Beach Holiday Deals, News & Ideas

Ferries to Spain

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Note: This post is part of a series on our Self Drive Family Holiday in France.

Catch a Ferry to Spain to Get to the South of France?

The Portsmouth to Bilbao Ferry Crossing
Another option to get to southern France other than taking the ferry crossing to France is to catch the P&O ferry to Spain, which takes you from Portsmouth to Bilbao in northern Spain and then drive to France. This option could work out as whilst the ferry journey is much longer (2 nights on the way there and 1 night on the way back), it does cut out the long drive through to the South of France.

The Drive from Calais to Tarbes (a town in the Pyrenees mountains in the South of France and just happens to be the finish of the 9th stage of the Tour de France on Sunday 12 July) is about 1,115 km and will take about 10 hours 12 minutes of non stop driving. Where as the drive from Bilbao to Tarbes, is only 294 km taking about 2 hours 55 minutes, along the coastline of northern Spain and the fantastic scenery of the Pyrenees.

This option will probably works out more expensive, but I think if you look at is as part of the holiday, it could also be very enjoyable. With exhilarating sea views, restaurants, live entertainment, two on-board casinos, saunas and a gym and a good night’s sleep in your comfortable en suite cabin, it could almost be called a cruise!

Example Bookings
So how much does a ferry to Spain cost:
Based on 6 people and a car:
The cheapest price of 2 cabins with 3 births is not ideal for 3 couples, but it is the cheapest option

• Portsmouth - Bilbao Sat 04 Jul 2009 21:15 -  £515.00
• Bilbao - Portsmouth Sat 18 Jul 2009 13:15 -  £540.00

Total: 1,055.00 = £176 per person

For 3 cabins with 2 beds inside each (perfect for 3 couples):

• Portsmouth - Bilbao Sat 04 Jul 2009 21:15 - £630.00
• Bilbao - Portsmouth Sat 18 Jul 2009 13:15  - £655.00

Total: 1,285.00 = £215 per person

What about the average family:
2 Adults and 2 Children and a car (1 room x 4 Berth Inside)
Total: £765.00 = £191 per person

Or as a couple:
2 adults and a car (1 room with 2 beds) You can get a double room, but it will cost you more.

• Portsmouth - Bilbao Sat 04 Jul 2009 21:15 : £340.00
• Bilbao - Portsmouth Sat 18 Jul 2009 13:15: £365.00

Total: £705.00 = £352 per person

So whilst this is nowhere near a cheap as taking the ferry to France, this option is definitly worth considering especially if you are traveling in a larger group as it can work out fairly ecconomical especially if you take in account the fuel you save and tolls that you don’t have to pay by driving through France.

Portsmouth to Santander Ferry
Another ferry to Spain is operated by Brittany Ferries and only opened in March 2009, it also leaves from Portsmouth but takes you to Santander.

Santander is about 100km west of Bilbao and whilst fantastic if you are wishing to explore Spain or Portugal, it does add an hour to the journey if you are wishing to travel east to the South of France. Having said that this new ferry, the very impressive mv Pont-Aven is said to offer the fastest journey to Spain and takes only 24 hours. The Pont-Aven is also probably the most luxurious ferry to Spain with some great features including a swimming pool and leisure area, 2 cinemas, video games room and slot machines, wrap around promenade perfect for a stroll on the deck, a dramatic five deck high atrium with panoramic views from the lifts. To eat there is the main restaurant, a self service restaurant, a coffee shop and 3 bars including the pool bar.

Price
I checked the prices and it works out pretty similar to the Portsmouth to Bilbao Ferry Crossing run by P&O ferries, and will cost £1218.00 for six people (3 double rooms) and a car travelling on Sunday 5 July 2009 at 4pm, returning on Monday 13 July 2009 at 3pm.

For more information on the UK to Spain ferry crossing check out the Beach holiday guide on Ferries to Spain.

…go back to the main Self Drive Family Holiday in France page.

Tags: Bilbao, Europe, Ferries, Ferries to Spain, Ferry, Ferry to Spain, Santander, Spain
Posted in Europe, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Prague City Breaks

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

Now I know that Prague is nowhere near the beach, but this is a follow on from a post that I made a few weeks back about a company selling rooms at hotels in Prague for £1 per night. This deal was way too good to miss and I decided to snap up a 2 night Prague city beak for myself. So now as a follow up I have decided to review not only the hotel, but also include my short guide to cheap Prague holidays based on my experience.

