Interesting holidays with kids - get us out of the all inclusive

[HeyDiddleDumplings]

Hello,

I’d like some ideas for interesting holidays with kids (5&7). Where have you been / done that’s more interesting than an all inclusive.

Up until this point we’ve loved an inclusive (not that we cash to holiday lots, but have managed a few) it’s given us all a break we’ve needed. We recently had our holiday cancelled last minute so had to book something else very quickly & last minute. There wasn’t much left and the place we ended up wasn’t that great and still cost quite a bit. It left me feeling a bit over all inclusive’s - the waste, the ‘pack em in’ approach, the cost, the lack of culture. And now the kids are in school holiday they are just so expensive.

I would love some ideas for summer holidays where you get to do a bit more stuff and are more affordable in summer. What have you done that your family has enjoyed?

Malaysia. Specifically Borneo. High season in August. Food cheap and fabulous. Climb mountains, see endangered species, go snorkelling.

We're currently in an apartment at a lake in the Austrian alps. Perfect for my kids who are 6 and 10 - lots of outdoorsy stuff to do (great walks/hikes, playgrounds at the many gasthauses on the walking paths, stuff to do on the lake but too cold for swimming - would be perfect in August) but it's also easy to get to eg Salzburg or Innsbruck on the train for a bit of sightseeing/in case of bad weather.

We tend to do a mix of hotels and apartments/holiday houses and we find the apartments work out better and cheaper - space for downtime, breakfast is easy and you can do a mix of eating out and easy meals at home if the kids are tired and ratty.

@whereamu - Austria

We went to Croatia last year. It was lovely. The coast was rocky but the sea was amazing. We did part board in an apartment with a little kitchen and went out on some independent trips out away from the resort on local buses and taxis . It was a lovely mix of coast, culture and pottering.

Lots of excellent suggestions mentioned.
My tuppence worth is efteling in Netherlands.

It's all very family friendly ,the country,lots of quirky things to do.
Combine it with a day trip to Amsterdam which is gorgeous, the Hague and either a Dutch version of center parks or safari park... berserke begen.

@123Callie

@JassyRadlett
Where about please and are the cable cars running?
Is it near konisee?
Thanks

Austria is brilliant with kids. It’s not a long flight and you can access the mountains really quickly. They gear so much towards children, including big swimming pools, bike hire (there are some quite flat routes in the valleys) and lovely play parks. We went to Zell am Ziller in the Zillertal and it was brilliant. If you go in summer, lots of the cable cars and mountain restaurants are open too.

@Jas5mum

Who on earth are the Radford's and Ingham's??

I think you are talking about duinrell which is at the top end of the Netherlands.
We are going soon.
However it seems you must book direct and get premium accmd . The overall quality is apparently wishy washy...it's a base for the beach, the Hague and Amsterdam and a fun water park.

Efteling theme park however is a cut above anywhere else we have ever been.
It gets everything pretty much always right.

Breakfasts club I've always fancied that.
Ages ago a MN said it was so beautiful and they went up and down mountains on endless cable cars...play parks at the top, meadows, lake's..

Drive to Paris, river cruise, Eiffel Tower, crapes for dinner in Luxembourg Gardens. Drive to south of France, Cann, Monaco. Over to Courmayeur Italy and over the petit st bernard pass into France. Down to Lake Geneva for beach and swimming. Visit Geneva and CERN. Drive through Luxembourg into Belgium then home.

Or Scotland, highlands, islands and Edinburgh festival.

At that age, i am sure your little ones would love de Efteling, about 90 minutes from Schiphol (and a fairly easy drive from the ferry). The self catering cottages are lovely.

We used to combine it with a few days in interesting Airbnbs/Youth Hostels. We've stayed in castles,farms, converted nunneries, huge canal boats....

Other successful trips include Lalandia (across the road from Legoland in Billund) in Denmark. And various Centreparcs.

The north European kids usually go back to school a couple of weeks earlier than we do so prices drop!

French campsites are good. We also got an Airbnb on the Ile De Re and hired bikes one year. Doable without a car if you fly to La Rochelle. La Rochelle is also lovely and has a fab aquarium. We almost always get an air bnb or apartment and then organise ourselves. I really love pottering around local food markets as well.

