From clubbing in Tel Aviv to the beach paradise of the Philippines, and deprivation holidays to cruising and adventure, ALANNA GALLAGHER on what to look for in 2011
Beach bums
You’ve attended full moon parties in Thailand and roasted your bones in Denang on China Beach in Vietnam but the new country to explore in Asia is the Philippines.
It offers first-class diving and beaches like Thailand had 20 or 30 years ago before it was over-developed. Fly to Abu Dhabi and on to Manila.
There are two stand-out yet accessible names to drop: the islands of Cebu; and Boracay. Cebu is where Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan first planted the Cross of Christianity in the name of Spain in 1521.
A nine-night package including seven nights BB at the five-star Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa (on Mactan Island just off the cost of Cebu) and two nights, room only four-star Park Lane Hotel, Hong Kong costs €1,679pps. This price includes return flights with Cathay Pacific via London and Hong Kong to Cebu and is valid from May 5th to June 16th through Trailfinders.
trailfinders.com
Adventure
“People want a holiday experience,” says John Addison of Wild Frontiers. “They want to go drumming in Rio de Janeiro or cook a curry in India rather than being stuck on a coach with fellow travellers. The Middle East is booming and Syria is one of the safest options. It’s got a fascinating culture and history that is capturing the travelling public’s imagination.”
Reality television continues to whet people's appetite for the new. The TV series Ice Road Truckershas done for Alaska what Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman did for northern Asia in Long Way Round.
People want to be able to say they’re going somewhere slightly different, explains Jonathan Bridge of Trailfinders which offers self-drive holidays through Alaska driving the Dalton Highway to Deadhorse. Stop at the entrance to Denali National Park and Preserve and pay Mount McKinley a visit. This trip is weather sensitive and only possible in summer. Or fly into Winnipeg and explore the province of Manitoba where, if you’re lucky, you’ll see polar bears and beluga whales.
Fancy ranching in Texas? Ireland has always had a great affinity with Texas from beef barons to Dallas. Ranch holidays in San Antonio, Texas at Wildcatter Ranch offer horse and mechanical bull-riding holidays.
Or explore America’s Pacific Coast Highway on a motorbike. American Holidays has teamed up with EagleRider to offer self-drive and escorted tours. A two-night, three-day drive from San Diego to Palm Springs costs from €369pps, excluding flights. Five nights from San Francisco to Santa Barbara costs €2,059pps excluding flights. Both offers include accommodation.
wildfrontiers.com; wildcatterranch.com; americanholidays.com
Cruising
With money tight, cruising offers fantastic value, has plenty to do for the easily bored and offers numerous places to discover on the one trip when cabin fever sets in. Is it any wonder the sector has seen a 100 per cent increase in bookings.
A two-week holiday costs €1,200-€1,300 and includes all meals and much of the entertainment on offer. Sceptics should dip their toe in the water and book a short seven-night experience.
Cruising is a resort that moves offering you a different window on the world each day, according to John Cassidy of Cassidy Travel. If you take a Caribbean cruise you’ll get to see four or five islands in one trip and the beaches and coastlines are often the best bit of the island.
Hotels in the Caribbean are not to the exacting standards of Asia, so cruising is one way of ensuring a luxury experience. Caribbean cruises depart from Miami or Fort Lauderdale, and flights to Florida are relatively cheap.
During the summer every other weekend there’s a cruise ship in Dublin. If the idea of 3,000 people all on the same ship brings you out in a rash, why not upgrade to a boutique experience aboard Azamara Club Cruises.
Owned by Royal Caribbean, passenger numbers are limited to 1,000 rather than the usual 3,000-plus.
Its first cruise departs Dublin on August 29th and takes in the ports of Holyhead, Cork, Bordeaux, Bilbao, Gijon, Vigo and completes its tour in Lisbon. This 10-night cruise starts at €1,942 (cruise only) and is based on two people sharing a cabin.
And if you fancy something more exotic, why not climb aboard the Brilliance of the Seas and cruise Oman and Fujairah?
azamaraclubcruises.com
Deprivation
Scalpel safaris to the southern hemisphere became a significant trend during the boom. In this new age of austerity rich North Americans are turning their backs on excessive luxury in favour of boot camp-style holidays, as revealed last month by WTM Global Trends Report 2010.
The global economic downturn has pushed the affluent to seek self-improvement holidays and extreme sports. The rise in obesity and the dawn of fitness TV programmes such as The Biggest Loserare also helping push the agenda.
