Sunny Climes - recommendations?

Right. DH and I have a week off starting 7 May. We want sunshine - not HOT, but WARM - like maybe 20-25ish. We were going to Portugal but that plan fell through, so now we're back to square one. We want relatively cheap and we want all-inclusive. All we really want is to rest and get warm - this isn't really a "take in a ton of culture" sort of trip. BUT we DON'T want to be surrounded by chippies, so please no one suggest the Canary Islands. So far we've thrown a few ideas back and forth and here are some of them:

- Egypt (I'm less keane on this one than dh - I don't want to go anywhere that makes me even vaguely nervous or where I could be sold for a camel  )
- Crete (possilby the forerunner right now - cheap and easy.)
- Croatia (I'm very interested in this one, but dh isn't so sure that it's been a destination spot for long enough - he wants creature comforts at least to an extent.)
-Morraco (maybe too third-worldy for DH)

Any other ideas? I fear Italy wouldn't be warm enough - we went last year in late March and it was FREEZING. We don't really want to spend a ton of time flying, so the Bahamas, Jamaica, etc. are out.

I am not sure how cheaply you can do it but what about Dubai? Guaranteed hot sunshine, luxurious resorts, and if you want to take in a bit of culture you can do that too.

We did actually think about Dubai... I'm not sure why we quit looking there - maybe it ended up being too expensive. Hmmm. Maybe I'll revisit that one again.

Couple of places worth thinking about are Cyprus or Malta depending on your needs,although I've never been to either as I'm not really an island person the inlaws love em both.


Dave

we are headed  to  Sicily end of May (for a wedding) and I know it's the best time of year..  August is WAY too hot.. did that last year.. DH was DYING!!..  close enough  and  friendly enough..  Taormina  is  a nice touristy  vacation spot..

I have  heard Crete is  cheap  and nice as well. in- laws  went  recently..

Cyprus - they speak English there & drive on the wrong side of the road there too! 

Carolyn B

PS -- DH & I liked Spain, but we're culture freaks.  Also I've heard good things about Turkey.

Cyprus - they speak English there & drive on the wrong side of the road there too! 

PS -- DH & I liked Spain, but we're culture freaks.  Also I've heard good things about Turkey.

Thanks everyone! That's a couple of votes now for Cyprus, and I have to admit that the English speaking thing tips the scales for me. We're normally quite into exploring, taking in culture, making pathetic attempts at new languages, etc. but we've decided that this time we both just need to get away, lie down, be warm, and not really have to put much more effort out than that!

Thanks again guys! I'm gonna have a look-see at Cyprus and Dubai and see what sort of prices come up. I shall report the final decision. 

Anne -- Just to clarify...Greek is the national language of Cyprus, but English is spoken almost everywhere.  (Northern Cyprus will have Turkish speaking folks.)  My English in-laws purchased a vacation home there & get along quite well, and they are not especially bilingual.  We are planning to travel there late this year - in October.  Cyprus gets hot in the summer months, but should be very pleasant in the spring & fall.

Carolyn B

I've wondered about Madeira and the Azores.  I've heard they're not blazing hot in the Summer.  I'm not sure if they're sunny all the time or not.  Anyone been to either?

Matt

I can totally recommend Dubai, it's an excellent place.   Dave and I got engaged there in 2002 and then we went again  in July.  It's an absolutely wonderful place I love it!

- Egypt (I'm less keane on this one than dh - I don't want to go anywhere that makes me even vaguely nervous or where I could be sold for a camel  )

Exactly ....I was there 2 years ago and my cousin spent the week telling people that I was not for sale!!!  They were very agressive about it, following us around and touching my arm and hair!!!!


I would try Ibiza or Athens is beautiful as well!!!!!! 

Why not try Sardinia? You can fly cheaply on Ryan air to Genoa and then take the hydrofoil. A hidden gem. Croatia actually was a big tourist destination before the war. The only thing that would hold me back is that I try not to holiday in places where I feel the local population is fascist leaning and Croatia has a bad history, compounded by the EU's refusal to begin talks with Croatia about entering, since they're refusing to hand over war criminals.

Another suggestion would be Istanbul, westernized yet not and cheap as well. Easy flights, especially through hubs in Germany.

Wow, you guys are great! Sardinia sounds like a good idea, lightbulb. I'll look into that tomorrow. And I do hear ya about Croatia - I think people overlook political ramifications of travel too often (though a couple of our English friends won't come with us to the US until W is out of office as they don't want to contribute any tax dollars to such a regime....)

We still haven't made any decisions as we are waiting on a check to come through. Hopefully within a week! We've ruled out Dubai, unfortunately, as it's WAY more expensive than the others we've been eyeing. Crete or Cyprus are looking like the most likely, though we need to try to find somewhere that is a bit more "couple orriented" as we don't really fancy being crammed on a beach with a ton of families (no offence meant, we just don't want rowdy kids all over  ) We're actually still really sort of enamoured with Portugal too, though we had to give up our original villa (co-worker of dh owns it) as it needed 2 couples to be practical in price.

CC, I think we're too old for Ibiza. Neither of us are clubbers anymore - the last concert we went to was Paul Weller and we had seats! 

We're actually still really sort of enamoured with Portugal too,

If you still decide on Portugal,We stayed on the Algarve some years ago in Lagos which seemed much less commercial than some of the other places,and just a bus ride from there is a little place called Sagres which has the most stunning coastline I have ever seen.

Dave

I was just reminded that Ryan flies directly to Sardinia.