Cape Verde Islands are appearing on Teletext and look wonderful.Thomson also feature them.I quite fancy visiting here but will wait until around next autumn by which time a few members may have visited and can advise which is the best resort.

Hi,

You might have already considered this and rejected it but how about one of the smaller Canary Islands? La Gomera off Tenerife is one of my favourite destinations (go every autumn and not long back from this year's annual chill-out week) for the sort of holiday you describe. The beaches are graphite coloured rather than golden but around Valle Gran Rey the sand is soft and not like powdered pumice as some volcanic sands can be. There's no need to hire a car - the passenger ferry from Los Christianos serves the three main towns on the south of the island which is where the weather is best and the bus service is pretty good and cheap too.

You don't say whether your budget is for 1/2/a family or whether you are looking to stay in a hotel or go self-catering. You would be pushed to find a hotel for a family of 4 for a week plus flights within a budget of £1,600 but you will get a really nice 2 bedroomed apartment in the Valle Gran Rey area from around 45Euros per night and if you book now you should get a reasonable deal on flights even during July/August. Because it was the English half-term and we booked late, our flights for our last trip cost us nearly £1,500 for 6 adults but 2 2bedroom apartments right at the harbour woth wonderful views, the return ferry fares plus the taxis from the airport to the ferry terminal and vice-versa came to just over 1,000Euros ie around 165Euros per head. The air fares where far and away the most expensive component of the whole holiday. A decent tapas style lunch including drinks can be had for around 10 Euros per head and the most expensive evening meal we had came out at around 20Euros per head for two courses but including wine (none of us a beer or spirit drinkers but the wine was always from somewhere in the middle price range of the wine list).

I really don't like the larger Canary Islands and the south of Tenerife in particular really is my idea of holiday hell but the smaller islands are a completely different experience. Any of them could fit your bill but unlike La Palma or El Hierro where really you probably couldn't manage without doing some driving if you wanted to see anything of the island, you can get away with it on La Gomera because the public transport links are good.

You'll find that there is a lot of information about La Gomera if you search the Tenerife forum but if you're interested I can provide a lot more info including recommendations and contacts for accommodation, especially in the Valle Gran Rey area.

SM

How about Gozo as somewhere a bit different? You can't fly direct, you fly to Malta and then get a ferry over (there used to be a helicopter but I think it might have stopped operating) Plenty of info on the Malta/Gozo forum.

Well if you like Penang you'll probably like Bali...long way to go for seven nights so good excuse for staying a bit longer.

Cape Verde Islands are appearing on Teletext and look wonderful.Thomson also feature them.I quite fancy visiting here but will wait until around next autumn by which time a few members may have visited and can advise which is the best resort.

I really fancy trying the Cape Verde islands sometime in the future - it looks like the Caribbean (white sands, chilled atmosphere), but a much shorter flight time (only an hour or so further than the Canaries). I'm looking forward to seeing some more reviews of Cape Verde soon

You might have already considered this and rejected it but how about one of the smaller Canary Islands? La Gomera off Tenerife is one of my favourite destinations

La Gomera is a lovely island - we went there on a day trip from Tenerife last year, had a coach tour around the island, including some fantastic photo-stops and spent an hour or so in San Sebastian. I have two teenagers, so it's not really the place to take them for a full holiday - they prefer the livelier places but for peace and quiet, it's lovely.
La Palma is another Canary island which has now popped up in the new Thomson brochure. There are some nice hotels there, although I don't think Thomson are offering this destination until Winter 07/08, you may be able to book it elsewhere.
The Azores is another place I'd like to try once I'm travelling without teenagers - I sent off for some brochures recently and it looks really nice.
If you like islands, have you thought about Djerba, just off Tunisia? That's another place I'd like to try in the future

My dad loves Lopud in Croatia. He's been a cuople of times now and goes there to just chill.

I have two teenagers, so it's not really the place to take them for a full holiday - they prefer the livelier places

This was one of the things I was worried about - we had my two teenage nieces with us who a re 14 and 18 - but they loved it as well. Perhaps they're not typical but they loved the beach and spent hours cultivating their tans during the day though we did hire a car for 3 days so that we could show them a bit more of the island than would be accessible by public transport. Of an evening they loved us all going out for dinner and trying all the local dishes and the eldest pronounced the Pina Coladas at our nearest tapas bar to be the best she'd tasted - I'm not surprised, their Mojitos were the best I'd ever tasted too! On the other hand they are both keen dancers too and loved the opportunity to listen and learn a bit about latin dance and dance music too. So I guess it depends on the teenagers and whether they'll be looking to pal up with other teenagers. Luckily K and M weren't because there weren't many around but it could be problem for families where everybody likes to do there own thing and the teenagers in particular are looking for activities more dedicated to or built around them.

SMa

Thankyou all for your replys, the holiday is just for me and my partner and I don't really mind if it's a hotel or self catering!!

In replt to suggested situations:

La Gomera - Is actually one I have been looking at quite a lot, my girlfriend is reluctant in a way because she does not enjoy tenerife, however she is now very much liking the idea!!

Bali - I have considered going to that side of the world, but I believe we are going to consider that as a next year or year after, and generally it's a lot more expensive to get there, however thankyou for the reccomendation!!

Lopud - Another one I personnaly liked the idea, I have wanted to go to dubrovnik for a while now, but always wanted to mix it with a beach style holiday so lopud seems quite ideal in that way!!!

Cape Verde Islands - My girlfriend is very wary of traveling to Africa, she is quite new to travelling. However they do look beautiful, maybe too expensive!!

Cape Verde Islands - My girlfriend is very wary of traveling to Africa, she is quite new to travelling. However they do look beautiful, maybe too expensive!!

If you look on the Thomson website, you can actually have an All-Inclusive week there in August for around £1400-1500 for two people, so it's not ridiculously expensive, I'm quite tempted myself after browsing the hotels and prices! Apparently there's a nice Portugese/Brazilian influence on the islands, so it's not quite as "African" as perhaps Gambia or Kenya. Well worth another look - definitely on my future shortlist anyway

Hi HolidayRich,

La Gomera - Is actually one I have been looking at quite a lot, my girlfriend is reluctant in a way because she does not enjoy tenerife, however she is now very much liking the idea!!

Do please reassure that La Gomera is a world apart from Tenerife! The first time I took my parents, I was in the front seat of the taxi we got to the port and couldn't see my parents in the back but the driver could in his rear view mirror and must have realised that my mother was looking horrified as we drove through Los Christianos because he turned around (yes, turned around!) and said 'Madam, please do not look so worried, where you are going is not at all like this'! And of course she did the moment we stepped off the ferry in Valle Gran Rey.

I've always fancied the Cape Verde island myself but it seems just a bit too far to go for just a week and I've been rather put off because it looks as if it is difficult to find places to stay away from the hotel-based tourist resorts. If you do go I'd welcome your impressions. In this instance £1600 should cover all your costs for a week for two on La Gomera, especially if you were shopping around and booking your flights now. As I said, it is the flights that have always been the most expensive component of my trips there and if there are only 2 of you you'll easily get a studio/1 bed apartment for in the region of 35/40Euros per night or less but expect to pay a little more for one in one of the larger complexes with a swimming pool. I can certainly help with info on SC if you decide to go for it.

SMa

I have just found the Cape Verde Islands on google earth and the the island where most of the hotels that Thomson are offering,Sal,looks desolite!.Its put me off!