Recently in RE-Beach Houses Category

I hope I have captured your imagination with the wild allure of the Galapagos islands. Since I have already talked about package tours I thought I should say a little about the kinds of accommodation you are expected to find there.

Galapagos is well prepared for travellers of any kind. From villas, cottages and beach houses to condos and homestays, your stay on the islands will be comfortable and memorable (for all the right reasons of course!)

For a complete step by step guide of the things you must do from the time you take your flight visit this website.   

If you want specific information about a vacation home or villa you can check out this site. For a luxury vacation stay visit this website that also offers its patrons, tours of the islands.

To go on a special familt wildlife tour check out this link.

Everybody doesn't have a positive experience when they go on a vacation. When they do have a good time, they have extremely amusing stories to tell. To read one such story check out this website.

If Eleuthera, which I wrote about in my previous post, does not hold any allure for you then maybe you need to pick from amongst all the islands of the Bahamas. For this post I will write about the Abacos islands.

Apart from being a renowned base for sailing activities, the Abacos islands also have four national parks that attract a lot of tourists namely Pelican Cays Land & Sea Park, Abaco Wild Horse Preserve, Man-O-War Cay, and Great Guana Cay. So if you feel your holiday isn't complete without some meaningful sightseeing and if you aren't put off by the hustle and bustle of crowded tourist towns then this may be the place for you.

To learn more about home rentals in the Abacos islands click here.

With the recent destruction caused by Hurricane Floyd, the islands may take some time to recover but rest assured, life will return to normal sooner or later. The real draw of the islands are their natural beauty, friendly and lovable people and simple lifestyle. The hurricane could destroy none of this.

To read about the history of the islands click here.

Pic courtesy Bitterroot from flickr.com.

If dipping temperatures dampen your mood plan a long stay by the shore of a tranquil sea in the Bahamas. From hiking, snorkeling/scuba Diving, bicycling, boating, fishing, kayaking, surfing and diving, the islands of the Bahamas have several attractions. Or if you just want to relax and bask in the sepia tinted light of a crimson sunset with only the gentle sound of waves for miles around this is the place to go.

To rent a cozy cottage or a luxurious oceanfront villa on the island of Eleuthera with a panoramic view of  the Caribbean sea click here.

An island of pink and white sand beaches, Eleuthera (meaning freedom in Greek)  has long been the favourite of travellers who long for a bit of peace and quiet. However, theres quite a bit of sightseeing to do once you get into the mood. Preacher's cave, Windermere island, Hatchet cave, Spanish wells, Glass Window bridge and Harbour island are some of the places to explore. To read about the history of these places click here.

Pic of lone tree on Harbour Island courtesy photos_mweber from flickr.com. 

A cottage in Auckland affords the warmest mix of warm beaches and cozy living. A private garden with a giant Rimu has a walkway that leads you to the beach front. The waters not just sparkling but safe with kayaks and mooring available for your entertainment. Indoor entertainment in your self contained cottage includes Tv and CD stereo. Fishing or exploring areas are not far away and you'll get a microwave and freezer along with it for $80 per night for 2 people.

A redecorated self-contained cottage with beach views has spacious 4 bedrooms that can sleep 8 people. The cottage garden is fenced in and there's a garage on the grounds. Palm and fruit trees sway over the garden shed. Pick fruits and spend an evening lounging in with plans for a barbequed meal. Other than the bedrooms, you have a lounge, kitchen and dining area to spread out in. The accommodation is fully furnished with lovely blue bed spreads and peach curtains melding with gleaming wood floors. All the conveniences like washing machines, refrigerators, dryers, electric blankets, laundry rooms will be at your disposal. At $85 per night for 2 people with $10 for each additional guest, it's a good bargain.

