o/t - Long Haul Hols - where would you recommend?

I have only been to Dominican Republic (as a long haul holiday) and it was lovely, although not a place you can go off and explore on your own, so have to rely on excursions for sightseeing.

For honeymoon we are going to New York & Miami. We wanted Hawaii but out of our budget and also Bermuda looked fab, but again out of budget.

Sorry that's not very helpful. Hopefully someone better travelled will be along soon to help

If you could move it to March I would totally recommend Mexico, Cancun! Myself & OH have been twice and are going for three weeks for our honeymoon, I can't wait! Its such a wonderful place and fantastic weather!

I would definitely recommend the far east - we had a super time in Thailand. Bangkok was a non-stop city but you just have to go there to experience it - everyone is super friendly and the 4 star hotels are fantastic. The Temple in Bangkok is a must visit! After spending a few nights there we flew off to Phuket (south) and stayed in a small town called Cape Panwa where our hotel had its own private beach - it was super stunning. You could stay in a villa with a pool, the hotel complex itself or a suite with a jacuzzi on the balcony which looked out towards the Andaman Sea. We stayed at the Cape Panwa Hotel absolutely loved it and I can't wait to visit Thailand again but go this time to Kuao Sumi.

Some pics

Temple at Bangkok View from our hotel balcony

Hope you get something sorted!

x

For our honeymoon we went to Malaysia and had the time of our lives. We went to various places, actually stayed in 4 places in Borneo, and then on the way back we stopped in Dubai.

It all depends on what you like doing on holiday. For us we needed a combination of being busy and chilling out as we couldn't handle 2 weeks lying on a beach.

This little guy is still the love of my life!

My favourite places i have been and loved are

Dominican Republic - Stayed in Dreams Punta Cana. Like Zippy said not somewhere you can go off and explore on your own but brilliant none the less. You can do excursions and the hotel was fab.

Las Vegas - Have been there every year for the last 6. Love love love it! But it depends what you are looking for.

California - Didnt really love LA that much, not really my thing but Venice Beach was cool. However San Francisco was brillaint, although not for sun or anything!

One of my best holidays for variety was one week florida, few days miami and then a week on a carnival cruise. It went to St.Thomas, HalfMoon Cay, San Juan Peurto Rico and Grand Turk. Cant reccomend a Carnival Cruise more. Get to see so many places in such a short amount of time. Ive done a few carnival cruises and they are fab!

Hope that helps!

Another recomendation for Dom Rep - we went 2 weeks AI and stayed in Puerta Plata at the Riu Merengue Hotel - it was lovely and i couldnt fault it = would thoroughly recommend it. It is not really the kind of holiday where you can go off and explore on your own though. However we went on lots of amazing day trips and our hotel had lots to do and you could also use the facilities of the 2 other Riu hotels on the complex.

We have also been on a carnival cruise (where we got engaged!)

We started in Miami, went to Bahamas, st thomas and st martin. I loved the cruise - food was amazing and there was heaps and heaps to do on the boat. I loved going to all the islands and exploring!

We are going to Mauritious this year for Honeymoon and then next year i definatly want to try and go to the Maldives

Wow shoegal you got engaged on a carnival cruise, thats cool!

Thanks all, some great recommendations and some places mentioned which we have been considering. Lovely, stunning photos. Love your pic Purrfect Gems, so funny!!

I'm afriad I will have to disagree with the masses. We went to Dom Rep for a cheap week - all we wated was somwhere cheap, hot and sunny for a week of relaxing and doing nothing else and it certainly fit the bill and we had a great time but if that had've been our big holiday for that year we'd have been disappointed.

We've been to:

Hawaii
Cape Town
America (spent a month exploring from East to Weat Coast - New York, Boston and then up into Maine, New Hampshire, Cooperstown, Buffalo, Niagra Falla, Vegas, Death valley, Yosemite national park, San Francisco, San Simeon, LA, San Diego)
Las Vegas
Utah & Arizona Desert Road Trip
Barbados
Sri Lanka
Bali & Kuala Lumpur
Dom Rep

It depends what you're after from your holiday. Bali & Sri Lanka we combined a tour of the island with a beach stay - both amazing.

Wow, you've been to some amazing places!

