First holiday abroad with a baby, where to go?!

[Peonies94]

We are planning our first holiday abroad with our baby! She will be around 7 months and it’ll be next September time! We have recently travelled to split Croatia and puerto pollenca in Majorca! We loved both! We love places with things to see and do! We like close access to the town with lots of restaurants and bars! We like a good market to look around one day, and maybe a few day trips to neighbouring locations/islands or landmarks such as places with waterfalls/beautiful views etc! (We aren’t the type to participate in watersports) We like to use the pool for an hour a day maybe, but then spend it looking around the town/shops etc with maybe a day or two at the beach and two day trips thrown into a 7 day trip! We don’t ideally want to rent a car if we can find the right place, but would be open to do so for the right place and locations!

We have just considered Skiathos in Greece but we aren’t sure if there’s enough to keep us occupied as it seems to just be beaches with not much else to do and see! Not sure if we would get bored there for a week! Also we would go to Spain again but ideally not to Majorca as like to visit new/different places!

thank you ☺️

how about
Malta and visit Gozo? That matches your description

@Zone2NorthLondon ohh thank you! I hadn’t considered Malta but it looks beautiful! Will take a look!

Go AI so at least you get a rest from cooking

@maeveiscurious we won’t be doing much cooking maybe the odd breakfast item in the room, but for everything else we’ll be out and about! Having light lunches and dinner each night! I much prefer going somewhere I can explore each day though, rather than being stuck in the hotel every day!

Cyprus has lots to see and if you hire and car and go to the top of the mountains it's beautiful. One Christmas we went skiing then drove back down to have a late lunch on a sunny beach.

@LimeFizz amazing, thank you ☺️ Another to take a look at!

Am I right in that you're still pregnant?

Hold off booking anything until baby is here and you know what kind of baby they are. Plus I'm not sure you can book without their name and passport details .... might be wrong on that.

Then, I'd pick somewhere half board or AI. Perhaps near a town with things to do but lots in the hotel as well.

Baby will still be having 2 naps a day then and while they may nap in the buggy you might want at least 1 a day in the hotel.

Also they will be going to bed early and no one wants a tried cranky baby in their restaurant. Having an easy buffet to go to earlier in the evening makes it nicer for you.

Tbh we stayed in the UK with our babies in their first year. Went self catering and it was a lot of same shit different place.

@Twizbe thanks! AlL inclusives are not for us at all though! We spend our whole days out walking and sight seeing so would miss out on the benefit! Would come back home at the hottest time of the day to get out of the sun and back out in the evening! We want self catering so that we have all the facilities in our room that we need and then can hopefully hopefully put her down to sleep most evenings in the pram, before eating ourselves! If she’s having an unsettled night one of us could make dinner in the apartment or we could pick up some food from a restaurant and eat it on the front, not to disturb people! Strolling along a prom and taking in some sights is what we enjoy from our holidays!

we are looking into it now as we won’t have much time to book once the baby is here and choose the perfect place! Booking the accommodation doesn’t require the details of child and the flights allow you to add on later! Thank you though!

Menorca is perfect with young children, two lovely easy to navigate cities at each end, lovely beaches and nothing high rise. No rowdy night life.. perfect

However I do think word of caution you seem to expect it to be the same as previous holidays, but with a young baby. You might feel very differently! Actually I'd say even more so menorca is a good idea. There is definitely enough to keep you busy for a week, but if you are tired and need to chill, it's a lovely environment for that. Another option if your baby is easy is Lanzarote, it is small and easy to get round in a car, lots of amazing physical geography and views to marvel at, lovely little towns and art culture to see, plus the nice beach resorts. You can avoid the tacky bits and have a lovely cultured holiday - we were so pleasantly surprised!

@Vinylloving thank you ☺️!

We stayed about an hour south of Naples once. It was on the coast. Lovely restaurants and beaches. Real market towns and we went to Pompeii, Herculaneum and some other Roman ruins. We had originally planned to go the Amalfi coast but it was too expensive.

@Vinylloving we sometimes holiday with family and their young babies/small children so in that respect it’ll be similar, however more responsibility on us rather than them if you know what I mean! I understand we don’t know what our baby will be like though and could be different to the baby’s/children we have been with previously! We expect it to be different in the fact we won’t be able to go off and do some of the activities we done in the days previously, and that plans may suddenly change depending on baby, but we’re really open minded about this! We are just so excited to experience our first holiday with our baby and are happy for things to be very different to our usual holiday!

That actually sounds really good! Especially as you said you can avoid the tacky bits! the fact it’s a great place to look around but also to chill when needed is exactly what we are looking for! We like to have the good mix and it’ll be particularly important this year with our daughter with us! Sounds like our cup of tea! Where in menorca do you recommend? Any suggestions? We will hold off booking until she’s born, maybe book the hotel before hand just to save it, but can amend and make changes if we feel differently once she’s here! We want an apartment so that a last minute nip out to get dinner and make at home is possible if she has an unsettled night or heading to pick it up on the go as well!

Thank you!

@dizzydizzydizzy that sounds lovely! Thank you.

Barcelona or on the coast up from it ( think there is a Trainline for easy access) could work.

We took the car via a ferry to Brittany. You can get everywhere easily. Lots to see and do. Cooking with a baby makes some sense. Or go out with baby. The French do. Plenty of self catering options. Fab beaches.

We're off to Ibiza next month with DS who will be almost 5 months. We're staying in Santa Eulalia, which is a family-friendly resort (no clubs!) in the east of the island.

It's a short flight, about two hours, and the temperature is likely to be in the low 20s, so warm enough to feel like holiday weather but not so hot that DS will be uncomfortable. Really looking forward to it, especially because the last time I went abroad I was 8 weeks pregnant and couldn't drink 😁 🍹

Oh, and we're staying in an aparthotel, so there's a restaurant, bar and pool on site but our apartment has a separate bedroom and sitting room with kitchenette and balcony. We're planning to go out for lunch and eat in the apartment for dinner most nights (might brave taking DS out after bedtime one evening!) - the idea is that we can put him to bed in the bedroom and then chill out on the balcony.

Malaga. Beautiful city, not overrun with tourists as they all leave straight from the airport to the resorts. Very short transfer from airport (you'll have thoroughly had enough after battling the journey with a 7month old and it might be late at night or you've been up since 3am).
Get an Airbnb or similar then making up bottles/baby food is easy and you can make nice meals from the markets for yourself once baby is in bed some nights.

I think 7 months is quite an easy age for travelling because they are barely mobile, highly portable ,mainly milk fed and can have the odd little bit of your food or if needed a pouch or similar. The main thing to avoid is extreme heat or you will be forced indoors more than you might wish. Anywhere in Italy is good and I also love Spain. We have tended to self cater or drive and stop off over the years with occasional hotel holidays. We didn't go for family friendly particularly and you have years of those decisions to make whereas , now, you can have at least one more holiday with very few compromises.

This was going to be my suggestion too! We always used to go their when I was young. Now my sisters always takes her children.

There* oops

Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone! Done great ideas!

@itssquidstella where are you staying please? Sounds a great option ☺️

@LT2 where In menorca would you suggest to stay please? Thanks

@Peonies94 it's called Duquesa Playa :)