Luxury but child friendly

[LolaBlue36]

Looking for a week away in May in Spain (mainland, Majorca, Canaries etc) or Portugal. We like 'nicer' hotels but want somewhere with a playground/children's pool that's more than just a simple shallow pool. To give you an idea of what we like we went to Zafiro Palace Andratx last year and are going to Sani Dunes next year. Zafiro Palace Andratx was great but our son will be 18 months when we go in May so looking for a little bit more for him to do/explore without it being a full on kids holiday village experience.

Does anyone have any suggestions of somewhere that might fit the bill please?

One of the Ikos resorts?

Martinhal in Portugal

Gran Melia in Tenerife

We used to do long haul at that age (while under 2's pay very little). Some of the Caribbean hotels have lovely kids clubs (though kids need to be potty trained for most). On the whole we just used to pop in to play with their toys.

Have a look at overseas options on Baby-Friendly Boltholes and the family options on Mr & Mrs Smith.

Martinhal Sagres

@Howtohideasausage @RosesofAmsterdam I've been looking at Martinhal Sagres actually. Would you recommend? The only thing I wondered about was how easy it was to book restaurants and if they were 'child friendly'?

@Fivemoreminutes1 Gran Melia is probably top of my shortlist at the moment. What did you like about it?

Thanks for everyone's suggestions

@LolaBlue36 The massive choice of restaurants and bars - we didn’t eat or drink at the same place twice! Also the pools were amazing. The staff went out of their way to give excellent service and make us feel special.

Thank you! Is there access to the beach there, I can't quite tell 🤷‍♀️

There wasn’t a problem booking restaurants, (of which there were a few) and you could always order food from the bar. The breakfasts were amazing. There wasn’t a shop of any description though, and the place isn’t near any either, but a five min taxi. Also, no beach either, it’s a ten min walk to sheer cliffs. There was a great creche/kids club though.

I’m talking about Cascais

Following this! We're looking for something similar and finding it difficult. Finally settled on Ikos Dassia but there is now no availability for the dates we're looking at, so back to the drawing board. I don't think we would do long haul as our LO would be a nightmare on a longer flight!

Melia has just opened a Paradisus in Gran Canaria, which looks lovely.

I've been looking at this actually and hadn't put two and two together that it was the same chain as Gran Melia in Tenerife 🤦‍♀️

Not sure which Martinhal you were at, but Sagres is right on a massive beach!

I put it was Cascais afterwards.

Honestly at 18 months I wouldn't bother looking for kids activities as babies are still basically accessories at that point 😂 When my son was 18 months we took him on a train hopping trip of the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. He was happy as a clam running around castles, gardens and the beach, 'flirting' with waitresses and older Italian ladies and eating as much pizza as he could get his hands on 😂

I'd say, at this age, you're still ok to choose the type of holiday you'd prefer for yourself and book that.