Beach vacation recs?

[boiler717]

We are looking at going somewhere late Feb / early March for 7-10 days. We want a great beach and pool, and really just want to be lazy at the resort without needing to travel a bunch of places. I would love the atmosphere of Turks but less expensive and better food (I can dream, right?). I have been avoiding Hawaii because I don't want to feel the need to sightsee.

Turks is crazy expensive airfare wise, $750+. Nassau and Cancun are less than $350, Aruba is probably the top choice with airfare around $450. DR is around $500.

I have points with Starwood and Marriott, but we'd also stay at a smaller boutique place, too.

Any recommendations?

[lb2006]

Dec 7, 2013 18:12:34 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

We are looking at going somewhere late Feb / early March for 7-10 days. We want a great beach and pool, and really just want to be lazy at the resort without needing to travel a bunch of places. I would love the atmosphere of Turks but less expensive and better food (I can dream, right?). I have been avoiding Hawaii because I don't want to feel the need to sightsee.

Turks is crazy expensive airfare wise, $750+. Nassau and Cancun are less than $350, Aruba is probably the top choice with airfare around $450. DR is around $500.

I have points with Starwood and Marriott, but we'd also stay at a smaller boutique place, too.

Any recommendations?

We love Antigua - it's a tiny island that is beautiful if you just want an afternoon to sightsee.  Otherwise, we laid on the beach all day and had cocktails/read.

We stayed at Cocobay Resort - food was delicious and fresh.  The individual cottages are amazing.

[sjh722]

We loved the bucuti in Aruba. The beach is amazing.

[sjh722]

We loved the bucuti in Aruba. The beach is amazing.

[orval]

We went to St Kitts last march and it was wonderful. We stayed at the Marriott. Very relaxing, just did a little sightseeing.

[Deleted]

I will give 2nd vote to bucuti in aruba!

we also love grand cayman

[librarygirl]

I'm not sure where you're coming from in terms of airfare costs but have you considered Costa Rica? The Pacific side will be gorgeous that time of year. Marriott has two beach resorts-its newer one is in the Guanacaste area (more northern part of the country) although I've read it's a bit more remote but perfect if you do want to just be beach/pool side 24/7. More cities are offering direct flights to the Liberia airport as opposed to having to fly into San Jose and then schelping it north. The other is in the Jaco/Manuel Antonio area, nearer to San Jose. I know Starwood has a presence as well but there are also a slew of boutique hotels too, more so in the Manuel Antonio area though.

[emilyinchile]

We stayed at the Bucuti in Aruba on our honeymoon and ate good food: www.emilyinchile.com/tag/aruba (the pictures are all messed up, but the text still works!) We did go out of the hotel a bunch to eat - it's not AI - but cabs were pretty cheap and easy, and there are activities beyond just lying on the beach if you are interested in that. If you stay at a big chain hotel you'll be walking distance to a bunch of restaurants.

We're going to the DR over Christmas but not staying at a Marriott or Starwood property, so I'm not sure how helpful my feedback will be since we don't really plan to see much of Punta Cana itself beyond our hotel.

[babygirlpriest]

I know you said no Hawaii but if you ever reconsider I LOVED the Sheraton on Maui. Several nice pools, AMAZING snorkeling right at the beach, couple minute walk on a boardwalk to great food/shops. We didn't really do much sightseeing on Maui but could understand if you wanted to see more than just one island doing a Hawaii trip.