Does my ideal holiday venue exist?!

[JDav]

Hi everyone. I really need some help with ideas for holiday destination but am falling short looking for the things i'd like, don't know if I'm expecting too much!
We have two preschoolers- 4 and 2 so would like to be close to a nice beach as they will want to do that a lot of the time realistically. But my husband and I feel we might be bored at times if there's nothing else around at all. I'd love to also be near something like a lovely old town and ideally a bit of outdoors stuff for short walks, like a nature reserve, so we can just break things up a bit but I can't seem to find somewhere with everything. I don't feel like it's a huge ask but clearly it is! We would possibly be open to all inclusive but think more likely just rent a villa and car. Whilst they mainly need to be the ones kept happy we don't want the holiday to be just for them! When I look at places like Balearics it seems like the resorts and the beach are the only things there, often they aren't near any towns or anything. I was really liking the look of Tossa de Mar in Spain because of the lovely old towns etc, but then it seems the water gets steep really quickly and people are saying it's not toddler safe.

Can I have both anywhere?! Think I'm really struggling because we were never the beach holiday types before kids so have no prior experience of this kind of thing.

All suggestions so welcome, I feel like at this rate I'll never book anywhere. 😂hanks all, T

Majorca has dozens of old towns. In fact they're the best bit. When you see a resort called Puerto Soller or Puerto Pollensa or Puerto Andratx or Puerto Alcudia, it's because there's a town called Soller or Pollensa or Andratx or Alcudia just up the road, and the Puerto is its old port town - often now full of tourists on the beach, but the old town is still there.

Puerto Alcudia is surrounded by nature reserves and the beach is about 6 miles long. At the top corner it's completely sheltered and you can walk out 50 metres before the water gets to a 2-year-old's waist.

I second Cascais suggestion, Valencia also good as it's a city with a beach, for Porto we stayed in Espinho which has a fab beach. Someone already mentioned Sicily, Cefalu is also an option there.

I loved Ikos Aria in Kos. Beautiful beach but places to explore around the island (though not on a par with Spanish and Italian cities). It's expensive but wins a lot of best all inclusive awards for good reason.

dubrovnik/areas around fit this. Just don’t go in the height of summer as it’s pretty sweltering with no breeze.

Mediterranean cruise? Pic one with a kids club where you can leave them while you go on excursions. You could tag a few days on at either end.

I watch a lot of cruise reviews on YouTube, Costa is based in Italy so their ships are set up for Italian families so children can be up quite late.

Barcelona has a beach and is fascinating.

We did Majorca with DD when she was 2 and 4. There is a huge amount of things to do and see outside the beach.

It's easy to go around with a car.

We did the train to Soller and then the little tram to Port de Soller.
Palma is a lovely town to wander around, playgrounds, DD was fascinated from the cathedral.
Vallemossa is a beautiful town at the west side in the mountains.
Inca has a really lively market with live animal stock once a week.
There are caves, you can do boat trips.
There was a large nature reverse somewhere at the south-west corner, can't remember the name, sorry.

We stayed a bit outside Can Picafort, the beach there is lovely shallow, clean and sandy. Pollensa and Alcudia are not far away, I personally didn't like the beach part at Port de Pollensa.

A colleague has a flat on Majorca and his wife stays the whole of the Summer holiday with their daughter and they never get bored doing things on the island.

Grecotel Imperial in Kos. Lovely hotel with multiple pools. It's right in the beach which is mainly pebble, but has a small sandy area too. Regular buses into Kos Town which is really beautiful, especially the harbour.

Soller in Majorca is lovely!

But when I first read your post my mind immediately went to Wales.

San Miguel- Ibiza. Win. Easy to get too, short flight. Not windy. Good for families. Ibiza old town is a short car drive away but lots to do

Lake Garda has lots of beautiful villages and towns, day trips, Gardaland, not too hot, and good food and wine!

Es Grau in Menorca is lovely. We went when our kids were about the same age and it was fantastic. We went in May and it wasn’t crowded or hot. Some lovely easy walking around the nature reserve with lots of interest. Boardwalks to play on and tortoises walking around.

The beach is perfect for little ones and right on the doorstep. Town is quiet but some nice bars and restaurants. Also only a 20 minute drive from the airport at Mao. So easy. Definitely our best holiday for this age group.

We went to Tenerife. Stayed away from the main tourist area. Went to the volcano. Went to the old town capital. Went to the little villages at the north of the island. Stayed by a beach at a eco village place which had a small swimming pool. Totally doable. The biggest thing with kids that age is it not being too hot.

I'd also recommend the south west corner of France near the coast. There's lots of walks up in the mountains nearby and there's a train up the mountain. Food is amazing. Stayed in a villa type place which had a pool. Go in May before the French start having holidays. It's warm but not too warm and it's quieter and cheaper.

Following with interest as also looking for exactly this!

Have you looked at the Holiday village in Ibiza.

The beach is 2 minute walk from the holiday village, it has 3 pools and a waterpark on site, kids club and poolside entertainment plus entertainment at night. It's all inclusive.

San Antonio bay is a 15 minute walk and the bus stop into San Antonio is right outside the hotel. There's also a water taxi from the beach. You can get a bus from San Antonio bus station to Ibiza town.

It's a beautiful bit of the island, it's quiet enough with loads to do. You can do boat trips to the aquarium if you wanted or day trips to other places, car hire is available from the airport.

It's a short flight roughly 2.5 hours and the transfer is around 25 minutes.

There's lots of places to eat in and around the beach plus the places on site and places to eat walking into the bay. Lots of the pubs have rides and bouncy castles for children.

We've been every year for the last 13 years. It's a beautiful place and very child friendly.