Quite specific holiday recommendations please

[Ohnobigbo]

Hello, I’ve NC for this because my requirements are quite specific for quite specific reasons. We’d like to take our children abroad for the first time next year. We usually holiday at Center Parcs or in cottages at the coast. This is because, well it’s lovely and there are lots of lovely places in the UK. But also one of my children has a medical problem which means she previously wasn’t able to fly. Now she can. We’d like to show them another part of the world, another culture. They love to swim so it would be great to be outside doing that every day. This is what we are looking for:
-We’d like to go to a villa with a pool, or to a hotel which has apartments. We need 2 bedrooms minimum, ideally three.
-Self catering but within walking distance of cafes and restaurants. Must be easy paths - not too much incline or bumpy tracks.
-May half term. Daughter cannot get too hot for medical reasons. So we’d like it to be up to late twenties but no hotter ideally. If there’s aircon and a private pool that would be better.
-Must be in EHIC area and / or in an area where insurance won’t be completely budget blowing. Daughter is very expensive to insure. USA out of the question.
-Must be an are which is mainland and within an hour of a major hospital in case of medical emergency. Exceptionally unlikely to happen but if it does it needs excellent care immediately.
-I’ve done the backpacking stuff but since having children I’ve totally lost my confidence so we really just need this to be really easy. So no long or difficult transfers etc.

im really struggling to nail this down. I can find lovely villas al over Italy, Spain, Portugal etc but I just don’t know how to narrow it down. Has anyone been somewhere that fits the bill that they can recommend?
Budget is flexible but up to £5k. We wouldn’t want somewhere any fancier than that would get us really. Definitely don’t want AI.

THANK YOU

I think “within an hour of a major / excellent hospital” is your main issue really, there are loads of lovely places that fit your other requirements but other posters won’t know your exact medical needs…you don’t want to end up somewhere without the facilities you require.

Do it backwards? So maybe start by picking 3 or 4 excellent hospitals in the right climate zone, and look for places to stay nearby?

Thank you. That’s a really good point. I suppose I just mean we would probably have to rule out lots of lovely islands and rural places.

Do you want a major hospital with a paediatric unit and where the staff are likely to speak English?
Do you want a bucket & spade type holiday? Given the heat issue, I think you might be better off looking at appropriate hospitals, looking at resorts within the required distance and then making sure you get a heated pool as well as air con.

To be honest I’d look at the European Centerparcs - e.g. Villages Nature is close to Paris for hospitals. You could book a two or three bed lodge.

Have a look at vintage travel. Lovely villas with pools in several countries. Accommodation really nice quality. You could put walking distance to the beach and proximity to a city in search.

I think there’s a big hospital in the centre of Mallorca, in Inca, just off the MA13 road that runs across the island. Sorry, no idea of the services it offers though.

Id expect you could get a villa in Majorca for £5k.

There’s no end of beaches there from huge bays with gentle sloping beaches like Port d’Alcudia to quieter cove places like Cala Sant Vincenc and that’s just the NE corner.

Iceland has lots of outdoor public pools and is never too hot. Public services are excellent so I'd hope there's at least one top quality hospital in Reykjavik.

Lalandia in Denmark might be another option, its similar to Center Parcs plus the home of Lego. Is also about an hour from Aarhus, Denmark's second city, so should be good for a large hospital.

Cities in Spain such as Barcelona, Malaga Alicante or Valencia will tick all the boxes except too hot for a lot of the year, although might be good at Easter or October half term. But you'd need to be right on the coast to reduce steep hills, there's usually flatter pedestrianised coastal paths.

Lake Garda - if you stay in Peischera del Garda then your 25 mins from Verona - they have 2 big hospitals.

Peischera is flat, so are most of the towns at the south side of the lake. Lots of apartment options on VRBO with shared pools or if wanting busier then eurocamps as well.

A hire car is pretty cheap can fly into Verona or Milan.

Cyprus? Gorgeous in May.

Malaga is likely to have a big hospital so anywhere on that coast might work?

Not the sea but Lake Garda- must be in reach of some big hospitals? On that note there’s a great eurocamp near Venice Lido which has cabins.

I know where you are coming from- not as restricted but in Thailand we needed to avoid v rural areas/islands with no hospitals. It also puts me off Cape Verde as I don’t think they have a big hospital (prepared to be told I’m wrong!).

