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The Best Beach Holiday Locations

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Why are Beach Holidays the best?

Beach holidays are the best ever, sun sea and sand, loads to do including surfing, snorkelling or just sun tanning all in some of the worlds most beautiful locations!

Contents at a Glance

The Top Five Reasons a Beach holiday is...
Beach Holiday in Cape Town, South Africa
Beach Holiday in Mombasa, Kenya
Winter Sun Holidays
Beach Holidays in Malta
Beach Holidays in Gambia

Sea, Sun and Sand is always good on a holiday!
Beaches are fun holiday locations for kids and adults
Beaches are usually in beautiful locations
Many activities on a beach holiday - diving, surfing, tanning etc
Beaches are great for people watching

Beach Holiday in Cape Town, South Africa

Why Africa has some of the beast beach holiday locations

Capetown in South Africa is still the most sophisticated beach holiday destination in Africa, with the incredible backdrop of Table Mountain, excellent accommodation options and some of the best restaurants in the world it would be an excellent place to visit even without the beach. On top of that you can also enjoy the best wines and scenery of South Africa on the Garden Route, which stretches from Mossel Bay to the Storms River in the Western Cape. There are ten nature reserves in the area as well as unique marine reserves, home to soft coral reefs, dolphins, seals and a host of other marine life.

Combing golf with a beach holiday has always been popular in places like Spain and Portugal, South Africa and the Cape Region have some of the best Golf courses in the world, now you can combine a beach, golf and safari holiday, there is nowhere in Europe that can boast that!

What about the beaches? Cape Town has some excellent beaches, False Bay with the long sandy beach which extends from Gordon's Bay to Muizenberg and includes Boulders Beach and Simon's Town. The Atlantic Seaboard along the West (Atlantic) side of the Cape Peninsula with well known beaches including Sandy Bay, Clifton Camps Bay, Scarborough and Kommetjie. The West Coast, running Northwards from Cape Town with the windy conditions make these beaches popular for surfing and kite-surfing.

An important point to note is the sea in False Bay is about 6 degrees warmer than the Atlantic Seaboard and the West Coast!

On the down side, Cape Town is the furthest point in Africa you can travel to from Europe, so expect a long flight as mentioned above the water can be a little chilly and then it is probably one of the more expensive destinations in Africa.

Beach Holiday in Mombasa, Kenya

Why you should consider a beach holiday in Kenya

Kenya, probably best known for it's wildlife safaris on the Masai Mara but also has plenty to offer in the way of beach holidays on the coastline near Mombasa. The city of Mombasa is a "real" bustling African city and there is in stark contrast to the sophistication of Cape Town. There are however many fine places to eat to sample some more traditional African food as well as those catering to western palates. The Old town is also well worth visiting and Fort Jesus, a Portuguese fort built in 1593 by order of King Philip II of Spain, to guard the Old Port of Mombasa, Kenya. It was built in the shape of a man and was given the name of Jesus as a religious reference.

Along the coast there are plenty of places to stay with some of the most luxurious hotels you'll find anywhere in Africa, some great little beach cottages as well as basic beach side campsites, something for everyone.

The snorkeling and diving in Mombasa and the surrounding areas is also excellent and it is a great place to learn to dive with the prices here are substantially cheaper than many other well know diving locations. Bamburi beach is a great location to base your beach holiday in Kenya, about half an hour from Nairobi, there are some great hotels and beach cottages as well as an excellent PADI dive center located at the well know Travellers Beach Hotel.

Of course no trip to Kenya would be complete without some sort of Safari and they can be organised from Mombasa with a popular destination being the Tsavo National Park, less well known than the Masai mara, but at just over 21,000km sq, Tsavo is the largest national park in Kenya and one of the largest in the world with large herds of Elephant and plenty of lions, it is well worth considering if you want to take a break from relaxing on the beach!

Check out more beach holiday ideas on the beach holiday guide

Winter Sun Holidays

A guide to the best winter sun holiday destinations

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Beach Holidays in Malta

Winter Sun and Scuba Diving in Malta

I had a few holidays due to me in March and decided that I needed to find a place that was not too far from the UK, with cheap flights, warm enough to enjoy the beaches and have a few locations where I could go scuba diving!

Holidays in Malta
Malta was the perfect location, not to far from the UK and because I was traveling out of season I got some really cheap flights to Malta and a great deal on my Hotel.

for some more info check out the Beach Holiday Guide and their guide to Holidays in Malta

Diving in Malta
Too my great surprise there are many companies offering scuba diving in Malta, I decided to go with Paradise Diving Malta located right on the northern tip of the island at Cirkewwa by the Malta - Gozo ferry departure point. As a P.A.D.I. Gold Palm Resort they offer a range of diving courses, including Open Water Diver and Advanced Open Water Diver.

So Where is Malta
Malta is located south of Italy, about thirty seven miles south of the island of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea.

