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Original poster

Have you ever had a holiday with small children that was actually worth it?

189 replies

superorganisms · 30/12/2022 14:01

...in terms of money and stress? And if so, what/where was it?

I have two under three. One 9 week old. Thinking of holiday next year but the thought of travel, the expense, the stress...would it actually ever be worth it? Thinking maybe not abroad, or at least not long haul, and possibly asking another family along. Don't care about hot weather, just not crap enough to allow us to get some fresh air every day.

Have you ever actually had a good, vaguely relaxing time, and if so, where did you go? Where did you stay? Any top tips?

OP posts:
AngelsWithSilverWings · 30/12/2022 15:38

Best holiday when my two were very young ( 2 and 5) was a cruise. We cruised two years running because the Creche and night nursery were so great.

Slightly older we did Eurocamp in France and Holland for a few years. We did Orlando one year as a treat and it was exhausting!

Camping in our tent in the UK with friends who had kids the same age has given us some of the most enjoyable and relaxing holidays.

MardyMincepie · 30/12/2022 15:38

With DS as a baby and toddler Dorset, Majorca twice, Belgium plus America where we did a two centre holiday. I found it fine. We did do self catering so had plenty of room but ate out every day and just had breakfast at the cottage or villa. The Belgium one was a short break and and the one time we stayed in a 5 star hotel, we had a suite. Self catering holidays are fine if you don’t actually do the catering bit yourselves.

troppibambini6 · 30/12/2022 15:38

Oh and only ever had one bad flight. They all cried for about half an hour on the way down because of sore ears. Turned out 2 had ear infections when we got home so fair enough.
It was coming home from Majorca and everyone was so nice about it when we landed.

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Holidays
formulatingAresponse · 30/12/2022 15:40

My best holidays with younger DC were the Mark Warner ones.

We all just had a lot of fun and met some lovely people.

MissingMoominMamma · 30/12/2022 15:40

caseriodelmirador.com/

Have a look at this. It’s absolutely brilliant for young families, and you’ll come back feeling rested!!

Ponderingwindow · 30/12/2022 15:43

Disney, zoos, children’s museums. Holidays with young kids aren’t leisurely. You are the tour guide to a bunch of child-centered activities and then completely exhausted you collapse into bed at the same time as them. It’s actually quite fun, but it’s not the rejuvenating trip that happened pre-kids.

i highly recommend scheduling a couple of days of downtime at home before you have to return to work.

formulatingAresponse · 30/12/2022 15:44

I also enjoyed Haven and Butlins so long as you get a nicer room in one of their on site hotels like the Shoreline in Bognor.

There are non stop activities you can dip in and out of and lots of evening entertainment for the DC and they have pools we spent a lot of time in

gogohmm · 30/12/2022 15:44

Oh and mine flew from birth (overseas for work reasons) never had issues. Dd1 (diagnosed with asd aged 2) particularly loved the map screen and shout out to both Heathrow staff for seeing a harassed looking mum with 2 kids and fast tracking her every time, and British airways for being so helpful and understanding, including the lovely pilot who explained how he navigates the plane to my curious dd when she was 5, with many detailed questions from her, I think he was trying to get to the toilet!

VahineNuiWentHome · 30/12/2022 15:46

Yes. I went away to see my gran.
I was still looking after two dcs (an 11 months old and a 3yo) on my own.
But she cooked. We had nice chats. Some walks on the beach. All relaxed with no timetable.

i have lovely memories of those times.

123woop · 30/12/2022 15:48

Yes we have had absolutely wonderful holidays all over the UK and a great trip to majorca too.
The best holidays have been when we've been self catering as we've been able to set our own schedule a bit more rather than waiting for the breakfast to open etc. We also didn't push ourselves to do too much, so if she needed or wanted a nap in the afternoon, she could have one in the pram whilst we walked round sightseeing, or have a sleep on the beach under the brolly thing etc.
for plane rides, it's just about keeping them entertained and having lots of snacks. Also not getting too early a flight, so either getting an afternoon or lunchtime flight for example where they can sleep on the plane, whereas getting them up at 4am to get a 6am flight has always always been a nightmare when my friends have tried it!
You've just got to take it easy really and be quite flexible. I was really worried about holidays but to be honest they've been my fondest memories!

VahineNuiWentHome · 30/12/2022 15:52

I agree that the recipe for a good holiday is to have something planned everyday. Child friendly of course.
Camping can be great (I didn’t quite enjoy the U.K. too wet). But France in the summer was great.

Other tips is to allow PLENTY of time for anything. Arriving early to board a plane etc… so it can be a leisurely experience rather than feeling you have to rush etc….
Also planning food/snacks and rest/naps if they are still young.

Lndnmummy · 30/12/2022 15:52

All inclusive hotels in greece and turkey as well as a lodge holiday in the uk. Both great

MuggleMe · 30/12/2022 15:54

We always did caravan holidays when they were little. Separate bedrooms, living room, space to cook or eat on site, swimming pool etc.

bananasinabowl · 30/12/2022 15:56

We just did Ras Al Khaimah All inclusive for 8 nights. It was good, my DC is 4. He was abit annoying at good times, but he ate something at least and got tired easily as so much to do at the resort and he enjoyed the kids club. I think 4 is a good age.

