Holidays with family that sunburns easily

[WillIEverGoOnHoliday]

Hi everyone,

Young kids and OH sunburn very easily. Like in the UK on a remotely sunny day in may after an hour.

Anyone in this position what do you do for your holidays? We managed UK centerparcs (indoor activities and trees for shade) but just interested in the range of options and approaches. So many things like eurocamp, haven, hobourne, tui seem predominantly outdoors.

Thanks

Thanks, I did wonder if lots of people end up with sunburn. We're not into sitting out in the sun but DC1 loves a swimming pool and an outdoor one sounds risky.

Thanks everyone. I think cp netherlands would work.

Thanks for all the brilliant tips on suncream!

I'm interested in northern france. I think for now we'd prefer a resort like cp or eurocamp so there's lots to do without driving all the time. Though eurocamp is predominantly outside so might leave that until they're older.

Or the Arctic circle

We holiday in Scotland or Wales. Our daughter gets heat stroke easily - it was a huge problem at school. She doesn't burn but she can't cope with the heat. I know it's not everyone's idea of a holiday but we like self catering and getting out and about. It is rarely so hot we have a problem and if it is too hot, we do an indoor activity.

My husband is the colour of milk and burns easily, we’re in spain at the moment, suncream is reapplied every two hours, an appropriate amount as well, a lot of people don’t apply enough. If we do that he doesn’t burn at all.

I have 2 very fair children who can burn in Scotland. We use boots Soltan factor 50 8 hour stuff and 3 hour swim. But they swim with full length rash vests with upf 50 in. They also have swim hats on.
We reapply every 2 hours and always sit in a shady spot.

We also go for a "proper lunch" and sit indoors then will play games to avoid the worse of the midday sun.

Europe centre parcs! So many to choose from and loads of activities in shaded area

Another fair family here! We love hot holidays - calypso once a day applied liberally when naked in the morning with time for it to dry. Rash vests at all times when at the pool/beach. Hats a must, even in the pool. Umbrella to sit under. We have a long lunch in the shade in the heat of the day, and kids have some screen time after. Reapply the suncream after lunch. We’ve never burned, even in Egypt!

Agree with this. We are a family of three ginger people who instantly burn. During a week in the Med we will go through at least four full bottles of P20 between us.

DH was convinced he couldn’t ever go in the sun when I met him. I introduced him to factor 50 sunscreen and he’s not burnt since.

Netherlands or north coast of Belgium. They have center parcs style holiday parks with big indoor pool complexes. Loads of great options listed here: https://little-clogs-holidays.co.uk/where-to-stay/?_type=holiday-park

Plus all the advice everyone else has given about covering up, staying in the shade, avoiding full sun in middle of day, using good factor 50 long-lasting sun cream and reapplying, etc.

I can’t go in the sun but have been to lots of very hot countries. In Jordan and Oman I fit in beautifully in my rash vest tops and running leggings! All the women wore them. I mainly wear a hat my have been known to take it off in the pool. I wear long sleeve shirts and trousers or long maxi dresses with at least a sleeve. I’ve been in lots of Muslim countries and frankly it’s a better dress code for the local views.

If it really hot and we are in the water my DD will both wear rash vests (teens) and one just goes with running leggings (same sort of material) as she is fair and it’s just easier than all the cream.

We used to use Sunsense 50+ an Aussie brand,
but that’s out of production (or was last summer) but boots sunsense 50+ 3 hours water is great. Reapply. Reapply. Always full body using LOTS before getting dressed.

NEVER rely on locally bought cream, it’s rarely as good in the water and that’s when burns happen to the face in my experience. We take vats of the darn stuff.

NEVER let younger children do their own cream.

Edit to say: we are off to the high Arctic this summer though 😂

Scotland, wear wetsuits! Lots of activities in the aviemore area and plenty of accommodation at all price points. Chances are the sun won’t make an appearance. There’s amazing indoor pool resorts in Germany, I looked at going when mine were little.

You can still do city breaks with DC. I'm not keen on beach holidays (grew up on an island so beaches were pretty much all there was to do) and so we've always done city breaks with our DC. We go to southern Europe in October when the sun is less harsh and the crowds are less but we only go to the beach for a day. Northern Europe or UK in the summer. We try and do a variety of activities so e.g. when we went to Paris (all kids under 10) we went to the zoo, the Louvre, the Luxembourg Gardens, Sacre Coeur, Eiffel Tower, a boat trip on the river, Notre Dame. We self cater and eat out for lunch, do a bit less than we did pre-kids and include some child friendly activities but you'd be surprised what they enjoy.

We get our P20 from TK Maxx - and my cream and spray hating DS can cope with the Boots stick