If you were to continue to travel further south you would reach North Africa. Because of this the weather in Malta is generally warm for most of the year.

Beach Holidays in Gambia

I travelled to The Gambia over Christmas a year ago and whilst I did not spend the entire holiday at the beach, I went on a Gambia River experience Safari, that took me three days up The Gambia River to see the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Association project.

I did however on my return to the capital of Banjul and stayed at the Gambia's main beach resorts mostly located in the resort area around and in Kombo district which is west of Banjul.

Here you will find many beach hotels as well as beach resorts that cater for people who are looking for a week or two to relax and enjoy the sun and fantastic beaches that The Gambia has to offer.

Just remember that some of these hotels get block-booked by tour operators and therefore you can often find cheaper deals by choosing an all inclusive holiday to the Gambia.

As for the beaches, I found that Cape Point Beach, which is in Northern Kombo to suite my needs as it was a little quieter than the others I visited. All had the typical tropical ideals of soft white sand and Palm trees.

Try this link for an excellent guide to The Gambia's best beaches

Photos of The Gambia and Beaches in The Gambia

Just to give you a taster of what to expect, below are some photos taken by people who have travelled to the Gambia

Parasols : nudes on the beach at dawn, Banjul, The Gambia by ambabheg

CO 1069-26-12 by The National Archives UK

CO 1069-26-7 by The National Archives UK

CO 1069-26-6 by The National Archives UK

CO 1069-26-8 by The National Archives UK

automatically generated by Flickr

Beach Holiday Blog

Below are the latest posts from my Beach Holiday Blog, that is part of the Beach Holiday Guide Website.

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Cape Verde Beach Holiday

Ok here is a beach holiday location that is a little different and one that you may not have even heard of before, The Cape Verde islands.

For those of you who don't know, The Cape Verde Islands are a tiny group of tropical islands just off the West coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. Because of their location their temperature does not really drop below 24 degrees Celsius all year round. So for us here in Europe, it can make the ideal winter sun holiday location for a beach holiday.

Talking about the beaches, they are stunning, if you are looking for uncrowded, unspoilt beaches, Cape Verde has what you are looking for and for me makes a great place to visit as a honey moon or romantic beach vacation as all of the islands that we visited had a real laid back feel to them where the days just drift slowly by.

So if you are after a beach holiday a little off the beaten track, why not look into Cape Verde, I did, and I would definitely recommend it.

Dubai Holiday Packages

Whist Dubai would probably not spring immediately to mind as a beach holiday location, It does have beaches, with excellent weather (if not too hot sometimes) and then of course there is everything else that a holiday in Dubi has to offer...like the shopping, dune safaris, some of the best golf courses in the world and excellent hotels and restaurants.

Then there is the architecture: Some of the buildings in Dubai are simply stunning, you could even compare Dubai to the computer game Sim-city where expansion has no limit. The city boasts remarkable skyscrapers, such as the world's current tallest building, the Burj Dubai, and is also in the process of developing one of the most technologically advanced buildings in the world - The Pad. This is based on the idea of an iPod; this residential tower is set to be embedded with the latest gadgets that will have the power to change interior design and window views to almost anything imaginable.

Dubai is one of the most multicultural cities in the world with the expatriate community covering most of the population, with less than 10% of the total being national Emirates. Dubai's population is estimated at 1.5 million.

Tip: Because of it's excellent weather and it's location in the Middle East, Dubai also makes an excellent winter sun holiday destination.

So If you are looking for a city, shopping, beach holiday, why not give Dubai a try. And if so I suggest that Dubai Holiday Packages where your flight and hotel are included is the cheapest option of visiting this incredible place.

Beach Holiday Links

Some other resources that may help you find your perfect beach holiday location

3 sizzling Winter Sun Holiday Ideas: Winter at times can seem never-ending, but for those with a little patience, you could be leaving the cold and gloomy days behind and spending a few weeks of winter sun holiday bliss at a price that won't bite too hard this winter.

The Best Beach Holiday Locations

Why are Beach Holidays the best?

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

The Top Five Reasons a Beach holiday is the best

Beach Holiday in Cape Town, South Africa

Why Africa has some of the beast beach holiday locations

Beach Holiday in Mombasa, Kenya

Why you should consider a beach holiday in Kenya

Winter Sun Holidays

A guide to the best winter sun holiday destinations

Beach Holidays in Malta

Winter Sun and Scuba Diving in Malta

Beach Holidays in Gambia

Photos of The Gambia and Beaches in The Gambia

Beach Holiday Blog

Cape Verde Beach Holiday

Dubai Holiday Packages

Beach Holiday Links

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Great Beach Holiday Guides on Amazon

There are some great guides on beach holidays always worth reading before you go

Travel Advice Books

Where to go on a winter sun holiday this year?

Where to go on a Beach Holiday?

by chirundu

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