Eurocamp Union Lido Mare review: what it's really like to stay at this five-star resort with a toddler and baby

Our verdict

Union Lido Mare is a five-star resort that absolutely earns the rating: beautiful, spotless, brilliantly run and packed with more to do than you could manage in a fortnight, let alone a week. For us, with a baby and a toddler, the honest truth is that we couldn’t come close to using it all, and for what it costs we’d probably choose an all-inclusive at this stage of family life. But that’s a reflection of our kids’ ages, not the parc. We made wonderful memories, and I found myself a little jealous of the older kids having the run of the place.

A few of our favourite things:

• The dog-friendly pool: quiet, free sunbeds, and right by our accommodation.

• Il Borgo restaurant, and its paella and sangria night (€25 a head, with a sangria the size of your head).

• The nightly mini disco, and a K-pop Demon Hunters tribute act our daughter still talks about.

• A half-day in Venice, with a ferry ride our three-year-old adored.

• €1.50 scoops of ice cream, every single day.

Would we go back? Yes, but when the kids are older and can properly take on the water parks, the activities and the kids’ clubs.

Location

Union Lido Mare sits on the Cavallino coast, on the Adriatic side of Italy, with its own private sandy beach running along the front of the parc. It’s five-star and it’s enormous. That scale is the whole appeal, and, with tiny children, also the challenge.

We flew into Venice Marco Polo and hired a car, which was about £270 for the week. The drive to the parc took roughly 50 minutes and couldn’t have been easier: good roads, calm traffic, and my wife (who was driving) felt confident the whole way there and back. Flights came in around £500.

The headline location perk is Venice. You’re about 8km from Punta Sabbioni, where you catch a 30-minute boat across the lagoon into the city. No car? There’s a cheap local bus to the boat too. Getting to Venice from here is both easy and cheap, which still amazes me.

Top tip for families with an early flight:

The parc gates don’t open before 7am. We had an early flight and a hire car, so we needed to be out before then. There was some confusion over where to leave the car overnight (we were eventually pointed to a spot across the road, by a bar the parc owns). If you’re flying home early, agree your overnight parking plan with reception in advance so you’re not puzzling it out at 6am.

How we tested

I travelled with my wife, our three-year-old and our nine-month-old. This was our first Eurocamp, and really our first holiday of this kind. Center Parcs is the closest thing we’d done before, and this is a very different, much bigger beast. We’re regular travellers: one big trip a year, usually all-inclusive somewhere in the Med, plus Center Parcs or Airbnbs to visit family, and a lot of long drives (our Scotland run is about eight hours, so we’re not soft about travel). Union Lido Mare was a real change of pace for us.

What are the pools like?

We used just about every pool on the parc, and they were all a perfect temperature. We skipped the big slides (our three-year-old wasn’t keen), but the toddler slides were a huge hit, and the baby was more than happy paddling in the shallow water-play areas. The wave pool was brilliant; bring floats for your children and they’ll have a ball.

Our surprise favourite was the dog-friendly pool. It sounds odd, but hear me out: it’s tucked out of the way so it was never busy, it was close to our accommodation, and, crucially, the sunbeds there were free, whereas elsewhere you pay. With two young kids you really need a shaded base, especially for a baby, and this gave us one at no cost. The dogs were well behaved almost without exception. If you don’t mind them, I’d genuinely seek it out.

The one pool-area downside was shade at Speedy Island. One section had big trees you could lay a towel under; the other had none, so you were nudged towards paying for a sunbed. On a strong June day we lasted about an hour and a half in the sun before calling it. And yes, that was June, which tells you something about the heat.

What other facilities are available?

The kids’ clubs were great, with genuinely good activities. One evening was a Lego night where all the kids piled in to build together. The only catch is they’re pitched at slightly older children, and most sessions are drop-off, which was tough for our more nervous three-year-old with no familiar friends there. Worth bearing in mind if your little one doesn’t like being left.

The beach play area was a winner: climbing frames right next to a restaurant, so you can grab a drink while the kids burn off energy, or nip over if they’re getting restless. We’re not big beach people (not fans of sand), so we leaned on the pools, but the beach itself is beautiful.

