Sun, water sports, quaint town, restaurants, beach ? Europe but where?

[jenthehen]

Looking for a week in June, family of 4 including 2 teens after exams have finished. Just want to relax in the sun whilst they relax hiring stand up Paddle boards, boats or kayaks. Somewhere pretty not brash and a short flight from Manchester or close by? Everywhere seems so built up. I’m picturing a tranquil holiday to ease post exam stress. I don’t particularly want to hire a car as I’d rather just walk or use public transport. Any suggestions (I’ve searched for hours but not found anything that fits the bill) I’d rather self cater or small campsite lodge etc

But not Greece

Possibly a luxury lodge rental on a small campsite would appeal? if such a place exists?

Croatia?

Portugal

Could you recommend any particular resorts in Croatia or Portugal which you think might be suitable please Annebronte and gingerchaos?

Any other suggestions greatly appreciated: )

Any of the Neilson resorts fit that brief, I know you said not Greece, but Lesvos has a lovely town.

Scratch that, didn't read properly, they aren't self catering!

Fly to Pula and stay on the Istrian coast in Croatia.

I immediately thought Lindos on Rhodes but you said not Greece (what's wrong with Greece)

Valencia?

My husbands mum died whilst on holiday in Greece.

Lagos in Portugal.

Paddleboarding is huge over there and you can SUP into the caves which is very cool. They also have boat trips snf other watersports. The town itself is lovely, no high rises, gorgeous harbour, pretty winding streets. It's about an hour's transfer from Faro airport.

We stayed in Praia da Liz, which is just down the coast. We got the bus into Lagos one of the days we were there. It was really accessible. We were only there for three days. Luz was lovely, but tiny, if I was staying a week, I'd go to Lagos.

Snf?! AND

I hadn’t thought of Valencia, will have a look (I do remember that part of the coast being quite windy though, or it could just have been whilst I was last there)

Also, we stayed at the Estrella da Liz in Luz and it was the best s/c apartment I've ever stayed in.
They've three pools onsite (one is over 16s only) and it's a five minute walk to the beach, so if you wanted a quieter resort, you could stay there and bus into Lagos for the day.

There is also a bus that takes you to a gigantic water park if that's something that would interest your teens?

It is very windy in the evenings though. Apparently all of that part of the Algarve is. Glorious in the day mind.

Why does it keep changing it to Liz? We stayed

Bah. It cut off my message. We stayed here

www.estreladaluz.com/m/

Teetotal, that sounds great. Thanks so much for taking the trouble to write all of that. Just the sort of info I need. Off to research. Along with Croatia.

I didn’t like Lagos, it’s a bit naff sorry plus the water is cold and it’s very windy although the beach is lovely. For me Mallorca fits the bill perfectly. Puerto Pollensa, Illetas, Andratx , Port de Soller.

Thanks Bluedog, out of those resorts is there one which fits my criteria better than the others (I remember people saying Puerto Pollensa was good for young families) Do you think it might be full of pre-school aged children in June?

Alicante /San Juan beach

Catalonia. Take a look around Calella de Palafrugell, Tamariu, Llafranc, Begur and it's beaches. It is chic and upmarket, where many Catalans have their second homes. A short flight to Girona (GRO) with either Ryanair or Jet2 from Manchester, then pick up a car, it really is worth exploring this beautiful area, not just the coast with it's beautiful bays, but medieval towns and villages, the most popular being Pals and Peratallada. Greco-Roman ruins right behind the beaches of Empuries and tiny medieval town of Sant Marti. Which is were Elon Musk's brother married in 2018 and attracted celebrity guests including the Obama's, Will Smith and more.
This is also Dali country with Teatre museum in Figueres and his house in Port Lligat, next to beautiful Cadaques.....

Brittany is lovely. We’ve spent a lot of time there in our caravan, but we go for the Cool Camping type sites, as opposed to the large ones.

We’ve always driven though- I’m not sure what the public transport is like.