Best family holiday abroad in April school hols - not been abroad in years!

[Notmyname21]

For the last few years, we’ve holidayed in the UK. Always stayed in beautiful s/c accommodation which I think has spoiled us a bit because the equivalent abroad seems to be £££££!

I’d really love my kids (13&10) to experience a hot beach holiday abroad in a hotel so that we don’t have to do any cooking for once!

But I’m totally clueless about where to go. Without sounding like a snob, the thought of some kind of crowded “Brits abroad” resort where people fight over sun loungers fills me with horror 😆

Where can I find:

Lovely hotel, possibly AI with decent food
Pools and near/on the beach
Hot
Not super long haul but willing to look beyond Europe
Budget - I’m clueless - £4k for a week?? Do I have champagne taste, lemonade budget??

If it helps, I keep seeing the Glora resorts in Turkey advertised and they look lovely but are all booked for April (and possibly too expensive!)

Thank you!

https://www.princess-hotels.com/en/la-palma/la-palma-princess/

https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/bulgaria/bourgas-region/nessebar/hotels/sol-nessebar-bay-and-mare.html

Ive been to these two, both lovely and great food, not brits abroad style and also lots to do outside the hotel, especially la palma, beautiful scenery. Bulgaria is a good alternative to turkey but don’t think it will be hot there in April xx

We went to Barbados at Easter. It was a fab trip. The flight was long-ish but straightforward enough.

Princess hotels look lovely, @Drake88 ! But yes, looks chilly in Bulgaria that time of year!

@NowStartAgain where in Barbados did you go?

In April I would go to Egypt.

We went to Tenerife in April, hot enough during the day but still chilly mornings and evenings. Even with a heated pool it took a while to like it.

I don't think Spain or Greece are warm enough to be called Hot. Friends went to Crete in April and lots of things were only slowly opening.

Hot was it when we went to Barbados and St. Lucia in April, but £4K may not stretch it.

Could you move it to May half term? Greece or Cyprus may be better weather wise then.

I'm in Rhodes just now ( this resort is closing to reopen in April) staying at Atlantica Mikri Poli ( via EasyJet holidays)

It's a lovely hotel loads of nationalities (predominantly German) loads of pools and no high rise and probably within your budget

Thanks all - yes, May could be an option instead?

@MoreHairyThanScary ooh, yes, you reminded me - I don’t like high rise hotels!🙈

SE Asia (Thailand/Vietnam/Cambodia/etc) is beautiful in April, and the really nice 5 star accommodation options are amazing value compared to similar places in Europe. More than makes up for the higher ticket prices, and the food is to die for! It’s longer haul but not total misery and many places can be reached with a direct flight from London.

Thanks @whippyskippy - any particular resorts?

Your budget will go a lot further if you do half board instead of AI.
I've nothing against AI and it's great for families with teens but it's a big extra cost. Unless money not a consideration or you're very heavy drinkers it's usually cheaper to just buy lunches and drinks separately.
For example we recently stayed in. 4* hotel HB it was £3500 for 2 and an extra £850 for AI. We actually spent around £300 on drinks and lunch.

Dubai

Are there 3 of you or 4?
Are you all happy to share a room (with the DC probably on sofa beds) or do you want interconnecting rooms or some sort of two room apartment.
What do your DC like doing? Will they be happy lying by a pool? Do they want some watersports? Football? Tennis?
Do you want to do any days out and, if so, what sort of thing? The local tourist destination or do you want to go & see the local sights or are you particularly after history or art or anything?
Tenerife could be good. A day at Siam Park (a water park), possibly a day up the volcano/camel ride and the rest of the time around the hotel/beach/pool

I’ve also been to the La Palma Princess, it is lovely. We went in late April and wasn’t particularly warm, high teens the whole week. There are also no proper beaches near/nothing in walking distance of the hotel.

Def go in May half term. April you need long haul for reliable sun. May half term is lovely in the Med - I’d pick Greece.

If you hate high rise (me too) and don’t want or need all inclusive then I highly recommend the i-escape website which picks out smaller quieter hotels. Some are quite basic, others quite swish, but none are the massive block, sunbed bunfight, boozing from breakfast kind of places.

I've stayed in that princess hotel. It was OK but the pools were freezing in June time. There is 1 heated pool but it's quite small and usually very busy. This was about 8 or 9 years ago so might have added heating to some of the other pools too.

The pestana in porto Santo is nicer and a bit further south off the west coast of Africa so will likely be warmer in april/may.

If your budget will stretch I would look further afield to the Caribbean or Thailand as others have suggested. You get a lot more bang for your buck accommodation wise.

Nowhere in the Mediterranean will be "hot" (27° plus) in April. The pools will be cold and so will the sea (which is at its coldest in March, having lost heat all through the winter).

The Canaries are probably your best bet. 4K for a week for a family of four (I assume DH is coming along) ought to be doable. But on the snob front, realistically, in an AI hotel there may be one or two people wearing football shirts and there may not be a sun lounger for every guest to occupy for 12 hours per day. High-end places like Ikos are close to €1000 per night for a double.) Your kids will love it anyway.

To answer some PP’s questions:

• good point about half board - I rarely drink at all so AI probably is pointless. Definitely not one of those people who would be downing 5 cocktails every day to get my money’s worth!!

• There are 4 of us

• Kids would be happy with a nice heated pool and a beach nearby.

• Would be happy to share a room with the kids but anything bigger (interconnecting rooms/apartment) would be a bonus

• sounds like May is a better option

Resorts with heated pools are really hard to find unfortunately (if anyone knows of some please shout!) . I wouldn’t expect much swimming on a May holiday - more quick dip territory - unless your kids are very hardy or wear wetsuits.

If you went for a villa rather than resort then you can often find villas with a heated pool (heating is for extra lost) but then you’re back to s/c.

Been to several Gloria's OP, golf and serenity are the best, verde I didn't like, pool was freezing and food not so good.
My kids (when little) loved Thailand.