Evenings were a highlight. There’s a mini disco every single night that draws everyone in (toddlers, older kids and adults), and it’s lovely to watch. It’s usually followed by a bigger act; for us the standout was a K-pop Demon Hunters tribute band that, no exaggeration, half-made the holiday for our daughter. It runs late, which is the one real caveat with young children, but we embraced some wrecked bedtimes for it and had no regrets.

A couple of honest heads-ups: horse riding is advertised but no longer running, which disappointed us. The mini fun fair was a bit much for our three-year-old, who was too nervous for most of it. The mini karts round the back (part of the arcade) were the exception and went down well. And the mosquitoes are real; the good news is the parc fogs the site regularly, and numbers dropped noticeably afterwards. The spa, mini golf and archery we didn’t get to, all firmly in the “brilliant with older kids, next time” pile.

What’s the food like?

The food genuinely blew us away, both the quality and, for a resort, the value. Think roughly London prices but in euros, so a touch cheaper than London, which for the standard felt fair. We ended up trying every restaurant.

Our favourite by a mile was Il Borgo, near the dog pool. We went back several times, and its paella and sangria night (€25 a head) was a proper treat. Budget-wise, expect something like £75-85 for the family for one or two courses with two small kids, and you could easily spend the same at lunch, so it adds up.

Top tip:

If you’ve got the organisation in you, make some of your own lunches or picnics, and you’ll still eat brilliantly at dinner without being completely skinned. The pizzeria was in heavy rotation for us; our daughter had pizza most days and loved it, plus ice cream every single day at about €1.50 a scoop.

The on-site shop has a really decent range. The big move is the fresh bakery each morning. People queue for it, and for good reason: the bread’s excellent and cheap, and it’s clearly what a lot of families do for breakfast and lunch. General household goods run maybe 20-30% above home, though some things match your local Lidl, and there’s actually a Lidl about ten minutes down the road for a bigger shop. It never felt like the rip-off on-site shops sometimes are.

One honest note on service. Most staff were lovely, but a few were visibly impatient with children: irked by our pram, unimpressed when a toddler dropped a toy or spilt a drink. During one exhausted tantrum a staff member rolled their eyes and swapped out with a colleague, and we ended up taking the meal away rather than risk bothering other guests. In a resort full of families, that stung a little. But it really wasn’t everyone: the team at Il Borgo were wonderful, and the man who took over during that meltdown was an absolute saint who helped us pack up and leave with our dignity intact.

What is there to do nearby?

The obvious one is Venice, and I can’t recommend it enough. Do it whatever age your kids are. From the parc it’s a short drive (or cheap bus) to Punta Sabbioni, then a 30-minute boat across the lagoon. Our three-year-old was captivated by the ferry, the bridges and the boats; we kept it to a morning, found an old coffee spot my wife and I remembered from years ago, wandered a little and headed back before anyone melted down. Venice is always hot and always busy, but a short, well-timed visit with little ones is completely doable. If we can manage it with a three-year-old and a nine-month-old, anyone can. Beyond Venice, the parc’s own beach is genuinely lovely if you’re beach people.

About the author

I’m Nino, part of the team at Mumsnet, though on the commercial side rather than the content side, so writing a review is a first for me. I’m a dad of two: a three-year-old and a nine-month-old. My wife and I were big travellers before kids, forever booking city breaks, but we’ve always been suckers for an all-inclusive where we can switch off completely and not think about the next meal. These days a big family trip tends to be all-inclusive in the Med, with Center Parcs and Airbnb stays to see family in between. A self-catering water-park resort in Italy was new territory for us, and a brilliant, eye-opening one.

About the editor

Jenny Wonnacott is a Content Editor at Mumsnet, where she writes, edits and optimises family-focused content designed to make everyday parenting that bit easier.

As a mum of three, Jenny brings first-hand parenting experience to everything she writes, with plenty of trial-and-error along the way. Her family travels have ranged from UK camping trips to more adventurous long-haul breaks, giving her a clear understanding of what really matters when travelling with children - from location and layout to those small but crucial details that can turn an average family trip into the best holiday ever.

She regularly researches and reviews family travel options, combining expert insight with real parent feedback from the Mumsnet community to help other families plan holidays with confidence.

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