How to holiday as a family of 5

[Staywildandwander]

So we’re newly (ish) a family of 5.
I’ve been searching all inclusive holidays for the 5 of us (2 adults, 10, 8 and 1) and have very limited options because most package holidays and rooms are for 4.

We went abroad this summer but my parents came and had 1 child on their booking but we had booked a family room which meant all kids fit in our room anyway.

Any recommendations for packages/ hotels etc that accommodate 5. We were looking at Turkey but open to other areas within a 4 hour flying time.

Grand deluxe family room at Grand Park Lara Hotel (near Antalya, Turkey) sleeps up to 6 people. It's a lovely hotel. All inclusive.

There are options but it just isn't a much but I suppose it does help narrow down your search.
I find 2 bedroom apartments within the hotels a good set up.

Book 2 interconnected rooms at a hotel that guarantees it. 3 bed or 2 bed and sofa bed for kids. Means you can stay in if you need to, but not suffer too much! Or aparthotels with 2 bed apartment.

Yes we had a 2 bed apartment this year. Like you say I just can’t seem to find many!

Interconnecting rooms tend to be more expensive…. We can afford an abroad holiday but we can’t splurge. I’d rather avoid that if I can.

It is worth phoning hotels directly. We had a few that were accommodating of adding a baby/ toddler to the standard family room booking but gets harder as they get older.

Until your little one is 2 or even 3 could they not share a room with you with travel cot/bed?

Yes happy for all 5 of us to be in a room together but we can’t seem to find one to book!

We're a family of 5, just back from a holiday and currently researching our next one. Found plenty of choice on Jet2 and Tui, though we're not looking at Turkey so can't offer any recommendations there. We usually book one bed apartments/suites with a sofa bed and have the travel cot either in with us or in the living area.

Most family rooms should sleep two adults, two children and a travel cot no problem as the baby doesn't count towards the occupants - are you putting in their age or does the search just ask for number of children? At what stage are you finding a problem, is it only giving you the option in the search results for two seperate rooms or are you misunderstanding the room descriptions when it suggests a family room sleeps max 4 people? You should be able to check with the hotel directly what they class as a child and whether a travel cot is allowed in addition to the max occupants, but if it's coming up in the search results then it should be fine. It can also be worth checking the hotel's website as they often have other room types you can only get if booking direct (and usually a lot cheaper too) but then it won't count as a package holiday if booking flights separately so won't have the same protection.

I think you need to tick family room /apartment when searching and then look more closely at room options. It’s what I do on Jet2.com.
We prefer to stay at one bedroom apartments on holidays and they usually have double sofa bed or 2 single sofa beds in the living room and space to put a travel cot in.

Its hard! Set up the filter for one room when searching on TUI (or as pp Jet2 advice). Even if you dont book with them you will see the options (and reduce the noise!).

This may not be what you want but we have never done package holidays. We book all our accommodation and travel separately, usually go self catering. There's no significant "larger family" penalty if you go for more creative holidays (over and above the inherent costs of an extra child obviously!)

Lanzarote Barcelo active resort has space for 6, one superking bed, one set of bunk beds and one sofa bed! We came back around three weeks ago and it was gorgeous! We only went half board as we don’t drink and don’t really have lunch but they do have all inclusive, different restaurants and 8pools! (This was two separate bedrooms and a lounge)

Are you sure you can't all be in one normal room? The 1 year old would be in a cot and isn't normally counted in the occupancy.
We stayed at Sentido Aeqoura in Lanzarote last year and you can all stay in one suite there, they do also have larger rooms.

Agree eg if you look at self catering appartment and villas on Airbnb or holiday lettings that will be instantly a lot more options

We are a 5. Currently at Eden Resort in Portugal and last year went to H10 Lanzarote Gardens in Lanzarote. 2 bed suite/ bungalow at the each with 2 bedrooms (double and 2 singles, sofa bed and travel cot), kitchen and living room. H10 is probably better suited to pre school age but I’ve seen loads of older children at Eden.

@Staywildandwander I've just had this problem booking for next year we will have a 6 month old , 3 and 4 year old, we went this June the 4 of us all in one suite ( 1 room) both kids caught a cold on the plane so was irritating on a night I'd been searching this time and cheapest I could find was £7500 package for a week still not ticking all the boxes as it was a one bed penthouse we really wanted 2 so we've opted for an air b and b ended up getting 5 bedrooms all on one level own pool walking distance to everything we would need. Also saved about £3500 including flights !

Try Booking.com? You can filter on numbers of beds, numbers of bedrooms, apartments/hotels, B&B, AI, pool, beachfront, whatever you want!

This is the Regia Mare Beach Hotel in Bodrum. Two bedrooms, one double, one triple, beachfront and a hotel pool. £2000 for a week in June, 2 adults and 3 children, breakfast included.

www.booking.com/Share-8E33K9

We are 5 - we stopped in Egypt and salou in the last 12 months all in one room - both through jet 2.

Arum Barut collection in Turkey do Presidence rooms (I think that’s what they’re called) with a double, a twin and a living room that has a sofa bed

I would talk to a travel agent who will know more specifically what’s available to a family with kids of your ages.

We’re quite happy to be in one room but a lot of companies put a max of 4 in a room even though one would easily fit in a cot

I've had some success contacting the hotel directly and asking if they have a room suitable for 5 and specify that the youngest can sleep in a travel cot and/or existing bedding. Even for next year (when our youngest will be 3), I've booked a couple of hotels direct where a room is officially for 4.

It does get complicated and it takes a lot of time to search through the options. I spend a lot of time checking hotels' own websites. You can specify just one room on Tui website (but not the app as far as I can tell). Also easyJet holidays and jet2 allow you to search for one room too.

We usually book directly though, hotels have much more flexibility (especially the smaller ones) than the tour operators who have strict occupancy criteria.

Our kids still love the big pools and all that comes with a hotel, so we don't want to move to Airbnb / Villa type holidays yet.