Do child friendly holidays really exist?

[nameuseroriginal]

I don't know if I should take my 2yo abroad on holiday.

Is there such a thing or place as a toddler friendly holiday?

We'd ideally want a villa so we're not confined to a hotel room in the evenings but don't want to cook!

We love centre parcs if that's any help.

Is it just going to be really hard work and not worth it? I find the tantrums and demands hard enough to deal with at home

Thanks for any suggestions

It depends on what you want out of a holiday. You can book something near a beach, eat out, make sure bedtimes are roughly adhered to and sit out and drink wine. We like city breaks and have done multiple European cities with a baby/toddler and a 6 and 7 year old. It’s all possible, as long as you adjust your expectations and you are always prepared (snacks/change/things to do). We like travelling so we don’t mind. But if it all seems too much then don’t do it. You can always holiday in the UK till your child is older.

You could try an aparthotel, we went to Benalmadena at half term and it was a perfect compromise (and cheap!).

We took our DD to a hotel called Princesa Yaiza in Lanzarote when she was 2. The room had a separate living area where we could sit in the evenings, and there was a kids’ club, crèche and evening kids’ entertainment. It was brilliant and actually pretty reasonably priced for what we got.

We often did Eurocamp when the girls were that age, always had a swimming pool and child friendly paddling pool, either caravans or tents and plenty to do and as they get a bit older they can have their independence safely. They usually have restaurants and takeaways on site too so you don't have to cook.

I wouldn't go to a villa again with small children. Best holidays have been to AI with crèche / entertainment etc or Eurocamp type places in a mobile home with a deck so at least you can sit outside when they're in his. My kids unfortunately where never the type to stay up through dinner or nap in the buggy while we are.

We did villa/apartment holidays when the dc were little. Always picked somewhere right on the beach so we could nip back easily for the loo and anything else we needed. We always ate out - made sure we picked a location with a nice bakery for breakfast, beach bar for lunch and child friendly restaurants for dinner where we could get quality, simple food without paying over the odds. Then back to the apartment/villa to put dc to bed, and wine on the balcony for us. Lovely.

Absolutely but the most genuinely relaxing family friendly ones are the family “packages” ie tui family life. From the pov that you will be able to borrow any equipment (to British safety standards) they’ll have children’s clubs, children’s pools, children’s entertainment (young children love this more than anything) and a wide variety of food available.

We stay in them but we go out every day for sightseeing and eat out most nights as you would for any holiday

Thanks for all the info, will do some research!

We've got 4 children, 12, 10, 3 and 1. For the past 2 years we've found it easier to do villa holidays. I have loved that they can have a nap in the house but me and DH can potter around outside or whatever. They can also have plenty of nice snacks etc.

We did take our DD to the holiday village in Kos which was really good but when it was nap time one of us ended up stuck in the room for a couple of hours. The pools were obviously a lot bigger too so more difficult to manage a running toddler.

We find a hotel resort easiest. You need one with a shallow kids pool, so that toddlers can stand up (putting arm bands on helps with their stability). A kids club that will has an indoor area that you can play in with your toddler, to get out of the sun when needed. Most importantly a big buffet style evening meal, so you don’t need to wait to order food but can whizz round and pick up a variety of things they might like. They usually have a cook to order bit, so if you have fussy kids like us then you can always get plain pasta & grilled chicken if they don’t fancy anything else.

And obviously a mini disco is also a must!