To ask for your best underrated holidays

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Not really AIBU, but inspired by another thread about best once in a lifetime holidays with kids, I am wondering what are your best underrated/budget holidays? in particular I mean holidays where you found a hidden gem or which massively exceeded expectations? I have heaps of ideas of places I want to go but which are too expensive or not suitable for younger kids so looking for ideas of places that aren't massively expensive and which are family friendly...

northumberland Is fabulous, castles, beaches, puffins.

Normandy, history, beaches, chill, good food, fairly cheap

Northumberland, ditto the above.

The Isle of Skye.

Menorca. The quieter of the balearics.

Marrakech, stayed in a Frwnce resort on the edge of the city. Super family-friendly. And WARM.

Malta! Outside of the resorts, there are catacombs, ancient stone circles, Calypso's cave, beautiful villages. Gozo as a day trip is great. And the buses go all around the island and are super cheap.

Andorra! Getting snowed-in in a hotel with all inclusive bowling and cocktails 😃
Then when it cleared,goin to Naturlandia to have a go on the worlds longest alpine tobaggan. Andorra is a weird place.

Another vote for Northumberland. Accept the fact that the weather may be cold and wet for at least a few days of the holiday, pack accordingly, and enjoy!
Northumberland really has everything. Castles, white sand beaches, quaint towns like Alnwick and Morpeth, boat trips to see puffins and activities like horse riding and walking. Paradise.

Did a very cheap static mobile home holiday in June on my own with son around 2006 just outside of Antibes in south of France- 2 cheap flights to Nice, train to within 200 metres of site - which had a great static funfair within 5 minutes walk. A week cost us £550 in total incl flights and accommodation- plus spends. Not sure now but I bet it still could be done for around£800 - excellent fun time too

Scottish Highlands - especially glencoe. Avoid isle of skye though, it is massively overrated

Lancashire. Yorkshire Dales on one side, Lake District on another, and in between just a beautiful area with amazing food.

My kids love going to Blackpool, it’s really not my cup of tea but there’s so much to do all aimed at young children and it’s cheap! We like centre Parcs too, I think when you have small children do what makes them happy and you’ll be happy. I’d love city breaks with walks around cathedrals etc, but the kids would moan which would make us all unhappy so I try to plan holidays around them.

The Isle of Wight, it's like mainland beach resorts were 50years ago :)

Agreed. Go to Islay or Orkney instead.

I just thought of another great child friendly destination, La Pineda in Spain, 15mins to Portaventura theme park, water park in town, beaches with beautiful clean sea and golden sand, Roman ruins that are impressive just 15mins by bus away in Tarragona, an hour train ride to Barcelona. Under £2k for a week B&B in a 4* for two adults 2 children.

Malaga! We went there to meet up with friends last year in September. It's a place that was never on our radar as thought it would be full of 'brits abroad ' types.
We stayed in the heart of the old city & were really very pleasantly surprised. Beautiful old city, walkable, great cafes & bars & restaurants & the seafront etc
We had a great week there & we're going back again this autumn!

Camping in France, especially if you can do it outside school holidays. Brittany, Normandy and Picardy are all quite close too. We used to go Eurocamp or Canvas, when our children were young and had brilliant holidays relatively cheaply.

It depends what you're in to but we went to a hotel called Globales Binimar in Menorca right at the beginning of the season and it was such a lovely week. We've had brilliant (child free) holidays where we have visited amazing places and done amazing things however Menorca will be one of my favourites.

We couldn't go far or do much with a small child but it cost about £700 for a week all inclusive, stress free, nice enough food, playing by the pool. We would spend at least half that at home on normal life, food, fuel. Just delightful.

Piedmont region in Italy (stayed on a farmhouse just outside Alba). Looks like Tuscany, but half the price. Turin is a fantastic city too.

Great food, lovely local restaurants, plus great wine! Really family friendly, the grandmother made special food for my daughter who was 1 at the time. I'll try and remember the name of the place.

We stayed on a little holiday camp in South Wales with a beach 200m away, a great pub a short walk through the dunes, other amazing beaches nearby and it was cheap as chips. South Wales is just as good as Cornwall but half the price, in my opinion.

Ilfracombe.

’twas lovely….

We've travelled a lot but one of dcs favourite holidays was Pembrokeshire and going to Skomer Island to see the puffins.

I’ve been to and loved all the above! Except camping in France, don’t love camping alongside the French. Camping in Bavaria and Holland, wonderful. Holland is particularly great for family holidays, not relentlessly hot in the summer and zoos, family museums are cheap and excellent.

One of the best family holidays we’ve ever had was a static caravan holiday in Clacton on Sea, through a Sun holiday voucher scheme. Don’t underestimate the thrill of caravans for children!

East Neuk of Fife is lovely. Crail, Pittenweem and Elie are all great, with coastal walks and puffins on the Isle of May.

Kazakhstan! It was absolutely incredible! My money went really far, the people are so friendly and so much to see and do! We flew to Budapest, had a few days there spa hopping then flew to Astana with Wizz air and it was sooooooo cheap. Absolutely loved it! Can’t wait to go back, would recommend or anyone! Also Nepal is my favourite country- it’s just incredible.

Sounds awesome l! Please let us know the place

wow, thanks everyone - lots of places I hadn't considered- off to do some googling!