Can anyone recommend a luxury beach holiday within a 5 hour flight of London? We will be travelling with a 2 month old in early June. Looking for luxury and prefer somewhere with good food, great service, beautiful beach, etc. The less crowded, the better - I really don't want to have to fight off crowds for a sun lounger!

Or, is it worth the extra few hours for Caribbean?

Dubai?

A Red Sea resort?

Santorini?

Isn't Libya up and coming these days?

Bermuda.

"beautiful beach.." as in rocky or sandy???

Have a look at www.pellicanohotel.com
It is in Porto Ercole, on the Monte Argentario. Some friends stayed there and said it was simply impeccable.

I heartily second the reccoo for the Il Pelicano hotel, fantastic place, service, food, etc, I have reccomended it a number of times here myself; although the "beautiful beach" requirement might not be met if you require sand, there is no sandy beach there to speak of, it is more rocky and cliffs over the sea, very, very, very beautiful but not white powerdery sand. Its almost in Cinque Terre so imagine that landscape. Quick flight to Rome and then easy to reach from Rome by car.

Greece is another good recco.

Dubai does not have beautiful beaches and is beastly hot in June, 95 F plus and 90 percent humidity. I think you will find temps pretty hot in the rest of the Middle East as well, including the Red Sea, but take a look at weatherbase.com and see if they fit your comfort zone. The Ritz-Carlton in Sharm El Sheikh is certainly a good choice.

I don't think there are any luxury beach resorts in Libya yet at this point. A place to consider might be Tunisia or Morocco, both would have the beaches and the luxury hotels.

IMO Sandy Lane in Barbados is worth the extra flight time (its 8 hours non-stop), but with a 2 month old only you can decide. It has all that you are looking for. Go to http://www.sandylane.com/ Could also be getting toward pretty hot in June and June is the start of hurricane season, so bear that in mind.

Try the St Nicolas Bay in Eastern Crete. Seems to have all you look for, high quality rooms, some with private pool, great service, fantastic location and just the right size.

Guess I should add the obvious Almafi coast which is great in June, again no real sandy beach to choose from, but many luxury hotels. Easy fligth to Rome, then 2.5 hours to Naples by train or car, then car or bus to a hotel. Run a search here, it is very popular on this board.

South coast of France and of course Spain and Portugal would all work in June. For the sun bed issue, if you stay at a luxury hotel, they can usually make sure you get a sun bed.

Thanks for your replies. I definitely prefer a sandy beach. I have beeen to Red Sea and Greek Islands, so was looking for something different. Will look into Portugal (Algarve), Canaries, Barbados, and am also considering Sicily/Sardinia.

I highly recommend Sardinia. There are many luxury resorts that I can't personally speak to on the Costa Smeralda. I've been to the Caribbean, an dthe beaches that I went to in Sardinia rivaled them. The island had every kind of beach. Here's my trip report/pics:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34526714

You want UPscale on Sardinia? Take a look at the Westin Luxury collection www.westin.com) specifically the Romazzino or the Patrizza.

I've been in both and you will not be fighting anyone for a sun lounger at either of these places but they are pricey.