Controversial holiday suggestions!

[Ophy83]

Inspired by a thread I read earlier where a mum was struggling on holiday in Greece with a baby... what surprising holiday destinations have you found to be very successful with children?

I would say city breaks. We took our 18-month old to Paris and people went out of their way to say hello to him/ posh restaurants were welcoming. Edinburgh, York, Amsterdam, Bath etc have all been fantastic .

A recent surprising revelation has been... Bolton! When the weather is good you can get out into the pennines or the forest of Bowland/ visit farms/ gardens etc, and if it rains there are so many options - Trafford Centre for skiing/lego discovery/nerf battles. Excellent crazy golf in the town centre. Or train into Manchester to go to the theatre or China Town.

Camping. It's a bit of a faff with a toddler, but it's served us well over the years.

DC are out all day, making friends and it always felt safe. Then there is the novelty of sleeping in a tent...

Self-catering all the way, you will get loads of people going on that it's not a proper holiday if you have to load a dishwasher and cook your own meals but having separate bedrooms where you can put toddlers or smaller children to bed and then still have space to watch telly or sit having a chat is the way to go. Nobody wants to sit in a dark hotel room watching their child sleep.

I wouldn't say surprising, but Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Italy, Netherlands are all very child-friendly, both in terms of attitudes towards children and families and for facilities and activities. Austrian "Kinderhotels" are really good.

Camping in the £100 caravan, they still go on about it now 20 years later.
Liverpool is a great City destination especially for families, most people don't know it has several beaches, plenty of Museum's, most are free. Its alo a great base for Exploring Cheshire, and North Wales
https://www.donthibernate.co.uk/liverpool/

The Hague is lovely and much cheaper than Amsterdam.

If I suggested Bolton to DH for a holiday that really would be a surprise

I took my 1 and 5 year old to Vegas (DH had a conference there during half term) and we had an AMAZING time. There's tons of things for families to do. We stayed at a posh hotel since DH's work were paying for it, so spent a reasonable amput of time lounging by the pool, but also did the big wheel, Cirque du Soleil, Bellagio Foundtains, Shark Reef Aquarium and various other bits and pieces.

Weve had many lovely holidays in Morecombe. Its got brilliant play parks, a lovely beach, the Midlands Hotel does brilliant cocktails and there's lovely campsites nearby.

We did this in France from when our son was 2 until he was about 13 - he loved it and when we were planning hols he just said - France Camping. We did taking our own stuff at the beginning and then also used ready erected with a company. He loved it and used to take UK comics and toys and made great friends which he is still in touch with now 30 years later.

My children were very young when we went to Venice. They were absolutely spellbound

Anywhere where there is something to do compared to just a pool and hot weather. I think parents often forget that a young child may not like the heat and wants activities. We learnt it the hard way when DD was 4 and our Spanish villa was too remote.

We had lovely UK breaks, put DD into a hiking crate at 9 months and toured Cornwall and Devon. Did Isle of Wight in April in the rain, Majorca, caves, hiking, animals, beach, markets, museums.

Germany is a bit of a hit and miss. They don't do that many child friendly museums as DD was used to in the UK (schools start at 7 and despite her being bi-lingual, she found a lot of them boring and I must say I agreed) but she loved the castles, playgrounds, fun swimming pools, zoos, easy restaurants and walks along rivers.

My favourite museum is in Liverpool- the maritime museum

German Kinderhotels group is great: https://www.kinderhotels.com/en/kinderhotels-family-holidays.html

The £5 a night local paper caravan park holidays were loved by our kids - bingo, a disco (with best dancer prizes) and a pool. Perfect!

We took a 4yr old and a 2 yr old to vegas.
Lots of interesting sights for them. Something different every day. Food right up their street and lots of random fun stuff like jumping on bubbles running across the floor.

German Kinderhotels group is great: ^www.kinderhotels.com/en/kinderhotels-family-holidays.html^

These hotels are in Austria (with a few in Italy and Croatia) rather than in Germany.