Puerto Pollensa in Mallorca would work well for you. Flat, easy walk from villas to the beach, centre of town. Lovely beaches and the sea is shallow. The nearest hospital is Inca which is straight down the motorway from PP.

Just to say you’ll need a heated pool in may even in Cyprus, there’s excellent hospitals there btw but not sure about paediatrics but ideal for a villa holiday if the hospital fits the bill.

We have two DS with severe learning disabilities so we’re also nervous bout travelling. We found Menorca to be fab, had a private villa. Not sure on hospitals though.

I’d look at Majorca, Palma is a major city so will have a decent hospital. Most of the Spanish islands will have a decent hospital-
a friend unfortunately ended up in one in Lanzarote and found it excellent and very used to dealing with Brits.

I noticed there is a children’s hospital in Toulouse and so I’d consider looking for a villa with a pool in the countryside near there.

Denmark - as pp above, Billund has Lalandia and all things Lego (Legoland, Lego House) and is within an hour of Aarhus, Vejle and Esbjerg which all have good hospitals.

Perhaps counter-intuitive given your request for nothing with too much of an incline, but there are Alpine towns that would be ideal. Zell am See is in a wide valley surrounded by stunning mountains (you can take the cable cars to the top and just enjoy the views) but the town itself is on flat ground, located next to a lake. There's a promenade around the lake, an outdoor pool complex (and most hotels and apartment-hotels also have pools), the centre of the town is traffic-free - and there's a very large hospital there too. Nearby Saalbach-Hinterglemm would also be a good option - other than the lake, S-H has far more for kids to do than Zell am See. Both destinations offer free Tourist Cards to their guests, so the cable cars, local buses and pools are free of charge - but these places only open from the end of May/beginning of June. If you are choosing May half-term primarily because you are conscious of temperatures, you need not rule out a summer holiday in either Denmark or Austria, where temperatures are rarely over the high 20's even in June and July. Healthcare is good in both countries and almost all medical staff will speak fluent English.

[Edited for spelling]

I was going to say Menorca too.

There’s a couple of hospitals, one in Cuitadella and a major one in Mahón. As the island is only very small, you’re never more than an hour from Mahón wherever you stay.

The French Riviera? Large children’s hospital in Nice and alternative options in Monaco. Short flight back to London if you need to be medically repatriated and other options by train. Lots of accommodation options at all prices.

I was also going to sugguest Nice/Monaco.

Thank you so much everybody for such lovely and compassionate replies. I was worried people would say just not to try! Lake Garda sticks out for me as a bit of a front runner, being mainland and quite easy to get to. Not to mention the food. I have also had my interest piqued about the bigger Spanish islands so I will look into healthcare there.

The Alpine destinations are very tempting but I’d worry about lack of activities as when I’ve looked they often seem geared to cycling / hiking and adventure sports which one child cannot do.

I should perhaps have given more info about the healthcare needed - it would be paediatric neurology and ability to deal with catastrophic stroke.

I’ve also noted the potential need for a pool to be heated in May for many destinations - I’ll keep that in mind.

Can anyone recommend a specific hotel or villa they’ve stayed in at Lake Garda (or the other Italian Lakes) or Mallorca et al?

Thank you

Majorca has a super-modern, public (free with EHIC/GHIC) university teaching hospital (Son Espases), between 30 and 60 minutes drive (less with "blues and twos") from every holiday resort on the island, and it has a neurology speciality within the pediatric department (https://www.hospitalsonespases.es/especialidad/pediatria).

If you want maximum temperatures in the high 20s in the UK school holidays, it's probably going to have to be May half-term.

Also please see your DMs.

My main thought would be how good is your foreign language of the country you think about going to or how reliable are the English speaking staff there in the hospital?

I only say this as my friend's dad was in hospital in Rome and he couldn't understand and they couldn't understand him her Mum couldn't get them to understand her either so it was a complete nightmare for them both
This was 13 years ago so not sure if Google translate was around then but they were not techy pensioners anyway

The other tip I have is to get your DD medical records translated by someone who is from that country.

Ask at a local school or college or university if they have a Spanish or Italian or French assistant that would help you so that they can read the notes without any language barrier