What's been your favourite holiday?

My best holiday was this Easter in Yorkshire when I had all my children and grandchildren together for the first time ever.
I am looking forward to Spain next week though, after a lifetime in education I love going on holiday when everyone has gone back to school.
For years we went to the same villa in the same place in the south of France. OH spent all year travelling for work so holidays were always absolutely predictable with no surprises. The children used to complain, but as soon as ou daughter had her own family she went back to the same place.

Am I allowed to count six weeks in New Zealand with my family? They live in a beautiful area and as well as the three gc who live there, two more flew out from England for Christmas. Bbqs on the beach, whale watching, long walks to see waterfalls and my daughter's marvellous cooking. I will be there again next Spring, but this time I will be doing more exploring, down to Queenstown to see Mt. Cook and the fjiords.

Mine was a cruise and stay (only the other way round!) A week long coach journey starting in Calgary and finishing in Vancouver, staying in "Fairmont" hotels eg Banff Springs, Chateau Lake Louise and Jasper Park Lodge - real luxury - then two days on the Rochy Mountaineer. In Vancouver we boarded a cruise ship through the Inside Passage (!) and up to Anchorage. Would do it all again if I could afford it. Second choice has to be the one I have just returned from - Viking river cruise down the Danube for sheer luxury and splendid customer service.

All of them!

Woody - I am seriousy considering a river cruise, so I will have a look at the one you mention.

Mine wasn't as amazing as these but it was so special. We went to a hotel in Harrogate a couple of weeks ago. They found out it was our first wedding anniversary, upgraded us to a suite and treated us like royalty for the entire weekend.

I have three, the first was totally selfish, and the first without our children, we just hitched the caravan to the car, and spent two whole weeks doing just as we wanted. We have two very good friends we often holiday with, and we so enjoyed two weeks in the peaceful countryside of Cornwall. Can't remember what we did, but the quiet companionship stays with me. The third was two weeks by the side of a loch in Scotland, with the same friends (he is a scotsman). We self-catered, and the accommodation was AWFUL! but the sheer beauty of the loch first thing in the morning, and the wonderful Scottish Highlands made us forget that, we had 14 days of clear blue skies. Wonderful.

Both our trips to Cyprus and all 3 Turkey holidays, plus a lovely week in Kefalonia with daughter 2 and her children. Don`t really have a favourite single holiday.

After my ex left, I decided to have the kind of holidays I would enjoy. I went on numerous Ramblers holidays, not over-demanding ones but I always came home a lot fitter. The other ramblers on these trips were invariably friendly and good company and we went to places off the beaten track, not frequented by crowds of other Brits. Best hotel? A monastery in Guadaloupe in Spain with huge bedrooms, beautifully tiled bathrooms and fortunately, in view of the weather, drying facilities.

It is rather strange when you live in a tourist destination - you have to remind yourself not to take it for granted but to see it through the eyes of holiday makers. I know several members live in lovely spots (Bags and Soop for a start). I have lived in Monaco, Brussels, the Dordogne, the Pyrenees , Lot, Haute Garonne and on the coast south of Perpignan, and now in the Alps. In the UK, I have lived in North Wales, Chester, Canterbury and near Windsor. It all makes up for the eight years I had to spend in Salford as a child! I frequently pop round Lake Geneva and Juragran shows me some lovely places in Switzerland. I can also get to Aosta, in Northern Italy, in a few hours and I had a nice couple of days there last year. I still enjoy exploring new areas, though, and of course I have to travel to tropical waters for the coral.
My sister and I are planning to go to Umbria next June -we loved Tuscany and Lake Garda and the Dolomites so we are going to travel a bit further South.
Apart from the 17 months I spent with my daughter in 2009/10, the last twelve years have been one long holiday. I don't think I have ever had a bad holiday, apart from two weeks camping at Plockton in non-stop rain, and even then the beauty of the Highlands made up for the inconvenience.

The holiday we all look back on with real fondness was when my husband wanted to learn to sail. Daughter, then aged 19, and son aged 15, were dead against it, as was I. However, we were keen to give it a try and flew off to Corfu, taking the ferry to the island of Paxos. There we had the most wonderful time, we all learned to sail, eat Greek salad and stay out late in bars! The sailing lessons were taken by a team of experts, all very young and lovely, and we were out all day, sometimes dropping off at a deserted beach before sailing home. We met up with the other "pupils" each evening, and once a week there was a regatta. It was all great fun, we learned a lot without noticing, and came home with some wonderful memories. Probably the last holiday we had as a family, which explains just what a precious time it was for all of us, but it was really fun.

Has anybody tried a holiday on a flotilla around the Greek islands? I really fancy it, but I would have to have a cabin with a private bathroom. I wouldn't want to do any of the work - I had enough of that when my ex husband had a 21' sailing cruiser.

Any one of our holidays, driving round touring the USA, that ended in Minnesota (even from California) at our dear friends' cabin in the middle of nowhere (almost). We have sat and watched the sun set over the lake, listening to the loons calling and feeling ourselves relax. Sadly the DH over there now has dementia and is fading away from us, but we have him, and the lake, in our hearts.

Oh what a wonderful holiday, Ariadne; I'd love to see America one day. Did you see any bears or hear any wolves?

