Does this holiday exist?

[mamaduckbone]

2 older teen ds's who eat like horses and would prefer AI (in some ways so would I, but only because it takes the stress out of thinking about where the next meal is coming from and helps with budgeting) A pool is essential, but none of us are bothered about evening entertainment.

A Dh who is an anxious traveller and likes the security of a package deal where everything is sorted by the tour operator. Also won't drive abroad.

Me - desperate for somewhere that we can get out of the resort and see some of the local area, escape the AI for an occasional meal, so ideally within walking distance of a town that isn't just a tourist resort.

Looking at Greece, but open minded to other options.

I thought I had it sorted with an apartment hotel in Agios Nikolaos but having looked a bit more closely it's not quite hitting the spot, although the town looks gorgeous and I really want to go to Spinalonga.

Please help! I'm going round in circles.
Budget around 4k for a week in mid July.

Sorry - I didn't mean that to be so long!

Turkey or Egypt....?

Do you want literally everything sorted in the package deal, including days out or do you just mean the main bits, flight, accommodation, transfers etc.....

Some places I can think of have loads of places you can explore either by foot, cycle or public transport, but wanted to check if that was okay with that, or wanted tour operator type days out.

No, happy to explore on our own - it's just the flights, transfers and hotel that he would prefer to be sorted.

Interested to know where...I'm sure we could live without the private pool to line up a little more with our budget!

I think your budget might be tight assuming you'll need two rooms? Ibiza, es canar or Santa Elulia would fit the bill.

I went to Rhodes this year and did horse riding every day. Also done it from Kalkan inTurkey

Have a look at Parga in Greece. It’s mainland but you can do boat trips to paxos if you like. Really pretty, cobbly streets with an old castle perched on the hill. The Parga beach resort is lovely but I don’t think will work budget wise. Def worth looking at other options around that area though!

If you're happy to get taxis to local towns or walk 10 mins to restaurants then TUI Blue lagoon princess in Halkidiki is lovely

I've seen plenty of holidays well within our budget (Black Friday deals and we can go before most schools have broken up) but just haven't quite found the location.

Any thoughts on Kos?

That looks worth a look - thank you.
Happy with a bit of walking and/or public transport - it doesn't have to be right in a town as long as accessible and not in a big strip of resort hotels in the middle of nowhere.

Sounds lovely - I'll take a look.

We don't like Kos but our hotel wasn't in the best location and getting to the town was a pita. Holiday village.

We've been to Crete before and loved it so that's definitely an option, but I'm struggling to find hotels that are both AI and not miles away from a town, so any more specific tips would be great.

Kos was going to be one of my suggestions- we went with two teens last year. We did hire a car for convenience but you could have definitely got away with not hiring one. We did a couple of day trips by bus & then had been planning to hire bikes for the second half of the holiday, but unseasonably warm, in fact heat wave type temps for late October put us off that plan.

I'd also recommend Lake Garda as a brilliant base, beautiful & loads to explore, plus in easy reach of some lovely places to explore near by as well.

I'm afraid I don't have any specific recommendations for hotels, we did self catering in Lake Garda & we did AI in Kos but I wouldn't recommend the hotel we stayed in.

19 and 16. 19yo won't be into going out clubbing when they're with us though.

I second Create its lovely....you can stay in one of the resorts but it is also small enough to go on interesting day trips.

There's loads of place like this.

How do you want to explore? Foot? Bus? car?

I love es Cana too. It's a great resort small enough to walk around and some longer exploration of pretty rocky coves

Ibiza town in the bus is just stunning at sunset

Get the boat to Santa Eulalia

Go int he trundle train to the beaches or the countryside

Get a pedaloe with a slide

Go snorkelling

I meant to quote you

Rhodes, most of the TUI hotels are within walking distance to small villages with shops and tavernas. Local bus to Rhodes town always run regularly too.

Not fussed on Kos. Kefalonia is lovely but not so many AIs. Thassos is probably my favourite island but again not as many AIs.