Is there a good age to take kids abroad or is it always horrible?

[FallOfSloths]

My kids are still fairly young (oldest still in infants) and we've not tried an abroad holiday, as it just seems they're too little to really care/get much benefit out of it to justify the price. I was thinking that this would be something we'd enjoy when they're older.

However, my friend has just come back from a winter sun thing with her kids (13 and 14) and says it was awful, they just fought the whole time and also just spent the whole thing rolling their eyes at her and her DH and not wanting to be near them. Before anyone says they're just spoiled etc, I have known them all their lives and they are generally decent children. My friend said she thinks the proximity just causes the arguing and that maybe it was just too intense (whereas normally they wouldn't be together all the time with school, work, activities etc).

Anyway, just curious to know if there's a golden age where abroad holidays really work? I'm particularly thinking about beach based AI type stuff as that's what I liked doing pre children, with a little bit of sightseeing.

Or do you have to wait until they leave home to properly enjoy things?!

My kids are 7 and 9 and we go abroad maybe 3 times a year and always have. We always have a great time!

Some people are so doom and gloom!

We've always taken DS abroad. It's about choosing something that works for their age.

So we did all inclusive holidays with kids clubs when he was really young. Now he enjoys exploring so we choose a destination together.

We've always had a brilliant time.

Once mine had their first MMR vaccination we were off! Didn’t go long haul until end of reception age, before that it was Menorca etc

We took ours camping in France from quite small. We had a lovely time and the highlight was later bedtimes, and children of all nationalities playing together while the adults sat nearby keeping an eye on them. Happy days! Once they were older, hanging out with other kids didn't happen, so we did stuff together more. Never did AI holidays though, and we stopped once they were teenagers due to circumstances (and finances)

I think the absolute sweet spot is probably 4-11 year olds, but outside of that you still absolutely can have brilliant holidays with kids. BUT for me I think you do have to make adjustments (unless you and your kid are already super chill) - might be things like... compromising on activities, paying extra for a apartment instead of a room, adjusting your expectations, planning fewer activities in a day etc etc

i have always gone away with the kids - from babes to teens - cannot imagine not having done so. Some places are super easy food wise - like Italy.
your friends teens are clearly ungrateful and should be left behind in the summer if there’s a holiday planned

We took my son abroad from the age of a year old! From the age of 2, he could have his own seat on the aircraft. We haven't gone abroad every year. However, my son is now 14 and loves visiting different countries/eating new foods etc. We've always had pool/beach days but we like to see the area we're staying. We hire a car or/and book tours, so we can see the surrounding area. We like self-catering or B&B rather than half-board/AI - as we like going to local restaurants and trying different foods. It really depends on you as a family, what you enjoy and your child's personality.

I often see posts on here of people who have taken kids away and not had a good time. We have been taking ours away since they were babies generally a couple of times a year, last year we were away four times as had couple family celebrations. We have never had any issues they were easy as babies and younger kids. Only had one year when eldest dd was about 13 and was an absolute hormonal, bratty nightmare for a few days.

Other than that they have always been great. She's 20 now and goes with friends/boyfriend. Second is 15 and she is great on holidays and a really good laugh and youngest is 12 and can't see him ever causing issues as he is really laid back and we spend alot of time together travelling the country for his sport every weekend and have a good relationship, so can't see him suddenly being a little brat on holiday due to so much time together when occasionally we are in a car together for 9 hour round trips with no problems and it looks like things will be this way for years as can't forsee him giving up his sport anytime soon. So for us all ages have been good.

Teenagers are definitely the worst for this. I've taken my dc abroad at all ages from babies up and always enjoyed it and got loads of benefit. Summer 2024 was definitely the hardest going out of all holidays in that they argued a lot (11 and 14) but not to the point it ruined the holiday or that I wouldn't take them again. Up until that point we'd never had a single issue

Definitely no big budget here. Single parent, low income scraping the cash together. No pressure- what's the point of that on holiday?! We do what we can given the budget

We've holidayed abroad regularly since ours were 6 and 3. Just Europe and easy holidays to start with, now they're teens we go long haul, more adventurous. Never wanted the faff of pushchairs, bottles, weaning and all that jazz abroad, but found 3+ great, all our holidays have been wonderful, and ours are usually renowned for fighting like cat and dog!

Definitely don't wait until they're teens, you'll be missing out!!

Taken ours loads of time and it’s never been “awful”

that said I can’t understand the four in a room thing and that really would be awful for me. I need my own space away from the kids. So we always get some sort of apartment where the kids are in a different room. And usually self cater so we be a bit more flexible with food.

