October half term with 15yo DD

[MintyCedric]

As this year has got off to an epically crap start, we've decided to scrap our road trip plans for the summer hols and go for something lazy and sunny in October half term instead.

Criteria:

Good weather
Beach
Nearby restaurants
Accessible city/largish town for shopping and mooching
Accessible by public transport (or resort shuttle)

We'll be going Mon-Fri and would prefer to book hotel and flights independently rather than do a package.

My thoughts are:

Valencia (have seen a beautiful place in Gandia a bit South but looks like very little to do in surrounding area)
Seville
Lisbon
Algarve
Sicily
Naples
Croatia
Corfu
Kefalonia

Possibly Balearics or Canaries...DD is quite keen on the idea of Tenerife.

Not very well travelled unfortunately as XH wasn't up for it, so haven't a clue where to start. Any resort/hotel recommendations would be much appreciated!

Www.altalomacosta.com

Beautiful apartment near Malaga, on the beach, transport links, cheap flights, on site restaurants, heated pools, evening entertainment, 20 minute walk from huge town. Loads of shopping.

When you say "Good weather" and "Beach" do you mean warm enough to lie on the beach in swimwear? If you definitely want it warm enough for that at the end of Oct you will be limited and Tenerife is probably your best option (given that DD is keen anyway)

Sicily is lovely, Taormina is a great town and you can climb etna too. The beach is accessed via a cable car! Long way south so should still be warm. My kids did like Venice too but I found it too busy.

If you want guaranteed beach weather you need to look at the Canaries, Cyprus or Turkey. You can still get the odd day of rain though. Morocco is also a possibility.

Spain will be on average cooler and rainy.

We went to Lanzarote last October and had decent weather, high twenties apart from one day and some mid-twenties with wind but directly in the sun and sheltered you could still wear a bikini.

This year we are off to Cyprus, but the focus is on sightseeing so I don’t mind the odd day not so hot.

Friends went to Kos last year and it was overcast and on all photos they wear a jumper,

I wouldn't stay in Naples, it's a bit rough in places. Sorrento is amazing , quite pricey though.

Kefalonia could well be showery in October, and by about the first week of October the bars and cafes are starting to close down, more so in the smaller places.

Sorrento is lovely, and will be busy, but beaches are few. It should be warm enough to sit outside for drinks etc.

We've had very mixed weather in the Algarve in late October. I definitely would not risk it, if good weather is one of your criteria

How warm do you want it to be, because if you want beach weather then to be sure of that you really need to go quite far afield in Oct half-term. That means the Canaries, Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, etc. Spain may be sunny and warm, particularly if you head to the south, but it might not be beach weather and it might be overcast/rainy. Ditto Italy or Greece.

Valencia is lovely. We had a fab long w/e there in Feb half-term last year. Lots to do, good restaurants, not overly touristy with Brits, good value. Definitely easy to get around by public transport - we used the local buses, which were very good.

Seville - also lovely, but more of a cultural destination and not on the beach.

Lisbon - we loved Lisbon and it does have beach areas nearby. If you go there and want beach I'd suggest staying in Cascais and taking the train into the city. Buses and trams are crowded, but you can use Uber. Not sure how hot it would be in late Oct, but possibly not very.

Algarve - haven't been.

Sicily - this is a big island so where in Sicily? Taormina might fit the bill.

Naples - not sure this is what you're looking for tbh. It's a busy city with lots of traffic and if you want beach then it's not great either. Also lots of pick-pocketing and petty crime, which can be stressful.

Croatia - been to Dubrovnik and it's nice, but very touristy.

Thanks for all the replies, which I'll definitely be saving for future reference as we have a lot of 'lost' travelling time to make up for.

After much deliberation and research online, and somewhat randomly given my original long list, we're off to Malta!

The mainland places we liked were either too expensive, or the hotel we liked were not easy/close to get to via public transport.

A lot of the island locations would have needed car hire and driving on the RHS which I'm not up for at the moment...only got used to long distance UK driving over the last couple of years following my divorce.

So we're going to the NW tip of Malta, lovely spa hotel with shuttle to and from the airport, on a bus route with a 4 min ride to a sandy beach and an option of car hire (left hand side of the road!) if we're feeling adventurous.

DD is a keen photographer so has put a waterproof camera casing of her birthday wishlist and look forward to snorkelling for the first time.

Fingers crossed it lives up to expectations!

you could still wear a bikini

Hahahaha...no chance!

Sounds great, I really fancy Malta too. Hope you have a great time!

Thanks london we're really excited!

Ironically XH and I planned to go there about 20 years ago but ended up elsewhere and I've never really thought of it since until DD suggested.