Cheap beach holiday ideas please

freeme86

Hi,
I have never really done a beach holiday before so don't really know where to start, we normally do lots of travelling and city breaks etc so have never booked a package holiday, but we fancy a change by having a relaxing ready made beach holiday.
We are looking for a destination which has lovely beaches but also some sort of nice town in walking distance too with restaurants etc - incase we get bored of the beach! It is hard to tell by the brochures which hotels are stuck in the middle of nowhere.
Also weather wise we are looking obviously for sunny beach weather...but not too hot that we would end up hiding inside all holiday, we like to have a bit of cool breeze and not too hot. so advice would be appreciated on what month to travel too.
Thinking of Spain or a Spanish Island, we were also thinking of Greece but worried it is too hot/expensive.

Thanks in advance

miamoo

Lanzarote is lovely, we stayed at Costa Teguise.The beach is very pretty and there is a pretty constant breeze. I would avoid high season though, as I can imagine it gets pretty busy. September/October would be nice though, as long as you avoid half term (If you dont have kids).
We found eating out very cheap (compared to mainland spain).

freeme86

Cool thanks for that, i'll have a look. Are those islands likely to stay sunny beach weather throughout September? That is good if there is a cool breeze.
Also if anyone could recommend an agent to book it with (or is it cheaper to book things seperately??).
Thanks again

Doshwaster

A couple of suggestions

1) Alicante in Spain. There is a nice beach right bang in the middle of town (although better ones a short bus/train ride away). The town itself has some great restaurants and authentic Spanish nightlife without being ruined by the Brits Abroad scene (who all land at the airport and get on buses to ghastly Benidorm).

2) Cacais/Estoril near Lisbon, Portugal. Two towns but joined together by a long promenade. They have the feel of traditional seaside towns rather than a new Mega Resort. Like Alicante, you don't get too many British stag and hen parties. Lots of good seafood restauants but the nightlight is a bit quieter. There's convienient train service which runs along the coast to Lisbon. Portgual is one of the cheapest places you will find in western Europe.

Fortyfoot

Have a look at Arion Bay Santorini, cheaper early season, weather usually ok from mid May onwards. Click HERE for last years weather details

Fortyfoot

miamoo

The weather is good pretty much all year round, September would be lovely.
I would price up flights with Easyjet, and then look at travel republic, alpha rooms and thomson for the hotel part of your booking.
I paid £60pp return flights (Easyjet), and £200 for an apartment(thomson, oasislanz) for 4 adults for a week. (we could of got one alot cheaper, but we wanted a nice complex with a heated pool as we went in december).

Even in december the weather was nice, not hot but warm.shorts and tshirt weather. We would go back in September/oct next time so we could have a swim in the sea.