What is the best and worst holiday that you have been on?

[worldshottestmom]

Hi. Plane virgin here. Thats right, I've never left the UK (pity me). I am thinking of taking the plunge and taking my kids on holiday abroad next year, for the first time ever for all of us! 'Terrified' doesn’t quite cut it.

Despite my fear of flying (heavily instilled into me by my mother, who is phobic of planes) I don't want to hold myself back and die only ever having been in the UK.

But now the question is, where do we go? I'm thinking of somewhere that's only a short distance away for the first time (probably Spain), but if it goes well, will be looking to travel further in the following years.

So, what was your most and least favourite holiday that you've ever been on?

Bonus question: if you've ever been to Spain, where would you recommend taking 2 kids to within Spain?

Hi OP, hope you enjoy your holiday research!

a few people have mentioned menorca - we went here with a toddler last year. We stayed in an apartment called the Seth Mestral apartments. So our own living room, kitchen area etc which might appeal to you, and 2 bedrooms. We had a good shallow splash pool, and Playpark on site. We were half board which meant breakfast and dinner provided, buffet style, and was decent quality.

Half board was good as we then went out and about during the day for lunch and a little drink, so felt that we had a mix of both hotel food and eating out and about. By comparison all inclusive is dearer and you are more tied to the hotel as you’ve paid all that money for food and drink, but that may work well for you, to keep a bit of routine and consistency.

there was also a little outdoor soft play very nearby with trampolines and bouncy castles, and a little covered arcade, nothing special but it made my child’s holiday. Could buy a pass for the week for 25 euros odd and it opened in evening when it was cooler.

Seth Mestral seemed to own other hotels on the island, we walked up to their nice spa hotel one day and it was also lovely, much quieter and high end and not really aimed at children but I did see a couple of young families in their pool. I didn’t see a splash pool though which I do find much better as it’s shallower and safer etc.

Hope my waffling helps :D

the destination probably isn’t quite so important but more your hotel facilities, length of flight and also transfer from airport to hotel, that I watch out for when booking holidays (with the flight and transfer ideally being not too long of course).

I recommend Salou in Spain as it has a really good theme park and water slide park called Port Aventura which you can stay near and walk to as part of your holiday. It also has a nice beach. We stayed in the H10 hotel and my ASD DD loved it there (v child friendly).
In answer to your question though my favourite holiday was Florida and my worst one was France with my parents when young (found it v boring) or Center Parcs in the U.K. which was so expensive and also quite dull to be honest.

One suggestion, if your youngest is only 4, take a pram with you still. Either one you already have or buy a cheaper secondhand baby jogger ( they fold small and have space for larger child).
That way if he finds it sensory too much at airport or train station or walking through a busier town you can let him sit inside and pull hood over to calm down a bit.
If he doesn’t need it much then it’s a handy dump for hand luggage and coats.

Who says you need to fly? If you’re in the UK you can get the ferry to Northern France. Even bring the car if you like.

How old are your kids? you say your kids are pretty feral so how about a campsite in N France (Brittany)…. book a mobile home ( with a/c) and do it in comfort. Pools, space, friends, restaurants etc.

Fgs don’t try city sightseeing with them

We love Cyprus in October. The pools are cold but the sea is still lovely and warm. The temperature is around 25 to 28 degrees.

They also drive on the same side of the road to us.

My autistic dd prefers All Inclusive as she hates eating out usually but likes the choice of a buffet.

We love Lanzarote. It’s a beautiful island with loads to do. We find something new every time we go.

The best holiday we’ve been on as a family was Walt Disney World. Absolutely amazing!

I live in Mallorca and I love going in holiday to Scotland! It’s a fantastic place.

the sea here in May will not be very warm (doesn’t bother the Germans - they swim in it in the middle of winter).

I’m in the north of the island which is quieter in tourist season and very family friendly. The Spanish do eat later but everywhere caters for tourists so you can get meals pretty much any time of the day.

Worst holiday I ever had was fuertaventura. Weather was awful, villa was awful

Pre-kids the best holiday was to the Maldives - absolutely beautiful.

