Short Cheap Break in March - Algarve? Gerona? - Advice

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sam86

Moderator
Feb 18, 2009
9,947
Looking for a bit of advice on a short cheap break in March.

It's my 25th, and wanted to go away for a few days with the Mrs, just to get away from work, the new flat, etc. We've only been on fairly lengthy holidays to places like Venice, Barcelona and Toronto, so we're not very clued up on places like the below.

We've found a few really cheap holidays in the Algarve. Around £80 each for 5 nights, including flights from Gatwick. Which is cheaper than we've spent on most hotels a night on previous holidays!

Seeing these holidays were the cause of the whole idea, so we now don't want to spend much more than that.

We're obviously not expecting much in terms of the hotel quality for that price, but wondered what the area is like, and as the price is pretty much the same for all different areas of the Algarve which area is better than others, etc.

The two that crop up the most are Faro, which I've heard of, and is where all the flights go, and the second is Albufeira, which I hadn't heard of until the Albion went last year.

Another place that keeps popping up, for slightly more, is Gerona in Spain.

They are all pretty much the same, e.g. huge blocks with hundreds of rooms, surrounded by about 3 swimming pools, all within a short walk of the beach.

All we are after is a short holiday, sitting round the pool or beach in fairly decent weather for March during the day, and at night a few decent restaurants, not too much of a clubbers paradise, but enough to do in the evening.

We watch quite a lot of 'undercover investigation' programmes, and have seen quite a few where they check the quality of hotels in places like the Algarve, and the majority of outcomes are slightly off putting, but they can't all be bad... right? :lolol:

Any advice is appreciated!

Cheers x
 




Albufeira's great, been a couple of times and would thoroughly recommend it. You've got the strip with all the bars and then Old Town with the nice restaurants. Something for everyone.

The problem with going in spring is the weather is very hit and miss. We had a week in March a couple of years ago and it was fantastic, hot sun everyday. Some friends went literally the next week and it pissed hard the whole time.
 


sam86

Moderator
Feb 18, 2009
9,947
Cheers fella.

Whats the transfers from the airport like? I can get one for about £10 each. But we land about 8.30pm, so by the time we're out the airport, it'll probably be close to 10.

As you also went in March, do you remember how much you paid? £80 each for 5 nights seems so cheap, especially as I imagine the flights cost about 50% of that, but then I guess all these massive blocks of apartments need to be cheap to fill up in March...

Yeah, I appreciate the weather is going to be bit hit and miss in March, just can't find any similar priced places with better weather, so will have to chance it. I'm sure we'll find something to do even if it is raining most days.
 




Is that £10 from Faro airport to Albufeira? Bargain, a taxi will set you back around 80 Euros as it's a 45 minute drive. Can't you get an earlier flight though? I've never understood arriving somewhere in the evening, you're essentially paying for a night's accommodation for nothing. easyjet.com innit. :thumbsup:

We didn't pay a lot, about £100 each I think for flights and hotel (bed and breakfast) for four nights.
 




sam86

Moderator
Feb 18, 2009
9,947
Is that £10 from Faro airport to Albufeira? Bargain, a taxi will set you back around 80 Euros as it's a 45 minute drive. Can't you get an earlier flight though? I've never understood arriving somewhere in the evening, you're essentially paying for a night's accommodation for nothing. easyjet.com innit. :thumbsup:

We didn't pay a lot, about £100 each I think for flights and hotel (bed and breakfast) for four nights.


Yeah, £10 from Faro to Albufeira, but it is a airport transfer shuttle bus, so I'm picturing a tin of sardines in my head, and stopping at every single hotel. Hopefully at 10pm it won't be too bad.

I agree about arriving late. After I found these holiday packages I looked at doing it separately and EasyJet is £60 return for a morning flight out and evening flight back, with no luggage. Haven't looked at prices for booking a hotel individually yet. Wouldn't know where to start too be honest, there's too many of them! If it turns out not too much more, it is something I'll consider as I agree about the extra day there.
 




Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,830
Uffern
I spent a few days in Girona many years ago and loved the place: it's an old medieval city, perfect for chilling out. It's not near a beach though - it must be at least 20 miles to the coast.

I've been to the Algarve too, but I wasn't too impressed. But if all you want to do is lie on the beach for a few days, Algarve has those in abundance.
 




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