Tell me about your successful summer family holidays in Europe please!

[funnyfoursome]

Please tell me any tips for a summer holiday in August with the family!
DC are 5 and 3 and we are facing our first hol during August and naturally am shocked at how extortionate the prices are!!
I had my heart set on Italy or Croatia.
Not too fussy about accomodation - have been looking at Eurocamp as well as hotels but there must be a decent pool as that's all the kids want and sunshine :)
I'd love a bit of culture - just an old town to wander into at some point!
Thanks!

There are some lovely campsites near Lake Garda - great pools and lots of lovely towns to visit as well as Verona.

We stayed at the Portofelice campsite near Venice on the north coast of Italy and the kids loved it (they were the same age as yours when we went). They keep asking to go back. It has a decent pool with slides for the kids and very close to the beach (although we found it super busy).

Got reasonably cheap flights with Ryanair and then taxi to site as didn’t want to bother hiring a car. Booked a modern static caravan though Canvas Holidays. Weather was perfect (late August) as not too hot but clear blue skies everyday.

Ooh thanks! I had looked at Valle gaia campsite with Canvas holidays. Was your caravan a decent size lolly? I have heard they can be smaller than expected and although we will be outside most of the time there might be the odd siesta/ they need a bit of space to play when not swimming?

We had one of the new Moda style accommodations. It was three bed but kids shared and just used the spare one for luggage etc. Wasn’t the biggest but there was a largish terrace area and it was fine for a week. Kids made friends and played outside between caravans where we could watch them. They do have chalets that are bigger that you can book direct with the site but quite a bit more expensive I think.

Annoyingly you had to pay for sun loungers by the pool but there’s a couple of areas you could lie your towels down which is what we did as wasn’t worth paying as we were up and down with the kids most of the time.

Kids absolutely loved the nightly disco which was proper Eurodance cheese. But the best thing was the on tap Prosecco in the supermarket!

We went to Montenegro, wasn't too pricey and quite similar to Croatia.

Thanks Lolly I like the sound of the on tap prosecco :)
Thanks Nomad have done a day trip to Montenegro pre-kids it was beautiful. Will look that up!

Another vote for Portifelice! Fantastic sure, 5 mins walk into wee town (Eraclea Mare) and bus stop outside to Venice or nearby town of Carole which has a great wee water park. We went end of English holidays and didn't find it too busy. Kids loved Venice!

We live in Crete, Greece and love it here, it's fantastic for kids: lovely beaches, sea & pools perfect for kids and historic towns for a bit of culture dotted along the North coast. We also run family activity holidays in North West Crete if you're interested - check out "Fit in Crete" Alternatively there's plenty of variety for places to stay, from apartments, small hotels to all inclusive resorts.