Post kids, probably Portugal. Lots of lovely places there. We used to get a small villa and do our own thing.

Worst holiday was October half term to Spain. It rained the whole time and was freezing. There was sod all to do near where we were staying, we didn't have enough warm clothes and had to shop for more (in a place with few cheap clothes shops with stuff for small children). Most miserable holiday ever.

Last year took son in law 3 grandchildren that had never flown very nervous to Spain from Gatwick
once on the plane they were extremely excited and enjoyed it
8 of us went to holiday world village costa del sol it was great kids clubs plenty of entertainment for the kids and food was great too x

Maybe consider a cruise from the UK if you're worried about flying? DH doesn't like to fly and we discovered cruises from the UK (mainly Southampton) when my kids were about 4 and 7. For us, they are the best thing ever. You're on holiday as soon as you set foot on board, kids clubs available, food pretty much 24/7, entertainment, multiple pools - literally a floating resort. We've done mostly Spain and Norway. You'd do multiple different ports so you also get to decide which places you'd like to revisit if you decide to fly in the future. It's not for everyone, but I always urge anyone to give a cruise a try if they can 👍🏼

Also meant to add the stress free cruise embarkation when you have young kids is the best thing ever. You park up, leave your luggage by the car, quick passport check, and you're on. Because we don't fly I'm not really up to date on current airport procedures, but I don't think anything could be easier than cruise port embarkation 👌🏼

Best: difficult to choose; have had lovely holidays in Spain, Italy, Portugal and the USA (NYC/Florida coast). Also had a great time in Cyprus, but sadly wouldn’t book to travel there right now. As others have said, Spain would be great for a first trip abroad with children; Mallorca, Menorca or Ibiza are all lovely - Ibiza has some lovely and quiet areas, the nightclubs aren’t everywhere. Would also recommend the Algarve in Portugal.

We also have our favourite place in Scotland, near Loch Lomond.

Lots of happy childhood memories of holidays in Llandudno and Torquay.

Don’t really have a worst, although I didn’t love a trip to Bournemouth when I was about 15 - as an only child at that age I was quite bored, although I wouldn’t have dared to tell my parents that. Made the best of it, but haven’t been back since.

To add to my previous posts, would definitely agree with a cruise, especially if it’s from the UK - park at the port, check in and you’re on holiday as soon as you board the ship. Most stress-free holiday I’ve ever had.

I would take the stress out of it for a first trip abroad and get the ferry over. You could go as foot passengers if you don’t like the idea of driving. Ferry to Spain or France.

I live in Scotland ans there is nothing wrong with the Highlands i love cold weather I hate the sun and hot places,

Agreed. We went last year and have booked again for this year. Great entertainment and kids pools, food was good and just very family friendly but without feeling like Butlins! I suspect the present geopolitical climate has made it much more expensive - I'm glad I booked a few months ago!

@worldshottestmom I'm excited on your behalf|! So much planning, deciding and dreaming to do😎
In your position I'd be really torn between going on the Eurostar to the Netherlands to some of their family friendly resorts or slaying my dragon and getting on that first ever flight..to Spain.
Whichever you decide I think it would be a great idea to go to a travel agent and let them do the planning.
I know people think of Trailfinders as sourcing far flung exotic trips but I wonder whether they might possibly rise to the challenge of organising the trains, transfers and camp sites for you? Then if you've got your own cabin or tent you can set your own timetable plus there'll be loads of kids the same age. Certainly if it's half term. Might be worth a punt? Just say to them - my budget is £3,000... is it possible?

Alternatively if you want to grasp the nettle and fly then Spain is probably your best bet. Personally I would avoid the Balearics at May half term...it might be lovely but it might also be a bit showery. Again a travel agent would be my first port of call. See what they could offer within budget. If you're near London at all then I would recommend avoiding the main three airports (Gatwick, Luton and Stansted) and try to fly from Southend.

Over in Spain there are some very small, not too stressy airports at Almeria and Murcia but the transfers to resorts tend to be an hour, sometimes more if there are lots of drop offs.

