# Vacation Destinations from Dubai?



## monica25

My husband and I recently moved to Dubai for his job and are looking to take a 1-week holiday in mid-August.

Any suggestions on resort areas that are a direct flight away? Not wedded to staying in the middle east (would actually prefer to leave considering it will be Ramadan). But can't afford anything too expensive, looking in the 2,000USD - 3,000USD range.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Monica


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## pamela0810

I would recommend Turkey, Greece or Cyprus. They are all about 4 hours or so away by flight and beautiful!


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## VitaEsMorte

Turkey, especially Istanbul


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## Maz25

How about the Far East? I'm still undecided about my next holiday destination but based on my research, the Far East certainly sits very high on my list.


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## Elphaba

Sri Lanka - one of my absolute favourite places. Just four hours from DXB and not expensive.

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## Felixtoo2

Cheap flightd and accomodation in Goa too.


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## BerndinDubai

If you wish to experience some amazing sea life by simply snorkelling and enjoy some 5 star creature comforts I would recommend 3 - 4 nights at Four Seasons, Sharm el Sheihk(Egypt) and 3 - 4 nights at Dahab at a boutique hotel called Dahab Paradise. The former is expensive and the latter is not. The Red Sea is truly amazing. You can fly direct to Sharm El Sheihk (3 hours) and Dahab is a 1 hour drive from there. Just got back. Had a wonderful and relaxing time.


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## rkemp

BerndinDubai said:


> The Red Sea is truly amazing. You can fly direct to Sharm El Sheihk (3 hours) and Dahab is a 1 hour drive from there. Just got back. Had a wonderful and relaxing time.


Which airline has a direct connection to Sharm El Sheik from Dubai? We are moving to Dubai next month and I'm looking forward to do some dive trips to near by destinations in the future. I couldn't find direct flights to any of the dive destinations in Egypt.


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## pamela0810

rkemp said:


> Which airline has a direct connection to Sharm El Sheik from Dubai? We are moving to Dubai next month and I'm looking forward to do some dive trips to near by destinations in the future. I couldn't find direct flights to any of the dive destinations in Egypt.


As far as I'm aware, there are no direct flights to Sharm El Sheikh. You will need to fly to Cairo and there are plenty of charter flights from there. We have a lot of hotels in Sharm El Sheikh and never have sold any packages with direct flights from Dubai.


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## marc

Goa or Mauritius


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## Mimi76

VitaEsMorte said:


> Turkey, especially Istanbul


If you are looking for a city break, Istanbul is amazing.


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## Lamplighter

monica25 said:


> My husband and I recently moved to Dubai for his job and are looking to take a 1-week holiday in mid-August.
> 
> Any suggestions on resort areas that are a direct flight away? Not wedded to staying in the middle east (would actually prefer to leave considering it will be Ramadan). But can't afford anything too expensive, looking in the 2,000USD - 3,000USD range.
> 
> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Cheers,
> Monica


I'm also looking to take a 7 to 10 day break from Dubai during Ramadan, for the wife and myself.

As we are from Europe, heading south or east rather than back west appeals more. I believe most of the asian destinations are mid rainy-season in August, and I've also read somewhere that Goa is practically shut at that time. Sri-Lanka, though, could be a possibility.

However, I'm probably more focused on the Indian Ocean - Seychelles, Mauritius and/or Maldives. I see that Emirates fly direct to these locations, so I should be able to redeem some Skywards miles to get the flights at a reasonable price.

My principal question though is how to find the best deals with the resorts and/or hotels. Most of the agency and/or comparison sites I can find on the internet seem to be UK tour operators, and many don't have options for excluding the flights. 

Does anyone have any advice as to how best to go about this from Dxb?!

Thanks, Lamp


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## basc

Felixtoo2 said:


> Cheap flightd and accomodation in Goa too.


I was in Goa last August. It is rainy season but there was still plenty of "dry" time to explore, and without too many tourists - I guess we got one downpour a day, and that's it. Also on the plus side, as it's off season, we got an incredibly cheap all-inclusive deal with the Taj Holiday Village which had great food, amenities and service. I'd definitely go back (to Goa and/or that hotel). 

