Hello,
I have two weeks to travel around Christmas and New Years. We live in Portland, OR and would like to travel somewhere warmer.
We like the idea of visiting places with a variety of things to do, including some (or all!) of the following:
- beautiful mountains / beaches / rainforest / hikes
- cultural city life / architecture
- rich history
- animals (dolphins?) / safari
We are hoping to travel fairly budget-friendly, including cost / ease of accessibility for traveling to various sights. Splurging a bit is fine on a tour, as long as other expenses come out on the lower end.
Do you have the perfect place in mind that would be nice weather-wise in December? We have recently been to Maui and traveled all over the island, 5 hotels in 6 nights. It was amazing. We are considering another trip to a different island, just because it's easy, but I would love to take advantage of the long chunk of time I have. Ideas we are considering, though know little about: Thailand, Costa Rica, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, or even Spain... there's not really anywhere we'd say "no" to, unless the only main highlight is to sit at a resort or go shopping. If it's too hot and sweaty to do much comfortably besides sit by the water, I'd rather find somewhere a little cooler. We've only recently taken our first trip to Europe, mainly in Germany, so we are not super-experienced travelers.
We also have a short (8-10 days) available to travel in early April, and would welcome any ideas for places that might be nicer at that time of year, but also doable on a short trip.