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I'm having a bit of a nightmare trying to sort this out.

Basically I want to go away with the missus for a week on the 25th or 26th August, to somewhere with a sandy beach, ideally on a B&B basis. Initial thoughts were Italy or Greece because they both have amazing food too, though we're willing to consider Spain/Portugal/Tukey etc. - just nowhere too pikey. I've looked on teletext holidays (seems to be the best site so far), lastminute.com, Groupon, expedia, guardian travel, Thomson, Thomas Cook, but I can't find anything ideal. Thomson and Thomas Cook in particular all look pretty bog standard and not very good value.

The best bet so far is this accomodation which costs £460 for the week

http://www.i-escape.com/hotel-da-vila/overview#overview

With a return flight to Funchal (Madeira) bought separately at £215 per person.

Its a bit more than I'd like to spend and we don't need the accomodation to be as swanky as that, but its all I've found. Is it a rip off? I've never really done this kind of holiday before, in the past I've just booked flights and backpacked it.

Are there better sites that I've missed?

dunno, i can help you book a ski holiday if you like?

Can't help too much. What I will say is that Madeira is great, especially if you're into good food.

I went to Crete a couple of years back. That was nice, not so many pricks there.

Just to confirm, I am going to Thailand next week.

just asked a mate of mine who's working in Marmarice in Turkey if he knows of any decent accommodation for a good price.  i'll let you know if he has any ideas

A few different friends of mine have all been to Turkey in the last couple of weeks, they all said how much they enjoyed it with clean accommodation and beaches. Also they said the food was outstanding and still at reasonable prices. If it's just the two of you Cala Galdana in Menorca is nice and quite with a great beach. Hope it helps but I'm sure you'll get a few more ideas.

Turkey looks a bit pikey to me

not marmaris...

http://www.marmaris.org/

Got back from Marmaris about 3 weeks ago.

Wasn't pikey at all.

 :thumb:

Turkey seems very popular this summer, don't know if that's just because of the prices though.

One of our family friends got married to a bloke from Marmaris last year, and they all went over there for the wedding and had a great time.

Be interested to see what your mate says, cheers Kinky. That sounds wrong as I type.

A nice resort on Majorca is puerto del soller. You get there by Indian Jones style wooden steam train through the mountains. I give it 8.5/10.

Went to Lara Beach, Turkey in April. Paid 520 for a weeks stay, 5 star hotel, all inclusive + flights.

Beach was fantastic, weather was good, hotel and hotel staff were brilliant and the food was exceptional.

Probably cost a fair bit more in school holidays though...

I've always found the kebaby, very decent...well once they'd sorted the cockroaches out.  Devizes Road is a good place to visit...Ray's ice cream parlour opening soon and El Toro replacing the Mexican. Noticed Louise Jameson at the Art's Centre....where's fB when you need him....I certainly would.

[url width=201 height=252]http://www.nndb.com/people/798/000026720/louisejameson03.jpg[/url]

You're looking at travelling on a bank holiday weekend, bargains are likely to be few and far between.

Bear in mind that anywhere in Western Europe is not cheap anymore and if you are on a B&B basis you'll probably spend a fair few quid on food and drink.  Gone are the days where you used to pay £1 for a beer!

Turkey wise, I'd avoid the likes of Marmaris, Bodrum etc. - really built up and prices hiked for tourists. 

Echoing what Luci said, anywhere that's got the euro is obviously going to be pricey given the current exchange rate.  Went to Santorini in Greece a couple of weeks back, really nice little island with the right amount of life.  Spent a small fortune though really.

Dalyan in Turkey is spot on, and I'd imagine there are loads of great places outside of the main resorts.

Yup - Dalyan is nice as is Fethiye and Belek!

Which hotel did you stay at DV.  We were looking at Lara Beach for next year?
Last month we went to Lanzarote and paid half of some people we met who had gone through Thomas Cook.
Back to the original question, the last couple of years, I've booked flights and hotel separately and saved a lot of money on package prices.  Skyscanner is good for flights and Travel Republic for hotels.  You will obviously need to put in a destination though.

Always found some decent deals on here OF

http://www.travelzoo.com/uk/holidays/ (http://www.travelzoo.com/uk/holidays/)

The new mrs Bob owns a 3 bed apartment in kusadasi somewhere. Supposed to be nice there.

