European summer holiday all inclusive/resort? Help needed!

[glitterflower]

Hi all,

Would love advice from the MN travel experts. Thinking ahead to next summer and hoping to take advantage of the sales that are currently on.

As a family we usually do villa holidays, but we are leaning towards a week in July at a hotel...perhaps all inclusive if that's an option. It's me and DH, and two teenage DC (13 and 15).

Somewhere with a lovely beach and not too busy/touristy! Ideally it would have enough going on to keep the DC amused - maybe options for boat hire and within walking distance to a village/town with shops and restaurants. We really don't want huge high rise hotels that do evening entertainment, packed out beaches or strips serving English breakfasts etc.

The only resort we've ever been to was Daios Cove in Crete. We had a great time, but the kids were tiny and it seemed very geared to young families. Lovely though it was, it was isolated and the expectation was that you didn't really leave the complex. I think we need somewhere with a bit more going on - and of course, we have no need for in-hotel kids clubs or whatever.

We've been to Paxos as well as Crete and absolutely loved it. Considering other greek islands? Kefalonia/Santorini/Naxos/Hydra maybe? We've also done a few Mallorca holidays and love it there too...perhaps Menorca?

Have been to Sardinia, but never Sicily, and curious about there too!

I think we can budget around 5k (including flights) and it looks like there are some good deals out there in 4/5* places.

Would love advice and suggestions...thanks so much.

I was going to suggest Menorca as a good starting point.
I doubt you'll get a nice AI for 5K in Greece or Cyprus.
Look at the Canary Islands too, it really depends what resort you choose , some have high rise hotels and are very busy, other resorts are quieter. Lanzarote would probably be best for you, Playa Blanca is lovely. Fuerteventura worth a look too although might be a little boring for teens for 2 weeks. We liked Los Gigantes on Tenerife as it was a good balance of things to do but not a massive busy resort.
Jet2 have some good deals, we've used them a few times and always been great.

@user2848502016 - thanks! I have seen some nice 4/5* deals for Greece in that budget in the sales, particularly in Crete. Some of them are half board though, which is also fine. Also, we are looking at just one week, not a fortnight, as you've said in your post.

Not wildly keen on Canary Islands. Been before - I know there are some nice parts, but I'd rather go somewhere new.

Menorca/Fuerteventura - any suggestions of particular resorts? Thanks again.

Ah yea that's me reading your post wrong, a week for 5K is definitely doable.

Fuerteventura Corralejo and Caleta de Fueste are nice. Not been to the more southern resorts.
Cala'n Bosch Menorca is nice, the whole island is family friendly and quite chilled compared to Majorca.

Hi @glitterflower

On your budget of 5k you will get something nice. What you won't get is AI, without some kind of evening entertainment. The two tend to go hand in hand!

If you are going in July you have a huge pool of hot sunny short haul places to pick from. Portugal, Mainland Spain, Balearics, South of France, Greek Islands. I'm jealous just thinking about it!

I have travelled extensively with my teens. The impression I have from your post is that your family would suit an all inclusive melia hotel, these are in all mainland Spain, Balearics, canaries. These tend to be more expensive, reasonably upmarket, less geared towards Brits specifically, with a clientele from all over Europe. If you go on their website you can explore all the options. The entertainment tends to be musicians, dance acts etc rather than the dreaded reptile shows or animation teams.

Another place that springs to mind is Elounda in Crete, which you seem to like. Absolutely stunning, lots of lovely hotels, boat trips over to Spinalonga, very unspoilt but a nice harbour, tavernas etc

@mykettle - thank you! 'dreaded reptile shows' made me giggle 😂

Interesting what you say about AI - maybe it's not the way to go for the type of place we want. But I will check out the Melia hotels, they sound great. We've also had friends stay at Elounda and loved it, so I will look there also.

Can anyone offer any insight on Sicily?

I would seriously consider whether AI is actually right for you. We knocked that on the head a year or two back as we found we spent too much time out the hotel, finding nice meals etc and still buying things like branded ice creams for it to work for us. It's good value if you are the kind of family to stay around an activity pool drinking beer all day and happy to eat in one of only a couple of restaurants every night. One of which will undoubtedly be a chaotic buffet restaurant. We go B and B or Half board (if hotel allows a swopping of dinner for lunch which most do), act as if we are AI within the hotel by charging what ever we want to our room but still have the freedom to do whatever we want outside also, without that uncomfortable feeling that we 'should' be in the hotel because we've paid for the AI. I did the maths recently, comparing the holiday we had (half board) with what it would have been AI, considering we probably would have spent the same extra money outside anyway and it came in £700 in our favour for a family of 4. We didn't feel like we missed out at all. If we wanted a cocktail we got one and flashed our room card. The room bill at the end of the week was £200, the difference between half board and AI was £900. We spent £600 outside the hotel, water park, water sports and meals out etc but like I said we would have spent the majority of that even if we had been AI. Definitely something to consider. AI is certainly not the pinnacle for me.