From exploring Rome to offers for Halloween, Joan Scaleshas the week's best deals
HALLOWEEN IN IRELAND
Haunt Bunratty: €130pps
Clarion Hotel Limerick has a "Howling Halloween" offer of two nights' bed and breakfast and one dinner for €130 per adult. Children almost go for free - they just pay for their meals. The hotel is also offering a family ticket to Bunratty Folk Park's Halloween celebrations for €27. 061-444144, www.clarionlimerick.com.
Athlone Springs hotel: €170pps
The Athlone Springs Hotel, in Co Westmeath, has a packed programme for Halloween. A two-night stay with dinner one evening, and kids camp on Saturday, costs from €170pps. Midweek stays for two nights from €210pps. 0906-6444444, www.athlonespringshotel.com.
Trabolgan witches: €29pps
Join witches, werewolves, ghosts and ghouls at Trabolgan holiday village, in east Co Cork, for Halloween. A range of events has been planned. Three- and four-day breaks from October 24th to November 1st will cost from €29pps per night. Don't forget your costumes. 021-4661551, www.trabolgan.com.
HALLOWEEN IN ENGLAND
Scarefest at Alton Towers
Scare the daylights out of the children with a trip to the Scarefest, at Alton Towers in England, and ride the Terror of the Tower, the Boiler House and Field of 1,000 Screams. From mid-October to early November Irish Ferries is offering a package from €111 per person sharing for two adults and two children staying in the Holiday Inn, Stafford, with return ferry crossing and full-day park pass. 0818- 300400, www.irishferries.com.
DEAL OF THE WEEK
Save on 10 nights in Thailand: from €1,289 per person. Trailfinders is offering big savings on several exotic holidays. One tempting offer is of 10 nights at the four-star Indigo Pearl Hotel, in Phuket - a great spot for scuba-diving - with five nights free, for €1,289 per person, a saving of €575 per couple. Valid for departures from November 1st up to and including December 13th. Or try 10 nights at the three-star Imperial Boat House, in Koh Samui, for €1,299 per person, also with five free nights, a saving of €355 per couple. Valid for departures up to and including December 13th. 01-8814994, 021-4648888, www.trailfinders.ie.
OVERSEAS BREAKS
Barbados: 25% discount
Trailfinders is also offering a 25 per cent discount on Barbados - seven nights for €2,119 - saving €859 per couple at the House, including breakfast, transfers and flights with Virgin Atlantic. Book by November 15th. Valid for departures until December 14th. 01-8814994, 021-4648888, www.trailfinders.ie.
The Eternal City: €671 per person
Explore Rome on a five-day, four-night trip with Slatterys. The trip, from November 12th, will be a mixture of guided tours and free time. Prices from €671 per person sharing, including tax. 1890-200425, www.slatterys.com.
Temples of India: €1,270pps
Prices on long-haul holidays are beginning to fall, and this eight- day escorted tour to see the temples and tigers of India is good value at €1,270 per person sharing. Departing on March 14th, 2009, from Dublin or Cork to join a British Airways flight to Delhi, it will include Agra, Ranthambore and Jaipur. Price includes accommodation, flights and dinner each day, and all guided tours. 0818-300204, www.incredibleindia.ie.
African Cape: €245 per person
The recent release into the wild of four white lions at the Sanbona reserve, in the Klein Karoo of the Western Cape Province of South Africa, makes this the only place in the world where tourists can see them. Prices for this five-star resort start at 3,250 rands (about €245) per person per day sharing, inclusive of meals and game drives. www.sanbona.com.
Washington culture: €554
Everyone goes to New York for shopping, but why not go to Washington, DC, and combine shopping with culture, free museums and a breath of politics? American Holidays can take you there from €554 per person, based on four sharing, for flights and three nights at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. 01-6733800, www.americanholidays.ie.
Fuerteventura: €359 per person
Prices start going down next month for medium-haul trips to the sun, particularly the Canary Islands. Panorama is selling a week in Fuerteventura, from November 16th, in the Brisamar Apartments in Corralejo from €359 per person sharing. 0818-202020, www.panoramaholidays.ie.
Shandon Travel has a week in the Bitacora Apartments in Lanzarote, from Cork on November 23rd, from €355 per person sharing. 021-4277094, www.shandontravel.ie.
And Sunway has a week in the lovely four-star Costa Adeje Hotel, Tenerife, on November 8th or 15th from €733. 01-2886828, www.sunway.ie.
Please bear in mind that all offers are subject to availability
AND FINALLY
Jazz cruise: €18
Brittany Ferries' Jazz Cruise sails from Cork Harbour next Saturday, October 25th, for a three-hour whizz to Roche's Point and back. Coinciding with Cork's Guinness Jazz Festival, the cruise will give you a chance to see what Pont Aven is like. Adults €18, children €13, families (two adults; up to four children) €55. 021-4277801, www.brittany-ferries.ie.