Ta, will have a look.

At the moment the original place in Madeira is looking alright.

Try travelsupermarket.com

Travel republic, lowcostholidays etc etc .... watch out for the add ons though, suitcases, transfers bla bla

fantastic beach holidays are also available without leaving britain. Of course the weather isn't guaranteed to be good though

We stayed at the Limak Lara hotel - as I said in my previous post, very very impressed with it all - http://www.limakhotels.com/lara/en/index.html

Lara beach literally has hotel after hotel after hotel on it, all next to each other - all trying to out do each other in order to get the most business - I cant remember the names of the other hotels (royal wings, something robin hood related, a couple of russian named one) literally all next door to each other.

Other side of the road there is dodgy turkish shopping malls, old blocks of flats and wasteland.

Not alot to do outside the hotel at all - hence why the hotels are all 5 stars and have almost everything you could want inside them.

Eugh so jealous would love a beach holiday so much right now - moving in a couple of weeks though then saving for a NYC Wedding/Oz honeymoon hopefully next year

Lastminute.com then head out to Barcelona. Cheaps as chips to get there, amazing weather, incredible welcome from the locals, quality clubs, restaurants and bars, decent enough beaches (recommend Botoga of the five on offer) and the added bonus of one of Europe's most stunning cities. You'll also catch a game at the Camp Nou I'm pretty sure.

kalkan in turkey is superb, not a pikey to be seen :pint:

Go into at least four travel agents and tell them what you have/want to spend....they will try and get you to spend a bit more but stick to your guns.
Guarantee that one of them will come up with what you are after....show them your money them let do the work on getting you a nice holiday.

I booked a colleague something in Bulgaria that seemed pretty cheap,never been therre mind so its not a recomendation :)

If you do go to a travel agents make sure they know you've been looking on the web and match the web prices. (spent a fair chunk of yesterday in travel agents). Go armed with some destinations/prices you've found on the web and travel agent should be able to chuck in some extras at time of booking. Ignore all that if you're not going to a travel agent  :)

Booked a fortnight here next May - http://www.dreamsresorts.com/drelr/

I hate this thread. My holiday this year is a night in a Dover Travelodge and 2 nights in an even cheaper French equivalent in Calais. Sod that eurotunnel crap.

Looking forward to going on the ferry though :)

And you're jealous?!  ;)

Love NY.  Great city.

My fav & my best!
Hoping to get married at top of the rock

Very cool, that'll be awesome.

That's in San Francisco ;) Quite symbolic though!

How important is the sandy beach? From first hand experience there is no such thing in Madeira, they are all pebbles (fucking hot pebbles at that). I got laughed at when I asked someone what the best beach to go to was. It's a nice place to go though, plenty of sealife in the sea just off of Funchal - went on a trip out to see the dolphins and turtles etc and loved it.

P.S. if you don't like seeing wall-to-wall pictures, and a weird metal statue, of Christiano Ronaldo, take a sick bag as he's from Funchal. Also, the average age of a tourist (all British or German) in Madeira is about 70.

Got robbed blind there, and the locals were rude.  Go to Bulgaria at your peril.

It's no Ibiza! A nice place to go if you're looking for peace and quiet.

Chap mantioned Bracelona, and that the locals are friendly, not in my experience, it's not quintessentially Catalan by any stretch! Got 400 Euros stolen when some north african pushed past me whilst boarding a bus - only found out minutes later. Somewhere to be very cautious about, pick-pocketing rife, and that from someone who's astute but got nailed by the bastards.

You can't be that fucking astute can you?

Sounds a bit like Oxford Street.

Corralejo in Fuertenventura is lovelly.

Beautiful sandy beaches and no dick heads. Just a nice friendly resort with plenty of places to eat and drink for families and couples.

The sand dunes are spectacular.

For a bit of dogging

Ha ha all I saw was fat Germans.

Might end up giving this all a miss. Went into the travel agent and there's not much about for our dates that comes in under £450pp. Started looking for Greece/Italy initially, but then also Spain, Croatia, Ibiza etc. - all pretty pricey and not that appealing.

Never mind, I'll save the dollar for my American road trip next summer.

I truly hope that isn't the only disappointment you suffer this week xx