Ask Joan: sun, sea and Florida’s wildlife

We are a family of four with two children, 12 and 8, looking for suggestions on where to base ourselves in Florida for a 10-day holiday in mid april. We are more interested in exploring, adventurous outdoor pursuits and seeing the wildlife than theme parks – AM, Dublin

Florida is a great place for enjoying the outdoors and there are hundreds of things to do if you are interested in wildlife. The state is easy to get about with a good road system. Families tend to base themselves in the central area around Orlando for access to theme parks and good value accommodation. Or on the Gulf Coast where there are lots of lovely seaside towns like Naples, Sarasota, Bradenton, and Venice and islands such as Sanibel, Captiva and Anna Maria.

There are dozens of state parks in Florida, nature reserves, recreation areas and historic sites, and the famous National Everglades Park. The Everglades should be at the top of your list of places to visit with its unique ecosystem. The airboat ride across the glades is a great experience. Try to see some Manatees, the large aquatic mammals who live in the Glades.

The Gulf Coast has the attractions of the seaside with boat rides to see whales, fishing off the many piers or finding shells on the sandy beaches and islands. If you were to go to a theme park, I would recommend Seaworld for an up-close view of all creatures aquatic or Busch Gardens, which is a mixture of rides and zoo with 12,000 animals.

The visitflorida.com website is a great place to start planning your holiday with lots of ideas of things to see and do.

My husband and I would like to spend a holiday in Sicily as our family has roots there. Could you recommend a resort? we have a two-year-old, so a family friendly hotel would be best, if possible. – FB, Cork

One of the most popular resorts in Sicily is Taormina, a small town on the east coast and easily accessible from Ireland as a package holiday or by twice-weekly Aer Lingus flights to Catania.

The flights will cost from €250 in summer. Ryanair will also have twice-weekly flights to Palermo for about the same price.

Sunway Holidays have two nice family friendly hotels in Taormina. The Villa Belvedere has been owned and managed by the same family for more than 100 years and is a traditional villa type hotel overlooking the Bay of Naxos. A week with flights and breakfast costs from €1,087pps.

The other hotel is the two-star Hotel Splendid which is near Taormina’s botanical gardens and the ruins of the ancient Greco-Roman amphitheatre. It is a 10-minute walk to the centre of town.

A week with flights and breakfast will cost from €677pps. The beach in Taormina is accessible by lift.

My wife and I would like to travel to Piran and Portoroz in Slovenia in late August or September. Can you recommend the best way to get there? We are finding it difficult to find a package. – PC, Dublin

You are finding it difficult as there is no company doing package holidays to the Piran Peninsula from Ireland. There are holidays to Slovenia with
Crystalholidays.ie, to the mountains around Kranjska Gora and to Lake Bled.

From the UK it is possible to take a package to Piran or Portoroz with Inghams.co.uk.

They have weekly packages from London Gatwick Airport with hotels in the three, four and five star category. A week half board in a three-star hotel will cost from £654pps(about €748). If you book early you can get flights to Gatwick with Aer Lingus or Ryanair for about €100.

Send your travel queries to jscales@irishtimes.com