Holiday advice required please.

A friend of mine is forever jetting off on her own. Her favourite destination is Taba in Egypt. Lot's of backpackers for her to meet up with if she wanted company and plenty of diving to keep her busy.

Another place she loved was Jamaica.

Costa de La Luz is lovely. Isla Canela. We booked with Portland Direct, they usually have some decent deals.

Portugal or Italy were my initial reactions.

There are lots of options for Portugal here

http://www.expedia.co.uk/pub/agent.dll?qscr=cmfd&qsfr=cmfd&itid=&itdx=&itty=&ecid=&subm=0

I would avoid Albufeira as it's too touristy but we have had some lovely holidays in the Algarve and it should fulfull all your criteria.

Thanks KB3, Sunset and POD.

I should probably have mentioned that Europe would be best. I love flying, but any more than 4-5 hours in the air and I become unbearable!

I've always quite fancied the Algarve, so i'll have a look at that tonight.

Is it better to be booking on the net? I don't mind paying more in a travel agents if it means they do the leg work for me! I am a little bit lazy...

Whatever you do just make sure you are covered by ATOL or ABBTA (or whatever they are called)

I haven't used a travel agent in years so can't really comment.

If you book through Expedia I think there is an option to arrange transfers so you really do get the same benefits as if you were to book a package.

lol. no fear there! Just a pity i won't be paying on credit card. I 'll have to risk that bit!

We always book our holiday (usually a Greek Island, including honeymoon which we booked a week ago, fly in just over a week) through the Thomson website. You can put in your dates, where you want to fly from and to etc and it comes up with the options available which you can order by price low to high. Thomson are a bit more expensive than other last minute things, but we think its worth it because you know you're going to get a certain standard of accommodation and the reps are all good (in our experience so far). We've done AOA through them as well and never had a problem. Booking this late also means you are less likely to get a 'lively' resort - we never have, it's always been nice and quiet. And we usually go at this time of year too. This time last year we were in Santorini!

Cyprus would be my suggestion. I went in early October a few years back and it was sunny from 8 in the morning till 8 at night and was about 80 degrees or more every day.

In terms of resort I would avoid Ayia Napa and look at somewhere like Proteras(might be a bit family oriented) or Paphos.

I have ALWAYS fancied Cyprus. And that kind of weather is what i'm after. Ayia Napa is a definate no though! I don't mind somewhere that caters for children and families as long as it's not somewhere that is predominately families. Not that i'm a child hating grump or anything! ?

The Greek islands are great and very relaxed, just look for the quiter resorts- there are busy and quiet places on all the islands. My fave islands are Kefalonia (Lassi)and Corfu (Aghios Gordios) both quietish resorts with a few bars/ taverna's etc.

A travel agent would be good if you dont want the hassle but I usually use

Manos https://www.thomascook.com/brands/manos?intcmp=manosredirect

or

Olympic https://www.olympicholidays.com/

Enjoy whatever you do..........

Thanks DDiva. I'll check those sites out tonight. I had looked at Corfu, but it was REALLY expensive. Like £1500 and 4 flights!

BTW - I'm not really a child hating grump! I have two stepkids and a three year old. Hence me wanting time away from kids.... lol

We've just come back from Croatia and I'd say that was somewhere you could get most, if not all of those things you wanted for the money you have.

We stayed in Cavtat and booked with Holiday Options.

CG, I love Cyprus, I went for the second time in August this year. Love it! The only thing I didn't like this year was the heat. It was humid rather than hot, I broke out in sweats every second I was out of the pool. Not very nice! The last time we went in may and it was mid twenties which was lovely.

We've stayed at the Kouzalis which is adults only, all inc, just outside Protaras. It was OK but a little old in terms of decor & entertainment and fellow guests. The previous time we had the kids with us so stayed at the Papantonia, again in Protaras.

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I second that.

Dont discount Ayia Napa completely, the outskirts are really nice. We've stayed at the Tasia Maris, it's adults only and I'd thoroughly recommend it. It's at the Nissi Beach end of Ayia Napa, you can walk about 10/15 mins to get to the main centre or you can stay nearer the hotel where there's lots of nice bars and restaurants. You're going at the end of the season so it'd be lovely.

If you fancy the Algarve then my parents have stayed at the Falesia in Acoteias. Again it's adults only but my mum reckons it's lovely.

Thank you all. Some fab ideas here and i shall check them all out.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Another vote for Protarus here?

I think you might be hard pushed with Cyprus on your budget though... H and I were looking to go at the beginning of October and it's still quite expensive for flights/accommodation without factoring in food/drink which can be dear aswell. I guess it depends how much you eat/drink.

We stayed HB at the Antigoni a few years ago. It was ok, good location but it's not adult only anymore so I've no idea what it'd be like now.

Hello matey, hope all's ok.

I went here earlier in the year by myself and had the time of my life: www.moonbeach.com

It was a little more than your budget (the package I went for included flights, transfers, accommodation, breakfast & dinner and yoga and windsurfing courses) but the flight prices will have come done substantially for the end of Sept, plus you BYOB which you buy in duty free and which they'll store/chill for you at the bar (or indeed you can keep them in the fridge in your room). You can do trips and sports if you like, or you can just chill out, do a bit of yoga, go for walks. Nearest village is 40km away, so you have proper solitude if you want it, but there are plenty of fab fun staff and ex-pats (oil industry peeps who come down from cairo to the beach at the weekend).

I can also rec you some less wacky beach places in rhodes, but while the weather will be good, you ,might feel a wee bit funny being somewhere like that one your own (whereas at moonbeach there were several sole travellers).

ETA that I literally couldn't spend money when I was there. I bought a few things from the bar (I'd brought plenty of my own from schipol/ cairo supermarket) and I bought the occasional chocolate bar, and a climbing trip to mount sinai, and I still only spent about £80 in 9 days.

Lou ?

It's been one hell of a year - hence the need for a solo holiday! I'll look at the places you've mentioned as they sound wonderful and exactly what i'm after.

As I've been lurking alot, I've kinda kept up with you all. Not gonna say much but I hope things are ok with you.

Thanks again everyone.

I'm off to do some work for the last hour (unusual as i'm normally in the pub now!!). Have a good weekend all.

Hello CG, hope that you are well, sorry can't give any more advice on the holiday situation.....have a brilliant holiday

I was also going to sugest Cyprus but Northern Cyprus (the Turkish bit). It should be lovely weather at that time (not humid like August) - my parents are there now and say the wather is lovely. Definitely warm enough to sunbathe by the pool with a book but not unbareably hot. The north is quite quiet but does have some low key hotel/bar/restaurant based social life. There are nice beaches and the food etc is much much cheaper than the south. If you fly into Larnaca in the south on one of the cheaper airlines (Monarch/Thomas Cook/Thomson) I'd be surprised if you couldn't do it for that budget.

Edited to add: Forget the recommendation to fly into Larnaca - I've just checked and the prices are huge - it must be half term. But you can get a return flight to Ercan (the airport actually in the North so closer than Larnaca) for £250. Also if you check out the Deniskizi hotel you can get a single room B&B for £350. It's a nice hotel and on a lovely beach. I'd have thought £200 would be more than enough spending money for a week in Northern Cyprus, especially with breakfast included. We went in June as a family of five self-catering and allowed ourselves £300 per week spending money and still had enough left to hit the duty free on the way home!