Beachside with kids

[solomonrulesok]

Ok so I'm on holiday in Dubai and I'm thinking how much I would love living by the sea. I don't mean UK seaside (though I wouldn't say no) I mean warm, beach cafe vibe living.
Pie in the sky perhaps but give me some dreams - where would be an amazing place to live next to the beach with children? Dubai is an option, though I do find the rest of it a bit soulless. Great for a holiday but not sure would want to stay. Which I guess means also give me some ideas of places that are beachside but also offer a bit of culture or history too! Sigh! I loved Thailand when I was there. Forgotten how much I miss warmer weather.

[Ancienchateau]

Being on holiday is of course totally different to living there but being by the sea could make you put up with a lot imo. I'd love to live in Greece and plan to one day soon. Friends of mine moved to Barbados recently but were back in Blighty after a year, which is a bit worrying

[specialsubject]

You are in Dubai in march. Go back in august and see how you fancy the beach then....

[lljkk]

Don't they have Dengue in Thailand?
My dad lives on a beach. I mean literally it's his front garden. Warm sunny place.
He's surrounded by holiday homes. All his neighbour friends have sold up for $$$$$$$$$. Parking is challenging for visitors. The sewage backs up sometimes... not entirely paradise.

[tinypop4]

We were lucky enough to live in Phuket Thailand for a year. Pretty amazing how if you can get over there!

[BrieAndChilli]

We lived in the south of France for 2 years, no kids back then though.
My friends loved to Sydney with their kids for 3 years, loved it but expensive.

[Paperplain]

We're in Sydney and about a 5 mins drive (or 20 min run) to our closest harbour beach. We love it, especially in the winter months when you can pack up a BBQ and head to the beach all day with just a jumper and not worry too much about the heat. Also beaches are empty during the winter as too cold for most of the locals (think 18 degrees with the water the same temperature - not exactly freezing). A lot of rain at the moment though which isn't great.

[hellokittymania]

Being by the sea also means putting up with extremely high tides during storms, Red tide, the Nairobi fly and other quite dangerous insects and a lot of other things like drunken tourists that do inappropriate things. Being on the holiday is not the same as living somewhere. The beach is great when nothing goes wrong. But my father lives in the Cayman Islands and you don't even want to know what it was like during hurricane Ivan .....

[OlennasWimple]

What sort of beach do you want, though?

Caribbean beach with little tide, all year round heat, warm sea, all year round visitors? Greek island beach withh more variable weather, visitors most of the year, not so warm sea? Outer Hebrides beach - brrrrrrr! West coast America beach with warmish sea, sky high cost of living, having to eat quinoa for every meal

[nooka]

We lived quite close to beaches in NY (which was a surprise to us), but we couldn't use any of them as they were all private. It took just a few minutes to be evicted by security if you attempted to walk onto them :(

I visited Dubai in October last year. It was over 30C (and very very humid) at 1am in the morning when I arrived. I couldn't really go outside at all during the day it was just horrible.

[feesh]

I live right on the beach - it's always been my dream, but actually it's quite overrated! We hardly ever go down after school as we still have real life shit to get on with like shopping and after school clubs and homework. Also I am genuinely too anal to be able to cope with the amount of sand that gets into everything and gets brought back to the house. Sad but true!

But on the days we do bother, I do genuinely love it, not least because I get to mostly ignore the kids for an hour while they entertain themselves playing in the sand.

[solomonrulesok]

olennas I would like no tide beach I think right now as kids are small. Though West America coast also sounds pretty good! And maybe surfing culture when they are older?
Is Sentosa the only beach in Singapore? What about Sydney? Where in West America is good?
Asia is my favourite though not quite sure how that would work with kids now.
Yeah it's all dreaming really (though we could actually go - I can work from anywhere and my husbands work has offices in most countries.) i get that it wouldn't be all roses. But I can daydream right? I also read quite a few threads last night about how homesick some expats are!

[solomonrulesok]

anchien any idea why Barbados wasn't a hit?

[solomonrulesok]

tinypop how come you came back? Did you get homesick? Would you recommend with kids?

[Laptopwieldingharpy]

Hong Kong and singapore.

[FreddoFrog]

Sentosa in Singapore or Manly in Sydney. Or Perth, Australia.

[Laptopwieldingharpy]

In Sg the beaches are not great but you'd have a pool and live in shorts and flip flops, life is very easy, like in a resort but somehow dull.
Hong Kong is much more sophisticated (culture) is a spectacular natural site, you can literally hike peaks and end in the sea for a swim. 4 seasons so more appealing.
Yes the water is not always super clean but renting a junk for a day to outlying islands is easy and cheap

[FreddoFrog]

Sentosa is really the only 'beach' in Singapore. It's not really much of a beach when compared to Australian beaches. But the condos and houses on the island are gorgeous and it's very easy living in Singapore. And easy to get to lots of other better beaches for weekends away.

Rio de Janeiro? Cape Town?

[FreddoFrog]

Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia? Noosa is gorgeous. Or the Golf Coast or northern coast of NSW? Byron Bay or Kingscliff - gorgeous, lovely places.

Clearly I need a beach holiday....

[SallyGinnamon]

Friends moved to South Devon and went to the beach a lot when DC were young. The DC just wore wetsuits when it was colder.

The plus point is no poisonous spiders, snakes, mosquitos, typhoons....

[LadyCassandra]

I live in Manly in Sydney. We have both beaches, harbour and oceanside. It is the best place to live in the world and the cost of living reflects that

[tinypop4]

Singapore also has the East Coast park area. This is a beach/park which is lovely and popular with local and expat families but not beautiful like the tropical beaches nearby. Singapore is a bit boring, but easy to live there (also did 2 years here)
Came back from Phuket because we were both on contracts that's were coming to an end (me international school, husband engineering contract in Thailand) and we were missing family. We were with young children and it was very nice and easy going, although a little more frustrating day to day than SIngapore.

[tinypop4]

Sorry I missed your homesick question. No I didn't miss home as such, but eventually missed our families, especially as our parents started to age it's a long way from home.

[Ancienchateau]

solomonrulesok, I think Barbados just suits them better as a holiday destination - they still have a house there. Day to day living was just too difficult. A common problem in more exotic locations.

[sunbunnydownunder]

We are less then 2kms from the Indian Ocean here in Perth. Love it, it is a great life style especially with kids

[MummaGiles]

If I could move anywhere and be by the sea, I'd go to Vancouver no question about it.