A beach cottage with a magnificent garden is just 35 minutes away from wine region Napier. The cottage has a main house which sleeps 4 and a garden cottage which sleeps 2. Forget the bathrooms with water closets, the best is the claw foot bath with skylight that has stars sparkling down. Isn't that a nice thought? Sparkling champagne mixed with a bath and the stars? Nice as that is, I'd have to say that the garden's the best. A lovely secluded retreat, with lots of benches and private spaces for eating, sleeping and for a evening's gas barbeque. The kitchen is fully equipped and there are the usual living and dining rooms. If you're a wine aficionado, rent this cottage a mere 20 minutes from Napier.

The Wheki cottage enroute to the Abel Tasman National Park has spectacular sea and mountain views. The property comes as part of a farmyard experience with pig, chickens, a dog, cats and friendly horses. The beach is just a stroll away. Telephone, fax and email facilities are available. The nearby beaches are safe and sandy and perfect as an add on to your cottage life. The daily rates change season to season but weekly rates for stays of a month or more are $850 per week.

Go through loads more cottages before you cozy into one right here!

Picture Courtesy: www.flickr.com

New Zealand has a fascinating array of endless white beaches, sweeps of golden sand, beached shaded with red emblazoned trees, natural hot water beaches(!!) and more, where you can surf, bathe, dive, gawk at marine life and generally have a perfect beach day.

A Rangimarie waterfront property in Coromandel is a stately mansion with a private bay. The main house has 2 large bedrooms, 2 living rooms, bathroom and a dining room. But if you think that just 2 bedrooms is less for a house priced at 1,900,000NZD, then let me tell you of the 2 bedroom cottage that's part of the property or the adjoining annexe which comes with a bedroom and bunkroom. The house is also a find for its 4.68 hectares of ground of native bush. The house is surrounded by lawns and boasts a swimming pool on the terrace as well as a covered barbeque area and a boathouse. If I can't own a yacht, I'd love to own a little boat and pretend to be Lady Shallot amid the waters.

A fully furnished 3 bedroom beach house comes with 1 km of pristine white sand surf beach & safe lagoon. The house is low maintenance with open plan living and huge galley style kitchen. Two sun decks flow out of the house seamlessly. While the bedrooms are king size, the house comes fully carpeted and with landscaped gardens. An outdoor spa is a private affair with lush palm trees surrounding it. Other than a garden shed, included in the $490,000 price, is a teak dining table and chairs set, coffee table, spa, book cabinets, fridge, cutlery, microwave, queen, double and single beds, garden furniture and more!
Get in touch before the house goes off the market!

A beach house in the Bay of Plenty has 5 bedrooms and is an opportunity for you to enjoy the bliss of the beach at your doorstep.
The house splits into two dwellings, which you can take together. One dwelling is generously spread over three floors with garage and workshop space for the working vacationer. The second level has 2 bedrooms leading onto decks which will afford you stunning views of the sea. A huge office which can be used as a lounge is also on this floor. The third level has open plan living with the kitchen, dining and lounge areas all opening out on to the deck.
The other dwelling might be smaller but also frames the sea and is a self-contained 2-storey affair. It has 2 double bedrooms, kitchen and living areas and two bathrooms. For the moment, it has been rented out at $400 a night and in fact is a great investment opportunity for vacationers who want to put their house to use while they're away at home.

This beach house on Waihi beach comes with a flat and is an ideal investment for a two family vacation. With three bedrooms including an ensuite, a garage and all the joys of having a beach as your yard, this property worth $545,000 is a place worth looking into.

This picture postcard beach house is straight out of a children's tale. White walls with blue roofs, chocolate frames and a cute little garden with pebbled island make it a lovely getaway. You'll get your access to the beach, 2 bedrooms with a cozy atmosphere and all day sun. A workshop and outdoor entertaining area add a little something more to this package. Make it your own for $99,000.

If you're looking to rent chalets or studio apartments with beach views, there is a great option near the Abel Tasman National Park. You can choose from 5 one bedroom chalets, a two bedroom one or two studio units. The prices vary from 108NZD to 205NZD.

Take a look at the beach rental getaways or bachs in NZ before you go out and purchase your sunny spot.

