Basher asked:


I’ve been looking at where to go in Thailand in July but am confused. Phuket seems to be the place but is in the rain season and can get awful wet that time of year. I was told Pattaya for the weather but some of the reviews rates it as pretty seedy in places. The prices and quality of holiday Villas is much better in Pattaya but am going with my wife and 16 yr old Daughter.

Help me out…I seem to get more confused the more I look into it!! I’m open for different areas, the only thing I have so far is the flights to Bangkok in July…open to suggestions.

Baris

Seb Palmer asked:


Every August the South of France fills up as the rest of France arrives. Motorways can be horrible and the traffic near the beaches even worse. But the reputation, while sometimes deserved, is overdone. With a little homework, even in August it is still possible to find your own place in a villa with a pool in the sun far from the crowds.

A quick geographical tour of some of the areas of interest:

The Cote d’Azur: is the area stretching West as far as Menton. The scenery is beautiful. It is here that the foothills of the Alps fall off at the coast. This dramatic combination of scenery and sea views is one of the things that makes the area so famous. Villas that are a little way inland are generally the best value for money in the area: you will find some very comfortable holiday villas for about half of what one pays closer to the coast. For most people, this area has the ideal combination of pretty villages and easy driving distance to the sea when one is so inclined. Villas in the area are in the areas around Valbonne, Opio and Tourrettes-sur-Loup. A little further West, in the areas around Grasse are the villas with the most spectacular views in the South of France.

The stretch to the East of Nice that includes Monaco, Cap Ferrat and going as far as the Italian border is the home of serious money. One of the reasons for this is of course the beauty of the scenery and the quality of the building. Rents for villa holidays are similarly breathtaking, either impressive or wasteful depending on how you see the world.

The Var is a very popular spot for vacations in the area around the Gulf of St Tropez. St Tropez proper is a stylish suntrap which came to prominence in the 50s when Brigitte Bardot and others graced the then undeveloped sands. The development of the town has come on some way since then and it is packed in the summer, but it retains a certain exclusivity: celebrity spotting is not hard in St Tropez.

Villa holidays in St Tropez proper are not cheap, but as you get further inland so the scenery improves with spectacular views over the Gulf of St Tropez, and the villa rents go down. Around the Gulf at Beauvallon are a number of charming villas for about one third of what one pays a few kilometres closer to the so-called ‘action’. There are also a some attractive and realistically priced villas near the charming village of Grimaud. The style of villas in the St Tropez area is dictated by local government, and must be in a Provencal style. Further West, towards Grasse, a more modern style of villa can be found alongside the traditional Mas Provencal.

Some practical considerations: Tradition in France dictates that some villa owners insist on minimum two-week bookings in villas during peak periods. The airports for the areas mentioned are at Nice and Toulon.



Trudie

beverley h asked:


i dont know if its true, but i was told that there is this company that has a villa in your name, they rent it out (for holidays) in your name and you get to stay there for a holiday when you wont, and you get the villa in about 20 - 30 years is it true, no horrible answers please

Norina

Simon Johnson asked:


For the sun lover, you can enjoy the beautiful beaches of Corfu or simply indulge yourself in some extravagant shopping in the maze of its tapered streets. The tourist can explore Corfu by foot or if you prefer, rent a vehicle to go around the beautiful town named Corfu, named after the Island. The natural beauty of the island is just breathtaking and you can also get to know more about the history that the island encloses. This beautiful island has a vast amount to offer, from resorts and innumerable beaches to some of the best and stunning sand sweeps.

Spending holidays in Corfu-

Corfu offers some of the best beaches for its tourists with plenty of options to enjoy under the sun. The second biggest water park in Europe is at Corfu where you can enjoy a number of slides and other activities. So you can enjoy the water sports riding the banana boat, jet-skis, windsurfing, and scuba-diving. Enjoy the game of golf in the lush green surroundings of the town, horse riding around the town as well as the beach, and also experience the excitement with mountain biking.

Food, Drink, and Night Life -

From the restaurants, caterers to night clubs and bars, Corfu caters to the needs of everybody. After dinner, you can enjoy a relaxing time with drinks at some of the local bars.

