Travelling Abroad with Children

[Travelfever]

I really want to bring my 2 and 5-year-olds on a nice family holiday. What is the best family holiday destination for young families with small children? I would love to hear about your experiences travelling abroad with your children for the first time. Any tips? What to pack? What to avoid? I am all ears.

I think the main questions are:

What sort of holidays did you like before kids?
What do you like to do as a family in your free time now?

One of our best holidays with two under 5s was train to the south of France, self-catering and rental car in Uzès, fantastic day trips to the beach, Nîmes and the Pont du Gard, then train back to Paris for a few days there. But that would be other people's idea of hell on Earth, and they'd much prefer a resort holiday.

If you're outdoorsy I highly recommend the Austrian lakes, so beautiful and lots to do. There are some good (but pricey) Kinderhotels if you want kids clubs and activities etc.

The Dutch Centerparcs are also really good, and cheaper than the UK ones if you're after a more all-on-one-sure holiday that isn't a beach one.

For beaches, I'd personally head to Greece.

One person’s idea of a lovely holiday is another person’s idea of hell. In order to recommend anything, we’d really have to know what you like. Think of the holidays you enjoyed before kids, and start with the most child friendly one of those. Obviously if clubbing in Ibiza was your favourite thing, it’s not going to work with a 2 and 5 year old, but you could certainly find family friendly hotels there and relive your favourite hangover recoveries on the beach, just without the actual hangover! 🤣🤣 Likewise, if your sort of holiday was backpacking through somewhere far away off the beaten track, you can still do this but with a lot more planning in place and.

Our best we’re either AI (particularly Greece is the October half term) or self catering in France. I’m a huge fan of Royan (an hour south of La Rochelle), we have stayed in both traditional villas in the town and also one AirB’n’B. Taxi from the airport and then on foot to the beach every day.

If it is your first family holiday, I would definitely recommend something easy, not necessarily a city holiday. I was in Malta with my family, we chose small Gozo Island. It was lovely. I can warmly recommend it. I will add you some links where you can read more about it.
www.bookingwithkids.com/gozo-malta/
www.mummytravels.com/10-things-to-do-in-malta-with-kids/
www.visitmalta.com/en/a/family-fun/

I hated beach holidays and I never had a holiday lounging by a pool before kids but now... I will only consider a holiday where both kids are going to be entertained so beach holidays are at the top of my list! And lounging about is bliss with small children - we keep everything very low key as just a holiday house with access to a pool is endlessly thrilling for a small child!

We usually self-cater on a bigger site somewhere - must have aircon if it is somewhere hot - so we have room for the kids to play and a separate room to sleep in and a proper place to cook (keeps down cost, we can eat when we like and make picnics, and helps feed our fussy kids). And we hire a small car so we can day trip or stock up at the supermarket or local market.

You might look for somewhere with a kids splasg pool, some interesting local scenery or museums or towns where the kids can scamper about, weather that won't roast little one (so in high season rule out Greece, Turkey, and a lot of the southern European hot spots).

Increasingly as we think about the impact of travel on global warming and our kids' futures, we stay in the UK or northern Europe. We had an amazing week at the Dutch Centreparc at Port Zelande on the widest, cleanest beaches you can imagine, combined with a few days stay at Rotterdam where we did the food hall, the maritime museum, a day in Plaaswijkpark which was SO cheap and fantastic. In Rotterdam we parked the car up and took buses and trams everywhere which our DD enjoyed.

We also enjoyed the Village Nature centreparc just outside Disneyland in Paris.

I would recommend Jersey in the channel Islands too - the beaches are beautiful, the Gerald Durrell zoo is a perfect day out, and the weather is typically lovely. A hire car is handy although the roads can be a little bit hair-raising!

All inclusive somewhere like Majorca is pretty stress free with small DC.