Where do you take young children?

[Picklesthegreat]

We off to Orlando in October with our 1 & 2 year old. I appreciate they won't remember it but they will be lots of lovely memories and pictures but I was looking for inspiration for future holidays?

Thank you

Seaside in the UK.
Just so much easier than the whole airport malarkey whilst they are little.

UK is definitely a good bet, especially if you have a car. It's stressful anywhere properly hot when they are so young and you need to keep them out of the heat. I'd look for somewhere we could visit a sandy beach, soft play, zoo maybe, some museums, a hotel with an indoor pool. Scarborough went down well with my littlies and has a sea life centre, mini train in the park right alongside, boating lake, beach, great restaurants.

We go to the same type of places that we liked to go before children. When we have older children (currently have a 20 month old and another one on the way) we'll probably do more child centered holidays but for now we might as well go where we like because our son is just as happy anywhere.

We've gone to Mexico, Seychelles, Maldives, Dubai, Italy and Lanzarote with him. We're lucky that hot weather doesn't bother him at all and he loves just being at the beach or the pool.

We also go to similar places as pre children with our 8 month old but just adapt to suit routine better eg earlier dinners and more casual, making sure we factor in naps. We have been to Portugal, the Maldives and a four week travel around the states.

When our DC were little we did a mix of UK holidays (Norfolk, Dorset, Cotswolds, etc) and groups of holiday cottages/gites around a playground with a kid-safe pool and lots of toys. There are quite a few of those, many of them owned and run by British families, dotted around France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, etc. We found lots of suitable holidays via the Baby Friendly Boltholes website.

We used to just pile all the baby crap in the car and go to a UK cottage for a week. Easy dinners, wine, a nice garden (we live in a flat), local walks out, swimming etc.

Two sets of answers on two very different ends of the spectrum: UK seaside or a long distance every three months. Sums it up really OP, take them wherever you want! There are lots of child friendly resorts around the world with splash pools and kids entertainment if you want to stick to all inclusive. Lots of Europe but also in places like the Caribbean/Mexico which primarily cater to an American audience.

I think you're mad!

I love Disney, but at that age it's no fun for them or you.

Have you tried Legoland first?

We used to go to Cornwall when the kids were little.

I mainly stuck to holidaying in the UK when DD was younger. You will love America people are so friendly. Hope you have an amazing time!

I'd do abroad but either in a villa or an all inclusive hotel where you can be close to the room. Naps are a nightmare at that age (well they are for mine!) and unless you have children that will happily sleep in a pushchair (again mine never did!) you're going to be confined to your accommodation a LOT. We did a UK break last week and we had to spend a good couple of hours back at our accommodation every afternoon so our 1 year old could have a sleep as it would just ruin the entire day otherwise. We're off abroad next week but have requested ground floor accommodation and one of us will sit right outside the room with the baby monitor for a couple of hours every afternoon so our little one can sleep. And before anyone starts when I say right outside the room I mean 6 foot away from the door, I'll be closer to him there than when he has his naps at home.

Babies are quite portable so we carried on travelling with DC1 for a couple of years. After that we mainly did holiday cottages in the UK, close to a beach and big playground with a nice garden, mainly the idea was to keep the kids in their routines. We went to one holiday cottage several times cos my MIL lived close by and she would babysit for us, we went out to the local town, it was great. This worked well throughout primary school. Since then we’ve been much more adventurous.

We stay at home got the half terms and do a few day trips, then ski at Christmas, somewhere hot at Easter, usually a long family holiday like Disney World followed by lazy days in the summer, and we also add in some camping in the U.K.

We are absolutely mad but we're not paying so it's not lost as such.

We've been before and think we'll be able to manage it plus it's a family holiday so grandparents will help which is amazing (I appreciate not everyone has this option though and on future holidays we won't).

We travelled quite a bit before DC but I wasn't quite sure what was doable with young children but as PP said they are quite portable and if you adapt the holiday to cater them and lower expectations I guess you can take them pretty much anywhere but thank you everyone.

I'll look at UK holidays - I've looked in the past but by the time it's all priced up I usually find Europe to be cheaper haha maybe I'm doing it wrong!

With toddlers - family friendly gites in France, primary age we did villas with pools, city breaks to family friendly cities , holiday resorts in Europe, weekends away in uk cottages.

Our kids loved holidays in Majorca/Menorca when at primary school - we did self catering in places with kids clubs/mini discos. They still talk about these hols (15 years on!).
When they were a bit bigger we did eurocamp holidays in France, took car and bikes via Eurotunnel - they made loads of friends and had loads of freedom.
I miss holidays with little people now they are grown up!

Cornwall
Sands Resort

Mark Warner resorts and the Canaries and Balearics

When they are very little, anywhere you like.it's when they're a bit older it gets tricky!

It depends on your children. With 1 baby/toddler we chose holidays based on our interests and just adapted for him. Now we have a 3.5 and 1.5yo so we plan things differently. Last year and this year my main criteria were "something easy" and "I want to relax". City breaks have worked well, there are always parks and museums to explore and my 2 love eating out. This summer we are visiting family in Europe. They have a garden, lots of toys and kids just a little bit older. Flight isn't too long and it's airports we know very well so should be easy and relaxing.
We went to Disneyland Paris when kids had just turned 1 and almost 3.it was brilliant. Not relaxing but easy and a lot of fun.

Peppa Pig World ( Paulton's Park )

Efteling , the Netherlands lovely for children we rent a luxury woodland house (their terminology not mine) and it's so calm and returning on the evening and you have a personal sauna once the DC are in bed after a day in the theme park, nice terrace for a glass of wine etc. Also nice to have a whole house not just rooms, we live in the south so don't via Eurotunnel. Can tack on a few nights elsewhere on the way/way back too. So easy with young DC to pack a car and not just a suitcase!

Also love the Greek islands for family holidays

Villa by the beach in France for me. I found the year we went to Cornwall maddening. Rained for 12 days of the 14 and the highlight was a slightly gritty municipal swimming pool. Yes, we had wet weather gear but I could have done all that from home for nothing!

Overnight ferry to France. Gite or campsite in Brittany or West Coast. Gites better for tinies as they aren't into all the organised stuff and you have more space. You can bring loads with you because you have your own car.

Canary Islands. Not too far, not too hot, always nice weather with a breeze, child friendly