Pelekas Caf?You can enjoy the cool ambiance of the caf?nd enjoy a wide variety of coffees from Espresso, Frappe, Cappucino and the most famous amongst the visitors, the Greek coffee. You can enjoy some great variety of beers, both local and imported ones. As the day transforms into the night, the party here at Pelekas Caf?s ready to come alive.

Staying at Corfu-

Corfu offers some of the best villas that offer packaged villa holidays and only villa holidays accommodation. From countryside farmhouses and holiday villas with pools to a cottage with nice view of the blue sea water, you name it and Corfu has it. Tourists can arrange their personal travel arrangements while staying here.

Shopping-

There is a lot to shop at Corfu. The local artists have their proficiency in making the olive wood statues. Very famous in Corfu, are goods made exclusively of gold, leather and pottery. There is a mixture of French, Venetian and British architecture backdrop to some of the dissimilar street markets. You can bargain with the traders on the prices but it is not really needed as the prices are generally already so low.

Language-

Indo-European language or Greek language is the oldest and the most spoken one here.



Firat

Joanna M Lawson asked:


If like me, you have been bitten by the ‘Holiday Villa Bug’, you will already know that no hotel can match the privacy and luxury of a good Villa Holiday. The great news is that today there are even more villa rental options out there than ever before. Not to mention the fact that if you know how to choose the right holiday rental villa you will be saving a lot of money in comparison to the same level of service in a comparable quality hotel.

It seems that no where in the world has seen as big an explosion of luxury fully serviced holiday villas, as the island of Bali in Indonesia.

OK, I happen to be blessed with a great line of work, as a Travel Writer, and have been lucky enough to stay in some of the best tropical resorts around the world, especially in Asia. But still for me, nothing compares to the peace, luxury and delights (not to mention the cost effectiveness) of staying in a good serviced villa in Bali.

So, what makes a ‘good holiday villa’?

Like everyone else, I have learned how to choose the perfect villa through luck, some mistakes and sheer experience.

Here are my top tips for choosing the right villa in Bali for your next Bali holiday.

Location-Location-Location

This sounds obvious, but it is not always easy to make the right location decision when we are sat at home, far away from our holiday destination.

Like every other world-class holiday destination, Bali offers a range of options, from ‘central’ locations, to those which offer ‘absolute tranquility’.

I personally like a balance between the two. On a Bali villa holiday, the last thing one needs is to be sooo central that you feel like you are an extension of a night club’s base unit till wee hours of the morning. On the other hand, I really don’t want to be more than 15-20 minutes away from where the restaurants, shops and the action is. I like my villa to be certainly quiet, preferably amongst rice fields, but at the same time accessible (within 30 minutes of the airport, and a few minutes from the action).

The great thing is that Bali caters for all of these tastes.

Those seeking a central location, with a lively night life may want to look into Legian and Seminyak, (I exclude Kuta area from this list, as there are hardly any proper rental villas left in this bustling tourist centre).

Those who don’t mind a bit of a trek, and don’t want to go out and about much during their holiday, may opt for areas such as Uluwatu or Canggu and beyond.

For me the perfect choice is Kerobokan and Umalas areas. Quiet rural environment, surrounded by rice terraces and real villagers going about their real daily routines (instead of trying to push you a handicraft (Kuta) or pull you into a restaurant you really couldn’t care for (Seminyak)).

Quality and Availability of Service Now this is an area where villas differ from each other immensely. In Bali most villas proclaim to be ‘fully serviced’. However, how ‘fully’ and how ‘serviced’ range from the most basic to being totally pampered.

A good villa should provide a guest to total staff ratio of nearly 1 to 1, or at least 1.5 to 1. So, if you are a group of 8 you should be looking at, at least, 5-6 full time staff, or for a group of 4 at least 3-4 full time staff. Sounds ostentatiously high? It really isn’t once you consider the effort it takes to keep a holiday villa, its gardens, and the pool in a tip-top shape.

