2019 holiday for family of 5 near a beach - villa or hotel?

[silver1977]

We haven't been abroad for 10 years and are looking into booking a 2 week break in the summer holidays for next year. We don't have lots of £'s so it needs to be the best we can get for our money! We have 3 children who will be 13, 11 and 9. I am thinking hotel where there are slides in the pools for the kids and food is laid on (such a treat to come down to breakfast all made etc!) and DH is thinking villa so we can keep a better eye on them all, do more of our own thing etc. What would you lively MN's recommend? Can you recommend somewhere you have been?

I would love to be fairly near a nice sandy beach, we would probably hire a car but as long as its only a 10 min drive max. Budget probably £5000 ish ()

Having just returned from a self catering 'holiday', I'm definitely booking a hotel next time! Yes, it is nice to have your own villa and pool where you can really relax but no fun washing up etc. I've seen some threads in here about self contained villas with pools within a hotel complex but suspect they might be £££. I'm sure you can get an all inclusive to Europe on your budget.

It was a few years ago, but we went to a place called Sirenis Seaview Country Club in Ibiza.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g674779-d290944-Reviews-Sirenis_Seaview_Country_Club-Port_d_es_Torrent_Ibiza_Balearic_Islands.html

I think the DC would love a hotel and they are the right age to get the most out of an all inclusive holiday, not to mention that you would get a rest.
At 13, 11 and 9 they are old enough to have a little freedom in a hotel as long as they stick together and can swim. They would make friends and a big hotel would have some activities they could join in.
They can eat when they want and what they want.

Villas are a whole different kind of holiday. More effort and planning required. Can be costly if you eat out for every meal. Not to mention drinks and snacks. I have been on S/C holidays but even if you only do breakfast it's an effort.

First Choice and Thomas Cook do AI hotels with onsite waterparks. We've stayed at a few over the years and always have a good time.

Thankyou so much for your replies! Hellohah thanks for the link, it looks amazing but unfortunately doesn't seem to allow 3 children and 2 adults, something we are struggling with at many places to be honest!

MrsPatmore that sounds good, best of both worlds having your own villa but within a complex, I will look into that and see if within budget!

Hoozz that's exactly my thoughts too, although there's pro's and con's of both. DH would get easily irritated by others if they were particularly loud or something, it will be peak time too, he likes more peace and quiet so I can see why a villa appeals to him. He would just need to pull his weight with the few jobs that would need doing

Off to google...

We've done both and love both for different reasons.
Villa pro
Own space, plenty of it.
Full kitchen & fridge etc- stock up in Lidl (they're everywhere) and make it your own AI with all the drink and snacks.

Pool to yourself. Easier to find villa with heated pool than in a hotel.
Living space just so much easier (ie in and out of patio doors as opposed to up lifts etc to hotel room)

Villa cons
Making food and clearing up after yourselves
Making your own entertainment
If eating out every/most nights it can be costly

Hotel pros
If AI then food and drink (albeit usually cheap crap but who really cares) on tap all day- no worry about the cost
Other families for chatting and pals for the kids to hang around with
Evening entertainment

Hotel cons
Room by the pool can be limited
Room space can be limited
Noisy guests....
Food can be crap on AI and if you have chosen AI it's then hard to justify eating out

We intend to do both again and alternate them. Last year we hired a villa with friends- we went first and had 4 days alone, with hindsight 2 would have been enough. Friends came and we shared 6 days then we left and they had 4 days. It was brilliant esp as we were with friends.
I'm currently looking at a hotel for this Oct as friends can't come. Our kids are 13, 11and 7. I'd suggest if you go for a villa find one in a town with a waterpark.

Wow thanks for your reply Justgivemeasoddingname ( love your name!) that's really helpful. Good to hear both options are good in their own way so we hopefully can't really make the wrong decision as such. Perhaps we should try the opposite to what we book next year, the following year and then decide which we prefer!

A villa near a waterpark is a good idea, a lot of villas within budget I'm finding are more inland which is a no. Where did you stay in your villa last year?

We do both on a regular basis and I agree with the PP about the pros and cons.

We only have one child so entertainment is a lot harder, one reason for a resort but DD is 11 now and kids club entertainment is over since 2 years apart from water sport and some cinema evenings to allow DH and me a meal on our own.

We now look at hotels who offer watersport and ideally a teenage club or at least a group for pre teens entertainment. We also do tend to go out and explore plus eat out (escaping the prison as DH kindly calls it). We just priced up a hotel half board against AI but AI won due to the fact that I don’t have to think about getting drinks and snacks from outside the hotel and DD can spend the day at the pool if she wants instead of thinking about lunch. If you go 4,5-5* you normally get decent food despite being buffet style. For us it was more the repetitiveness than the quality which drove DH out.

Oh i love a holiday!!
We stayed in Benalmadena. 15 mins in a taxi from the airport so no cost of a car. We were one street back from the marina so very central and so handy....different restaurant each night.
2 years ago we went to Javea about an hour and a half north of Alicante so hired a car. Villa was about a 20 min walk up the back of the town plus we had my disabled mum so we took the car out all the time. I much preferred the central villa situation but equally loved Javea. The arenal in Javea was gorgeous and had bars restaurants cafes beautiful sandy beach and further along a white shingle one, and the market was lovely. Benalmadena flows in yo Torremolinos which had a great beach with watersports too so that was ace also. I'd choose Benalmadena first due to its location but the villa was £2k in October. It slept 10 mind you and obvs we split it.

