Two years ago my husband & I went to Cartagena, Columbia in February. Direct flights from JFK on JetBlue - reasonably priced. Fascinating city. You can spend a couple of days there & then take a boat to nearby islands for a day or two of beach. The food was fantastic and very reasonable.
I’m going to Savannah, Ga. with a girlfriend for 3 days in Feb. Got cheap ($200 r/t) flights on JetBlue again - have never been there. Doubt it will be beach weather, but it will be warmer than NY!
In St. Pete, stay in the southern most section of St. Pete Beach, (Pass a Grille) and northward to just north of the Don Cesar, no high rises. The rest of St. Pete has some buildings up to 10 floors, they are spread out along the beach and not wall to wall. You can rent kayaks at Ft. DeSoto, rent bicycles at Merry Pier, take the ferry to shell island, take a sunset sailboat cruise, lots of hiking trails nearby. Pass a grille is charming with a beach museum. Corey Ave. at the northern end of St. Pete Beach has some unique shops as well as a craft beer place and a Sunday Market. Downtown St.Petersburg has the Dali Museum and others. You can take the hop on/off trolley to tour the building murals. Very walkable area of shops, antiques/vintage, entertainment, unique places to eat. Check the online edition of Paradise News. paradisenewsfl.com. Things to do in St. Petersburg: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-things-st-petersburg-fl/
There are nonstop flights to the Azores from Boston. Do you know if those tend to be affordable?
Regarding the Azores, in August our choice for direct flights to São Miquel, Azores, was either NyC, Boston OR Toronto. Our Flights from NYC were $700 round trip, but you may find better deals if you watch prices.
It’s about 4 1/2 to 5 hour flight.
Off season rates for flights and hotels much less.
This could be an issue (not sure it still is since I haven’t heard anything recently) if the OP wanted a resort. I thought they didn’t - hence my suggestions. We aren’t resort people ourselves.
Many US cities can rival the crime rates of other places. Folks only think they’re safer here because not all that many get personally affected by crime. That’s pretty much true overseas too. Take the customary precautions and one is usually fine. Lone lunatics can be lurking literally anywhere. The local news tonight talked about an unsolved daytime shooting Saturday in a small city near us (pop 44,000). There were 22 homicides just in that county last year, 17 of those were in the city.
We had oodles of people asking us if we were crazy because we let our son study abroad in Jordan plus we went to visit ourselves while he was there. We ended up telling people, “Yes, pray for us. We have to depart and return through Philly…” The city of Philadelphia, PA has more crime than the whole country of Jordan even though the city of Amman (the Philadelphia of Biblical days) has close to 3 times the population of its US namesake (4 million Jordan city vs 1.5 million US city). If we’re talking homicides, Philly (US) had 355. The whole country of Jordan had 133 (population of the country is 9.7 million).
I haven’t compared the DR and am too lazy to do so right now. I knew most of the Jordan/Philly data due to endlessly repeating it to those who thought we were crazy. It reminded us of how many are scared to fly, but think nothing of using their cell phone while driving.
Four years ago, I went on a yoga retreat to Panama–we were in a beautiful area on the Pacific coast (Cambutal). A few people stayed an extra week and moved to a resort nearby. IIRC neither the yoga retreat nor the resorts nearby were expensive. It was a beautiful area. People went surfing and hiking while there. Plus, Panama uses the American dollar. This year, I am going in another yoga retreat to the
Blu Osa resort in Costa Rica. It too was inexpensive.
Thanks @bromfield After some research I had decided to visit one of the suggestions on the west coast of Florida, but there’s almost no inventory on airbnb and a scant few flight options. I will check Panama out. This is the first time I’ve ever tried to go away spontaneously. I’m usually a huge planner.
We are headed to Mexico City next month. Perfect temperatures, amazing food, lots of culture and historical ruins and easy flight.
@TheFrenchChef while I’m sure it’s fine, my FIL traveled to Mexico City often for work. They insisted he be driven around in an armored car, and when MIL went along with him and wanted to explore, she was provided the same. Both of them have made me fearful of ever going there. We did go to PV a few times, but that doesn’t seem to be very safe anymore either.
Any input on San Juan? I checked flights to Panama, and they were pretty pricey. But San Juan had some very reasonable options.
If you’re checking out Panama, check out the Gamboa Rainforest Resort. We stayed there about 10 years ago - but I just looked at prices and rooms start around $120 - back when we were there that included a sumptuous breakfast buffet. Spending a day at the canal is fascinating.
^^^^Agree going through the Panama Canal was very cool.
@taverngirl - Mexico City is completely safe. Well at least as safe as San Francisco or New York City. Driving around in an armored car is completely ridiculous.
The US State Department has some recommendations about Mexico and travel:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/mexico-travel-advisory.html
As long as San Juan is away from the earthquake activity, I think that they are desperate for tourists. I remember going to NYC after 9/11 and how nice and grateful people were that we were visiting.
The San Juan resorts rely on tourists. Betting they are up and running. There is a lot of interesting history in San Juan. I know a number of folks who have gone there and stayed in a resort, but also ventured to the historic areas.
I travel to Florida a lot for work and often extend my stay. There are not a lot of hiking opportunities, at least as I know hiking. I have enjoyed staying on Hollywood Beach. I recently stayed at the Marriott on that beach. There is a paved walkway along the beach. There is also a Margaritaville hotel with a flo-rider as well as other types of smaller hotels and rentals. There are families walking at night but not crowded. I loved to get up early and have coffee on the beach after a walk.
On the Gulf side, I have stayed on Anna Maria Island. We stayed at a hotel named Bridgewalk. It was across from the (Bradenton?)beach. The room was large and had a kitchen and balcony. We were able to walk to restaurants, and to go further, there is a free trolley that takes you around the island. We have also stayed in an airbnb on st. Pete Beach. We would walk to the Tradewinds resort to enjoy their Tiki Bar. We drove over to Pass-a-Grille and had dinner on a rooftop restaurant watching the sunset. Next time, we will look for an airbnb in Pass-a-Grille since it is more remote. On the Keys, loved the Cheeca Lodge on Islamorada years ago. It is gorgeous but pricey.
It is too bad that Puerto Rico just had the earthquake as it has everything on your list. Maybe keep in mind for next year. I do think Old San Juan and Condado area are probably fine. We were there last January for 4 nights and found an extremely affordable beachfront airbnb in Condado . We were able to walk to restaurants with amazing food, listen to bands, dance at the Marriott and La Concha hotels. Walking Old San Juan was so pretty with its colorful historic buildings and the Morro. We also drove to the southern side of the island; it was a beautiful easy drive through the mountains. I wanted to go to the nature preserve on the Fajardo side of the island but we ran out of time. You can also visit El Yunque waterfalls and kayak the bioluminescent bay.
One February 3 years ago I found a last-minute affordable JetBlue vacation to Barbados. Stayed at the Hilton beachfront for 3 nights. It was blissful.
Happy planning!
What great travel tips on this thread - thanks!