Challenge - find me a holiday.

[yohohoCrimbo]

My parents are in their late 80's - still mobile but this needs to be gentle.

Bristol or Cardiff airport. Heathrow at a push. 1 week, 10 days max.

2 hrs air travel.

Car hire the other side.
Warm, not baking, villa with pool.
Beach holiday not necessary but nice coffee shops, restaurants, some small shopping areas nearby. Places of interest to visit.

We've visited France loads (love the markets) Portugal too. Happy to return to these areas again.

Budget isn't great so I need to be thrifty!

Fly to Faro, cheap hire car (£100pw). Stay at a place called Vila Sol near to Villamoura.

Or somewhere in that area.

It's only a 20 min drive from Faro.

Or fly to Nice and stay at Bordighera just inside Italy. Short drive from Nice and car hire more expensive but a lovely area.

Do you mean all 3 of you are going or just your parents? Will 1 person be doing all the driving or shared?
Isn't Portugal a longer fight that 2hrs?

I was going to suggest Rethymon in Crete. Very flat town and could do day trips to Knossos and the museum in Heraklion, or travelling the other side of the island to Chania. Again, the flight time is over 2hrs though.

Eastern Europe might be cheaper, especially places not on the Euro- Budapest, Bucharest, Poland?

Northern Spain?

Croatia? Canary Islands? Slightly longer flights, but worth it?

Channel Islands?

Are you looking at May? August is so hot in much of Europe. Cascais, near Lisbon, is beautiful, has nice restaurants and a nice small beach, we stayed in a B&B place, but am sure there are villas in the area. You can go to Belem and Sintra for sightseeing.

Bristol to Faro is between 2-2.5hrs flight time. Once you are there nothing is far away and it's easy driving.

Ibiza, Santa Eulialia. Perfect.

Santa Eulalia in Ibiza is the 'old people's resort. It's where Denholm Elliot retired.

It's very quiet with a small promenade with restaurants.

From there it's about a 20 minute drive to the Dalt Villa old town which is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Malaga

I should have given more info - sorry.

Going in school
Holidays (I teach) but it can't be too warm as my Dad can't cope with too much heat or mosquitoes for that matter.

There'll be 6 of us in total - DH and 2 teenage DD's with me. DD's are very low maintenance and as long as there's a pool and a few walks, they'll be happy to be with us and their beloved Nan and Bamps.

Are you looking for somewhere where there is a flat promenade area for them to walk along? I'm thinking that a lot of European destinations can be quite hilly. Could you go in May half term so it's not so hot?

Puerto Pollensa maybe ? It's flat along the front and there are plenty of places you could drive to. It's not the cheapest though.