Prague Flights
To find the cheapest holidays, especially to European destinations, I usually recommend booking a package holiday deal with the hotel and flights included. Because I had already got an incredible deal and booked the hotel separately, I would also have to find the best deals on flights to Prague. I went through all the airports nearest to us, looking to find the ones that offered Prague flights, we eventually booked our tickets with the ever popular easyJet, they flew on the days that we needed and were the cheapest.

Airlines that fly to Prague that you can look at include:

• EasyJet who fly from London Gatwick, Stanstead, East Midlands and Bristol
• British Airways
• Swiss Airways
• Ryanair, who fly from the East Midlands, Birmingham and Dublin to Prague
• SkyEurope (http://www.skyeurope.com) Who fly from London Luton to Prague

Hotels in Prague
As you would expect with any of the worlds favourite city break destinations, Prague has plenty of hotels as well as other types of accommodation to suite all types of budgets. Unless you know specifically which hotel you want to stay at, I would recommend booking through a site like lastminute.com, or like I did, HotelConnect.co.uk. Now I can’t promise you that you are going to get a stay at a hotel for £1 per night like I did, but these sites do often have promotions on and even if they don’t have one when you wish to travel, the fact that you can quickly compare hotels makes choosing the right one for your needs that much easier.

Botel Racek
We ended up staying on a floating hotel and whilst it is probably true to say that the boat hotel is more unique than it is luxurious, it was perfectly comfortable. I think that it’s usual price of around £62 per night for a double bedroom works out as good value. The hotel was less than 15 minutes away to the old city centre by tram, which runs right behind the hotel. You can even take a very pleasant walk into the main part of Prague along the Vltava river, something that I did twice over the weekend. If you are on a real budget, you may wish to stay at the Fortuna Rhea Hotel in Prague that offers basic accommodation at a very affordable price, around £30 for a double room per night. Both this and the Botel Racek are available to book from HotelConnect.co.uk.

Holidays To Prague
As mentioned earlier, unless you get a really good deal on either your Prague flights or your hotel, you will probably find the cheapest holidays to Prague by booking an all inclusive package holiday. My favourite website for this is www.lastminute.com who not only offer Holidays, but also flights and hotels and so make it really simple for you to compare what will work best for you.

Prague Weather
Our trip to Prague was in mid April and the weather was fantastic, what I would call perfect spring weather. Cloudless blue skies without being to hot. Generally Prague has a continental climate meaning that they have hot summers and cold winters. Probably the best time to visit Prague is late April and May and then again in September when the weather is not too hot or too cold and the city is not too crowded. In the middle of summer, it is not unusual for daytime temperatures to reach 35C and in winter it can be as cold as -15C. The average high temperature from May to September is 22C and the average low is 12C, with an average of 7 hours of sunshine. Spring and summer are usually the sunniest months while the period between May and August is the wettest.

Prague Top Tips

Use the Trams: The trams around the city are fantastic and cheap as well. You can buy 24 hour, 3 day or even week long passes that will save you even more if you use it often.

Something to Eat: Take a walk around the district known as the Mala Strana side (lesser side) - located just across the Charles Bridge from Old Town, at the bottom of the hill that leads up to Prague Castle Compared to the other side of the river, the area is quiet and very up-scale, it is the most exclusive neighbourhood in Prague and is home to many of the worlds embassies. Many of Prague’s finest restaurants can be found here, as well as elegant cafes and tourist shops. Situated alongside the river.

Get away from the crowds: Prague has many excellent parks and none better than the Vojan Park, the oldest partly preserved garden in Prague. It is a part of the former fruit garden, founded after 1248 after a bishop´s court was demolished it became a garden of the Carmelite convent in Prague in the 17th century. Kampa Park not far away is also a nice place to enjoy the beautiful views of Prague.

Tags: Cheap Hotel, Cheap Hotels, Europe, Hotel, Prague
Posted in Europe | No Comments »

Cheap Beach Holidays: Majorca, Menorca & Ibiza

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

This weekend, Thomas Cook are offering fantastic beach holiday deals to Majorca, Menorca & Ibiza from just
£199pp! This deal is part of a series of holiday sales from the package holiday giant Thomas Cook. Last week they were offering deals to Greece and it’s islands and I wrote a post about If there was a catch on these cheap holiday deals to Greece, the conclusion was that they were great deals, but for the very cheapest prices you did have to travel on certain days and from Manchester airport, but still got really good deals if you wanted to change the dates and airports.

