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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

OH FGS...please can someone convince my miserable dh that going abroad with children is not akin to having your fingernails pulled out <angry>

103 replies

DANCESwithaMuffinTop · 01/01/2008 18:04

Last summer we went to Devon for a week with dc (they will be 3 1/2 and 5 yrs this summer). It p*ssed down all week and although it was nice to be away as a family we couldn't enjoy the beach at the hotel we were staying at or the outdoor pool, had to wear fleeces and rainwear everywhere we went - blardy crappy british weather.
So (unsurprisingly) I want to go abroad this year with dc. Dh is being a complete pain about it. He's worried they are too young and what we will do while we are there.
Basically I want to be able to go to the beach, eat out, go swimming and do the odd trip to visit things (don't care what, water park etc or cultural things). SOOoo please could you recommend holiday destinations...the more specific the better...hotels etc. Also, do you use 'kid's club' type things while you are away - dh very concerned that we get a break too. Anyway if anyone can help I'd be really grateful. THANKS.

OP posts:
Iota · 01/01/2008 18:06

we took ours to Orlando whne they were 5 and 3 - it was fab

Iota · 01/01/2008 18:06

we took tehm to Tenerife before that as well

Iota · 01/01/2008 18:07

in fac teh first time we went abroad was when ds1 was 1 - ans we stayed in a hotel in Tenerife. The Bahia Princess I believe

FranSanDisco · 01/01/2008 18:08

We were in the Algarve (near to Albufeira)last summer and the summer before and the children loved it. Last summer we did the water parks for the first time as ds was 4 yo and I think DH and I enjoyed the rides as much as the children as we could both go on .

scrummymummy1965 · 01/01/2008 18:09

When our DS's were small we went to Tenerife (in fact DS2 was 22months). Had a great time. We have since been to the Lakes (rained), Lanzarote (beach just across the promenade) and Florida and Portugal.

Iota · 01/01/2008 18:09

bahia princess

scorpio1 · 01/01/2008 18:09

its fine.

get a cricket set to take with you as well, fun!

i personally dont use the kids lub things, but im sure they're fine.

Portugal is good, there is a water park, beaches, etc. Not long flight either. France fabby too but quiter. Not Turkey, i dont like it there.

MaureenMLove · 01/01/2008 18:10

Afraid I'm a miserable cow too! I can't think of anything worse than taking little ones abroad! Not what I call relaxing, having to watch ever move of a toddler in case they fall in the pool or disappear from sight for more than 2 seconds!

I'm sure that's just my perseption of a holiday, and I'm sure you'll have a fab holiday wherever you end up!

moondog · 01/01/2008 18:11

We've travelled loadswith our kids-all over the world. A mix of backpacking and swanky hotels depending on the mood, all independently arranged.

We don't do the kids' club stuff, but I think it is a good idea or else you end up pretty knackered as they generally need more surveillance in an unfamiliar setting.

Our best places with kids wre Malaysia and Sri lanka.

ivykaty44 · 01/01/2008 18:12

I took mine on my own to Spain and France camping when dd1 was 7 and dd2 was 18 months - we had a fab time with lots of sun sea, mts driving (3000 miles in 4 weeks)

My dd 1 did the map reading and dd2 did toddling things, playing on beach, playing in pool.

Camping in france is a fav with me ( have done it a few times with dc on my own since the spain france trip) as the children can make friends, you can camp inland or near beach, get good weather and when the dc are in bed you can sit out with a bottle of plonk and chill.

Some campsite have good reastaurants where you can get take out meals, to go with your cheap plonk and not have to cook.

I just feel this way I get a break in the eve as well. I did read HP so got some reat!

dc are now 9 and 15 so things are different and dd2 cycles round campsites and makes friend with all other children.

Quattrocento · 01/01/2008 18:13

Is he worried about cost? I mean what is he talking about? Too young

There are all sorts of package holidays that have kids clubs etc - never been on one but they exist and MASSES of people go on them. I've never really understood how they work in the evenings though. I mean do you sit cooped up in a hotel bedroom? Or do you just leave the children in a hotel bedroom and hope to god they don't wake up and escape?

We tend to book houses or villas and either fly and hire a car or drive there.

The really good thing about villa holidays is that you can get the children to bed at relatively normal times after they've had a fab day. Then you get to sit outside on a terrace with a meal for yourselves. Lovely.

We've taken ours on holidays since they were a year old.

bran · 01/01/2008 18:15

I'm with your dh on this. I hate travelling with a small child, and I only have one. It's a pain in the neck because my family are all in Dublin and dh's family are in Malaysia so we spend a fair bit of our lives flying.

Perhaps you could go somewhere in the UK that has an indoor play area, like CentreParks. Quite often places that do cottage accomodation will have a play barn or similar. We stayed on a working farm in Norfolk that had one.

Original poster
DANCESwithaMuffinTop · 01/01/2008 18:16

OOOoooooooooh Moondog...that's what I'd love to do. Dh travelled quite a bit before we had the dc but we/HE have become so conservative now it's so DULL!

