costa rica

Vieques--have taken kids and babies there for years. It is the Carribbean from the 50's with awesome beaches.

check out cheapcaribbean.com for package deals. They have several cheap ones for Mexico and the DR as well as PR.

Anonymous wrote:PR/Vieques?

I love vieques and we actually bought a property there on a first trip and plan to build a house. However, I have not taken my toddler becuase its not kid friendly unless you stay at the one beach front resort the W. and they don't even have a good beach. The beaches are spectacular but require renting a 4 wheel drive and bascially off roading a mile or so and then carrying in a ton of stuff. great when we were a couple, we had entire isolated beaches to ourselves and made full use of that privacy
however, with a small kid-no way. we would have to haul so much crap and there are no bathrooms for miles.

Anonymous wrote:It'd be great if we could find a rental for less than $3,000 a week. If that's possible

OP, at this late date it's going to be a challenge. Things book up early for Christmas, and the Caribbean is very expensive then.

Try caymanvacations.com - you can search condos on Grand Cayman and the sister islands by desired arrival and departure date. I see that there is a 2 bedroom garden view in the Christopher Columbus condos on Seven Mile Beach that's available for around $3600. That's about as good as it's going to get, I think.

If you're interested in St. John, go to caribbeanvillas.com and again search by date. You'll notice that the Christmas / New Year's dates are incredibly expensive compared to the rest of the year. You may be able to find a small villa that works for you.

Grand Cayman is easier to get to than St. John - to get to St. John you have to fly in to St. Thomas and take a ferry. Also, you really need a car on St. John. I think you could do a week on Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman and be fine without a car. Note that you have to drive on the left side of the road in both locations.

I would expect flights to be at least $700 per person for either location.

I'm well travelled and I love Cayman.

That budget would probably not get you to the more upscale islands at Christmas. For example, Grand Cayman is more expensive.

Puerto Rico and Rivera Maya are probalby your best bests. But do your research and figure out what kind of ambience or amentities you want. For example, Aruba has beautiful beaches but it is very built up. All these islands/areas offer something different.

I love Anguilla, but also not cheap to get to or stay at...

It'd be great if we could find a rental for less than $3,000 a week. If that's possible

Reasonable means something different to everyone. Providing a budget would help folks provide better suggestions.

There are nonstops to cancun, grand cayman, st thomas, aruba and montego bay. Also nassau.

PR/Vieques?

Nobody else?

DH and I spent two weeks in BVI one August 12 years ago and I dream of a day to go back. It was a fantastic trip jumping from island to island and beach to beach. Snorkeling right off the beach pretty much everywhere we went. We stayed at the Mongoose Apartments on Cane Garden Bay in Tortola. We would make our own breakfasts and dinners and eat lunch out where ever we ended up that day. BVI is not known for being a reasonable destination costwise, but the way we did it made it manageable. At first we didn't rent a car, but quickly discovered that it's a must. You can fly into Tortola, but the cheaper way to go is to fly into St. Thomas and take a boat to Tortola.

We haven't been back because DH is from Panama so we usually spend our vacations going there. Bocas del Toro is the Caribbean in Panama and another place you should consider. There is a direct flight to Panama City from DC on COPA (also codeshare United). Once in PC to get to Bocas you have to take another plane. Once you get there it's beautiful. My favorite place is Boca del Drago which is on the main island of Colon. There is this amazing coconut grove there and a place they call "starfish beach" where you see starfish sitting on the bottom of a shallow crystal clear Caribbean water. There is a restaurant there that serves the best fried fish with coconut rice. There is a small house to rent there on VRBO that looks delightful.

I'm so jealous. Would love to go somewhere tropical for X-mas. Good luck!

We want to go to the beach for Christmas. We usually stay in houses from VRBO or other rental sites. I know the Caribbean is more expensive over Christmas, so any place that is kind of reasonable?

DS is 4. We're looking for beautiful beaches. Easy travel. Besides that we're open to anywhere. Any suggestions?

Thanks!