Abroad Astro Holiday

[Naemeth]

Planning a holiday for around January time, an astro holiday. Looking to spend maximum £2k (including spending money!) and I won't have access to a car (I don't have a license).

With that in mind, what do you guys recommend? (Outside the UK!) Iceland looks nice - I'd be able to catch the Aurora Borealis .

[nightfisher]

A hard choice, maybe a quiet island in greece or the med,, good luck, Qualia gets good observing in spain

[LukeSkywatcher]

Iceland in Jan is gonna be very cold. I think if you are spending 2K on a holiday (astro related or not), you would want to pick somewhere a bit warmer where you have a good chance of clear skies. With that in mind, i can only think of the Canary Islands. Nice and warm even in Jan and if you book a place a bit inland from the main resorts, you will have a good chance of beating much of the light pollution. The only problem with this is you not having a driving licence. 

Maybe somewhere in mainland Spain towards the south.............say somewhere around Cadiz?,or even the western Algarve in Portugal. 

[pete_l]

The Parador on Tenerife is the best place I've ever been for astronomy.

You'd have to get a taxi from the airport, and it's worth checking whether theyd be open in January (or accessible, it's near the top of the Mt Tiede, and it would be a real bummer to get snowed in at the best amateur astronomy site in europe ).

[ronin]

Iceland tends to have worse weather then we do.

If you do not take a scope then you are limited to eye's and binoculars.

Is the intention to take a scope ?

If so what size and mount ?

Do places like the Canary Island observatories do public viewing?

Same for US observatories - suppose Hawaii is too far and costly, but the US is often orientated to reasonable public access.

Equally anything US orientated generally means a car.

Pull up google maps, pick an area and put "astronomical observatories" in the search bar, hopefull a few pins will appear.

SDSO may do something and I assume they have accomodation and scopes, but they are UK, well until the independance vote anyway.

Again hiccup is dark skies mean some isolation which means some transport expected. They don't build observatories in populated places, one exception I know of is the observatory in Victoria BC Canada, just no idea if they have much public observing - I think not. Last time I looked they were a bit weird. They closed in winter as there were fewer visitors, shame as that was also the better nights.

If I wanted to view the Aurora I would fly to Bergen and get the Hurtigruten ferries up the coast and hope for a bit of luck. Few days on a boat, different places to call into, hanging over the side turning green . Bergen-Trondheim, there are flights to and from either. Not sure about flights North of Trondheim.

Problem with an Aurora trip is that there has to be an aurora and it has to be clear enough to see it. Just heading North is not a guarantee of either. So really plan it in with something else in mind as well.

Olly ?

[Digz]

I'm off to La Palma in December under the guise of celebrating our second wedding anniversary.....well that's what I've told the wife!

As suggested somewhere around there would be good. Alternatively how about a cruise around Norway if you want to catch the northern lights?

[stev74]

I'm also looking for idea's for astro holidays for next year, as it's the 'big four O' (doesn't look quite so bad written that way! ) birthday I thought I would treat myself so I'll follow this thread with interest. 

I did come across this site the other day with access to a 0.5 meter scope on the Algarve and with various other kit it sounds very interesting although it does recommend hiring a car so I'm not sure how suitable it you'd be for you Naemeth. 

[JB80]

We are looking for holidays around January too. The 3 places that I will put on the table are probably going to come from either, Florida, Cape Verde, Namibia, Seychelles, Peurto Rico, Maldives or Bermuda.

Somehow I have to narrow that down to 3 and my wife will choose 3 and then we narrow that down further.

Sounds rather complicated.

On Bermuda you can't rent a car so that might be a consideration for you.

No aurora though

More European based I can heartedly recommend Crete and Santorini. Spain is nice too but I only know of one place doing astro stuff, two if you include the remote set up place but I don't know if they do holidays.

[Steve Ward]

I'd have to suggest a fortnight here .... http://www.sunstarfrance.com/

[Peter Drew]

Why not give Olly a ring? 

[Naemeth]

Thanks for the suggestions all, will take some time to answer most of them individually

A hard choice, maybe a quiet island in greece or the med,, good luck, Qualia gets good observing in spain

Spain would be nice in January - not too hot and certainly not too cold, away from the Aurora but lovely clear skies .

Iceland in Jan is gonna be very cold. I think if you are spending 2K on a holiday (astro related or not), you would want to pick somewhere a bit warmer where you have a good chance of clear skies. With that in mind, i can only think of the Canary Islands. Nice and warm even in Jan and if you book a place a bit inland from the main resorts, you will have a good chance of beating much of the light pollution. The only problem with this is you not having a driving licence. 

