Greek Islands on a budget-surely not?

Out of all of the places I have visited around the world, I have still not been to Greece and this year it is on my list of places to visit, ideally one of the Cyclades islands.
 
The Cyclades are a group of islands in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece. The Cyclades comprise of about 220 islands, the most popular being Mykonos, and Santorini.
 
In the past the only thing that has stopped me from going to any of these idyllic islands is the standard of accommodation and cost. Greece is typically know for basic accommodation unless you pay hundreds of pounds to stay in amazing hotels, until now that is.... I have spent sometime researching boutique style hotels for under £100 a night, and thanks to Cycladia it has made my search even easier.
 
Cycladia offers the most efficient on-line place to explore holidays in Greece. The website offers a great guide to the most beautiful places to stay, undiscovered locations, travel tips, best restaurants and bars, local products, savours, secret destinations,  and the best beaches. Follow their blog, or sign up to their newsletter.

Here are some of my options, which one should I choose????

Andromeda Studios, Sifnos

Kamaroti Suites Hotel, Sifnos

Rena's Suites, Santorini

 

 

Liostasi, Los

 

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A trip to Dubai

So my wonderful boyfriend, surprised me on my 30th with a trip to Dubai!!!! Having just returned I thought I would share with you some of the fabulous places we spent our evenings in this amazing city.

 Sky View Bar, Burj Al Arab


 



 

This bar is suspended on the upper floor of Burj Al Arab, the World’s most luxurious hotel, famously
know to be the only 7 star hotel in the world.
Unfortunately you can't just rock up for a drink you do have to book one of their dining packages, we opted for the sunset cocktails package, which cost around £100. Although this sounds a lot and isn't exactly 'budget' it was definitely worth the money, purely to experience this amazing hotel, plus you get to sample lots of cocktails and lots of yummy nibbles so what more could you want?!

Asado, The Palace Downtown Dubai
I can honestly say this is the best restaurant / hotel I have EVER been to in the world. I know that sounds corny but it really is. I had been recommended the restaurant by a friend who said the steak was to die for, so I was expecting good food, but was not expecting the setting. The restaurant literally looks out onto the Burj Kalifa, so every 30 minutes you witness a waterfall show.

If you visit Asado, make sure you ask for a table outside as the setting is just amazing!

The Meat Co, Dubai
Whilst wandering round Souk Madinat, we came across The Meat Co. where we stopped for a bit of lunch. The restaurant overlooks the water canal and  has the most spectacular views of the Burj Al Arab. A perfect spot to enjoy people watching over a lovely lunch.

Pai Thai, Dubai
I was recommended this restaurant by a friend and also came across it on Trip Advisor. The restaurant is part of Al Qasr Hotel, a boutique hotel set within Souk Madinat. When we arrived at the hotel for our reservation, we were expecting to be shown to the restaurant, little did we know we could only reach the restaurant by Abra (an Arabic boat as seen on the picture above)!!!. We meandered along the  Madinat’s waterways, and after a few minutes arrived at Pai Thai where we enjoyed an amazing Thai meal sat beside river. It truly is a fairytale environment, it is so peaceful and romantic and is literally one of those places that you wish everyone you knew was there to experience it with you, it really is a place you need to experience as I cannot possibly begin to describe it, hopefully the photos will help! Oh and of course the Thai food was out of this world, no wonder they have won Best South East Asian Restaurant for the fourth consecutive year!



 

Some other bars we went to.....

Bahri Bar- Great place to go for pre dinner cocktails

A’Rukn – The Courtyard - Located in the courtyard of the  Souk Madinat Theatre, essentially its a  an Arabic street café where you can watch the world go by whilst smoking Shisha.

Just a tip, as a lot of the restaurants in Dubai are within hotels you will need to pre book.

 

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The Banyan Tree Bangkok

I have just recently returned from The Banyan Tree Bangkok which was magnificent.

The hotel is located in the central business and embassy district on South Sathon Road, the hotel is 40 minutes' drive from Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

As you arrive at the hotel you are welcomed by a fire pit in the court yard, and staff dressed in traditional Thai attire. The hotel has a grand reception, along with a fantastic bar and 12 different restaurants.
I booked into a deluxe room and it exceeded my expectations. The room had a spacious bedroom, en-suite bathroom, adjoining living room and fully equipped work station and had lovely touches such as the aromatherapy burner with daily selection of essential oils, as well as the incense burner.

After familiarising myself with my room I then spent the afternoon by the roof top pool, which had panoramic views across Bangkok.

I then spent the evening at Vertigo and Moon Bar,one of the top ten roof top bars in the world. This bar/ restaurant was one of the best places I have ever had a drink in, you need to visit it to believe all you read about it. After travelling in the elevator, you arrive at Vertigo 61 floors later to an absolutely stunning view of Bangkok.

I only had a few drinks here, as they were fully booked for dinner (you have to book in advance). A lot of people on various travel review websites say it is overpriced (I paid about £6 for a Vodka Lemonade, which is the same as in the UK) but I would say you pay for what you get and that is a stylish, sophisticated roof top bar.

