Best longhaul

[Wanderlustnearorfar]

Hi, all I'm looking for ideas for long haul destinations, we are a couple and are open to anywhere and have not yet chosen a dAte to go where is the best place you've ever been.

South Africa! Or if you want a beach holiday I loved Grenada

Tokyo is the best place I have ever been. I have been twice now, my honeymoon and then we went again and took our 20mnth DD, she was adored there (blonde, blue eyes) it’s a mesmerising place, love everything about it

New Zealand is brilliant. We loved it so much that we saved up like mad and went again.

Costa Rica. Absolutely beautiful- beaches, jungles,amazing food. I’ve never been anywhere that’s compared.

Some fab suggestions, Costa Rica sounds like a firm favourite at the moment.
Has anyone booked a multi or twin centre holiday and who did you book with?

When we did CR we flew to Liberia which was the only place at the time you could get a direct flight to. Then hired a car and drove down to San Jose and did some jungle trips and then over to the Caribbean coast. Absolutely everywhere was stunngly beautiful and it felt very safe too. The highlight was staying at a place called Pacuare Lodge in the middle of the jungle.

We did Costa Rica 2 summers ago. I booked it separately as it was cheaper (if more of a pain in the proverbial to research!). We flew BA direct from Gatwick to San Jose - going by the Lonely Planet guide book & friends advice who'd been to both, we wanted to do the Pacific coast not Caribbean (although if we'd had more time and money, doing both would have been great!), We had a few days in San Jose (bit of a grim city but some of the political/historical stuff was interesting!) & did an Arenal trip through Viator before travelling down to Manuel Antonio national park for a week of wildlife and beaches. We used a local firm for all our transport who turned up on time every time with a big air conditioned people carrier. If you want any details, let me know - what we saw was beautiful & there was a heck of a lot I wish we seen! Overall though, in terms of best place long haul, I grew up partially in Kenya & I don't think I've been anywhere else that's ever really matched it.

Sorry to derail but am considering Costa Rica (and Belize) for next summer. SJane45S, I may DM you for some details at some stage if that’s ok?

recommend the Osa peninsula if you are visiting Costa Rica is a beautiful remote area lots of wildlife. We've been twice, first time traveled around (arenal, monteverde, tortuguera, san jose, osa) and went back again with kids- just going to Osa.... check out Bosque del cabo.

pico1 yes of course!

South Africa. Not expensive and really varied. Game viewing is a bonus. Zambia, Namibia, Tanzania and Botswana all great for game viewing, but varied. Namibia has more interesting towns and a more developed coastline.

Peru - Incas, scenery and culture. Equador and the Galapagos Islands are amazing. Rainforest can be accessed in both Peru and Ecuador fairly easily.

Japan is a very different cultural experience and well worth the effort. Ditto China. We are just back from Argentina. Loved every minute of it. Brazil has beaches and culture. USA has superb natural parks and themain cities all have glorious museums and galleries, plus iconic sights.

I think you must sort out whether you want beaches, culture, iconic sights, cities or natural wonders and wildlife. Then think about where delivers what!

Tokyo is amazing, totally foreign and curious and fascinating but absolutely safe. DH would go for a 2-3 mile run every morning and after a while decided to count the bits of litter on the street -- one day he came up with a grand total of three. Loved the way all the staff would shout out 'hai' to greet you when you went into a restaurant.
Not to mention the beautiful parks and temples, shrines, and oh, shops and department stores! Swoon. I am also determined to get a Japanese toilet the next time we re-do a bathroom. They are heavenly. Seriously. And the public toilets are pristine.
We combined it with a trip to Hong Kong which was a big contrast, much more 'in your face' but so vibrant and colourful. Street markets, hawkers, sad little shrines of offerings of incense and fruit outside hostess bars, wonderful food, expensive, ultra-high-end shops and malls, the skyline and evening light show, and of course the Star Ferry. The Peak was a disappointment although the ride on the funicular/tram was great.
We absolutely loved both places.
PS -- Virgin Premium Economy for the flights was well worth the extra.

