European Holidays with 18 mo?

[loulou0402]

Hi
We are looking at holidays for spring / late summer 2022, ideally in Europe so not a long flight from UK.
Would welcome any recommendations on hotels that are toddler friendly and near local town so DH and me can still soak up a bit of the local culture eg not chained to the resort
Recommendations welcome
Thanks!

We've booked the Martinhal resort in Cascais (Portugal) this summer - haven't been before but looks to be totally aimed at families and is a 10 minute car ride from the town.

We're also doing 2 nights in Lisbon before travelling to Cascais as its only a 40 min train ride away, so hoping to keep our 4 year old occupied with a trip to the aquarium, funicular rides and lots of pastel de nata

We went here when the kids were little. 5 minutes to the beach. 10 minutes to town. 15 minutes to the airport.
www.jet2holidays.com/beach/greece/zante/kalamaki/marelen-hotel?gclsrc=aw.ds&ds_rl=1206481&ds_rl=1296397&gclid=CjwKCAiAzrWOBhBjEiwAq85QZ9UY0zZsfphbcLlZ7ayoJaTk2n4vJish3bNyNSx35EOT1kLyjzhjHxoCvjEQAvD_BwE

www.delphinahotels.co.uk/sardinia/hotels/caladifalco/cannigione-residence.html#_ga=2.78764500.191536162.1640893254-1999171568.1640893254 we went here in Sardinia when dd was that age. We had a 2 room apartment so had a bit of space and a kitchenette. Pools were lovely. We hired a car for a few days to visit Costa Smeralda beaches. They have other places. Another successful holiday we had at much the same age was an apartment in Juan Les Pins/Antibes. The beach at Juan is lovely for little kids and you can get sunbeds and go for lunch without putting your shoes on.

Jumping on this thread and hoping to give it a bit of a boost! @loulou0402 I'm the same as you except for my DD will be about 22 months by Spring but I'm hoping for a bit of spring sun and it'll be the first time going abroad with DD.

I've travelled so much in my life but always backpacking / no set plans etc to rather remote and far away places, so this is all alien to me!

Perhaps we can send each other suggestions too if no one else has recommendations? I've just started researching today.

@MissAmbrosia the link doesn't seem to work - do you know if they've closed down?

We stayed at a hotel in Portugal a few years back for kids but both said how fantastic it would be with kids. It was Be Live Hotel in Palmeiras.
It was in walking distance of some beautiful beaches/ coves and the local little village centre.
It was also a short bus ride to Albufeira.

We have visited Greece twice with our young son (in his first 2 years) but the hotels weren’t necessarily aimed at families.

Our friends recently visited Rhodes and stayed in a TUI family hotel. They said it was fantastic for kids and adults.

Honestly if I were you I would find a nice beach town and stay in an apartment within walking distance of both the beach and restaurants, in preference to a hotel.
Have two small kids myself and having a separate living space makes all the difference imo when kids are that young and napping during the day/going to bed early at nighttime.
For example when our eldest girl was 20 months old, we stayed in a 3 bed apartment in Port de Pollenca in Majorca.
It was 5 mins at most walk from the lovely beach and loads of decent restaurants.
And she had her own room to nap in during the day. We could chill out in a separate living space during that time and when she went down for the night.
Best of both worlds I thought. Would highly recommend it we are going back this year.
Obviously this won’t work if you need a kids club etc.

Another place that would be an option is Ile de Re. Very short flight into La Rochelle.
Have stayed here before www.mv-lodge.com/
2 bedroom lodges that have their own private deck pool. Heated to 28 degrees and you can lower or raise the height of the pool as you wish so it’s brilliant for small kids.
The accommodation really is lovely.
The town centre is a short walk away. It has a few restaurants and a fabulous cafe. Beach 15-20 mins walk.
It’s pretty sleepy though. You’ll want to travel
around to the other towns. A lot of people seem to cycle but we drove everywhere.
Went outside of July/August so the roads weren’t massively busy.

[quote mightbeyesmightbeno]@MissAmbrosia the link doesn't seem to work - do you know if they've closed down?[/quote]
www.delphinahotels.co.uk/sardinia/hotels/caladifalco/

The link works for me - I have tried again though.

Caserio del Mirador. Hands down. Was mumsnet best/ top pick for ever not sure if those awards still exist. It’s near Valencia / Alicante. Easy journey, choice of apartments, kitted out specifically for little ones/ every room has a cot etc and all the toys are really good quality. Oh and the food. And the vino. And the Shetland ponies.

Hi, glad I found this thread. We are looking to get away for our first holiday abroad when our boy will be about 18mo in May.
I'm looking for a short flight, walking distance of nice beach and town with shops and restaurants.

I've been looking at Port de pollenca in Mallorca but don't know anyone who's been. There are a few family hotels with great toddler pool areas but they are all 1 bed apartments. I don't understand how this works with a family. I would never want to share a room with my child and he wouldn't be able to nap or go to bed early in the living area. Seems crazy these places don't have 2 bedrooms.

Am looking at air bnbs so we can get an apartment and have a bit more space. A kitchen would be good as my boy is a bit hit and miss eating out, he likes his home cooked meals 😋

If you are happy to use the beach rather than have access to a kids pool I would recommend here pollentiamarapartments.wordpress.com/.
3 bed apartments less than 5 mins walk from the beach. Big choice of restaurants in short walking distance.
There is a shared pool but it isn't shallow and it's freezing so my daughter didn't use it. She was happy with the beach every day instead.
It's good value in May €695 for a week.

Hi @loulou0402 did you find somewhere? We've just booked Barut B Suites in Turkey as it looks like a fab place to have a toddler - lots of shady areas / toddler pool / next to the beach / walking to shops and then we can get a taxi to a town etc if we want

@mightbeyesmightbeno

Hi *@loulou0402* did you find somewhere? We've just booked Barut B Suites in Turkey as it looks like a fab place to have a toddler - lots of shady areas / toddler pool / next to the beach / walking to shops and then we can get a taxi to a town etc if we want

Hi not a resort as such but we are going to go to Rome for a few nights at the start of April. DH and I have never been and thought whilst DS sits happily in pushchair it would be a good place to walk around and take in the sights. We are then going to do a UK staycation later in summer and may look at a resort for some autumn sun. I will check out your Turkey recommendation