The Ranch at Live Oak Malibu, California has a punishing regime of 10 hours of daily exercise with the promise of shedding up to 5 per cent of body fat. This will set you back around €4,143pp, excluding flights. (Interestingly, an abdominal laser liposuction procedure to remove fat from your body will cost from €2,500 at Dundrum Medical. It takes 90 minutes and is an outpatient procedure.)
theranchmalibu.com; liposuctiondublin.ie
Dark side
Night-time activities are gaining traction with tourists. From astronomy adventures in Africa, where skies are free from light pollution and put on a spectacular free show, to after-dark safaris that offer a tantalising smorgasbord of experiences.
South Africa is hoping to consolidate its status as a global hub for astronomy by winning the bid to host what will be the world’s largest radio telescope in 2012.
In the meantime Wild Wings Safaris offers Meade telescope, night sky presentations, on its Kruger National Park safaris. This is in addition to the under-cover-of-darkness thrill of tracking elephant herds to their watering holes, spying on lions after feeding and the giant web spinning activities of the orb spider, one of the so-called small five, also visible in the bush.
Families with children over six years of age can camp in Kruger or indulge in the ultra luxury of the game lodges at Sabi Sabi.
wild-wings.co.za; sabisabi.com
Set sail
The ash cloud's silver lining is that holiday makers have rediscovered the ease of travelling by ferry, says Joan Scales of The Irish Times. "Ferry travel eliminates the security hassles that have become part and parcel of the airport experience."
Take Irish Ferries or Celtic Link Ferries to Cherbourg or Roscoff in France and travel the cider route, soak up the seafood in Dieppe, explore the old port of Honfleur or pay the rocky outcrop of Mont St Michel a visit.
A sail-drive holiday to France also offers the kids opportunities to road-test their school French and work on their accents – much more so than on a resort holiday where everyone speaks English.
irishferries.com; celticlinkferries.com
Cheap sun
There will be bargains aplenty for the savvy sunseeker who books early.
Tour operators are keen to lock people in and these offers may not be repeated later in the season, according to John Cassidy of Cassidy Travel. “We’ve great value for holidaymakers who can getaway in May. Travel to Ibiza’s San Antonio or Portugal’s Playa del Rocha for as little as €199. Santa Ponza in Majorca is available from €189 and Kusadasi in Turkey costs €269.”
All prices include flights, accommodation and airline taxes. Transfers and baggage allowances are not included.
cassidytravel.com
City breaks
Authenticity and value are the two key trends at travel bible Lonely Planet which lists New York as one of the top destinations for 2011.
New York has a vibrancy like no other place on earth, according to Lonely Planet spokesman Tom Hall. The 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is one of the reasons behind Lonely Planet’s decision.
The former World Trade Center site reopens to the public with the National September 11th Monument.
Other reasons to visit include the fact that half of Times Square is being given over to pedestrians, the 85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park which has transformed old piers into parks and apartments, and the much-loved High Line park opens its second stretch this year. And Coney Island’s makeover is complete this summer.
Las Vegas continues to enthral. Go Hop lists it as number one in its top destinations for 2011.
“The calibre of accommodation on offer gives a resort-like feel to what is ostensibly a city break,” says Go Hop’s Stephen McKenna.
“Price plays a significant part too. You can now go to Vegas for the same price as a weekend in Paris will cost.” Five nights at the three-star Circus Circus Hotel costs from €670pps. Five nights at the four-star Monte Carlo costs from €720pps. And for all-out, five-star glamour stay at the Venetian from €850pps. These prices are for flights via London Heathrow with Virgin Atlantic.
In Europe, Ghent’s waterside canals and sense of authenticity make it the new Bruges and Tel Aviv is increasingly seen as a multi-cultural, hedonistic city with really good clubbing offering something slightly different, says Hall.
gohop.ie; circuscircus.com; montecarlo.com; venetian.com; virgin-atlantic.com
Terminal bagging
The launch of Dublin Airport’s T2 has Irish travel anoraks comparing it with the best the rest of the world has to offer.
Some suggest Oslo Airport is the essence of Scandinavian chic thanks to the widespread and warming use of pale wood. Numerous sculptures and art installations by Norwegian and Scandinavian artists make it feel more like a modern art museum than an airport. It was designed by architect Gudmund Stokke.
Changi in Singapore has a 300-metre vertical garden with over 25 species of tropical plants, six open air gardens, an outdoor pool, spas, movie theatres, luxury shops (including a Ferrari boutique), and city tours for those with stop-overs of over five hours.
Madrid’s T4 and T4S terminals at Barajas Airport were designed by architects Antonio Lamela and Richard Rogers; respectively designers of the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Millennium Dome in London, and feature expansive spaces and undulating ceilings.
dublinairportauthority.com; osl.no/en/osl; changiairport.com