Last minute holiday ideas

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adonis10
adonis10 Posts: 1,810 Forumite
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in Overseas holidays & travel planning
So, house renovation and repairs have hit our budget this year so haven't been able to plan and book anything. Struggling for ideas so looking for some inspiration - ideally 7-10 days between 22/7 and 5/8 to somewhere hot with nice beaches, sights and architecture etc. Greek islands a favourite but already done skiathos, skopelos, Athens, santorini, Mykonos, Naxos and Paros so struggling with where to go next in that region. Fancy Portugal and is cheap to fly but hotels are either super expensive or look shabby.

Any thoughts massively appreciated because hotels are few and far between it seems.
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  • richardw
    richardw Posts: 19,458 Forumite
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    Costa de la Luz
    Posts are not advice and must not be relied upon.
  • adonis10
    adonis10 Posts: 1,810 Forumite
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    Sardinia - anyone been? Recommendations where to go?
  • lovesgshp
    lovesgshp Posts: 1,413 Forumite
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    edited 6 June 2017 at 8:32PM
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    Northern Cyprus. Great food, reasonable hotel prices and more scenic than the Greek side.
    As Manuel says in Fawlty Towers: " I Know Nothing"
  • Alan_Bowen
    Alan_Bowen Posts: 4,850 Forumite
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    Hotels in most places are going to be expensive for the weeks you have chosen as they are the first two weeks of the school holidays. If you want to try Portugal I would suggest the resort of Lagos out towards the west of the Algarve but be warned Portugal is very popular this year and falling air fares are normally a sign that there is very little accommodation left which means demand for flight seats falls.
  • adonis10
    adonis10 Posts: 1,810 Forumite
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    Alan_Bowen wrote: »
    Hotels in most places are going to be expensive for the weeks you have chosen as they are the first two weeks of the school holidays. If you want to try Portugal I would suggest the resort of Lagos out towards the west of the Algarve but be warned Portugal is very popular this year and falling air fares are normally a sign that there is very little accommodation left which means demand for flight seats falls.

    Indeed they will. It's frustrating but we have to go in the school holidays and they were the best two weeks I could take off work.

    Anyone have any recommendations on Sardinia?
  • richardw
    richardw Posts: 19,458 Forumite
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    Costa Esmeralda and around Alghero are pleasant parts of Sardinia.
    Posts are not advice and must not be relied upon.
  • adonis10
    adonis10 Posts: 1,810 Forumite
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    richardw wrote: »
    Costa Esmeralda and around Alghero are pleasant parts of Sardinia.

    Costa Smeralda looks very appealing. Looking at flights, 26/7-4/8 seems viable which gives 8 full days (arrives late on 26/7 and departs early on 4/8) so I am thinking splitting our time between 2 different areas of Sardinia (3-5 nights in each). Is CS far from Olbia airport? Ideally two places that are not a million miles away from each other to minimise wasted time sitting on trains/coaches.
  • adonis10
    adonis10 Posts: 1,810 Forumite
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    Looks like we have settled on Sardinia, flying into Olbia. The loose plan at the moment is to go to Porto Cervo/Baja Sardinia but really struggling to decide. Another factor is getting to where we are staying from the airport as this seems to troublesome (poor train links and expensive transfers) - has anyone done this trip and able to advise? Our flight will arrive at 20:20 which is quite late for the long train journey so another option could be to spend the night in olbia and head on from there early the next day or so.
  • blindman
    blindman Posts: 5,659 Forumite
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    edited 14 June 2017 at 12:13PM
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    adonis10 wrote: »
    Looks like we have settled on Sardinia, flying into Olbia. The loose plan at the moment is to go to Porto Cervo/Baja Sardinia but really struggling to decide. Another factor is getting to where we are staying from the airport as this seems to troublesome (poor train links and expensive transfers) - has anyone done this trip and able to advise? Our flight will arrive at 20:20 which is quite late for the long train journey so another option could be to spend the night in olbia and head on from there early the next day or so.

    We flew into Olbia for our Sardinian holiday last year.

    You can catch an airport bus into town IIRC

    We stayed at an AirBNB place for a couple of days and then hired a car for the rest of the 10 days.

    Transport in Sardinia is not that good so for me a hire car was essential.
    That said we did tour around the whole Island!

    We did meet a single woman who did rely on coaches\local buses and then taxi for the last few miles to places, so it is doable.

    There are some stunning quiet coast lines-still.

    Costa Smerelda can be VERY expensive if you go to the wrong parts-it's a playground for the rich.
  • adonis10
    adonis10 Posts: 1,810 Forumite
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    blindman wrote: »
    We flew into Olbia for our Sardinian holiday last year.

    You can catch an airport bus into town IIRC

    We stayed at an AirBNB place for a couple of days and then hired a car for the rest of the 10 days.

    Transport in Sardinia is not that good so for me a hire car was essential.
    That said we did tour around the whole Island!

    We did meet a single woman who did rely on coaches\local buses and then taxi for the last few miles to places, so it is doable.

    There are some stunning quiet coast lines-still.

    Costa Smerelda can be VERY expensive if you go to the wrong parts-it's a playground for the rich.


    Yes, the more I research the more I can see it can be an expensive place to go. Do you have any other recommendations that are relatively near Olbia? We don't want to tour the whole island as only there for 7/8 full days but would like to see 2-4 places, whilst staying in a couple (don't want to be upping and leaving every night). A nice balance between cultural sights, beach relaxation and nice restaurants will suit us. It would also be nice to be relatively near a lively ish area; by "lively" I do not mean cheap, tacky clubby resorts, rather some nice restaurants and a few nice bars for the evening.


    I am finding it really tough this year, sorting out a Greek island hopping itinerary last year was far easier!
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