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.

No. We’d like a mixed demographic rather than all families. That’s how most people holiday.

£10k to go on holiday for 10 nights in this economy? Must be a wind up post or a gloater 😂I’m sure a holiday travel company will be able to assist you

I agree with everything you say, I'm also child free but I don't go to resorts or hotels expecting no kids unless is explicitly 'Adults Only'. In shoulder season its usually the pre-school crowd and lots of parents have a similar routine to OP & her DH for the very little ones. It's vastly preferable to school holidays where older kids treat the buffet like 'feeding time at the zoo' and crap parents just let them run riot throughout the resort.

OP, sorry I can't think of anywhere short haul that meets your requirements. I hope you find somewhere nice and don't encounter any dickheads annoyed at seeing a sleeping baby in a pram at dinner!

If you go to a place that is not specifically adults only, and are then pissed off that there are children there, maybe you need to adjust your expectations. Children are allowed and can be expected to be in places beyond family hotels and soft plays.

Follow Stacy Solomon on instagram because where ever she is just now looks to fit the bill

Another vote for Ikos here. Also, take a look at the Domes resorts (Domes of Elounda and others across Greece)

I've read through some of the comments and came on to suggest ikos and I maintain my suggestion. We took DS at age 11 months, 23 months and have booked again for next year which will be 35 months. I do think it will continue to be suitable as he gets older but it's also really suitable for a younger child. We have been/go outside of school holidays and all the boxes you mention are ticked -
Feeling of luxury, option to do things outside the hotel, champagne (if you go deluxe), really good quality food and drink, room with a view. The kids stuff is quite discrete and it feels more like a hotel that caters well for children rather than a hotel for children.

We go to the selection club viva resort in Majorca. It has sea views, a separate terrace with jacuzzi for when she’s napping, al a carte dinners (which are lovely). We aren’t fans of all inclusive generally but whilst she’s small we are happy to go there for two reasons… it’s amazing, cocktails served to the sunbed overlooking the ocean. Google it. However… it’s part of the wider viva resort so you can leave your private ‘selection’ area and go to the beach or the main resort which has bouncy castle, Kids pools, baby slides. We took my then 18 month old and now 2.5 year old and it’s perfect for her age, we’re going back next year.
Best of both, and you do need both when they’re young!

We liked Euphoria Resort in Crete and took our 18m old there

Tui do a package

Make sure you book a suite

We’ve booked Ikos hotels over the last three years with Jet2 and have had an excellent experience with them every time …..

I see what you mean! We tend to stay somewhere that is a very short walk from restaurants though, for example this hotel in Crete right in old town Hersonissos where there’s a square with lots of amazing restaurants to choose from about 5 minutes walk away if that, the pool is small but as there were barely any rooms here we always had it to ourselves. Breakfast was provided and she bought out so many different things! www.booking.com/Share-ISnaZAR

And then in Naxos we stayed in this place where each room had its own private pool or hot tub. Because we stayed out of season the owner let us use a different room with a pool in the day and then we’d go to sleep in our room with the hot tub! There were restaurants a short walk away on the beachfront too. https://www.booking.com/Share-IR5Xue just to show an example of the kind of place we tend to book. For us this is fairly luxurious but there are even more premium places than this to be fair or a villa with amenities very close by would be a great option in your budget.

I’m shocked at everyone being so negative about your toddler! Ours are also very well behaved and I know I’m not being naive with that, they’re genuinely just happy to be with us and be outdoors probably just like your little one. We tend to be the only ones with children where we stay but they’ve always been really popular with both employees and tourists and like you said - if you hate children so much book an adults only hotel! 😅

Place marking for ideas!

We used to take our children on holidays that weren't specifically aimed at families. They were not adult only. We found that the other people were fine with our (well behaved) children as they weren't overrun with loads of children with differing behaviour. There were other families with kids so ours had children to pal up with if they wanted to.
We avoided 'all inclusive' .

That's your own fault for not going adults only.

Surely there’s absolutely loads of options almost too many to list really…..you essentially want just want a suite with a large terrace, or a hotel resort that offers villa style accommodation, oooodles of choice’s surely, just pick somewhere you fancy loc wise that you fancy which offers the above and isn’t adults only 🤷‍♀️.

Ikos and Sani are luxury but VERY family focused - I’ve always avoided as I think they attract a certain crowd.

Have a look at Small Luxury Hotels, Scott Dunn holidays,Classic Collection holidays and Relais and Chateaux holidays, Belmond Hotels.

Daios Coves in Crete would fit the bill perhaps, the food is amazing and it’s on its own private beach. We didn’t think much to the nearest town but brilliant if you want to stay around the hotel. Belmond in Mallorca also, they do offer suites but not sure how much outside space they offer we went pre kids.

Oooh I knew I’d recently followed small suites place on instagram - this looks amazing, I did look previously and can’t see that it’s adults only but my 6yo would probably be bored now. Looks beautiful tho

https://sewelosuites.com

Also my parents have stayed here sounds amazing we’re looking at it for February half term actually https://www.barcelo.com/en-gb/royal-hideaway-corales-suites/

Nah, people who don't want to holiday with children choose adult only. That's what I always did pre kids. I always assumed anywhere that allowed kids would have at least some.

So you want somewhere not over run with kids, whilst bringing yours?

Why is everyone on a site called mumsnet so aggy about toddlers being in a hotel?! 😅 Pre kids I never was a fan of 10 year old boys jumping into a pool splashing you while you’re trying to relax but I always found babies and toddlers sweet and inoffensive! Not every young child screams and cries.

In my experience the people who go to more out of the way type places or destinations tend to have much better behaved kids than those in the child friendly ones. Maybe because they are choosing to actively parent them rather than offset the childcare 👀

Yes. not overrun with kids does not mean no kids! It just means not every single hotel room/ apartment will have families, there'll be a mix of couples, friend groups, older families too.... * *

It’s all relative I suppose - totally worth it for us.

@Mayorhumdinger19 What do you mean by a certain crowd?

Oh, so only perfect little darlings?

What's wrong with that. I don't like other people's kids, only my own!

But you subject other people to them