Looking for an affordable August destination

3 quick suggestions - Turkey, Morocco or Ladakh (India). Do any of those appeal to you?

Ladakh sounds good but not Turkey or Morocco - I would prefer to go there with friends. I've just been having a look at Indonesia but not sure how affordable that is. My fallback plan would be to travel the northern countries of Eastern Europe - I did a lot of the Southern ones a few years back. I'm in the mood to fly long haul though and do something a bit different. It's just a shame that August is school holiday time and flights everywhere are way more expensive.

how about Mexico......you can get flights to Yucatan Peninsula (cancun) for approx £800. you have a mix of activities and attraction on the peninsula. there is always plenty of backpackers and it is generally easy to hook up with other backpackers. plenty of cheap decent accomadation as well.

North India..... Flights are going to set you back about 600 pounds and you can EASILY live on 20 pound a day. ..Hiking, spiritual, small mountain villages. Fly into Delhi, (going to be hot) . Take bus immediatley to the North.....Manali area/Vashist or Dharamsala...... Could also go into Kibber or as suggested, Ladakh...... Easy to pass 3 weeks here and won't kill your budget

North India sounds very appealing. I will look into those areas you mention. What kind of accommodation is typical there? Is it easy to get to the north?

Also I presume that people are not worried about the recent reports of rape. I know that it's typical for a few negative stories to get in the way of a decent nation but I would like to be able to reassure my family that all will be ok.

Accommodation is between 3 and 10 pounds everywhere.... Yes, you can also spend 20-100, but there is no need. There are higher priced hotels in Manali than there are in Vashist. Dharamsala caters to movie stars so there is defineitley high end, but head up towards mcloud ganj and prices drop..

For Manali, as soon as you arrive in Delhi, book a night bus to Manali. Leaves 6 pm arrives about 11 am next day. From there, vashist with its hotsprings is 10 mintues by rickshaw or a walk of 45 minutes. Vashisht is touristy, but still great. Pass the days hiking all over, hot springs, visiting manali, eating, and Acclimatizing.. etc. Doesnt matter whether you stay in Manali or Vashist, pro's and cons to both. 2400meters

From Manali/Vashist, its very easy to take an overnight car/tax/bus to Dharamsala if you want. For me, i'd first go to kibber and kaza which is part of Spiti valley for a very unique part of India. Read up on Kibber and Kaza. Its a mini tibet in many ways, very isolated but amazing with some great places to see. Stay one night in Kaza to acclimatize, 3600 meters, then go up to kibber for a few days, 4000 meters plus. DO NOT underestimate the acclimatization. Some will say its boring, but totally different place and well above tree line. From there you can continue the loop to Shimla and head to Dharamsala, or can go back to Vashist and Dharamsala that way as well. You might also consider from Dharamsala a last stop in Amristar, to see the golden temple and then last train back to Delhi. Three weeks is easily doable for all this, but it is a fair amount of travel. IMOP, Shimla is nothing special but still have to throw it out there.

Happy travels...August is a great time to be in the north of india

Most travel books say Thailand is the best value.

Your Eastern Europe idea is not a bad fall back. Flights in to Poland from various places around the UK should come to absolutely no more than £150 return. Hostels in The Baltics, Poland and Ukraine should average no more than £7/night so flights and accommodation for a month should be no more than £400.

I really like Poland, Warsaw and Krakow are incredibly interesting cities and the High Tatras are beautiful.