Please help us choose our next family adventure (Peru, CR, Thailand, ???)
 

Hi Everyone,

We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 teen boys who will be 15 and 18 at time of this trip) looking for assistance in choosing our next big destination for second half of June or July 2009. Our DS1 will be graduating from high school and we'd like to plan a special trip - I am looking early as we have a bunch of FF miles that I'd like to use so I am hoping to have a skeleton plan in time to jump on tickets as soon as FF's open (I believe 330 days in advance). I will also post this on the Asia Board.

We love a mixture of culture, beautiful scenery, wildlife and nature, history, architecture, good food, and adventure/ active stuff like hiking, diving/snorkeling, kayaking or rafting, etc.... A few museums are ok, but we pick and choose those carefully and would rather "experience" sites than visit too many museums (for example, we took a daytrip to Normandy from Paris and this summer will visit Delphi and the Acropolis in Greece). We tend to like a mixture of city and country/small town or village - for example, on our trip to Italy, we did not visit Rome, Florence Venice as one trip, but spent our trip with a few days hiking in Wengen, Switzerland, then went to Milan for city/museum/churches, then to the northern end of Lake Garda for swimming and exploring small towns before ending in Venice.

We have been to Europe several times (London, Switzerland/Italy, Paris and the Dordogne, and going to Greece this summer), seen a fair amount of the US and been to Belize/Guatemala as well as the Caribbean. Given our interests and the <b>time of year</b> what would you recommend? We will likely have 12-13 nights &quot;on the ground.&quot; Right now we are thinking about Peru (Machu Picchu, SV and Cusco, and maybe Arequipa/Colca OR Iquitos), Costa Rica (is weather ok then or just too rainy), or Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Rai, Koh Samui, Siem Reap). We are also interested in Argentina, but would rather wait till we can go at a different time of year. Other thoughts... Yellowstone/Tetons/Rafting, Hawaii, Spain/Morocco, ???

I hope I have not rambled too much, but I wanted to be specific and help give a picture of our interests/style so you could share your knowledge without wasting your time.

I truly appreciate any input or suggestions you may have to share. :-)
Happy Travels!

Honduras makes a great trip. You could fly into to San Pedro Sula, but to Copan for a few days of hiking, ruins, and small town life, then bus back to San Pedro Sula and bus or fly to La Ceiba. In that area there are lots of excellent outdoor adventures: rafting, kayaking, hiking, ziplines, horse back riding. From there head to Roatan for beachy time, great diving and snorkeling. If you purchase an open jaw ticket, into SAP and out of Roatan (RTB) you could save some time, or you might be able to fly a local service from RTB to SAP the day of your flight out depending on your flight schedule. My Honduras travelogues and photos are below if you're interested. Let me know if I can answer questions. Happy trails!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections

PS June/July is not the rainy season on the north coast of Honduras as it is in much of CA, great time to visit.

two fast questions?
1) it's not the rainy season in northern honduras??? looking to potentially go to central america/peru in june and am working on figuring out where, etc. can you please send your honduras itinerary - we're thinking mid-end June...
2) do you need any medications for honduras? ie. anti-malarial, diamox, etc.

We love Costa Rica and always travel in July. We went to the Osa Peninsula last year and stayed at Bosque del Cabo and didn't get any rain at all. In Arenal and Manuel Antonio, we got afternoon showers, but nothing that prevented us from doing what we wanted to do. We already have a return trip in the works - can't seem to want to go anywhere else because we love all the wildlife, the waterfalls, natural hot springs, adventure activities, beautiful beach, etc.

This is a tough one. I would have to chose between Thailand and Peru. Have been to both and would consider them equally appealing in all areas, history, culture, activities, scenery etc - but very different. I think I would combiine Peru with Ecuador(especially hiking around the volcanos) - into one country a short hop over and return from the other. SA is a shorter flight and little time change so no time lost to jetlag. But may not be as exotic as Thailand.

With such a choice, you can't go wrong!!!

I meant to mention a few hotels and spots for CR, so you could see if they're to your liking. Check out Lost Iguana in Arenal, Bosque del Cabo in the Osa Peninsula, Buena Vista Villas in Manuel Antonio, and the Peace Lodge. It will give you a good idea of what to expect in CR.

Thanks for all the great ideas, thoughts and suggestions! Keep 'em coming.

