Where is the best place you have holidayed with under 5s?

[mamaknowsbest12]

Exactly this! But in Europe.

Looking for the nicer end of the scale...

And a kids pool.

My DC are 1,3,5. Easy being the name of the game!

Sani and Ikos without a doubt but prepared to pay for it, we started going out of term time which wasn’t too bad but the prices go crazy in the holidays.

Martinhal Sagres. I have also been to Sani and IKOS and whilst enjoyed those I liked Martinhal better when the children were younger. Just having a kitchen area meant that we could have light snacks and drinks etc easy to hand day and night. Was a lifesaver when different family members were waking up at different times - shove some toast or cereal in them. It was also nice at night to have a separate living area and garden to sit in once the kids had gone to bed - we stayed in a garden villa.

Lovely childrens pool, short flight, great accommodation options, restaurants feel high end but very baby, toddler and child friendly.

Kids club was excellent, although chargeable for very young children, and the shop stocked Pampers and Aptimil.

At the other two you have to leave the accommodation to get food unless you order room service (which is included in the AI at IKOS). At IKOS the children had a separate room but it was the living room so we were resigned to the patio in the evenings.

Majorca. We went to a lovely Iberostar hotel in Alcudia. Two great pools, one perfect for children and right on the beach. Excellent AI for food too

We liked staying somewhere with a group of cottages around a child-safe pool and a lovely playground. A few examples: La Grange du Moulin (Charentes-Maritimes), Emerald Coast Gites (Brittany), Pian di Cascina (Umbria), Caserio del Mirador (nr Denia, Spain). We found them all via a website called Baby Friendly Boltholes, which was brilliant.

Mark Warner holidays worked really well for, we did five with babies and toddlers.

OP some of those might not be fancy enough, if you're wanting the smarter end of the scale. I always rather fancied Martinhal, but it was a bit pricey for us at the time. Looks lovely though!

We love the Amarin in Croatia. Luxury family resort - can’t fault it (and I’m a picky snob 😁!).

Haven, Butlins and cruise with a kids club they had a better time than us!

Was any of this helpful, OP? I do think it’s respectful to respond to people who’ve taken the time to try and help you… but maybe that’s not the vibe on here, I dunno. Good luck anyway.

Unfortunately not in Europe but the best trip I did with mine was to Alaska, amazing wildlife, scenery, they loved the ferries (not luxury cruise ship). Hired a camper van

Centre parcs in Belgium. It is really lovely and the activities were extremely cheap compared with the UK centre parcs.

Pine cliffs in Portugal. Amazing kids club, fantastic restaurants, great beach. Easy flight and half an hour transfer. There is also a full kitchen and washing machine & dryer which is great for little ones if you need it.

Beekse Bergen (safari resort) in the Netherlands - and the Netherlands generally is a really nice place to be, the Hague area is lovely.

Went to Juan Les Pins last summer and loved it!

Another vote for Ikos. Very easy with young kids and good kids clubs/creche. However eye wateringly expensive these days unless you can go out of school holidays (and even then, still expensive). But it actually feels like a holiday with small children.