Your questions answered by JOAN SCALES
Where should I go to celebrate a special birthday?
Q I have a special birthday coming up and would love to go somewhere that is relaxing, with beautiful beaches, nice hotels and good food. I was thinking of the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, which looks lovely, although I would just as happily go to Greece, Italy, Thailand or the Caribbean. I am finding it hard to decide! I was hoping to go next month, but I am flexible. TG, Dublin
If budget is not a factor, then the first place I would suggest would be the Caribbean, which has beautiful beaches, great hotels, music to dance to and good food. There are dozens of islands to choose from. In the British Virgin Islands, you could consider Peter Island Resort (peterisland.com), the Sugar Mill Hotel (sugarmillhotel.com) or, for great water sports, Bitter End Yacht Club (beyc.com). On Barbados, there is nothing to match Sandy Lane (sandylane.com). In Jamaica, there’s the top-end Half Moon resort (halfmoon.com) or, less expensively, the Tensing Pen resort (tensingpen.com). On Antigua, have a look at the Carlisle Bay resort (carlisle-bay.com). On St Lucia, Ladera (ladera.com) is tops.
Zanzibar is also beautiful; I suggest you talk to Tropical Sky (01-5262566 or 068-56800, tropicalsky.ie) about its packages to the island. (It is also good on the Caribbean.)
Thailand is a great-value tropical destination: you can get a four- or five-star holiday for half what it would cost in the Caribbean. Twohigs (twohigs.com) and Joe Walsh Tours (joewalshtours.ie) are long-standing operators to Thailand, and both have some great value. Two-centre holidays, with 10 days between Bangkok and an island resort, will cost about €1,300.
If you haven’t been to Greece for a while, you will see great strides in the quality of hotels and resorts. The island of Thera, better known as Santorini, in particular has some beautiful and unusual hotels. See visitgreece.gr and santorini.com.
Italy has so many fabulous places it’s hard to say where to go. Think about what you want – coast, lakes, mountains, culture, arts, gastronomy, cities? – then talk to a tour operator such as Topflight (topflight.ie), Sunway (sunway.ie), Crystal (crystalholidays.ie) or Citalia (citalia.ie), all of which have a good range of hotels and resorts.
Q We are going to New York next week, staying near Times Square, in Manhattan. As fans of 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' we would like to go to Montauk. What is the quickest way to get there? A three-hour commuter journey each way is a big chunk out of our holiday. AME, Dublin
Montauk is at the far end of Long Island, almost 190km from Times Square and a good three hours by road. If money is no object, then you could take a helicopter or seaplane with Sound Aircraft Services (soundaircraft.com). Tickets cost $495-$575 (€350-€410) each way. As the service is aimed at affluent New Yorkers who spend the weekend in the Hamptons, the helicopter service operates on Fridays and Mondays and the seaplane on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays and Mondays.
There’s no other fast way to get to Montauk, unfortunately: train and coach services both take about the three hours you were hoping to avoid. The Long Island Rail Road (mta.info/lirr) leaves from Penn Station five times a day. Tickets costs $29-$40 (€21-€29) return. Hampton Luxury Liner (hamptonluxuryliner.com), an upmarket coach with free Wi-Fi, power points and satellite TV, runs up to nine times a day. It costs $69 (€49) return. Less expensively, the Hampton Jitney (hampton jitney.com) costs $40 (€29) return.
Your time in New York coincides with Labour Day weekend, the busiest of the holiday season. Traffic will be affected, so book whatever transportation you decide on soon.
Q Could you give me the names of five or six good hotels in the centre of Paris? We are in our early sixties and will be there for five nights in October. Also, could you recommend a guide book? JB, Meath
Location is especially important if you are going to be exploring Paris on foot. Keep within the first to eighth arrondissements to stay in central Paris, although even this is a large area.
I can suggest the following hotels, starting with the least expensive. For less than €100 per night, try the Best Western Quartier Latin Pantheon (bestwestern.com). For €100-€140, you could consider Mercure Paris Opera Garnier (mercure.com) and Libertel Montmartre Duperre (hotel- montmartre-duperre.com). For €140-€180, have a look at Mercure Paris Haussmann St Augustin (mercure.com). For €180-€220, how about Hotel Concorde Lafayette (concorde-lafayette.com)? Although the final two are not in the central eight arrondissements, they are still well located for exploring Paris.
Fodor’s has a good basic guidebook that will steer you in the right direction, although Dorling Kindersley’s Eyewitness guide is easier to read, with more maps and street-by-street guides.
E-mail questions, with your name and address, to jscales@irishtimes.com.