Isle of Wight with 17 month old

[TiredButTerrific]

Hi MNetters ! Trying to plan a trip to Isle of Wight with our 17 month old. Your inputs are amazing so along with Google, thought it would be helpful to hear your experiences

Any recs for stay-if hotel, they should be able to cater to his age, if not, self catering facilities should be available. Budget-150-200 quid a night maybe.

Which beaches are safe for his age-for playing in the sand and hopefully playing in the water ?

Also, are attractions that you would recommend for his age (he would probably like animals) including family friendly walks ?

Appley at Ryde and Sandown are probably the best beaches. Both have close-by toilets, clean water, fine sand, no dogs in summer and Appley has shallow pools on the beach when the tide goes out. Appley also has a long esplanade which is particularly good for pushing toddlers along on a trike.
Tapnell Farm Park has all the usual farm animals, indoor play barns, two giant bouncing pillows, a petting zoo and a cafe.

Love the Isle of Wight! We always stayed near Yarmouth -The West Bay Club. But agree with @Forgottenmyphone that Appleby is the nicest beach for a toddler. Lots of lovely memories of taking the kids to Black Gang Chine!

Thanks. We are deciding on self catering due to toddler. Which areas of the island should we consider-ideally there should be restaurants nearby for takeaways for me and DH ?

What time of year are you planning to go? Some of the smaller places to stay (Seaview for example) might not have that much open outside school holidays. And will you have a car?

@Junegirl15 we are going this spring and we do have a car..

Think that opens up lots of options as nothing is that far to travel to. We prefer the smaller towns (Yarmouth, Freshwater, Gurnard, Seaview,), Bembridge is nice and the Appleby side of Ryde. Never stayed in the bigger resorts of Shanklin, Sandown or Ventnor. Depends if you want to be in a bigger town or not. You could even stay pretty central and then have easier drive to the attractions - Robin Hill, Carisbrooke Castle, etc