Tell me about your best ever family holiday

[Trampampoline]

For a variety of reasons, we're struggling to get away this year, but I keep looking...and dreaming...

I love a holiday and the more people the better. I love queueing for the ferry, the smell in big train stations or sitting in the airport bar drinking bloody marys

please tell me about your best ever family holiday and why; cheap or eye-watering, brilliant facilities or worst ever but with great company.

oh, I should start shouldn't I?

As a child (early eighties), we used to rent a villa on - actually on - the beach in, Frejus, South of France. The owner was someone my parents knew and his flat was upstairs.

Small public beach but in my memory it was never busy. We used to go with another family and I remember long days playing in the sea, getting badly sunburnt and avoiding the sea urchins.

Fond memories of getting the ferry, putting the car on the train and waking up in Avignon (?) to fields of lavender.

Now, I couldn't afford a beach front villa holiday in the south of France in a million years, and I'm sure it was only through family friend favours and scrimping and saving that we got there at all.

Pleeeease tell me yours

Hiring a yacht in the British Virgin Islands and touring Peru. Something for everyone with these two. Some of the best beaches and snorkelling in the world and some of the most iconic ancient buildings in the world. The children really liked Alaska and the Galápagos Islands too. We like wildlife holidays a great deal!

wasn't sure if you meant family holidays now or as a child so I've done both;

with my family now-
Canada-loads to do/see, suited us all, great weather. We will definitely go back.
Cruises- different place every morning, great kids clubs, fab food, lots to do.
Orlando Florida- Disney and Universal-had a real fun time with dcs.

I'm always looking for our next best ever family holiday and have booked Miami and Bahamas/Key West cruise for next Feb. :)

as a child - Butlins Pwllheli- I spent most of the week with my brother-on the fair, swimming, roller skating, at the kids club etc, we had a ball.
Plus time on the beach with the rest of the family . The weather was brilliant-I've got genuine photos of us on the beach/in the sea and the sun is shining!

oh wow, Milly, I wouldn't know where to start with organising those holidays, sounds incredible! I'd love to go to Alaska, but I know my lot would be

Fox, I did mean either. I'd never thought of cruises as a family thing, more for, er, retired folk? I'm clearly prejudiced.

For UK holidays, it's so reliant on the weather isn't it? Could be crap, could be AMAZING.

Weeks in France in a ready set up tent. Spending evenings playing beggar my neighbour by camping gaz light with my dad and brother.
Watching my dad munch his way through seafood platters or paella...
Good times

Blue, that's just lovely

Dd loved the Dordogne as there is so much to do.

Ach Porto, I had a baaaaad family holiday there.

Holiday houses on a site in July. We learned why the area was so green because it was a FECKIN RAINFOREST FOR TWO WEEKS! lush. literally.

but seriously, what stuff did you do Porto? Do I remember some caves??

Best holidays as a child were Tenerife, Guernsey and Jersey-loved beaches/pool
Best with DD:
Devon in a child-friendly hotel with great food. Visited many times. Always something to do and we all like Lyme Regis to visit whilst in Devon.
EuroDisney so magical when little.
Tenerife and hotel with lovely pool plus visits to Mount Teide,Siam water park and Loroparque (dolphins etc)
Gromitz in Germany on Baltic coast with lovely beach and water shallow for a long way and DD loved nearby Donkey sanctuary

Pembrokeshire when my dcs were younger (prob about 10, 7 and 4). We actually had a lovely sunny week and spent the days on some of the finest beaches in the world. All without the hassle of airports and delays and flights etc.

Trampampoline I suppose world cruises/long cruises are mainly for retired folk just because they have the time.

But the 4 cruises we have been on were a real mixture of; couples of all ages, families, families with gps, singles, groups of friends etc- just like you get on any holiday.

There were also a few weddings and a renewing vows ceremony on our last cruise plus all the guests of different ages that you would associate with that.
it was May half term just gone so loads of families with dcs of all ages. Our dcs loved it - 12 and 14 years old.

That is a good question...... Many holiday's for various reasons

6 months travelling with Husband (before Daughter) Amazing China Vietnam Thailand Oz and New Zealand

Now have Daughter and ski every year, she will be 5 in August and this year watching her bomb down a blue run, very proud Mummy moment, tears in my eyes!!

Park holidays / Butlins, collect sun vouchers and upgrade, Daughter has a blast and if she is happy we are happy !!

Camping - only been a few times, but good fun (never been in rain though!!)

just the plain old family day on the beach, lucky enough to live near sea, so when nice always down on the beach

could go on and on

What a lovely thread :) x

Italy last year. We stayed in a little non touristy town on the shores of Lake Como, in a b and b apartment. The owner was this lovely Italian man and he took us to amazing places we never would have found ourselves. A farm restaurant half way up a mountain that we had to hike to gave us the best food we'd eaten in our lives! We swam in Lake Como most days and ate gelato and napped afterwards.

I was concerned that lake Como was not going to be child friendly, but ds who was 8 at the time, absolutely loved it. He made little friends and learned more Italian than I did.

The whole time we were there, we didn't see a single Macdonalds or fast food chain, or watch any TV. It was just bliss. The scenery of the lake and the mountians everywhere was to die for, as was the food of course!

if you enjoy the actual travel, Greece is fab.

We went to Athens, saw the sight, went to Pireaus (sp?), caught a boat to the cyclaedes (sp?). It was all such fun, but a lot of travel.

