Neilson - Turkey or Greece? School hols or term time?

[triathlonmum]

Hi - joined in another thread on Neilson Beachclub hols and am now mad keen on the idea. Wonder if anyone can help with further questions though:

• Is there a particular resort that is good for age 6 and 8 girls?
• Not been on a family hol to Turkey, and there have been tourist problems there with terrorism in recent years - is it safe?
• Has anyone been to Neilson Greece, what's it like?
• Having priced a couple of breaks on the Neilson site it looks like we pay about half the price if we're bad and go in term time. Will there still be lots of other kids there then for ours to play with or is it more likely to be lots of pre-schoolers (anyone done this?)?
• I'm a keen runner and would like to go to a resort where I could safely go running on my own - any recommendations or thoughts on this would be very welcome.

Thanks for any advice and comments!

HI triathlon mum - I've been to a couple of neilsons and going again this year but mine are pre schoolers. If you call Neilson, their staff are really helpful. They have been to all the resorts and the lady who booked mine for this year had been the kids club supervisor in the resort during the summer, now working in Head Office for the winter. They are very knowledgable and will be able to advise on the best resort re all of the above.

We've been to Turkey several times (once with Neilson and several times with other companies)- there are some issues over there but these are confined to certain areas not tourist/holiday maker places normally. turkish people are very friendly and welcoming.

re age of children, we went to lemnos in october and week 1 was allpreschoolers, week 2 there were 2 families with older children. we went to teos in may and both weeks there were about 15 older children (5-14 I would say) - they all looked to be having a great time. Neilson will be able to check and tell you how many kids are in resort in which age group for weeks you are interested in.

Let us know where you book!

That's great, thanks - now looking at Teos tho I'm a wimp and if you read the foreign office website on Turkey it's a bit worrying... What was the weather like in Teos in May, was it hot and was it windy?!

Hi TM

It was lovely weather, sunbathing and swimming all day every day - prob mid 20s? - it rained for an hour on the last day. I don't remember it being windy but there was enough wind for windsurfing

If you aren't comfortable with Turkey and its going to worry you then consider Greece?

The western part of Turkey, where all the tourist resorts are is perfectly safe. The problems in Turkey concern the far Eastern parts over by the Iraq and Iran borders and when you consider that to get to that part of Turkey it would take 24 hours to drive there as it is more than 1,000 miles away you will see there really is nothing to worry about. It would be like saying you didn't want to go to France because there were problems in Greece.

We go to Turkey every year, I even lived out there for 3 years when my oldest DD was a baby.

Turkey is a lovely country and the Turkish people are wonderful. We were actually thinking of trying Greece for a change this year but to be honest I am concerned with the economic crisis in Greece so we shall probably go to Turkey instead.

His triathlon mum. We went to Lemnos last year. Loads of kids in may half term week and a few staying on the week after but not as many. My dd was 6 and had loads of company but not sure about out of school hols. We're thinking of 2 weeks this year as none of us want to go home and there is very little difference between 1 & 2 weeks on some resorts. Thinking maybe turkey. Lemnos was fine for running and you could run with a group too. It was usually very early 0700 I think as it got so hot. I went a couple of times but it usually clashed with mountain bike start time that my husband always wanted to go on! Hope you manage to decide and have a wonderful time.

Just saw your concerns about the kids getting the most out of it. Our dd is a little timid however after first morning with new friends she was already asking to eat dinner with them! This is an idea of their daily itinerary (you can sign them out at any time so they don't have to do anything they don't want to)

Arrive and settle in
Warm up game of the morning
Treasure hunt
Walk the plank (off a windsurf board into the pool - wearing buoyancy jackets)
Lunch (with you or stay with the group)

Practice for end of week show
Something crafty or another active session
Etc etc

Our dd started the morning with age ordered group tennis lesson
Joined surf busters kids club 30mins later
Spent day with friends in club or round pool
Eat dinner with friends (most nights if she could convince us!)
Hung out in kids club after dinner watching DVD
Came down to watch end of entertainment with us
Went to bed!!!

We literally had to drag her away in order to spend time with us!!!

Sorry just realised she was just 7 when we went, but there were loads of 5 & 6 year olds in surf busters, and the sharksters (8-10?) looked like they had a ball too.