Advice on a special holiday.

[srobins]

Dear All,

I'm after some advice on making a special trip for my wife's 40th (2010). We were originally going to do the western fly drive but decided it would be too much driving etc for our then 7 year old. Has anyone got any suggestions on making a good multicentre holiday, upto 18 nights long, starting with Orlando and the parks. We would love to go back to Vegas etc as well as get some rest time around a pool in good hotels or villa.

Suggestions please?

[Katys Grandad]

Welcome!

What time of year are you visiting?

[srobins]

Depends on my elder daughter exams. Worst case scenario is August but we are trying for June

Thanks for welcome

[Katys Grandad]

With very few exceptions, you'll get good weather anywhere in the US in June. August can be VERY hot in some places and I'd be careful to avoid the South Western states at that time because of it. To some extent, I'd say the same about Las Vegas.

Assuming that you'd want at least a week in Orlando to do it any justice at all, trying to do more than 1 or possibly 2 other places would be a lot of travelling even for 18 days.

There are so many places worth visiting and my taste may not be the same as yours but I'd suggest California. There's everything from great cities to wonderful Pacific beaches and it really is a contrast to Florida. To break the journey home I'd add a couple of nights in New York or Boston to finish the trip off in style. Of course, you can decide which order you visit places.

BTW, there are some excellent multi-city airfares which make these trip exceptional value for money although August travelling is never cheap

[caroline]

I'd have 2 or 3 nights in Washington or New York, followed by a week or 10 days in Orlando and then hop over to the Gulf Coast for a week of chill time on a beach.

[srobins]

Some good ideas. where is good toaim for on the Gulf Coast?

[Fourdents]

Steve

If you are staying in Orlando for some of the time you can relax and make full use of the pool etc.

Have you considered taking a mini cruise from Port Canaveral - There are 3 night ones.

Internal flights to Las Vegas for a few days is another option I think several villa owners have done this

[caroline]

Steve we've only visited very limited parts of the Gulf Coast so i don't feel qualified to advise but if the beach is really important to you there are lots of threads debating which beach is best so I would suggest using the search button at the top of the forum maybe try putting in 'best beach' I'm sure that will give you a starting point.

[lafifille]

As much as I like Vegas and the national parks, I'd avoid them in August, specially with a 7 y.o. Your choice of course. And I wouldn't want to be rushed there, I think it deserves a trip to itself.

Unless you want to stick to the US, for something really different I'd consider New Brunswick: ever walked on the bottom of the ocean? The coast up there is absolutely gorgeous, and you could go whale watching in the bay of Fundy.

Colorado is great, the Rockies generally speaking.

You could fly to Yellowstone, that IS very special and different. From there drive into Montana, gorgeous (specially if you like Robert Redford's movies ).

The coast from Northern California (San francisco) all the way up to British Columbia makes for a wonderful road trip, but you may be short on time, and you probably don't want to spend a lot of time on the road with a child.

Seattle-Vancouver area, beautiful. There you can see (killer) whales, bears, wolves.

San Francisco, Washington DC, New-York, Boston... beautiful cities, lots to see and do. I have a soft spot for Chicago.

Or you could take a cruise to the Carribbean from Florida, as posted above. Disney cruises are supposed to be great with kids, 'm sure a lot of people can give you details on those here [msnwink]. Key West is absolute fun too, but probably more an "adult" place.

So: as stated before, it really comes down to what you like to do on a vacation, and what you need to make it "special". You could keep busy for 18 nights even staying in Florida [msnwink].

Nathalie

[srobins]

This is great thanks all. I think I'm coming around to staying in Florida but doing differant things eg gulf coast or fly back via somewhere else.
We have been to Orlando before but our villa was dissapointing and my wife dislikes that housing estate feel. Any advice to make this differant?