What has been your favourite holiday and why?!

[Groovytiger]

I need inspiration to look for our next holiday. I always love hearing real-life recommendations as opposed to pictures and blurb online/ in brochures.

I went to the Far East in November 2019. Absolutely adored every second of it. I visited Singapore, Bangkok & Hong Kong. It wasn’t my first time to these places but there was something magical about this trip - not sure what! The contrast between the three cities was so interesting and I found every city had something different to offer! The weather is gorgeous in every city and I really enjoyed Thai hospitality. I wish I could repeat that holiday all over again.

Would you be prepared to say what your budget is? We have had wonderful very expensive holidays and some cheaper ones! I don’t see the point in recommending holidays without knowing what you can afford. If you say what you can pay I would be able to help!

What suits me is unlikely to suit you.

And my best holiday at 60 is very different to my best holiday at 25.

We took our 3 DC's on the holiday of a lifetime. It took years to plan and research. A 2 week Mediterranean cruise no expense spared with private guides/drivers and tours. Followed by a 4 week grand tour of inland Europe. We travelled by bus, train, car, coach, train and boat. No planes.
Kids are all grown up now but because this holiday was the only proper holiday we did - they all remember it. They all say that if we'd gone on a 2 week package holiday every year, memories would have all merged into one.

Australia for 3 weeks, all business class flights (cost a small fortune). It wasn't my first visit (I used to live in SE Asia so had been for long weekends previously).

I flew via Oslo (cheaper than starting in the UK) where I met up with an old friend. Then on to Singapore (met another old friend) and then Melbourne via Sydney. I LOVE Melbourne! (this was my 2nd visit). Watched the F1 (had amazing seats opposite the pits and starting grid). Had a birthday dinner in St Kilda with a good friend and her new husband. Then hired a car and did a road trip down Great Ocean Road for 3 days. Flew to Tasmania and hired a car to explore the "wild North West" staying at Penguin, Strahan and Cradle Mountain. Back to Melbourne for a few days then on to Uluru for 3 nights. I was expecting tourist hell but it was actually magical. Back to Melbourne again and then flew home via Sydney and Oslo. Best holiday ever!

I was in Japan for 2 weeks, technically a work trip but only had 4 busy evenings so it felt like a holiday.

Business class and 5* hotels probably helped in deciding this as the winner!

The food is amazing, the culture is amazing, so much to do and explore. Spent a week travelling from Osaka down to Fukuoka, so many great cities and places to visit. Then a week in Tokyo, and I wasn't ready to leave at the end of it. I have lots of recommendations and highlights but it would take me a day to write them all down.

Best budget trip was 4 days in Napoli. Dirt cheap hostel right next to the train station, lots of walking around the city, day trip to Pompeii and down the coast. Cheap pizza for lunch and dinner every day. Ryanair flights and walk/local train everywhere. Bloody amazing even though it was at the height of summer. Pompeii is stunning. Equally as breathtaking as Japan, totally different experiences but I loved them both.

@HundredMilesAnHour Melbourne Grand Prix with start-finish line grandstand seats is my absolute dream! Only as the season opener though, so 2022 is out (not that I have the money...)

Finnish Lapland in the winter. Wonderful, magical and amazing fun. Lots to do and you might see the northern lights too.

Australia, mainly for seeing all the wildlife.

Flew into Sydney and saw the sights there, breakfast with the koalas, then drove up to Port Stephens, did a boat trip where we saw about 150 whales and dolphins. Flew up to Cairns and from there went on a small boat to Great Barrier Reef, did scuba diving and snorkelling and saw reef, giant turtles etc. Then also went to Atherton Tablelands and stayed at Lumholtz Lodge with a lady who rescues tree kangaroos etc and got to see / feed some possum, pademelon, bettong, saw tree kangaroos, went on trip and saw platypus. Then stayed in a treehouse in the rainforest an hour from there and saw wallabies, possum came to the door, also cassowary came just under treehouse. Drove along coast to Daintree rainforest and went to Kuranda, saw crocodiles in the river, beautiful beaches, rainforest etc. Then flew back Cairns to Sydney and saw kangaroos in the Blue Mountains.

Within Europe it would be Lapland over Christmas time which was magical with the children.

Within UK Isles of Scilly, we stayed on Tresco, kids loved flying in on helicopter and out on small plane and the wildlife, canoeing around islands etc.

I think next year it will depend where you can go and also will depend on your interests, budget, time available, season, age of any children etc. There are lots of lovely places to see around the world.

Safari in Tanzania.

Lake Costanza/Bodensee with the family because it had a really good mix of activities to suit everyone (lake swimming, boating, castles, museums etc)

Med cruise. Great food and accommodation, loved being able to visit lots of different places without having to drive or fly between them, weather was great. I would absolutely love to do a Caribbean one

You can hire smaller yachts for personalised cruising. I wouldn’t recommend a giant cruise ship over a smaller yacht with a captain and cook! We have cruised the BVIs and the Grenadines this way. Also The Galápagos Islands snd The Great Bear Rainforest in Canada and hopefully we are going to Alaska to explore on a yacht next summer.

