October (half term) location to get to within 3.5 hours - flight and transfer

[hollyblueivy]

Looking for a getaway in October that will be warm, doesn’t have to be super hot and doesn’t matter if we can’t go in the pool, may get a hotel with indoor pool. But somewhere that is nice to walk around, maybe take a day trip from and enjoy being away. Temperature around 22 plus.

The main ask is that I’d like to leave the UK and be at the hotel within 3.5 hours for the flight and the transfer times.

October half term is pretty much the last weekend of the month.

Where can we go?

Canary Islands
Cyprus

Those are 4hrs flights before transfer time!

To get what you want, it will need to be a flight of 2hrs max, so you are looking at France, Spain, Portugal area and that is getting chilly by October

South of France
algarve
Mallorca
Sardinia

Costa del Sol fits the bill. I’ve been in October half term 4 times and it’s been warm and sunny. Forecast is usually mixed but not accurate! The sea is warm but the pools usually aren’t so an indoor pool is probably a good idea. Fly to Malaga and stay there or plenty of places nearby - carihuela beach is nice.

Last year both Palma and Valetta were that warm (or marginally warmer) throughout the last week of October. I would go to Malta based on your wish list. It is though the time of year when the weather changes. We have spent a week in Istria over October half-term, it was jeans weather but beautiful for sightseeing. Another year we spent a week in the cinque terra in Italy, we were walking but people were in the sea swimming, but on the Friday the temperature dropped massively and it.was chilly and wet. I've also had really warm weather in Paris in October 2022. There is just no guarantees, but if you are somewhere that is not too resorty there is always something to do.

Seville is lovely, and nice and warm in October.

Thanks some good suggestion here. I may look at weather in canaries / Cyprus to consider whether to go for a longer flight for better weather but honestly don’t think the family would want to.

Tunisia or Morocco , short flight time and you will get a lot for your money.

Alicante area, still warm October, plenty of flights from UK

I would stay at the Protur naisa hotel in Palma- stayed lots of times - indoor pool, lovely rooftop too , nice big rooms, 5 minutes walk into centre of Palma and 17 minutes from airport

Can I also suggest Costa del Sol- Malaga itself is nice, I like old Marbella but it is a 50 minute trip from airport minimum - Benalmedena is not too bad

@TeamGeriatric Valletta isa good choice too - I know Malta is marmite on here , mainly because most of it it’s not pretty ( although Valletta is) and it’s not really beachy either, but Im fussy and really liked Valletta and there is actually quite a bit to see and do , if you make the effort - my 27 year old son and girlfriend have been 2 years on the trot in June. Lots of boat trips and swimming in beautiful water off the boats, driving buggy’s, mdina, popeye village ( they enjoyed that) Gozo and open top buggy driving around, the superb war museum . Weather is great and it’s suprisingly cheap too for eating out - even high end - we went to a Michelin place in Valletta and it was £30 a head for a very very lovely meal , plus a superb oriental that was about £20 . Lovely indoor food hall too -
stay in Valletta or sliema though - st Julian’s area isa bit lap dancing and hooker central .

Agree Valletta or what about Marrakech?

Yes, I think people hate it if expecting a beach type holiday, beaches are scarce, although Ramlas Bay on Gozo is nice. However for a warm sightseeing break and a place to chill it's fab. The Hypogeum is amazing, although hard to get tickets for, and we just zipped all over by uber to the historic Malta sites. We had 4 nights in Valletta, 4 nights in Gozo (Victoria) and 1 night Mdina at Easter 2024, it was easy to fill all that time. We only stayed in Mdina because I was worried about catching a ferry the day of the flight, this was early season (Easter) would have been much lower risk in summer. Valletta was a great base.

My friends have been to Ibiza for two October half terms and had glorious weather cooler at night . BUT it could chuck it down all week! We are going back to Cyprus this year

Southern Spain is your best option with that time parameter but no guarantee on weather, it may be warmer it may be stormy by then. Canaries is more guaranteed but you are looking at 5-6 hours for flight, luggage collection and transfer though Tenerife can have a very short transfer if you choose your resort close to the airport (added advantage is plane mad dh’s can spend their time watching planes and flight radar)

Remember to get your “visa” that isn’t a visa for travel to EU countries

@TeamGeriatric it was much better than I thought it would be . We went to ramlas bay in a golf cart type thing - very nice- I also thought xlendi was really nice at night -got a cab and had a lovely meal there- we stayed at kempinski Gozo - very nice indeed in an old fashioned way . Fab meal there too, still had a breads trolley and deserts trolley !! My son likes the fact they can afford to do anything they want ( the boat half day outs were about £15) and he can afford slap up seafood meals every night !!

Ooh what’s this and when does it come in please as I have not heard about this?

great suggestions.

Im not convinced on Malta not sure I’d take the risk.

Agree southern Spain is likely to fit the bill in terms of what we are asking for.

I agree that southern Spain is a good shout - it could well be hot and sunny and there's plenty to do if not. If you fly to Malaga you can get straight on the train that goes as far as Fuengirola, which will make for a quick transfer if you stay somewhere along that section of the coastline.

Gozo is lovely, but it probably takes the best part of 3 hours to get there from Valetta unless you're driving and very lucky with the ferry connection, let alone from the UK.

Canaries and Cyprus is going to be well over 3.5 hours, especially if you're not in the south of England, but worth the trip if you want the best chance of hot weather.

@hollyblueivy

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@hollyblueivy I would go to Marbella- ideally the old part rather than Puerto banus- although the boat ride from Marbella to Puerto banus is fun!! Great bus link linking them up too - we’ve been twice for fun 5 dayers both with our son when he was at home and without in late October and was 25 degrees and sunny both times. It has a great mix of modern beachside bars and lovely old tucked away restaurants with courtyards and my favourite pincho place ever!! It is 50 minutes transfer and you will need the bus or a taxi but I think it’s well worth it - one of my favourite breaks was 3 days Malaga, 3 days old Marbella