Michelle Swenson

My boyfriend and I are looking for a week-long beach holiday in the middle of January. We're saving to buy a house but need to escape the English winter and get some sun! We'd like to spend no more than £700/pp for everything. We're open to all-inclusives or self-catering, want beautiful white sand and blue water, no crowds or children, good food, and a relaxed place to have a drink at night, no clubs required. Any suggestions? Also, I love this website, but are there any catering to the British population?

tivertonhouse

On your budget, you might want to consider THE GAMBIA or SENEGAL/CASAMANCE<BR>area instead, the former very Brit and packaged pretty reasonably from UK.

fiona

Michelle<BR>You are unlikey to get to any of the usual Caribbean destinations for that amount. Try booking flight and accomodation seperately. Check various sites for cheap flights - for instance Expedia.

fiona

through Expedia the best bet is Jamaica and even there a cheap hotel + flight come in at approx &pound;1400. However, that is room only.<BR>Have you thought about Tenerife - plenty winter sun there! there are also plenty of places there away from the big tourist centres.

Michelle Swenson

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like we'll save the carribean until AFTER we've bought the house! Has anyone been to Tenerife and do you have any recommendations as far as where to stay/what to do? I probably need to get into another thread since this is supposed to be about the Carribean!

fiona

although I've been to Tenerife it was very much a last minute deal and ,although I enjoyed the break, I would not recommend the hotel! Repost on the Europe site to get more help. Another suggestion is to go on to www.holidaytruths.co.uk where you should get a load of ideas!

tivertonhouse

The Canaries can be real lager-lout land<BR>--a bucketshop buy and concrete Ibiza clubland. Jan will be sun but it's still windy/chilly, even onshore at Agadir in Morocco. You could do a long weekend break at Reid's in Madeira -- it's Cliveden in the tropics,great style,gardens,food, formal,however -- but great for a break. Save the Caribbean for when you don't have to search for a package that would inevitably dispoint for a budget price. And then, do Jamaica. <BR>instead of the usual Brit destination of Barbados.

Parrot Mom

From the Brits that I'vemet in the D.R. and with the exchange rate you may get a great deal for that price..

tivertonhouse

Beg to differ from your positive experiences,Parrot Mom, but we wouldn't recommend the DR or Punta Cana to anyone/ghastly place...

Parrot Mom

that's what makes horse races....I think $$ for $$ it's the best bargain out there for now. After a vacation in the Yucatan last October and talking to other people at the resort we agreed. It seems that the D.R. is a very popular charter vacation destination for the Italians, Germans and English...and they get two weeks at bargain prices. Except for Puerta Platta I would hesitate to recommend the D.R., the people are wonderful and they actually like tourists unlike other destinations we have been to. This February we will be there for our 8th time..at a new hotel, if I manage to get a room. An area of Punta Cana is being developed as one of the largest resorts in the world supposedly to rival Disney.. The infrastructure is already there and from what I had read it is all in the process of beiing built. Unlike many Canadians and Europeans Cuba is not officially opened up to us and until then the D.R. is affordable and do-able..