Of course, at this point it is as &quot;clear as mud&quot; since it all sounds so great - it is gonna be hard to choose. :D Fortunately, we travel a fair amount so I am sure we will eventually go most of these places. Still, whenever we are choosing our next big trip, it takes a while to mull it over, get feedback from others, overanalyze, read guidebooks, etc... till eventually I get comfortable and the choice seems right (if that makes sense). Luckily, it seems we can't go wrong.

hopefulist - do you think Honduras is too similar to Belize/Guatemala - for example, we have been to Tikal...is Copan sort of similar?

volcanogirl - yes, I have been reading a lot of the CR posts, including many by you, that are very useful and have helped me think through some possible itineraries. The only thing that has me leaning towards Peru or Thailand is that CR is quite accessible to us (relatively speaking)and it seems like the one that would be easiest to fit in at some other point when we aren't planning such a big trip. On the other hand, it sound super appealing and I know we would all love it.

wintersp - Equador sounds great, too, but I already feel like we will have a hard time doing all that we would like in Peru .... would you really give up something in Peru with only 2 weeks?

Thanks again - Happy Travels!

You must be having fun picking your next destination. I have been to many of your possible spots. I always enjoy whatever place I am but a few places stand out. Thailand, Morocco and Peru. All just amazing places. I have been to both Thailand and Morocco in the Summer months. Thailand can get pretty hot in the city but once you travel to the North is much more tolerable. Thailand has just so much culture, great fruit, hikes ect. On my first trip we did a hill tribe hike for three nights. An awesome although difficult at times experience.. we rode elephants, rafted, biked and that was all in one day.. Just tons to do. There is also great snorkeling at the beaches.
Morocco is just as wonderful.. Again great culture, hiking, camels, food and the desert.
Peru was also one of my top favorite trips.
How lucky for your boys that they are going on such a trip. Enjoy

I, too, have been to both Peru and Thailand (not CR, but Nicaragua). I'd have a very hard time choosing between Peru and Thailand (but would pick both over Nicaragua). With the kids, I might lean toward Thailand - elephants, beaches, bamboo rafting, hilltribe treking. Although Peru is, likewise, enchanting - and if you go there, consider an overnight homestay on one of the islands in Lake Titicaca (if you haven't seen my trip report and are interested, type Karen and Julie in the search box). We had a blast doing that. And Machu Picchu is great. You can't go wrong, really. Thailand is more exotic. The scenery is more spectacular in Peru. (In fact, you can type Karen and Julie in the Asia forum search box and you'll find my report from Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, although it's from 2006 and getting dated perhaps). What a great dilemma you have! (Hopefully, you'll eventually get to do both.)
Karen

shothyme - Rainy season typically starts on the north coast of Honduras in the fall; we've had hardly any rain in our 2 summer trips and are heading back this summer. Not sure what you mean by sending my itinerary - are you interested in what we've done in the past (click the flickr link above, choose the collection you want, and there will be a link to the travelogue with the collection description) or what we're doing this summer when we head down again? I'm heading to Cop&aacute;n Ruinas with a group in tow to study Spanish for 2 weeks, then my husband and I will have about 3 weeks on the Bay Islands, probably Utila and Guanaja. Let me know how much time you have and I can give you opinions or answer questions.

fun4all4 - The ruins of Cop&aacute;n are really different from Tikal. They're not as immense and powerful and grandiose and they are not surrounded by jungle, a highlight of Tikal for me. They are smaller, with beautiful grassy areas around and between, plus amazing glyphs and stone carvings. I've visited Tikal twice, before and after visits to Cop&aacute;n; last summer I loved my time there but the ruins seemed sort of plain and not as interesting to me without the beautiful stelae and altars and giant stone faces and birds I love at Cop&aacute;n. The town of Cop&aacute;n Ruinas is a little like a small version of Antigua - cobbled streets, colorfully painted houses and buildings. There are some great town and country lodging options there.

I had wonderful hiking experiences around Nebaj and I know there are other jungle opportunities there I haven't tapped, but the Pico Bonito park near La Ceiba is really special imo. I don't know where you stayed on the water in Belize so can't compare the Bay Islands to that but they're pretty special. We've loved every lodging choice we've made and they're linked in the travelogues mentioned above. Let me know if you have more questions. Happy trails!

I have been to all the above mentioned (except Hondoras and Nicaragua)

Everyone has different tastes and different experiences, so if you ask about 3 different places, everyone will give you different answers.

My opinion: I would choose Peru adn Thailand over Costa Rica. I would choose Peru over Thailand. My reasons:

My tastes, but I'm not a huge Costa Rica fan. I was pretty, and ziplines were the highlight, but overall, (and only my experience) I had different versions of everything before, only because it was after, didn't impress. I had seen monkeys in Africa, seen volcanos in New Zealand, seen rainforrest in Australia. I had seen a sloth, that was cool, and again, ziplines were fun. I went in rainy season, and it could pour!!! But the sun also did come out. I thought the food was okay-not memerable.

