ASK JOAN:Your travel questions answered
Myself and 17 other girls want to go to Ayia Napa for a week’s holiday after our Leaving Cert exams around June 24th. We want to get a cheap hotel or apartments where we are all in the same place near the clubs and bars.
– CW, Dublin
Ayia Napa is eternally popular for Leaving Cert holidays and all the flights for June 24th are full. It looks like you and the girls are going to have to go in the following weeks. Leavingcertholidays.com (tel: 0818-212515) has some availability for the week of June 30th at the Alphelandra Apartments, costing from €679pps based on four per apartment. The Green Bungalows, two-bedroom apartments, has some availability from €769pps. It also offers free travel insurance through Blue Insurances. You will need to make a decision as holidays are filling up fast. You can hold your holiday with a deposit and pay off the balance by instalments.
Club 18-30 has availability from July 1st in the Paloma Studios close to the beach and nightlife. Prices are from €695pps based on four and include a weekly pool party, goody bag and T-shirt. Pambos Magic Studios is also available that week from €685pps. Club 18-30 offers a free place for group bookings of 10 or more. Concorde Travel is full for June 24th but has subsequent weeks in Ayia Napa from €700 to €870pps.
If you really want to go around June 24th, you will find availability through London. I have had a look at lowcostholidays.com, and using Cyprus Airways from Heathrow and staying in Pambos Magic Studios, it will cost around €550pps plus the Dublin to London flight. Other apartments are available for a bit less.
Cheap fares to Vancouver
My partner and I are planning a trip in May 2012 from Dublin to Vancouver, Canada, for 16/17 days. We intend to travel midweek (Wednesday to Friday). We have checked the Aer Lingus website and see flights from Dublin via Chicago to Vancouver are €637 return. Could you suggest any other less expensive route or airline? We would like to get there as direct as possible.
– MK, Dublin
The Aer Lingus price is the cheapest on the market for a trip from Dublin to Vancouver. I have looked at other airlines and it would be hard to beat this price. Air Transat and Air Canada will be operating from Ireland again next summer season, but they fly only as far as Toronto and Montreal. Air Transat has a fare of around €449 return, but with the onward flight to Vancouver it will be more expensive than Aer Lingus. There will be an Aer Lingus sale in January and the fare may be less then, but I think it unlikely.
Honeymoon in Dubai
We’re getting married in April and want to honeymoon for a week in Dubai. We want to fly direct and stay in a nice hotel with good facilities near the beach. Have you any advice?
– DR, Dublin
The best thing about going to Dubai next April is that you will be able to fly there direct with Emirates and a lot of travel agents will have good package deals, although Dubai is not a cheap destination. April is a busy season, with Easter and the pleasant weather at that time.
There are dozens of quality hotels in Dubai and one of the longer established is the five-star Jumeirah Beach Hotel, designed in the shape of a breaking wave (jumeirah.com). A week here from the Thomas Cook Far & Awaybrochure costs from €2,500pps (tel: 0818-200300). The hotel is next to the Wild Wadi water park and guests have their own entrance. It is also close to downtown for shopping.
Travel Counsellors recently had a good deal of €1,440pps for four nights and flights, at Atlantis, The Palm, an extraordinary resort with a water park and aquarium. It also had one of the most expensive launch parties ever, estimated at €15 million, in 2008 (see atlantisthepalm.com). Find your nearest travel counsellor on travelcounsellors.ie (tel: 021-2309378). If you drop down to a four-star hotel, the prices are much better, but few of these are on the beach. Travelmood has a week at the Mövenpick Ibn Battuta Gate, near Jumeirah Beach, in April for about €1,400pps. Sunway.ie, Trailfinders.ie, WeTravel2.com and ClassicResorts.ie have programmes to Dubai.
Car rental in Portugal
I am hoping to holiday in western Spain next year but fly into Faro, as I would like to fly from Kerry and support local jobs. Do you know if any car hire companies based at Faro airport allow people to drive into Spain for the duration of their holidays? If so, is there an extra charge for doing so and would there be any restrictions?
– HJ, Kerry
It depends on which company you rent from whether it allows cross-border travel and charges a fee. The cost will also depend on the car size and the length of rental.
One of the biggest rental firms in Portugal, Auto-jardim.com, charges a fee at time of pick up. If you rent a car from this company and do not say you will be in Spain, it will charge you €3 per 1km driven over the border. Most of the big companies, like Avis and Hertz, will not charge a cross-border fee.
Argus Car Hire is a broker that hires on your behalf from a host of companies (you have to read the details on each rental). Go to arguscarhire.ie, put in your pick up location and dates, and a list of cars appears on the next page. Under each car are “rate details”. Click on this and scroll down to the cross-border rules. Most allow travel into Spain without an extra charge. For example, a Toyota Yaris for a week in May will cost around €180.
Email queries, with your name and address, to jscales@irishtimes.com