A Tunisia fits the bill perfectly. It’s liberal and used to tourists, and there are good bars and a vibrant nightlife. The weather should be hot and sunny in October, and there’s plenty to engage the mind, too.
Base yourselves at Port el Kantaoui and you’ll be ideally placed for side-trips to Tunis, the ruins at Carthage, and the picturesque clifftop village of Sidi Bou Saïd. The four-star Hasdrubal Hotel (www.hasdrubal-hotel.com) has a great beach and good pools. Wigmore Holidays (020 7836 4999, www.aspectsoftunisia.co.uk) offers 10 nights, B&B, in October from £770pp, including flights from London and transfers.
Another excellent beach and culture destination is Morocco. Essaouira has a broad beach and historic medina — and Marrakesh is within easy day-trip distance. The five-star L’Heure Bleue Palais (www.heure-bleue.com) offers a rooftop pool and beautiful rooms. Cadogan Holidays (0800 082 1006, www.cadoganholidays.com) has seven nights, B&B, from £854pp, including flights from Gatwick and private transfers.
Our personal choice would be a tour, spending three nights in Marrakesh at the stylish Riad Dar Anika (www.daranika.com), two nights in the Atlas Mountains at the Kasbah Samra retreat (www.douar-samra.com), and two nights in Essaouira at cosy Dar Liouba (www.darliouba.com). Simpson
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Travel (0845 811 6505, www.simpson-travel.com) can put together the above from about £800pp, including flights from Gatwick, private transfers and a four-hour guided hike in the Atlas Mountains.
Q I’m flying into Mumbai on a backpacking trip, heading for Goa. Is there a ferry along the coast?
Jack Ashton, London
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A There used to be. It was an old steamer that sailed overnight, back and forth, its decks always packed with sleeping bags — the serving hatch dispensing cold Kingfishers was about the only facility. But the sunsets were magical and it was a good place to meet other travellers.
The building of the Konkan railway up the coast made the ferry redundant, and you are now better off catching one of the twice-daily express trains — they run through the day or overnight and take about 12 hours. It’s almost impossible to get seats at short notice, so make sure to book in advance, through India Rail’s UK agent, SD Enterprises Ltd (020 8903 3411, www.indiarail.co.uk).
Alternatively, it’s an hour’s flight. Fares start at £35, one-way, with Kingfisher (www.flykingfisher.com) — the people behind the beer.
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Q I AM about to book a holiday to Bulgaria, but in light of yet another crash of a Russian-built plane, is flying there safe?
Jean Radcliff, Liverpool
A The dreadful reputation of Russian-built aircraft is enough to put anyone off flying, but despite several recent crashes, the picture isn’t as bad as you might think.
If you are flying with a scheduled airline, you’ll find almost all eastern European airlines have now replaced their Russian-built aircraft with new Airbus and Boeing planes. That goes for Bulgaria Air, Ukraine International Airlines, and Tarom (of Romania), for example, and while Aeroflot still has the largest fleet of the type that recently crashed — the Tu-154s — these are used mainly for domestic flights, with western-built planes used on routes to western Europe.
Some Tu-154s still fly into the UK on charters, though, so ask your travel agent or tour operator if you feel nervous.
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Balkan Holidays (0845 130 1114, www.balkanholidays.co.uk) has been flying people to Bulgaria for more than 40 years without serious incident, and while two of the seven aircraft they are using for this year’s flights are Tu-154s, the rest are Airbuses, and next year all of their summer charters will be. The change isn’t for safety reasons but because the Russian planes need a longer runway; the newer Airbuses allow Balkan Holidays to serve more UK regional airports. ()
Q I read in your newspaper about the new high- altitude railway line to Lhasa in Tibet. As I always get seasick when cruising, will I suffer altitude sickness on the new train? I am 67 and taking tablets for high cholesterol.
Sai Chung, by e-mail
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A Given the recent death of a passenger on this spectacular new route (see page 13), it’s an understandable concern. The Qinghai-Tibet railway is the world’s highest, reaching an epic 16,000ft.
But seasickness is a response to the motion of a ship at sea and unrelated to altitude sickness. If you don’t get motion sickness on other trains, there’s no reason this will be different.
Altitude sickness is caused by taking in less oxygen per breath — the body has to cope with about 40% less oxygen in the air at 12,000ft, and problems occur if we don’t acclimatise. This is why climbers sleep at base camps and higher stages before ascending to a high summit.
The train compensates by pumping extra oxygen into cabins and placing individual oxygen supplies by each seat — some passengers apparently used this on the first journey.
Seek medical advice before you travel if you have any cardiac or respiratory problems.
For more information, visit www.chinatibettrain.com.
Q I have booked flights with EasyJet to Istanbul in October, and a hotel near the Blue Mosque. As EasyJet doesn’t fly to Ataturk airport, what is the best way of reaching our hotel area?
Ali Hardy, by e-mail
A Istanbul’s Ataturk airport (www.ataturkairport.com) is used by most big airlines.
It’s 15 miles west of the city centre, on the European side, and has the easiest connections into Sultanahmet, where most tourists stay.
However, EasyJet, along with several other no-frills airlines, flies to the new Sabiha Gokcen airport (www.sgairport.com), 19 miles southeast of the city. The main problem is that it’s on the wrong side of the Bosphorus — the wrong side, that is, if you are heading for the popular tourist areas around the Blue Mosque in Sultanahmet.
A taxi is the quickest method, but, of course, it’s the most expensive too. It should take less than an hour to reach Sultanahmet’s hotels, but the fare will be about £40.
The other option is to go into the city centre, on the Asian side, and then catch a cab or further public transport onwards. There are regular buses, operated by Havas and costing £3, from the airport to Taksim Square. This is the city’s public transport hub, so it’s relatively easy to catch a ferry, taxi or bus from here.
Alternatively, take a short taxi ride from the airport to Pendik railway station (less than three miles away), from where there are trains into the city, with a journey time of 50 minutes.