Plan my vacation

[sandandsea]

DH and I are looking for a week away at a nice beach hotel/resort. Early August leaving from San Francisco around $5k budget (somewhat flexible but not more than $8k).

We want to go somewhere different ( not Mexico/Caribbean) and really just want to lounge by the pool/beach and relax/decompress. So not a sightseeing location with lots of walking day trips.

We were looking at Bali, Mauritius, etc. Any ideas?

We honeymooned in Bora Bora in 2003 and would love to go again but it’s not in the budget this year.

You all are very experienced travelers so we wanted to reach out for interesting ideas.

[ESF]

There are now direct flights from SFO to Tahiti. Of course I learned about them after I booked my May flight there out of LAX...sigh.

But anyway, French Polynesia might fit the bill. It can be super expensive, but there are options at various price points. August is high season there, so Bora Bora might be out of the question, but you might still be able to find some deals in Moorea or one of the lesser known islands. Check Costco, which has some packages.

I'm doing two weeks split between Maupiti, Tahaa, and Bora Bora. Maupiti books up a year or more in advance, so that island might be out of the question, but I'd look into Tahaa and the sister island Raiataea.

[ESF]

Also technically the Caribbean but a little different -- you could also consider Cartegena or one of the other resort towns in Colombia.

[mrsukyankee]

I can definitely suggest Fuerteventura. It's a Spanish island off the coast of northern Africa. It's very affordable compared to many beach holidays though it would take you a long while to get there. It's great for beach, drinks, food vacations and is warm pretty much all year round. Early August would be perfect. The southern part of the island seems to attract Germans and the northern part, the Brits. We stayed in the north (Corralejo) but did a day trip down south to do a boat tour (which was fabulous). There's lots of biking/hiking if you get the urge, but it's not necessary.

[wildrice]

I have a friend who went to Micronesia over the holidays. It looked really beautiful. She really enjoyed the trip.

I also think Guam would be an interesting place to visit. Tonga is supposed to be neat too.

I haven't been to any of these places, I'm just going off of what would be kind of unique and also accessible from the west coast.

Thailand has absolutely gorgeous beaches, but IDK if the weather is considered good in August and it's a pretty long flight so I'm not sure I'd recommend if you only have 7 days. Though I actually don't know how long the flights would be for you for any of the above ideas, either.

[goldengirlz]

What about Fiji? Pretty sure you can fly direct from SFO.

I second Cartagena. Despite being relatively close, geographically, it felt like we had gone somewhere really different. Or what about Belize or Costa Rica? Very different feel from the Caribbean and the touristy parts of Mexico.

[goldengirlz]

Mar 27, 2019 12:08:08 GMT -5 wildrice said:

I have a friend who went to Micronesia over the holidays. It looked really beautiful. She really enjoyed the trip.

I also think Guam would be an interesting place to visit. Tonga is supposed to be neat too.

I haven't been to any of these places, I'm just going off of what would be kind of unique and also accessible from the west coast.

Thailand has absolutely gorgeous beaches, but IDK if the weather is considered good in August and it's a pretty long flight so I'm not sure I'd recommend if you only have 7 days. Though I actually don't know how long the flights would be for you for any of the above ideas, either.

I’ve looked at SFO to BKK. Most routes have you flying 11-12 hours to Seoul or Tokyo and then another 5.5 hours to Thailand.

[ESF]

One more suggestion.

Very irregularly, there's an airline that offers cheap summer specials of direct flights from OAK to the Azores. It might be called the Azores Airline, or it might be special route of TAP, the Portuguese airline. I've never really been able to figure it out because I always learn about it way too late to take advantage. I've not been but from what I understand, there's a few islands, and each is very different, e.g. one is tropical, one is more mountainous and cool, one has wineries on it, etc. So the tropical one might meet your needs.

[sandandsea]

Great ideas! MIL is from Colombia so I think we’d be in trouble if we went there without her. We have a friend from the Azores who has been asking us for years to go with him and bring the kids so I think it’s out too.

I’ve been looking at Fiji and Thailand and Survivor always makes me want to go to Micronesia. . I’ll keep looking!

