plan our 5 week summer holiday (me + 2dc)

[Salmiak]

My dc are 6 and 2. I want to spend our whole summer holiday abroad. But I don't know where.... the budget for flight and accommodation is around £4k.

Last year I took the dc to koh samui and we rented a villa with a private pool near the beach. It was paradise!

I've thought about returning, (dd1 is especially keen on this idea) but realise the world is a big and beautiful place and would love to expose them to more of it.

My criteria are

Prefer self catering (villa, airbnb) so I have the option of cooking

With a pool

Somewhere relatively safe with a low terror threat (so avoiding north africa,etc)

A country where children are liked

Sunny weather

So where should I consider going? I have travelled around Mexico (pre dc)and loved it, and one of my friends suggested sri Lanka, but I would love to hear more suggestions/ recommendations of places I might like.

Two very diffenent suggestions

Vietnam - we have spent a few months there with small children

Croatia - lovely in the summer.

Both locations I wouldn't stay I just one place for the whole summer though as both long narrow countries so you can start at top and work down ( or other way around). So maybe 1 week/ 10 days in each place.

Thank you art. I went to Vietnam in my early 20s had to take malaria tablets, however looking at the nhs map it seems the coastal area is ok.

Now off to google Croatia

We didn't take malaria tablets and my youngest was just 10 weeks only when we arrived in Vietnam.

We have done 3 weeks in Croatia at once. We travelled down slowly by boat ( just a regular one not us driving!) and stopped off at various islands to stay. As well as popping back in to various main cities and towns

I would road trip the US state parks. America doesn't haven't to be theme parks and hamburgers - there are some amazing places.

Oh I have been thinking about this . I don't actually want to move about though apart from the odd day trip. I dream of five to six weeks in one beautiful place, just being and living, would leave the day DD finishes school and return three days before she goes back. I was thinking about the gulf coast in Florida but definitely open to suggestions.

I think I'll avoid road trip type holidays, the dc are still too young to be able to cope well with long car journeys. I just want sunshine and a place the dc are happy and relaxed - we achieved that last year and I want it again this year. I figure we can go on more adventurous exploring type holidays when they are a bit older...

nicki if you'd consider Thailand I can pm you the details of our stay last year. It was a small villa, access to a private beach and only about 3 restaurants in walking distance but it was paradise.

Rent a cottage in Ontario and go swimming in a lake? There are a couple of budget airlines flying into Toronto (I used to live there and the kids might enjoy it for a couple of days) and go on from there. The weathers pretty hot during the summer. Key West/Goa and Bali are all places I'd happily go back to for a summer (although would check weather for G & B and possible terror threat in B!)

I think I'd rent a villa in the Caribbean for a month. We've taken DC loads in the summer and, bar a daily short sharp shower, had glorious weather. Definitely lots of deet though. I'd choose a smaller island; Grenada, Grenadines or BVIs.
Or another Thai island, one of the ones near Krabi?

Salmiak yes please. Would love to see it. Have been looking at villas all over the place today actually

What about Barbados? Or Tulum in Mexico?

I would be interested in seeing the details of your Thailand rental as I was considering a trip next winter.

Thailand rental

www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/lipa-noi/390109

Its not the exact villa we stayed in but is identical. There are several villas in that are all built to the same plan, but its got a fantastic shallow non wave-y private beach 2 min walk away, a really nice beach restaurant about 5 minutes walk away, and its so quiet. Just search a couple of villa websites for lips noi villas and a selection will come up - prices for identical villas vary so just search for the best price. The pool was a perfect size for the dc, not too big, not too small.

If I had the money and the balls I would take DD to Costa Rica. Childless friend went recently and his photos were sickening, frankly.
How about Malaysia - particularly the Pirinthian Islands - or the Andaman
Islands? I've been talking about taking DD (6) to Thailand for months but am too nervous to do it :(

Watching thread avidly!

I've googled flights and villas to Costa Rica - according to skyscanner flights would eat up most of my budget.

I think a lake in Ontario sounds lovely, but I'd be a bit concerned about ds as he's only 2. So maybe I'll add that to future plans.

Tulum in mexico - yes! I can get flights for allof us at just under £2000 to cancun and then I think its a bit of a drive to tulum? But 15 years ago it had the most amazing beaches - is that still the case?! Its between tulum and phuket now I think

I was in Phuket a couple of years ago, also Krabi. Of the two I would probably choose Krabi for a quiet beautiful holiday. You can always pop across to Phuket on the boat. It's nice there, more built up if that's what you want, shopping malls etc. Definitely preferred Krabi though.

hustle take your dd to Thailand! I chose not to visit Bangkok with my DC as I felt they were still too young to deal with that level of business ( we're country bumpkins and even London phases them) but they loved Thailand and were fine with the food (and its a lot more touristy than 20 years ago - lots of places now do 'western food' which wasn't the case when I first went backpacking there)

Nicki - its just flights to phuket are cheap on the dates I want to travel compared to samui or other places. I could always catch a boat to phiphi or krabi from there. So that's why I'm leaning there...

Isn't it the rainy season in Phuket in July?

It is but I went at the end of July and it literally rained for about half an hour a day and then stopped and that was it. Not constantly sunny to be fair but good enough.

We're off to Costa Rica this summer. The flights have gone up loads since they were released but we booked in Sept and for 2 adults one child it was just over £2100 for BA's direct flight from Gatwick to San Jose. Maybe one to put on the list for 2017 Salmiak! Tulums good - you may find some cheaper accommodation on Cozumel (island off Playa del Carmen - about a 20 minute ferry trip - a lot less frantic than Playa/Cancun - has good diving/snorkelling and v unspoilt Mayan ruins, beaches etc).

Tulum is a 2 hour drive from cancun airport. Straight road so dead easy. Beaches are amazing. Tulum is all low level development, lots of eco friendly places to stay and eat and it has a very hippy vibe. Selection of restaurants is good too. The town is separate from the beachside development and has some great cheap restaurants. I have also been to Costa Rica. I wouldn't see any problem in taking a child there. It has good infrastructure, is very friendly and feels very safe.

The place I stayed in Costa Rica had villas, it was called Cala Luna. Absolutely beautiful & loads of wildlife. We had howler monkeys in our front garden!

Rainy season in Phuket in July.
Bali is dry as is Malaysian Borneo.
Hoi An is dry, but Sapa in Vietnam will be very wet.

I've been looking at Tulum for this summer. It looks gorgeous but rather pricey for a month. A lot of simple villas are in the £100 a night bracket.

Just quick update. We are of to Mexico! Yucatan peninsula somewhere. Found some cheap flights on skyscanner to merida, so booked them before they disappeared. This then gives me a lovely budget for somewhere to stay.

Salmiak That sounds amazing. I hope you all have a fantastic time - please link to any accommodation you find, i'm really considering taking DD away.