Are Spain/France very hot in Aug? I'm thinking one of those destinations are probably a sensible starting point for holidaying abroad. Can anyone recommend a specific place? - the first couple of reviews for Bahia Princess sounded like they didn't have children. Have you been there Iota?

OP posts:
NotQuiteCockney · 01/01/2008 18:17

We went to a Pierre et Vacances place in the south of France last Easter that had kids' clubs that were quite good. They were four-hour sessions, so a nice balance between 'a holiday is like being at home, but without my usual support system' and 'I am on holiday without children'.

Quattrocento · 01/01/2008 18:19

The one in St Tropez NQC?

moondog · 01/01/2008 18:22

Ivy, that is bloody impressive!
I'd go anywhere, but not alone with a child that small.It would have finished me off!

Dances,people are also much kinder to yuo when you have children, they really are.Dhg works abroad in some pretty remote places (presently in Tajikistan and lastly in Eastern Turkey near the iranian border) and we feel they have been much nicer to us than they would have beein if we were just another weirdy Western couple..

Iota · 01/01/2008 18:24

we stayed at the Bahia Princess not long after it opened ds1 as in a cot 13 mths old. We enjoyed it as is wasn't a specifically family hotel and the staff made a big fuss of ds1.

we have also stayed in the Tenerife Princess with 2 small boys. We went on a Thomson Superfamilies holiday to corfu once - it was the worst holiday of my life and I will NEVER go on such a holiday again.

then we took the boys to Orlando and stayed in a villa - a much more flexible option than the hotels we stayed in previously.

we also do a week in the uk each year in a cottage - which is fab if the weather id fine

we also go to centerparcs - the kids have a great time, even if the accommodation is not that swish

we also camp in the uk

We enjoy a variety of holidays

the kids are now 6 and 8, but I think they will be fine at 3.5 and 5 - no nappies, they can walk and talk and eat most food, so it's pretty easy to take them on holiday abroad at that age IMHO

HTH

runnyhabbit · 01/01/2008 18:25

We were thinking the same as your dh, until a friend of mine went with her dh and their 2ds last Sept (2.4 and 10mths) to Majorca, with Thomson Family Club
They said it was brill. Proper childrens play area, dedicated childrens pool. Family entertainment laid on in the evening, not too hot. The hotel was very family friendly, and nothing was too much trouble. It was a self serve restaurant for the meals, and one section was lowered so the children could help themselves. Because her ds loved it, she found it relaxing.

So we've booked to go in May, for 10 nights half board, and its costing us around £1100. Ds1 will 3yrs and ds2 13mths. For that we've been able to pick flight times, book parking etc

Original poster
DANCESwithaMuffinTop · 01/01/2008 18:25

OOh that sounds good NQC - where did you stay (just had a quick look at their website and there are lots of options!)

OP posts:
Original poster
DANCESwithaMuffinTop · 01/01/2008 18:28

Could I have more details please runnyhabbit - hotel etc...could you possibly do a link?!

Iota - why was superfamilies holiday so bad?
When you stayed at the hotels, what did you do in the evenings? Did you just stay in your room?

OP posts:
runnyhabbit · 01/01/2008 18:33

No probs...

here

Iota · 01/01/2008 18:35

I think it was the accommodation on the superfamilies holiday - it was very poor- pathetic cooking facilities, rusty implements, rock hard musty smelling beds, leaking bath/shower, toilet wouldn't flush unless you lifted the lid off

the beach was pretty grim too- full of debris including a rusty chair.

the car seat in the hire car was broken and smelt of sick, so we lost a day whilst they found a replacement

The food was OKish -a bit like school dinners

Not an experience I would ever care to repeat.

Corfu itself was nice though

SheikYerbouti · 01/01/2008 18:40

We took 2.9yo DS1 and 12 month old DS2 to Kefalonia in the summer

We had the most basic accommodation going - just a room with bathroom and kitchenette. We were miles from the main road and it was the most truly wonderful time I have had with my children since DS1 was born 3 years ago -

Plane journey was a bit but was on;t 3.5 hours so was just abput doable. Just take loads of stuff to keep amused

QWe went swimming everyday, we walked lots and spent almost hardly any money. The kids had a great time

We were there for 2 weeks, and if we could have styed we would

SheikYerbouti · 01/01/2008 18:43

evenings, we would giove the DSs their supper in the room before we went out (something simple like nice bread and cold meat) and then we would go for a long walk with them in pushchairs - we'd get them off to sleep and then we'd go to a taverna for our supper. afterwards we'd go for a couple of drinks somewhere if we felt like it

I know yours are older, but when abraod, children are welcome in places at night (not like here) and there are often other kids about too for them to hook up with.

Eeek · 01/01/2008 18:48

we did a french villa when ds was 18mo which was fab. This year Vancouver with ds1 4yo and ds2 18months. Great holiday and even the flights weren't as bad as I feared. A wonderful suggestion I got from here is to pack a paddling pool for villa holidays - makes all the difference if you they can be wet but you can be dry, you can have a glass of wine and be fairly sure they won't drown.