If you are planning a trip to Bangkok, then this is the place to stay.

 

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Cape Town-Boutique style

I have a friend who lives in Cape Town, and I am hoping to visit her next month. Finding a boutique hotel under £100 in the height of the season was proving quite tricky until I came across Maremoto.
Maremoto is a boutique hotel desinged by Joke Glauser. Each room shares a less-is-more decor theme, check it out...http://www.maremoto.co.za/

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Nice on a budget

I have just recently returned from Nice, South of France and thought I would share with you some tips on how to do the South of France on a budget.

Accommodation:

My search for a boutique hotel in Nice for under £100 returned some pleasantly surprising results all of which were in a great location.

Le Dortoir

Hotel Suisse Nice












NH Nice

Hotel Massena

In the end I opted for an apartment in the old town. I booked this through Your Nice Apartments and decided to stay at La Fleur. An excellent apartment, in an excellent location. Prices for La Fleur start at £53 per night.
Please visit their website as they have a variety of different apartments and villas.

Eating out:

Eating out in Nice and the rest of the South of France is slightly more expensive than the UK, but it is possible to do it on a budget. Why not go down to your local bakery every morning for breakfast g and buy the freshly made baguettes and croissants. For lunch why not experience the local market in the old town and pick up some fresh food and make up a picnic.

In the evening a lot of restaurants put on special offers, for example we ate in the old town one night and paid 25 Euros for a 3 course meal each and it was fantastic.

Transport:

I know you may find this hard to believe but you can purchase a bus ticket for 1 Euro per person per day and travel around the Cote d'Azur. We made the mistake of purchasing a ticket at each stop until someone told us its per day!! You can't get cheaper than that.

Alternately the train is very cheap or you can hire bikes to explore Nice which are free for the first 30 minutes and then 1 Euro for every hour after that.

Tip: Get the Airport bus into Nice from the Airport, it is 6.50 Euros and takes about 15 minutes to get into the centre of Nice

Places Budget Boutiques visited:

Nice
Monaco
St Jean Du Cap Ferrat
Beaulieu-sur-Mer
Villefranche-sur-mer Tweet Pin It Now!

Krabi Cha-da,Thailand

After a long, wet boat ride from Phuket, we picked up a tuk tuk from the beach and made our way to ‘luxury’ hotel for the next 5 days. When the tuk tuk driver turned round and said ‘you are here’ I look around and didn’t see a ‘luxury’ hotel in sight until I looked up and saw our hotel sign-it was above an internet café- this hotel turned out to be the worst hotel I had ever stepped foot in, in my life and I proceeded to turn right back around again and walked out.

In the sweltering 30 degree heat, my partner and I proceeded to find the ‘luxury boutique hotel’ we envisaged we would be staying in. After an hour of searching various hotels we resorted to the travel agent, who recommended the Krabi Cha-da to us. Within 5 minutes of booking the Krabi Cha-da a people carrier arrived to pick us up and as we arrived at the Krabi Cha da and I knew instantly we would love it here from the moment we walked in.

As soon as we approached the reception we were welcomed with a face cloth (which was a god send) and a freshening drink. We decided to upgrade to the Pool Access room as it was only £10 more a night and the room was beyond our expectations.

The rooms were warm, colourful and extremely clean (I am a clean freak) but the access direct to the pool was the most amazing feature and I am so glad we upgraded.

Breakfast was included which was magnificent; the choice of a full English, continental and Thai.

Our days were spent around the pool and boat trips to other islands and our evenings were spent in Ao Nang, Krabi enjoying the famous Thai cuisine and Thai beers. We also took full advantage of cheap massages- I think we had one every night!

To stay at The Krabi Cha-da cost us £65 per room per night but that was in the first week of January, rates at the moment, direct with the hotel are around £45 per room per night. You would expect from the price that this is a sub-standard hotel but I can honestly say this is one of the best ‘boutique’ hotels I have ever stayed in and when I return to Krabi I will stay here again.

Find the cheapest hotel price:

http://www.expedia.co.uk/
http://www.kayak.co.uk/
http://www.asiarooms.co.uk/

Islands we visited:

Railey Beach
Poda Island
Phi Phi
Maya Bay Tweet Pin It Now!

Riad's in Marrakesh

Budget Boutiques pick of Riad’s in Marrakesh for under £100 per room per night!

'Sometimes pictures speak louder than words'

Here are Budget Boutiques top 5 Riad's to stay in. For an excellent  guide to Morocco please visit http://www.visitmorocco.com/index.php/eng/Accueil

1. Riad La Maison Rouge

See what Trip Advisor says...

2. Riad dar one

See what Trip Advisor says...


3. Riad o2

See what Trip Advisor says...


4. Riad Dar Zaman

See what Trip Advisor says...


5. Riad Charlott

See what Trip Advisor says...



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