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If taking kids to Paris you don't have to pay a fortune for a hotel.
We've stayed in campsites both within and outside the city, they are loaded with things to do for children after a day taking in the sights and these days caravans and even tents have facilities that more than match most hotels and a lot more besides.
Stay at the Hotel Bourg Tibourg, 19 Rue du Bourg Tibourg, 75004 Paris. It is a fabulous boutique hotel in the 4eme, rooms a bit poky but in the campest taste, and next door is a high class men's knicker shop.
To stay for a couple of nights for a fairly cheap price, I don’t think you can do much better than the Heron Court Hotel. Anything cheaper seems to be a bit nasty, and there is quite a jump up in price to the Norfolk/Stanley etc.
If you want a quiet, characterful but cheap hotel in an atmospheric part of central Paris the Hotel des Batignolles in Rue des Batignolles is hard to beat.
This is a rising chic area west of Montmartre where the poet Verlaine grew up and Mallarmé lived and has lots of lovely neighbourhood foodshops, bars and restaurants.
The hotel is old-fashioned, unhip, but quiet and a double room with breakfast costs only 62 Euros a night. It’s near the Place de Clichy and Rome metro stations and it’s easy to book.
26 Rue des Batignolles, 75017 Paris. + 33 1 4387 7040
www.batignolles.com
Many of the travel companies booking the resorts south of Mombasa will offer you a couple of nights in a 'Treehouse'.
Mostly tiny, with two or three individual cabins scattered on a hillside, butler service, river-water jacuzzis heated by sustainable wood fires, roving elephants nearby, and four-poster-beds that can be wheeled out to sleep under the stars (with mosquito nets, of course), these are worth looking at if you're going on honeymoon, or celebrating a birthday or anniversary. Or just feeling a bit decadent.
The Sable Treehouses in the Shimba Range of Hills were particularly lovely.
Check into the Esmeralda Hotel. For charm, eccentricity and value, you still cannot beat this jewel across from Notre Dame.
Heading deep into the Peruvian rainforest to find a lodge - bear in mind the deeper into the jungle you travel, the better the wildlife will be.
As an alternative to bumping around in a dusty van pointing at distant dik-dik, Pinewood Village is a very very quiet, friendly hotel at Galu Beach, down a bumpy road south of the much busier Diani Resorts.
One of the main attractions (apart from the lack of forced activities, relaxation and friendliness of the atmosphere) is the stretch of beach stretching away from the hotel, pure white and, apparently unusual for the area, somewhere you won't get harassed by beach boys - who'll simply introduce themselves on the first day, point out where their shop is and ask you how long you're staying.
Found it through Trip Advisor where it was highly recommended for a very quiet, peaceful break.
Tented rooms with private pools and amazing views over the Rift valley. Walking with local guides, canoeing and night drives. Lots of game and no other vehicles around. And revenues are shared with the local villages.
A thirty-minute private charter flight from Nairobi
www.shompole.com
It’s Masai-owned, eco- and family-friendly and cheaper than most with a very untouristy cultural village.
A B&B in Tywardreath (setting for Daphne du Maurier's House on the Strand). Really stylish modern rooms and ideally located for exploring mid-Cornwall. Owners are highly knowledgeable about local walks, beaches, pubs and restaurants.
Staying on a houseboat in Amsterdam is unique, and gives you a much better feel for the city.
L'art de la Fugue B&B in St Gillies District is a romantic, rambling sort of place filled with antiques, arts and other treasures foraged from the local fleamarkets.
The bedrooms are themed: we got all adventurous in the African-themed Lawrence of Arabia suite (complete with animal print bed linen, spears on the wall and a real vine in the bedroom). Goodness knows what we’d find in the Italian style Farrinelli room.
A truly unspoilt island in the Lamu archipelago. Relax on the white beaches, doze in a hammock or drink sundowners in the bar before a dinner of rock oysters and lobster. If that sounds too supine, you can take a walking safari over the sand dunes.
01494 678400
turquoiseholidays.co.uk.
My husband and I booked ourselves into a very welcoming and friendly guest house (B&B). Spacious and affordable rooms. We paid £32 pppn for a lovely 4 poster room. Really helpful and friendly owners.
It is situated in the central area of Windermere in Lake District.
www.haisthorpe-house.co.uk/
Haisthorpe Guest House, Holly Road, Windermere, Cumbria, The Lake District, LA23 2AF
Tel: +44 (0)15394 43445
Cheap accommodation not too far from the centre. Student halls of residence but open all year round. 24 hour reception and only 550kc for a double room.
Walk past the glass-fronted library behind the town hall, take the next right turning and it's the high rise block immediately on your left.
This is something useful before travelling to Las Vegas, especially if you are going to play the roulette. Check out the first link for Las Vegas hotel rates and the second one for a free roulette test (it's a European roulette with single zero).
Friendly hostel run by Australian backpackers.
Centrally located and the cheapest place in town.
Sad to hear from one reader that Lamu is 'a tip'. It was a long time ago, but I spent ten weeks there (out of five months in Africa) in the winter of '88-'89 and it was incredible.
I rented a house called Daramani in the old town - located down a maze of alleys, with an incredible carved wooden door and steps up to a roof terrace with views of the town and the ocean. One of those places that you wouldn't know was there.
Daily walks to the beach at Shela and the terrace of the Peponi hotel were wonderful, evenings spent at Petley's bar in town, or one of the many restaurants. You got there by bus on a dirt road from Malindi - I hear they have paved it since - followed by a dhow trip across the channel, although there were very expensive flights to a nearby island which only weekend visitors really used. Getting there, which took most of a day from Mombasa, was half the fun.
I also spent an evening at another rented house called Dareni, which was one of the most beautiful places I saw there. Definitely check to see if either of these places are still available for rent - it's worth it if you are staying a while. However, if the town has become an eyesore that is very sad indeed.
This is a really well-equipped and comfortable group of apartments to rent, close to the lovely mountain village of Alora, less than an hour from Malaga airport.
Sangria and home grown melon on arrival get you ready for those mountain views. Lovely, really comfortable apartments with shared pool.
The countryside around is stunning. Drive over to Antequera or see the gorge at El Chorro.
www.lafincablanca.com
tel 0844 734 4454
or 00 34 952 496 683
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