Picture Courtesy: www.flickr.com

Villa shopping in Aruba is like any other shopping there... you'll be spoilt for choice.
Start with a villa loacted a very convenient 7 minute walk from Eagle Beach and just 5 minutes away from Oranjestad keeping you close to supermarkets, shops and restauarants. The villa has 5 bedrooms and three bathrooms, a modernized fully equipped Europeran style kitchen with granite counters and spacious living room with light streaming in. There is a large terrace for entertainment with a pool and a covered pool bar.The master bedroom boasts a jacuzzi and a balcony with ocean views. The place is up for $449,000.

A lovely yellow villa in an upscale neighborhood has 3 spacious bedrooms and a ballroom sized master bedroom. Hmmm... ballroom sized?!! Italian tile has been used and the property is fenced in with good quality ironwork. The living and dining rooms are also big and the kitchen is a high quality Alno affair. Though the villa is not furnished, the light fixtures have been built in and the ceiling is prettily finished with trims and mouldings. The place is fully airconditioned with a remote controlled garage. What makes it a great deal is the two room apartment or office attached to the villa with kitchenette and bathroom that has a separate entrance. There's even a full service maidsquarter.
To find out more about the house and its price you need to fill in a form.

Miss Belinda's Arubian Villa has three bedrooms and is a unique wooden style hillside home in the countryside. Three words there that just sold me - hillside, wooden and country. On top of this, it's just 10 minutes away from a beach and close to restaurants and shops being located in Noord. The bedrooms are airconditioned and the kitchen is amodern affair with a breakfast bar for you to trudge in and hook yourself to a chair as you drink your morning coffee. You'll find lounge furniture besides a nicely landscaped garden with a riot of flowers and ahammock hanging in the patio for dreaming purposes.
The place is for rent and has different rates in different season spanning $2395 a month to $2895.

Villa Alexandra is one of few beachfront villas in Aruba. You could walk out the rear gate and find yourself on glorious white beaches to snorkel at one of Aruba's best reefs. With 6 huge bedrooms the villa is ideal for family gatherings, weddings, reunions, et al. Go with a fun gang and make full use of the fully tiled swimming pool, private beach area (!),  hammocks, lounging chairs with ocean views, entertainment patio with barbeque, beachside gazebo and open air verandah. You'll laze and catch up with friends while holding a book in one hand or look at stars from the gazebo while someone barbeques you a meal! The place comes with a full time cook and housekeeping staff, a ping pong table for fun and even an exercize room! For the golf enthusiast... you're just minutes away from a world renowned gold course. There's an office study and two studio rooms too. All bedrooms have TV and cable!! Two gazebos by the pool make for exquisite dining. The villa is available for anything between $5300 a week to $7000.

A mediterranean style villa in Tierra Del Sol has 5 bedrooms that can sleep up to 15 people. Th evilla is fully furnished. Tierra Del sol is a gated community of 600 acres which includes a resturant, Lounge located at the clubhouse, a world class spa and fitness center and an 18 hole golf course! The stucco exterior and grand views of surrounding natural preserves from the multilevel terraces, A Sunset House extending out from the pool with bath, floor to ceiling arched windows, custom designed kitchen, laundry room, maid's quarters, a powder room, media room, a double garage and storage are all combine to make this house a very grand affair. A terrace called the Star Deck is the clincher. The house comes fully furnished with oriental rugs, lamps and design trends from the leading names in the industry. The villa is priced at $2,999,900. Wow! There's a lot going on in that house.

Find more Aruba villas and luxury homes in different areas.

A lovely detached villa just 500 meters aways from the sparkling sand of the white Dinai beach has 2 bedrooms and is built along ecological lines. Surrounded by holiday regions you can indulge in all kinds of sports and safaris. The property itself comes with 2 swimming pools, swing, sand pit, garden seating and a garden worth the seating! The walled in property is festooned with bougainvillea and the garden is ripe with mangos, passion fruits, papayas, mangos, coconut palms and flowers. It invites even multi-colored birds who twitter away. Maid service, linen, staff, well furnished dining and living areas all make for a great slumping place after a hard day of lion watching!

