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.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 So children aren't allowed in normal hotels that aren't advertised towards any particular guests? Children are only allowed in hotels that specify they are family friendly?

No, but OP is so sanctinonious and appears to have a perfect stepford child, but doesn't want to be around 'not quite our class' kids

So go to adult only hotels if you want to avoid kids! It's not a difficult concept

I am not plannimg to stay in any hotel, perfect children or other types of children friendly or not
I was making a point about the ridiculousness of people thinking their child is perfect, but others are not

It's not the kids, it's the parents. Some people do parent their kids better than others and that's a fact. I never allowed mine to do certain things that other parents let their kids do like running around in restaurants etc. So yeah, there is a difference.

@LoveHearts69 I love the idea of the pool by day, hot tub by night!

Out of interest, what do you do for dinner for your little people? We feed DD dinner at 5pm. She normally has a really good lunch at the buffet, which is her main meal of the day, where she gets to try lots of things and then we save a few things for her for dinner - pasta, chicken or fish etc and some fruit/yoghurt then pop it into the fridge in our room and she's happy enough with that.

OP didn't say anything about certain class of children. She was simply stating she does not want to go to hotels where everything is revolving around children.

I don't want to go to restaurants with indeeor playgrounds and children's menus, it does not mean I hate other children or think mine are perfect.

No definitely not a stepford child by any means! We're not that kind of family! It's just that a hotel full of families is chaos for everyone, regardless of "class". Some children are quite content, others are grumpy or wild. Some parents let their children run riot and others keep a lid on things. That'll happen even with small numbers of families too, but on a small scale it's not chaos. And it'll happen in all hotels in all budget brackets - nothing to do with "class".

We usually go out to a restaurant pretty early so about 5/6pm, we’ve found most restaurants to be really helpful if we ask them for a smaller portion of something like spaghetti bolognaise or often they’ll do their own thing for them. Some places in Greece even refused to charge us for the kids meal! If they’re getting hangry we’ll get some bread or hummus or something to start.

Yes, absolutely fair enough. We couldn't do that multiple times a year - our holiday budget doesn't stretch to that, unfortunately, and we're keen to get as many trips as we can whilst we only have one very small person to contend with!

Lots of helpful suggestions. What's the vibe like at Ikos? We're looking at Aria for possibly June or September. We tend to find the places we've stayed don't have a lot of British people which we suddenly realised we quite like. We also don't really do glam - we liked the Maldives where people didn't really dress up despite it being a high end resort.

We're not tied to AI as such - it's more that we'd like a lunch buffet open to feed DD. It's just really practical for her and we can keep bits for later. It's tricky because lots of AI places can mean the food/drink quality is compromised even in some supposedly 5 star places!

Have a look at hotels in and around Elounda in Crete. There's some very good 5 star options there: Daois Coves, Domes, The Bay, The Beach etc.

Kaya palazzo belek , Antalya

Gran Amelia Palacio D'Isadora - Tenerife

The Crane - Barbados

Any of the higher end Valamar hotels in Croatia. Especially Isabella Island, you can get a private bungalow there with garden or upgrade to the black level.

Gran Melia not Gran Amelia. Damn auto correct.

I didn't read OP as saying this. I think she is referring to the fact that hotels catering for children will have children older than her child using the pool area etc, there will be mini discos and entertainment. She doesn't want that on her holidays yet, presumably due to the inevitable extra busyness and noise it brings, and her child is too young to need those things.

She's acknowledged they may want to go to child friendly hotels when her DD is older and she hasn't made unpleasant comments about other children, only pointed out that her own isn't yet at toddler tantrum stage and is therefore fairly easy to please.

The OP hasn't said that her child is perfect, she isn't taking the wee one to an adults only hotel so expects children to be there. There is a huge difference between that than a hotel that is aimed towards children, with the "daisy club" etc

I get it OP, we did exactly the same

Having read more of the messages maybe Ikos is still too family friendly for you. We love it but I get that it isn't everyone's cup of tea. Weve only been to Porto petro in Mallorca - large resort, low rise, in a cove so very picturesque. We spent a lot of time walking around which suited us just fine as the grounds are lovely and pushchair friendly. The complimentary Tesla hire is a good bonus as you can go off and do something if you want. In Porto Petro they have a daily shuttle to either the next town or the market town depending on the day. Great if you don't want to spend all your time at one of the pools.
I would say there were a lot of English there when we went but also Americans, French, German and Eastern European (languages I couldn't decipher)
With a one hour time difference we had dinner at 7 (6 here) and took DS with us. We then did bathtime and bedtime and got him in bed for 9 and we had a couple of hours on the balcony with a drink. We tended to spend longer at lunch than dinner for a variety of reasons. Dress is pretty casual - I wore dress with flat sandals and denim jacket for dinner. DH wore smart shorts with a t shirt and trainers.

Different vibe again but you could look at Pine cliffs in the Algarve. We went earlier this year and enjoyed it. It's more mixed than IKos in terms of guest type and it's bigger. It isn't AI but there's a supermarket opposite the resort so easy to keep a few bits in and you could pick an apartment (with a kitchen) rather than a hotel room. We had an apartment and it was quite handy for toddler milk and snacks. We didn't self cater at all as that isn't our bag.

Holidays like you’ve described are the main thing I’m going to miss when my DD starts school in September!

We did villa le blanc in Menorca for the extra £££ you should be able to get the bigger 2 bed suite rooms with decent terrace. I was really surprised at how nice pine cliffs in the Algarve was, loads of room choice between the different hotels that make up the resort. We really like Srebreno in Croatia but it’s B&B. All were booked for through Jet2, with room requests, meals, high chair, cots etc booked via the hotels.

I would say be prepared at how quickly little ones needs change on holidays, we did 7m, 9m, 12m, 17m, 21m and 23m. A walker between 12m to 17m made flight times and length much more important! And then the difference between 17m to 21m is huge, slightly longer day nap and he’s joined us for dinner (to the almost 4 yrs olds disappointment) but it’s lovely! The longer naps for both have become our down time!

I say make the most of non school holidays (much cheaper and quieter) get children into travel habits young so they know what it’s all about and how to behave etc.

have a great time wherever you end up booking

OP I love Ikos but don't bring my kids as we have 5 of them and don't want to remortgage ....

Anyway, I holiday every year in Ikos with my girlfriends , at Easter . It's absolutely fabulous . We are teachers so most definitely do not want to be in hotels that are over run with kids but Ikos never feels like that . Adult pools etc .

I woudl definitely go for Ikos in your position .

Download Icelolly holiday app, it’s amazing!

We go to the Kaya Palazzo Golf resort and Spa in Antalya in Turkey fairly regularly. Although all the hotels along that strip have water parks and splash pools for the kids, they are never overrun with children we find. We also don’t want to be subjected to lots of young kids as ours are much older now and don’t always come with us.

@FoodieToo which Ikos have you found best weather wise at Easter please?

Did Corfu two years and weather perfect ( low twenties ) and Oceania last year was a little warmer .
Perfect !

The Residence Mauritius. Absolutely brilliant for adults and children.