Originally Posted by
craigthemif
If you are travelling in mid-August, anything with a "beach" means that it will be packed with people. There's no such thing as a private beach in Europe AFAIK, so unless you are desperate to share a small patch of sand with hundreds of people and to dodge jellyfish and other crap in the water, what you really want is a decent hotel with more than enough pool area for the number of rooms in the hotel.
Yes, I'm aware of this predicament. Also applies in Asia if you go at absolute peak season IME; much of say Bali and Phuket are a nightmare when staying over NYE. There are occasional (and shifting) sweet spots that provide outstanding value because they haven't been discovered; Regent Phu Quoc has been such a sweet spot for us in the last three years (not sure what PH will be like if it ever opens). I don't expect to find anything remotely comparable in Europe, but was hoping that Hyatt had something, anything, that might work. Since we moved back to Europe, we found a few relaxation spots we're very happy with (IC Cascais and Westin Malta), but we never went in peak season. Maybe the takeaway, if one is used to better experiences in Asia, is to avoid European beach hotels in July and August altogether?
Originally Posted by
craigthemif
Never been to Kotor Bay, but that appears for now to be the European sweetspot for points travel.
It certainly looks good value at 15k points a night vs €450, but if it's the kind of place where people go at 6:30am to reserve loungers, who knows how enjoyable it is on peak dates. Arguably, Zelia Halkidiki is even more of a sweet spot, because even though food and service are poor and the location is remote, a Globalist suite upgrade books straight into the Zelia suite, which has a bit of a private villa feel and comes with a reasonably sized private pool (not the useless plunge pools commonly found in Greece).
Originally Posted by
craigthemif
I've always been fond of the HR in Thessaloniki. Not a beach of course and the hotel is showing its age, but the pool area is massive. So it's more relaxing and doesn't require a morning dash to acquire a lounger...
We spent a night there last year before heading to Zelia. Pool was pretty empty, but most loungers were reserved with towels all day. It often shows up in the €250 range in August, making 8000 or 9500 points a pretty good redemption, but I don't think I'd vacation here owing mostly to its desolate location.