We didn't have loads of money but actually found 'abroad' cheaper than the UK quite often. We did the ferry rather than flights when the kids were younger and went Euro camping and to European Centre Parcs. We all really enjoyed it but we very much had holidays the kids would enjoy rather than attempting the kinds of holidays we would have enjoyed pre-kids.
Mine are teens now and it's slightly harder to find stuff we'd all enjoy but I just try not to sweat it if they're on their phones and stuff. I also try not to get in the mindset of they should be massively appreciative.

I think it depends on the child - DS1 was really easy to travel with, he loved all forms of transport so was a dream as he was so fascinated.
DS2 on the other hand was hard work, couldn't sit still and very hard to entertain.

I agree with a pp tip about not doing normal/early bedtime, especially if you've gone somewhere hot!

We have to travel ‘abroad’ because my family lives on another continent nearly 36 hours by flight. We have been flying long haul since DS1 was 7/8 months.

First of all, a lot of our holidays are local. We love visiting big cities (we are in the US), going to National Parks or hiking. So we have done plenty of short haul flights. Yes, it’s different with kids but we have more or less always enjoyed it. We keep to a schedule, don’t plan too much, and keep our expectations low.
We obviously travel to Asia once a year and we have then taken them to Europe regularly. Again city breaks with maybe the beach thrown in, lots of hiking trips. We don’t do AI or holidays where you stay in one place.

I guess our kids are used to it? We both work FT so it’s nice to have a different pace (and yes it’s same shit, different location but we are not cooking and cleaning etc).

And no big budget. Most of our holidays are in the US. We usually stay in airbnbs and mid range hotels. Fly economy class. Our kids don’t do and have never done kids clubs.

I think it depends on you and your kids. I liked doing self catering cottages when they were toddlers so I could put them to bed/ nap when I wanted and still have a lounge to relax in. I would not have found AI relaxing with toddlers as you are just following them around and there are loads of new hazards but many people do enjoy it so that's on me and my worrying.

I think primary school age is great but the main difference is it's a family holiday now. If you enjoyed going to AI and lying on a pool bed all day relaxing you probably won't get that holiday again until they are much older but you can get some of that mixed in with stuff they enjoy too. Or use kids clubs.

We don't have a lot of money, but we do try to get away to France/IoW every year. We always stay in air bnbs or equivalent, so we can keep a similar routine to home.

It's always worth it.

Holidays with children are just parenting in new locations. The challenges don't change really if its an abroad or UK based holiday.

We do alot of UK based holidays with the odd long haul every 2 years - mine are DS7 and DD3. The challenges are the same on both sorts of holidays. Sometimes good. Sometimes just not worth it.

I definitely think the expectation of holidays and pressure to make it perfect can have a big impact. Kids are out of routine, excited and overwhelmed. Parents just want to relax and enjoy some downtime. Holidays with less expectation and our own rooms from the kids definitely go better.

Kids are now almost off our hands at 18&20 and they still want to come on most holidays. Yes there’s been the odd fight and me getting cross with them, but less in hols than st home. And most of our hols involve a 12 hour drive to south of France.

i love holidays and have never had a horrible family holiday. I’ve just been away on my own (with a group) and while I had a fab time, I did miss the kids (a bit).

I've been taking dd on holiday/ travelling since she was 3 months old and never had a bad holiday/ flight. Dd is now 13 and we are lucky to go on holiday 4/5 times a year. She's our only so thankfully no sibling bickering. Sometimes we go just the 3 of us, more recently we've started taking her friend and then we do a big holiday with my sisters and their dc.

I honestly think if you view family holidays as “awful” then you just don’t like your kids.
My oldest is only 3 so we’ve just been away abroad twice and it was great, as were all the staycations we’ve been on because we like to hang out as a family.

We planned to start taking DS abroad when he was 4 as by then there would be no nappies, pushchairs, travel costs, naps etc. However Covid happened just after his 4th birthday so he ended up being 7 the first time we went. Have now been on three trips abroad with him and they have all been fab, really enjoyable for all of us.

Took dd to France from 11 months until we emigrated when she was 9. Stayed in hôtels but mainly gites.

Travel cots, there were definitely travel costs still!

I would recommend not splurging. Some people spend ridiculous money . There are cheaper holidays. It's never as fun with kids as it is just the 2 of you. Younger kids it's a bit same shit different place.

Holidays definitely are a mixed bag with dc. I always enjoy them in Retrospect!

I find uk holidays expensive and miserable. We've had some good uk ones during covid. Otherwise we get cheap flights and air bnb with shared pool.

My kids loved florida (naturally) but also a waterpark / activity camp called hof van saksen in Netherlands. We had a great time at europapark theme park in Germany. They loved GF victoria in tenerife. They have enjoyed holidays with friends and family.

The dc usually enjoy the holiday but dh or I might not enjoy all of it. I still go on lots of holidays!