Summer holiday recommendations - Summer 2023

[Cinders22]

Please could you share recommendations for Summer holiday destinations? I work in a school so am limited to school holidays and have two teenage children. We like long haul and somewhere we can snorkel/sunbathe but also somewhere we can explore and have trips out.

We have been to Mexico previously and loved it, but would like to try somewhere new. I have looked at Costa Rica, but have just seen that it rains a lot in August, which has put me off.

I would be grateful for any suggestions/recommendations.

Thank you

Could you not go in the winter or Easter holidays instead? All the snorkel type of places (white sand, palms, reefs) tend to have the rainy season July- Oct (hurricane in carribean/middle America, monsoon at the Malidives, rainy winter in Australia/New Zealand). Summer really only works for Europe/North Africa. One of the nicest exploring/swimming trips I had in Europe was island hopping along the coast of Croatia. The most comfy way is to charter a yacht, but local day boat tours/passenger ferries between the islands are lovely, too.

I agree - long haul tend to have the rainy season over august.

How about island hopping in greece?

We went to Mauritius in July one year. Weather was fabulous - only two days of rain in the two weeks. You need to avoid the East Coast though as it gets windy. Temperature was 27-28 degrees and bright blue skies the rest of the time.

It was pre covid but for all four of us (two adults, two kids) it was £5,500 with direct flights, AI in a five star hotel. The exact same holiday at October half term and their peak season was £16k.

Alternatively the weather in Bali is good that time of year.

St Lucia, it is the rainy season but it tended to rain at sunrise and sunset rather than during the day. We did get soaked once when we were on a river as part of a plantation tour. You'll also learn more about bananas than you'd wish to.

August is ok for Thailand, Kerala

these types of places are hot, Thailand has some snorkel places but never came across that in Kerela in the coast

booking dot com will get some fabulous places to stay on beach destinations that are very great price wise

We’re (hopefully) heading to Bali and Lombok next month. The dry season is UK summer, there’s loads to explore and the accommodation options are perfect for families (villas). One of the places we’re staying is Amed which apparently has great snorkelling.

Europe has some amazing destinations in the summer, you could hire a boat and do island hopping across the greek isles?

I don’t Aruba gets the rain/hurricanes in the summer.

I was booked to go to Costa Rica summer 2020, obviously didn't go but from advice on here rainfall was mostly in the late afternoon and heavy sharp showers rather than constant.

Thank you for your replies, I really do appreciate everyone taking the time to respond. I really wanted to go long haul, we have done quite a lot of Europe when DC were younger so we are enjoying being able to go on the longer flights now and exploring further afield. I hadn't thought of Mauritius or Croatia so I will look into that.

I think, as some have suggested, we are going to have to re-think when we want to go too.