Dubai or South Africa (or somewhere else?) in October with baby and 3yo.

[Inthesleeplessnightgarden]

Please help us decide where to go with our two who will be 5 months and very nearly 3 in October. DH has 2 weeks off.

We live in grotty West Africa so were thinking of the Gulf (warm, clean, things work) or South Africa (as above but with exciting animals for DS1 and just 5 hour flight from here).

We don't do cold and don't want too much jetlag (we're same time zone as UK). We've previously enjoyed Thailand, Goa, Sri Lanka when we lived on that side of the world but think its too far this time. Would prefer apartment or apart-hotel if poss so we don't have to go to bed when kids do!

Any suggestions? We ought to book soon...

I would opt for SA, having done both with toddler/baby combo we found Dubai hard work, it was beach/complex or mall. In SA we found it easier to relax and do things with the kids as there was more to do. We did Cape Town then drove to Knysna on the Garden Route. We stopped half way at a game lodge for the night. We hired a car so it was much easier to get about and see things.

We're looking to go to Kenya (safari) and then Zanzibar, Tanzania with our toddler...we were going to go in Sept/ Oct but now postponing to January because so much cheaper (left it a bit late organising)...it seems there are lots of child friendly options in Zanzibar.