Ideas for a special holiday, please!

How about Italy. Maybe Tuscany or Puglia. Sunshine, scenery and wonderful food.

Go radical and go to Iceland! An amazing country, lovely friendly English speaking people and extraordinary scenery. The Blue Lagoon is truly spectacular experience. You would need to save though!

The Amalfi coast in Italy is stunning but you need strong nerves for the mountain roads! You can visit Pompeii, Herculaneum and the Isle of Capri from there. Also the Greek island of Santorini is very beautiful.

How about the Italian lakes. I've been to Lake Garda and can recommend it. We went at the start of the summer season, so it wasn't too busy. My sister visited Lake Como and really enjoyed it.
Slovenia is a country that I would love to revisit, Lake Bled is beautiful.

I agree re the Italian Lakes. We've been to Garda and Como. Venice is also wonderful but busy and expensive.

Just about anywhere in Italy by the looks of it.

Anywhere in Italy, it is such a romantic Country to celebrate your anniversary.
Inform the matre-de at the restaurants you visit of your anniversary and you will be treated like royalty and spoilt to the highest level.

My go to place to celebrate special birthdays is Seville. You can rent something nice. See Trip Advisor or Airbnb. You have the best of everything then, chilled out or wander around. We often get a train to Cordoba or Jerez, lots of intesting sights, culture, and food, also go to the flamenco.
Where ever it is Congratulations and have a super celebration.

We found Sicily combined lovely weather, fascinating history, scrummy food and glorious scenery. We spent three weeks - one week in each of three different hotels/self catering places and would go back in an instant. All organised for us by a company called Long Travel and would hugely recommend them for a bespoke trip.

Wow, a lot of great ideas. Thank you. KatyK we have been to the Amalfi coast and loved it, even the perilous roads! I've always fancied the Italian Lakes - we may even get a glimpse of Mr Clooney (swoon)! I should have mentioned our anniversary is in October so I wonder if it would be warm enough? We've also spent many a fab holiday in Nerja, Spain, so Seville may be an option. Keep them coming!

Also recommend Sicily. We’ve been 3 times to different parts. South is quieter and has good beaches, also amazing Greek temples.

Yes I looked out for Mr Clooney on Como. No such luck!

How about Mauritius? Lovely people, weather, food. It’s long haul but a really special destination.

Another vote for Italy if you’re looking for a relaxing holiday. Lake Como is the only place we’ve ever gone back to for a longer stay, though Sicily and some parts of Tuscany, such as Montecatini, are beautiful and not overrun with tourists.

Hi nanasam it will be our special year next year too!
We were talking earlier today about where to go.We love the Italian Lakes, but October will be too late for you to go there with most things closed including a lot of hotels.
Madeira is lovely and moderate weather all year round and I can reccommend a really fab hotel there should you decide on it.
A cruise to the West Indies would be something different ( although you did say no cruises.)
We like Nerja too but have been twice in the last few years,
So need a change.NZ or Canada perhaps?

Will there be any land left in the Maldives the way our climate is going? The oceans are expanding as they get deeper by thermal expansion. They are moving towards sea level rise, in an already very precarious land. The more storms etc the more land will disappear into the sea. Perhaps we are doing the Maldives any good by visiting it.

If you want to try something more unusual how about Cuba? I had a three week trip (from Sweden but there are trips from the UK) two years ago and it was great. Even though I'm in a wheelchair I didn't have too many problems. Someone's always willing to help. Started in Havana, (Pina Colada on the roof bar of the Ambos Mundos hotel where Ernest Hemingway lived) and then a ten day bus trip visiting different places including the Bay of Pigs, Che Guevara's mausoleum and several other towns. Finished off with a stop in Varadera which I could have missed - Benidorm for Canadians. But otherwise a great trip and of course I bought myself some real Cuban rum and cigars. Temperature in October is an average 29 Celsius high and 23 Celsius low.

Another vote for Italy - off the beaten track - Puglia for me with a few days near Paestum and Matera on the way south. Lots of stunning villas with pools. We like to stay where there isn’t much English spoken so would opt to be south of Lecce.
Alternatively you could consider Sardinia which is beautiful.
But Cuba is on my “to do” list... Good suggestion jonna

Bardolino on Lake garda depending when you go you might be there when there is a wine festival . Have you tried river cruising ? I love it no hoards of people getting off the boat lovely scenery from your room and lots of interesting places to see especially on the Rhine and Danube.

What about a mountain spa in the Swiss Laps- like Ovronnaz or Loèche-les-Bains?

Or as said, Tuscany, but not the busy tourist places. My favourite little town is Pienza - or off the beaten track Il Poggio in Celle sul Rigo.

Canary Islands would be good in October
If you like to travel you could spend time on each of the main four islands - rent an apartment or villa with a pool, or go with the AI hotel package.

We also love the Maldives, love the snorkelling have been a couple of times.

Would you like to travel in a group we had 15 days in Sr Lanka and had a great time with 10 other people.

We had a great holiday in Watamu in Kenya staying with a conservation group. The accommodation was on this most amazing beach the sand was as soft as flour.
From here you could visit the Masai Mara if that's of interest to you. I could highly recommend.
www.arocha.or.ke/work/mwamba/

There are some interesting train journeys

you could travel coast to coast from New York via New Orleans to Long Beach CA

or New York - Grand Canyon to Long Beach CA

St Petersbough to Moscow

Shanghai to Hongkong

Canada coast to coast

You would need to check out the weather though for October and Visa requirements for all the countries.

There are so many things you could do.
Hope you choose something really memorable.

It is our 50th wedding anniversary next year, still not decided what we will do.