toddler friendly holiday ideas please

[bigbananaflambe]

In the summer my son will be 3. We'd love to go on holiday but it can't be expensive. Want to go abroad. Ideally a self catering villa with pool somewhere warmish (don't want to stay in a complex) child friendly type place. Any ideas very gratefully received!

Thank you

any ideas from anyone....??

IME a villa with its own pool in the summer will be expensive, most expensive time to go... I'll have a search and see what I can find
Any idea on whereabouts you want to go?

Corsica is nice. Knowing when in summer would help, it is boiling hot there and very expensive in August, much cheaper in June and the sunshine a bit less strong.
Corsican Places has a selection of individual villas with pools and is a very good operator to the island.

PLaying devils advocate - we took dds to Portugal when they were 3&2 and although they thought it was OK, it was actually too hot for them, we were constantly chasing them to put on sun cream etc and it was not the blissed out experience we hoped for.

Contrastingly when we go to Cornwall and muck about on wet cold beaches in wet suits and with bbqs etc, they cannot get enough of it. They trully think it is wonderful - and of course it has the benefit of being much cheaper!

Precisely why we are back in Devon next year after nearly frying ds' toddler brain in searing heat near La Rochelle, ILoveMarmite...we found it too hot to enjoy ourselves, having always loved France previously.

I live in southern ireland and whenever i meet families who are on holiday here with their children they say how lucky we are to live here as it is the perfect place for them! Safe sandy beaches (and swimming pools for not so hot days),woods, parks, lots of good food (from the plainest to the most unusual), child-friendly restaurants, NO SMOKING ANYWHERE INDOORS, .........
Can you tell i love it here?

Taking advantage of the years before we have to holiday in the school hols, we have gone to Greece and Spain in either May or September, (to avoid extreme heat and sun)and have always booked last minute offers...ok if you feel ok about not knowing until a couple of weeks before, and if you can be flexible for a couple of days around departure date. Simply Travel have come up with some good villa offers, Kosmar are good, and we have done well through Lastminute.com, too. The best hol we had with DS was when he was almost 3, and we went to a village in a cove on the Costa Brava - a very small prom with a small 1' drop down onto a nice beach enabled us to enjoy lunch/drinks in a cafe while DS played in the sand within talking distance.
Our worst hol was being stranded in a 'cortico' up a long preciptous track - couldn't practically go out in the evenings, nearest civilization was miles away, and no phone - not good with a little one.

have a look on babygoes2.com, good advice on there

thanks everyone - yes babygoes2 is a fantastic website - just been doing some searching on it. Mallorca surprisingly sounds nice - anyone been?

I am totally flexible about when we go (hubsand works for himself)would probably consider going mid may or early june to avoid heat and throngs of people!

somewhere like greece or spain i guess is what i had in mind - somwhere they like kids and we can try simple tasty food all together - maybe with a bit of babysitting thrown in...!

Hi,
We went to a lovely place in September called Daphnes (www.daphnes...) you'll have to google it as I can't remember the exact address (get back to me if you can't find it). It is in Zakynthos and is in fact very near to the complex that BabyGoes2 reviews only a lot nicer and more informal. It is set in an olive grove and all except one unit are on one level - which is handy. They have a lovely children's play area amongst the olive trees and though they don't have a pool (as they wanted to keep the place peaceful) there is a lovely beach with shallow waters a couple of minutes walk away with a superb beach bar with yummy food. We went out to tavernas most nights as it is so easy and quick to eat with a toddler because it is so informal. You order the food, it comes quickly (vital with a toddler!) and afterwards said toddler can play in the playground that always seems to be attached to every taverna we went to. Daphnes will give you recommendations where to go.

It is run by a Swedish woman Maria and her Zakynthon husband Dionysis - both extremely friendly and the whole place is impeccably clean and well maintained - unlike the babygoes2 recommendation (can't remember its name). We looked around it and it didn't look half as well tended for).

A car wouldn't be necessary - quite a few other families didn't have one (the best beach on the island is about 15 minutes walk away and there is a local shop a minute away) but we had a car and used it quite a lot. It was all very reasonably priced.

Tell me what you think. We'll definitely go again. Just a really relaxed and nice holiday - (though Zakynthos airport leaves something to be desired....which is the only caveat).

Rubyone, Thank you so much for this -bizarrely I was looking on babygoes2 and decided today that Zakynthos was the place for me - sounds great. Have looked at Daphne - looks perfect. Will try and talk husband into taking a holiday this year!

Might come back to you with questions if I may...

just returned from Daphne's and can't add to rubyone's excellent description. Very much recommended.