proper holidays - advice required

[kennycat]

Evening all, we always do UK self catering holidays and are looking at shaking it up a bit. We've just had a look at an abroad holiday (Shock horror) and are wondering abour half board/full board/all inclusive. We normally spend £600 or less on a cottage in the UK so the prices are making our eyes bleed but we;ve accepted that's what it costs. The children and I don't have passports - that's how unexciting our travelling has been since having children (now age 7 and 9). So, advice. Which should we do? I have an eating disorder too (undereating) so I am worried that all inclusive would tip me into insane territory. Just to add to the fun.

What would you like to spend your holiday time doing? I think that would shape the options quite a bit. Outdoor activities? City sightseeing? Beaches?

if your kids are like mine and constantly hungry I'd go all inclusive. They can eat and drink as much as they want. it depends what kind of holiday you want. we prefer all inclusive holidays with swimming pools with slides and entertainment on site, we then book a few day trips to split the days up. (Hotel will usually do you a pack up for this too) overall I find all inclusive the cheapest way to holiday.
I also used to have an eating disorder and have disordered eating it's hard when the foods there when everyone else is eating but there's usually a huge range of healthy food to choose from. breakfast and tea is usually in a restraunt type place (buffet style) and lunches are usually something from the bar/bbq.

Normally I’m holidays we have picnics, go to castles, National trust, a beach for about ten mins before me and the husband get bored if it. I think I could lie around and read in a beach for a while but my husband definitely not. We’ve never done an active holiday but I’m not averse.

I'd go self catering or B&B in an apartment and plan to eat out once a day and have easy food or snacks for the other meal.

So either lunch out at a restaurant while you're out and about or go out for a meal in the evening or have a BBQ in the accommodation. Your children are old enough to eat out in the evening but you can also have a relaxed evening on the terrace after a long day at the water park or whatever.

On the first day of the holiday do a big shop with lots of drinks, ice creams, snacks etc and make sure you're walking distance to at least a Spar or similar for top ups.

With AI in a hotel, it's either a buffet, which is not relaxing for lunch and dinner, or it's ££££s for a la carte.

We stayed here and it was 2 minutes walk from a large convenience store and bakery and 5 minutes to the beach and marina for restaurants. Lots to do further afield on the island like volcano park, water park etc.

Agree self catering is maybe a better option. Or a city break to ease you in. DH also hates the beach but we've done a few 'sit by the pool' holidays and a week of that was fine.

It all depends on what you want from the holiday and how confident you are about booking things independently, for example, or driving abroad.

We went on a couple of 'package' holidays when DS was little (Skiathos and Tunisia). Not really our thing as we found the pool and beach bits boring. We like to do stuff and see stuff and it sounds like you do too. The holiday rep organised trips were eye wateringly expensive and involved a lot of time picking up and dropping off at other hotels.

However, the package holiday / AI is easy. Everything is done for you and you just turn up at the Airport.

An alternative would be to self drive to a holiday park in France. Good friends did that several times. They went to Brittany one year, and to the Vendee a couple of times and stayed in a luxury caravan with lots of facilities on site. They chose sites near to a beach with pools. It is considerably cheaper and you have the advantage of your own car so that you can go and see stuff when you want. You can get a ferry or drive and Eurotunnel.

I never trust these all inclusive deals... Can't you just eat out?

@BarbaraofSeville

I'd go self catering or B&B in an apartment and plan to eat out once a day and have easy food or snacks for the other meal.

So either lunch out at a restaurant while you're out and about or go out for a meal in the evening or have a BBQ in the accommodation. Your children are old enough to eat out in the evening but you can also have a relaxed evening on the terrace after a long day at the water park or whatever.

On the first day of the holiday do a big shop with lots of drinks, ice creams, snacks etc and make sure you're walking distance to at least a Spar or similar for top ups.

With AI in a hotel, it's either a buffet, which is not relaxing for lunch and dinner, or it's ££££s for a la carte.

We stayed here and it was 2 minutes walk from a large convenience store and bakery and 5 minutes to the beach and marina for restaurants. Lots to do further afield on the island like volcano park, water park etc.

this does look good. How do people find these places? I'm so rubbish at this! I can't get the site to the booking stage in english though to find a price. Luckily I speak spanish but I don't want to pay in euros!

I use booking.com or On the Beach to find accommodation but book direct if I can. I don't book through on the beach because they don't book the flights live but their search function is very good.

Usually this sort of site will have an English version or you can set Google Chrome to translate it for you.

As far as payment is concerned, there's nothing wrong with paying in Euros. Your card provider will take a small cut unless you have the type of card that doesn't add fees and a percentage commission, look on moneysaving expert for the ins and outs on this, it's very useful to have the right card for this type of thing and when you're abroad.

Or you might be able to book via a UK website and pay in pounds or get a package via the likes of Jet2 but I didn't do that because it includes a hire car and I'm fussy about which car hire company I use. In the canaries you want Auto Reisen. Basically, Spanish car hire is a bit of a minefield but again look on moneysaving expert for a full explanation of the many pitfalls to be aware of and hopefully avoid.

I'd second the suggestion of a Eurocamp style holiday based on your original post. Loads of choice in terms of size of site and level of facilities/activities available. Usually fair range of accommodation choices available to suit different tastes and budgets e.g. safari tent to luxury cabin or even apartments at some. We would never have considered this type of holiday pre-kids but have been several times now - France & Italy. Kids love the pools & waterslides and a bit of evening entertainment. We enjoy the good weather, local food & wine (combination of eating out at local restaurants off-site and on and shopping at local supermarket/bakeries/markets) and day trips out to local places of interest: cities, galleries, museums, beaches; either via hire car or public transport. We've used Eurocamp website as a starting point to find a site we like then booked direct with the site as often better/nicer accommodation and cheaper albeit in Euros.
We definitely prefer this to package holiday resort style holidays. Good compromise between what the adults and kids enjoy from a holiday and plenty to keep kids occupied but not as claustrophobic as a hotel/self catering complex in my opinion.
Worth a look if you've not considered it already. Happy holiday planning!