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...

I was going to say Piedmont/Aosta Valley - we've stayed in agriturismos in both areas. Fabulous food, wine and scenery.

Agree with Malaga too.

@BadAtMaths2 are you me? Literally came on to say not just Northumberland but to also say castle, beaches and puffins!! We're recently back and heading back up in July!

Slovenia - beautiful Alpine countryside, friendly people, Ljubljana is a really nice city

Interesting to see how Kazakhstan has been mentioned. I live here though in Almaty not Nur Sultan/Astana and wouldn't suggest it as a family holiday (unless you want a skiing holiday in the winter). Saying that though there do seem to be some water parks on the Caspian (a 3/4 hour plane ride).

Somerset! No one ever comes here. They prefer Devon and Cornwall but it's beautiful.
There's new art centres popping up all over the place, beautiful scenery, beaches, zoos.
We are staying outside Taunton in the countryside and I could have easily spend a week here.
Bruton, in particular, is lovely.

Can someone suggest what to do for a family weekend to Northumberland? I’ve never considered it for a holiday until I saw this thread.
I’m not very good at planning itineraries for the day and want to plan in advance so I don’t spend the time dithering over to do.

A lodge holiday in the New Forest. DD loved watching the horses and donkeys running freely across the land. Loads of good pubs, not far from the coast (day at the beach) and good for doggy walks, and getting close to nature.

Agree Northumbria. Haven't been since the early 90s as a child but it was so wild and and stuffed full of nature. Holy Island is a MUST. Take your wellies!

My mum rates the Isle of Man. I've never been but am keen to try it.

We love the Isle of Wight. Yes, it's stuck in the 1950s!

Hyeres which is at the western end of the French Riviera. Less expensive than the Nice end, miles of sandy beaches, wonderful food, perfect weather.

@Lulooo theres been a few threads about Northumberland. I love bamburgh, great beach and castle, Linda’s far and is great for a wander (check tides), fish and chips in craster. Boat out to Farnese islands for puffins and seals.

alnwick castle for hog warts fans. There’s a great secondhand bookshop in Alnwick. There’s cycle trails and bike hire. It’s incredibly dog friendly too.

@SmiledWtherisingsun Checked my e mails because it was annoying me I couldn't remember 😂. It was called Ca Tupin.

@TrufflyPig thank you!

@Kay7766923 just had a look at that hotel, looks perfect for what I'm after, so thanks for sharing. We're there any places you could walk to outside the hotel? As in shops, restaurants etc?

No problem @SmiledWtherisingsun, they could not do enough to help us, we are hoping to go back this summer.

Also agree with a PP about kids and static caravans, family member has one in Ceredigion and my kids love it! Ceredigion is great too, excellent beaches and much less touristy than Pembrokeshire.

@Lulooo You should absolutely come to Northumberland for a holiday. There are loads of options for caravans/camping if you want to use that as a base for exploring. Also 2 Haven sites if you want options for entertainment and a bit more going on. As pps have said, Bamburgh is beautiful, the beach is outstanding and the castle is worth a visit. As is Alnwick castle and gardens.
There's some lovely seaside spots such as Amble and Seahouses, they do get very busy in the school holidays.
Berwick is lovely with its walls ,river walks and boat trips to spot the dolphins.

North Croatia. We went to a coastal town near Pula. Very Italian landscape and food for half the price and a lot less commercialised. Lovely little beaches and lots to explore. You need a car though as the public transport is unreliable. Our best day was a visit to a fortified hill town that looked like a fairytale and smelled of truffles, followed by a meal at an agritourist farm (working farms diversifying into feeding tourists) where we were the only visitors, had an amazing lunch with all home-produced food and drink, and were joined by a friendly loose pony and donkey who very politely enquired if we might have any leftovers for them.

@mamaduckbone i may be biased but I agree. I live just outside Cardiff and looked at Cornwall last year. Then I thought, I can get all that on Gower, where we go several times a year! Cheaper and several hours less to get to.

A vote for Lagos in Portugal from me. Not exactly underrated, but a less well-known town on the Algarve. If I could live anywhere in the world it would be Lagos.

Most people go to Paris (2hr 15) on the Eurostar, but we went to Lille (1hr 20) instead and we absolutely loved it.
Its very un-touristy - no menus in English etc. It has great Flemmish architecture and food - modules fries and lambic beers on every street corner. Everything is walkable. There's a gorgeous big park to visit, an amazing natural history museum and art gallery.
The highlight for us was wandering around a square one evening, stumbling through an open doorway and finding ourselves in a courtyard where dozens of couples were dancing the Tango.

Haha, 'modules fries' should be 'moules frites'!

We had one night away at Barry Premier Inn, we love the coast but are not see seaside resort people, but the kids absolutely loved it! We spent the afternoon on the beach, had fish and chips for tea and then more beach time the following morning. We've also since done a few more one or two nights away there, and other seaside Premier Inns and had a great time. Because it's only for a night or two we don't travel too far, take a packed lunch for the first day and snacks for the next day (plus pick up some sandwiches), we have a fish and chips type evening meal and the kids just love the breakfast at the Premier Inn in the mornings. Make sure it's either start or end of season and not in the summer hols.

Another vote for Malaga - the Hammam Al Andalus is spectacular. We also hired a car and went up to Ronda. Beautiful, beautiful place (though wouldn’t take a toddler as waaaay too many sheer cliffs).

We love Northumberland (puffins, Bamburgh etc) and the Llyn in North Wales (the year we went to Cornwall, we wondered why we bothered when we can be at either of the above in 3-4 hours)

We are trying camping in Belgium this year instead of France.

I love Northern Spain, beautiful wild landscapes/beaches, amazing food and San Sebastian is my favourite place in Europe

weve been lucky enough to have loads of holidays , many abroad but one of my
Most favourites was a Haven. We signed up for all the activities and the kids had a ball and so did we -
most unexpected

Second the Scottish Highlands.

I love Northumberland also. We are hoping to get to Cyprus but are unsure for various reasons and so have decided on Northumberland instead if we can't!

Also the Channel Islands.

Amazing in both summer and winter too, we love Slovenia. Summer - sunbathing, swimming in the lakes, Winter - husky sledding, tobogganing and skiing. So cheap there and the countryside really is stunning.