Where do you find inspiration?

[OrangeSunset]

DC are 9 and 7. To date we have been to France (camping) and done UK breaks.

We're off to Rome in a few weeks, and feel like we're ready to get a bit more adventurous with holidays. We like to be quite active - DH wouldn't last long sitting on a sun lounger all day. We also like decent, local food and water either beach or lake.

Where do you find your inspiration? I have an aversion to all inclusive, and am happy to book components ourselves. I need to be practical too though and don't have hours to spend disappearing down rabbit holes on the Internet. If we wanted to go to Yosemite, for example, would it be much simpler to book with an agent? And how much more would that cost?

Looking for tips from the experienced holiday folk! Thank you

Our next holiday is based on a work trip I did a few years ago. Often I’ll go somewhere and want to go back with the DC. This one’s a mega-trip around China and it’s taken me ages to put the itinerary together but I like that sort of thing. Most of it is self-guided but I’m using a local company to organise a tricky bit.

There are a few companies that offer off-the-beaten-track family holidays. This is the holiday I want to do when my DC are the same ages as yours. I’ve travelled with Intrepid before and had a great time. Plus their 20% off sale is on now!

Much Better Adventures is a similar company but with more Europe-based trips. DP has used them several times and we have a holiday booked with them later in the year.

You might also like Centerparcs Europe. Loads of activities and more relaxed than the UK version (and cheaper, especially in May half term or the last week of August when the continental schools are already back). Our favourite so far is De Vossemeren in Belgium.

Otherwise, I just keep an eye on the airline sales. It’s easy enough to check out who’s doing £5 flights from a local airport and then I’ll build an itinerary around that. It doesn’t really matter where, there’s always something to do!

I can’t get the Intrepid link to work but it’s the Costa Rica family holiday. I’ve told the DC we need to do some serious saving first though!

Great ideas, thank you. The Costa Rica trip does look amazing, one for the list - although we have family in various long haul places so we should probably get there first!

I get inspiration from lots of different places, including having a wander around the Travel section on here and reading the travel section of the paper. I have a list on my phone of any destinations that catch my eye so I refer to that if I need inspiration.

I also borrow travel books from the library and get brochures from the travel agent when I'm getting serious about booking something and need to do deeper research.

Also, for us it tends to be dependent on the time of year that we're going, the actual dates we can travel, where our local airport flies to, how far we're willing to travel re cost and jet lag, how long a transfer we are happy to do, and the type of activity we fancy doing. For example, in the past I've had the following examples to work with as a starting point:

• Christmas market in Germany on a specific weekend
• guaranteed sun at Easter with snorkelling and good food but not all-inclusive
• mountain holiday in Europe good for walking in August but not too hot and walks suitable for young children
• guaranteed sun in May half-term with private pool and walkable to bakery/supermarket but not overrun with crowds
• skiing before Christmas but get back before Christmas Eve, but also want high chance of snow and good ski school with English-speaking instructors and small groups
• long weekend in UK within 2 hours drive of home with things to interest both adults and children including wet weather options, and has Premier Inn family room availability

Once I google some of that kind of criteria, it doesn't take long to narrow things down.

I get inspiration from here. Or I pull up the map of Europe and try to pick some itinerary's I would like to do with the kids..and Hubbie gets dragged along!! Ha ha. I'm currently considering flying to Venice..seeing Venice....heading into Slovenia and doing the exciting things other posters have posted about in lake bled, while water rafting...etc...then maybe into Croatia. We love multi centre holidays as the kids love having several adventures in one holiday and it prolongs the holiday in their heads as they think they are getting 4 holidays not one!

Fairy you’re very organised and your list is great - out of interest, what did you find for the May half term break with guaranteed sun?! Walking to a bakery/shop is certainly the holy grail for us so as not to be constantly getting in and out for car.

For May half-term we have booked to go to Cyprus - a quiet resort in the Cape Greco National Park, villa with pool, small bakery/supermarket across the road, walk to Konnos Bay for beach and snorkelling, a handful of restaurants in walking distance. Sunshine, pool, quiet, good food, and relaxation. Can't wait!

