experienced at self catering abroad with a toddler?

[logrrl]

Let me have your words of wisdom please! DH and I are used to hostels/glam hotels in exotic locations so this is all new to us. We are going to Spain.

We are trying to choose between three places
one villa, two apartments. The villa has stairs down to bedrooms but no stair gate. It has it's own pool, terrace etc, good location. This is most expensive.

One apartment is in a complex with three pools. It looks a bit like those horrible costa hotels around the pool area but the apartment itself is spacious and well equipped. There is a terrace but BBQ not allowed (it's "upmarket" apparently ). It's in a good location. This is least expensive.

The other apartment is owned by people with a toddler and is kitted out perfectly but is teeny tiny. It has a salt water pool and is close to the beach-the others entail a drive to the beach. This is a bit more expensive than the other apartment.

Will the space issue matter? Would the stairs be an annoyance (we live in a flat). Does the pool matter that much if we are out and about half of the days? Does proximity to the beach matter if we have a car? Am I being very dim? Is it a no brainer?

i would go with the one near the beach. space really isnt an issue unless you can't swing a cat in it and plan to stay in all day. if there is a place to sit and eat outside its even better.

if its already kitted out then you dont have to worry whether the cot bed is in good condition or even whether you will get one! you can always ask or pictures of what you will be getting for certain. if the beach is close then you don't have to pack everything up in the car and then unpack and then clean all the sand out of the car! you can just put up a picnic and essential items into a big handbag and away you go. you don't even have to worry about drying off before getting back into the car so you can paddle in the sea. plus you can always have a couple of drinks on a night and not worry about having to drive to the beach the next day. (obviously your not going to get drunk) do you really want to be driving every day?

I wouldnt be comfortable with a villa with its own pool when children were small though we loved it when DCs were bigger. Even then we did find having our own pool a bit isolating - no one for the DCs to make friends with.

What is the apartment complex like? Is it in a good location? Close to but not on top of facilities.

Have you located all of the options on google earth? I find that really useful.

Personally I cant be far enough from a beach but I guess that puts me in a minority.

For what it's worth we have found that having a pool that is warm enough to play in with the added bonus of some other children to play with makes leaving the beach much easier if you're a toddler (no screaming tantrums as you wrestle the beach gear up to the car). However, that would depend on whether you would like to be at the beach all day. If you think you would like to be there all day then the small one would probably be best, you could pop back to the villa so that your LO have a nap somewhere cool.
The salt water pool is a bit of a distraction, as you probably won't use it, we had one in Menorca (with 2yr old and 5 month old)and I think we went in a handful of times for no more than 10 mins. Is there another place that doesn't have a pool but is bigger and close to the beach?

I would take the small one near the beach. you will go out a lot anyway and its nice not to worry too much about safety the rest of the time. (or having to co-sleep because the cot-bed does not have a bottom...)

We have a 5 year old and a 14 month old and are going to Spain in 2 weeks and staying in a villa. In April we went to Fuetraventura and stayed in a lovely hotel, all inclusive, only had a bedroom for the 4 of us, not apartment and it was hard work. With little ones you are in the apartment more than you think as it gets too hot, they are tired etc and it was hardwork as such a small area for dd to crawl around in and she got so bored as you only have limited toys (no cbeebies) etc.

So this time we have chosen a villa as a lot more space, own pool and we are hoping is more relaxing. We have stayed in a villa before when we just had ds and LOVED it. How old is your child? Not sure what a salt water pool is???

small one near the beach. After all how much time will you be spending indoors. I take it the villa will have stone steps, I just wouldn't risk that without a stair gate.
From my own experience, we have a small apartment in Turkey and went for the first time with 10 month old this year. We spent hardly anytime inside (we have a big balcony and a pool)We kitted it out with high chair, travel cot and safety gate top of outside steps (we are first floor)and also bought a baby walker whilest we were there as we have tiled floor and I felt more comfortable with her in a walker. Once all this was in place we had a relaxing holiday and it is now "child friendly" for other people and us in the future.

thanks everyone-this makes for interesting reading.

We have decided against the villa-I had horrible images of all sorts of potentialities.

The small apartment near the beach has only a double sofa bed and DH is now saying that he can't sleep on a sofa bed for two weeks, which is a fair point.

The bigger apartment has highchair and cot, enclosed large terrace and only four steps from the street. We found out it does have a small beach close by but it's a shingle beach. The nearest big sandy beach is 5km away, which is only a short drive.

Ha! You can tell what I'm trying to talk myself into here ...

Any further thoughts? Do you agree that two weeks on a sofa bed might not be our idea of relaxing holiday sleeping?