November Holiday Inspiration

[JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon]

I'm looking for holiday ideas for this November. More finding something suitable to keep both DH and I happy that's suitable for the time of year.

Just the two of us, no kids. Healthy but not extravagant budget.

The difficulty is DH doesn't do swimming or water sports and isn't really a fan of lying on the beach relaxing. He wants to be sightseeing. I'm normally pretty happy with an active holiday, especially if we can incorporate a few hours here and there for me to have a swim and chill by the pool, but this year I feel ready for some down time to relax in the sun.

Our last two holidays have been lovely but busy and I am ready to switch off. The one before was a nice mix, we had one beach day, and the other days we went out sightseeing each morning but several days got back early enough for me to have a couple of hours by the pool with my book. The plan was to do similar this summer but things took longer than anticipated and we ran out of time.

So I am looking for ideas, places where we can mix sightseeing with a bit of beach/pool time, in November. Normally we we would do that sort of holiday at a time of year when Europe is warm, so I am a bit unsure what to go for.

I was wondering about Thailand but got a bit overwhelmed with the sheer amount of stuff to pack in and the travelling distances.

Any ideas or suggestions gratefully accepted!

Following

How long do you want to go for?

What about Laos?

Upto 14 days, happy to do less for shorthaul but can't get more than two weeks off work.

I have never thought of Laos, and know nothing about it, thanks for an unusual suggestion!

Have you been?

Any tips or suggestions?

Foreign office advises no travel except essential to Laos …..wouldn’t be advising OP to travel there

Ah thanks, that off the list then

so where have you already been nd what is a healthy budget to you?

We went to Seville at end of November last year. The weather was lovely. Maybe not quite swimming weather but so much to see and fabulous food everywhere,

South Africa - safari, winelands, Cape Town and a few days on the beach either in camps bay or somewhere a short flight away like Zanzibar

We loved Seville, went quite a few years ago, but it was a great mix of sightseeing and relaxing.

That might be worth checking out, thanks

Laos is lovely actually, we had a particularly lovely time in Luang Prabang but it not recommend it for a two week trip as an introduction to South East Asia. How about Thailand though, you could easily fit in beach and some exploring.

The PP is incorrect. The FDCO advises all but essential travel to Xaisomboun Province, which isn't anywhere near the usual tourist areas of Vientiane and Luang Prabang. Laos is beautiful, cheap, and unusual with friendly helpful people. If you or your DH feels it isn't busy enough for two weeks then you could always add in Cambodia and go to Siem Reap. It's a short inexpensive flight away.

You're singing from my hyme sheet! I was going to suggest Siem Reap as a possible bolt on too. For that matter OP you can hub out of Bangkok to lots of destinations in SEA for very little money.

Where have we been, briefly:

Egypt
USA - multiple trips, lots still to do but planning to wait until the political situation has changed
Italy - extensive travels already
France - lots still to do but probably in better weather
Spain - several trips and different places
Prague

We haven't been to Asia, or South America at all.

Budget, it depends, but happy to go up to £1500pp possibly a bit more for the right trip.

Kenya. Safari and beach

i would second South Africa but I don’t think 1500 is enough. flights will be at least 600

Thailand is somewhere we are quite seriously considering. I think it could be the right mix of exploring and relaxing, and I only hear positive things about it.

I just got a bit overwhelmed with options once we started looking. There's so much, and it is so spread out! I don't quite know how much internal travel is realistic without being exhausting.

Also don't really want to spend ages planning and booking everything separately but the packages available seem to either be too beach focused or very full on organised tours.

I probably sound really picky, but it is more that I need a bit of guidance!! At the moment I don't feel like I know what I want enough to talk to a travel agent!

Any suggestions or recommendations gratefully received

Ditto re South East Asia for 1500pp. I'm sure you could do it on the cheap but it might not be that enjoyable. You could look at Seville/Southern Spain or Morocco?

Easily arranged. Book flights into Bangkok. It's a great city but want a decent hotel to escape to. You could spend a couple of days in Bangkok and then get a direct flight to Chang Mai and then down to Phuket for beach time. Otherwise you could do some of the islands. Flights within Thailand are very affordable and it's all very easy to arrange, you just need a spread sheet! Book you hotels on hotels.com/booking.com and choose pay on arrival to keep things flexible. How much you cram in depends on how much you want to see. We've also driven up to Kanchanaburi from Bangkok and that was a fun road trip, not too far and pke ty to explore for a few days.

We've done Seville and southern Spain before and it won't be hot.

Morocco is of interest, do you have any suggestions or recommendations?

Why do you think SE Asia isn't doable? I have seen some package deals including flights and hotels that come within that kind of budget but happy to get feedback on ideas.

Just that it might be a little tight. You could defintely do it in budget. Is that 1500pp flights/hotels and spending?

Morocco you have lots of options for a multi destination trip. Marrakesh, Essaouira (a love it there), Fez, Chefchaouen. You can tag on a sahara trip onto your Marakesh stint and spend the night in the dessert, its a beautiful thing to do. You could train via these places very easily but whilst it will be warm in the daytime (20ish) it will be chillier in the evenings. Bonus is low outlay on flights to get there so more to spend on hotels and food and experiences whilst you are there. Morocco can feel a little gruby to the uninitiated but its an exotic trip, close to home.

There's some flex in the budget for Thailand if I could get flights, accommodation and transfers within budget then food and drink could be extra.

Closer to home I would probably want that to include most spending money.

We did two weeks backpacking round Thailand. It was really wonderful. We stayed 3 nights in Bangkok then got the train to ayutthaya for a few days then to kanchaniburi for a few more and then got an overnight train to the ferry to ko samui for 5 nights and then back to Bangkok.

We decided that Chang mai was too far to travel to on a fortnight trip without feeling stressed, so we left that.

If I did it again I would not get the overnight train and would go back to Bangkok and then fly to an island instead, but otherwise it was the perfect mix of relaxation and sightseeing. Atutthaya and kanchaniburi were both beautiful.