I'm like Fairy and get inspiration from several sources. There's a brochure that's often included in the Times on Saturday, which I buy because I like the food and travel section, that includes a lot of 'tour' type holidays that look interesting.

But I realised that I could organise similar tours myself for quite a lot less money and tweak the itineries to suit. It would also be just DP and me, and not a group, which we wouldn't like anyway.

For example, one tour is of Andalucia, Seville, Granada, Cordoba and Ronda. I organised something similar myself, missing out Ronda, because we have been many times before, but spending a couple of days in Granada, and 4 days in Seville, from which we did a day trip to Cordoba (I think that was a Mumsnet tip that Cordoba is an easy day trip from Seville - the travel boards here are great for practical help like that).

We also added in a day trekking in the mountains near El Chorro, on the Caminto del Rey, which was restored a couple of years ago. Apart from the day in the mountains, we travelled round by train, which is easy and cheap in Spain.

Was quite easy to book online and it was a great holiday, one of the best we've had.

For guaranteed sun in May, I'd go to the Canaries, or southern Spain, Greece, Malta, Gozo or Cyprus.

Just pick your location carefully to get the right location (google maps is great for checking walking times to shops and bakeries) and also research carefully for the right type of accomodation. We don't do AI, generally SC apartments or hotel B&B.

And don't write off traditional holiday areas. There's still plenty to do that's interesting or active, and off the beaten track, even on the Costa del Sol, Costa Brava, Mallorca, Lanzarote etc.

I love the sound of your Spanish tour, BarbaraOfSeville. I also buy the Saturday Times and read the Travel section. I remember you were very helpful on my thread asking for advice on our snorkelling holiday where I eventually booked Cyprus - thank you.

PS Lanzarote is now on my list of future snorkelling destinations as a result of your tips!

Slovenia is a beauty of a country, one of my all time favourites. We split our time in Lake Bled and Ljubljana before moving on to Croatia. We did Kransjka gorge in Triglav National park which has loads of hikes as well. You can do canoeing and rafting down the Soca river. I wanted to do Postjana caves but didn't have time. We flew into Ljubljana and back from Pula Croatia and crossed the border using GoOpti which is like a Slovenian Uber. I'd also recommend Family Hotel Amarin in Rovinj

bakingaddict..thank you for that...I'm really considering it for this summer...maybe June. Is northern Croatia nice? I keep feeling like i would want to get down to Dubrovnik. Our plan is to fly into Venice...but we could fly out of Pula. We are slightly restricted on airports where we live. I love the idea of a busy holiday and the scenery looks absolutely stunning in Slovenia.

Rovinj was very pretty we're we stayed, The sea water is lovely and clear on the Istrian peninsula but they don't have sandy beaches. If you go in the sea buy those scuba type shoes as it's very stony. I also did Venice last year as a separate trip and that's another place I love. You can take a ferry between Venice onto the Istrian coast so may be another way for you to cross the border. Croatia is definitely a country to go back to, I want to do Plitvice lakes, Dubronik, Split and the Dalmatian coast which is supposed to be stunning.

Trying to do the 3 countries might be a bit taxing. My original plan was to take in Austria on that trip too. We were away 16 nights and in the end I decided on just Slovenia and Croatia and felt it was right amount of time to do each justice. My kids are 6 and 10 and the youngest isn't a great traveller as she gets car sick a lot but if your kids are older it might be do-able

We are so similar...I had thoughts of Austria too....we did rome/ Tuscany / Lake garda this year and had a fabulous trip...expensive!

I looked at that hotel you recommended... it looks fabulous...pricey as we have 3 kids!

Ive chosen Hong Kong for guaranteed sun in may
It cost £1100 for me & 2 dcs flights and hotel, you'd pay that for Center parcs half term

I've been there a few times and know my way around but I'm so excited to be taking the dcs

I'd like to take them to nyc next year, will probably do Airbnb

bakingaddict - what time of year did you visit Croatia and Slovenia please? I had looked at the hotel Amarin but the reviews are very mixed which knocked me off and where did you stay in Slovenia? We would only have about 12 or 13 days and my geography isn’t the best and did you hire a car or rely on Uber and boats to get around? Thanks