First ever all-inclusive - help!

[Ketryne]

We've never done an all-inclusive resort holiday but think it's finally the time. We have a DS who will be nearly 4 and a newborn DD who will be approx 8 months. Last year DS was bored on our family holiday (Airbnb villa in Italy), so we think he'd really love a kids club.

In the past we've always been quite resistant as we like to do our own thing, explore local towns and plan activities under our own steam. DH is terrible at sitting still so doesn't like to be trapped on a resort with nowhere to go, and I'm also put off by all sharing one room, so we've tended to do self-catering/airbnbs.

If we're going to do the resort thing, I'd like it to feel a bit special. Otherwise it's a lot of money for something we don't love.

Can anyone suggest a mid range resort/location that's worth looking at? Something that feels genuinely nice but not so luxurious I'd be scared of the kids touching things.

Criteria are:

• Warm in the summer months but not roasting (Greece heat makes me nervous)
• Ideally near towns/places to visit so we're not stuck
• All in cost under approx 10k including flights
• Very open on flight length/distance assuming price isn't too ridiculous.
• Must be child friendly and have kids club facilities
• Due to nursery term dates we'll have to travel in July/August.

Any suggestions welcome!

We were also looking for something all-inclusive but with more freedom to explore and our friends recommended a family summer camp in the mountains of Montenegro.
it’s all-inclusive but feels special and relaxed, with kids' activities, beautiful nature, great food, and plenty of nearby places to explore. Plus, it’s in the mountains, so it’s warm but not unbearably hot in summer!

Check it out: www.shalanature.com/

Could DH use parental leave to cover some of the school holidays? It would be unpaid, but you would save £££ on the price of your holiday which would offset that. Plus there would be less big kids around, and you could benefit from some of the lower temperatures at the start or end of the season, which would give you more options.

Seychelles isn't the place for little kids unless it's changed massively since we went. Why do you want AI? It's definitely not worth it with little children in my opinion. Unless you want it for a specific reason.

Thanks everyone, really helpful stuff here, I'm looking at all of it.

The only reason for AI was that we were considering a resort with kids pools/activities and all the prices at resorts I was looking at seemed to be all inclusive ones. I'm perfectly happy to go with half board or similar, just want somewhere that will keep the toddler entertained.

Useful tip on The Seychelles not being kid friendly. I came across a Club Med resort there with kids clubs etc which was quite a bit cheaper than the Ikos and Mark warner places I'd been looking (both totally broke the budget!)

@Hedonism you make a good point about unpaid parental leave balancing out the cost, we'll have a look into that.

We chose half board rather than AI as we like to try local restaurants for lunch/go on day trips. And with DC (age 3.5 at the time) we wouldn't be drinking much.

Definitely get an apartment style room if you can - ours had a living room with sofa bed and a separate bedroom. No way we would have enjoyed 10 days all in one room. We didn't have a kitchenette but that would have been great.

We chose a relatively small resort which worked well as short walk to breakfast/dinner/pool- easy to hop back to room if forgot anything.

We also chose a place with decent evening entertainment as we knew we wouldn't be going out in the evening. That worked well - after dinner we'd watch that evening's show for a bit. Our DC loved the acrobatics and magic shows.

Check the ages of holiday clubs - of the places we looked at some were 3+, others 4+

Cost of unpaid leave may be significant depending on salary. If your son is 4 is there a local holiday camp you could use , or even a temporary nanny? That would be cheapest probably

We did our first package holiday to https://www.royalsonbou.com/en/ Menorca with our (then) 4m old and almost 3y old.

Not much to explore at all in Son Bou but very easy to get the bus into Mahon which was a lovely day out.

We went half board and didn't really eat much lunch at all.

I think we booked ours through TUI and we ended up having our room upgraded to a 2-bed 2-bathroom suite with balcony, kitchenette and living room.

Kids club was great, lots of activities. You could drop and run, or stay and play. I don't think they had a lower age limit! There was a teeny baby who had been dropped off and the staff tried so hard to keep the baby happy before calling parents to collect. I was nervous initially and chose not to drop mine off but I was actually really impressed with what I saw.

Perfect holiday for what it was.

Yeah, just thought it was worth considering. Of course it depends on salary. If there are holiday clubs available then that would probably make the equation work even better, good point.

Turkey at October half term is fab! 26/27 degrees.

we like the Barut chain of hotels and they usually offer rooms with 2 separate bedrooms.

If you want plenty of space and a kids club, try some of the French campsites. We used them when ours were aged between about 4 and 12, and always booked a chalet or mobile home so we all had our own room. It’s not AI, but you really don’t need to cook as they all have decent cafes, and barbecues supplied for you to use. We loved the slow pace, excellent pools, the kids liked meeting other kids.

How good's your French? Clubmed resorts are gorgeous but very very French, especially if you want to use kids clubs etc.

Minus the heat, highly recommend Jiva Beach Resort in Turkey. We've done a lot of AI and that one is our favourite.

The kids clubs in Rixos hotels are unrivalled in my opinion. We have stayed at the one in Dubai but I think they're in a few different countries.