Letter of the week
My husband and I are off to Mazatlan in Mexico for two weeks at the end of May. All we know about the place we're going to, an RCI timeshare resort, Pueblo Bonito, is that it's a city with a beach. We are finding it difficult to get information to help us make the most of our holiday.
We're in our late forties, fit and healthy with a love of wining and dining. We would appreciate any ideas on trips, shopping, and what the city is like - is it safe, pretty, busy? Will we manage with minimal Spanish, or should we start brushing up our skills?
Helen and Ken Davison, Dunfermline
Mazatlan is a big beach resort on Mexico's Central Pacific coast as well as being the country's largest Pacific port. Your timeshare resort overlooks a stretch of sand almost exclusively reserved for hotel guests and has all the facilities you'd expect at a top hotel. Mazatlan has an old town with stylish restaurants and art galleries. It retains the feel of a Mexican city and is good to explore.
Apart from advising you to get a guidebook, here are a few ideas for venturing out of the city. Simply exploring the coast by car opens up seaside lagoons, ramshackle fishing villages and quiet beachside communities where you can get great seafood.
The nearby Isla de la Piedra and the pleasant colonial villages of Concordia and Copala make for great day trips. Tours are easy to arrange in Mazatlan. The Mexico Tourist Board (020 7488 9392; www.visitmexico.com) can provide more information.
As a veteran of the D-Day landings, my husband qualifies under the Lottery-funded Heroes Return scheme to visit the Normandy beaches. We want to go together, preferably by train. What do you advise?
Mary Hague, Knott End-on -Sea, Lancs
Bayeux and Caen are both excellent bases from which to explore the beaches, and are easy to get to from the UK.
If you do decide to go by rail, take the Eurostar to Paris, then head by metro or taxi to Gare St Lazare for a train to take you west to Normandy. Once there, if you wish you can arrange a bus tour to visit the main beaches, nearby cemeteries and memorials. At least one local company, D-Day Tours (www.d-daybeaches.com), will pick you up from your hotel for a variety of half- and full-day tours. Local buses also serve the main sites.
Another option is to drive down from Lancashire to Portsmouth and take the P&O ferry to Le Havre (www.poferries.com).
One important warning: do book as much of your travel as you can in advance. Normandy Tourism (www.normandy-tourism.org) has lots more information to help with your planning.
I would like to arrange for my two children to visit their father in Spain in the third week of June. Which is the cheapest way of us flying to Granada or Malaga? It would be nice to make this a holiday as well, so perhaps we should think of accommodation with a swimming pool.
Sabina Hickmet, Crawley
Monarch Scheduled (08700 405040; www.flymonarch.com) flies from Gatwick to Malaga. Although your children will both pay full fare you can, at this stage, get all your flights for under £200, especially if flexible about timing.
You may need to compromise on a pool or city-centre location to get a good value room, however. The Spanish Tourist Board (www.spain.info) can guide you further, and has a useful accommodation search tool.
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