Totally stuck - trying to please everyone on family holiday to Europe somewhere

[Tworoads]

It’s a tough ask this year. 7 year old and teenager like beach holiday with villa and pool (self catering). That’s what we did last year (Menorca). But husband was a bit bored with “villa swim, beach, restaurant - repeat”. He’d like to be within reasonable driving distance of mountains/lakes for fishing and sightseeing/hiking etc.

I am finding it impossible to sort it so everyone is happy! Do you have any suggestions? Please 🙏….

Has to be Europe (cost) and would fly (hopefully direct) from Manchester or Liverpool. Stuck with school holidays so August unfortunately.

Really appreciate your help.

The only reason I’m pushing Mallorca is because of the relative ease and cheapness of getting to Palma from LPL and MAN. 😃

Lake Annecy would have swimming/beach/watersports but is in French Alps so easily accessible. We go in a camper van but plenty of SC options. Not sure of flights - Geneva or Chambéry would be nearest

@WiseUpJanetWeiss I am really grateful to you for this! Thank you. Pollenca looks fabulous. I would love to go there. Instantly see myself sitting on the white sandy beach and going for a dip in the blue seas! 7 year old would love it. Teenager would love it. Husband might be a problem…
Right now I’m torn between Port de Pollenca and Slovenia.
We would need a car for Slovenia and don’t know if we’d be allowed to cross the border from Croatia or Italy. Anyone done it?

French Alps is great in the summer. We often go to Morzine area - there is a summer pass which makes activities really cheap - outdoor pool, Lac Montriond. It’s always been really hot in the summer when we go.

Croatia, Italy and Slovenia are all in the EU so shouldn't be any issues crossing the borders.

Port de Pollenca sounds like it would fit the bill. It's great for family holidays and there's lots to do. There are a couple of good walks like https://www.seemallorca.com/reviews/a-walk-from-puerto-pollenca-to-cala-de-boquer-mallorca-port-de-pollenca-(puerto-pollensa)-664022

decent selection of restaurants and a good bus service to explore. Alcudia old town is good for a wander around as well as the inland town of Pollenca.

Highly recommend Laredo in Spain. Right on beach but v close to mountains too. Watersports, beautiful little towns, nature reserves and an amazing zoo park set into the mountains with a cable car running over it.

Sorry, it's Santona specifically...Laredo is the town close by.

Meant to add that there are some water sports in the beach - paddlebaording, kayaks, sailing, windsurfing, diving, boat hire. It's also an area that's very popular for cycling - a few top teams train in the area and so there are a few decent hire places in the port.

We are off to Kaprun an alpine village outside zell am see. With our acvommodation is the summer card giving discounts off cable cars - alpine roller coaster etc etc. There are outdoor swimming pools with slides check out kaptn hook pool near kaprun for eg.we have an 11 and 14 yr old so want to keep them busy. I love white water rafting thats localish too plus outdoor trampoline parks. It just looks amazing. I trawled booking .com and google maps and found apt auernigg in kaprun- reasonable and comew with the summer card. We went sanguli campsite in salou and it was rubbish so wanted something more active this summer.we are flying into Munich in July and are all really excited. My 14 yr old is studying german in school .hope that helps !

@Radyward

The Kapt'n Hook pool is in Saalbach, not Kaprun. If you want outdoor water slides (albeit smaller than at Kapt'n Hook) then use the outdoor pool and lido on the lakeside at Zell am See. It is just a 5 minute walk around the lake from the station and has a green beach (i.e lawn), a pool, diving boards, changing rooms and a cafe as well as the clear lake to swim in and gorgeous mountains all around.

Kaprun does have the Tauern Spa, which has indoor and outdoor pools, sauna and steam rooms (remember that in Austria, most of these are naked although under 18's are not allowed in these areas) and other "wellness" facilities.

Of course Kaprun also has access to the 3,000m Kitzsteinhorn glacier. You can either access this by driving up to the base station of the Glacier Express cable cars, but the most spectacular route is to take the Maiskogel cable car, and then the 3k Konnection cable car across to the glacier. The Maiskogel is also where you'll find the alpine roller coaster.

White water rafting takes place at Lofer - about 30 minutes down the road towards Salzburg, following the route through Saalfelden. The Base Camp activity centre is great for this.

If you do get to Saalbach (for Kapt'n Hook) then be sure to continue to the end of the valley road, through the tunnel at Hinterglemmm and drive on as far as you can go. From the car park at the end of the valley it is a 20 minute walk to Europe's largest high-rope park (like Go Ape) and a suspension bridge with a tree-top walk, and also a couple of zip-wires. Take some cheap/old gloves with you if going on the high-ropes (or gloves can be bought at the ticket office).

I'm a fan of Achensee in Austria - we've stayed in Pertisau which was lovely. Lots of activities nearby on the lake and in the mountains, and it's absolutely beautiful.

@havanananana thank you so much! Amazinginfo

Admittedly I'm not a big sun worshipper, but if you're going in August and your husband wants to hike, I'd be thinking carefully about weather. We went to Pollenca a couple of years ago (been before and it's lovely), but found it really frustrating because it was just way too hot to do proper walking. The temperature never dipped below 35 degrees, and was sometimes nearer 40, which is one thing if you're on the beach (though still too hot for me!), but IMO much too hot for hiking. Plus everything is so dry and brown in August. By contrast, we went to the French Alps in August and it was stunning - warm enough most days for river swimming etc, but still temperate enough to hike, and everything is still green and beautiful (with glaciers!). For me, places like Mallorca and southern Italy are spring or autumn destinations if you want to be active (parts of Italy were 45 degrees last summer!).

Thank you so much everyone xx. So many ideas. Will keep me busy for years!!!
I’m thinking about putting off the Slovenia trip as it’s possible Ryanair may add Ljubljana to its itinerary and that would be simpler.
@loobert where did you go in the French Alps?
I’m going to read the thread again over the weekend and try to decide!

We went to Samoens. V pretty little town, stunning walks, white water rafting, canyoning etc. Hired a lovely chalet through these people https://www.alpsaccommodation.com/summer-in-samoens.htm. We drove there, so not sure what the nearest airport would be.

Thank you. I’m going to have a look this weekend. Sounds idyllic! If the 7 year old won’t go canyoning, maybe there’s something else for him to do.