Hotels with good kids clubs for October half term

[missjuniper]

Before I spend another evening in the murky depths of Tripadvisor reviews and coming out none the wiser - can anyone recommend a nice hotel in a place that will be warmish at October half term and CRUCIALLY has an ace kids club that can occupy my five year old for a good chunk of the day?

I love my son to the ends of the earth, I do, but I am a single parent with sole custody and he is a very high energy boy and we spend quite enough time together for 51 weeks of the year! Entertaining him all day won't be much of a break for me and I'm desperate for a few hours off to swim and read rubbish books.

I can stretch to 2500 quid all in. Is Martinhal Sagres worth the money ? Other places I've found, like Sensatori Tenerife, sound rather vague on details about the kids club ... I need guaranteed, bookable, gold-plated child care, otherwise I'd rather just stay at home and go to soft play for the trillionth time.

All thoughts hugely appreciated!

This might be worth a look. The club med one looks good kids club open all day, 6 days a week!

www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/family-holidays/the-worlds-best-kids-clubs/

Trying to get it to do a price but it's not working for some reason.

Martinhal has a very good kids club - and also a small 'village square' right by the kids club where they can play on the slides and climbing frames etc whilst you sit right next to them on a comfy chair with a drink from the bar. Also liked how they have the kids club staff on hand in the restaurants so that your child can go off in-between courses and go and sit and colour / build things and then run back to eat before going off again. Liked Martinhal but there's not much around it / in Sagres

The Thomson Holiday Villages are good for kids clubs, been to Majorca,
Ibiza (& another that I can't remember) but they always seemed good for the kids clubs, my DD was too young to go to them though. We are trying out a Eurocamp this year but don't think they'd be open in Oct. try one in the Canaries though, for the weather.

Sagres can be really windy

Some of my friends have been to Princess Yiaza in lanzarote and highly recommend it (not been myself though).

We are currently at Barcelo Castillo on fuertoventura which is lovely but also a bit windy. kids club is only 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in afternoon so not sure if that would be ok for you?

Gosh thanks for much for all of these, will get googling ..

Ceeveebee, four hours a day childcare would do the trick - I suppose we should spend some time together ;-)

What sort of 5yo do you have? An active, adventurous one or a happy to be doing arts & crafts one or one happy to be doing group games like stuck in the mud? Different holiday providers offer different sorts of childcare. Mark Warner are, I think, more adventurous & take the children off to do things a bit more; Thomson are more along the lines of "this is the building where the kids club is & these are the facilities we have so this is what we will do". First Choice offer crash course swimming lessons at some of their resorts & others offer football academies. What suits your DS will depend on his personality.
Also, how good is he at swimming. If he's OK, then if you go to a resort with a pool with smallish slides etc, that should keep him entertained for a while whilst you sit on a sun lounger at the side of the pool. You may not be able to read a book but you may not need to actually be in the pool with him. If the resort just has "normal" pools then, IME, you need to spend more time in the pool with the child as there is less for them to do so you're having to play with them.
Also think about evenings. IIRC, Mark Warner offer evening kids club from 6pm - 9pm (or thereabouts) which DC can go to & watch a film (they offer a separate kids tea at about 5pm). We made use of that a couple of times & DH & I went out for dinner. If you're by yourself, that might not appeal. Instead, a Thomson or First Choice resort where there is evening entertainment might suit you better.

wrinkles - this is incredibly useful intel, thank you. A football academy sounds right up his street; he loves the idea of football (he's dyspraxic, so whether he'll be able to actually play in a team, rather than muck about with a ball in a park, is another matter!). And maybe I should start some intensive swimming lessons now so by October he might be a bit more independent in the water.

Thanks again everyone!

Neilsons holidays have brilliant kids activities

Vila vita in the algarve is lovely with an excellent club. DD had to be dragged away to spend time with us 😮. We're heading back out next week. Sports academies run regularly in the Sheraton Pine Cliffs - also Algarve but we didn't really like it there (probably just a personal taste thing:nothing really wrong with it) Great playground (more like a funfair) and kid's club in the Princess Yaiza but again, not one of our faves. I'm sounding ridiculously hard to please here. Think I need to give myself a good talking to! Have a great time wherever you go!

Neilsons and Vila Vita now on the list ... thanks so much.

Neilsons kids clubs are fab, he would be out sailing, kayaking, lots of pool time as well. They also have a social table at dinner which gets a good mix, so if you wanted a night chatting you could have that. Plus you could do yoga, cycling. Or reading.

You have to be sure that your DS will go to the childs club.
DS seemed to enjoy the low key drop in drop out one when we went to Tenerife so I spent a shedload on a holiday with childrens club but as it was a proper official one with sign in sign out he didnt like it and refused to go.

rookie - oh god, how maddening. This is just what I fear and is one reason for my inability so far to commit to one of these amazing sounding suggestions. My DS is unpredictable in organised fun situations, either throws himself in with mindless gusto or gets spooked and clingy. Feel I need to bring Mary Poppins along with me as insurance!

Sensatori resorts are great for families. Ds joined in quite a few activities and had a lot of fun.

What about a cruise? Any my friends have been on, they've had to drag the kids away from the clubs! Royal Caribbean are meant to be particularly good.

I didn't think of a cruise, good idea - will take a look. Thanks!

We have been to 6 different first choice holiday villages abd they are great for active kids. Kids club sessions are 90 mins and run 4 x daily plus a night time session too. In addition as people have said there is a football and swim academy for coaching but there is a small extra charge for these.

In October I would only really recommend Cyprus or Kos (or Turkey) as the weather is just not reliable enough in the Spanish island resorts. Both kos and Cyprus have a splash pool too with small water slides.

my kids have been going to them since the eldest was 2 (she is now 9 and also now have a 5 yr old). its lovely - they make friends at kids clubs and then play with the same kids in the pools and at the evening entertainment.

Holiday villages are brilliant for your needs- Rhodes or Cyprus or Tenerife should all be mid 20s in October

Cross posts ^
We did Rhodes one oct half term was hot!

Just looked at prices and you would get one easily within budget. Kos was £1900, Cyprus £2300 and the like of Majorca was lower at £1600. Great prices for an HV.

Amazing - that sounds just the ticket. Thank you !

Not sure on price but yaiza and sani have great kids clubs! You had to book sani in advance but still free. Also both have footie clubs.

Hope you get something suitable. Rhodes would be lovely too but it is the most expensive of all the HV's - £2650. Not sure it is worth the premium over some of the others (although we are going to the one in Rhodes in August. We also tried a sensatori last year for the first time and the kids clubs are far, far better at an HV (plus they don't have the football and swim academies.

Just so you know, the FC Holiday villages are only run by English staff, they are fully trained and qualified and DBS checked. The sign in and out procedure for take the kids in and out of kids club is very, very thorough and safe.

Brilliant. So much kind and useful advice. Thanks so much.