Travel deals, tips, insider news and comment by 101 Holidays editors, Mark Hodson and David Wickers.
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Holiday details: 14-nights in Thailand including two nights B&B at the chic 5* Metropolitan Hotel in Bangkok and 12 nights all-inclusive at the Santhiya Resort and Spa on a gorgeous beach on Koh Phangan.
Price: from £1,299 pp, saving £520 pp. Flights with Etihad via Abu Dhabi and transfers are included.
Dates: selected departures between April 16 and July 31, 2010.
Book with: Tropical Sky.
By 101 Holidays newsdesk
Tropical Sky has introduced a new Family Diving programme, providing tailor-made diving packages for families travelling with children to Egypt, The Maldives, Mauritius, Turks & Caicos, Grenada, St Lucia and Tobago.
The PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) open-water course is a world-recognised qualification which takes 4 - 5 days with a combination of learning in the pool, the open sea and classroom. Costing between £240 and £300, the minimum age is 15 yrs with a junior version (diving to shallower depths) for age 10 yrs upwards. No previous experience is required and there is no upper age limit but you need to be comfortable in the water.
Adults and children from the age of 10 yrs can try out diving on a one-day PADI Discover Scuba Diving introductory experience and children from the age of 8 yrs can experience diving on the PADI Bubblemaker Course.
As well as offering professional dive instruction, all selected resorts have children’s clubs and, in Sharm el Sheikh, Family Diving can also arrange a UK-qualified personal nanny.
Take the family to the Maldives for spring half-term; departing on May 28, 7 nights all-inclusive at Biyadhoo Island Resort costs from £3,599 for a family of four staying in a Beachfront Villa.
A week in Grenada in July and August, staying in the Grenadian by rex resorts, costs from £3,999 for a family of four on an all-inclusive basis.
Head to Sharm el Sheikh on October 23 for half-term; a week at the Savoy Hotel costs from £3,099 for a family of four on a B&B basis.
All prices include flights, accommodation and transfers; prices quoted are for a family of two adults and two children under 12 sharing. Dive instruction and equipment are extra.
By 101 Holidays newsdesk
We’ve found some enticing winter sun deals to escape the grim weather in the UK.
Bailey Robinson is offering 7 nights at the Hyatt Regency Sharm El Sheikh from £780 pp half-board, a saving of £333 pp on departures up to February 18. Set in 86 acres on Na’ama Bay, this 5 * resort is only 10 minutes from Sharm El Sheikh airport. Facilities include a choice of 5 restaurants, pools galore, a spa, fitness centre, tennis courts, children’s club and 3 beaches.
Save £700 pp with Tropical Sky at the luxurious Olhuveli Beach & Spa Resort in the Maldives. Departing February 21, 7 nights in a deluxe water villa costs from £1,829 pp including all meals, flights and speedboat transfers. The choice of watersports is outstanding, including the only registered kite-surfing school in the Maldives.
If ‘fly and flop’ isn’t your style, head off on March 5 to America’s southern states to join Jetsave’s Southern Music & Dixieland Tour. Costing £979 pp, a saving of £283 pp, the 12-day tour takes in the birthplace of jazz, New Orleans, as well as the Blues Highway to Memphis, a visit to Elvis Presley’s Gracelands and a tour of Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame. Scheduled flights, hotel accommodation and an expert tour guide are included in the price.
Find more winter holiday destinations.
From the 101 Holidays newsdesk
As the temperatures here continue to plummet, so too do some prices to the Caribbean. We’ve found some more great Caribbean deals, this time on the islands of Grenada and Tobago.
Tropical Sky is offering a week at the Turtle Beach Tobago by rex resorts from £699 pp all-inclusive, departing January 13 and 20. With just 125 rooms, the hotel is bang on the beach with a pool, tennis courts, no-motorised watersports and volleyball.
7 nights all-inclusive at the Grenadian by rex resorts costs from £749 pp, departing on January 13 and 20. Set in 30 acres of landscaped gardens on the white sandy beach of Tamarind Bay, the hotel has 2 swimming pools, floodlit tennis courts, beach volleyball and non-motorised watersports plus a choice of 3 restaurants.
Both holidays include Monarch flights from Gatwick, all-inclusive accommodation and transfers.
From the 101 Holidays newsdesk
Work on your pre-Christmas tan with some incredible offers in the Caribbean.
Tropical Sky is offering 14 nights all-inclusive at the St Lucian by rex resorts from £1,049 pp, departing December 8. Located directly on Reduit Beach, the St Lucian is also close to St Lucia’s capital, Castries.
Departing the same day, a fortnight’s all-inclusive in Barbados at the Discovery Bay by rex resorts in Barbados costs from £1,099 pp. Discovery Bay is set on the fashionable west coast in 5 acres of tropical grounds, and has just 88 rooms and suites.
Prices include return flights from Gatwick with either Virgin Atlantic or Monarch, transfers and all meals, drinks and non-motorised watersports.
