7 or 10 nights with a 3 year old?

[Herts501]

We are about to book our first proper holiday with our almost 3 year old and are having a difference of opinion about how long to go for!

I think 7 nights, my husband thinks 10.

Obviously I can't give you all the background on our toddler here but basically I'm very nervous that he won't sleep well. He's never slept well when sharing a room with us as if he wakes in the night and sees us there he will want to get out of his cot (doesn't happen when he's in his own room), that's what he's done always in the past. Also, I think just living in one room with a toddler for 10 days will be a lot!

Anyway, how long have other parents decided to go away with their toddlers for?

If staying in a hotel, 7 nights is plenty. If booking a villa, 10 nights would be absolutely fine!

We've booked to go on our first holiday abroad since having DC and youngest will be 3 by then and I've gone for 7 nights

I couldn't manage more than 3 days in the same room as mine when they were toddlers.

shorter holiday and get an apartment or suite or villa so you have separate rooms.

I always did Eurocamp or apartments so dd had a separate room to us. Self catering always worked better with a small child. We just ate out or got takeway or did something simple on the BBQ in rotation. No slaving to the kitchen.

In one room? 7 nights.
Some rooms are bigger than others and the difference might be very significant but still one room is one room. It’s boring and tiring for parents.

I have never understood how getting everyone up and dressed, or showered and dressed in the evening, to eat off an AI buffet is considered less stressful than sending dh out for pizza or doing toast and cereal or knocking up some pasta whilst in a semi undressed state with a large glass of wine. (not at breakfast I hasten to add)

We did 7 this year with a 4 year old and said next time it's at least ten. You can't pack at much in with a young child, and two days of sickness wiped out a chunk, plus you're travelling the days at either end .
With 10/14 I think there's much more flexibility in terms of just having a lazy day, changing plans because of the weather or if the DC hasn't slept well etc, without feeling you have to miss out.
Having said that we like to get out and do a lot on holiday, if you're happy just by a pool/beach etc the above reasoning probably doesn't hold much weight.

Oh and we always book two bedroom apartments, I couldn't even do 7 nights sharing with DC

Took my 20 month old and three year old to Australia for a month. My husband was on sabbatical so only time we could go for a decent amount of time. The first couple days were hard but mainly because we hadn't slept at all on the flight. But it was fantastic - we stayed at nine different places as we moved around the country. Eating out at night tricky but they seem to eat earlier there., but we were confined to our rooms of an evening.

I would not have shared a room with our terrible sleeper toddler. We did two bed gites, apartments etc. it meant we had space to enjoy the evening. Would happily go away for 10 nights if we had two bedrooms.

We do eight nights and book a two bedroom apartment so our toddler has his own space. Up until now we've eaten out in the evening but we've just done self catering for dinner in Cornwall and that actually worked a lot better for our son (who is dropping his last nap 🤦🏻‍♀️) so we're thinking of replicating that for our next Europe holiday.