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Looking for some ideas for 1-2 weeks in January or February when we will finally be free of school holidays. I’d like to dive and OH wants some level of warmth (20-25°C would be fine). Not fussed about anything in particular but we like food, nature and architecture.
I’d prefer not to spend >£2k cash on J but we do have 300k Avios and 200k MRs that I am happy to dip into as I don’t think well used them for the Oz trip I’ve been holding out for in the next 2 years.
Current ideas are Malta: possibly a bit too chilly and I’d have to dust off my drysuit skills. Oman: fits the bill and OmanAir joining Avios this summer might make it interesting. Zanzibar/Kenya are options and J is about £1800 but my brief trip to Zanzibar put me off and I got hospitalised with food poisoning in Kenya.
Getting a bit Caribbean’d out and it’s stupid expensive anyway. Would love to revisit Calabash in Grenada but I think it’s just too expensive.
All over the place really. Ideas?
Anywhere is Europe is going to be very risky re weather in Jan/Feb. Best chance of sun would be Tenerife/Gran Canaria, but even there you’re not guaranteed. Diving in Tenerife is ok, but not as good as Lanzarote. Lanzarote can be chilly in winter though!
I hear what you say about the Caribbean – do you have any hotel points? Avios seats are nearly always available to GCM and of course the diving is world class. OH is somewhat ruined forever by the Bimini hammerheads, but what can you do?!
Oman is supposed to have great diving, though OH is a bit antsy about the ME in general so he’s never done it.
If you’re not with the US boycotters, Florida Keys would tick the boxes.
Went to Oman last November and stayed at the Shangri-La (the Al Husn if you are child free) – loved it and would go back again. I can’t comment on the diving but there is an attached dive centre.
Also, someone reminded me yesterday that Ramadan starts on 17 February 2026.
I put a trip report of our time there in the Oman thread.
Went to Oman last November and stayed at the Shangri-La (the Al Husn if you are child free) – loved it and would go back again. I can’t comment on the diving but there is an attached dive centre.
Also, someone reminded me yesterday that Ramadan starts on 17 February 2026.
I put a trip report of our time there in the Oman thread.
Cheers will take a look at your report. Thanks for the Ramadan dates. We are super flexible for once so bubbles and sun some time in the depths of winter will fit the bill.
@northernlass I’m not a massive fan of the ME if Dubai and Abu Dhabi are representative, but we’re reasonably laidback about it as long as it’s not all a bit Handmaid’s Tale. I don’t get the impression Oman is like that.He’s probably never heard of the Handmaid’s Tale but gets a bit nervous about being anywhere near the likes of Iran/Yemen/Israel etc!
I doubt Oman is any kind of liberal paradise but as is usually the case I’m sure the ordinary folk who make up the workforce are only too happy for tourism to thrive.
Egypt’s Red Sea coast is spoken highly of, and would probably be excellent value for money, although there have been rather too many reports of shark attacks and sinking vessels for my liking!
Why not try Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos? The scuba diving is excellent. Grand Turk has only a few basic, but perfectly good, hotels on it. Great value. It’s a world away from over priced Caribbean resorts. You will have to go via Providenciales, which is a lot more commercialised. Flights are frequent and cheap. We did a week in each. We really enjoyed Club Med but loved the laid back vibe of Grand Turk.
Malta will be chilly, but does have decent diving esp if you are into wrecks. I’ve a soft spot for Divewise, which is part of the Westin there and where I was certified.
I’ve not dived Oman, but I’ve been and it is wonderful.
This Jan I was in Chile and did some diving there at Valparasio / Vina Del Mar which was much better than I expected – esp when some sea lions showed up. It was not warm, but two wet suits meant it was bearable. We hired a car- it was an easy drive from Santiago, and the food, wine and weather in the region was fantastic.
It will be colder at that time, but I’m currently looking at the Azores, though you have to be a decent diver for the best of it.Why not try Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos? The scuba diving is excellent. Grand Turk has only a few basic, but perfectly good, hotels on it. Great value. It’s a world away from over priced Caribbean resorts. You will have to go via Providenciales, which is a lot more commercialised. Flights are frequent and cheap. We did a week in each. We really enjoyed Club Med but loved the laid back vibe of Grand Turk.
Grand Turk is a good shout too, got a good deal to there from Madrid a few years ago. It was a different world to Provo – way less commercialised alright, very laid back, and a fun island you can see in a day on a rented golf cart. I have dived both there and from Provo, and I did think the safety standards at Grand Turk were a little lax, but that might just have been me
£1.8k for Provo which is a bit more in the right ball park. Turks & Caicos or Oman give me some good choices and save me from using that dry suit spec I thought would be useful one day in a gloomy lake in Peterborough.
No Avios availability as you might expect but then I expect a voucher soon.
Thanks folks!
There are a few CW avios seats outbound to PLS in Jan and Feb, you might have to return in PE. Don’t forget you have to stop in NAS which makes it a very long flight.
Very high crime in Ts & Cs but in the main it doesn’t affect tourists. A former colleague of mine has been working out there for a couple of years heading up their CID but doesn’t seem to have been able to make much of a dent in it!
@Whatsthepoint, which was the routing you got from MAD?Jordon has some decent diving, I’d probably prefer that to Egypt’s Red Sea coast. EasyJ used to fly direct to Aqaba, or it’s BA/RJ via Amman (which is well worth a stopover).
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