Hol abroad with toddler and 5 yr old?

[QueenLagertha]

DS school are taking the last week may/start of June off. Thinking this could be an opportunity for a cheap holiday. DS will have just turned 5 and baby will be 13 months.

We took DS abroad to Portugal when he was 13 months but we stayed in a villa with two other families. It was fab. We shared the cooking etc.

Are we mad to consider going abroad with the two of them? Would we be better off booking self catering? Would it even be much of a holiday if we have to cook most of our meals and stay in an apartment once baby goes to bed?

I have no idea where to start. Ideally short flight (from belfast).

Any advice/suggestions welcome

I think almost every school where I live takes that week off as half term, so it won’t be cheap if you stay the UK!
What’s your budget? And would you be wanting childcare?

Go to Menorca. It’s a really short flight, and they’re usually in the day too. It’s perfect for families. The beaches are beautiful and really safe. The sea is shallow and calm and you can feed the fish that swim round your toes. I absolutely love it there.

It depends if you mean the week of the bank holiday Monday that all schools take off (apart from Scotland), or some schools have a second week at that half term which does tend to be cheaper. That said, it'll probably be cheaper than going in the summer holidays and temperatures around The Med will be much more pleasant for small children.
I'd go for a hotel then you don't have to do the cooking. Be a bit flexible about bed times and get somewhere with a balcony or patio then you can sit out with a drink in the evening once the kids are in bed.

Ah crap. I didn't think of English schools being off that week. I'm in NI.

It won't be cheap that week but with that age group I would opt for a week all inclusive or half board in the canaries.

Have a look at TUI for their first child goes 'free' deals.

We went to Menorca last year with our 5 year old and 14 month old. We went self catering in a 2 bed apartment, didn't cook though ate out most of the time, apart from a few cold lunches when baby napped in the cot (rather than the usual buggy).

We would go for an early ish dinner (depending what time baby napped til) then come back, put them to bed and drink wine on the balcony

It was sometimes hard work, being quite different ages we often separated and took one each! But that meant a few times DH stayed in the pool with DD1 and I got to have a sangria in the shade of the bar while DD2 napped, which was nice.

We really enjoyed it so I'd go for it!

Not mad at all.
I'd either go for an all inclusive south of Spain or Balearics/ canaries. Jet2 have some good deals on with free kids spaces, not sure if they fly from Belfast though.
If wanting to be cautious maybe a euro camp that has everything for kids on site but access to kitchen etc

Thanks for all suggestions. Would consider taking Ds out of school for a few days either side of the school break, no fines here. I looked up a few and prices look ok, better than I expected

We did “self catering” in Portugal and loved it as had big lunch out all together each day trying lots of different places, made a simple omelette in the apartment for kids tea and then when they were in bed we adults had cheese, wine, choc, maybe some local take out chips etc. very little cooking but made it cheaper despite eating out every day and buying a lot of wine!!