Please help me find a holiday destination!

[autumngirl714]

I like in NW England.
i am a single mum and want to take my two primary school boys away on holiday next may half term for a 3/4 day break. They’ve never been abroad, and it’ll be my first time being the only adult going abroad 🙈.
can anyone recommend somewhere in Europe we will enjoy? Would like somewhere near a child friendly beach, water parks or slide, children’s activities and entertainment.
i was thinking maybe Spain?
I want a package holiday with transfers to make it easier 🙂
where sht best place to consider?

Look at Alicante perhaps, plenty of flights so should be reasonable, I’d feed you dates into search engines and see what is on your price range. One person’s affordable is another person’s expensive!

I’d look at Majorca - it’s where we took our DC as young kids. I would say that oftentimes 3/4 nights is more expensive than a week, especially with the package providers.

If you want more reliable weather for May HT you may need to go further afield though.

Another vote for Majorca. It's a fairly short flight (2.5 hours from Manchester) and the scenery is beautiful.

If your budget is a bit limited then look at the all-inclusive places in Cales de Mallorca, some of which have lots of slides. It's not the prettiest town but as a result the hotels have to keep an eye on the prices.

If you are a bit more flush then there are some nice places to stay in Palma Nova and Santa Ponsa, which are also closer to the airport. Don't allow your primary-age kids to see you browsing the Pirates Village Hotel in Santa Ponsa unless you've decided to book it, because they will refuse to entertain any other possibility else once they've seen it!

Start by looking what's on offer with Jet2holidays from Manchester or Liverpool.

You can set the filters for dates, Trip Advisor rating, AI/HB etc and sort by price.

Fuengirola, Torremolinos or Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol might be good as there's a water park nearby, the weather should be good and it's not too long a flight. There's a castle and a big outdoor skate park in Fuengirola, so your boys might enjoy watching the local skaters.

I know you said you wanted a package, but once you've shortlisted a few ideas, you could look at booking the flight and hotel separately as there's a train directly from Malaga airport that stops in all the main resort areas as far as Fuengirola so very easy.

OP I’ve been a lone parent for 16 years and traveled a lot with DD when she was young. It will be wonderful so don’t stress. I would definitely go for an All Inclusive at that age, and as others have said Majorca etc is a great choice.

Just one thing seeing as you have plenty of time is about your CAO, if you have one, make sure it allows you to travel or you have permission (letter) from your ex to take the DCs out the country especially if they have a different surname.

I know you said Spain but what about Lake Grada in northern Italy? Loads of campsites around the lake with pools & slides plus activities for the kids. We did a package on Jet2 staying at Bella Italia & the transfer is less than 30mins from Verona airport.

Have a look at Jet2, they have some packages that include water park entry - that could be a good option for you.
Majorca, south coast of Spain or Portugal would be good places to start. All very easy to navigate as a first time tourist, look for somewhere walking distance to beach, restaurants etc and you can’t go far wrong.

Why only 3 days? It’s barely time to get settled and you’ll be coming home!

Go for a week! I agree with lake Garda but I do not understand the love for mozzie hell Majorca on here

Thank you for the encouragement 😊
please can you tell me what a CAO is? They have his surname not mine, what do I need from him? And does he need the same from me if he takes them away?

Crazy that I need permission from him when he barleys sees them but might not be the other way round 🤯

It’s a child arrangements order. Often part of divorce but really useful if you have not been married and need to have the arrangements agreed legally. It states things like who the resident parent is, visitation rights etc but often also that you are allowed to travel for holidays for up to 30 days without the consent of the other parent etc.

Now, if you don’t have one and seeing as they have a different surname you will need to travel with the birth certificate and a letter signed by him yes.

Crack on and book something, you will have a wonderful time, just make sure you have one eye on ensuring you have the right documents to travel with.

If this is your first time abroad with them and you only have 4 to 5 days, I'd prioritise a short flight. So agree with PPs that Spain is likely to be your best choice, and that Mallorca has what you need (never had any mozzie issues there personally). Perhaps the Algarve too, that's lovely in May half term. I would def say a package is good for inexperienced travellers, just for less faff.

You can search your dates on Easyjet, Tui, Jet2 etc and use the filters to get the board and facilities you want. Have a think about how close you would like to be to the sea. Beachfront, or is a few minutes walk ok?

Also worth giving a bit of thought to transfer time with younger DC and only being there a few days. Ibiza is good for this due to size, albeit tends to be dearer than Mallorca overall.

Oh also it's usually cheaper overall not to fly at weekends. So I've not checked, but you'd probably get a better deal flying Mon to Fri in the half term week than Sat to Wed.

Thank you all! I will check out the places you have all kindly suggested.
i was just looking for a short break with it being our first time. I’m nervous being abroad on my own so just want to have a little trip to start with!
completely other end of the spectrum I did wonder if center parcs Ireland might be a could shout. It’s still a trip on the plane but I could hire a car and I’d feel familiar for our first time but it would still let the children feel like it’s a big adventure…

I done my first abroad holiday with my kids also as a single mum to salou a few years ago. We flew in Barcelona and done the stadium tour aswell. At salou there is portaVentura (theme park and water park) and fararri land which was a big hit too! We also only done 4 nights I think it was, then they wanted to go back so we have done a 7 day and a 10 day back to the same place! We love Salou really family friendly especially for my asd son! If your not into the stadium/barcelona I would fly into Reus airport as it’s only a half hour transfer rather than 90 mins from Barcelona.