holiday abroad with 2 under 3's,any reccomendations?

[Mirage]

We are hoping to book a cheapish holiday in Sept for 3 adults,a 18 month old & a 3 year old.All the dd's will want is a beach,the adults aren't bothered about nightlife,but would like to be based in an established town/village rather than a tourist resort.

None of us have done European beach holidays before,especially with children,so we are at a bit of a loss as to where to start looking.We'd rather not spend more than 3 hours flying & would prefer a transfer time from the airport of 1 hour or less.Self catering would probably be our best option.

Menorca/Majorca look promising,but we want to avoid really touristy lively places & as none of us have been there,we are at a bit of a loss.

Any advice or recommendations?Thanks.

we had a holiday in May with our 3.5 year old in Port de Soller, Mallorca which we really enjoyed. Very nice restaurants/cafes, OK beach, trams up to the town of Soller, from which you can get a lovely train to Palma (train takes about 1 hour) - although wouldn't go to Palma again, not with kids anyway! No real nightlife that we noticed, but the bay is quite big and we were on the quiet side of it. This was our first family beach holiday too, but we are going back next year! Would not recommend the apartment we stayed in, mainly becaue of the 196 steps UP from the street to the apartment!

It is in the North West of Mallroca, took less than an hour from the airport (taxi cost us Euro50 from airport, Euro40 back), BA fly direct (less than 2 hours I think), as do BMI as do Easyjet.

try camping in France - fantastic for kids and fab for adults! if you like good food and good wine!! Most of the sites have the pool complex etc but as Sept is out of season it's not very touristy. Some sites are within a couple of minutes walk from a village so you'd get the town effect ratehr than a full on tourist resort. Avoid booking with Siblu - haven Europe though if you're wanting to escape Brits abroad!! You can fly drive to the south of France but we like Brittany and the vendee - take your own car and stock up on wine!!

Otherwise what about italy? Had some good reports but can't speak from experience.

We went to Cala Galdana, Menorca in May with 2year old and baby. It was delightful, not too big and busy with a lovely lovely beach you'd have to research how busy it would be in September though as too many people would spoil it. Son Bou looked nice too but perhaps not as much character. The previous France post sounds fantastic but we never fancy the drive and the air fare and car hire can add up.

catgirl - did you pre-book your taxi in the UK via the internet or something? or did you just join the queue at the airport?

I'd agree with Menorca, avoiding palma