Summer 2015 - looking for perfection - please help!!

[Juliet10Bravo]

Hi - looking to book our first sun holiday end July/beg August 2015 - me, DH, DD1 12 and DD2 11. Looking for great beaches, reliable weather as well as visiting local sights and mountains too would be a bonus. Problem is DH (and me too if I'm honest) doesn't really want an inclusive holiday village type place surrounded by loads of holidaymakers (I don't cope well being around lots of people). We're happy just on our own, organising our own entertainment. However, if we hire a villa we'll need a car too and I was looking to avoid DH driving all week so need somewhere close to amenities/beaches etc. A private pool would be fab. Am I looking for something that doesn't exist - please help!! TIA

You want great beaches, mountains, sights, great weather, not a resort, not a villa, not lots of driving ...

A nice little boutique hotel on the beach in Sicily? There are two areas I'd be looking at:

1. Somewhere near Cefalu
2. Somewhere near Taormina (but not in Taormina, because its busy).

Thanks - spent an age online going from one site to another and getting nowhere! Will check it out.

Somewhere around Nice might work. Antibes/Juan Les Pins/Villefranche Sur Mer are all connected by trains and buses. You can get a train from Nice (a steam train even into the hinterland of Provence) to various places in the mountains. it is certainly easy to get about without a car. And plenty of cheap flights to Nice too.

Thanks Porto appreciate all suggestions.

Croatia might be worth a look OP.

Cheerears that's great, will add to list of possibles. Will save a job for the year after to have some ideas stored away!

Look at iescapes kids
Small hotels
Independent flights

Hadn't come across that site before, thanks, really useful. Lovely looking places.