Leftfield suggestion as Mumsnet hates Tunisia but ours had a brilliant time in the Tunisian Sahara at about that age, camping in the desert and riding camels and sledding on the dunes. You could combine it with a few days on the coast and some of their amazing Roman heritage. We lived in N Africa- just bear in mind it's a still developing country and adjust expectations accordingly. Easter is a good time to go.

Watching with interest as I’ve just today come back from an AI made utterly hellish by my 2 relentlessly arguing all the way through. AI is great if you can actually relax and enjoy the facilities. No good at all otherwise. We have done camping in the uk + family adventure days (paddle boarding most recently) with some success. I would love to take my youngest to DLP but my DH will not go and frankly I fear for my sobriety if I go it alone. I’m thinking something with a focus for next year, like hiking, canoeing. I’m also thinking of never ever getting on a plane with the argumentative little bleeders ever ever again, but that may be tiredness talking.

Another vote for the Netherlands. All really compact so not far to travel anywhere, can do by car or train. Right age for Efteling which is just amazing. Loads of other things to do - Volendam, visiting cheese factories, Delft, windmills, Madurodam, clogs .... I could go on and on.

Plenty of child friendly stuff without it being tedious for adults as well.

We're at Achensee. The cable cars and the boat are all running, though the schedule for the boat is the shoulder season. Bike hire nearby too.

We came without a car and the local buses are free, but if we come back I think I'll get a car to make things a bit simpler and to be able to explore further afield.

10yo and I walked up one of the easier mountains yesterday, and husband and youngest met us at the top at the gasthaus via the cable car (which also had a fab playground.)

(Achensee is to the north of Jenbach, on the main train line between Innsbruck and Salzburg, while @BreakfastClub80's suggestion of the Zillertal is to the south and a bit easier to get around with the train I think - but both are lovely!)

I agree with French campsites, although we usually do a week on a campsite and a week in a gîte so there's something a bit more chilled out too. You don't have to go to the South, although the weather is better there. We have done Normandy, Brittany, Loire Valley, West coast with our DC. They do tend to like the beach when they are younger.

You can get campsites of all different types. We usually go to medium-sized one with a pool and some on-site activities but not too much. You can't swing a cat in France without hitting something cultural - there are beautiful historic towns and villages all over. Days out like zoos, castles, theme parks etc tend to be cheaper than their equivalents here (Disney excluded!).

We go to the Achensee a lot, because my children demand to go and life is easier if they’re happy (they have ASD so new places are challenging). We’ve stayed in both the Kinderhotels at the lake (which are full board, so not really different to AI in terms of ease) and had wonderful holidays. There is a huge amount to do, and it’s really child friendly. @JassyRadlett has mentioned a lot of it - in the the summer you get inflatable slides put out on the beach lake, and you can take boats out on the lake yourself, as well as the walking/cable cars/boat/steam train. Day trips to various nearby places including the truly bizarre but great fun Swarovski Crystal World.

Stockholm came about because I was looking at destinations from Manchester airport and one of the cheap airlines offered it. I booked the hotel independently. Apparently Stockholm is cheap in July as Swedes go to their holiday homes on the islands so it's quiet, similar to the French and Paris.

Austria is fantastic with primary aged kids. Loads of outdoor activities /lake swimming : cable cars then hikes beautiful Germanic towns mountains so stunning they don’t look real in summer.

Cape Town with a car

Rio and Iguassa falls staying on the Argentine
side in a rainforest hotel and doing days out

twin center holidays in the Caribbean staying in for example a beach hotel in Cuba and then Havana

Balearics in an apartment with a car

cruises

city breaks doing things like visiting museums and nice parks

Dubai

There’s so many fantastic ideas here, thank you all so much. Prior to this recent AI holiday I’d enjoyed them but now my rose tinted spectacles are off and I’d like to try something else. As @Thewolvesarerunningagain said, something with a bit more focus.

I think you're referring to Efteling in the Netherlands. We're here at the moment, leaving tomorrow and have had a fantastic time! Highly recommend it.