Another thought has just occurred to me - make sure you include passports in your budget and apply for them in plenty of time. Plus insurance, taken out at the time of booking, is imperative.
Have fun planning! As the old ad for Claire's put it - "getting ready is half the fun"!!

Once you have figured out the needs for your trip based on all the great ideas from this thread, ie apart hôtel, several pools, not too crowded smaller airport flight length, your preferred departure airport etc etc chuck it all into chatGPT, add some info about you, children’s ages, autism needs and then budget, length of trip, what you want to eat and do - eg day trips and see what pops out.
make sure you ask for links to the suggestions so you can check them out.

I lost your earlier comment where you asked if you could PM me OP, but yes please feel free to. I love travelling and like to holiday in new countries as often as possible, but on top of leisure trips, I travel a lot for work and take 50-60 flights each year, so I’d be happy to help with any tips or destination advice, if I can.

Once you get bitten by the travel bug, your list of countries and places you want to experience will grow so fast, you’ll feel dizzy trying to decide between them all 😂

I think somewhere like Italy or Spain would work great for your first holiday abroad. Remember, it’s only 5-7 days - if it goes great, amazing! If it goes slightly wrong, you’re still going home very soon. Are you looking at travelling next summer, or 2027? If you’re looking at booking things individually, flights for summer 2027 won’t be released until September-ish time, so you have time to decide and browse around for options.

I always recommend booking through an online platform that lets you have free cancellation until very close to the arrival date - booking.com works well, and you can book something now but pay at a later date and request a refund up to a few days before you travel.

Most narrowbody planes (so those used to fly around Europe) will be in a 3-3 seat configuration across the aisle, so chances are you and your children will be sharing one side of a row, which will also include a window (unless you are travelling with a partner as well?). Please don’t be scared of your kids sitting near it, chances are they’ll absolutely love it and fight for who gets to sit there first! Make it super exciting for them and in building that narrative, you might also start feeling that happy anticipation about going on the plane! I am an absolute plane nerd and love the feeling of being in the air, and knowing all about them - I only found out when I was about 20 that my mum doesn’t actually like flying that much. She was always so good at getting us excited before a flight and now we all really love getting on planes, so be reassured that your kids will most likely love it.

we've been able to travel quite extensively and had a lot of long haul holidays, but the best holiday for me has got to be a little boutique hotel we stayed in outside Zarzis in southern Tunisia, which was completely magical. The worst would either be Llandudno in October when we were 19 and 21, or Crete where we booked a last minute hellhole of an apartment in one of the party resorts.

Look at menorca. Very family oriented and you can get English food for the kids if they are fussy eaters. Cheap flights as well

I don’t think I could pick out a favourite but I’d say my top 3 are Florida, Grand Cayman and Cape Verde

Worst Magaluf when I was 19. Flight delayed drastically. Fell out with the friend I was travelling with whilst sat in the airport for hours and hours on end. Hotel was dire, food was shit and I got some of the worst sunburn known to man. The only plus side the alcohol was great so I just spent most of the time drunk, whilst vowing never to set foot in Majorca ever again. I have since been back twice to Majorca to a different part in Sa Coma minus said friend and thoroughly enjoyed it. Probably enjoyed it more the second time when the island was shutting down for the season. Lovely and quiet walking on a night with hardly a soul around and many a sunbed to pick from during the day

Worst holiday on the Norfolk Broads with the smug marrieds and another friend. It rained, the wind blew so hard our boat couldn’t make any headway.

Best holiday was trip to Australia to visit family. Probably won’t get to do it again. I wasn’t expecting to like Australia but it was brilliant. We didn’t see any creepy crawlies which did help. Driving back from dark sky trip we got so close to a wallaby and a kangaroo it was amazing. We stayed quiet and didn’t do anything to spook or provoke them, we were in their territory.

Nearer to home if you’ve got kids somewhere in Europe with lots of places to visit and activities you can join in with.

Best, Skopelos,worst Lloret de Mar,which was also my first solo holiday abroad,not the best choice for a single middle aged woman.