Kids have never been abroad, where can we go?

[LiveInSunshine]

My youngest 3 (6,10,12) have never been abroad. I’ve love to take them. It’s more the principal of leaving the country and a new experience than anything. Autumn is great, but they can wait.

Can anyone recommend an affordable solution? Plane is great, but I’m up for the Ferry too. Just, abroad really! As affordably as possible…

Salou, cheap Ryan air flights into Reus. Sanguli campsite is great, or plenty of cheap hotels. Brilliant theme park and lovely beaches.

What is your budget? How long do you want to go away for? A long weekend? A week? Do you want to gonin Summer or are you happy to go in a different school break?

Passport processing times are right down at the moment as volumes have fallen off a cliff.
One thing to consider is whether to stagger the applications so they don't also all come up for renewal at the same time? The adult ones will be for ten years but the kids are only 5.
If you are familiar with driving in Europe that would be my first port of call. Drive to France, eurotunnel is so easy to do and French roads are bliss.
Rent a holiday cottage, camp or Airbnb but with you on the number of dodgy incidents that seem to happen.

Package holidays are easy as someone else sorts transport to a resort but not my cup of tea. If you want to stay out for the whole trip
then it's definitely the path of least resistance though. I've flown with Jet2 and their service is outstanding. Can't recommend them highly enough. What part of the U.K. will you be travelling from? Does it lend itself to short hops?

Croatia has tempted me as we speak languages closely related enough to communicate, though I haven’t been.

I think I need to clarify, I’m asking for ‘we went to xxxx, it was roughly xxxx and fun’ (thank you if you have!) rather than wider advice of passports/ insurance or speculation. I’m saying not to be arsey, but people get upset when they feel they’ve invested time posting what they think of helpful to find it’s not what was asked. Budget is something to watch, but I’m not going to give an amount exactly as we may save or something for what works. What I’m saying is cheap end- I don’t have means for Florida, Thailand or living changing travels. More European cheap places. I’m only familiar personally with Poland and neighbouring countries, so asking more about the west.

Im googling Salou.

I’ve driven across Europe many times but I don’t want to really put the kids through a mega drive. Very up for any moderate drives.

Euro camp is a great option or look at canvas holidays.

Book now for next summer and get good prices

I would go with the camp sites. We always did that when dc were that age and they loved it as there was a lot of activities in the site and they were always busy. Recommend Northern Spain as we spent a day in Barcelona and if you have any football fans they will love a visit to Nou Camp. There was bus trips from the camp if a bit uncomfortable driving there. Also big water parks nearby.
The only disadvantage of camp sites is you need a car ..either your own or hire one at the airport.
Salou near Barcelona is also a good place for a package holiday for that age kids. Going outside July and August is best as often too hot and most expensive.

Do it as it will be a lovely memory for all.

How about a youth hostel for a city break? Most have family rooms that would sleep 5 and are often quite nice. It might be less miserable than camping in autumn and they often have guest kitchens. Hostels appear on booking.com and you can check reviews there and on Google maps.

I would avoid Scandinavia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland and actually Croatia. They're all lovely but food and transport are expensive. Spain, Portugual, Italy, France (outside Paris), Germany and Belgium are all much cheaper.

mallorca? The canaries? Malta?

At that age, my dc loved 'fancy' French and southern German castles - often easy to pair with pretty hikes and tourist towns full of fun shops of child-friendly souvenir tat. Great food, both places.

Spain is such fun for kids - plus the possibility of dry, relatively warm weather in autumn. Seville? Barcelona?

Caravans or Airbnb, really anything self-catering is best and generally works out cheapest. Just read lots of reviews or ask people you know for recommendations.

I hope you have a great holiday!

Oh thank you, I didn’t realise Croatia was more expensive. Portugal does tempt me

Go on skycanner and search the 'fly anywhere' option, trying out a variety of dates. You should get really cheap flights. I once flew to Switzerland for under £10 (don't go there as expensive once there) and Ireland for £1 each way!

Then find a cheap airbnb or campsite at the location.

Well, following your requested formula, we went to Cyprus and stayed at a lovely 5* resort during oct half term - lots of sea swimming and ancient monument visiting. It was £7000 for accommodation and half board for four people for 7 nights, another £1000 for excursions and lunches and alcohol.

I’m reading up on Barcelona for a short break- feeling tempted

For something quite different and non-beachy, we loved Austria - fairytale-like towns and villages, gorgeous mountains, lots to do especially if the kids are outdoorsy.

I love Slovenia for the same reason, and it's cheaper - Lake Bohinj is fantastic.

I would take them somewhere where you can see bit if history, something exciting, and maybe a beach or lake. It would have to have good weather.

