Spain - A cheaper way of doing it

Recently back from a week in Spain and although wasn't actually a singles holiday as i went with a friend (for both our birthdays) could quite easily done it as a Singles holiday and saved a small fortune against using an actual Singles company

We used Jet2 which basically provide Flight, Hotel (your choice) and transfers and must say it was very well organised and everything run to time. Although you dont have a tour manager with you they provide a rep in the resort and you get a 24 hour emergency number, happy with that as an experienced traveller.


Jet2 fly from northern airports only on the day we arrived was our flight from Manchester along with flights from Leeds and Edinburgh. All arrived within 8 minutes of each other so hotel transport was shared with people going to same hotel. A Jet2 rep met you with information of which parking bay to go to where a mini-bus waited, was so easy.
Think on a different day flights come from Newcastle, Glasgow & East Midlands also, great for us northerners as most holidays nowadays seem to include the extra cost of flying from down south.



We stayed at the 4 star Marinas de Nerja hotel and actually had a 2 bedroom apartment (so had own space when wanted) and must say it was an excellent place about a good kilometre outside the lovely town of Nerja and you could walk in along the beach or along the road, was bus stop outside the hotel also.


We were on an all inclusive deal and the food was superb with lots of choice at breakfast, lunch anf evening meal, 6 of the 7 nights was live entertainment in the hotel bar.

The cost of everything was £480 a bargain obviously would be a touch more if had seperate rooms completely but still well less than £600. Similar holidays with singles companies are well over £1,000 but include a tour manager and some excurrsions.

Talking of excurrsions we sorted 3 of our own, did a trip to Granada for 79euro which included been picked up at the hotel, guided tour in the morning of the city followed by 2 hours free time. After lunch they took us for a guided tour around the Alhambra Palace which was also included, took 3 hours then were taken back to our hotel.








Also went to the Nerja Caves which were great, did it on the Service bus from outside hotel, cost 1 euro each way and 9 euro to get in, great value half day out for 11euro.







Also on the Service bus (4.5euro each way) we had a day out in Malaga where we got tickets for the "hop on hop off" bus which took us around all the main sites at a cost of 20euro.

So had a great holiday but wont mention the weather which was a bit dissapointing for Spain. Been all inclusive didn't spend much at all just occasional coffee and sandwich when on the days out.

Would love to hear from other experienced lke minded single travellers that would fancy booking an holiday like this (lots of options of where), would be good if could get 5 or 6 and sort our own trip.
Have mentioned it to some and is definately an interest.

Treasures of Andalucia

My 2nd ever group holiday was in November 2010 when I did the Treasures of Andalucia holiday with Just You

Its certainly one I can recommend if you are like me and enjoy nice excurrsions, I opted for them all which left us with only one free day. I spent it exploring the local area but others in the group decided to go to Malaga and i believe others went to Marbella using public transport.

Home for the week was Hotel TRH Mijas in the pituresque village of the same name, it sits in the mountains overlooking the beach resort of Fuengirola. It was November so of course the beach was deserted and the hotel had a nice outdoor pool but again it just wasn't the weather. Don't get me wrong it was nice enough to walk and explore without the need for the winter woolies.

Our tour manager was Clair who is English but lives in Spain, she does this holiday on a regular basis so anyone reading and done this trip will more than likely met her, she is very good.

Also thought the hotel was ideal and the staff were very pleasant, just a nice place. Food was typical Mediterranean hotel buffet stuff have had better but also had much worse, it did the job.


One of my favorite excurrsions was to Rhonda an lovely medievil town famous for its bullring. Its set on a mountain top with superb views.
Was really nice to wander around,visit a couple of small museums and chill out in the coffee shops.

 Bit of a story in Rhonda though we lost one of our passengers Callum who decided he'd rather have a beer than catch the bus back. We waited and searched for ages before leaving without him. He was a nice guy but a total charactor and reunited with us a day and half later.


An highlight to many on the holiday was the trip to the Alhambra Palace but it seems to be one of them places that divides opinion, can't despute its architecture and the gardens are impressive but the lack of artifacts were a dissapointment to me. Would much rather visit some UK attractions such as Warwick Castle, Windsor Castle, etc.



The trip also included part of the day in Granada itself which seems quite an interesting place itself, quite a modern city.









Another day we visited the muntain village of Frigiliana which was very similar to Mijas but then to the coastal town of Nerja. Loved it there and would probably be where i choose to stay if  i visit this part of Spain again.
Sadly one of the Ladies in our group had a accident slipping and breaking her ankle and spent the rest of the holiday in hospital. Its my understanding she was put on her flight home to East Midlands airport but I didn't see her because went with the earlier Manchester group.
It created more problems for Clair who was backwards and forwards between hospital visits and the group (was 45 of us), still she found a suitable person in the group to run the quiz night a lovely gentleman, yes I volunteered.
Seriously if anyone reads this blog that knows the young lady concerned it would be nice to hear how she got on and if she has had a holiday since, must have been aweful in a foreign hospital not knowing anyone.

Still my favorite trip is another that splits opinion but i consider Gibralter an highlight. Of course the British influence and the history are of much more importance to me. Was good to be able to visit the Trafalger Cemetary among other places.
Decent Grub for lunch in a British Pub, Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pud if my memory serves me right of coarse swilled down with a pint of John Smiths.

Still no trip to the rock would be of interest without meeting the little fellas, yes the Apes are just fun to watch, this one had stolen a carton of orange and it was fascinating wathing him tear it bit by bit so he could drink without spilling much, then he opened a packet of crisps, just could watch them all day.




 Often on these group hols we make a number of friends that we keep in touch with but eventually the emails, texts, phone calls, etc dry up. Well I made one good friend on this trip that I've kept in touch with and although we live at opposite ends of the country we chat on phone on a regular basis. Have met a few times so its all good, nothing wrong making friends on these trips.