I would also recommend expedition cruising if we are spending money! We have an Antarctic voyage booked for 2022 and have already done one to the arctic.

If it’s possible at some time in the future, safaris to Zambia and Botswana tick a lot of boxes. Our DC have come with us to South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya. We also have done tiger wildlife and cultural holidays in India. Plus many European cities and trips to the USA. We very much like Italy. We have also done holidays in South America. We really liked Argentina. But Chile was interesting and Brazil. Peru is special.

Japan is brilliant. We enjoyed China. We try and avoid over touristy areas but you cannot avoid it in every trip.

What’s “best” really does depend on budget and interests..I would say all of our holidays were “best”.

Iceland

Never been somewhere so stunning and other-worldly. Liked the cold, liked the vibe, could have spent way longer there.

We took a trip to Galfos falls and didn’t know much about it beforehand- hadn’t seen a pic. Coach dropped us off at the top of a hill, we turned a corner and practically had to pick our jaws off of the floor by how incredible it was. A proper wow moment. It was December and freezing and it is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.

Reykjavik was cool, hot springs and baths (not blue lagoon, we went to a real one) just incredible. Went horse riding over lava flats.

I was buzzing from that holiday.

Thailand - climate just perfect, nature - wonderful, relaxing, beautiful and luxurious

Tokyo - interesting, different, food, culture and looks fantastic

Two-night stopover in Belgrade at a very hot, steamy time of year, staying in the Marriott, air-conditioned, tennis on TV. Strolling round the market--old women with heaps of strawberries in front of them. Atmospheric orthodox church. Wonderful Romany singer in the pedestrianised street. Wish I'd had longer to explore Serbia.

Without kids - 7 of us rented a boat on the Canal du Midi in France. We passed through the Camargue and along the Languedoc coast with a day trip to Montpellier. Vast amounts of wine and oysters were consumed. Having breakfast in the middle of nowhere surrounded by flamingos and wild horses was magical. We laughed so much.

With dd:

When she was a baby - a fab apartment in Juan Les Pins or Costa Smeralda in Sardinia.
When older - 3 week road trip we did across Europe: Rhein Valley, Bavaria, Austria, Lake Garda, Tuscany, Lake Como and Interlaken in Switzerland. Though her favourite holiday was the Dordogne.

@MissAmbrosia

Without kids - 7 of us rented a boat on the Canal du Midi in France. We passed through the Camargue and along the Languedoc coast with a day trip to Montpellier. Vast amounts of wine and oysters were consumed. Having breakfast in the middle of nowhere surrounded by flamingos and wild horses was magical. We laughed so much.

Oh that brings back such lovely memories. We stayed near the canal du midi and loved looking at the passing boats. Such a beautiful area.

The Maldives. Glorious.
Iceland. Unique, fascinating.
Surprise addition Seville. And a lot cheaper.

2 weeks in a 5 star All Inclusive hotel in Turkey a couple of summers ago.

Way, way cheaper than Spain etc.

We barely left the hotel - we relaxed and enjoyed each other's company for 2 solid weeks. We thought DS might get bored as an only child as there weren't many English speaking families for him to play with.

He loved having us to himself though, we're all so busy when at work etc and it was just so desperately needed

We've booked to go back for 3 weeks next summer

The Maldives. Stayed in a villa on the water. Never seen such beautiful and clear ocean. We had amazing food and service. My children will remember it forever.

DC about 7 & 9. Flew to Vancouver, rented a big RV and set off with just a map and a list of campsites (this was pre wide internet coverage).

We stopped at random places on the spur of the moment, only occasionally phoning ahead to book.

We had the most wonderful time discovering mountains, lakes and glaciers, seeing bears, sitting in hot springs, stopping by the side of the road in a beautiful spot to put the kettle on and just being completely spontaneous.

Best holiday ever.

We love multi stop, DIY trips… faves have included Almalfi Coast - Sorrento, Capri, Positano (10 nights); 10 day self drive ring road tour of Iceland; 3 week tour of Vietnam. Also a couple of mega road trips : Uk - French Alps - French Riviera. Then the last one was UK - Munich - Bavaria - Dolomites - Switzerland.

As you can tell, we love variety! I appreciate so much travelling is not for everyone but those last 2 Europe trips were incredible.

But if I had to choose I’d say my faves were Amalfi coast and Iceland.

Australia was amazing but safari in South Africa was magical. The food, the drives, the animals. I'd love to go to Kenya next time.

Botswana and Zambia are better for safaris in my opinion unless you want to see the wildebeeste migration. They have smaller camps in amazing locations. It’s a more personal experience. Depends on what you want to see though!