TheOldLadyOfThreadneedleStreet · 30/12/2022 16:04

When the kids were small we often rented the same holiday cottage. It had a pub one side (child friendly), a campsite with a tearoom that did great bacon rolls for breakfast, ice creams and lunches the other side, a good sized garden, was close to lovely beaches and I knew where all the shops were. There was a brilliant soft play about 5 minutes drive away, plus other kid friendly things to do. I ordered an on-line shop to arrive a couple of hours after us. It worked really well. We kept the kids in the same routine we had at home and enjoyed the evenings. The icing on the cake was my lovely mil who would come over and babysit while DP and I got a taxi into town several times per holiday!

Chocchops72 · 30/12/2022 16:06

Everyone saying that expectations are the key, is correct. DH and I used to enjoy very grown up holidays when it was just the two of us: cities, museums, art galleries, eating out / fine dining, lots of aimless wandering round historic sites. So trying to get excited about a static caravan at the beach and a sausage sandwich for tea was a bit of a leap. We lowered our expectations hugely, and spent weeks at my parents holiday home, mostly with visiting relatives. It was the closest to fun that we got : jigsaws / card games round the big table, barbecue and door cooking, plenty of wine and grand parents on tap to help entertain children. It still didn’t feel like a holiday though !

Cellotapedispenser · 30/12/2022 16:12

All inclusive with a apartment with a separate living space or balcony is the solution. Plenty of pool fun and activities during the day, holiday clubs even for an hour or two if the DC can stand it and taking turns to have a morning or afternoon off. Anything else is just same drudgery with sun. Costs a fortune though so go when they're not in school as many times as you can.

surreyisik · 30/12/2022 16:16

Yes we had 2 this year, a villa holiday with family in Spain and all inclusive resort in Greece. DS was 4 months and 7 months. Villa holiday was quite easy with family babysitting or one of us having a dip in the pool with a drink whilst DS was napping. The evenings were lovely doing barbecue by the pool once DS was in bed. It actually helped me shake off postpartum depression as I hadn't been well until that point losing my mind at home (we don't have any friends or family around.)
In the all inclusive resort we took turns staying in for half a day so that the other can go out and have a drink by the beach etc. It really helped to have a room with a nice view and some luxuries. We would go out for meals / easy outings altogether.
The biggest change was not being able to explore sights as much or doing daylong road trips, but as everyone else said expectations are key. For me being in a sunny beach or having an hour or two to myself swimming in the sea was more than enough at that point.

GemmaFoster · 30/12/2022 16:19

Another vote for mobile home on a French campsite. Relatively cheap, self catering is by far easier with little ones as you can eat when you want plus there’s always a bar / restaurant for take outs. Pool on site, other families, easy living. We upgraded to mobile homes after camping, also did many fancy holidays but the French campsite ones were always the best. I think it’s because you have proper living space, rather than just a room. And freedom to just have a sandwich if needed. Hope you find something.

Heyahun · 30/12/2022 16:23

Eh yeah every single one has been great tbh

IWasFunBeforeMum · 30/12/2022 16:29

Did lOads of hols while we could go out of school holidays with 2 under 3 then 4 and 5! Did south of France, Lanzarote, Portugal twice. We all had a great time. Not sure what the fear is from people...

VitaminX · 30/12/2022 16:34

We had an amazing time in Copenhagen when ours were 1 and 3. We cycled around with them and did the sort of things they would like (the science museum was a particular hit with the 3 yr old) and fed them on hot dogs, ice cream and other nutritious food. City breaks can be great if there is an easy way to get around with them and lots of playgrounds and things to give them a chance to blow off steam.

Snappyfrog · 30/12/2022 16:34

Yes just need to choose places geared up for children.

Ikos abroad
centreparcs or haven here

user147283179 · 30/12/2022 16:40

Yes, went abroad when baby was three months. It was all inclusive, out of season, weather pleasant but not too hot. More relaxing than being at home as didn't have to cook and had husband around all week to share the care. Baby loved swimming and general nosing at meal times.
Only slight inconvenience was the bottle feeding but we had a kettle, mini fridge and also packed some ready to feed formula. Bedtime not an issue at that age as her bedtime at home was around 10pm anyway.
I would definitely recommend going when they're as young as possible!

MotherofPearl · 30/12/2022 16:42

We've generally stuck to the same sort of holidays we had before DC, and so from tiny they've been used to travel, including long haul. Though I'm not sure our holidays are what other people think of as relaxing holidays! Neither of us care for beach holidays and prefer cities on the whole.

For example when DD1 was 6 and DS was 2 we went to the US. We spent a few days each in NYC, Washington DC and Baltimore, and then rented a house in the countryside (Virginia) with family. That was a good mix. When DD2 was 1, DS was 5 and DD1 was 8 we went to Canada and did a similar mix of cities, plus a house on a lake for a week.

I think children are pretty portable and babies even more so. I try to get them interested in the same things we're interested in (in my case, art galleries and museums!) so that as they've got older we can all enjoy doing stuff together.

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