Long haul Aug 24

[Inspired45]

Any ideas for an 11ish night holiday in the school holidays (late July early August).
Have two boys that will be 13 and 10.
Would love to take them long haul but weather wise doesn’t seem a great time to go.
Would like All Inclusive, somewhere warm, safe to visit and able to snorkel in the sea.
Any ideas would be very welcome.

I would try your local travel agent first.

Also you dont give any indication of budget, weather wise, what have you looked at so far, there are many places to visit at that time

if you want long haul and dry:
parts of Thailand
central Vietnam
Bali
Malaysian Borneo

If you’re set on long haul at that time of year and want snorkelling etc., you could look at Hawaii, The Seychelles, parts of Indonesia.

Egypt is often top of the list for snorkellers but with what’s happened recently, I can see people might be less likely to go. Also not sure how safe it feels on the ground there atm - am sure it’s fine in tourist resorts but something to think about.

The Greek islands have excellent snorkelling - Crete was amazing.

We’ve also got Croatia and Malta on our list in Europe.

Thank you all.
Budget would be 10k long haul, 6k if short haul.
Not got heart set on anything, just conscious my children are growing up so quickly and want to make memories when they are still young.
Pre children I have been to Phuket twice, I know kids would love it there but from what I have read Aug is not a good time to go.
Koh Sami looks better in Aug.
Croatia is beautiful but the hotels seem more aimed to adults.
Went to Halkidiki in May, it rained and was mainly cloudy, also didn’t seem very picturesque around so has put me off Greece.
Never been to Greek Islands.
Was hoping for a bit of inspiration, where have people taken children that age and loved it? Is any Caribbean an option at that time of year?

Aruba is outside the hurricane belt so good for that time of year, but the prices reflects that and 10k for four of you might be tight.

Long haul in winter, short haul in summer when the weather in the Med is perfect is my guide.

Go to the Caribbean in the Feb half term, Christmas or Easter holidays and Greece / Spain / Italy / France in the summer holidays.

Greece is beautiful by the way. I haven't been to Halkidiki so can't compare to other areas but May is early season there so you probably didn't see it at its best. I've travelled a lot bit return to Greece often as it ticks allow the boxes we want for a family holiday - July and August can be very hot though!

I would try a twin centre for that kind of budget. Maldives then the far east? Borneo or Japan?

I took my children to Borneo and they loved it. We went kayaking, visited longhouses, tree top walks, saw orang utans, visited islands off the coast of Kota Kinabalu.
we spent two weeks in Brunei and Sabah and on another trip visited Sarawak for 10 days, based in Kuching.
Also possible to combine with a few days in Singapore (night safari, China town, little India, gardens by the bay etc) or KL.

That sounds amazing. Who did you book with?

I booked it all separately myself.
in Kota Kinabalu there are a couple of shangri La hotels and this one had a small orang Utan sanctuary when we visited, but no longer there. Hotel looked lovely and it’s outside the town centre
https://www.shangri-la.com/kotakinabalu/tanjungaruresort/
To visit islands from KK we picked up the boat from Jessleton quay- really easy and not expensive. I think we visited Sapi island for the day. Just booked when we arrived.
When we were in Kuching we booked a couple of day trips locally: long houses, kayaking and seeing orang utans in the wild - and we saw them! It was amazing.
You can fly quite cheaply from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching or Kota Kinabalu with Air Asia. Personally I prefer Singapore and it’s easy to book a hotel in Orchard Road area and then explore Singapore by metro: good value and very convenient and then fly to Borneo.
singapore and Bali would be a good combination too.
we visited Singapore and Yogyakarta, Java one summer. There are a couple of world heritage sites nearby:
https://worldheritagejourney.com/world-heritage-sites-in-java/
and my dcs loved exploring the Merapi volcano by jeep
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Merapi
i plan all holidays myself but get a lot of ideas from the selective Asia website
https://www.selectiveasia.com/borneo-holidays/journeys/borneo-rainforest-and-beach
as it has a lot of great info on weather.

I loved Mexico. Gorgeous beaches and amazing places to visit

My friend took her kids to Costa Rica and Bali around those ages and they all loved it.

Indonesia is good at that time.

What about a sailing holiday in the med? Croatian coast, Greek Islands, Turkey?

The Azores? Not sure AI has hit them there, but loads to do.