Winter sun: last week Dec for under £3k pp?

[LockHatter]

we want to go away for a week from 27 Dec to somewhere sunny but everywhere seems so expensive. any good tips?

as it’s just a week I don’t want to fly for 17+ hours to somewhere like Bali.

i have no interest in ever visiting Dubai. I hate shopping and I hate being stuck in a hotel.

last year we did Oman and that was amazing as we hiked wadis, explored the desert on camels, visited ancient forts, scuba dived. It was also a relatively short flight. Somewhere like that would be amazing but I’m scared of anywhere too near Israel so am avoiding Jordan or Egypt at the moment. Would others consider Egypt right now?

How about Mexico? Maybe the area around Cancun or Tulum. The flight isn’t too long, prices are fairly reasonable and there are day trip options.

We’ve booked for Egypt at that time. Foreign office advice seems fine for the part we are going to.

I suspect one of the smaller Caribbean islands like Nevis or Bequia would suit. I don’t know if your budget would be enough for flying out on the 27th of December - that’s probably the most in demand date for winter sun this year.

I mean…you can do any of the options for £3k pp. The Canaries are coming in at half that, less than if you’re not looking for 5 star.

Something like this. Easy to get around the island sightseeing too. I wouldn’t go to Egypt on someone else’s money so can’t help there but for a short blast of winter sun you can’t beat the canaries

Lanzarote, your budget will get you a really nice hotel.

Good diving, Cesar Marique arty stuff, hiking, vineyards, cactus park, caves, volcano park.

Thanks all. I had not thought the Canaries would be hot enough in December. We have only been once and that was Easter and there was a cold wind even then. I will look into it.

id love Mexico but we cannot fly via US for visa reasons and direct flights are £1800pp.

Actually I just looked it up. Canaries average 18-22 at that time of year - average so it could be lower - and there is moderate rainfall. Sun is up 6 hours a day. I think that’s not quite enough guaranteed warmth.

It’s been a lot hotter than that the past few years, you must have been extremely unlucky to get cold winds at Easter. Fuerteventura and Lanzarote are windy but it’s unusual for it to be cold.

The Canaries can be hit or miss admittedly. But if you choose your location carefully - the south of the islands, where most of the hotels aimed at the 'winter sun' market are located for this very reason, you'll likely have more good days than bad, and there's usually plenty of 'non sunbathing' activities that you can do if the weather is not ideal - you mentioned hiking and diving for a start.

We've been between November and February a few times and have always had weather good enough for plenty of time on the beach, swum in the sea and lazed around the pool, which would need to be heated just in case.

Barbados, I would look at the flight+ hotel options on ba.com. great restaurants so avoid AI. West coast, up towards Holetown or Speightstown is my choice.
The flight is only 7 hours, it feels very quick. Guaranteed warmth and lovely warm seas.
Canaries is much nicer weather than UK but not warm enough for me.

Marrakech?

We've been regularly around Christmas. Lots of resort hotels on the outskirts if you fancy a bit of pool time, but there's so much to see and do. The Atlas aren't far away either if you want to hike. Nights are cold, but day time is regularly 23-27. Never had bad weather there.

Zanzibar?

Packaged to Mexico would be cheaper than that surely? We went for two weeks including a week touring and a week AI in January for less than your budget with Tui.