First solo holiday abroad at 45 - in October. Ideas needed!

[ShatnersWig]

I've only been abroad twice before - Lake Garda (2012) for a week which I loved and Brussels (2013) for a long weekend which I also loved.

I hate flying but really, really need a holiday and have no one to go with. Don't want to do any sort of solo but on a group holiday. I've exhausted UK and Ireland over the years so I've just got to do it. But there are very few places I actually have any desire to go to.

I'd love to do New York (pricey) and New England in the Fall one day. I'd like to go to Norway and try to see the Northern Lights one day. And I'd like to go back and do more of Italy.

I've got 11 days off in mid- to late-October off so looking for a week in one place or 10 days if split over two places.

I don't like lying on beaches for long but adore the sea/coast while at the same time liking lots of buildings, architecture, museums etc to look at. I also have a slightly restrictive diet so lots of fish available is perfect.

Budget upto £1000 (which sounds reasonable but not obviously as it's just me it's not as much as it could be if I had a companion).

Please - I need your ideas!

When we were in Palermo there were police cars with their sirens going off by our hotel every few minutes almost 24/7 and streets had lots of litter. There were some beautiful buildings and my Sicilian friend was surprised we didn't like it but really didn't.

Not been to Catania but its closer to Taormina though either way is possible - I just personally would not stay in Palermo. I'm not sure which side we stayed maybe by the station - other side might be fine.

I did Sorrento-Naples-Rome the last week in October last year and found everything was very much still open. Ferries to Capri were regular and public transport was fantastic.

Pompeii and Vesuvius easily accessible and the whole Amalfi Coast doable by bus if you don't fancy driving it.

How about flying to Sorrento then catching the train to Rome (did this from Naples, great experience) and flying home from there?

The weather was hit and miss - a real mixture of thunderstorms and glorious sunshine - but it was still one of the best holidays I've ever had.
Good luck!

Catania looks on first appearance pretty grey as a lot of the buildings are built or have been re-built with the volcanic rock that covered the city in an Etna eruption a century (or so!) ago. We had 2 days in Catania and the centre of the city is not in attractive with an impressive cathedral, an old Roman theatre & lively market. Felt safe and wasn’t Naples level ‘gritty’ at all. Pretty much everywhere you get a great view of Etna. I wouldn’t want more than a day there again but it’s certainly not horrible! We had an architect designed apartment in a street strung with fairy lights of an evening I’d happily go back to!

Not unattractive not in attractive - damn spellcheck (and trying to multi task!)

Or back on the mainland - as an alternative to Sorrento (& apologies to Sorrento fans, an attractive place but I prefer less hotels and Brit tourists) catch a bus from outside Sorrento station to Amalfi. Very very pretty town!

Seville and Córdoba.
I've travelled for decades as a single person. It's fab . But unfortunately hideously expensive.

We really liked the Amalfi Coast / visiting Capri / Vesuvius / Pompeii etc and would recommend that if you can make it work price wise. I think we stayed on outskirts of Sorrento, which was fine for us, it was a few hundred metres to next hotel. A while back but think it was more beautiful views of coast than beaches by our hotel.

How about Cinque Terre?

Seville is fab for a solo trip op.

Agree Seville (and Granada) are both beautiful cities - both would involve some travel though to get to the sea which I think the OP sees as a prerequisite?

Agree Seville (and Granada) are both beautiful cities - both would involve some travel though to get to the sea which I think the OP sees as a prerequisite?

Yes, I suggested how to do it from Malaga because that's a lot cheaper! The OP could fly to Malaga, get the local train from the airport to one of the coastal resorts on the way to and including Fuengirola. Train fare 2.70 euros.

Then for a couple of days of culture and sightseeing, he could head back on the local train to Malaga central and take the intercity train to Seville, and stay there for a couple of nights. Accommodation as simple or luxurious as he wants.

At the moment I'm having a good nose around Sicily. I'm seeing a friend who went there last year on Tuesday as a fluke, so will get there take. Then plan to do Sorrento and Amalfi in September next year perhaps. Thanks all.