If you go to Japan, it's very easy to get out and see more. We loved Japan, not just Tokyo.

I think knowing what you want from the trip is essential. It's a big world out there.

We've just come back from Iceland, not long haul, but a fantastic place to see and be active.

Definitely Costa Rica. We've just returned from a couple of weeks there and it was just amazing. We didn't even feel like we'd scratched the surface and would love to go back. The people are lovely, it's very safe, there's so much to see and do.

Agree with pp, what things do you like? Are you backpacking or wanting AI (or something in between)?

I loved Indonesia - as it’s so easy and cheap to island hop. You’ve got Kalimantan (Borneo) - stay on a boat sailing through the jungle to see wild orangutans. Komodo / Flores for the Komodo dragons and diving. Bali for temples and rice paddies and more tourist luxury. Gili Islands for beaches and scuba. Java for Borobudur.

I’ve also loved Vietnam and Cambodia, Nicaragua, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India... I’ve backpacked all the above, and all are beautiful places with loads to see and do, but all really different.

Just back from Vancouver..... orca watching, beach festivals, fireworks, museums and galleries, great restaurants, cool markets, (we were there for Pride too which was incredible and involved the whole city), up to whistler for waterfalls, seaplane over the glaciers, then 4 days on a fantastic island of artisans, artists and wild swimming .... weather was mid 70s to low 80s, loved it.

Had a lovely time in Costa Rica, cuddled a sloth, saw monkeys, geckos, toucans, coati and raccoons in the wild and active volcanoes, ziplining through rainforest, horse riding through rainforest, beautiful botanical gardens etc.

This year we've done Australia and that's been amazing, flew into Sydney with BA, had breakfast with a koala and fed pademelons at Featherdale and saw Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House on day 1. Went whale watching at Port Stephens on day 2 and saw 20 or so whales, dolphins and seals, saw wallabies in the wild and went chocolate tasting at Hunter Valley. Then sandboarding day 3, Tilligerry Gardens and a beautiful meal by the harbour and beach day 4.

Flew to Cairns day 5 and stayed in a lovely Airbnb with its own island/lake with waterlilies you could canoe on. Day 6 went to Kuranda and cuddled a koala and fed wallabies then went on a boat tour where we saw freshwater crocs and a turtle. Day 7 we went to Great Barrier Reef with Seastar and saw beautiful corals, fish, a ray and giant 1.2 metre turtle. Next day in rainforest then stayed with lady who looks after injured wild animals. Daughter bottle fed a bettong and we all fed the pademelons and possums and the lady had a tree kangaroo in the house we got to touch. Then stayed at treehouse in rainforest and back to Sydney, saw Blue Mountains and Sydney. Was about 11k for everything but that's absolutely everything - flights, parking, car hire for whole trip, petrol, airport parking, seats, food eating out mostly, excursions for 4 of us and includes a 600 cancellation fee as I had to rebook flights with BA as didn't originally book multi centre, it was cheaper to cancel and book multi centre than add new flights on. Flights were 4,400 for 4 of us London Sydney and back direct and BA via Quantas to Cairns and back.

Just reading this whilst waiting for a flight back from Sri Lanka. We have had the most amazing holiday- lots to do, very friendly and smiley people. It has far exceeded our expectations!

Japan love the country and have visited (and lived) there many times. Great contrast from the north to the fab islands in the south.

Also SE Asia (also lived there), you could do a 2/3 centre, plenty to choose from Malaysia/Malaysian Borneo/Vietnam/Cambodia/Laos etc.
You can bounce about easily and cheaply if you plan ahead.

Depends on what you want from your holidays, beaches or sights, history culture, cost and budget and so on.

New Zealand and then on to the Cook Islands, Cook Islands are paradise.