St Patrick's Day and the Easter break are rolled into one fortnight this year, so how can you make the most of it? Sandra O'Connellreports
THIS YEAR St Patrick's Day will barely be over before we're into our Easter eggs. And with schools closed in the meantime every sane, and solvent, parent will be looking for somewhere to either take kids, or to escape themselves.
There are lots of options, both home and abroad, from hotel breaks, to skiing, sun, camping, or activity breaks.
For the children (abroad)
If you've ever threatened to bring the kids to Disneyland Paris this is the year to do it. These are your last few weeks to take advantage of the special offers being promoted by the resort as part of its 15th birthday celebrations.
A new attraction at Disneyland Paris is the Tower of Terror, which is guaranteed to set your blood racing!
Book now and travel by March 19th if you want to get the full benefit. For each paying adult staying over, one child aged 11 or under stays free. The offer applies both to accommodation and to unlimited entry to the Disney parks.
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For the children (home)
Staying closer to home, 1980s Eurovision performers Bucks Fizz are still making their mind up if they've a future in this showbiz lark. While headlining the Easter entertainment at Trabolgan Holiday Village in east Cork. Sharing the bill is Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina and long time Trabolgan friend Barney the dinosaur.
Prices start at €35 per person, per night for groups of up to seven people staying in its Forest Oak accommodation. Other attractions include subtropical swimming pool, indoor and outdoor playgrounds and a range of kids clubs. Pay as you go facilities include go karting, quad biking, zip wires, abseiling and snorkelling.
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Camping
Camp sites at Easter can be dispiritingly quiet but there are compensations - not least that it"s the best time of year to bag a bargain. What's more, if you're going to France head far enough south and the weather in spring can be far more attractive than it is in summer. Keycamp has plenty of accommodation at Frejus, on the Cote d'Azur this Easter.
One of the most popular holiday villages on the Riviera, it has with magnificent pool complexes - including a covered one. Departing on March 23rd for seven days, the cost for a Supernova mobile home accommodating two adults and two children with ease is €492. Ryanair has flights to match to and from Nice, one and a half hour's drive from Frejus, at €331 per person, excluding taxes.
If it's water parks you're after, the holiday village at Wassenaar, near Duinrell in Holland, is guaranteed to be lively. Set beside a terrific theme park and indoor tropical pool complex with more water chutes than Spaghetti Junction has roads, it's ideal for families with teenagers.
Prices for a mobile home sleeping six over the Easter weekend start from €554, with Aer Lingus flights to Amsterdam, less than an hour away, available from €92.
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City breaks
For more grown-up fare, you can't beat a city break and right now Abbey Travel has availability for a three-night package in beautiful Budapest, departing March 13th with Malev Airlines. You have a choice of accommodation, staying at the three-star Millennium Hotel for €229 or at the four-star Mercure Korono for €299, both on a B&B basis.
No spring break roundup would be complete without reference to the daddy destination of them all - Paris. If you're going to do it, do it right. There is no more romantic hotel in the city of lovers than the George V, just steps from the Champs Elysées. A stay here for St Patrick's weekend, arriving March 14th and departing two days later will knock you back an average of €735 per night. But what price do you put on romance?
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Easter snow
The fact that Easter has come so early is a major boon for snow lovers, especially those for whom mid-term wasn't enough. Crystal Ski still has late availability in Austria, including seven nights half-board in Furian from €609 per adult and €548 per child. Departing March 22nd and flying into Salzburg, the price includes buffet breakfast and four-course evening meals. For €80 more, stay at Sojer Apartments in Ellmau, with the same company, flying into Innsbruck, on the same date.
For upmarket family holidays, check out catered chalet specialist Slopeside. It has Easter availability in Morzine in the French Alps, departing on March 15th and 23rd and priced from €1,171 per adult for a week's skiing.
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Cruises
To really escape this Easter All Cruises is offering 14 night sailings on Fred Olsen's Black Prince ship, departing Dublin - how handy is that? - on March 16th. Touring the western Mediterranean might be just the way to kick start your summer, with stops at Lisbon, Cadiz, Almeria, Ajaccio in Corsica, Cartagena and Gibraltar.
Prices for an outside twin cabin start from €2,293 per person and includes everything from regular meals to late night snacks, cocktail parties and gala buffets.
If you're on a tighter budget, Stena Line's new short breaks packages can get you return travel from Dún Laoghaire, Dublin or Rosslare, including two nights accommodation for two in hotels across the UK from €410. Children up to age 14 go - and stay - free.
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Paddy's Day away
How about experiencing St Patrick's Day on Montserrat, "The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean", which is the only other country in the world that celebrates March 17th as an official country holiday?
The island got it's nickname from the Irish slaves who were sent out there in the 1600s. There is a whole week of celebrations for St Patrick's Day but on a very local and Caribbean level.
The Carribean collections is offering seven nights from March 11th to 18th March for €1,499 per person based on two sharing plus tax of €213.00pp.
