How do you keep cool in 35 degrees on holiday?

[dameofdilemma]

Assuming you don’t want to stay indoors the whole time (which is what I’d probably do at home) - will swimming pools with no shade really keep the kids cool?

The sea might be cool but is it worth a walk in the sun to get to the beach and no shade when you get there (there re no loungers, it’s not that sort of beach).

Feeling a bit unsure as we’re going somewhere that isn’t usually this hot (we’ve been several times before in the Summer and it’s been max 25 degrees but is now forecast 35).
I’m not sure what to do if it’s that hot apart from cower in a shady corner…

only Freeze half bottles of water if you want to drink out of them within a couple of hours. Before you leave add normal water to the half frozen bottles. Totally frozen water bottles take a good few hours to melt enough to drink from - fine for the afternoon if you’re out all day.
Use the pool, rash vests and hats for the kids. Wetting the hats in the pool helps too.

Thanks all. I can see this is going to be a very different kind of holiday than previous years….

if I’m honest I’m dreading it - we’ve always avoided Greece/Spain etc in the Summer for exactly this reason.
We usually do a walk somewhere scenic in the morning then the kids stay in the pool or on the beach during the afternoon - they can’t do that at night (the pool will be closed and it’ll be dark) and walking to a nice restaurant for a leisurely meal in the evening isn’t exactly a highlight for them.

Feels a bit crazy to go away and spend the afternoons on screens indoors but we might have little choice. Board games aren’t going to cut it from 12pm to 6pm!

“I went to Spain to a holiday village once a few years ago. I was shocked that only about half of the loungers around the pool had parasols.”

We've found similar in France but as it hasn’t been so hot before it’s been ok. No way will we be getting up at 5am!

When we went to Thailand a few years back at the hottest time of year it was extremely hot and humid at times, we tended to head to the pool area from 10 to midday/1pm, then have lunch at the hotel beach bar where the tables were shaded by trees. We would head back to the room after that for a few hours, I'd read on the terrace which was shaded and my son would stay inside, around 4pm we would head back into the pools until sundown, which was lovely as it gradually gave you some blessed relief from the late 30s temps.

It’s just dawned on me that we won’t have air con…(chalet on a campsite). Temperatures set to be average 33, up to 37. Ten degrees higher than normal.

Am trying to think of an excuse to get out of going!!

Can you take a fan with you? We are staying in our own touring caravan which gets very hot during the day and brought a portable fan with us which helps, especially at night. Also maybe pack some flat sheets that you can put over you at night as they might not be included in the chalet bedding.

All the chalets I've seen have shaded terraces so you should have somewhere to sit out of the sun. It was 38 degrees here yesterday and I was quite jealous of the people with chalets!

We have just come back from Turkey a couple of weeks ago where it was 35/36 daily and we were fine.
It didn't feel like what 35 does here, the pool had a shaded area that we could plot up in, I wore a hat every day and I think that helped, even though I have a white face and tanned body now.
Have a parasol if possible (there wasn't nearly enough at our hotel)

The pina coladas for keeping cool as pp has said is also a tip of mine 😉.

At the beach we had the breeze so it was fine but be sure to reapply sunscreen as the breeze can be deceiving for how hot it actually is (lesson learnt when burnt to a crisp one year).

We didn't go in the room and avoid the heat at any point as that wouldn't have been a holiday for us. The children were fine, being in water most of the day helped.
We came back to 40° here so it did us a favour as by that point we were acclimatised.

Spray bottle of water and a handheld fan, either a manual one or rechargeable. Wet towel over your shoulders. Shower often, don’t dry yourself after the shower. Don’t move much. Drink water, not booze. Curse at the sun and global warming, dread next summer and consider a trip to the arctic asap. I hope that it isn’t too shit.

We live in a really hot country and I am not a fan of extreme heat. It's all perfectly possible though.

I would recommend going to the beach VERY early. In the summer here the carpark is full at 8am- take breakfast. Leave by 11 (you will need a big parasol).

Home for lunch, kids will be knackered and sandy. Chill out, books, TV, games. At 4 you can start getting ready to go to the pool, and then head down for a swim and sundowners. Late dinner, let the kids stay up and nap in the afternoons- you can read etc while they sleep. Don't worry about getting them to bed. Where we live kids are up til midnight in summer.

Do you have UV suits? Get those and super waterproof sunscreen. Don't move too much. Eat watermelon.

If you do want to do sightseeing, then go very very early. If you catch a sea breeze it won't be too bad. Enjoy!

Do you have UV suits? Get those and super waterproof sunscreen.

I agree. Had to buy DC a UV top for swimming while here as she got burnt the first day, despite having 50+ waterproof sunscreen on that is supposed to last 3 hours in the pool.