Your questions answered by
JOAN SCALES
Q Please come to our rescue! My husband and I are celebrating significant birthdays and our 10th wedding anniversary. We are looking for a special holiday but having racked our brains, read Go supplement and trawled the internet we are none the wiser. We want to travel during July or August for 10 days to three weeks and do not want somewhere too hot. We would like a four-star hotel within walking distance of a town or city, with good restaurants nearby. We like to combine sightseeing with a couple of days relaxing by the pool, and being near the sea has always meant nice sea breezes. Are we asking too much? We have done New York, Boston, California, the Algarve, south of France, the Italian lakes, Rome, Sorrento, Sardinia and Cyprus. We usually stay away from package holidays and book independently, but are open to any suggestions that you may have.
DC, Galway
Travelling in July or August to places that won't be too hot narrows down the options a little. We will rule out southern Europe, the Canary Islands, Middle East, Far East and the southern states of the US.
That said we can now concentrate on a few possibilities. North western France isn't as hot as the south and benefits from cooling Atlantic sea breezes.
One of the nicest places is Île de Ré, and the Hotel de Toiras (hotel-de-toiras.com) there, a member of the Relais et Chateaux, has recently been awarded a rare five-star rating. This region of France is lovely to explore and you have the option of discovering La Rochelle and the Poitou-Charente region.
Alternatively, you can explore cities, lie by the pool and enjoy sea breezes on a northern European cruise. A number of cruise lines have a specific trip that travels the North Sea into the Baltic and visit the cities of Copenhagen, Gdansk, Riga, Talinn, St Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo.
As you have travelled so extensively in southern Europe, this would be way to explore the delights of northern Europe in summer. The temperature will be a comfortable 25-30 degrees. The cruise lines, Costa Cruises (costacruises.com), Princess (princess.com) and Oceania (oceaniacruises.com) all have trips to this region with various pick-up points.
Further afield, this might seem like an odd choice with what has happened lately, but Montego Bay in Jamaica is beautiful and far from the trouble in Kingston. The island has a tropical climate and temperatures in July and August are from 25-31 degrees.
There is a terrific selection of hotels, from the understated five-star establishments such as Half Moon Bay to luxury couples-only resorts and some very trendy boutique hotels. One of my favourite is Tensing Pen (tensingpen.com) in Negril, which is rather like California in a Jamaican setting. The hotel is small and located on the cliffs. Summer is low season there and rates are good.
Next door on one side is the Rock House Hotel, (rockhousehotel.com), also very nice and laid back with good service and on the other side is the Caves (islandoutpost.com), a very upmarket small hotel. Many famous people have stayed here as it has an association with Island Records.
Q Could you please advise me when is the best or warmest time to visit Iceland and the most economical way to get there.
CH, Galway
The eruption of Eyjafjallajökull has increased interest in visiting Iceland, with people wanting to join volcano watching trips. The best time to go is during the summer and autumn, when the temperatures gets to about16 degrees.
One of the most economical ways to get there is with an organised trip. There are a few each year from Ireland with Wallace Travel Group (01-8361611, wtg.ie).
The cost is usually about €500 for three/four days with flights and accommodation. The next trip will be in October, and the full details are yet to be released.
Alternatively, you could make your own arrangements, but make sure you have travel insurance that includes volcanic ash coverage. There are flights from London Heathrow with Icelandair (icelandair.com) and from Stansted and Gatwick with Iceland Express (icelandexpress.com).
You can get a hotel room for between €60-90 per night. Hostels are cheaper and you will be able to find a bed from around €15 a night with hostelworld.com and hostelbookers.com.
We want a trip that's fit to celebrate two significant birthdays
E-mail questions, with your name and address, to jscales@irishtimes.com
