2 centre holiday, things to see/do plus pool hotel (with slides even better!)

[onetwoapes]

I'm hoping the wisdom of Mumsnet can help please.

We had a UK holiday this summer but are wanting to go abroad next year so already hoping to get something booked to secure a reasonable (ish price.)

I would like to do something a bit more interesting than just an all inclusive beach/pool holiday but know I can sometimes make plans that exhaust me and the rest of the family (a 13 and 11 year old by next summer but 13 year old has autism which means he will also appreciate time to relax.)

So I'm now thinking a 2 centre holiday with the 2nd week at a more traditional pool holiday. They like slides and also loved trying the different restaurants at an all inclusive in Egypt last year. First week ideally would be more interesting with things to see and do, a tour maybe or just staying in one place. Second week at an all inclusive but one with a few interesting things onsite (like the slides, a lazy river, restaurants, etc.)

Pre kids we went to Thailand and Vietnam which would be good but that's not going to work well weather wise as we are restricted to August next year. Budget is no more than 10k (husband would say 7k!) if it's a special holiday and has a lot of (or all) meals/drinks included.

Does anyone have any recommendations please as I've been driving myself crazy googling and am back at work next week so won't have much time to look! If you can recommend specific hotels and companies that would be even more brilliant! Thank you!

How about a cruise? It’s the best of both worlds.

One year we did a week Med cruise followed by a week in a hotel. This was Marella who do cruise and stay packages.

A few years ago we really enjoyed a few days in Istanbul followed by a few days in the south of Turkey.

Thanks, I think my son would find a cruise tricky as he'd feel a bit trapped so probably not a cruise. Turkey is interesting, we went there with family in 2018. Not sure if Istanbul has enough that would be interesting for the kids though.

My parents used to do 2 weeks in one place but only hire a car for one week so we, as kids, knew we would have pool and downtime for at least half the time which suited us we'll. If your son has autism wouldn't it be better to be in one place so he can get used to it?

He would cope if the second week was in one place, and actually doing different things is good for him. He tends to be OK if he's with us. Things like food can be a struggle but that's true even staying in one place!

We just got back from a bit of a train tour in Europe. We were particularly impressed by the French rail network, especially the TGV. There’s lots of high speed take along the southern coast of France with links into Spain, Monaco and Northern Italy. You could do some cultural city-hopping and then finish up at a beach resort to flip for a bit.