Holiday ideas?

[wideeyes]

Hi, I am helping my mum find a holiday for next year, I was wondering if anyone had any ideas?
she wants some where that is all inclusive with an exotic beach,and not in Europe,( some where like Indian ocean, caribbean or south Africa) .
Though we have been told by the TA that in a lot of these areas it is advised not to leave the hotel resort to go exploring? anywhere with small towns, villages nearby that are good to visit?

So far have looked at Kenya, Goa, Maldives(not enough to do) and Barbados. (there is limited availibitly for Barbados and it is expensive)

 

[carolfoy]

all the places you've mentioned are lovely and have excellent resorts that are high quality witha lot of things included. HOWEVER there is a huge safety risk in all of them for a lady travelling alone. Is your mum going to get worried or agitated, if so I wouldn't advise it. I have however travelled in Africa, India and the caribbean on my own and had no problems at all.
I would thoroughly recommend The Body Holiday at LeSport St Lucia for single lady travellers.
Has she looked into doing an adventure type holiday with a company like Explore who can offer her a single sex share arrangement?

 

[mark&sue]

The Dominican Republic in the carribean is a cheaper than the other islands and does just as good all inclusive exotic beach resorts. We went there for our friends wedding and thought is was really good value.


Susan

 

[wideeyes]

Hi, sorry for the confusion my mum will be traveling with my Dad, However my mum is making the descion on where to go as the trip is for her 50th birthday. My Dad is allergic to the sun and though he has medication for i that works he does not like sitting all day on the beach so likes to visit the area.

I will check out the hotel you mentioned.

 

[Claire L]

LeSport in St Lucia does look nice we have been tempted with this before when considering a Caribbean holiday, thanks for the info Carol

Claire

 

[carolfoy]

If hes not that interested in the sun how about a cruise? theres loads to do on board to keep you inside in the height of the day but loads of interesting excursions. Top notch food too.
St Lucis is lovely but if he doesn't want to sit in the sun he'll be mightily bored.
If they're going together I'd thoroughly recommend South Africa, or even Canada, but are spectaular scenerey wise with loads to do and very reasonable for decent hotels and food.

 

[jen_uk]

Mexico is lovely, beautiful caribbean beaches and loads to do.

 

[wideeyes]

I think south africa is an idea or I know my mum liked the idea of Goa however was wondering if they are able to go touring the local villages and markets.
my mum will want a beach, they usually choose a hotel on a beach so my Dad can sit inside while my mum can sit outside.

 

[saratogagirl]

Jen - I agree Mexico is beautiful, Ian is not a lying in the sun sort of person and we found plenty to do

 

[carolfoy]

South Africa is great but definately a tourer rather than lie on the beach, if you want a little hut right on the beach with private access the maldives are great but, like you said not a lot to do. How about a two centre with maldives and dubai or a week touring in south africa followed by the fabulously tacky Sun City for a week. SC is cool and theres loads to do, its also malaria free which is a bonus

 

[wideeyes]

some good suggestions there, will pass them on to my mum when I see her during the week. Thank you so much, very helpful.

 

[mikki.young]

It may sound silly but it is well worth looking at Saga - they do trips for people from age 50 (andpartners from age 40) so your mum would qualify. They do some all inclusive holidays and can include trips to local areas. they go worldwide - I've been astonished at some of the options when they started sending my dh brochures!

 

[kristieuk]

I second Mexico - there is loads to do and see outside of the all inclusive hotels, and imho, the standard of the hotels tends to be better than some Carribean islands. We felt a little uncomfortable in St Lucia, it felt extremely poor, and we felt quite guilty. I know Mexico isn't the richest place in the world, but we didn't get the same feel of poverty as we did in St Lucia - also, we were approached a couple of times on what was a private beach offering us cocaine!

Mexico is full of Americans, which probably explains the high standards, and was altogether friendlier, with fab beaches (we stayed in Riviera Maya, about 40 minutes from Cancun)

 

[angel659]

We went to Mexico for our honeymoon. Bruce loved it, but I hated it. There is alot to do in Mexico, but please dont go in the summer like we did. Three times I passed out in the heat. I would recommend Mexico even though I hated it.

We went to Barbados. It was lovely, but the beaches are not as nice as Mexico on Playa car where we stayed. There is not much to do on the Island really. We did most of the tours that were on offer and rest of the time relaxing on the beach and the pool side. We still loved it over there people are friendly and we felt safe walking around the resort.

Or if they want why dont they do a multi centre holiday LA, Las Vegas and San Francisco or change one of the destinations for NY.

Australia would be good, but rather expensive. Excellent beaches there and lots to do.

 

[wideeyes]

My parents don't mind going to poorer countries, they just got back from Cuba and said that they were people begging them for things. As long as it is save.
The TA said to us that Mexico was not save to go touring outside the resort.

 

[carolfoy]

If they go touring are they going on organised day trips and excursions? if so they're pretty safe anywhere. there are extremely poor places in all those countries but I've never had any problems from clients who have done the organised trips.
If they decide on Goa don't forget they need visas up front,

 

[wideeyes]

My Mum has decided on Goa, not booked anything yet though, thank you for your advice. They do excursions from the resorts so should be plenty to do, I thought the 7 day at a beach and 7 day India tour looks good for them.

After looking at the brochures I got my heart set on Kenya for myself however the TA said at 6 DD will be a bit to young for the safari as it involves a lot of driving so decided to wait a couple of years until she is about 8. it looks really beautiful though.

 

[carolfoy]

there ARE safaris you can do witha 6 year old, but bear in mind safari involves a 5 am start, freezing conditions and generally sitting still and quiet for great lengths of time, NOT child friendly really. but if you were to stay at a mombasa beach hotel like the voyagers club or nyali, there are 2 day safari excursions you can do from there. also you CAN NOT go malaria free and that is not very good for kids.
The ideal safari spot for little ones is Sun City South Africa, they are malaria free and very family orientated

make sure your mum and dad know how much travelling they are going to have to do in India if they do the tour as well as goa - it takes hours and hours to get anywhere, many forms of transport are over crowded, smelly, sheep filled, loud and not air conditioned. Also make them aware of their jabs needs, insurance will not cover them if they've negated to get all recommended jabs.

 

[wideeyes]

My parents always get all vacations that are recommended when they travel to these countries, they had them when they went to Cuba last month and when they went to Egypt last year. not sure if the traveling will bother them or not, though will advise they research it before booking anything.

will have to look into more detail at Sun City, I have never heard of it before, is it near Cape Town? My DD said today she wanted to go to Cape Town to see Tabletop mountain (which I have not a clue on how she knows about it.)

 

[carolfoy]

no Sun City is nowhere near cape town, you fly to joburg and its a 5 hour road transfer or 1 hours flight from there, its a man made city in the middle of pilanesberg game reserve, think wealthier butlins! its very safe and a fake (its exactly what you'd expect if Disney built a resort based around a lost city) but theres loads for kids to do and very cheap to eat.
basically its a safer alternative to private safari lodges