Sicily is lovely and I'm sure you could get a week there for £1000. My DSis and I went last June and got ridiculously cheap flights to Catania with Easyjet (I think they were about £75 pp!). Taormina would be good - Roman ruins, you can do a day trip to Etna, beach nearby, etc. Syracuse is beautiful, but quite small - we'd done all the sights in three days. Sorrento and the Amalfi coast would also be nice and there is plenty to do there inc. day trips to Capri and Naples.

@zafferana, agree £1k would be fine for a week in Sicily but I think it would go less far in Taormina? The distinctly not great 3 star hotel we had there for 5 days was twice the price of the much nicer & more upmarket apartment accommodation we had in Catania and Ortigia (Syracuse).To be fair, that was in August & Taormina was completely rammed with Italians and Northern Europeans. It is indisputably stunning - but in reality, in terms of what there is to see it’s the Main Street with side alleys leading to the very pretty square, the gorgeous Greek theatre and the gardens on the Isola Bella - all of which can be done easily in a day trip or a day or two’s stay (unless you want a lot of pool or sitting on the rocky beach time).Syracuse isn’t a huge city I’d agree but it is definitely bigger than Taormina - has many more Greco/Roman ruins (it was the centre of the Eastern Greek empire as you know), a large museum you could easily spend a day in to properly cover, multiple windy streets, catacombs, cathedral and a very beautiful main square on Ortigia built from pale stone that looks pink in certain lights. There are also beaches reachable by public transport if you don’t fancy the rickety swimming platforms. But horses for courses and to be honest I don’t think you could go wrong with either place (although it’s obvious what place I preferred!), they’re both reachable by train & I’m glad we did both!

Yes, you could be right @SJane48S. My DSis and I stayed in an Airbnb apartment, which was fab. I think it was about £100 pn, so the OP could do something like that in Syracuse for 7 nights, plus flights and spending money for under £1000. Or maybe there packages available for good prices in October too? It's getting into half-term territory though in mid-late Oct so worth checking out.

@ShatnersWig I'd look at Kayak, Lastminute, Expedia, Booking.com and see if you can find a flight/accommodation package.

Yes, lots of packages to Sicily for the week 19-26 Oct available on Kayak, inc. to Syracuse and Taormina.

We stayed in a lovely B&B in Taormina - it was donkeys years ago so can't remember which one but there's lots available in the centre on Booking.com. It may have been this one (had similar views but didn't have the beautiful writing on the walls then):

www.booking.com/hotel/it/taormina-al-bacio.en-gb.html?aid=304142&label=gen173nr-1DCAEoggI46AdIM1gEaFCIAQGYAQm4ARjIARTYAQPoAQGIAgGoAgS4AsC16OsFwAIB&sid=98f48f269e5c868f3b5d5b1367bb9d45&all_sr_blocks=111194001_203746579_1_1_0&checkin=2020-10-24&checkout=2020-10-27&dest_id=-130467&dest_type=city&group_adults=1&group_children=0&hapos=15&highlighted_blocks=111194001_203746579_1_1_0&hpos=15&no_rooms=1&req_adults=1&req_children=0&room1=A&sr_order=price&srepoch=1568283348&srpvid=9f1c482a94c90051&ucfs=1&from=searchresults;highlight_room=#map_closed

That one is £148 for 3 nights including a "fabulous" breakfast or £220 with a balcony. Rated 9.1 but quite a few rated similar and there was a cheaper one fairly close which looked nice enough but a bit more basic.

That looks a heck of a lot nicer and most definitely cheaper than what we had 2 years ago in August Penguins! I chose somewhere with a pool though for the DD & it was the cheapest.

A colleague who is originally from Sicily told me that October is not a good time to visit as can be very rainy.

Just got back from Crete, Rethymno, loved it, Chania is supposed to be wonderful too.
I just found the whole vibe so lovely. Not touristy, fish restaurants everywhere.
Great restaurant choices, gluten free etc at our hotel which was also very geared towards ecological awareness. Prob the cleanest friendliest hotel I've been.
No lads/lasses abroad. Traditional.
It had its share of cheap eats along the beach, but the town was also full of beautiful traditional places to eat, again very looked after.
Historic place, and some fab shops.

I went for a week but so wished I'd been able to go for longer and go on some of the excursions to the mountains and to Southern Crete.