To ask for toddler friendly European holiday destinations...

[superwormy]

Dcs will be 2 & 3 next year and we're looking at going away but it's our first family holiday overseas and in all honesty I'm worried it's going to be more stress than it's worth. Our UK trips so far have been eventful to say the least Not sure if we should leave it another year or so before braving sunshine and air travel.

I'd be very grateful for any suggestions. We're thinking more coastal holidays vs cities but open to anything really. Just somewhere we can pretty much revolve the holiday around keeping the dcs entertained.

We did Disneyland when DC were 5 & 2. It was good, but if yours are short they might not be able to go on the rides so maybe save that for another year.
If you don't want to go to Disney my best suggestion would be Spain, Portugal or Greece (but Greece will be too hot in July/August). Another thing to check is distance between the hotel and the airport - more than 45 minutes on a coach isn't fun at any age!

La Rochelle. Go self catering in Les Minimes.

Most European countries are more child friendly than the UK so as long as you avoid the kind of resorts that attract hen and stag parties etc such as Magaluf you should be ok. Personally, with 2 young children flying for the first time I would look for somewhere with a short flight, and ideally a fairly short transfer time from the airport to wherever you are staying. If you are wanting somewhere in southern Europe I would look at the Balearics, mainland Spain or France first. Most of the popular holiday destinations are only a 2-3 hour flight from the UK. Some of the other suggestions you have had such as the Canaries and Greece are indeed lovely places but flight times are quite a bit longer. I think it took us just over 5 hours to get to Tenerife for example. For a first flight, personally I would play it safe and opt for as short a journey as possible. Or alternatively you could of course take a ferry or go through the tunnel which of course takes longer but does give you more fexibility and you don't need to worry about luggage allowance like on a plane.
We took our childern on holidays abroad from babyhood and I can't recall any major issues. Normally we travel independently and go to places that are a bit off the beaten track but we have done a few package holidays too. Either way, the journey is the only part that I have sometimes found a bit stressful but once we've arrived it has always been fine.

Duinrell in Holland.

Theres a couple of cheap all inclusives in Malta..DB Seabank &San Antonio...absolute bargains,Seabanks next to a beautiful golden sand beach..Food at both outstanding,kids clubs,pools etc..Malta itself is really interesting &historic,full of fascinating heritage..you can bus round the island hip on/off bus in a day.

Have a look at www.Totstotravel.co.uk - they are set up for exactly your situation. Hotels and villas set up for toddlers from toys to potties ! They do a selection totstotravel.co.uk/tots-exclusive-experience/ that have playzones set up for them.

eurocamp. We loved them when kids were little.