Holiday recommendations with a 3 year old

[Pyri]

Looking for recommendations please for me and my nearly 4 year old.

would like to do 4-5 days flying from Gatwick to somewhere sunny, preferably with sandy beaches and not too long flight time (4 hours max?)

will just be the 2 of us so somewhere with warm pool, nice beach, nice food, short transfer time

any recommendations please?

Not what you want to hear but my recommendation at that age would be British seaside, bucket and spade and ice cream etc. Flying is a massive faff, not to mention a lot of carbon for the sake of a few days.

All my holidays with kids that age involved very managed expectations, they're not necessarily delighted by the same things you are. Hot, sweaty kids screaming at having sun cream put on, not liking the local food etc.

Sorry I forgot to mention this would be March / April so overseas preferred, the British seas will still be too chilly then and no worries on applying sun cream etc!

What’s your budget?

@NoCloudsAllowed Aww, it's not that bad surely? I love taking our son (3) abroad. He loves airports and was particularly enamoured by Sicily (the last place we went when he was 2.5). He still talks about it :)

OP, I think most people on here suggest the Canaries for March/April time though I've never been so can't give specific recommendations.

Up to £1k?

We have been all over Europe with our toddler. At that time of year I would recommend the Canaries. Do you drive? There is so much to see, we did a volcano trip which they loved. I would recommend an air B&B with a pool, that way you’re not stuck in a hotel room when they go to sleep early.

Fuerteventura is lovely at this time of year. Low key so nice for younger children.

Second this

If you go more like End of April, we had a lovely time last April with Ds in Palma Majorca. He was almost 3 then. It has a lovely town to wander around also, and not at all busy in April.
Theres bound to be lots of flights

Have a look at the dB Seabank in Malta. We recommend it to everyone with younger kids. It was such an easy holiday.

Spin is great for little ones as they tend to have playgrounds on the beach or next to it and are very family friendly in restaurants and often have pedestrian area with cafes and restaurants so a little one can run around safely while you drink your coffee / eat.

We loved Valencia,there's a lovely beach and huge aquarium which is worth visiting. Also I recommend Nerja, Marbella - stay nr old town,

*Spain

Playa Blanca in Lanzarote would be my vote-we’ve stayed at TUI blue flamingo beach and Elba Royal Village-both great though think Elba just tips the balance for us (4 and 2 year old) as the pool area is great. But TUI has TUI run kids clubs that take 3 year olds and their mini disco was earlier. Playa Blanca is lovely and chilled, we booked a private taxi which took about 30 minutes from the airport. Plenty of excursions to do but we’ve had a great time just playing on the beach and walking into the town and using the pool. Enjoy!

Took DD abroad when she was 18 months, Easyjet - 9 hour delay on the way there and 6 hours on way back. Small airports that were closed overnight. They didn't say it was 9 hours, just kept delaying for another 30 mins, again and again. No food available, could only feed DD as I was still BF.

DD found it delightful but FML, I swore I'd never fly again unless I could afford to go with an airline that doesn't treat you like cattle - have never been able to afford it yet so we get the ferry to France or stick with the UK :)

We also had a miserable holiday in Portugal when DD was young - the pool was cold, the beach was windy and down a steep slope, the play equipment was crap, etc etc. DD wouldn't sleep, I ended up on a mattress on the floor with her. Open plan apartment where she kept legging it upstairs and there were sharp edges everywhere.

Had to break the remaining time into 6 hour blocks and count them off, it was that bad.

@NoCloudsAllowed Oh gosh that does sound awful. Very bad luck in terms of the plane as well :( The worst we've had was being stuck on the tarmac out of Gatwick on the way to Sicily as they couldn't detach the walkway from the plane 😂It added an hour to the journey and our son did get quite ratty.

We're off to Vienna in late August when we'll also have a three month old in tow. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly! 😅

I’m really not worried about DD being a horror, she is very calm and sensible for a child and will be no trouble at all. Sun cream and plane delays etc!

Part of the reason why we are going is as a nice treat before she starts school, leaving her dad and brother at home. And no way would I take the younger boy as he would be a terror. DD will be absolutely fine and it will be lovely to be away with just her for a few days .

March/early April you’d be looking at the Canaries or potentially Cyprus if you want beach weather, although the sea will still be freezing pretty fresh! We’ve only been to Fuertuventura of that list and it was nice, although it was pre DC so not got many suggestions re:specifics. Either way it sounds lovely OP, hope you and her have fun planning x