[rupertpenny]

Mar 27, 2019 13:11:27 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Mar 27, 2019 12:08:08 GMT -5 wildrice said:

I have a friend who went to Micronesia over the holidays. It looked really beautiful. She really enjoyed the trip.

I also think Guam would be an interesting place to visit. Tonga is supposed to be neat too.

I haven't been to any of these places, I'm just going off of what would be kind of unique and also accessible from the west coast.

Thailand has absolutely gorgeous beaches, but IDK if the weather is considered good in August and it's a pretty long flight so I'm not sure I'd recommend if you only have 7 days. Though I actually don't know how long the flights would be for you for any of the above ideas, either.

I’ve looked at SFO to BKK. Most routes have you flying 11-12 hours to Seoul or Tokyo and then another 5.5 hours to Thailand.

There aren’t any direct flights to Thailand from the US because their airline industry doesn’t have a good enough safety rating.

Bali is great, but if you want something a little closer I’d recommend Hoi An, Vietnam. The town is beautiful and there is stuff to do there, but not so much that you feel guilty hanging out at the pool. The beach is definitely not as nice as some in Thailand, but it’s better than the beaches in Bali. Plus the food is amazing and everything is relatively inexpensive. You can fly SFO to HKG and then it’s only an hour and a half to Danang. It’s also really easy to get a visa online now, or you can also do visa on arrival. I’ve been in July and the weather was great.

I also just went to Luang Prabang and LOVED it, but I think August is the rainy season. I think it would also be minimum three flights from SFO. Well, maybe you could fly through China, but I wouldn’t want to deal with that.

[wildrice]

Mar 27, 2019 13:11:27 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Mar 27, 2019 12:08:08 GMT -5 wildrice said:

I have a friend who went to Micronesia over the holidays. It looked really beautiful. She really enjoyed the trip.

I also think Guam would be an interesting place to visit. Tonga is supposed to be neat too.

I haven't been to any of these places, I'm just going off of what would be kind of unique and also accessible from the west coast.

Thailand has absolutely gorgeous beaches, but IDK if the weather is considered good in August and it's a pretty long flight so I'm not sure I'd recommend if you only have 7 days. Though I actually don't know how long the flights would be for you for any of the above ideas, either.

I’ve looked at SFO to BKK. Most routes have you flying 11-12 hours to Seoul or Tokyo and then another 5.5 hours to Thailand.

Yeah, it's not a quick trip! I flew from LA into Taipei, but our travel time was a good 20+ hours. The time difference was tough too

So, for a week I probably wouldn't go that route I guess, but tuck that idea into your back pocket for when you have more time. We were in the country 10 days and it was a spectacular and affordable trip.

Hopefully something closer will work! I also loved Costa Rica, which has a very different vibe than the Caribbean/Mexico (even though the Eastern side actually is part of the Caribbean).

[sandandsea]

We’ve been to Belize and Honduras and have considered Costa Rica a lot. But we have decided to wait until our boys are old enough to go and do all the adventure activities. I don’t want to miss all of that when we go there. I want to go tubing, zip lining, hiking, etc when we visit CR. I want it to be an eco adventure destination for us.

[4speedy]

I’m in Panglao Beach, Bohol Island, The Philippines right now. This is mainly a SCUBA, snorkeling town for hardcore divers but as other parts of the Philippines become overly touristed, this one is starting to pick up. There are some very nice resorts but people have not caught in to this spot so it is still affordable. Will probably not be that way 3 years from now. Nice resorts here are BE Grand, Hennan Resort, Bohol Beach Club.

[rupertpenny]

Mar 28, 2019 17:31:09 GMT -5 4speedy said:

I’m in Panglao Beach, Bohol Island, The Philippines right now. This is mainly a SCUBA, snorkeling town for hardcore divers but as other parts of the Philippines become overly touristed, this one is starting to pick up. There are some very nice resorts but people have not caught in to this spot so it is still affordable. Will probably not be that way 3 years from now. Nice resorts here are BE Grand, Hennan Resort, Bohol Beach Club.

I’m jealous! I really wanted to go to Bohol but it was to difficult to get to from HK for a long weekend with little kids.

