Are there any holiday destinations for families where the parents come back less tired than they went?

[PassOnThat]

I have a 3yo and a 7yo. Both off the wall crazy. Looking to book a holiday for this summer, but I'm wondering if there are any holidays that will "compensate" me, as the parent, for the stress of planning, organising, packing and travelling with the wee beasties? Either because there's childcare available or plenty of safe spaces where I can just turn them loose and sit.

Skiing. The childcare take them off your hands at breakfast, get them ready and take them to ski school so you don't have that stress.

They will take them sledging in the afternoon but we always skied with them.

Then an early dinner and the kids are zonked because they've been outside exercising all day so sleep early.

Holiday cottage or villa somewhere within short walking distance of a place with a beach and plenty of restaurants and longer walking distance of a place with good restaurants and public transport.

Spend days on the beach or doing adventures where you walk to your next meal. Eat out at lunchtime.

Knacker the feral beasts out, put them down to bed and then chill out with a drink and a book, or a swim in the pool if you have one.

If you’re organised about where you stay and militant about not doing any chores it can be really chilled.

tavira in the algarve works well for this (you can bus to the beach ferry if 4km is too far) and use the train to go back and forward along the coast to wee beach trains and new places for lunch.

No kids club, if that’s what you’re after, but a reasonably doable beach/town/walking holiday that you can do from Faro with no car hire

I found centre parcs very unrelenting.. it was far from relaxed. Was doing 19000 steps a day, bike riding and swimming every day. I came back 7lbs lighter😂😂.

I find Haven or Parkdean holiday breaks quite relaxing though. We recently went to Kessingland Holiday park in the October half term and it was really lovely. Very picturesque and lots of things to do in the neighbouring towns.

You need Potters Resort at Great Yarmouth, luxury all-inclusive with non-stop activities for all ages, kids clubs galore and really good evening entertainment too. Plus places to chill out and stuff too of course. Fabulous place.

Unrelaxing*

We really enjoyed Duinrell in the Netherlands last year. It’s a theme park with campsite and swimming pool (some restrictions and potentially extra costs for the pool if you book through Eurocamp but still well worth it). Although it was a really active holiday, I found it quite relaxing as we stayed on site almost throughout, could walk into the nearby town for dinner/ice cream, and because it was so active they were exhausted and slept well! Loads to do on site in addition to the rides. Eurocamp have a sale at the moment but booking direct gets different accommodation so worth looking at both.

We've tried Bluestone and my god that was hard work. Lots of lovely activities and great facilities for the kids, but DH refused to get one of those little golf cart things ("we all have legs, don't we?") and pushing a buggy with a then 5yo on the buggy board up a huge hill almost killed me. I also lost weight that week, which is not what I aim for during holidays 😂.

I've suggested staying at home and spending the holiday budget on a temporary nanny for the kids while we eat out in nice restaurants and go for spa trips, but DH seemed to think that was a joke. It wasn't.

A spell in prison might be your best bet, without the children.

Well I think you should try Park Dean resorts then. We went once and could hardly get ADHD child off the slot machines. Never again!

I think your nanny idea is great!

Or a minor operation 😂

You might be onto something there 😂.

Though I think the food might be slightly better in hospital.

Honestly www.neilson.co.uk if budget stretches to it - they aren’t cheap.

the 3 year old will be taken too, but in different age groups. But would the 3 year old be ok at making new friends? Get them to the welcome meeting where they get to meet their group and new friends, after that you’re usually ok.

Knoll house was recommended upthread and I think might be good for you. It's a short walk from the beach do you basically roll out of bed into breakfast, go get sandy all day, and then have dinner in the hotel before doing it all again. They may do babysitters so you could pop out for a nice dinner at the pig down the road (without kids). Lots of walking and fresh air.

If you want something fancier I've also heard good things about the group luxury family hotels which all have kids clubs and are UK based so you've minimised stress on travel.

Our least relaxing holidays have always been in the UK. It’s fine when the weather is ok but the chances of that are so slim. I grew up in the so called paradise of Pembrokeshire and the miserable faces and screams of “I’m bored” as families sat on beaches in the drizzle.

Our most relaxing holiday with little ones was to a Tui Blue. Kids went off to kids club which they loved. Bliss.

I had a really good holiday at a pontins resort once when I was a child. my DMum was mortified because it was a bit less elegant than she had in mind, but I spent my entire fortnight on the pedal boats while they watched wimbledon and it was great. That was 40 years ago though so I'm not sure what it's like now.

Self catering in somewhere very simple and eating out once a day.
Trips can include a time for DC to have a sleep in the car, two adults for two children and no housework to speak of felt like a huge rest.
When three year old is slightly older a hotel can work ... particularly a small family run type place with minimal decisions to be made re food .

7yo is great at meeting new people - no problems there. He's up for any mischief and has no issues attracting other children as hyper and destructive as he is - it's as if he senses "you are my people". 3yo tends just to follow him into the fray and has no problem whacking larger kids around the head like an annoying fly or pushing them down the slide if they're in her way (it's bizarre - she's very gentle with kids her own age), but very few people twig unless watching closely since she's sneaky and looks like an innocent little angel.

At that age I found a holiday was just same shit different location! Our best ones were camping on small sites, not many other people to bother with noise, lots of time spent on the beach or in a play park then the little blighters would crash out at about 7pm so we got a couple of hours peace before bed time until they woke at 6am to do it all again. DOwnside was it was SO cold that we ended up going to bed too just to get warm x

Martinhal in Portugal.

Mark Warner and Center Parcs worked for us when the DC were very young.

We used Mark Warner when ours were young.
Kids clubs,babysitting etc available and great for skiing or beach holidays

When you break your legs skiing you'll be sorted.

It is honestly amazing how the brief is "less tired" and so many people have suggested things that involve skiing, grocery shopping + daily cooking, and tons of physical activities - or are they just naming holidays they've been on 😂

No. In a few years when your 3 yo is 5 it will be a lot easier.

The point about active holidays is that the DC sleep.

If you have DC that sleep anyway I can see it wouldn’t appeal, but for those with DC that need a lot of fresh air and exercise to sleep well, and aren’t up for kids clubs, then an active holiday where at least you get an evening and a full night’s sleep can work well.