Thailand was exotic and interesting. Probably for culture, your best bet. Architecture is different with all of the temples, and there are monkeys, elephants, and beautiful scenery-but I had beautiful scenery, but I had just come from Bali, which I loved even more than Thailand.

Peru, in a word was amazing. We went in rainy season, and frankly, was pretty sunny. We saw Machu Picchu in all kinds of weather, clouds, mist, full sun-I still get goosebumps thinking about it. Hiking doesn't get better-beautiful scenery, quiant towns, and marvalous ruins everywhere. There is also kayaking, rafting, etc. Food was good. I added a cruise through Galapagos Islands-makes for an easy combination, an excellent vacation.

As for snorkeling, of your choices, Costa Rica would be the best, but having said that, I'm not impressed at any for those choices.

Hondoras may have the combo you seek-Mayan ruins, hiking, kayak, snorkeling, etc.

Your traveltastes sound remarkably like ours. I haven't been to any of the places you are suggesting but recently had done a TON of research, looking at many of the same places, for an upcoming trip in May. You may want to take a long hard look at what th weather in Thailand will be like at that time of year. I suspect it may not be the best itme of year to visit. Our decision of where to go was partially based on weather. We are going to Peru. WE will have 15 days, amd I am having a terribly difficult time narrowing down what to do because there are somany opportunities. That time of year is optimal for visiting Peru. I don't know where you live, but for us, from the cold northern part of the US, we tend to save some of those other locations for winter travel when we need a break from the weather here.

Hi, fun - I think you may be right. CR is easily accessible; it's only a 3-hour flight for us and very easy to plan. You can always do it later. Also, I don't think it would offer the cultural and architectural things you might be looking for, but it gets high marks for everything else. Hope you are able to make it someday. Good luck wherever you end up going.

Thanks again - you all are amazing!!

ttraveler- it is funny that you mentioned that Thailand was so hot in summer, but did not say the same for Morocco - is it not as hot (I would have guessed it would be super hot)? Of course, DS1 (who spent a month in Israel last summer with some time in the desert) says he &quot;hates those stupid, mean camels&quot; and will never get on one again! That would not influence our decision of whether to travel to Morocco, but it made me laugh as he must have had a bad experience.

althom (Karen) - thanks for providing a good compare and contrast along with such helpful trip reports.

hopefulist- I appreciate all the extra details and explanation you provided. It does not seem likely we will pick Honduras this time, but we will keep it in mind for the future as it sounds great.

blamona- yep, we all have different thoughts and experiences which is why it is so helpful and fun to &quot;talk&quot; it over with people who have been there. I love to be able to think &quot;out loud&quot; and get everyone's impressions. It is all great. Who did you do your Galapagos cruise with? Also, a few people on the Asia board suggested Bali as well so I may look into it.

julies- yes, I have read lots of your posts, especially over on the Europe board and agree we seem to enjoy similar types of travel. What have you decided upon for your Peru itinerary? I am leaning against Thailand at the moment just based on the uncertain weather at that time of year....I am sure it would still be a fabulous trip, but I don't know that I want to travel all that way if the odds are against prime weather. Of course, with teen kids, winter travel (or any travel during the school year) is very difficult which really limits our destinations for now. Lots of places I really want to go are not ideal in our limited summer travel window. We can sometimes get a few days (less than a week) during the year, but with sports and no full week of spring break in our system, it is hard. Still, we are lucky to do all that we do.

volcanogirl- thanks for all your great advice and good wishes. I know we will get to CR sooner rather than later, but it is still on the list for now.

Thanks again to everyone. I am off to ponder some more (which is half the fun).

Yes, I guess Morocco and Thailand were both hot but for some reason I remember the sweat just rolling off me in Thailand..For me Morocco was hot but not unbearable.. and the desert does cool off at night.
Bali is such a wonderful, magical place. It too was one of my most memorable trips.. so much so that I really had a hard time getting back into the grove when I returned home.
Enjoy.

I think I answered you on the Asia board (I love all three, but Peru has best June/July weather). So, which did you choose?

Hi crosscheck,

Still haven't decided as we've got another month or two until FF's become available. It has been really busy around here with work, sports, Prom, etc... so I am just sort of reading posts and thinking.( I also have to spend some time organizing details for our Greece trip next month).

I don't think it will be CR for summer '09. Thailand possible but leaning against due to weather. Peru and Bali are the top contenders right now.

I will let everyone know what we decide. :-) Thanks again for all your help.