Destination recommendations - family friendly, beach, nature, history

[Reluctantadult]

I'm looking for destination recommendations please :)
Family of 4, kids 8 & 6.

The ideal would be: Near sandy beaches, in a natural area, historic / market town for mooching, cafe culture nice food and wine, somewhere usually sunny so thinking abroad. The kids request a pool and 8yo would like clubs / playmates but dh would prefer a villa. I don't want to fly but dh doesn't want to drive abroad 🤦🏻‍♀️ Don't really know where to even look at!

Loads to do in Northumberland. Bamburgh beach is gorgeous. There are Castles and Boat rides, lindisfarne with its Causeway and Harry Potter stuff at Alnwick castle.

Not sure about a pool though.

When would you be travelling? That's pretty key if you want sun!

Could go either May half term or August.

Europarks might be good, could potentially get the train or ferry? I stayed in one in northern France, and really enjoyed it. Good pool with slides, kids entertainment, on site restaurants/takeaway but most near other towns/seaside locations. Accommodation was mainly caravans but I think there are lodges to. Caravan get’s unliveable if it’s hot 🥵

Is that Eurocamp @PineapplePear ?thanks!

What about the train? Eurostar to Paris, then train to Aix-en-Provence - lovely villa here as an example.

(That was just an example, btw, as I have no idea of your ideal budget!). But Aix is beautiful.

Yes, i meant eurocamp 🤪

One of the big holiday parcs in Brittany - ticks a lot of your boxes: beaches, wine, culture, pools. I can recommend Benodet (St Gilles or something similar). Right next to the beach, Benodet is a lovely village with markets/ice cream shops / touristy things.

if you take the ferry from Plymouth into Brittany, it’s not a far drive at all (but yes, still a drive…)

Cyprus? They drive on the left and have good road systems between the big towns. Stay in paphos and drive up to the mountains for your fix of nature.

I can concur with @Autumnsparkle - Benodet is, indeed beautiful.

Although you'd have to drive, I can assure you/reassure you that driving in France is really easy.

@Reluctantadult
You don’t want to fly and DH doesn’t want to drive? So lots of ideas are off the table. You need to look at public transport and taxis. I would always say Brittany has everything you want but you are both making things difficult for your Dc to have a good time. Someone needs to be the grown up here!

@TizerorFizz I would fly, if I had to. I just avoid it for environmental reasons. Dh would drive, if he had to. He just doesn't like it! I can drive though so long as its not not like 8hrs!

Northern Spain? Long ferry from either Portsmouth or Plymouth to either Bilbao or Santander. Lots of beaches, mountains and historical cities within a short drive of the ferry ports.

masdmediterraneo.com/en/

beachfront, with pool, apartments and only an hour from Barcelona 😎

@Reluctantadult
You can get to loads of nice places within 2 hours of the ferry ports in Brittany or Normandy. Shame your Dc won’t be allowed to fly anywhere.

@TizerorFizz we will fly sometimes, just not willy nilly if there's an alternative available i would like to avoid. I'm sure we can get to loads of nice places, but the trouble is I don't know then so don't know where to look up. Hence asking for recommendations.

Normandy. Ticks all your boxes. Look at places like Pierre et vacances for villas/lodges and they have kids clubs. History, beautiful beaches, cafes, restaurants, museums and if you catch the ferry to Caen you can keep driving to a minimum on the wrong side of the road (northern france is fine anyway, sane for driving except Paris)

@Reluctantadult
You need to do what I said earlier. Check ferries and trains. They only end up in certain places abroad. There’s not a huge choice.

Surely a flight to get somewhere special is worth doing?

@TizerorFizz it's a big wide world out there, I just wanted some suggestions of places to look into. Places other people have liked that might meet my criteria. If I research every place I can drive to from the end of a ferry port I'll be there a very long time. Let alone adding airports into this. The point of my post is just to help narrow down where I look into.

I was going to suggest Valencia but I think your children might be a bit too young just yet but maybe something to bear in mind for later. Beautiful beaches, a fantastic 11 km long park with loads of attractions including a zoo, City of Arts and Science park, cycle lanes everywhere (we did 140km in the week and never went on a road) and a lovely old town. You can also do a stadium tour at Valencia FC. I think it’s my favourite Spanish city and we have been to most of the coastal ones

I think you mentioning not flying and not driving has added confusion. Will you drive, will you fly or are you after a public transport holiday?

@Whistlesandbell
That is what I’m trying to say! DH not wanting to drive but OP might drive, and then saying no flights, means you just put a circle around ports and see where you get to. As there are not many ports it’s fairly easy to look at beach resorts and historic towns. Eg around St Malo there’s choices or going a bit further south west . It’s often useful to look at books such as Lonely Planet to see where good places might be. Look at where Eurocamps are or anyone else who offers holidays in an area. With the web it’s easy to research holiday areas. However I still don’t understand what the op and dh will do regarding travel. I am confused.

Cadiz.

This is exactly why I'm asking for suggestions. It's proving very difficult to meet everyone's wishes!

Does this help. In order of preference

1. Public transport
2. Ferry and a short drive
3. Fly (I would prefer to avoid for environmental reasons. Not saying I won't ever, but infrequently so would like to find out where I can get to overland)
4. Ferry and a long drive (because dh is scared to drive abroad and I'm not willing to drive 6hrs if he won't share) .

I've put 3 twice on purpose, I don't know which one gives.

If there's a fairly natural coastal destination with access to historic market towns at the end of a train line or near a ferry, i would love those suggestions.

Yes I can research online, I can read up, I can look at lonely planet, I can check out Eurocamp. I just thought I'd also ask on a chat forum in case someone pops up and says ah, you'd love Cadiz! Or wherever. It's part of my research!