Cheap exotic vacations?

[chaishai 1]

My husband's family is giving us $4000 to go on a belated honeymoon, anywhere we want to go.

We want to do something exotic. Neither of us wants to go to Mexico (the obvious choice); we'd prefer to go somewhere where we could rent a small apartment for a week.

It has to be warm, preferably with beaches. Night life isn't an issue because we're not party-happy, but we'd like a good mix of beachy-ness plus culture like ruins/museums/wildlife/etc.

I'm thinking about Peru, but he seems dead set against it for some reason. At first he wanted to go to Morocco but just flying out there would eat up all of our money! Blech.

Any suggestions?

thailand. it costs alot to get there but its otherwise cheap. so if you can find good airline tix and its appealing to you...

[chaishai 1]

i think where you live factors into this. west coast, east coast, area in between... so we can understand what you have to work with for airline tix.

you could do an all inclusive at any of the caribbean islands. i dont really like all inclusive, or beaches, but grace bay beach in providenciales in turks and caicos is unreal and beaches is the all inclusive there. i would think you could do all that for under 4K but again it would depend on where you are flying from.

edited to say i think its actually sandals not beaches, same diff

Edited December 31, 2008 by chaishai

[HannahP 119]

Hello HannaP...

what would you really consider exotic?

It seems you're looking for something more in the laid-back range. Check out the Lesser Antilles. On 4K you can do the resort thing but for that you may as well go to the Florida Keys.

I think when I say exotic, I mean: not in the US and you're right, natch, not a resort. Which is why I kind of worry about the Bahamas because my friends/family who've gone basically all did the resort-package thing. Another friend suggested the Lesser Antilles as well; there's beaches, but also a lot of cultural stuff to do which is important to me. My hubby's family took us on a cruise and we just couldn't lay out in the sun/swim/drink margaritas for days on end like all the other guests.

Costa Rica also came to mind, as did Buenos Aires and Brazil (which probably fits best with our desire to rent a little apartment and experience life there.)

What sucks is that we're probably more of the European-vacation types but like Confucian said, our budget is limited to a certain area. Also, we're in Kansas so there aren't too many geographical perks. Mexico is closest/cheapest but I'm being picky.

Anyway, thank you guys so much for helping me out! I've been checking out airfares and compiling a list so we'll see what happens. I'll definitely let ya'all know when we decide.

[Jasman0717 8]

Dumaguete in the Philippines has a lot to offer

4k limit, airfare for 2 would take most of that.

But Dumaguete is so much fun and they probably would have a grand left. Heck, we spend a week at the Santa Monica Beach Resort and it only cost us a couple hundred including food. Of course that was four years ago

[Key 0]

Hello,

I just read your pose..if you like to used ur money that your family just give you both i think u can go to the philippines if you like. 2k roundtrip ticket for both of you is good and philippine peso 48 peso depending how much is the exchange rate per day 48-$1 so it is good if you will have 1k or almost 2 thousand left its just fine..

As other filipino reviewer u can go to places that have a nice beach that is less expensive. dumaguete, siquijor, cebu have lots of beaches to offer! Boracay and palawan is more popular but for your personality i think u prefer more to the places i said to you.

Just let me know guys if you want some help i can help you.

No worries i am a good filipina working in DFA and attouch to DOT in Cebu City and i graduated tourism so i know more..i just want to help people here with regards to their travel since i am good in looking prices and searching good deals. I just miss working my field and i dont like my mind and expertise will be totally washed away. I am just a houewife now taking care of my little baby and not allowed to work and just missing it.

Just feel free to ask more questions about Philippines and i can help you assists with your trip:-)

Have a good day

[andreea 0]

u can go almost anywhere. depends very much of yr standards and yr skills in research. if u go for most advertised accomodation and restaurants in an area, might be tough. but if u r good at doing yr homeworks before going some place, u can find very good deals anywhere. and that's also part of experiencing the place too. if u hang more where tourists do, is going to be expensive and u'll only see the made up for tourists part of the place. usualy before we travel we do our homeworks well, and try not follow touristic agencies advices. we used virtualtourist site,and that was always helpful too. we rent somth before (usualy an apartment as u said, we r not too much into hotels and organized stuff), but always start with the idea that things might not be as they seem, but if it turns to an adventure that can be fun too. now as i said, depends very much of yr standards and what u want to do there.

enjoy life,

Andreea

[alienlovechild 75]

I think when I say exotic, I mean: not in the US and you're right, natch, not a resort. Which is why I kind of worry about the Bahamas because my friends/family who've gone basically all did the resort-package thing. Another friend suggested the Lesser Antilles as well; there's beaches, but also a lot of cultural stuff to do which is important to me. My hubby's family took us on a cruise and we just couldn't lay out in the sun/swim/drink margaritas for days on end like all the other guests.

I'm not a beach or resort guy but I'd go for Mexico. Cheaper, has a lot of history back to the Pre-Columbian, varied terrain, good food, nice people, not xenophobic towards tourists.

Costa Rica also came to mind, as did Buenos Aires and Brazil (which probably fits best with our desire to rent a little apartment and experience life there.)

I haven't been to those places but Argentina and Chile are on my list.

Wherever I go, I usually skip the big touristy places or mega cities to see how most people live without the crowds and hassles. The locals aren't as jaded and you can see a lot of oddball stuff that most tourists don't see.

[Addie_Goodvibes 0]

Borracay Philippines,

Phuket Thailand

Costa Rica

All exotic all cheap & beautiful.

[Mononoke28 134]

I know you may think it's biased and a weird recommendation by I highly recommend a trip to Colombia. It's safe, inexpensive and with your budget you can travel to many different cities and get to see a whole lot of different places you'd never thought you'd see.

Diana