Spam me please! Need the ULTRA top quality family all-inc

[50hereIcome]

For Summer 2025 please - Thankyou.
Watersports, seafront, the usual. Similar to Sani/Ikos.

2 adults & a tween.

Budget £6k-ish.

Willing to compromise the length of stay for the quality 😊 Thanks!

6k for three in school holidays won’t give you a week at a top quality place

If you want ULTRA, the. You should be looking at Beaches holidays, which. Is the family friendly version of Sandles holidays. Not sure it would be in your price range tho.

Rixos premium Antalya in Turkey. £3.5k for a week in October for 1 adult and 1 teen in a shared room. Loved it. Would definitely go back. Roller skating waiters as its all so big. Beautiful beach, huge pools, 4 a la carte restaurants to go to once per week. Godiva chocolate cafe. Evening entertainment for 1 hour and then live bands in the beach bar but the sound didn't carry back to the main hotel.

@SchoolDilemma17 it is such lot of money for us, I’m clearly out of the loop as we haven’t been overseas for a decade.

@JustWalkingTheDogs Thankyou. Beaches, Mark Warner and Club Med all came to mind but we can only go in August so that’s a non-starter due to the threat of hurricanes.

@TooTiredToType77 Thanyou. I will dig deeper but suspect the cost will be too high given you went in October.

Sorry, I'd have said Ikos (I've just booked out third visit for next summer).

We looked some of the AIs in Turkey but they were either more expensive, didn't look as nice or had supplements for the a la cartes which rankles given they’re really expensive to start with.

@summer555 Literally just searched my ideal room and location ☹️ Double our budget.

Pre-child and my illness we did Sani, Dubai, LA etc…

DH will only do à la carte all-inc which doesn’t help.

Need a re-think.

Slightly tongue in cheek but to use the MN phrase you have a DH problem! If he wants a la carte all inc then he needs to accept it costs more than the budget.

You have my sympathies as my DH is similar that he thinks long haul flights in peak times should be £500 each and a 4 star hotel should be £100 a night. I’ve shown him what we can get for the dates we need and that he’s simply unrealistic.

Not quite Ikos and doesn’t have the water sports but we enjoyed Paradisus Gran Canaria. Good quality food and drinks and a lovely atmosphere.

@Twilightstarbright 🤣 You are so right! I should go without him; you’re not the first to say that!

Ugh - I feel your pain.

That's one of the more expensive room types though.

This time I've gone for a side sea view (thought my sea view room at Aria was pretty crap last time) and I'm paying £4,500 for 6 nights in early August for 3 adults.

Have you considered doing an air b&b somewhere instead you could get somewhere really nice with your budget

@summer555 Not so ‘D’ 😉 DH wants a full-on seaview for my 50th…I just want to get out of my kitchen…!

Thanks for the heads-up. What made it crap?

@BackinBlack24
I haven’t actually! Good shout - thankyou! Now to start narrowing down to a country x

Gran Melia in Tenerife is pretty good.

Club med is fab, look at the French one

Sorry school holiday prices are insane IME. And it’s getting worse every year

Thanks for the heads-up. What made it crap?

I think part of it was misleading photos, as they use the panoramic sea view room photos for the other sea view rooms on the Aria website, and they can be chalk and cheese.

We were next to the main building (with no lift) and the view was just multiple rooftops and a tiny sliver of sea in the distance. In fairness, they upgraded us to a pool view room in Deluxe halfway through the week (which I preferred to the sea view in any case as it was bigger despite both being junior suites).

I've since decided that I'd rather have a cheaper room than think I'm getting the panoramic sea view when the reality is rather different. I didn't think the food and service was as good at Aria as Andalusia but the sea won us over.

Another option is Mauritius- weather cooler than Europe, but if you go to the north or west it should be lovely. Loads of watersports generally included. You could get 9/10 nights at somewhere like le Victoria within budget including flights (I’ve just looked on Kenwood travel).

Liberty Fabay in Dalaman, Turkey is a 5 star with ultra all inclusive.

There's one a la carte included and additional a la carte is £20 each. They do have a food court and deli/ patisserie as well as the buffet. There are some YouTube videos which show the resort, and a Facebook group.

Mexico is generally cheaper but I wouldn’t go in August.
same for Mauritius, my friend went in August and it was warmer in England!
You could stretch to 7 nights Maldives but it’s a long flight for 7 nights. Dubai is too hot.

Coral Beech Hotel, Cyprus we had a duplex suite. We’ve been to Sani Beach a few years ago, quite similar.

I don't have any AI suggestions, was just going to say prices have gone up massively if you haven't been overseas in a decade, and you will need to reign in expectations accordingly. I hadn't really appreciated this until yesterday when I was shocked by someone's quote for a safari. I recalled the husband and I paying about £1200 each for a 2 week camping safari in 2007 and when I looked at the same trip the price for next year is upwards of £4500. I could instantly understand why her quote for a safari with fancy accomodation was so high.

Don't do AI. I wouldn't do buffet AI but I don't want to pay for a la carte AI so we self cater somewhere that's walking distance to restaurants and a decent sized suitcase plus beach and bus stop to get out and about, visit main town and attractions etc.

Stock up on easy food, drinks, snacks and ice creams from the supermarket and eat out at least once a day. Everyone is capable of doing their share of keeping the kitchen tidy and getting their own drinks and snacks.

Much cheaper than naice AI but a nicer experience than the buffet version.

I'd say that's a different quality holiday though! And a different type of holiday.

Two places that are lovely not quite Sani or Ikos

Cordial Mogan Playa in Gran Canaria

Iberostar Lanzarote Park but not sure you'd get that for £6k well either of them!

Don't do AirBnB if you want to get out of your kitchen. You will still be in the kitchen, just closer to the sea.