On the island we just swam and stayed on beaches, wandered into the harbour to drink coffee and watch the boats, buy melons on the market, have siesta's in the afternoon and the stayed up late.

But it is over 10 yrs ago! It amy well have changed.

I used to think that way about cruises, I wouldn't have been seen dead on one (our holidays have always been self-catered or camping).

However last year we were feeling a bit more flush and realised that we all want different things out of a holiday and a cruise ticked everyone's boxes so off we went and had a brilliant time, lots of sightseeing, lots of time by the pool, lots of time in the evening for just sitting out on dec, cocktail in hand, as much entertainment as you wanted (or not), kids clubs that the DCs absolutely loved, it was a great holiday. Also very easy, all we had to do was drive to Southampton (about 30 miles away) and get on the ship.

Other than that most of our best ones have been camping, either on the Isle of Wight or in France. Same in my childhood, camping holidays in Cornwall and France, happy memories.

Flew to Cape Town, spent a few days in the wine area, and then back to Cape Town for a few days, going to Table Mountain, Robben Island, Boulder's Beach and the south coast.

Flew to J'burg and straight up to safari lodge in Sabi Sands where we had a few days in absolutely luxury with amazing animal viewing and utterly awesome experiences - full silver service breakfast in the bush, cocktails by candlelight, sundowners listening to two male lions roaring at each other across the dry river bed in which we were standing.

Then flew up to Victoria Falls on the Zambia side where we rode elephants, took a tiny boat to an island on the edge of the falls (scary!!!) and generally chilled. Then back for a final couple of days in J'burg where we visited the Alexandra township, and met some very interesting people and heard incredible stories (good and bad). Visited Lillesliffe Farm when Mandela was in hiding and obviously the aparteid museum.

An amazing trip, with a mixture of experiences, planned for DH's 50th. Better start saving for his 60th!

Trampampoline. The holiday to Alaska was part cruise and part land based. We flew to Seattle, stayed there for 2 nights, then flew up to Anchorage. Did a land tour of 2 National Parks and then did a cruise for 1 week back down to Vancouver. We saw bears, mousse, whales, sea otters, glaciers and amazing wilderness, had a brilliant guide and the DDs met plenty of other teens on the ship. Other children really seemed to enjoy this holiday, as did we! Doing something a bit different is a fantastic experience and I think we, as a family, gained a lot from our trips. Many of the children my DDs met over the years are still in touch via Facebook.

Was it chocolate mousse?

Ajandjjmum! We did Vic Falls years ago, before children, and did the white water rafting from the edge of the falls down river. It lasted all day and that, believe me, was scary! No helmets in those days either! I love Zambia. We stayed at Tongabezi right by the Zambezi and had a loo with a view. A lot of the old fashioned safari camps have gone in Zambia now, but it is still a top destination for safari holidays.

I love Sabi Sands too. We also drove our hire car over the Swartberg Pass in South Africa! We were so scared we would get a puncture or get it stuck. The views were out of this world. The Garden Route and the Little Karoo are wonderful places to visit in South Africa. Do this before DH is 60!!!

Our big trip was 7 years ago Milly, so not long to wait until he's 60 - give us time to save too!

Twice we've hired a big farmhouse in the south of France, near Spain, which sleeps 12 people and has a lovely big pool. It's off the beaten track on a hillside, very private, but still possible to walk to the lovely nearby village for bread, evening meals. The first week my other half's folks/siblings have come down, the second week my side of the family, including kids. Both times we spent the day playing made-up ball games in the pool, bombing each other, eating vast buffet-style lunches, going out on little day trips or walks... in the evening cooking family meals or firing up the BBQ, drinking wine, playing board games and looking out over the view from the verandah. Or checking out the fantastic local restaurants! The rent of the farmhouse was extortionate but it was relatively cheap once there. We drove down both times, taking a few days about it and stopping in some lovely random places.

OH and I have also done quite a few long haul trips using air miles gained through work; the best was going round the world in 7 weeks over the Xmas period. London to Moscow by various trains, 3 days in Moscow, then to Ulan Bataar by Trans-Siberian (awesome seeing Siberia in the snow), 3 days in UB, then flew to Beijing for a week, stayed with family in Adelaide for a week, drove round NZ for 2 weeks in a camper van, then a week in Oahu, Hawaii, then back to London. Best holiday ever! Going from incredibly harsh winter to melting summer in one trip was brilliant.

Bloody hell I love holidays. With a baby on the way, may not get one this year, for the first time in 14 years!

MillyMollyMama your Alaska+ trip is one on my list,
[which gets bigger each time I read these posts

I have a few but one of them was a trip to Rio and then on to visit Iguassa Falls. My DC were 11 and 13 which was a great age for the trip. In Rio we visited the Christ statue, botanical gardens, rain forest, Sugar Loaf mountain and Copacabana Fort. We really enjoyed the beach too which was stunning with lots going on. Then we flew to Iguassa and got a taxi to Argentina and stayed in a rain forest lodge place with a beautiful pool area. One day we visited to Argentine side of the falls, the next day we went to some mines and saw the point where you can see Brazil, Paraguay and Argentinia at the same time. We also went over the border to Paraguay for a few hours ( that was long enough) and went to the Brazilian side of the falls and a really lovely bird park.
There was something for the whole family on that trip and every day was different which is something I like from a holiday. We ate our at a real mixture of places. One cafe type place only sold German sausage stuff and was full of middle aged women and us. Some of the meals involved a kind of buffet where they weigh your plate, a bit like pick a mix. We also had some lovely steak and red wine in Argentinia.