Maybe somewhere in mainland Spain towards the south.............say somewhere around Cadiz?,or even the western Algarve in Portugal. 

The cold doesn't really bother me too much, taxis would probably have to be used anywhere due to no access to a car...

Iceland tends to have worse weather then we do.

If you do not take a scope then you are limited to eye's and binoculars.

Is the intention to take a scope ?

If so what size and mount ?

Do places like the Canary Island observatories do public viewing?

Same for US observatories - suppose Hawaii is too far and costly, but the US is often orientated to reasonable public access.

Equally anything US orientated generally means a car.

Pull up google maps, pick an area and put "astronomical observatories" in the search bar, hopefull a few pins will appear.

SDSO may do something and I assume they have accomodation and scopes, but they are UK, well until the independance vote anyway.

Again hiccup is dark skies mean some isolation which means some transport expected. They don't build observatories in populated places, one exception I know of is the observatory in Victoria BC Canada, just no idea if they have much public observing - I think not. Last time I looked they were a bit weird. They closed in winter as there were fewer visitors, shame as that was also the better nights.

If I wanted to view the Aurora I would fly to Bergen and get the Hurtigruten ferries up the coast and hope for a bit of luck. Few days on a boat, different places to call into, hanging over the side turning green . Bergen-Trondheim, there are flights to and from either. Not sure about flights North of Trondheim.

Problem with an Aurora trip is that there has to be an aurora and it has to be clear enough to see it. Just heading North is not a guarantee of either. So really plan it in with something else in mind as well.

Olly ?

I'll be taking the Lyra 66 F/6 along with a tripod and mount. Basically my travel kit as it all fits on my back.

Thanks for the advice about Bergen.

I've thought about visiting Olly's place, but that seems very difficult to get to without a car, certainly not easy by bike!

I'm off to La Palma in December under the guise of celebrating our second wedding anniversary.....well that's what I've told the wife!

As suggested somewhere around there would be good. Alternatively how about a cruise around Norway if you want to catch the northern lights?

Will look into La Palma . Was thinking Chile would also be nice.

[AlexB67]

if you are going to spend a fair bit of  on an astro holiday, seeing the figures you mention, one thing that would be high on my list is a place where the weather is good and where the chances of that happening for observing are generally good    I can only tell you about my experience of a few weeks ago,  only one clear night in Ireland, and none in the South west Ireland at all. My parents got a house there and form past memory living there this is a spot where you will find amongst the best dark skies in the world when the weather plays ball, but it didn't happen. For me it wasn't a massive deal, after all,  that time of the year it is sort to be expected. For me it was more meant be a bit of a general holiday, but had I hedged my bets on going there purely for observing, I would have been a disappointed man if it had cost me that much.

[PeteC]

La Palma is good, went there in January. They don't call it Star Island for nothing. The local government has a world leading observatory to look afer, so all street lights are full cut off (and there aren't that many anyway) and planes aren't allowed to fly over the island. It's a lot easier to find a good dark sky site on La Palma than on the other Canaries because it's not so developed. Sheila Crosby's website http://starisland.co.uk/ is a good intro.

Pete

[teleskopjo]

I would consider Malta as well - areas along the north west coast provide excellent views.

[pete_l]

Spain would be nice in January - not too hot and certainly not too cold, away from the Aurora but lovely clear skies .

Hang on a sec. Spain's a big country. The mediterranean coastal stretch stays fairly warm during the winter, but inland it's b^$*&"!y freezing.  Here, it was down to -12°C last winter and -5° this January (though there were 13 sunny days).

[m.tweedy]

Mauritius south coast. Still unspoilt and only LP is low level. All inclusive and don't need any transport oh and the weather is good.

[m.tweedy]

There was a good discussion herehttp://stargazerslounge.com/topic/168888-tropical-scope-which-one/

[foundaplanet]

Thanks for the suggestions all, will take some time to answer most of them individually

Spain would be nice in January - not too hot and certainly not too cold, away from the Aurora but lovely clear skies .

The cold doesn't really bother me too much, taxis would probably have to be used anywhere due to no access to a car...

I'll be taking the Lyra 66 F/6 along with a tripod and mount. Basically my travel kit as it all fits on my back.

Thanks for the advice about Bergen.

I've thought about visiting Olly's place, but that seems very difficult to get to without a car, certainly not easy by bike!

Will look into La Palma . Was thinking Chile would also be nice.

I'd PM him...

Wouldn't think twice about it.. 20" dob, all them skills and, I hear the food is to die for..

[ollypenrice]

Dodgy ground for me to reply here so, Mods, please delete as you see fit. For information I do pick people up from the local station if they don't drive, and they can join us on the odd shopping trip to town. I'll leave it at that.

Cheers,

Olly