Of course, quantity is never the only answer. The staff needs to be full-time and fully-trained at a professional level. There are too many villas out there, which are run by ‘part-time’ managers and staff who actually have other full time jobs elsewhere!

Your Own Chef

One of the great pleasures of traveling to a foreign destination is to experiment with and experience the local cuisine. And what better place to experience this, than in the comfort of your own villa!

So, make sure that your villa comes with its own Chef. Once you have tasted the delights of enjoying home cooking in your own villa, you will probably not want to venture out to restaurants at all. The best thing is, having your own private villa Chef in Bali, is substantially cheaper than eating out.

However, make sure to check how the Chef arrangement works.

Ideally, the Chef cost should be included in your rental rate. In this case all you have to pay for are the cost of the ingredients which are purchased for you, typically at the local market/supermarket prices, with no mark-up. So, financials of eating at your own villa becomes just like eating at home, but without lifting a finger, and at substantially lower Bali prices.

Some villas claim to offer a Chef service, but charge restaurant/hotel prices for each dish that the chef prepares for you. I prefer to avoid these, as I can always pop out to a restaurant if I so wished anyway.

So, check to make sure that the Chef is part of your villa team, and that you will not be charged incrementally for food on a per item basis.

Your Villa Manager

A professional Villa Manager makes a huge difference to your enjoyment of your holiday. Even if you have been to Bali many times before, a good Villa Manager can be a much valued life-line, a great source of shopping tips, and a problem solver. A good villa manager can provide a wealth of directions/advice, from where to eat, to which river to choose for your white-water rafting adventure in which season, or where the cheapest golf courses are, to which temples to visit to see which local ceremonies.

Needless to say, they should also be managing the villa team, and making sure that the quality of service and cleanliness are never compromised.

Before I book a villa in Bali, I always check to see what the Villa Manager arrangement is like, and that there is a full time Villa Manager on site at the villa I am planning to rent. Typically, for good villas, you can expect to have your own dedicated Villa Manager, or have a Villa Manager who is working at 2-3 adjacent villas. However, if a Villa Manager is expected to look after 5-6+ villas, then you are most likely not going to see him for more than a few minutes a day, only during his courtesy visits (at best), so you loose out on the real benefits of having the inside-track.

Villa Quality & Upkeep

Be very, very weary of any rental villas which can not provide you with more than at least 20 recent photos of the property. These photos should show you not only the outside of the buildings, but also the living/dining areas, as well as insides of bedrooms.

If you are not provided with a sufficient number of photos giving you a clear idea of the property, then it is quite likely that there is something substantially wrong with the property, such as a building overlooking it, an abattoir next door, or at the least peeling paintwork or missing fixtures/furniture.

Remember, not all villas are created equal. But additionally, not all villas are kept and maintained equally well. It is your right to request and see these photos of the property.

Mod-Cons

OK, you are planning to stay on a tiny island, in the middle of the tropics. What mod-cons should you expect? From own experience, I would suggest that even in the middle of the tropics, good Bali villas should be able to provide at least the following mod-cons:

Air-conditioning in all bedrooms

Clean, Western style kitchen -fully equipped with a fridge, microwave, electric kettle, and a coffee maker, as well as sufficient crockery and cutlery

Safe deposit box - at least one for your private villa use, and preferably one in each bedroom

TV/Satellite/DVD Player - as there will always be someone who wants to catch the news, or children who will need entertaining

Telephone - whilst many of us live attached to our mobile/cellular phones, it is important that there is a permanent phone connection at the villa, in case of emergencies

En-suite bathrooms - if you are looking at going as a family or a group of friends, you really don’t want to spend your holiday in Bali queuing for the next available slot at shared facilities!

Enjoying a fully staffed and serviced villa with your own Chef may seem like an un-attainable dream in most other parts of the world. However, renting a Villa in Bali is by far one of the most cost effective ways of enjoying this beautiful island and the company of its hospitable people.

Now armed with this check-list you are ready to plan you next dream holiday in a Villa in Bali. Like me, you will probably never want to leave, and go back to reality!

Many happy returns…



Ruth