Holiday in December/January, from Scotland – suggestions?

[AnotherUser]

Somewhere with nicer weather would be good – doesn’t need to be hot, but nicer weather than Scottish winter (around 20C in the daytime would be ideal, but just not cold and wet will be fine). Somewhere with a town/city to look around would be nice, good food, and a beach or pool if it’s warm enough. We’d be travelling with a baby, and won’t have a car. We’d be going for about a week to ten days.

We’ve gone to Spain in the past, which has worked well. Thanks in part to this site, we’ve got a couple of hundred thousand avios, a BA 2-4-1, and a similar number of Virgin points to use if there are any ideas further afield? We’ve thought about Jo’burg/Cape Town, but a combination of not having a car and the violent crime rates there is putting us off – it’s nice to be able to feel safe doing things like going for a walk on a quiet beach at sunset… Any other ideas?

[Froggee]

For 20 degrees you’d probably need to be heading Madeira/Canaries level of South.

Although we do not have babies any more, family Froggee have booked for Lisbon post Christmas. We’re going to do a couple of nights at Intercontinental Estoril and then six nights at the soon to open Martinhal Park of Nations (outskirts of Lisbon) which should be super child friendly.

We’ll likely be talking 15-17 degrees rather than 20 but average of 4-5 hours of sun a day and being able to get out and about is good for us. Our boys complain when it is 20 degrees. I think it’s because the school now has the windows open all year round. My youngest is currently sleeping under a duvet cover with no duvet as his cotton summer duvet was too hot. Mrs Froggee and I are still under 13 togs!

But I’d add the advantage of a baby over walking, talking opinionated persons is they are entertained by you more than the surroundings. So where would you like to go?

[BuildBackBetter]

Dubai will be a good bet in terms of weather and child friendly hotels, but will be expensive. Maybe one of the resorts in Abu Dhabi or RAK?

[cabal of rabid baboons]

Seville?

[AnotherUser]

Thanks. Seville might also be a good call.

I quite fancy heading back to Marrakesh, but it looks like this would be a 7+hr trip via LHR or CDG nowadays, which would be doable with a kid but not so appealing! Any better routes I’m missing?

[Michael C]

Having been through the same “period”, you also need to think what you want to be doing with your child while away: an indoor pool or, even better, beach, provides endless entertainment!

Just returning to the option of something further afield such as Dubai, as your child’s not school-age (and unless one of you is a teacher!), you could go before 10 Dec or after 15 Jan, effectively halving the price. Same for Tenerife, etc.

[squawk7700]

Was seriously impressed on a recent trip to Madeira – I felt that it closely matched my wildlife experiences in Hawaii and Costa Rica, yet was only a few hours flight away.

Funchal itself is relatively cosmopolitan, some high-end places to eat if you want to treat yourself. Dolphin and whale watching tours for 30 EUR per person (saw loads, of both!) and despite it’s notoriously changeable weather we generally had temperatures in the high teens with enough sunshine to go home happy. Plenty of resort-type hotels with amenities, along with some more boutique options dotted around the island.

Bus services are cheap, frequent, and link up almost every corner of the island.

Only downside – no beaches!

BA fly from LHR-FNC these days which makes the connection from Scotland more viable.

[AnotherUser]

Thanks! Will check out madeira, too.

Looks like there aren’t direct Scotland to seville flights booking for December 🙁 Wonder if ryanair has stopped that route

[NorthernLass]

A lot of LCC routes from the regions have been canned since the pandemic – also Seville may well be seasonal. You’re taking a bit of a risk with the weather though on the Spanish mainland at that time of year, Canaries or Madeira would probably be more reliable.