Ask Joan

We want to charter a boat next spring – not sure if we should go to the Caribbean or Mediterranean. We are three couples with experienced sailors among us. – PC, Kerry

Sailing the Mediterranean or the Caribbean is always fantastic, especially if you get the weather. Spring in the Med can be hit and miss, and can still be quite cold up to April. May would be better, especially further south.

Sailing activity in Croatia has really increased in recent years and chartering is not too expensive. You would be looking at about €1,100-€2,800 a week for a six-berth bareboat charter (yacht-base.com). The Croatian coast, dotted with lots of islands, is ideal for sailing.

One of the biggest companies in the charter market – in the Mediterranean, especially Greece and Turkey and with bases in Antigua and the British Virgin Islands – is sunsail.com. Prices in the Med are from about €1,500-€2,800 for a week, depending on the boat.

Chartering in the Caribbean tends to be more expensive than the Mediterranean, and getting there will cost a lot more. You would be looking at €2,400-€5,000 as spring is high season, but the weather will be good with gentle trade winds and the opportunity to island hop. On catamaransailing.com prices start at $3,795 a week.

We want to go on safari and to a beach resort afterwards. We would like to spend three days on the safari and then have up to 10 days with an all-inclusive option at a beach resort. What would our options be for around Easter 2014? Also, is it possible to incorporate the Maldives with a safari? We have a budget of about €5,000. – JW, Dublin

Generally this type of holiday is expensive: distance alone pushes up the price and the safari experience is regulated by charging high fees to visit national parks. Kenya has great options for combining an all-inclusive beach holiday with a safari within your budget.

The four-star Voyager Beach Resort, overlooking Nyali beach, near Mombasa on the Indian Ocean, is an all-inclusive resort. A package, with flights and accommodation, with budgetair.ie costs about €1,800 each.

Aa safari from Mombasa with African Memorable Safaris costs about €720 each for a three-day package, including return flights to the Masai Mara, transfers, full board at the Elengata Olerai Camp, park fees and game drives; africanmemorablesafaris.com.

You could go on safari in South Africa, where the Kruger National Park is amazing and then to the Maldives. It could stretch the budget: flights cost €1,300-€1,600 and accommodation in Maldives is mostly top-end. Companies that combine Maldives with a safari are topflightworldwide.ie, sunway.ie and tropicalsky.ie.

We are a family of six who plan to visit Munich next year. We are also considering spending time in Austria. Can you recommend websites for holiday apartments. How easy is it to travel from Munich to Austria by rail?

– NMG, Cork

The train service in Germany and Austria is efficient and reasonably priced. You can search timetables and buy tickets on bahn.de or oebb.at/en.

Accommodation can be rented from owners on homeaway.co.uk and housetrip.com. Prices in Munich are about 30-50 per cent higher than in Austria. If you do go to Austria, Salzburg is a lovely city.