# Warm and nice place to go on Xmas



## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

Usually in Xmas we're going foe 1 week to Cuba. This year because of our daughter school , we don't have enough days to go to Cuba, so were thinking to go to some warm, nice place in US. Place with some beautiful nature...and possible swimming in ocean, rivers or lakes. We'd like to go for 4-5 days...
Any suggestions?
P.S. We've been to Grand Canyon and Las Vegas


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## new dog (Jun 21, 2016)

Maui seems like a good place to go for 4 - 5 days with nice beaches.


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## heyjude (May 16, 2009)

Maui is indeed beautiful but it is an expensive place to fly from Ontario for 4-5 days and travel would eat up too much of your time. Consider Fort Lauderdale. The beach is beautiful, there is lots to do, and the Florida Everglades make an excellent nature excursion.


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## nobleea (Oct 11, 2013)

No too many places in the continental US where you'll be swimming in outdoor water at Christmas. Florida is warmish. Certainly shorts weather for a Canadian, but you'd have to be pretty bold to go swimming in the ocean. San diego would also be on the list, but that's a long flight from Ontario.

Maui for 4-5 days from Vancouver is doable. Anywhere east of that and that's too much flying to vacation ratio.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

Dominican Republic? Caribbean side of Mexico? Playa Del Carmen is beautiful. Just curious what the length of stay has to do with it- a day's travel is a day's travel no matter how you look at it. Fly early morning, stay your 4-5 days, fly home. No difference in flying to Florida than Cuba- it's only 90 miles away. You can definitely swim in the Florida Keys in winter, especially in the south Gulf areas.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

indexxx said:


> Dominican Republic? Caribbean side of Mexico? Playa Del Carmen is beautiful. Just curious what the length of stay has to do with it- a day's travel is a day's travel no matter how you look at it. Fly early morning, stay your 4-5 days, fly home. No difference in flying to Florida than Cuba- it's only 90 miles away. You can definitely swim in the Florida Keys in winter, especially in the south Gulf areas.


The difference that we always book 7 nights at AI resort. Less nights is difficult to find, it will be expensive and not enough time.

Maui is too far from YYZ , even for 10 days.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

I was thinking about US Southern states, like Georgia, New Mexico, Texas .... is something interesting to do over there?



> Consider Fort Lauderdale. The beach is beautiful, there is lots to do, and the Florida Everglades make an excellent nature excursion.


My wife's relatives live in Naples, FL and invite us to visit... Is it a nice place?


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## TomB19 (Sep 24, 2015)

Naples is my second favorite place in Florida, and probably the nicest in some ways.

I like Miami Beach. I like the activity, the beach, the boardwalk, etc. ... but it's expensive as hell, parking is horrendous, and it's very commercial.

Naples is a nice little tourist town. It will seem really expensive, although not as much to you as I recall you're in the GTA, but it's cheap compared to Miami Beach.

Vanderbilt beach is tremendous. White sugar sand. Nice restaurants. Gorgeous.

We went to a hot spring, one Christmas. It was real pretty. We sat in the hot pool and caught snowflakes on our tongues. We might do it again, this Christmas. You should have a hot spring close by and you might have more time to relax and less time at airports, renting cars, etc.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

> Vanderbilt beach is tremendous. White sugar sand. Nice restaurants. Gorgeous.
> 
> We went to a hot spring, one Christmas. It was real pretty. We sat in the hot pool and caught snowflakes on our tongues. We might do it again, this Christmas. You should have a hot spring close by and you might have more time to relax and less time at airports, renting cars, etc.


Could you please specify name of those hot springs? Also , any other nice places close to Naples?


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## TomB19 (Sep 24, 2015)

I was referring to a Canadian hot spring, close to me, not a Florida hot spring. We like Radium and Ainsworth. Both are absolutely gorgeous at Christmas. Both are warm to us (we live in SK), but will be cold to you. I was just suggesting you might find a hot spring close to you that is convenient and a relaxing place to spend 3~4 days, instead of flying somewhere.

In Naples, we mostly walked along the beach and relaxed but we did a few things that you may be interested in. We went to Everglade City and took a fan boat tour. I liked it a lot. Our fan boat driver was a good old boy who was straight out of the deep south. I had some fun with him. We also took a real estate boat tour in Cape Coral. It was terrific. We went out into the bay, saw dolphins, a couple of manatees, and a beautiful island garden. The real estate tour was less interesting, oddly. We love hoses and were looking forward to the R-E side of the tour and it was fine but not the highlight. Just getting out into the bay was the highlight, with the marine life being the cherry on top.

There was a seafood restaurant we kind of liked. It was a small drive from Naples. Perhaps 20 minutes. Not fancy but they had a store that sold all sorts of neat confections including key lime pie and some other key lime treats we really enjoyed. Actually, their key lime pie was as good as any we had in keys. I can't think of the name but we have some swag from there. I'll check the name when I get home from work and report back.

We don't travel rich. We like small diners and family run restaurants. If you like fine dining, downtown Naples is your ticket. Very, very nice. The main drag has a couple of blocks of restaurants and bars that will rival anywhere.


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## TomB19 (Sep 24, 2015)

So... the Everglades story...

Before we get in the air boat, our good old boy pilot tells us about two days prior when a competitor from another fan boat company was antagonizing an alligator on the dock. The alligator was agitated. Our guy said he told the other gent the aligator wasn't in the mood for games but this guy kept badgering the gator and the gator ended up biting this guy's hand, rolling, twisting his hand off, and then slithering off into the swamp. Our guy said he watched this guy's watch plop into the water.

When I asked if they were able to recover the watch, our pilot got very serious and said, "Son... don't nobody care about no watch."

I love that stuff. lo! :kiwi-fruit:


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

Thanks for he story 




> was just suggesting you might find a hot spring close to you that is convenient and a relaxing place to spend 3~4 days, instead of flying somewhere.


 The only "hot spring" close to us is our ....bath


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## heyjude (May 16, 2009)

Two years ago I went to Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico (Pacific coast) for a week at Christmas. It was a direct flight to Puerto Vallarta, the resort and the beach were lovely, Christmas dinner was served on the beach on December 24th, and it did me the world of good. I plan to return this winter, though not at Christmas. 

Since you are in Toronto, you could consider the Yucatan peninsula (Cancun, Playa Del Carmen, Tulum, Cozumel) as you should be able to find direct flights. WestJet has a sale at present. The Yucatan has amazing archeological sites (Chichen Itza, Tulum) and theme parks (Xcaret, Xel-Ha) which are great family excursions, though not cheap.

I should add that travelling during the holiday season can be fraught with delays, so I try to avoid flights with connections.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

We've been at Tulum, cennotes etc and me and my wife going to Cancun adult only AI in November , so Naples looks like most appealing option


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## TomB19 (Sep 24, 2015)

Here is the restaurant I mentioned earlier. It's probably a 20 minute drive from downtown. We went because it was rated highly and some locals mentioned it, as well. It's kind of rustic, not posh, and the prices aren't cheap but it's not super expensive, the food is good, and they have a terrific shop that sells cakes, pies, and everything else you can eat, collect, or whatever. It's extremely quaint. We really enjoyed it.

http://randysfishmarketrestaurant.com/


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## loveforlife (Sep 23, 2016)

I have been to Florida, and it is indeed a beautiful place for holidays. I just loved it.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Punta Cana, DR. Very nice beaches.


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