A challenge to you all

blue_haddock

One place i can highly recommend is the Cook Islands.

Even if you stay on the main island of Rarotonga it is absolutely fabulous. Whereas in Fiji you'll definetely feel like a tourist in the cook islands yes you'll be on holiday but you can freely mix with the locals who are a fantastic bunch of people.

Have a look on www.ck for more details.

Beaker99

stw48 wrote: »

OK folks, seriously any help is appreciated. It is a one off and a huge spend, once in a lifetime stuff.

We've just come back off exactly this sort of holiday..

we did a lot of looking around, and found Kuoni (or travel collection - their low(er) cost outfit) to have some excellent multi-stop holidays - for around your kind of money. - then you can look replicate their tours independently. (just by booking hotels and flights indepedently. As a top tip, just ask the hotel you're going to to arrange the taxi from the airport and there'll be a man there witing with your name on a board - for somethig a bit special all (or most!) hotels will arrange limo pick ups. We've just had these all through Asia and they typically cost £50-80, which was pretty good to be transported to your hotel in style (usually an s-class merc).

anyway, as I was saying, check out travelcollection.co.uk , then if you like it, check out independent prices.

fergual2

I would go for new zealand north and south islands - great beaches in north (coromandel) and fantastic scenery in south. It is one of the few places I came back from in awe and the memories stay with you for years. Plenty of activities to keep you occupied and some of the best hiking (tramping they call it) in the world.

stw48

Thanks for the suggestions so far, plenty for me to research next week.

duchy

one person's paradise is another's hell
In my travel agent days I'd often swing people towards something more suitable after finding out where they went before and what they liked/disliked previously. You'd be amazed at what some people's idea of quiet is for example. If someone recommends somewhere-find out what they are comparing it to.

AuntyCat

We went to Kenya for our 40th's. The whole thing was fantastic, the people are lovely. The holiday was packed with experiences the main one being the 4 day safari. Also loads of time to relax.
Can't wait to go back.:j

poe.tuesday

I think your destination depends on how long you have got as flying to bali for 2 weeks could be a bit of a killer

I think you need to get a list together of the things you want out of this holiday and put them in priority - if it's a beach holiday in utter luxury or back packing through Vietnam etc

If you want to see a country in a bit of luxury then you need to look at the type of country you want, such as china, Thailand, Peru etc - work out what you want to see or maybe you would prefer to go to an amazing hotel in italy and eat and drink like royalty - it really is hard to give an advice on where to go when all we know is that cruises are out of the question - let us have more info on what you like and what you want out of this holiday as a safari may be one persons ideal of heaven when it may be your idea of hell ;-)

stw48

Firstly thanks for the replies so far.

I think I need to narrow it down a bit now.

The flight I think we will need to keep down to say a maximum of about 12 hours, the duration of the holiday will have to be 14 to 17 days maximum.

We do not need ultra luxurious hotels but something that would pass for a 4 star in the UK or a good 3 star for a smaller more intimate property.

There has to be a beach element but also there must be things to do and see, some sightseeing is essential, this could include animals in their natural habitat, ancient sites or outstanding natural features.

We do not want to go backpacking.

We have done Spain and the island groups, Greek islands, Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey, Cape Verde and the USA but that was only Florida so I am not dismissing that as an option totally.

Thanks for any further suggestions and any information on Mexico by those who have good experiences to share.

poe.tuesday

Mexico could offer you everything you want - you can go on a tour and then a beach holiday or just take the beach holiday with optional daily tours - this gives you culture, beach, heat, animal etc and you will be able to get a fab all inclusive hotels for your money and it's within the 12 hours flight limit - you could also add on new york at the end for a 3 day trip too if you wanted to (we did this and it was an amazing holiday)

sri lanka also springs to mind, again, all the sites to see and some beautiful beaches, you could do a 7 day tour and then maybe onto the maldives for a week on the beach?

other places where you can see sites, go to the beach and see wildlife are places like thailand, china, maylasia etc

if you have a look at tour companies such as vjv.com they may give you more ideas

personally I think that mexico would be fab, we loved it there and it has been our fav hot holiday destination (lapland being our overall fav), mexico really does have a lot to offer and you will have a wonderful time, we stayed in a hotel called dreams in tulum and hired a car to get out and about, the hotel was fab but if I was to go back I would love to stay at the azul beach hotel.

we say lots of mayan sites, our fav was coba which is in the jungle, we saw loads of animals and bugs (including trantulars). The beaches are beautiful and the food it great, we went to a place called xel-ha which is a biosphere, it was an amazing experience where you spend a day swiming with the fish and even if you can't swim you can float with them

if you do concider mexico then resorts such as tulum are very quiet so you may want to look at places like playa del carmen which is not as big as cancun but has a shopping area which is nice

virgin holidays do good deals to mexico and do multi centres including new york, vegas etc - we are looking at the 3 centre trip that gives you 4 days in vegas, 7 days in mexico and 3 in new york - this I think is good for us as we have been to mexico before but it may not give you enough time in mexico if you want to see all the sites.

good luck and let us know what you pick

bitsandpieces

Would South Africa be an option? Cape Town has beach, (small) mountain and city for sightseeing in, and plenty more to see in the surrounding area (or you could go on safari, if you wanted to head further afield). Beautiful city, too.

No direct flights from Manchester, but the lack of significant time difference means it can be an easier trip...