Villa Madagaskar is a really pretty hideaway with its conical roof and palm-shaded blue pool. With 5 bedrooms that can house 8 people, a humongous living terrace with a view to the pool where you can entertain your guests and all teh basic amenities like fridge, grill ,oven, barbeque, DVD, audio player and more, this house is vacationer's paradise. It also has a telephone and a living room to that can comfortably seat 17 people!What I find a big plus here (besides the lovely garden of fruits and flowers) is the chalet style guset house that comes with the property. 

A double storey villa in the high class Runda area comes with numerous rooms including 5 bedrooms, 2 office rooms, guest wings, 2 sitting rooms and an indoor bar. The house has a swimming pool, sauna, steam room and staff too. Security is absolutely top-notch too!

A Swahili mansion along the traditional lines is up for grabs on Lamu island $323,124. If you've been keeping track, you know that Lamu doesn't allow motor vehicles on the island which leaves you a host of narrow streets to explore. Hijani House is tucked away in one such street in the stone town. Made from coral limestone with traditional doorways with arches and plasterwork, roof beams and painted mahogany, the house is spread over three floors with 3 bedroom. the master bedroom boasts a cathedral ceiling. The terrace garden has a dining area besides the fully equipped kitchen with its eat-in space. It's a great buy for it's location and architecture... which is a mix of the traditional with all modern conveniences factored in by the American owners. In the bargain you'll also get some Swahili antiques and local artwork as part of the sale.

Villa Patwa is a 5 bedroom villa right on Bofa beach. The bedrooms are all double bedrooms with three ensuites. Besidses the dining room and lounge are, there is a hige veranda with a bed and sofas to sprawled around it. The landscaped swimming pool is in addition to the laid out lawn and garden with beach-facing gazebo. Many cooks are welcome to spoil to the broth in the large, warm kitchen and there's arecetion are for you to pretend to be lord of the manor. There's a garage and ample more space for parking, 24 hour security, a chef and housekeeping and... insect screen everywhere!

Picture Courtesy: www.flickr.com

The Blue C beachside apartment in Coolangatta has been slashed from $619,000 to $599,000. It has 2 bedrooms and features an inground heated poo, gym, sauna, spa and barbeque area. The master bedroom has a walk through wardrobe and ensuite. Situated just beside the Kirra hill, you get lovely ocean views while being just a short walk away from the famous surf at Kirra and Snapper's Rock. Restaurants, public transport and shops are all nearby.

A riverfront apartment building in central Surfer's Paradise, ensconched in the curve of the river gives you city as well as Chevron island views. The apartments will have heated pool, gyms, in-house cinema and lounges as well as parklands and gardens. With 1 bedroom and so centrally located, they're for sale for $425,000.

A 2 bedroom apartment in Rainbow Bay overlooks the boat harbor and has been recently repainted so that is ready to go with not a penny to be spent on it. (other than the $379,000 to buy it, that is). Furnished with swimming pool and rare tandem car space, it's just a short walk from Rainbow Bay and the Coolangatta beaches.

Another 2 bedroom apartment at Mermaid Beach is a compact place, recently renovated with new blinds, tiles and a whole new kitchen. With it's beachside location, this ground floor aprtament is just a short walk from Nobby'd Beach shops and has a garage to go with it. You can buy it for $269,000.

An 18th floor apartment in an executive building is centrally located in Broadbeach. Close by are the Conrad Jupiter, Victoria Park and the Convention Center. That's certainly a great area! The fully furnished apartment gives you a great view of the ocean, the hinterland and the sky line. It comes along with 2 pools, gym, steam room, games room and barbeque area. Broadbeach is one of the quieter and more casually chic areas of Gold Coast and perfect for anyone who likes to set his own pace.

