Club Med type holiday with 1 year old

[fiorentina]

After a very wet self catering holiday in the UK earlier this year, we're thinking of booking a week away in Europe in September. Looking at last minute deals for Club Med Palmiye and Club Med Beldi. They look good, I've not been on this kind of holiday before and have a DS who will be nearly 18 months.

I'm not finding their website very helpful, what would it be like with him? I see you pay for baby club, can you pay for babysitters and is this something people would recommend? I'd not want to use it too often but a meal out together would be nice. What to people do in the evening if it's a hotel and and you are in the same room, or does a family room mean you get 2 bedroom areas and it is acceptable to take him to dinner in the buggy asleep?

Sorry if these questions sound really stupid, we aren't used to family holidays yet and I'd hate to make an expensive mistake.

Hi! We did the club med near Nice when our little one was 6 months. It was our first family holiday and we wanted somewhere we could have some time to ourselves. The place was lovely and the food was fantastic. We used the baby club which was well run. However as our DS had never been in childcare before he inevitably got ill which ruined the last few days of our holiday. If your 1 year old already goes to crèche then this wouldn't be so much of a problem. The good thing was they had a doctor on site who we saw free of charge.
We ended up taking our little one down with us for an early dinner and then sitting in the room in the dark until he was asleep before sharing some wine. If you can afford a suite with seperate space for your child then this would really be worth it.

I heart la palmyre. Did not use baby club ( first I have heard of this) or sitters. Dd2 was around 1. They have suitable meal times for babies, lots of facilities (jars of food if you use that stuff, pasta etc if you don't).
I took my Dd to eat early then she slept in her buggy while we all ate.
The beach is lovely and clean - unusual in France. The rooms are good for families, with two sections so the kids basically have their own room and if you are downstairs you can sit out in the evenings while your children are sleeping.
They are also good at providing travel cots, nappy bins and bottle warmers etc, if you need.

Thank you, very helpful. Don't think they all have baby clubs, will check carefully!