Hi Mr Parsons, we went to Majorca last year, first 2 weeks in October and the weather was brilliant! Mainland Spain also has decent weather then, as we tend to go around this time. Have you tried any other tour operators besides Thomson & First Choice? There are plenty who could get you the holiday you want. We have just returned from the Hotel Yaramar, Fuengirola, Costa Del Sol, and had a fantastic time. It's more suited to the more mature guest though. We were OK and we're in our 50's........ Good luck in your search, but remember, the climate charts are only a guide.........Linda.

Well I guess the Red Sea is only another hour extra flying time on from the Canaries or Cyprus.

I am suggesting it as I feel this will be your best chance of good weather for a fortnight in October.

The big question mark would be over 'somewhere well established with a good tourist population'?

There are a lot of good quality hotels at reasonable prices and if you stayed in Sharm, Namma Bay has many restaurants and bars. It really depends on how busy you like to be. The tour operators offer trips and there is good snorkelling and diving.

Another alternative might be Tunisia or Morocco, not been myself, but I would imagine you could get good weather there as well, and the flights are shorter than Egypt.

Thanks for the response guys.

Unfortunatly the mother in laws a bit funny about places like turkey and tunisia. I went sharm in egypt last year and hated the place so thats out really.

I know guides are just that but your more inclined to get better weather in places that are renouned for it and really mainland spain isnt.

Cyprus and rhodes in grece were our first thoughts but the guides really say the average temp is too cold. Anyone have any suggestions to prove them wrong? I went syprus in august and it was unbareable so cant see the temp dropping that much by october. Am i right in my thinking?

Also, any idea on why furtuventura isnt very acessable? I couldnt find any holiday there form the major tour operators. We really like doing this for reassurance i guess.

Well, I think if you are going to go for Greece, Crete is the most southerly of the Islands, so I dont know if that would help the weather situation, it might be worth investigating. But my understanding of greece is that October is the month the weather changes for the worse.

How does the MIL feel about somewhere like Gambia, think that might only be 5 hours away? Or would that fall in the same category as Tunisia & Turkey etc?

I dont know actually. I thought that was a long haul jobbie.

I think it might not be quite as developed as she would like but i can always put it to her.

Any more suggestions? Its a shame Cape Verde is crap at that time.

Don't know which departure airport you want, but I just put 3rd October for 14 nights, from Gatwick into http://www.portlanddirect.co.uk and I got various accommodations up for Furterventura, so perhaps it's your departure airport thats a problem.

So it does...

I was searching from Luton but the brochure had hardly any hotels in.

First choice also do 3rd October and from Luton- various accomodations to choose from depending on what you are after.Just go onto their website- it has the simplest search and pricing system of all the tour operators.

Pam