Imo taking them to a city could potentially be boring for them, museums, art galleries, great architecture are great but not for children your age in a guest trip.

I would suggest:
Cyprus - warm and a few ruins that are interesting. There's some nice resorts - Aphrodite Hills is ok and not far from Paphos. You might get a deal although flight is a bit longer at 4hours

Amsterdam - stay on a canal boat, go to Anne Frank House, see a windmill, clog making etc

Amalfi coast and visit Herculaneum or Pompeii (trains are very good in Italy)

You could do a package but just do one that is near some interesting sights. I've found packages often work out cheaper than doing it all separately and you are covered for the whole holiday!

(And second booking.com for accommodation - they have self-catering as well as hotels and I've never had an issue with them.)

We usually stay at Premier Inn in Folkestone or Ashford the night before going in Eurotunnel. It breaks the journey up for us.
I guess it depends where you live.

We've stayed at some great sites.
La Croix Du Vieux Pont is about 4 hours from Calais. It is a fabulous site and it is close enough to go to Disneyland Paris for the day.
La Vallee in Normandy is lovely, fairly close to some massive sandy beaches, about 3 hours from Calais.
We're booked to go to Domaine Des Ormes, in Brittany later this year and Beekse Bergen in the Netherlands next year. They are both about 3-4hours from Calais.

Also, when we were away last time there was a company called Roan and their accommodation looked very nice. Pricing up with them recently, they seemed a bit cheaper than Eurocamp and the accommodation looked better. So we might go with them next time.

The cheapest option for going abroad for me is a Dover to Calais ferry with Irish Ferries, about £150 for the 5 of you. From there you have France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany within a few hours drive.

There are SO many companies to book accommodation through it's a matter of going through a few one evening and finding the cheapest option. I've only once found a good with Eurocamp, I've always found them to be extremely expensive but it's a good place to start, you can then check how much it is to book direct if you fall in love with a place.

The cheapest time to go to France is Easter, a lot of France does not have a full school holiday there so there's some excellent deals. I've already booked for Easter and paid 249 EUR for 2 weeks in a one bedroom apartment at a beachside complex with indoor and outdoor pools, gym, sauna, jacuzzi... That special offer ended on Friday though so the same place is now 600! Other deals will come up though, I usually check every so often and grab a deal when I see one.

I search for deals based on price rather than location so my options are always open. If the price is right, that's where we're going!

If you're looking for somewhere with good facilities and within easy reach of Calais, I can recommend Cottages du Valjoly (summerfrance.co.uk) They have lovely little cabins next to the lake, a big pool and other activities that can be paid for, the pool is included in the price. The closest village is called Willies so that always keeps the children amused!

Look at Landal resorts in the Netherlands, and Euro Camp in France and beyond.

Excellent tip about Easter and France!

Slovenian sounds interesting

Thank you everyone, this is feeling less overwhelming and like something that’s happening.

We went to the Algarve for 9 days in June with 6 and 8 year olds. The package itself cost £2k, that was for a very nice self catering resort. We probably spent the same amount again when there, though £500 was the hirecar which was not essential depending on where staying. Portugal is dead easy, safe, friendly.

however we have weird school holidays which work in our favour. The prEvious week (Whit) would have been far more expensive.

we also like campsites in France but You really need to either drive or fly and rent a car, and it helps an awful lot to speak a bit of French.

We did Paris as our first trip abroad with the kids (our youngest was 5 at the time) and had a fab time. Took the Eurotunnel which I'd do for anywhere in northern Europe, it's a much more pleasant experience than flying. We wanted to immerse them in a different culture (rather than a resort holiday which is not my cup of tea) but France is close enough and similar enough that they could enjoy the differences but e.g. the food wasn't too different. We did a mix of the big hitters (The Louvre, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower at night) plus child friendly things like the Luxembourg Gardens and the Zoo.

We have always used airbnb to find accomodation, there are plenty 'superhosts' that are professional letting agencies that are just using airbnb because it's a popular platform, hiring a whole house or apartment like that is perfectly fine and nothing to worry about. We always self cater on holiday and eat out once a day, the mix is good with kids.

Op Netherlands is a good call.

If you can stay at efteling that would be an amazing holiday.

My kids first resort holiday was an all inclusive in feuetaventura as teens. The lady at Tui (we called) helped us find one with two bedrooms and nice family vibe.

But other lovely holiday at Disney land Paris - if they into Disney/roller coasters they may be the right ages.

And then Euro camp - we just stayed a night at one near Amsterdam but it looked fun.

Oh... almost forgot ... another we did was Venice - stayed in a 5-bed room in the centre of Venice - walking distance from all the sights. Ate pizza by the slice, walked round eating gelato. Amazing.