Dual centre holiday: big distance between the two?

[zybzara]

I want to go on a city break. Dh wants a beach holiday. I’ve suggested a mix of the two. Going in January!

Thinking Hong Kong & Ko Samui
or New York & a Caribbean Island

Has anyone done similar? Say 4 days in the city and 7 days on the beach. Will it be too tiring?

I think seven days resting on a beach is perfect after a 4 day city break.

I had a brilliant one in Singapore then a Malaysian beach.

Hong Kong and Ko Samui is super-easy as Bangkok Airways fly direct between the two, and it only takes 3.5 hours (I used to live in HK and often flew to Samui for the weekend after work).

We did Kuala Lumpar and the Kota Kinabalu, specifically the Shangri La which has onsite orangutans 🦧. Amazing but the SL
is very isolated.

We had 7 nights in Krabi in Thailand followed by 3 nights in Kuala Lumpiur and it was perfect! Hong Kong is also an amazing city mind, better than KL.

7 days on a beach won't be tiring, but it will certainly be boring unless there are places you can visit while DH just slobs.

We are considering a Boracay and Seoul trip in 2025.

I’d also hugely recommend considering Taipei for a city break in the far east. Taiwan have their own beach resorts in the south (although we didn’t visit them) but there are also plenty of flights between Taiwan and the beachy parts of Southeast Asia like Thailand. I would advise spending long enough in Taiwan to fit in at least a day trip to Taroko Gorge. It’s one of the most breathtaking places I’ve ever been.

I feel that there’s a responsibility to maximise what we get out of any long-haul flights. We don’t think there’s enough to keep us in Seoul for two weeks, but don’t feel comfortable flying long-haul for a short trip. The Philippines is another place we’d like to visit in East Asia, so it seems to make sense to us to stack them together.

I think this sort of dual-centre holiday is sensible and I don’t see why a beach holiday would feel tiring. In fact, it seems like a clever way to rest off the jet lag in a relaxing setting before doing the more full-on city break stuff.

Would definitely do Singapore or KL rather than Hong Kong if you want warmth. Then beach in Langkawi or Penang etc?

For our honeymoon we did 3 nights in New York and 7 nights on St John, a US Virgin Island. It was amazing

I’d personally describe HK as “warm” in winter. I’ve been in December and it was warm.
Singapore is “hot” year round. To me an average daily high above 30 degrees in January is more than warm.

@Takoneko - fair point - although definitely wore jeans and jumpers in December when I lived there- maximum about 20 degrees. Would prefer to have nice proper tropical heat!

HK is usually 15-20 degrees in winter (I used to live there) so warm enough to sit outside but not exactly lying on a beach weather. The HK govt issue cold weather warnings when it gets to 15 or less. The buildings aren't designed for cold weather (no insulation) and with the humidity, it feels colder than the equivalent temp in the UK. It's nice weather for sightseeing and doing tourist stuff though, and much more interesting and varied than Singapore and KL.

Miami and Florida beaches? NY is freezing in January. You need to be further south. Lots of options such as Atlanta, Phoenix Arizona and then over to Florida? Mexico City and Mexico beaches? I love St John in the USVIs and the BVIs are great too. Check flights from Miami.

We did 4 nights NY then 9 nights Barbados (JetBlue out of JFK, flight time under 5 hours) It was the perfect mix for us, but you'll need a generous luggage allowance given the temperature difference in January. We booked it all with Trailfinders who were excellent.

We did 3 days in Colombo then a few days on the beach, less than an hours transfer, hotel arranged a driver

@HundredMilesAnHour I agree that it’s definitely not beach weather but for the city break part of the holiday I think it’s a good warm sightseeing temperature. When we were there in December one year the daily high temperature varied between about 18 and 23 degrees (similar to August in the UK this year). I noticed locals were very much bundled up for the cold, but I suppose that’s because that temperature feels very different when you’re acclimatised to HK weather than when you’re coming from the UK in the depths of winter. You’d definitely need to go onto somewhere else for the beach bit of the trip but as a city break I think it’s great weather at time of year.

Yes, I've sat outside for Christmas Day lunch in HK and it's been 25 degrees. Perfect! But it does often get down to 15 or so in Jan. Most of the locals will be wrapped up in puffa jackets, hats, jackets and scarves, the full cold weather kit and caboodle. 😂 I lived and worked in HK for quite a few years and never owned a coat though (but I'm originally a hard Northerner 😛) I've also spent quite a lot of time working in Singapore and KL and HK is definitely much more fun (although has its own issues if you're working there rather than on holiday).