enough! We did four locations, not including Varadero - part of me wanted to go for a night or two just to see what it was like, but going by your comments and others I've heard I'm glad we didn't! Trinidad was AMAZING!

Best of luck making your plans, can't help on Asia I'm afraid.

Absolutely, we had the best time in Trinidad, it was our favorite too. We're not really resort people, not sure why we went to Varadero - it seemed logical I guess as its just 2 hours from Havana so it made sense to go there as our final stop. However, I will say the beaches were probably some of the most beautiful I've ever seen and the waters were lovely for swimming, but in hindsight I wish we'd done something else. We met loads of couples who were there for either a full 2 weeks or 10 days with a quick stop in Havana. I honestly don't know how they didnt go out of their minds but they were all loving it.

This will be my first time going to Asia, hence why I'm looking for advice - thanks for your input anyway.