To still want luxury holidays with a young child

[Hadenough1234567]

DH and I have become used to holidaying in 5 star hotels. Usually Jet2 indulgent escape type places as an indication. We now have a 16 month old. We’ve been to Greece and long haul holidays with DD.

We still want to have high end holidays but need to tailor them a bit.

We like hotel facilities and our own outdoor space with sun beds. We like to be at the beachfront and avoid high rise hotels. (This is why we like the Greek islands) We like a good sized room, a junior suite at least but ideally a separate living area and bedroom.

We’d like places that tick these boxes but possibly aren’t aimed at families, so the place isn’t necessarily over run with kids.

All inclusive is preferred because we like breakfast and lunch buffets - ideal for DD. We still like high standard food and drinks, some all inclusive can be a bit questionable quality.

We like a bit of room service too.

Any tips?

We have a decent budget - about £10K for 10 nights but a bit of flexibility here.

I’ve seen IKOS being recommended a few times but you haven’t commented - have you had a look at these resorts? We had a holiday as a couple last October and it didn’t feel overrun with children. They have lots of separate areas and individual bungalows which may fit the bill.

When I had a toddler I preferred kinderhotels to the four seasons. I had a better chance of a good holiday if my toddler was entertained.

If you want something that is real luxury you need to up your budget… £10k for 10 nights is relatively cheap. If you double or triple that you can have something curated by a high end travel agent like True Travel.

You could look at the Shangri La in Muscat. It’s not all inclusive but does have a HB option and has breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets as well as a la carte restaurants. We’ve not taken DD but went as a couple, we were due to go as a family during lockdown 😭 it’s such a beautiful hotel and has a gorgeous kids pool with a sunshade. There is also a playroom where smaller kids can join in activities with their parents.

With one child, I think your life often is more adult orientated and actually with one 16m old I think it makes perfect sense to go to the hotels you might not choose with two under 5s or primary age kids especially as you can’t tend to use kids clubs until 4/5.

We did Ikos at may half term and I loved it but I’d say 90% of the people there were brits with primary aged children and that does change the vibe of the resort. Things are busier, pools are noisy with kids playing. The atmosphere will be different to a hotel where not every guest is a family.

Rixos The Palm Dubai

Definitely Ikos but try to book a year ahead to get choice of resort and room.

Another massive vote for Ikos. Aria is wonderful for April or October hols cause its still warm. Olivia is my fave though!

Ikos is a must, friends daughter and family go twice a year, everything is excellent with young children. I'm sure they have a free childs place as well booking with Jet2.

Agree. Not loads of kids running round but a few families with little ones.
Exceptional service and food. Lovely rooms and in a great spot.

Thanks and completely agree. We're not looking for that level for a holiday with DD. It's not really worth it with a small child. Just want something that's a pretty good standard of food and drinks, nice hotel, decent service.

Ikos resorts sound like they'd fit the bill. They look luxurious and family friendly.

Thanks - Ikos looks good but as others say you really have to book quite far ahead and we don't tend to do that. It's also probably a bit bigger than we'd normally book and a bigger proportion of British travellers which we tend to avoid. I think we'll visit at some point though probably when DD is a bit older.

We can get much better value long haul but want to stay short haul for our next trip this September - first time taking DD on a plane since she started to walk!

People go to places that aren’t family friendly precisely because they don’t want to holiday where there are children. I would be very pissed off to find babies and toddlers in such a place. Have some consideration for other people.

Thanks - it's genuinely interesting to get a different perspective but I don't think we would enjoy each other's holidays. We've only done AI holidays in Maldives and usually book smaller places too so understand what you're saying about that. The AI just worked so well with DD - it was high quality buffet lunch and dinner and then brilliant a la carte restaurants at night. However we never go self catering even without DD - we like having good restaurants on site. We wouldn't want to cook, have takeaway or go off in search of restaurants, order, wait etc for breakfast or lunch with DD nor would we want to prepare food at home. We like to have DD asleep in her pram and have an evening out at a decent on site a la carte. The idea of her in bed and us staying in feels too much like home! The holiday routine we have works really well and it feels like we get a fairly normal holiday evening - it's just tips on good hotels that offer that we need to weigh up options.

Ok with a kid that age and with that budget I'd look at lovely Italian hotels around the lakes. Super kid friendly but chic, good food, things to do and everyone will adore and fuss over c your toddler...

Then you are a fool because every time we go to these places, there are a number of families like us. It's just that there is a varied demographic. If you expect adults only you need to book such a hotel; they're widely available. It's quite simple. Unless it's adults only you should expect children there. Obviously if not's not marketed at families, kids clubs etc you'll find fewer children than a family themed resort.

OP I'm sorry to say I don't have any advice for you, but I just want to say I hope you find somewhere lovely to go on holiday. I can't believe people have been so rude on this thread, your replies have been absolutely spot on and you're not being unreasonable in the slightest with your requirements. You sound like a lovely, child-centred family and no doubt you'll have lots of different types of holidays over the years that you and your DD will really enjoy. Good luck!

Club Med (if you have no special needs kids, because then the French are horrible). Select for child care, not all resorts do.

The French love holidaying as if they don't have kids, so they keep the kids really busy and well-looked after, but away from the adults. Separate supervised swimming pools for the kids club and so on.

Their goal seems to be to keep the kids very busy and the parents slightly tipsy.

www.jet2holidays.com/beach/canary-islands/gran-canaria/el-salobre/salobre-hotel-resort-and-serenity?ds_rl=1206481&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2ou2BhCCARIsANAwM2Fe4RytaFT385JyyGtYKImkGOVZuxzF2qHN_6-rKzKGPsw28igLPncaArcbEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds#tab-overview

This hotel was lovely and the food was really good. I stayed half board but there is an all inclusive option now which they didn't have when I stayed.
There were a few babies/toddlers there when I stayed but it was out of UK school holiday times so limited older ones. More focused on adults certainly but kids welcome. I wouldn't take older kids as think they would be bored but toddlers who just want to bob about in the pool would be fine.

"We’d like places that tick these boxes but possibly aren’t aimed at families, so the place isn’t necessarily over run with kids."

You must see the irony of this.......

Mauritius? We did an overnight flight both ways and stayed at the Oberoi in a pool villa, but I’m fairly sure they had garden villas too.

Appollonian Resort and Spa family room, Kefalonia

With Ops kind of budget they would have loungers accessible from their rooms on their balcony or something.

Not sure why op is getting a hard time really. Pretty simple question for hotel recommendations. If people at hotels hate children that much they shouldn't be there, never would I have thought a child in a hotel would upset people so much, Op isn't taking a loaded gun on holiday, just a toddler.

I think people are giving you a hard time @Hadenough1234567 DS is now 7 and still doesn’t like the kids disco at the typical all inclusive- he’d rather be in a sports bar watching rugby (being in Tenerife in the rugby World Cup was great for us as we watched most evenings). I digress!

If you consider long haul I’d highly recommend Blue Waters in Antigua. AI luxury but not stuffy, not a big resort but made a big fuss over 20m DS and very accommodating.

We took DS to Sol House on the border of Torremolinos/Benalmadena when DS was 9m old. Wasn’t aimed at families at all- more of a cool beach bar vibe but DS loved swimming and they did a suite so he napped and we sat on the balcony chilling. We didn’t go AI but the breakfast buffet was great with a baby.