Balearic Island Holiday Deals

The Balearics have fantastic beaches, amazing sunsets, picturesque scenery and great resorts and are home to some of Europe’s most popular sunshine beach destinations. The great thing about a holiday on the islands of Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza is that they can be laid back, cultural, active or hedonistic as you care to make it.
It looks as as though the deals to the Balearic islands of Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza are as good, if not better. Once again lets look at the cheapest offer: A self catering 7 night holiday at the 2 star Villa Nova in Palma Nova, Majorca will set you back only £174.00 per person!! An incredible price!

To get this price, you have to travel on a certain day, the flight leaves Gatwick on Tue 22 Sep 09 at 06:10

Changing the travel dates, could and probably will change the price, but as before I think Thomas Cook are offering some excellent deals on beach holidays at the moment and if you are after a good deal, book early and look forward to a holiday in the sun this summer.

For more information, click on the Thomas Cook logo below!

Tags: All Inclusive Beach Holidays, Balearics, Cheap Beach Holidays, Europe
Posted in Europe, Holiday Deals | No Comments »

Greece Holidays on the Cheap - from £199

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

Thomas Cook are offering some fantastic cheap winter sun holidays to Greece, sounds too good to be true? I take a look to see if there is a catch!

Thomas Cook Greek Holidays Sale

For this weekend only they are offering great Greek island beach holidays from only £199 with savings of up to 20% per holiday. If you cannot find the exact holiday you are after, the holiday sale also includes offers on Greek flights, hotels and short breaks.

Too Good to be true?

I am always a little sceptical when I see great holiday deals like this and always wonder what the catch is, so lets see if we can find out:

What are they offering: I will use the cheapest holiday to Greece on Thomas Cook and see just what we get for our money (if you click on the banner above it will take you to the Greek holiday deals and you can follow me)

Corfu Holiday in Greece. Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mickpix/

£138 for 7 nights self catering on Corfu including flights!

Corfu Holidays at a three star self catering accommodation from £138, including flights! The accommodation is a family run apartment are ideal for anyone looking for comfortable self catering accommodation in a great location, set in a quiet area just outside the centre of the resort but close enough to absorb the local culture and the island of Corfu has hundreds of miles of coastline and a succession of beaches that absorb its host of visitors, leaving sleepy villages and country lanes untouched and just waiting to be discovered - This all sounds great, almost to great, so whats the catch?

Outbound flight: Departs Manchester on Mon 04 May 09 at 22:20 Arrives Corfu on Tue 05 May 09 at 03:50
Inbound flight: Departs Corfu on Tue 12 May 09 at 04:50 Arrives Manchester on Tue 12 May 09 at 06:30

Well I guess a restriction would be that to get this holiday you have to travel from Manchester airport on the 4th of May, if that is convenient for you, this is sounding very, very good!

If you wanted to travel from London on the same day (4th May) the cheapest holiday I could find to a Greek island was also on Corfu, in Sidari and was for £224, which whilst is not as cheap as flying from Manchester, It is still sounding very tempting! You can try other dates and times for yourself.

Weather in Greece in May
Perhaps the weather is the catch, so what is the weather like in May in Greece?
According to the BBC weather centre:
Athens on average has 9 hours of sunlight and average minimum and maximum temperatures of 16 and 25 Celsius respectively and I would say only has an average chance of rain.
Naxos on average has 8 hours of sunlight and average minimum and maximum temperatures of 16 and 23 Celsius respectively and I would say only has a small chance of rain.
Thessaloniki on average has 9 hours of sunlight and average minimum and maximum temperatures of 14 and 25 Celsius respectively and I would say only has a average chance of rain.

Again this is looking good, I think the temperatures at this time of year in Greece are perfectly fine, not sweltering, but will be more than comfortable.

So In my opinion, yes there are restrictions, but if you need to alter the dates, or place from which you wish to travel from, there are still some pretty good deals to be had from Thomas Cook, so go on spoil yourself: Greece with it’s ancient ruins, stunning beaches, traditional tavernas and vibrant resorts and now with a great price to boot, why not escape the credit crunch and winter and head off on a winter sun holiday to Greece.

Tags: All Inclusive Beach Holidays, Cheap Beach Holidays, Europe, Greece
Posted in Announcements, Europe, Winter Sun Holidays | No Comments »