Like everyone here we have had lots of great trips, especially when we go away with our closest friends and have lots of laughs. However we spent two and a half weeks in Mexico some years ago. We met American friends for a week on the Baja California. They had been lent an exclusive luxury time share house with its own pool. At the end of the week we flew to Mexico City on our own and embarked on a pre- arranged tour of the major sites of the country flying from town to town being met by a car and guide at every airport. It was so wonderful that my husband forgot he had turned 60 while we were away. This was by far and away the most expensive holiday we have had but it was worth every penny. It wasnt great because of the cost but because of the weather, what we saw, where we stayed, and the people we met. Sadly, some of the towns on our itinerary are now off limits to lone travellers due to kidnappings and drug- related violence.
We tried meeting up with our American friends two years later for another holiday but my husband was taken seriously ill right at the beginning of the trip, but that goes under our worst holiday ever ......

My current holiday is the best - permanent retirement!

Any holiday in the past that involved hiking in the Yorkshire Dales was a favourite.

I remember a nice caravan holiday in the granite belt at Girroween (Southern edge of Queenland) with our then two year old. It was a beautiful place and a happy family time. www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks/girraween/index.html

Joan - I am looking forward to exploring Australia when I live in NZ - I believe Tasmania is very beautiful with some good mountains! And , of course, I will be looking for coral.

Crimson we do love America! It started when DH was serving in Belize and we met up in Miami and toured around, right down to Key West. Then we acquired the daughter of our dear friends - she was at university with DD. they live in Nebraska, but holiday up in Minnesota. So we have gone to, say, Colorado, or a conference in California, but always flown up to Minneapolis and driven to the cabin for a week at the end. Total peace and beauty.

Yes, I've seen bears, but not wolves. The loons have an amazing, haunted cry.
(I should add that we have travelled a lot in this country too, and there are bits that I love)

Greatnan we've been on quite a few flotilla sailing holidays generally around Greece and love it. We generally go with Sailing Holidays who are a New Zealand company. Would you be going it alone or with others? For singles they do a pot luck flotilla when it's pot luck (believe it or not) who you share with and some of the bigger boats do have en suites. I have to say though that the last flotilla we went on with them wasn't up to their usual standard on the social side but that may have been our bad luck.
This year we went with a couple of friends to Turkey (two countries flotilla in the brochure) with Sunsail in a 39 foot Beneteau. Two loos! If you're used to a 21 foot boat then you'll know what the cabins are like space wise! These boats are all a dream to sail. Most of Sailing Holidays boats have roller reefing and in mast furling - it's all done from the cockpit! Send for the brochures, we love it!

Many thanks, but I would never opt to share with a stranger! I suppose any boat with individual en-suite cabins would be very expensive.
Another holiday I have considered is island-hopping around Greece, staying a few days on each island.
I have had lovely holidays on Crete, Lesbos, Zante and Cyprus but I have not been to the Greek mainland yet. So much to see, so little time!

We have had lots of great holidays visiting lots of Europe with the children. For my husband's fortieth birthday we took a month to drive to Venice and back. He really enjoyed planning great trips.

I think my favourite to date has been the River Cruise we took a couple of years ago. It was the first on our own after quite a traumatic period in our lives.

In a couple of weeks we are going to stay in the Peak District, near Ashbourne, which I am really looking for ward to.

Posted too soon.

The holiday we had in Japan when our son got married was probably the most memorable. The people are wonderful (mostly - ex dil excepted) and the scenery fabulous. The food was quite an adventure, especially the whale and the raw horse.

Woody, I did your holiday in reverse a few years ago, but without the cruise, started off in Vancouver and then got the train to Banff staying in the Fairmont Hotel, looks a bit like Colditz from the outside and then on to Calgary to meet up with my cousin who I had made contact with on Genes Reunited researching family history. That was a good holiday, but I would be hard pressed to opt for a favourite, I enjoyed this year's holiday which was a few days in New York and then we got the Amtrack down to Savannah, Georgia for 10 days and then back to New York again. I loved Mexico visiting Mayan ruins, loved California and I adore Italy, Venice, Rome Lake Garda Italy is beautiful and love the food. Top of my still to go places would be Argentina/Brazil/Chile and my husband's is New Zealand, but having been to Australia when I was younger the length of the flight to NZ puts me off a bit, although I'm sure it's great when you get there. Oh and still want to do real Spain have seen the Alhambra but I hear Cordoba is spectacular. I deeply regret not doing Egypt it would have been top of my list a few years ago I feel it's a bit unstable at the moment.

Always the next one!

Every holiday we had with the boys when they were young. First we used to tow a caravan to Devon or Cornwall then to France. Afther that various hotels, apartments or villas in France, Italy or Portugal. They believe that the sun always shone when we went on holiday in the UK but it didn't and we always found plenty to do. All of them have recently taken sentimental journeys back to the SW. One even proposed to his girlfriend at Kynance Cove because of his happy memories.

Since it has been just the 2 of us we have been able to travel further afield and have had some great trips. My 60th birthday was mostly a surprise trip round Italy and returning home on the Orient Express which was super. For our Ruby Wedding we went to the Maldives and had a fantastic upgrade from what was already a great holiday. Last year we took a last minute private trip round Northern India which was again wonderful. We have plans for other exciting trips so that is why it has to be the next one always.

It is good that we enjoy each other's company and whatever we do together we have a good time. I think it is because we go expecting good things to happen that they do.