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No-fly beach holidays in May
My partner wants a beach holiday in May, but I don't want to fly. Can you suggest where we could go?
Philippa Hopkins, Bristol
Well, you could do worse than lay your towel on a UK beach - it shouldn't be such a lottery this year as the Met Office is predicting a sizzler of a summer.
For a beach holiday abroad, look at where you can get to by train, unless you want to slog it out by car across to the continent - though mile for mile, driving long distances in a standard petrol engine car is just as bad a carbon emitter as flying...
You can get to many of the beaches in France, Spain and Italy by train, and an even more ambitious - but no less pleasurable - option is to go to one of the closer Mediterranean islands, which are easily accessible by train and ferry.
The Balearic islands and Corsica are already warm, and you'll avoid the crowds and sapping heat of high summer. For the Balearics, take the afternoon Eurostar to Paris then catch the overnight "trainhotel" to Barcelona and an overnight ferry to the islands (trasmediterranea.es).
For Corsica, take the Eurostar to Paris, then whiz down on the TGV to either Marseilles, Toulon or Nice from where there are regular ferries to the island; Nice-Calvi takes just three hours on a fast ferry (corsicaferries.com).
This article, by Richard Hammond, was first published in the Guardian.
I just love beach holidays,
I just love beach holidays, I developed a habit to go in a canal boat holiday every single year. It looks like this year I shall have to choose another location.
Discount ferry fares
I seem to recall that using the word Greentraveller you can get a 25% discount on the ferry to Corsica. Can anyone tell me which booking site this applies too?
Geoff
Discount ferry fares
Hi Geoff, not sure where you read that, but we don't offer any ferry discounts. I recommend you use corsicaferries.com - I used it to book a ferry trip to Corsica last summer and they often have promotional offers. Plus I recommend you take a look at the following ferry section on idontfly.com.
Best wishes
GreenTraveller Editor