That reminds me, OP should look at Palawan as well. Another place to difficult to get to with a toddler.

[4speedy]

Mar 28, 2019 17:40:08 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

Mar 28, 2019 17:31:09 GMT -5 4speedy said:

I’m in Panglao Beach, Bohol Island, The Philippines right now. This is mainly a SCUBA, snorkeling town for hardcore divers but as other parts of the Philippines become overly touristed, this one is starting to pick up. There are some very nice resorts but people have not caught in to this spot so it is still affordable. Will probably not be that way 3 years from now. Nice resorts here are BE Grand, Hennan Resort, Bohol Beach Club.

I’m jealous! I really wanted to go to Bohol but it was to difficult to get to from HK for a long weekend with little kids.

That reminds me, OP should look at Palawan as well. Another place to difficult to get to with a toddler.

We spent 4 days in dive school.  My 10 year old worked his ass off, getting up at 6:30 every morning to study physiology, physics (air pressure) and chemistry (blood gas, saturation under various pressures, etc) so that he could pass the written exam.  He is now a certified diver.  We have seen the most amazing sights along the reef.  I thought this would be an item to check off our list of things to do, never imagined I would fall in love with diving like this.  I’m actually looking up more dive vacations right now.

BTW, a new international airport opened up on Panglao Island 4 months ago so it’s easier to get to.  That’s why it will be catching on very soon.

[4speedy]

Also, Okinawa would be a good beach vacation in August and it would be a reasonable trip for you.

[ESF]

Mar 28, 2019 0:59:35 GMT -5 sandandsea said:

We’ve been to Belize and Honduras and have considered Costa Rica a lot. But we have decided to wait until our boys are old enough to go and do all the adventure activities. I don’t want to miss all of that when we go there. I want to go tubing, zip lining, hiking, etc when we visit CR. I want it to be an eco adventure destination for us.

This is super random, but your post just reminded me of something.  Since looking into the unusual places I can visit on a direct flight is a hobby of mine, I figured I may as well pass this on. You can fly direct from SFO to El Salvador, where there are some very lovely looking beach resorts. I looked into it about a year ago, and it's still on my wishlist, as it looks really different than most Central American beach resorts, due to the fact that it's on the Pacific side, and it's so much more off the beaten path.

It's not quite an eco adventure destination, so it's probably not the kind of place you'd save for a family vacation. 

Might be worth looking into, especially if you find flights to further away destinations too expensive.

[wildrice]

Mar 28, 2019 0:59:35 GMT -5 sandandsea said:

We’ve been to Belize and Honduras and have considered Costa Rica a lot. But we have decided to wait until our boys are old enough to go and do all the adventure activities. I don’t want to miss all of that when we go there. I want to go tubing, zip lining, hiking, etc when we visit CR. I want it to be an eco adventure destination for us.

Are you traveling with kids? I thought your OP was just you and your H.

If this is a kid free trip, Costa Rica could still work. It's a very diverse country (despite being small) and you could easily take 2-3 trips to different parts of the country. We spent 9 nights there last year, and only saw 3 of the 6-8 places I'd like to visit. It's not terribly quick to get around, so you really can't see the whole country in one trip unless you are there for like 3 weeks.

Not to push it on you, just something to consider if you are interested. You  could easily go now and then go again and do different things when your kids are old enough. Also, a lot of the cool stuff isn't really by the beach so if you want to do beaches this time, you could do more of the interior stuff later as an eco adventure. We actually only spent about 1 day hanging out on the beach on our trip because there was so much else to see.

[sandandsea]

Mar 29, 2019 11:38:32 GMT -5 @heyitsme said:

Hamilton Island, Australia. One of the most amazing places (and I'd vote for this over Bora Bora, Belize, Costa Rica <--all great places but Hamilton Island was AMAZING).

We’ve been to the GBR/Australia and loved it. Sydney and Cairns were both awesome. I’ll have to look into it more and see what flights are like.

[ribollita]

We loved Fiji but it’s less of a beach vacation than a beautiful view/snorkeling/infinity pool location IME. We stayed at two out island resorts and did a Blue Lagoon Cruise (which stopped at a few gorgeous beaches).