The Paradise Towers apartment is a 1 bedroom trendy home located in the center of Surfer's Paradise. Placed on the 9th level, it gives you a lovely view over the river and the city. Just a few minutes away from patrolled beaches, cafes and all kinds of entertainment, this fully furnished apartment is perfect for holiday renting or permanent living.

The thing with Gold Coast is that it seems to be a real destination for home hunters. There are so many, many, many to choose from - resort apartments to luxury apartments, units to apartments for every budget - and i'm defnitely not doing justice to the best out there.

Picture Courtesy: www.flickr.com

There have been restrictions of foreign ownership and on buying holiday homes in certian areas. Permissions are required to buy property from the local authority office. But since joining the European Union, Austrian rules will change to apply equally to EU and Austrian citizens.

When buying real estate in Austria, a deposit of 10 percent is usual though not mandatory and it will be returned if the deal falls through. A common solicitor can handle the deal for both parties and when purchase contracts are signed, the funds are deposited with a trustee till the completion.

The price of a studio apartment is about $75,000.
A small apartment can come for anything from $87,500.
Large apartments are priced at around $145,000.
Detached homes can be about $365,000.

The cost of living in Austria is high but the EU membership should start to reduce the cost of imported goods.
Ski resorts and sumer holiday homes in hiking regions are popular with buyers.

You can find your own ideal apartment, farmhouse, chalet, castle, villa or just a plain simple home by exploring all the possibilities.

Picture Courtesy: www.flickr.com

Kalpitiya Split are 2 to 14 acres beach front plots available with developers planting coconut,banyan and ehella trees, Placed on a lovely west cost beach, you have the option of getting your own house built by the developers who are also trying to attract boutique hotel managers so that the headache of maintenance is off you.

Two beach front villas for US $450,000 in the South of Galle are up for sale. With one bedroom each and common kitchen, they're perfect for a family setup. Water, electricity and telephone line is available as is a lovely huge garden, view to the ocean, a little courtyard, red floor, wood and cane furniture for a warm, earthy feel to the house.

A stone facade lagoon house in Negombo with 3 bedrooms is up for grabs for US $160,000. With a seating arrangement at the end of the pier leading into the ocean, lovely huge wood and glass windows, tree filled garden and small terrace looking over the back garden, the house is a pleasant nap dream.

A 75 acre beach plot on Kalkudah beach is going for US $19,500 per acre or US $1,462,500 in total. Two of the neighboring properties have been sold to foreign investors as they offer a potentially huge return on investment.

The Purple Sand Beach house is built on 3.5 acres of land. With enough land to build a hotel or spa, I'd rather just renovate the colonial house and enjoy the soft, clean beach, swim, wind surf, snorkel and take the 20 minute drive to the nearest market town when the need strikes! And this peaceful dwelling for US $420,000.

A beachfront old house damaged by the tsunami on a coconut plantation is available for the low price of US $50,000.

For a lot of beach front land and homes, you can make a selection based on which coast of Sri Lanka suits you best - the sandy south or the rocky north, the popular west or the low priced east.

Picture Courtesy: www.flickr.com

The variety of homes in Mallorca will spoil you for choice. From villas, apartments, beach homes, town houses to pretty and ever popular fincas, there's so much out there that it's practically impossible not to find something to suit you.

Looking through all these homes is almost an exercize in resisting temptation. Take your time though before you book your patch of sand under an olive tree.

Picture Courtesy: www.flickr.com

Living in Istanbul is a life of indolence and energy, efficiency and warmth - it is like sharing your room with a person who has two distinctly different but enagaging personas. Europe and Asia meet in all their glory in this city separated by the dazzling Bosphorous.

Simeon Mitropolitski, a Canadian analyst quotes an old saying that assures you that in a bazaar in Istanbul you can find anything at all - even milk from a chicken - and in this case, residential real estate to suit anyone's pocket. He gives us a rundown of the real estate scene in Istanbul with per square meter and per month rates ranging from $150 per month to $25,000 per month!

Picture Courtesy: www.flickr.com