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Culture
Easter week has special meaning in Spain and no Spanish city knows how to mark Semana Santa better than Seville. Activities kick off on Palm Sunday, March 16th, and end on Domingo de Resurrection, Easter Sunday, with no less than 57 float-carrying brotherhoods and 60,000 brothers making the trip to the city's cathedral. With up to one million spectators expected, accommodation is at a premium.
If possible, get a bird's eye view of events with a room at the uber plush Hotel Alfonso VIII. Built to be Europe's most luxurious hotel, by royal command, doubles average €330 a night.
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Self catering (home)
If you're looking to stay close to your roots for St Patrick's Day, Selfcatering.ie has availability throughout the country, including the Marine View Apartments in Salthill, Galway - a luxury four star standard development with great views over Galway Bay - for €500 for any three to seven-night stay over the Bank Holiday weekend. The apartments sleep four. If it's the capital you want to head for, Baggot Rath in Dublin Four has one, two and three bedroomed apartments in Ballsbridge available nightly from €145 over Easter.
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Self catering (away)
Fly and flop holidays have seen a massive flurry of interest in the last few weeks but if you're lucky, operators such as Sunworld and Budget Travel may still have a seat or two left for the week commencing March 20th. This includes seven nights self catering in Tenerife from €525 per person, with Budget, based on three sharing or a week in Malaga for €488 based on four. There is still some late availability with both companies for almost guaranteed sun in Gran Canaria priced from €525, based on three sharing.
If you're prepared to travel even further afield, Slattery's South Africa has a number of options for those looking to travel to Cape Town on either March 14th or 21st, staying eight nights in four-star self catering accommodation. The price for a family of four is from €4,758.
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Activities
If you're looking for something to sweep away winter inertia, One Foot Abroad has a guided walk through the Draa Valley in Morocco, departing March 22nd, for a tour only price of €580, to include seven nights, full board. The price includes two nights in a three-star hotel in Marrakech and five nights under canvas in the desert.
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Hotel breaks for families
Generations of youngsters have come to associate St Helen's Hotel in Rosslare with fun times. Formerly part of the Great Southern chain, there's a games room, pool, creche, playground and, on bank holidays, a kiddies entertainment programme.
It is currently offering deals both St Patrick's and the Easter weekends including three nights B&B plus two dinners for €235 per adult, plus €35 for each child. For families of more than two children that rises to €50 per child.
Another family favourite is Arnold's Hotel in Dunfanaghy, Co Donegal, particularly for horse mad older kids or aspiring surfers. It has Easter weekend packages comprising three night's dinner, B&B for €345 per person sharing, with kids under four staying free and kids under 11 staying from €15 a night.
For a city break with kids, Cork's Silver Springs Hotel has a two-night Easter break including plus one dinner for the grown-ups for €398 per person.
Alternatively, Cork's Carrigaline Court Hotel has St Patrick's weekend deals including B&B for two nights plus one evening meal from €180 per person. Children under four share for free and under 11 are half price. Both are handy for the wildlife park at Fota and the hi-jinks at Trabolgan.
If you're looking to head west, the Galway Bay Hotel has an Easter deal for all the family with two nights' B&B and with interconnecting room for two under 12s, plus full Irish breakfast for four, for €198 per night.
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Grown up hotel breaks
The American novelist Anne Tyler once said she thought hotels ought to offer "a cat to sleep on your bed at night, or a dog of some kind to act pleased when you come in." She'd obviously been on one book tour too many. For the rest of us hotels are all about escaping such aspects of our domestic lives. Still, she must have been on to something.
The new and extremely swanky Capella Castlemartyr in Cork has just added two canines called Earl and Countess to the staff roll. They sit, alongside leads, wellies and coats, at the front door and guests are encouraged to take them for walks.
The Capella currently has availability for St Patrick's and Easter weekend at €240 per room, per night to include B&B for two.
In Galway, the Ardilaun House four-star hotel in leafy Taylor's Hill has a St Patrick's weekend break comprising accommodation for two nights, full Irish breakfast and five course dinner from €125 per person sharing. The same deal is available over Easter priced from €205 per person.
In Killarney, the five-star Aghadoe Heights has a St Patrick's weekend in a lakeside view room, including dinner and breakfasts, from €365 per person sharing. Over the Easter weekend the hotel will do all the same plus deliver handmade chocolates to your bedroom and organise an egg hunt on Sunday, from €365.
Closer to Dublin, the daffodils have been out for weeks at Rathsallagh Country House Hotel in Dunlavin.
This is a beautifully converted Queen Anne stable block on 530 acres. It is offering three nights' accommodation, three breakfasts and a six-course meal on the Friday night of the St Patrick's weekend, as well as afternoon tea on Saturday and Sunday, from €299 per person sharing.
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Easter week has special meaning in Spain and no Spanish city knows how to mark Semana Santa better than Seville and activities kick off on Palm Sunday
Earl and Countess sit, alongside leads and coats, at the Capella Castlemartyr front door and guests are encouraged to take them for walks