Luxury self catering with out activities in May half term

[LittlePickleHead]

Does this holiday exist? Just got back from an amazing week in Croatia staying in the Istra Premium Camping site near Porec. We loved it, we stayed in a camping home with its own jacuzzi and the site itself had so much to do, in a beautiful area.

It's ended up an expensive holiday as there are no packages and the flights for 4 of us were £2.5k on top of £3k accommodation and about £1.5k on food, activities, transfers, insurance etc

So where else in Europe can we get something that fits the bill but isn't quite so spendy for next May half term? We have 2 DC will be 11 and 15:

• resort set up
• self catering but with nice eat out options
• decent 2 bed accommodation, preferably an apartment with outside space or a villa, though decent camping home also fine (jacuzzi a plus!)
• lots of activities eg water sports, bikes, football, tennis
• decent swimming pools for the kids, slides a plus
• warm and decent sea temp for swimming
• able to book as package or else flights not too expensive
• some culture/somewhere nice to visit for day trip
• when I booked the last holiday I was looking for Ikos x Europcamp which is what we got - I love the Ikos feel but without the AI element

So am I asking for the moon on a stick? Or does this exist?

Argh title should read 'outdoor' activities!

https://www.ischiabluresort.com/en/apartaments-residence-ischia/ We have just come back from here. Self catering with all mod cons, but rooms cleaned every day. They have added a small pool this year which doesn't yet seem to be on the website. Direct sea access. Lots of places to eat nearby. We flew to Naples and got the hydrofoil - then it's 5 mins walk. There is a bus between the airport and the port. It's probably one of the nicest places we ever stayed.

It doesn't tick the lots of activities box though. Plenty of day trip possibilities.

Was it very expensive? I read a book about ischia before and it sounded amazing.

would Duinrell be an option for you? Beautiful place, nice beach nearby, loads to do, free water park, nice area in Holland and the flights are very good value (from here anyway)

Ischia looks gorgeous! But I feel that would be a DH & I trip - we generally need a lot going on in a resort type place for the kids (especially now they are old enough to have a bit of freedom and go off on their own)

I mentioned Holland to DH and he wasn't keen because of the risk of bad weather - we also spend a lot of time in the sea if possible (paddleboarding, kayaking and swimming are big wins here!) so somewhere right on the beach would be great

The Martinhal Sagres villas look like the kind of thing we'd be after, but the reviews on how windy it is and the cold sea i Portugal are putting me off.

We like this place on Corsica. Their beachfront cottages are really beautiful and the pool facilities are great. Lots of exploratory day trip possibilities too. Our kids love the restonica gorge pools up in the mountains!

https://www.yellohvillage.fr/camping/le_campoloro?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwaep6oSp_wIV7_93Ch2JHAasEAAYASAAEgIz0fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

For £5,600 you could do a week at the Neilson resort in Croatia next May. That would be accommodation, all travel, dinner bed & breakfast and all of the water & land based activities.
We always mean to do one of these holidays but then something comes up. Friends do them and love them. I did one in my 20s and found the food got a bit dull by day 4 but there was plenty of it, it was tasty and nutritious- just repetitive.
Presumably your 15yo will be in Yr10 next year, not Yr11? If Yr11, you might want to re-think going away then as it's mid-GCSEs

Corsica looks beautiful! Definitely one to explore and somewhere we haven't been before.

I have thought about Nielsen and the activities would be right up our street - the food angle might be an issue as DD is struggling with an ED at the moment so any kind of catered food is a challenge, I need to have facilities to cook for ourselves to mitigate this. Although we might be in a different place next year in which case it would be perfect 🤞

And DD will be in yr 10 next year but good shout on the exams, it hasn't actually crossed my mind. Not sure if this will affect mocks at that point?

My year 10 did mocks this year after Easter, but not sure if that’s across the country.

If you were looking for July/ Aug activity hols I’d say check out Morzine in the French Alps. Fly to Geneva hire a car and it’s fab area with many of the local accommodations linked to the activity pass so for a few Euros a day you have access to ski lifts for biking and walking, the swim pool complex is fab, the lakes you can swim and they have like a mini wipeout course in Les gets up the valley. We all loved it’s DH is keen cyclist so he went off early morn to beat the heat, it did get very hot though 35-40c in late July. Para gliding looks very cool too, DH wants to try it next time. Also big AC ice ring in town. Half the cost of your last holiday I reckon to. Austrian ski towns do similar in the Summer months so worth exploring too as they all have lakes with different water sports and pools etc.

I wouldn’t worry about mocks it’s a marathon just getting through year 11, my DD is taking exams now we still went skiing in Feb HT, she needed the break. I’d just find something you enjoy.

You spent £7000 doing a camping home in Croatia?! You could do a lot with that budget!

(Off to google how you cross Ikos with camping )

@fomnt yes it's kind of crazy isn't it - we did Ikos the year before but DD didn't like being all in one room (and AI won't work for us at the moment)

istra was definitely as luxurious as camping sites go! We did loads - Ate and drank well, massages which are in cabanas in a beautiful garden, hired electric scooters to get around, lots of cocktails by the pool, visited Porec, lots of paddleboarding and exploring little islands. We had our own hot tub overlooking the bay which was gorgeous.

The camping home was lovely too, but ultimately not a hotel room and we still had to load the dishwasher and sweep the floor...