Holiday Advice Needed.....Going round in circles!

[Layla2010]

Hi everyone!
I really hope you can help.
We are a family of 5, my children are 8,4, 8months.
I am currently looking to book a holiday for August 2019. We didn’t go abroad last year due to having new baby etc so this year want to be prepared and book something before it all gets booked up.

Before the baby arrived we had done 2 types of holiday:

1: all inclusive
2: city holiday

The only thing I like about the all inclusives is the element of having children’s entertainment

I really love city holidays especially to old towns...we did Porto which was Fantastic, we had an air b&b and went out every day. I love this type of holiday but it is very tiring.

I’m looking for a holiday which combines both of these aspects.

Freedom
Things to do with Kids
Nature
Pool
Great food

In my head I believe there must be holidays out there like this (but perhaps not on my budget)

I ideally want to spend no more than 4K on accommodation and flights and perhaps a bit of food thrown in there.

If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be great!

Many thanks

Costa Dorada in Spain is great as you have the huge Port Aventura theme park and water park on your doorstep, lots of beaches and you’re only a short journey from Barcelona it you wanted to spend some time there.

Praia De Luz in the Algarve is lovely and close to the big town of Lagos where there are amazing cafes/restaurants/markets etc.

Have you considered staying in a resort just outside a city? Somewhere like Sitges outside Barcelona for example...it has a direct train into the city for days out but is a popular beach resort so you can combine beach/culture. It's much bigger than Porto though, did you want somewhere more compact?

What about Malta? It's a small island so you could stay in an all inclusive hotel but still be able to get about and see the cities and sights (excellent bus network).

bolero holidays on Union Lido a short journey from Venice. Lovely sandy beaches, 2 water parks, onsite resteraunts, take out, shops, kids club etc. Nice and safe. Lovely accommodation

Maderia might work - we stayed at PortoBay apartments which had great food and good pools. There are dolphin and whale watching trips, would need car hire or hotel closer to and botanical gardens. Should be within budget. Various kids activities on site like mini-golf.

www.portobay.com/en/hotels/madeira-hotels/porto-mare/

We like lots or different things too so tend to do multicentre holidays with 3-4 days in several places, so we can get a mix of sea, city, lakes and mountains. We found all these things in Greece last year - Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Parga and Corfu. The intercity travel is pretty good fun too if you make sure that all the legs are fairly close together.