Fantasising about where to go next year on holiday...give me inspiration! share your best trips with me

[Existentialallday]

I love thinking up holidays. Tell me your favourite trips, or where you'd like to go.

I'd love some inspiration!

FWIW, love South East Asia. We were thinking of going back to Thailand next summer, but I'm pretty shocked at how expensive flights are now (as will be everywhere, of course). So rethinking whether we spend the money going somewhere we haven't been - and maybe more of an adventure.

If you like Thailand, Vietnam might be a good alternative. Amazing food, beaches and culture.

For an adventure, I'd interrail. If you use sleeper trains you can cut down on the days travelling and wake up in a new country.

For somewhere completely different, how about Norway? The fjords are breathtaking and the people are so friendly. Quite expensive when you're there but the flights are cheaper than Thailand.

One of my favourites was Merano in the South Tyrol. Gorgeous scenery, lots of castles and other interesting places to visit, so easy to get around, great food, felt very safe, basically like Austria with Italian gelato, generally lovely.

Switzerland is always lovely too.

I second Vietnam, also Cambodia, loved both

I've had several great holidays in Cambodia.
Couldn't stand most of Vietnam.
Laos is great fun.

You'll find all 3 at a much lower price point than Thailand. Book the flights early enough, don't fly direct, and you've got a great priced holiday.

Best holiday ever was to Iceland.

I've just booked flights to go to Costa Rica today first 2 weeks of the summer holidays - going to travel around to a few different places, lots of nature/adventures.

Sri Lanka is nice and if feeling like some pampering....in a healthy way then stay somewhere that does Ayerverdic stays.
I stayed at Plantation Villa but many years ago.
Vietnam is meant to be great...my brother spent a few months travelling around.
Japan is amazing.... was never on my list of places to go but went once and fell in love so went back a year or so later.

Out of Asia.... parts of Africa are pretty amazing...Cape Town as a start then do an overland trip through Namibia, Botswana and then to the Victoria Falls.
Tanzania for safari (go to a smaller park...Still lots of variety but cheaper then onto Zanzibar.

Central Asia isn't too touristy...do parts of the Silk Road through Uzbekistan (Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva),

Armenia and Georgia are meant to be pretty spectacular, knowna few people who have been and loved it.

Turkey is also a good place to explore.... get the coach from Istanbul and head to Cannakale/Gallipoli, Ephesus, etc or inland to Cappadocia or up to the Black Sea or over to Konya and the land of Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes.

My next trip ... well Valencia to see a friend in December, then Marrakech in January.

Next hols (hopefully due to a change of job/location) Turkey, Armenia or Azerbaijan.

Thanks all! Some lovely ideas

@Jumpking - why will those price points (Cambodia, Laos) be cheaper than Thailand? Why didn't you like Vietnam?

I've been to Cambodia, loved it

@flamingoshoes - how exciting! Can I ask how much it costs/you think it will cost and where you're going?

Our best trip was the Bahamas - we stayed at the Atlantis and it was the best experience we’ve had abroad.

Second best was Australia (Melbourne) for DHs 30th birthday present

@Existentialallday have just booked flights at the moment and will work out how to fill in the time and where we want to go - kids are into the wildlife/rainforests. Flights were £800 but we have not been on an abroad holiday since 2013 as didn't fancy it with toddlers!

@Existentialallday Cambodia and Laos are less westernised than Thailand. The prices of food, hotels, transportation within those 2 countries is cheaper than Thailand.

Vietnam was becoming more westernised when I visited. Single woman with 2 under 10s meant many tried to take advantage. I was driven past our hotel 3 times in Hanoi and chose to get out of the car at traffic lights as we were continuing to be driven round and round the block. A tour guide in Dalat tried to rip me off by giving us a tour I'd already told him we'd been on. Someone tried cleaning my son's shoes in ho chi Minh while we were walking, and my repeated no's fell on deaf ears. He then shouted at me as I refused to let my son stop. Another man in ho chi Minh put his long bamboo coconut carrier on my son's shoulders. I took it off, but the guy kept putting it back on. He then cut a coconut for each of my children saying "free, free" despite my protests (neither of them like coconut water). I left the coconuts on a wall untouched, took the bamboo pole off my son again and smiled and walked off. Shouted at because we hadn't paid.

I could keep going with these stories. Suffice to say I'm never going back to Vietnam.

Hoi An and Halong Bay were beautiful, but sadly the people trying to rip me off constantly left a very sour taste of the whole country. I didn't experience anything like that in Laos or Cambodia.

Safari in South Africa was our best ever holiday - well worth it, even tho not cheap.

@Jumpking That's a real shame. I had a similar experience in Egypt, and I won't go back.

@Hbh17 Yes I did South Africa and it was a great holiday

Another vote for Austrian Tyrol. We stayed in a town called Jenbach, travelling from St Pancras via Brussels and Cologne (overnight stop).

Jenbach has rail services of 3different gauges and lots of lovely places to visit. We were there August 08, for our 10th anniversary and loved it. Visits included Innsbruck, Salzburg, Mayrhofen to name a few.

Vietnam is honestly one of my favourite places in the whole world. Yes some people try to get money out of you but presumably you will also have experienced that to an extent in Thailand. We never had any problems with a polite no thanks. Cambodia and Laos also wonderful but more going on in Vietnam to see and Cambodia generally not quite as safe

@katieak and others who love Vietnam. What are the beaches like? Which ones are nice? I've heard some horror stories about polluted beaches in Vietnam

And where did you go in Vietnam that you loved?

@katieak Never experienced people trying to get money from me in Thailand in such a way. You said no in Thailand,it was listened to. Vietnam it was ignored repeatedly. Cambodia and Laos, they rarely asked! Never felt safe in Vietnam because of it, sadly.

The experience of traveling as a single mum with under 10s in SE Asia is very different to a couple/single person experience.

@Existentialallday Egypt...agreed. Never going back there either.

Have you thought about a rail tour around Eastern Europe? That's on our agenda some point soon. Or a tour of Turkey or Greece?

@Existentialallday We have thought about Central/Eastern Europe - but I lived there for years, so doesn't quite excite me as much
. But it's beautiful