Suggestions for a summer holiday please.

[LadyMacbethWasMisunderstood]

We are a family of 5. My 2 teenage daughters will be 16 and 19 by the summer. So adult prices. DS will be 9.

We have not travelled out of the UK as a family before. I dislike flying but will grit my teeth and do it.

Previous holidays have all been camping/hotels/cottages all over the UK.

We are looking for a 1 or 2 weeks (will be price dependant). July or August 2020. The main criteria for my daughters is that they can swim in the warm sea. I’m doing this holiday for them mostly (eldest DD has recovered from a life threatening illness and DD2 suffered a lot alongside her along the way). No health issues now that will affect the choice of holiday.

DS will be happy with pretty much anything so long as I make it fun for him.

I’d rather not fly long haul and probably can’t afford that anyway.

I’m expecting I’ll have to find around £4,000. Would love it to be less. Could find a bit more if really necessary.

I know this is all very vague. I’m pretty clueless about foreign holidays.

All help appreciated.

We went to Crete as a family when I was 19 (many years ago!). Would certainly give warms seas, and some cultural opportunities if you like a day off from the beach. Other Greek islands and mainland also an option!

Budget??!

Oh sorry £4k

I think self catering in Southern Europe would be a good idea.

Someone has also mentioned Crete. I found Kalymnos to be a nice Greek Island. Cheap flight to Kos and then a short ferry to Kalymnos. The sea was warm and you could eat out (including local booze) for about €15 per head or go for a walk and cheaper gyro for a few €. It was less touristy than some of the big name islands. Day trips, by ferry to some other islands for days out.

Croatia may be another option, also a nice warm sea to swim in, lovely food. Day trips to other islands by ferry, or Dubrovnik (beautiful).

Cyprus is nice

Cyprus with teenage girls? Given what has just happened to that poor girl. Plenty of other places to go instead. Boycotting their tourist industry should force them to sort out their sexist police and judiciary.

Greece- many beautiful places there. Reasonably priced too. We’re going to Spain this year and it’s so much more expensive than Greece!

Thank you very much. I really am clueless. I realise that for 5 (4 adult price) what is a large sum
Of money for us still won’t get us a huge amount in terms of holiday.

I’ll look into all these suggestions - all good ideas. More welcome too. Thanks again.

Kefalonia is beautiful and very very reasonable for eating out/drinking.

Uzbekistan?

Sugggesting San Sebastian 4 star with pool within budget with flights but you can also go by ferry. If any of you are interested in wildlife whales are often spotted from the ferries. Area known for good food.

Spain, Ibiza, Mallorca.
Only around 2.5hr flight and am sure if you look into Spain you'll find something that has all you are looking for for under4k.
We were looking at Menorca and am sure you could get a beautiful self-catering/b&b apartment for that for you all.

You could also look at OnTheBeach.com for ideas - do holiday finder on there

Oh. The wildlife - yes definitely, all of us. I hadn’t wanted to put that as a requirement as I didn’t want to complicate things. But opportunities to see wildlife in their natural environment would be a huge plus.

Would suggest some where easy like Spain we did a self catering trip booked a villa via facebook with a shared pool, hire car and flights for under £1200 then we had a mixture of eating in and out.

We did last two weeks of August flew EasyJet from Glasgow.

Take a leaf out of the Durrells' book and head for Corfu?

Greece or any of the greek islands

How about somewhere near the Camargue in southern France? You can see the wild horses and flamingoes there, which is gorgeous to see. Then you can explore along the coast in either direction. Could self cater or camp, and could drive / train or fly down.

I agree with the Balearic Islands- Minorca, Majorca or the lovely parts of Ibiza (basically everywhere just not San Antonio). Beautiful lush pine forests, warm blue sea. I particularly recommend staying in Majorca within bus/drive of Palma which is a beautiful city to stroll around for a day / evening. The beaches to the west of Palma are stunning.

The greek islands will be very hot in July/August, worth taking into account as you've not been abroad for a long time.

How about The Algarve, there are some lovely places there and also up the west coast of Portugal.

theonlinetraveljournal.com/biscay-whale-watching-with-brittany-ferries/

From experience, the Algarve sea isn’t particularly warm even in summer!

I’d go for Greece - I love it, though where dh and I usually go now wouldn’t do for the OP.

However had a very nice two-family holiday (with 6 teens) in Skiathos some years ago. Can’t remember the hotel, but it was close to a sandy beach - many in Greece are shingle.
If not used to hot sun you will need to be careful, though - nice big shady hats, cover ups and plenty of factor 50.

Greece will be very hot in August. We were in Corfu last summer (August) and a couple of days it was 40 degrees... But the Greek islands are lovely and not too expensive - I've been looking at other southern Europe destinations and I can't find anything for the same sort of price.

We love Corfu and Crete, I do look at other islands but tend to end up favouring one or other of these. We have become one of those families who keep going back to the same accommodation in the same place, because we know it ticks all our boxes! Lovely beaches, clean warm seas, fab accommodation with pool, brilliant local restaurants...

I had thought of Greek islands but not got very enthused about it. From what I’m reading I should think again. The heat will be a bit of an issue for me (very fair skinned, slightly plump - though I’m working on the latter - 53 year old).

A holiday where she could swim in the warm sea was one of the things that my DD thought about when she was sick. So I’ll put up with the flight and the heat to make it happen.

If anyone has ideas that would be a bit over budget don’t be afraid to say. I have a bit of wiggle room for the right holiday.

Thank you again for the suggestions.