(I did notice however that most of the bars outside the hotel complex were closed or else empty - but a lot of shops and all tourist attractions were still going, I guess it depends on the type of holiday you are looking for).


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## Lita_Rulez

Lamplighter said:


> Most of the agency and/or comparison sites I can find on the internet seem to be UK tour operators, and many don't have options for excluding the flights.


Try searching off of something else than Google.UK 

(all jokes aside, are you sure you are not, because I have looked for a couple of trips out of Dubai over the past couple of years, and I don't remember finding an overwhelming quantity of UK tour operators...)



Lamplighter said:


> Does anyone have any advice as to how best to go about this from Dxb?!


I know it's a weird advice in these days of internet, but hit the streets and go to actual travel agencies. You'll get a feel for what you can get from here.


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## Jynxgirl

Hear the greek islands is awesome in August. Never been but is high on my maybe list. Flights are not that expensive to fly into Turkey and take a boat over to some nearby islands, or go thru Athens and do the same.


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## Riz1

monica25 said:


> My husband and I recently moved to Dubai for his job and are looking to take a 1-week holiday in mid-August.
> 
> Any suggestions on resort areas that are a direct flight away? Not wedded to staying in the middle east (would actually prefer to leave considering it will be Ramadan). But can't afford anything too expensive, looking in the 2,000USD - 3,000USD range.
> 
> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Cheers,
> Monica


Visit Srilanka. You get fantastic beaches, five star hotels at extreemly good prices, cool climate only couple of hours drive away. Its a 4 hr flight and there are 3 flights daily (I think).


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## wandabug

Emirates Holidays do 'package' style holidays (flights and resorts together) and you get points for the hotel bit as well. I booked with them for Thailand and it was very well organised. They are located next to Dnata building on SZR. Other than that plenty of travel agents in all the Malls.


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## Guest

If you like city-life, and want to get away from the middle-east, you could go to Bangkok.


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## maldreamgirl

What about the Maldives?


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## Darkt

Seychelles or Maldives are very good options too IMO!


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## Kawasutra

Darkt said:


> Seychelles or Maldives are very good options too IMO!


Yes, and for them its off season. Good value for the money.
Been to Mauritius in the "LUX" Belle Mare. Was like paradise (real paradise )!


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## tmld28

Have you considered flying out of sharjah? i know that air arabia have package deals to various destinations, not sure what standard of hotels they provide but its worth checking out.


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## ziokendo

Riz1 said:


> Visit Srilanka. You get fantastic beaches, five star hotels at extreemly good prices, cool climate only couple of hours drive away. Its a 4 hr flight and there are 3 flights daily (I think).


One of the reason I didn't discard the offer for coming to work in Dubai is the fact that there are some decent place to do a 4-7 days break now and then: Thailand, Seychelles, etc, are quite near, but I have never considered Sri Lanka.

Since this is not the first suggestion for this country I am getting curious : I understand you are from there, so hopefully you are an expert, can you suggest something specific (city, place to stay, etc) ?


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## Guest

Found this a bit old thread to now open a new thread with same title.

I am looking for a destination for 5-6 days in late May or beginning of June, my preference nature + history. 

Maldives, great beach + nature. No history.
Istanbul, incredible history and city, my fav city in the world but still not a fit for this vacation. 
Seychelles, no idea.
Sri Lanka, no idea.

Any suggestions?


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## Jynxgirl

If nature to you can just mean marine life, scuba and snorkeling all day and relaxing nights with very little to do but read or bit of socializing.... Maldives hand down. For history, take some history books


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## fcjb1970

For history Petra in Jordon is pretty cool although probably only want to spend about 2 days there but you could always go over to Israel. Not much on the nature side in those areas, though. Unless you took a little detour to do some diving.


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## rsinner

Seychelles - again it would be for nature. Not really history.
Sri anka. A bit of history. 
You could add Mauritius to the list !


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## colaxs

I've heard good things about Lebanon and Beirut specifically. The lebanese co-workers make it sound like heaven on earth. Any advice from anyone who's been there?


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## Guest

Not really interested in Beirut. 

Mauritius? No idea. I will do a research.

And wow Sri Lanka travel website just bought me!

http://www.srilanka.travel/

It is like history, beach, nature, wildlife. Like they got everything over there!


