Holiday help please

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Agh. We still haven't booked this year's holiday, other than a few days in London. No idea where to go and it has to be in the first week of August, which will restrict us somewhat price-wise too. The dds count as adults now, which again puts costs up.

Any ideas please? No more than £2000 absolute tops. Ideally somewhere with a self catering apartment, a pool would be nice, cultural places to look at, not too many people. It doesn't have to be hot, hot, hot but it must be dry!

Thank you.

Anybody?

Dry and interesting things to look at without huge crowds would be good. Can live without a pool if needsbe. We usually go to Greece but a change would be good.

We rent apartments through Holiday rentals/ holiday lettings or owners direct as there are 5 of us and it can be very expensive with hotels. The last 2 summers we've been to Spain (Estepona then Nerja) and this year we are staying near Lagos in portugal. Prices are really reasonable for rental in both Spain and Portugal. Then we book flights separately and use sky scanner to find the best price flights.
Hope this helps, let me know if I can help with anything else

Thanks Rainbow.

Anybody else please? Particularly looking for countries/places as suggestions.

Languedoc? Flights to Nimes or Beziers under £800 with Ryanair. Lovely apartment here here or there is lots of choice under 1000 euros. It tends to be cheaper away from the coast. Beautiful towns to visit and nice beaches within an easy drive.

Majorca? Lots of pretty places away from the Palmanova/Magaluf madness..

Easy to get around, great weather, friendly people..

We usually stay at Port de Soller on the West coast. Some fancy hotels but I think there are s/c options..

Thanks both. We don't drive so need to be somewhere that has lots to see in itself or good public transport.

We're still wanting to go to Poland or Berlin, but not sure if a city might be horrible in the summer.

We're going to Majorca. We're only going to sit in the sun, and are staying in Cala D'Or again. Majorca has loads of places to look around, I just can't be bothered this year.

I don't know where you live, but we've booked with Jet2holidays, it was nearly £800 cheaper than the same hotel with Thomson, and it is better flight times, they don't fly from every airport though.

It's flights that cost.

Malta? Lots to look at and good bus service. You could also get the ferry across to Gozo.

Would like to fly from Birmingham.

how old how many kids?
interested in what is the appeal of poland ? berlin for art and bars and city chic but not with kids?
with kids i always jsut hit the beach in summer and then maybe a city break in winter, am i missing something?

Prague or Barcelona? I would say Nice or it's environs but that will be heaving in August. And xpensive.

Skyscanner is showing flights at under £150 from Birmingham to Milan Bergamo. You could then get to Lake Como with public transport. Easy to get about by boat then. Como is stunning.

i would say Turkey Remus maybe Fly to dalaman and get a house in Dalyan - you can travel along the river. THats what we are doing - dm if you want to know more

here
www.ownersdirect.co.uk/turkey/TK2745.htm

Dp and dd2 not v fond of beach holidays. Poland looks pretty and has history. Berlin = art.

Been to (and liked) Prague.

Como looks excellent and Daylan looks nice (but dp and dd2 would probably not like it) as I imagine it would be v hot in August (that's why they've ruled out Greece).

Oh they will be 18 and 16.

We're goinf to berlin this year. Hoping for some swimming-in-a-lake action. And some pretending-to-be-german. We loved it when we went for five days in feb. what's not to like about it actually being warm enough?!?

Thanks Janek. Is it likely to be warm/dry then?

I think so. That is certainly the basic premise of our holiday. Dp went for a stag do at the start of august a few years ago and it was really hot. That may have been a heatwave, but i think it was pretty normal. I'm fairly sure poland gets hot summers and berlin is very close to poland.

And our children will be 7 and 4, so far less suited to 'city breaks' than yours. And we're going on the overnight train - fun for all the family!

Okay, this is what the guidebook says:

Berlin has a continental climate which generally translates into scorching summers and freezing winters, although in recent years global warming has turned such time-tested rules on their heads.

Brilliant. I'm really excited!

Thank you. I'm tempted. The overnight train sounds fun! Am assuming there are trains from Berlin to possibly quieter/more 'holiday-esque' places too?

I imagine so. We're going to stay in town and get the train/u-bahn/s-bahn/bus to lakes and the like for summer fun.

We're going to Gran Canaria (Canary Islands) 4 seats as DC are both over 2yrs. Used Skyscanner fir flights ss previous poster recommended. I found norweigan airlines to be incredibly cheap and they give you free wifi on board.