Half-term sunshine needed

[Nimme]

Have just decided it would be very nice with a week away at half-term. Where do I find a child friendly place (not too far away) with guaranteed sunshine (as in beach weather) - oh and must be affordable.

My DH thinks Dubai but it looks very pricey to me - any thoughts??

Cyprus, Lanzarote, Tenerife, might they have sunshine? Cyprus weather stats

Sorry, don't think the link works but you should be able to find info on the internet.

I'm going to barbados, hurrah hurrah. Can't bloody wait.

You'll have to go either to Dubai, or to Florida/Carib (or further afield) to get guaranteed sunshine in Feb. Cyprus freezing. Dubai is certainly a possibility - there are pricey places and not so pricey places there, but the old adage "you get what you pay for" holds particularly true in dubai I'm afraid.But why don't you look west, not east? The states and the Carib are really good value at the moment, with the dollar at $2:£1, especially if you book hotels direct from here so you get a dollar rate. And as long as you get a direct flight, they are all around 8 hours there, 7 or so back, which is fine, honestly. And only 5 hrs time difference which is again fine.
A lovely place which is very good value and excellent for children is Coco Reef in Tobago. Flight to Tobago is OK (and direct) and you are then 10 mins from the hotel, on a lovely completely safe, gently sloping, protected crescent of beach.Full of families and very friendly. Alternatively there are masses of options (and flights) in Barbados, as long as you stay on the west coast,not the south which is horrible. To be honest your main prob is going to be getting flights so I would start first by looking on expedia to see where you could get to, then taking it from there on hotels. Or have a look at lastminute.com and see what they can do for you. HTH

pph - lucky lucky you, I am VERY jealous!!!!

Actually we are thinking of going in the Easter break - sorry didn't make that clear. Do we really still have to go as far as Florida/Carib or Dubai? Don't think I can face more than 6 hours on a plane (5 year old and 4 month baby)

What about somewhere like Lanzarote - anyone been? And would it be warm enough?

What about Tunisia or Morocco - would they be sunny?

There should be weather info on the internet Nimme. I've been to Lanzarote and it's nice enough, can be quite windy.

Did Fuerto Ventura a few years ago and very windy. This will be specifically to get some nice warm sunshine but obviously also needs to be child friendly. We seem to be talking about this every year about this time but this year I want to actually go somewhere!

There must be somewhere that'll fit the bill. I understand why you don't want to go too far with the children being the ages they are. I found Lanzarote a bit of a slog and mine were a bit older then than yours are now.

Perhaps Tunisia/Morocco/Egypt would be worth looking at?

Nimme, just come back from Dubai and it was indeed fab. Stayed at Jumeirah Beach Hotel which was pricey but absolutely faultless. I live in Turkey so trip not too bad as 1/2 way there (we have 4 yr old dd and 6mth old ds.)
Do you just want to relax or explore a bit? I can't go anywhere far away without attempting to see what is happening in places other than the poolside. If you just want to relax Canaries sounds good.
Morocco was brilliant a couple of years ago and the weather would be ok. I'm not a big sun lover,so am happy with temp in the mid 20s.

(One of my husband's colleagues was in Antalya last week and said people were swimming in the sea! Not too far and Turks are lovely lovely people, particularly with kids!)

oh sorry, you said half term so I assumed feb. easter is v early this year - end march - so I guess you mean then or early april? cyprus still a bit unreliable then. sea will be too cold to swim, you may be lucky with the weather you may not. similarly with south greece and turkey. don't know about canaries as I've never been. I was in dubai last year in early april, with 6, 3 and 6mth olds. it was perfect weather, (ie about 85F and sunny sunny) - by the time it gets to May it is too hot, esp with a baby. It is strictly pool and beach holiday though - no culture and nothing to see AT ALL. And the flight time isn't really much shorter than going to the caribbean (although time difference is less). Morocco and Tunisia would be nice, but not sure I'd go with 4mth old. Although I might do if I was fully breastfeeding. I'm just a bit more wary of n african bacteria....

Eh pph? No culture in Dubai?! There is, just that very few people can be bothered with it!

go on then moondog, surprise me. what culture? jeep trips in the desert? the odd bellydance? I'm not being rude about middle eastern culture per se(for example I think Oman is stuffed with it compared to Dubai, and don't get me started on eg jordan and syria - fabulous - ) but there isn't any indigenous culture to dubai to speak of, because there wasn't anything there to begin with, apart from desert and a few passing nomads. and modern dubai is made up of modern buildings and modern amusements staffed by expatriate workers in order to service expatriate tourists. and a few saudis looking for a good time.

been to tenerife and gran canaria in feb and easter, was very hot evry time. have to choose location carefully, but if its cheap sunshine you want should be okay. Gran canaria has sandy beaches.

The Canaries are the only place in Europe where you can pretty much guarantee the weather at this time of year but can be expensive.
Have you considered the Egyptian Red Sea, it is beautiful, only 5 hours flight away and although costs about the same to get to as the Canaries is much cheaper when you get there.

Ive been to tunisia 2 years ago, without kids, but there were many other families there with children.
It is lovely and warm over there, not hot, generally sunny, (it never rained in the day while we were there), very affordable as its still relatively new to travel there, and the locals are excelent.
Its best to go to a local travel agents, and see whats available.

How about Egypt? We're going to Taba Heights staying at 5* Hyatt Regency - very good deals around and good weather too.

Well pph, there is plenty.
The Bedouin themselves are fascinating.
Then you have the whole story of pearl diving (which came to an end with the discovery of how to produce cultured pearls) and the dhow-how it is built, and where it goes.
Also flora and fauna of the desert, the Empty Quarter, the architecture (particularly windtowers)and history of the founding of Dubai,the food,the Creek, the abra. It goes on and on.The museum is interesting as is the Heritage Village and Diving Centre.
Granted, not as obvious as in other places (eg Saudi where my parents have lived for 16 years) but it sure is there!

sorry but went to cyprus in feb half term last year and really wouldn't recommend it. When the plane landed it was absolutely pouring with rain. We had a couple of okayish days but it was far too cold to sit on the beach/use pool etc. and didn't find much to do indoors as a lot of things were shut. Went to the top of the Troodos Mountains which was nice but was wearing shorts and sandals whilst everyone else was in snow suits on skis!! I came back with a rather nasty cold. I really wished we'd gone to the canaries instead as you know the weather will be ok.

Hi Nimme

We have holidayed in Lanzarote several times.In fact going back for week over Easter.Normally stay in playa Blanca which has several nice beaches.The hotel we use is very child friendly but also nice for adults.As we only go for a week we are quite happy to stay in hotel and go to beach.

Playa Blanca is definitely the nicest resort of Lanzarote from what I can remember, nice beach, looking out towards Fuerteventura, and there are several attractions around the island if you do want to look around.

another vote for lanzarote, we are looking to go at easter have been there three times, we had a villa with pool last time if you want a villa look at jamesvillas.