My fiancé and I would like to go somewhere beautiful and relaxing for his birthday in early January. Our favorite vacation so far was to a beautiful, out of the way hotel with a spa, so something like that in a warm location would be ideal. Due to cost, we need to stay in North America.
One place that has occurred to me is Cancun or Playa de Carmen.
Any suggestions welcomed!
You can probably get off-season rates in the Pensacola/Destin/Ft. Walton Beach area of Florida about that time. There’s an excellent Navy Aviation museum in Pepsicola, and an Air Force museum of some type near Ft. Walton (I haven’t been to it). It won’t be warm enough to go to the beach, but it won’t be very cold either. Prolly see tempatures in the 60s during the day unless there’s a cold snap.
We went to Hawaii for out 25th anniversary.
I really liked Honolulu - but our travel agent suggested only spending two days there and then 8 days on Maui.
I hated Maui - but if you wanted a really relaxing vacation, you would probably like it a whole lot! Perfect for someone who wants to do absolutely nothing but sit on a beach and sleep in at the hotel/condo.
I personally like to “do” things, so Honolulu was the perfect match of sun/beach as well as competitive pricing for restaurants, with movie theaters, clubs, bars and touristy things to do.
Maui is more of a do-nothing and vege-out place to be.
Cancun is an overprocessed tourist trap, to a large degree. There are nice beaches but if you’re thinking “out of the way” or “not filled with puking college kids” Cancun will be the exact opposite of that.
My suggestion is Costa Rica. It isn’t much further than Cancun. Make sure you check the airfares on “TACA” / LACSA – they beat most all American carriers in price and have a more convenient schedule than Delta.
There are lots of hot springs naturally occuring around Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica. Tabacon Hot Springs is the more upscale resort, while Baldi is more moderate. Both have their own large complex of hot and cool pools. I’m sure there are others as well. You can also stay at a non-resort hotel, or rent an apartment or a bungalow nearby and buy a day pass for use of the hot springs facilities at the resorts.
Another spot I’d consider is Vieques Island in Puerto Rico. Bit of a schlep getting there, but its supposed to be very nice, quiet, beautiful spot.
I’m not a spa going type, but I’ve traveled a bit for scuba diving trips, and understand the out-of-the-way hotel thing.
There are some nice places down in the Florida Keys that can be out of the way.
Also in the region, I had a great vacation in Grand Cayman. It’s a fun, quiet-ish, sleepy place when cruise ships aren’t in town.
I agree that Costa Rica can be fantastic. I did the Baldi hot springs near Arenal. For my taste, I thought it was a bit too commercial. If I went back, I’d ask around to get a feel for the various springs, and pick from there.
-D/a
That is exactly what I was going to write so I will just second this. I have been looking at Costa Rica resorts all day for an August family trip. I haven’t picked one yet but there are plenty of good ones. I have been to Costa Rica before and loved it but most of my family has not. It is technically Central America but flying time and cost are quite reasonable from many U.S. cities. especially for what you get. Don’t worry if you can’t speak Spanish well. Tourism is their major industry and almost everyone you would need to talk to speaks passable English or will try very hard to. Costa Rica is much safer and classier than many parts of Mexico and you can drink the water.
If you’re looking for a family vacation, check out Safari Surf School in Nosara. Its on tripadvisor. it’s not a resort, it’s a surf school in a small town, with a small hotel/restaurant of their own and arrangements with local rentals & activities. I’ve been twice, and both times it was great. You can PM me if you wanna know more.
Thanks. I know about Nosara and a significant part of my family including me is looking to relocate to that part of Costa Rica in about 10 years. I need to do some exploratory stuff in that area and also look at real estate. A vacation like that might fit the bill nicely. I may PM you later as soon as I know who is going and what their preferences are.
Love the idea of Costa Rica! Thanks, Hello Again.
All other ideas appreciated. Keep 'em coming if you got 'em.
Plays del carmen, specifically playcar is very relaxing but a little touristy. My wife and I have been there 4 times in 3 years. We have a lot of reviews on tripadvisor if u want some hints for nice restaurants.
Wow. When we went to Maui, I was exhausted from all the things we did.
Vacation booked! After serious consideration of Costa Rica, we finally ended up deciding on San Jose del Cabo in Baja Mexico.
That should be lovely. My parents go there a few times a year. The water is a little cold in Pacific Ocean but it is a good vacation place.
That’s reassuring. It was a hard decision.
I’ve never been there myself, but my brother and his family went to Cancun a couple of years ago and had a terrible experience across the board—from the disappointing hotel, to the nearby beach that was inaccessible for reasons I can’t remember, to the overpriced food and aggressively rude service at the restaurant they visited (strongly recommended by the hotel staff). My brother’s a very easygoing and personable guy, so I don’t think it was a case of tourists bringing their own unpleasantness on vacation with them. Listening to his stories delivered a coup de grâce for whatever desire I had to visit Cancun (which was essentially nonexistent beforehand anyway, as I’d thought of Cancun as basically a spring break destination).
Kilometrage may, of course, vary.