Package Holiday

Welcome to Package Holiday, my guide to finding the best package holidays. The idea behind this site is to try and provide inspiration, not only when choosing a destination to travel to, but also for finding the best package holiday deals on the web. Please browse around, read the reviews and add your comments where you feel they will be appropriate and helpful to other travellers looking for holiday packages (or "vacation packages" if you happen to be of American origin!).

PackageHoliday [.com] is a totally non-commercial site that I run purely for fun. Consequently, I don't accept adertising, but I am more than happy to consider posting interesting holiday or hotel reviews, travel related articles or experiences you may have had on your travels. If you know of any unusually cheap package holiday deals that are on the go, again, I will be happy to consider banging them up.

Latest 10 Hotel Reviews

July 3rd Levante Lux Apartments - Benidorm - Costa Blanca

July 3rd Selena Hotel - Sozopol - Bulgaria

July 3rd Honolulu Hotel - Torrenova - Majorca

July 3rd Yaramar Hotel - Fuengirola - Costa Del Sol

July 3rd Mediterraneo Park Hotel - Roquetas de Mar - Costa de Almeria

July 3rd Principe Palace Hotel - Lido de Jesolo - Italy

July 3rd Korona Hotel - Sunny Beach - Bulgaria

July 3rd Blau Colonial Hotel - Cayo Coco - Cuba - Caribbean

July 3rd Haven Perran Sands - Perranporth - UK and Eire

July 3rd Puerto Tahiche Apartments - Costa Teguise - Lanzarote

The second visit to the Maldives and we did things a little differently, veering off the package holiday route, but had an equally fantastic time in a slightly more “natural” habitat on Asdu Sun Island which is an hour speed-boat ride from Malé airport. Asdu is different to Kanuhura in several ways - it’s less “purpose built” and more basic/informal, plenty of trees in a more natural habitat and a smaller Island all round - without the 5* touches, but much more of that “middle of nowhere” feeling which is, I have to say, fantastic.

You sit on the white sandy beach during the day looking out at….nothing! Not a thing in sight. Robinson Crusoe this is! You can walk right round the Island in, ooh, 10 minutes, it’s that small. It only had around 25 guest rooms, a central restaurant, and catering mainly for visitors on diving holiday packages, is quiet during the day because they all sail out to the reef to, well “dive” I guess! Not that it will ever get busy with so few rooms!

It’s a more rustic feeling, basic yet very clean rooms, but it’s also a very cheap holiday by Maldives standards. We did this Read the rest of this entry »

Last year, my girlfriend and I decided that we’d like to go to one of the Greek Islands for some sun - last minute package holidays are typically “us“ and this was no exception. Now both of us have been before…we’ve both done Rhodes and Skiathos, and she’s also been to Crete and the Greek Mainland but this time we wanted somewhere fairly quiet and relaxing, although we are restricted to going during the school holidays so naturally there’s a challenge there! As usual, finding a good deal and suitable destination involved plenty of Interweb wandering and - one of the reasons I started up this Package Holiday site actually - inspiration for some reason always seems to be in short supply. Sure, there are some great cheap deals out there, but none of the travel booking websites seem to tell you what the place is really like.

You know the score - the deal is great but the blurb that accompanies it is all about how wonderful the place is, how amazing the hotel is blah, blah, but it doesn’t tell you that your room looks out over the waste bins, or that 25 guests went down with food poisoning in July. Or that the Island is a protected environment for Waspus Stingus Humungous. And the Greek Islands do have Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been to Amsterdam three times in the past three years and am starting to get a pretty good feel for the place. Each time I’ve booked a package through LastMinute.com and stayed in a different hotel, although one change was only because my preferred hotel was fully booked. I’ll be honest and say that my visits weren’t strictly for holidays as they were to attend conventions, however the sort of convention I go to, you might just as well call it a holiday as it’s all laid on LOL.

I’ll come back to the hotels in a bit, but first, Amsterdam itself. I would call myself a fan, although it’s the sort of city where IMO you have to be a bit choosy about the times you go. It’s got a very relaxed atmosphere, perhaps not quite to Paris levels, but nonetheless it’s chilled and the layout of the city means it’s difficult to get lost as all roads tend to curve in an arc Read the rest of this entry »

Sometime back in the 80’s, when I was a mere youngster, before the days of this amazing Interweb thingy, I remember seeing an advert in a glossy magazine for a place called the Maldives. It was what has now become the sterotypical picture of paradise - the palm tree, white beach, glistening blue lagoon and the distant outline of a small Island - and I remember thinking “one day, I’m GOING to go there!” The trouble is of course, the pics in the brochure are always touched up, taken from the “right angle” and generally the best possible advert…the real thing never lives up to the image.

Or so I thought. When I returned from my first trip to the Maldives in 2001, my answer to people who asked what it was like was “it’s the only place I’ve ever been where the reality is better than the pictures!”. Which is probably why I went back again in 2006 and will be going back again in the next 2 years, and probably again after that (repeat to fade). I’m not normally one to go back to the same place more than twice in quick succession, but the Maldives is definitely the exception Read the rest of this entry »

Although I’m prone to a bit of gambling, I have to admit that Las Vegas was never really high up on my list of “must see” destinations, but a conference took me there for 4 days in the dark English November months and I have to admit, Vegas really surprised me. So much so that I can’t wait to go back.

Of course everyone likes a bit of sunshine and decent temperatures, but I didn’t really know much about the city itself apart from the fact it’s Casino City! So if I wasn’t a gambler, would I have enjoyed it? The answer is yes, but 4 days would probably have been plenty and I’d suggest for those that don’t really like their Blackjack or slot machines, it would be better visited as part of a US tour, perhaps taking in California and the Western seaboard. Read the rest of this entry »

Time to start sharing the successful package holidays I’ve had in recent times in the hope that it might inspire one or two of you to try them out. I’m going to start with a bit of history, and a holiday that I wasn’t 100% sure would be “me”, but turned out to be among the best 3 holidays I ever had. Welcome to….Luxor!

That’s in Egypt if you didn’t know. About half-way down and a hot place! We actually chose a fantastic time to go - the week directly before Christmas. This was great for two reasons: firstly the temperature was a bearable 29/30 degrees (high 80’s Fahrenheit) and when we got back, we were straight into Xmas with no time to moan about the UK weather. What amused us was on one trip, our (excellent) Egyptian guide was wearing a scarf and long, thick overcoat and the temperature was pushing 30 degrees celcius!

We booked the holiday through Thomas Cook and the whole trip - 7 nights accommodation in the 5* Luxor Hilton plus flights cost us a mere £249 each ($450). Without food admittedly, but the food is so cheap Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve just returned from a long weekend golfing in Alcaidesa, Spain. Alcaidesa is a purpose built village just 15 minutes drive from Gibraltar and about 90 minutes from Malaga on the Southern tip of Spain and boasts two excellent, but very tough, golf courses.

We flew into Gibraltar airport with Easyjet from London Gatwick on the Friday, returning Monday, and stayed at the Hotel Quercus in Alcaidesa - a small but very comfortable and friendly modern hotel. Although it’s only a €20 cab ride from Gib airport, I’d definately recommend a hire car for several reasons. Firstly, although the Quercus website says it’s only 100m from the golf course, it’s actually about 2km from the clubhouse! Secondly, there are no taxis in Alcaidesa itself and they have to be called in from La Linea (on the Gib border) or San Roque which is about 5-6km away. Also, Alcaidesa itself has very little - a pharmacy and a restaurant/bar about 100m from the hotel and that’s it, so you need a car to go anywhere else. Read the rest of this entry »