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## vantage

Sri Lanka is going to be pretty wet in May, though?
18+ wet days a month?

We're looking at Sri Lanka in early April.


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## vantage

Jynxgirl said:


> If nature to you can just mean marine life, scuba and snorkeling all day and relaxing nights with very little to do but read or bit of socializing.... Maldives hand down. For history, take some history books


Has anyone done the Maldives with a young family?

Always strikes me as a bit of a relaxing, chillout, honeymoon sort of place.
What's it like with young kids? (3 & 8)
The 8 year old will be into all the snorkelling etc, but need to entertain them both for a week..


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## Guest

vantage said:


> Sri Lanka is going to be pretty wet in May, though?
> 18+ wet days a month?
> 
> We're looking at Sri Lanka in early April.


Good point. However according weather.com, June would be a better choice than April. Besides April in Dubai is probably way better than June in Dubai. Thus leading to opportunity gain.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/vacationplanner/vacationclimatology/monthly/CEXX0001


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## rsinner

vantage said:


> Has anyone done the Maldives with a young family?
> 
> Always strikes me as a bit of a relaxing, chillout, honeymoon sort of place.
> What's it like with young kids? (3 & 8)
> The 8 year old will be into all the snorkelling etc, but need to entertain them both for a week..


Ours was way younger when we went. Dont go to a very small romatic-y resort else your kids will get bored as there won't be enough stuff to do, and the other guests might get annoyed. 
Very difficult to keep them busy for a week I guess, but most of the resorts would have a kids club, dive schools, of course the beach and snorkelling, some sports and games options (like tennis or golf), a library maybe, and some excursions like fishing, and maybe activities like stingray feeding. Maybe that would be enough to keep them occupied for a bit? 
We arranged a last minute trip to Kuramathi resort, and the kids generally seemed to be quite busy or enjoying themselves. Kid friendly place, but I would not want to go there on my honeymoon - just a bit too big for my taste.


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## vantage

i guess that your holiday / vacation targets from Dubai vary depending on where you come from.
For me, from the UK, I will be headed East or South.
My hitlist for the family includes Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Maldives, Kenya, Oman, Jordan, for starters..
If i was from Australia, i think i'd probably be headed to Europe, for example, as you're 2/3 of the way there!


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## ccr

vantage said:


> Has anyone done the Maldives with a young family?
> 
> Always strikes me as a bit of a relaxing, chillout, honeymoon sort of place.
> What's it like with young kids? (3 & 8)
> The 8 year old will be into all the snorkelling etc, but need to entertain them both for a week..


Yes, we went there when our son was 18-month-old.

Due to his age at the time, we opted to stay in a regular room on land instead accommodation over water.

The beach was still 10-meter from the front door, very chillaxing for 10 days, no TV / phone / Internet. There was a children center with table tennis, foosball and some other entertainment but we didn't pay attention.

We just wanted an empty, clean, sandy beach with crystal clear water. not too far on the boat from the airport (again due to child age). And it was exactly that...

There are lots of islands and they all have different ambience, so just have to pick the ones catered to your needs.


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## Guest

ccr said:


> Yes, we went there when our son was 18-month-old.
> 
> Due to his age at the time, we opted to stay in a regular room on land instead accommodation over water.
> 
> The beach was still 10-meter from the front door, very chillaxing for 10 days, no TV / phone / Internet. There was a children center with table tennis, foosball and some other entertainment but we didn't pay attention.
> 
> We just wanted an empty, clean, sandy beach with crystal clear water. not too far on the boat from the airport (again due to child age). And it was exactly that...
> 
> There are lots of islands and they all have different ambience, so just have to pick the ones catered to your needs.


How did you choose which island to go to? There are around 135 islands and I cannot seem to find enough information about them, in terms of what kind of things there are on each of them, which ones have water bungalow etc.


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## rsinner

nathanalgren said:


> How did you choose which island to go to? There are around 135 islands and I cannot seem to find enough information about them, in terms of what kind of things there are on each of them, which ones have water bungalow etc.


tripadvisor.com . No shortcuts to the research required to plan a good holiday  (and I love the process)


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