GO ASK JOAN: All your travel questions answered by JOAN SCALES
A trip to Auschwitz
Inspired by her teacher, my 14-year-old is asking to go to see a concentration camp this summer. As we might take a family holiday later, I would prefer if this was possible to do as a short break, probably for just the two of us and on a low-budget.
Can you advise if there is any tour that we could join, or which camps are most accessible for flights and transport?
Then for our main holiday, as she is taking Spanish, can you suggest a good, slightly less touristy location for a low-priced sun holiday – I was thinking maybe a Spanish island – where the rest of us non-Spanish speakers will get by, but where she’ll get to hear and sometimes have to use what she’s learned? We are a family of four, all adults, assuming she counts as one now too. – GMS, Dublin
One of the most easily accessible concentration camps is at Auschwitz/ Birkenau, an hour from Krakow. There are flights every day from Ireland to Krakow with Ryanair and three times a week with Aer Lingus.
There are plenty of tours to the camps every day and you can find details of how to book on Krakow-info.com/auschwit.htm A guided tour will be of more value to you. However, it is not recommended for children under 14, and I would ask you to read some reviews before taking her there. It is a harrowing experience, and you should prepare her for it.
A two-day trip with Aer Lingus Holidays that includes hotel accommodation costs from €295-€300pps in July/August, aerlingus.com. A short trip will just about give you time to visit the camps and get a small taste of Krakow.
For summer holidays in a less touristy Spanish resort, I find that once you move away from the main resorts, there is a lot more Spanish spoken. The islands of the Canaries and the Balearics are very popular during the summer and not low priced. A week in a resort with flights from Dublin will cost from €500 each.
There are plenty of flights to Spain from Ireland, more than a dozen cities are connected; flights during the summer though are not cheap, mainly from €200-€300 each. But you will find accommodation to rent from €400-€900 per week.
You will find more Spanish spoken on the mainland and I suggest that instead of going to a resort, you stay in a town or village away from the main resorts.
In the very far south by the straits of Gibraltar, in Cadiz province, places such as Zahara de los Atunes, Bolonia and Tarifa are Spanish through and through. They all have fantastic beaches and good water sports, Tarifa being the busiest and Bolonia the quietest. You can either fly into Malaga or Faro. Taking a step back from the beaches, the white villages of Andalucia are authentic but can be quiet.
About 40 minutes from Alicante, the town of Altea is a mix of old and new and a quiet relaxing place to stay. It is less invaded by tourists. There is a beach in town and nightlife if you go looking for it.
Look for accommodation to rent on Rentalia.com, where there is a good variety of places still available to rent during the summer. Less Spanish people are taking holidays due to the recession.
Rome for mum and daughter
My 13-year-old daughter and I will be in Rome for seven days in early August. I have said that we will do activities that suit each of us on alternate days but I would like to find alternatives to shopping – her favourite pastime but not mine – for instance a cookery class or a one-day language class or any other ideas.
We are basically travelling on trains to Rome – flying to London catching a show, train to Paris for one night, TGV to Nice for two nights and train to Rome. I am trying to arrange accommodation in the Irish College in Rome. –KB, Dublin
It sounds like you two are going to have a fantastic inter-rail holiday and ending in Rome will be lovely, and very hot. You will find that the heat will slow you down, and there will be lots of stops for gelato.
Cooking is a great fun thing to do, and usually it mixes all sorts of people together. Chef Andrea Consoli has a daily cooking lesson in his place near Trastavere, it costs €65, begins at 10am and ends with lunch, details from CookingclassesinRome.com.
The next suggestion sounds a bit gruesome but is a very unusual place and will appeal to ghoulish teenagers; the Capuchin crypt or ossuary.
It is a series of chapels under the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini on Via Veneto in Rome. The chapels are a macabre work of art, decorated with the bones of former friars who passed on between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Get the best view of Rome from top of Il Vittoriano/Altare della Patria or the Victor Emmanuel 11 monument which houses the museum of reunification. It is an enormous white marble edifice between the Capitoline Hill and the Piazza Venezia. Take the lift to the top for panoramic views of the city.
If the heat gets too much, take a suburban train to Ostia Lido, 30kms or so from the city for a day at the beach. Cool breezes and a paddle in the sea will be worth the trip.
If you like archaeology then there is Ostia Antica, the former port of Rome now inland and famed for the preservation of ancient buildings, frescoes and mosaics also a short train journey.
Email queries, with your name and address to Joanscales@irishtimes.com