First short haul with DC aged 7 and 9

[AliMonkey]

We normally holiday in the UK. Our holidays tend to involve castles, National Trust places, beaches, walks, cycle rides, crazy golf, boat rides, gentle theme parks, etc. If we go to the beach, we tend to spend half a day mixed with something else. The kids love doing trails, quizzes etc (hence why all the National Trust) – less likely to be an option overseas given language issues. Pre-kids we had a mixture of holidays, eg US national parks, city breaks, early or late season Greece beach holidays.

DH and DC are keen to do an overseas summer holiday next year. I’m willing to be persuaded but struggling to meet the criteria:

• 4 hour flight maximum from UK
• warm (think 20-25C) but not hot (28C absolute max)
• pizza/pasta/”English” food available for kids but chance for us to eat more local food as well
• plenty to do for kids and adults together – not too exclusively kid or adult orientated
• hotel or self-catering with restaurants nearby
• ideally in August, but might consider Easter or May
• cost not too much of an issue
• sufficient English spoken for us not to get too frustrated with our lack of language skills!

Basically we want what we get in the UK, with plenty to see and do, but with less rain and a bit of overseas culture and nothing too adventurous! Any ideas?

How about somewhere like Tenerife. 4 hour flight, nice weather but not often extremely hot, massive choice of hotels, apartments and villas, most resorts have a mixture of 'English' style and Canarian restaurants, and there will be watersports, bouncy castles etc at the busier resorts for the kids.

There are also a couple of 'theme' parks, such as Loro Park and Siam Park (water park), plus amazing scenery, especially in Teide National Park, where you can walk the trails, or take the cable car to the top of Mount Teide (Spains tallest mountain I think)

If cost is not an issue what about Scandinavia? Norway or Finland have beautiful scenery and lots of exploring to do for kids. Food is "normal" and August is not peak for scandi so you should be able to book accommodation easily.

Could try the Dordogne area in France - can fly or drive - lots of castles, caves, gardens, canoeing/ swimming/ paddling in the river. Lots of English visitors & we found the French friendlier to English than they can be in some places. We were camping & didn't eat out much but usually frites / pasta available if nothing else!

Thanks, will look into all those suggestions. Think Tenerife too hot for us in August but will investigate a bit more. I had been wondering about Scandinavia (first thought was Denmark as lovely beaches and legoland! But not sure what else here is to do!)

Like the idea of Dordogne. Would have to fly as part of idea of this holiday was to give kids chance to experience flying before we maybe attempt a transatlantic flight!

Off to do some research!

Denmark is great. You can go to Elsinore (cool castle) and Louisiana (modern art museum that's set in gardens, kids love it) too. Beaches are nice (although chilly!).