Ps I namechanged one night but about 5 in a row were refused as someone already had those so hence this was what I chose! My feelings precisely!!

Justgive Some very good points. My DC are adults now but still come away with us for the odd week. I've been looking for a villa with a pool in a couple of favourite resorts and just can't find one that isn't out of town. I don't want to have to have a car and certainly not to drive when we go out at night.

silver1977 We went to this one when DC were a similar age to yours. It was fab. We had a family room with a mini private pool. There are several pools, 3 restaurants and a big water park just up the road.

Another option is half board. We have stayed in 4/5* hotels HB where you can stick drinks on the bill so DC can just sign for them. Also they often let you swap dinner for lunch so you can eat out.
It depends how much cost is a factor.

Hoozz that looks amazing! Over our budget unfortunately though .

I think we are going to go for a villa, like a pp said do one big shop and stock up so like an AI. We would also eat a main meal out probably most nights so that's a definite treat.

Anymore villa recommendations gratefully received.....

We’ve done Portugal a few times with villa and love it. Albuferia Marina is lovely and we have rented a villa on the marina before so beautiful view and really nice restaurants right across they way. Our holiday in the summer was around £4500 inc flights and we spent around £1000 on the week away mostly in food and drink. We had a nice meal out each night with wine/cocktails.

Sadly we won’t book for next year until we see what happens with brexit

Like Justgivemeasoddingname we love Benalmadena! Try Los Patos Park - close to the beach and has water slides onsite. Very good food too!

www.hotellospatospark.com/en/

If you like beach sports try these guys trek.

We stayed in a villa with them at Paliki. Very laid back. Hotel restaurant 2 minutes walk away if you don't want to cook. Good food, very reasonable.

Following with interest! We'd like to go at Easter really, very similar DC arrangement.

Silver if you go for a hotel, will you and your OH be sleeping on a sofa bed? We really don't want the DCs sleeping in the living area,but have been unable to find places with 5 beds in actual bedrooms!

Bob I have stayed in hotels in the Canaries where you can have a 2 or 3 bedroomed apartment within the hotel, so with the space of self catering but hotel meals.

We've just been to Crete - stayed in a small hotel with interconnecting rooms. Stayed on a room only basis but had breakfast most days (or we went out for brunch). Had a fridge etc so we could keep drinks / fruit, daily maid service, food and drink available throughout the day if you wanted it - although we hired a car, did quite a few trips, water park, most beaches/ beach clubs offered water sports etc so were out & about quite alot. Ate at local restaurants every night (much better quality than AI). There was no kids club and not many children but mine aren't really into that.

We're probably going to do a 2 centre holiday next year - a Greek island in a hotel again and then maybe a villa in Turkey. When we've done AI previously, they've tended to be buffet restaurants with not very good / repetitive food albeit they're good value. They're also overrun with children in the school holidays (love my children but not keen on everyone elses !). Its not really relaxing. The AI hotels where you have a choice of a la carte restaurants (the likes of Sani, Ikos) are really expensive for a family of 5.

Eden Resort in Portugal would offer you the best of both worlds. It's an all inclusive villa complex. 10 minute ride into Albufeira old town with the resort's free mini bus for beach, market, restaurants.

We stayed in a 2 bed villa and it was very spacious, I think they do 2 beds too. The all inclusive was good value for what we paid, outdoor pools and an indoor pool and spa. We booked it with Jet2.

update we’ve given up. We’re self catering again. In the UK. Difficulty of suitable accommodation + Brexit (flight cancellation?) uncertainties. 2020 maybe

Oh that's disappointing but I think your plan to get a villa, one big shop (with perhaps top ups locally for fresh bread and more drinks/ice creams etc) and eating out once a day,makes for the best experience unless you have the budget for really nice a la carte AI.

Just make sure everyone, including DCs pulls their weight with cooking and washing up and enjoy nice easy food like pizzas, barbecues, ready cooked chicken and prepared salads and ham, bread, cheese, crisps, olives type meals.

We’re just back from Blue Lagoon Resort in Greece. All inclusive, 5 beds in a 2 room suite, small water park onsite, would recommend it. I feel totally relaxed as we had 5 restaurants a night to choose from!

@BobLemon where did you end up in the UK? I'm last minute scrambling for August (also for a family of 5) and wondered where you've previously tried and liked?

@mamakel we found accommodation in Wales through Dioni www.dioni.co.uk
We’ve used that site twice now and were really happy both times. I think they only list places that are fairly nice.

We also had a last minute Easter break through cornishcottageholidays.co.uk (stayed at Maenporth Estate) and at The Park, Mawgan Porth which we found through booking.com

We’ve just booked a Siblu Park in France - we only booked it Sunday. It’s finally our first abroad holiday! We were tossing up between that or trying to find a lodge on Air bnb on a Cornish Park (crackington haven, but the lodge we were looking at is now gone), or late availability at a Haven in Cornwall.

I saw another thread yesterday where someone had booked a family of 5, this summer hol, AI to Lanzarote for under £3k through onthebeach I think they said

Good luck!!