From 101 Holidays Newsdesk
As the 2009 series of the popular ITV show, ‘I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!’, kicks off, Australian Sky has created a special 15-night city and coastal tour of Queensland, the state where the popular television show is set.
Spend a week at the Palazzo Versace Hotel in Brisbane, the luxury pad where the celebrities are pampered before and after their bush adventures. Then head off on your own adventure on a 9-day self-drive tour of the Sunshine coast, taking in the Glass House Mountains, Rockhampton, Airlie Beach, The Whitsundays and Mission Beach, culminating in Cairns.
The cost, from £2,599 pp for travel until March 2010, includes flights from London Heathrow with Etihad, a week at the Palazzo Versace Hotel on a room-only basis and car hire, insurance, detailed maps and 8 nights’ B&B accommodation on the self-drive tour. All taxes, transfers and surcharges are also included.
Visit Australian Sky for more information.
From the 101 Holidays newsdesk
This week we’ve found two great deals to Sri Lanka and some other autumnal treats.
Departing on October 29, Hayes & Jarvis is offering 10 nights at the 4* Eden Resort & Spa, set on Beruwela, one of the best Sri Lanka’s beaches, for £549 pp. The price, a saving of £403 pp, includes 10 nights’ accommodation on a B&B basis, transfers and return flights with Qatar Airways from London Heathrow.
Save £120 pp on a week’s stay with Tropical Sky at the 3* Hotel Seashells Negombo, departing on selected dates until October 23. An attractive fishing port with a wide stretch of beach, Negombo is under an hour away from the airport. The price, from £599 pp, includes flights from Heathrow with Qatar Airways, transfers and half-board accommodation in an ocean-view room.
Mark Warner is offering a week’s half-board at the 5* Abu Soma Hotel in Hurghada for £599 pp, departing Gatwick on October 15. Windsurfing, canoeing and sailing are included in the price; one of the best places to learn the sport, pre-booked British Kite-Surfing Association courses for beginners through to experienced kite-surfers cost from £51 (25% off). Departures are available throughout the winter; courses must be pre-cooked by November 9.
Departing on November 22, Jetsave is offering a 15-day tour Canadian Winter Wonderland escorted tour for £1,299 per person. Travel from Toronto to Vancouver on board the Canadian, a luxurious train, with 4 nights in Jasper en route and followed by 4 nights in Vancouver. The price includes Air Canada flights Heathrow, accommodation in hotels and aboard the Canadian, and an experienced tour director.
PCI Holidays is offering 15% off villa rental on the Costa Brava throughout October, including half-term week. Close to Pals, Villa Blanca sleeps up to 6 in 3 bedrooms with a shared pool and is a short walk from shops, restaurants, a tennis club, golf course and the beach. Rental for 7 nights from October 24 costs £470; flights to Girona currently cost around £195 pp.
Kirker Holidays is offering 3 nights for the price of 2 at the 4* deluxe Relais Oud Huis Amsterdam, one of Bruges’ most charming hotels. Departing between Friday and Tuesday throughout October, November and December (excluding Christmas and New Year), the cost of £398 pp includes Leisure Select (first class) Eurostar to Brussels, rail tickets to Bruges, 3 nights B&B and Kirker’s guide notes to restaurants and sightseeing.
By 101 Holidays newsdesk
10 nights from August 25 in the Sol Pins apartments in Tamariu now costs just £594 for up to 5 people (apartment rental cost only, flights to Girona and car hire extra), saving 40% on the original price. Details from PCI Holidays.
A week from August 22 at Butterfly Farmhouse near Ilfracombe costs £1,625 - saving £500 - for up to 12 people. Contact Classic Cottages.
3 nights B&B in Prague’s 5* Hotel Aria with flights, private transfers and a private 2-hour walking tour from £658 pp - saving £154 - for departures up to August 31. Details from Kirker Holidays.
A week for 2 from August 22 in Ca Na Xidoia, a stone-fronted cottage with private pool near Old Alcudia, now costs £1,150 (villa rental cost only, flights and car hire extra), saving £200. Details from Vintage Travel.
A week from September 10 at the 3* Mermaid Hotel on Sri Lanka’s Kalutara beach now costs just £499 pp all-inclusive (including Emirates flights). Details from Hayes & Jarvis.
On selected departure dates in September, a week at the St Lucian by Rex Resorts, bang on Reduit Beach, costs from £799 pp all inclusive including a free room upgrade (saving £200 pp) or a week at the Sandals Halcyon Beach costs from £1,399 pp all-inclusive (saving £400 pp). Details from Tropical Sky.
7 nights at the Shangri-La Rasa Sayang on Batu Feringgi Beach, now costs from £1,055, B&B, a saving of £420. Departures between now and November 30. Details from Tropical Locations.
Departing from Manchester on September 5, a week self-catering in a villa in the Riverside Holiday Village costs from £466 pp, saving £178 pp. Details from Anatolian Sky.
