Couples’ holidays would normally apply to young couples, who have not yet had children and older couples, whose children have grown up. Many young couples have to take short holidays because of work constraints but would probably enjoy camping or hiking. Older couples, many of whom may have retired, are more flexible timewise but would prefer less strenuous activities. They will also have hopefully saved up enough money to splash out on nice holidays in retirement. Older couples would probably wish for more comfortable lodgings and forego the camping. Many couples would tend to favour holiday destinations outside children’s holiday periods because there are less crowds, less children and it is cheaper.
Activity Holidays
Keen walkers can enjoy the 350 km England Coast to Coast walk from the Lake District to the Yorkshire moors as well as the 400 km Pennine Way from the Peak district to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish borders. More exotic walks include the 200 km Stephenson trail in the Cévennes, France (where Robert Louis Stevenson walked with his donkey) and the long but beautiful 900 km El Camino de Santiago walk from central France to Santiago de Compostela in North Western Spain. The 80 km Inca Trail in Peru in the Andes mountains finishes in the ancient lost mountain-top Inca city of Machu Pichu (one of the seven wonders of the world), takes four days and requires acclimatising oneself to the altitude beforehand. Pre-booking is mandatory. If you are really athletic, try running one of the many marathons organised throughout the world such as in Berlin, New York, London, Brussels and Paris. For the less athletic, there are half and quarter marathons in, for example, Edinburgh and Bath and the Great North Run at Newcastle.
Golfers can play at the many beautiful golf courses in the Algarve, Portugal as well as in Marbella, Spain and St. Andrews and East Lothian in Scotland.
Image: Fevi Yu
Other less strenuous activities include painting classes in Edinburgh, cookery classes with a French chef in Bath, wine tasting events in France, whisky tasting in the Scottish Highlands and the Munich Beer Festival.
Improve your ability to speak foreign languages and have fun by learning Spanish in Malaga or Salamanca, French in Avignon or Nice, German in Freiburg-im-Breisgau or Thai in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Winter holidays
These are great for reviving the spirits in the long winter nights. Enjoy some Christmas cheer by going to the Christmas markets in Aachen and Cologne in Germany or cruise the Norwegian Fjords and see the Northern Lights for a spectacular display.
Skiers have plenty of lovely resorts to choose from such as Seefeld in the Austrian Tyrol and Arosa in Switzerland. In Chamonix in the French Alps ski the scenic ‘Galcier du Géant’ and from Val Gardena ski the ‘Sella Rond’ in the spectacular Italian Dolomites. Further afield, ski the glorious dry powder snow runs at Aspen in Colorado.
Image: raider of gin
Romantic Holidays
Visit Paris in the spring and walk down by the Seine and down the Champs-Elysées, visit Montmartre and go to the Louvre museum. Rent an apartment in Venice and take a gondola down the canals or visit the beautiful Italian cities of Florence and St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican and the coliseum in Rome. Enjoy the sun in Faro in the Algarve in the autumn or experience the bright city lights of New York anytime. Tango in Buenos Aires, Argentina and visit the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador to see the giant tortoises and blue-footed Booby birds up close. Lie on the white sands and swim in the turquoise waters of the Maldives, Seychelles or the exotic island of Bali. From the Whitsundays or lady Elliot Island snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, Australia – one of the seven wonders of the natural world.
Image: Paul
Staycations
Closer by, visit the dreaming spires of Oxford university city, walk through beautiful Alnwick Castle and Gardens, walk across to Holy Island at low tide and admire its serene beauty, visit the Scottish capital of Edinburgh with its Royal Mile linking the castle to the Palace. In August, attend the Arts Festival there encompassing theatre, comedy, opera, ballet and art exhibitions. Admire the New Forest with its ponies roaming wild, the spectacular Chesil Beach in Dorset, the quiet university city of Cambridge, the market town of Canterbury with its majestic cathedral and the Minsters at Durham and York. Explore the rolling countryside of the Scottish Borders with its Border Abbeys, pretty villages and market towns. If you have walked the length of the Pennine Way, drop in for a free pint at the Borders Inn in Kirk Yetholm. Experience mind-blowing views of the Cuillin Mountains from the Sleat Peninsula on the Island of Skye in Scotland.
Adult Only Holidays
Go on a fascinating tour of Andalucia either by bus or by hiring a car to and see the Alhambra Palace of Granada, watch pretty girls dancing Flamenco at the Feria de Abril in Seville, drink sherry in Jerez-de-la Frontera and walk round the must-see Mezquita in Cordoba. If you have money to spare, travel on the luxurious Simplon Orient Express from London to Venice, and join in the Carnival of Venice in the Spring. Visit Cairo in Egypt, see the pyramids of Giza (the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world still intact) then take a cruise boat slowly down the Nile , admiring the countryside unchanged since biblical times to Luxor, the valley of the Kings and Abu Simbel. Wander around the Medinas and souks of Tunis, Tunisia and Fez, Morocco and do a bit of bargaining for carpets, scarves and tablecloths. Visit frenetic Las Vegas, the enormous Grand Canyon and the arid Death Valley in the United States. Enjoy the Mardi Gras Festival in New Orleans, capital of Louisiana with the fantastic costumes and floats through the street and join in the Cajun dancing. Visit South America, see scenery to kill for at the Torres del Peine National Park in Chile and visit the “ends of the earth” at Ushuaia in Tiera del Fuego, Argentina. Visit the breathtaking Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg , take the fascinating river cruise to Moscow and visit the famous Kremlin there. Take the Trans-Mongolian express train through seven time zones in Russia and China and experience the untamed wilderness and wild steppes with their nomadic people. Visit New Zealand’s staggering fjords of Milford Sound with its amazing waterfalls and Doubtful Sound with its unbelievable silence and scenery. Stop off at the unique orchid botanical gardens in Singapore and walk into the Big Buddha on Lantau Island in Hong-Kong. If you have time, visit Vietnam, where you can take a junk trip round the spectacular islands of Ha Long Bay, crawl into the Cu Chi tunnels used by the Vietcong during the Vietnamese war and get clothes made overnight in Hoi An.
Image: David McKelvey
