Best holidays with school-aged children?

[LilyMyOneAndOnly]

Our DS starts school this September so our usual holidays will be no longer (Greek islands end of September, centre parcs autumn/winter in term time).

I've been day dreaming of better years ahead and how holidays will work when tied to school holiday dates.. would love to hear what are your best locations, times, how expensive you found it (or not?!).

We live in Cornwall so are lucky to be surrounded by beaches and get good summers here usually. Would Easter or May half term be better to go away?

Try the Channel Islands

Yes some of the attraction is the beaches, which wouldn't be such a draw for you. On Jersey, there's also Durrell Zoo, castles, the aMaizin Maze, the Maritime Museum (excellent for small DC).

May half term in Greece is wonderful. Not cheap but not quite as pricey as peak summer.

Easter holidays is very iffy weather wise anywhere in Europe. Can be nice in April in the southern Med (Crete Cyprus etc) if you get lucky, but can also rain all week.

For easter and October half term sunshine you need to go further - Canaries, Marrakech, Mauritius are good options. Obviously longer flights and not cheap.

What you did before but pay a fortune or camping.

The best holidays we've done with kids are Eurocamp type places (caravan or pre-erected tent) in the summer, somewhere with beach or lake, swimming pools, kids clubs etc. The kids have loads of freedom, there's enough laid on to keep them occupied but you can also escape on day trips, to eat out and swim.

Will it be too expensive for you to go abroad in the holidays?

We go abroad in May half term rather than the summer holidays, it's cheaper and you still get nice weather in places like Turkey, Canaries. DS loves Butlins too.

Some longer haul holidays are cheaper than short haul in February half term or Easter.

Camping in France is not too expensive in school holidays and the weather is slightly more certain than the UK (although I admit in 2019 there was one day where no towels were dry)

City breaks can also work out not too expensive, especially if you go Mon-Fri. We went to Lisbon a couple of years ago in Feb half term and it was lovely weather and loads to do.

Great fan of May half term week - we've taken many a short haul holiday to southern Europe with primary aged DC due to less crowds, hot weather and lower costs (relative to the summer peak).

Drive to the west coast of France and stay on a holiday park (camping or rent a mobile home) they have kids clubs with kids from all over Europe. La Rochelle area is brilliant and easily accessible from the ports (there used to be a service from Plymouth, not sure if it still runs), we have also done Spain (via overnight ferry) and Italy by car, via Germany which they loved. We simply did trips we fancied, there's always stuff for kids. At 7&9 we went to the Normandy beaches which they still talk about, never be afraid to expose them to history, even tough history

May half term, definitely. My kids are all adult now but we had several good holidays, in France and southern Spain.
This was in the 90s/00s though and we were always able to extend by a few days either end to get 2 weeks - schools would give permission then. But you can still fit 9 days in.
We never took them to Greece but have since had great holidays in Corfu around May half term.
(We also had one late Easter (Sun 20th) in Spain. There was some cooler weather the first week, but second week was hot, and we saw a fabulous Semana Santa parade on the Sunday in the small town where we stayed. Only drawback down there is that many child-friendly attractions aren’t open yet.)