January holiday with a two year old

[AngelaChasesBestLife]

After what has been a very stressful year, and with no prospect of any time off before the end of the year, we are thinking of going away in January 2024 in the hope it starts the year off on a less stressful note! It would be our first foreign holiday with our two year old.

Ideally we'd go somewhere warm, and that is going to be relaxing (albeit as relaxing as it can be with a two year old.) Needs to have a mixture of relaxation plus things to do / interesting culture / food otherwise DP will get bored. All I want is a pool but feel achieving both in January might be impossible. Would be our first holiday in over three years, and is desperately needed.

Any ideas?!

How much money do you want to throw at this?

We had a successful mid December holiday in Barbados with a 2 year old a decade or so ago. We didn't use the kids club, but we could visit and play with their toys.

Otherwise Mauritius can be a direct overnight flight away (visit the Botanic gardens, Casela Wildlife park, giant tortoises....) and the Grand Basin pilgrimage site.

Admittedly she had cute blond curly hair as a toddler, but DD was spoilt rotten by staff at our hotel in Singapore. We had my elderly Mum in tow, but we managed to see plenty and had a great choice of food.

Maybe get some ideas from the family section of Mr &Mrs Smith or Baby-Friendly boltholes.

Dubai or Abu Dhabi. I was really surprised at how good the food was, and there was easily enough to do to fill 2 weeks, although we only stayed for 1!

@Madcats I'd love to go to Singapore as I've only ever gone there for short work trips. DP and I had been thinking of going to Mauritius pre-pandemic and baby but might be a stretch too far.

@Bubbleandsqueak22 Where did you stay in Dubai?

We holidayed with our teen in Mauritius in early July this year post GCSEs (ideally we'd have gone at Whitsun). We took an overnight flight with BA out of Gatwick and were surprised at how many babies/toddlers were on the flight. Air Mauritius also fly direct. I wouldn't suggest a plane change with a baby.
The roads are mostly in great condition so you wouldn't be tied to a driver. Car hire was about £30/day.

December/January tends to be peak season in a lot of places (pricing often influences heavily by school holidays). It is worth fiddling about with flight dates/duration if you want to save some money.