We love beautiful beaches and nice weather but also love a bit of sightseeing and exploring. In Barbados (where we got engaged!) we had a car and explored all over the island and spent the odd day just lazing on the beach. Same in Miami really, we did a few organised excursions, drove down the florida keys, explored the south beach area and spent a few days on the beach chilling.

I love Barbados! We were there over Christmas and it was amazing. Hoping to go back this year!

I'd recommend Bali. We went in September and had 2 nights on the beach, 5 nights touring the island and 5 nights on the beach plus a stopover in KL both ways (2 nights then 1 night) and it cost around £2,200.

We went to Sri Lanka & Cape Town in February and both were fab too. Sri Lanka tour was quite long days but it's an amazing place.

Hawaii - Oahu and Big Island - Amazing!! Beaches, rainforest and volcanoes!

I've been to Dom rep twice- both times to the north and stayed in riu merengue 1st time and iberostar costa dorada second time. I perfered the iberostar hotel. Been to mexico (Riu jalisco) which is on the pacific side of mexico and it lovely as its not as commercialised as cancun. Been to cuba too but wouldn't reccommend as the food isn't great (even in the 5 star hotels).

Personally I would reccommend dom rep as you get a lot more for your money

I'd also say Hawaii! As well as having beaches there's loads of other stuff to do - including loads of marine wildlife (Feb is in the middle of whale season) and the volcano. But, it is expensive, and we actually camped to make it affordable (but then, camping on the beach wasn't exactly the same as camping in the middle of the lake district!).

My OH and I have just come back from a week in Cuba - it was one of the loveliest holidays I've ever had (and I've done a lot of travelling). Beautiful country, full of history, beautiful people etc (it's not the most ideal place for 'foodies' or vegetarians though). The weather was 26/27/28 and we had one evening of rain (but we sat on our balcony drinking rum and smoking cigars while watching!!)

I'd also recommend Cape Town - overnight flight, with no jet-lag and loads to see and do. And Jan/Feb are the hottest times of the year.

Thailand - gorgeous, not sure what the weather is like in February though.

Sri Lanka is also a very interesting place to visit.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, its a great help!! Really appreciated.

I agree with Dom Rep. I went to the Riu Bambu hotel which is amazing! The best holiday i have been on. I used to work as a travel agent and have had alot of good reviews of this hotel - if you look on trip advisor i dont think you will find a bad review. If you do consider Dom Rep i would recommend the south (flights into Punta cana) of the island instead of north (puerto plata) as the north coast is not the carribbean sea.

The Riu Bambu hotel one of 4 hotels on that resort there are 2 cheaper ones and the riu palace which is adults only. The entertainment is fab, and when i went they also had a hog roast and a festival once a week and the staff are so friendly!!. The excursions are good, you can go speed boat driving which i really reccomend, diving with sharks (veggie kind of sharks :-S) horse riding. you can go swiming with dolphins but you have to fly up the island to do it so its about £150 ish each. These excursions were with Thomsons so dont know if everyone does it. but anyway i reccommend this hotel!

Sorry for blabbing! Good luck! x

For holidays in Thailand its best to go between November and April as towards the end of April it gets really, really hot about 40 degrees and more rain!

I have been to the Dom Rep and really liked it, I also really liked Cancun, but I am with some of the other ladies on here, Hawaii was fab !!! I went in November and it was still lovely and warm. I cant comment on the price though as I stayed with a friends brother so only had to pay for the flight.

One of my favourite places I have been to is California, I did a 3 week road trip round there a few years ago and loved every bit of it, although not really a beachy holiday !!

February is also a good time of year for the Indian Ocean I think so you could go for the Seychelles, Maldives etc

I recommend the Seychelles. Me and MrK got married there a few weeks ago and it was absolutely gorgeous.

We stayed here www.cocodemer.com. Beautiful white sandy beaches, gorgeous clear water for snorkelling and we saw some giant turtles on a day trip.

I would go back in a heartbeat.

I can't rave about Goa enough we went there 2 years ago and i've been aching to go back! extremely cheap when you get there, amazing beaches and fantastic weather, the most friendliest of people i've ever met, you get treated like a god!!!. we want to go back there for our honey moon but with finances and evevrything else not sure it is possible.

The hotel we stayed in was the Hotel Santiago in Baga and we spent one night in southern Goa in a hut on the beach it was magnificent!