Losing the plot holiday planning!

[2024HolFinder]

Would love to hear recommendations from people for hotels that would fit the bill. I don’t think i’m looking for anything too tricky, but I am driving myself mad with reading booking websites and TripAdvisor 😂

Looking for summer holiday dates (ideally late July), 7 nights all inclusive, flying from Bristol, Cardiff or (at a push) Birmingham.
Me, DH and DCs 10 & 7.

Budget up about £4k. Would love to be near the beach, and to have some waterslides on site.

Have been looking at Crete/other Greek islands but open to most of Europe I think (maybe not Canaries as that was our last trip) I’ve looked through older threads - in particular those about Crete- and can see that Stella Palace and Nana Golden Beach come recommended, but both are above budget I think 🤔

I'm doing same as you at the moment and looking for holidays from the same airports! Our last holiday last year was actually at Stella Palace and it was fantastic. We went out of season as such though, October term time, hence why I think we actually managed to go somewhere like that, we wouldn't be able to afford it during holidays! I'm finding that Jet2 are coming up much cheaper than Tui this year. I've extended our search to include Portugal and Italy too. I suppose it depends on what you want from your holiday?

We went to SP last summer . Are you trying to book as a package ? I always book hotel directly and flights separately . Saves a lot !

Just had a look there and prices seem much dearer than last year .
Everything is so expensive!

I’ve looked at booking flights and hotel separately (for Stella Palace) and it definitely brings the price down but sadly not enough!

Have considered Stella Village, which is next door I think, and gives access to the same waterpark, but some of the reviews have put me off - I think some of the non-refurbished rooms are pretty dated - and I’m worried being so close to Stella Palace would just make me jealous 🤣

Thanks @fedupenough, hope you find something!

Hadn't given much thought to Italy or Portugal - if I’m honest we mostly want a very low-effort ‘lying in the heat’ holiday (with a nice pool to occupy the kids).

For some reason i don’t associate Italy or Portugal with that, but v prepared to be proven wrong!

Yeah Stella Village looks a little jaded , I wouldn't stay there !

LoveHolidays have a week for two adults and two kids in early July flying from Birmingham for 5000. None of that is what you want !

We also enjoyed Atlantica Aegean Blue in Rhodes . Good water park.

Atlantica Aegean Blue looks lovely, but also above budget I think 🥲 prices have skyrocketed!

We stayed at the Avanti village in Cyprus one Easter if that's an option?

What about here?

https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/europe/greece/corfu/sidari/hotels/sidari-water-park-hotel.html?utm_medium=paidsearch&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4fLf69m_gwMVNZZQBh3K9whkEAAYASAAEgL9HPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

We've done Stella palace and wouldn't do the village... we've booked Porto bello beach this year as budget is lower!

I spent ages price checking holidays for Christmas and On the beach was consistently cheaper than love holidays etc. Next cheapest was Easyjet packages. In the end I looked on skyscanner and booked the flights separately, and the hotel on booking.com and saved about £500.

Can't help with a specific water park hotel, but definitely worth shopping for the best priced flights and working from there.

You might just get an MSC cruise in budget too, the bigger ships have water slides.

Hey OP... I have been where you are so know how overwhelming it is! I posted a few times last year and the year before where I asked other MNers for help... and it didn't fail!

So last year we ended up at Iberosta Cala Barca in Majorca after recommendation on here. Absolutely stunning. Couldn't fault it. There aren't any slides for big kids but a brilliant dome pillow which mine were on for hours every day, plus the resort put an inflatable slide up in one of the other pools and in inflatable course to walk along on various days too. Food was fab. We paid for a central location room and couldn't fault it.

We are going to Blau Punta Reina this year after more hours searching for a resort to match last years. I'm not sure anything will top Cala Barca but we didn't want to go back to the same resort. Last year was our first family holiday.

Budget wise, and second in line behind Blau Punta for this summer, was Albir Garden Resort & Aquapark but DH didn't fancy Costa Blanca. I didn't mind where we went and Albir had great reviews and the slides (which we wanted) and cost was really reasonable but ultimately we chose Blau Punta.

The other thing we wanted from last years and this years holidays was a hotel where there is more than one restaurant to eat in. I'm pretty sure all three above tick that box if that's relevant to you (the first two definitely do, can't remember if I was willing to sacrifice that want with Albir but it became irrelevant for us anyway with picking another resort).

Let me know if the above doesn't suit. I can find my previous posts - I had some great recommendations but they'll all require Googling!

Loads to check out, thank you all for the suggestions!

Yes I wouldn't book Stella Village but I am a bit hotel fussy. They were refurbing this time last year but I'm not sure exactly how far along they are yet. I'm on a FB page for the hotel though and there are lots of positive reviews so again I suppose it depends what you're looking for. Pools did seem super busy too despite the time of year...

Is the £4K all inclusive/half board/b&b ?

Sorry just reread...

What about this in Turkey ? https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/bookaccommodation?productCode=979841&tab=overview&noOfAdults=2&noOfChildren=2&childrenAge=12,13&duration=7&flexibleDays=3&airports%5B%5D=BHX&flexibility=true&noOfSeniors=0&when=24-07-2024&pkg=1148632431/3/570/7&tra_o=4353656744/4892848&tra_i=4353656807/4892849&units%5B%5D=&packageId=979841TUDL019517217792000001721865600000TOM54217224704000001722470400000TOM543DD011148632431/3/570/7&index=5&multiSelect=true&brandType=T&bb=AI&room=&isVilla=false&searchType=search&durationCode=7115&rmpc=1|2|0|2|0|13,12&rmtp=DD01&rmbb=AI&fc=y&greatDealDiscount=0&bb=AI&price=pp

one free child place, 4.5* on tripadvisor and £3k for a week at the end of July

Thanks for all the suggestions, coming back to update as we have booked Mitsis Laguna in Crete. Looks like it ticks all our boxes so fingers crossed! 🤞