Family holiday ideas for nine in July without excessive heat

[Homer28]

I am currently looking for a hotel/destination for a July 2027 holiday for 9 people ranging from 4 to 71.

Requirements:
good for children, ideally with a splash park or slides.
somewhere within walking distance of shops/bars/general activity.
9/10 nights.
half board or all inclusive.
maximum or £1K per person.
can’t be in a country that is ‘too hot’ - Crete, Rhodes, Turkey.
Algarve and Spain seem to be okay.

does anyone know of this mythical hotel? 😅 finding it surprisingly difficult.

Max £1k per person

oh dear. No that is not going to happen unless you go very basic accom and poor AI

in peak season? No chance

and that £1k definitely doesn’t include flight does it?

It does include flight. I know the budget is awful but I am at the liberty of others stipulations 🫠.

I have found a couple of places with that pricing but there is always some sort of catch e.g. the entertainment is all in French.

I thought I would reach out to the mumsnet hive mind before declaring it completely impossible!

Honestly op… give up

of you do find £1k AI including fights in school summer holidays for 10 days it will be bloody awful

You could look at cruises? Depending on cabin type you could bet a cruise out of Southampton Within budget. May be closer to the 7 nights though

Have a look on jet 2 holidays. I did a random date of 19th July +- 3 days for four bedrooms assuming one family is a couple with the two children. Kept flights open to all over the UK and selected half board or al inclusive with outdoor and got 38 results max budget £9000. This is just one example Check out this Holiday: Abora Buenaventura By Lopesan Hotels at Playa Del Ingles, Gran Canaria
https://www.jet2holidays.com/beach/canary-islands/gran-canaria/playa-del-ingles/abora-buenaventura-by-lopesan-hotels?duration%3D9%26airport%3D99%26date%3D16-07-2027%26occupancy%3Dr2c4_7_r1c_r2c_r2c%26board%3D2%26oflight%3D1502615%26iflight%3D1502548%26rooms%3D70005_65221_65221_70003%26utm_medium%3Dreferral%26utm_source%3DHD_share_link but no idea on temperature.

I would prefer not to go on holiday rather than go on a holiday that cost £1k in peak summer school holiday season for 10 days in an all inclusive including flights.

Ask the people stipulating this farcical budget to do the research

finding it surprisingly difficult.

are you surprised? Peak summer, all inclusive, including flights, 10 days?

That’s not something you will get as a package. You need to wait for flights to be released for the summer 2027, then choose “anywhere” on skyscanner and go with the absolute cheapest return for £75 pp to a random destination.

Then allocate £500 each for accommodation - you can definitely find a 4/5 bedroom villa for £4.5k at your random destination. The rest is for a supermarket shop and a couple of activities. Use the washing machine in your villa to wash the couple of outfits that will fit into your included luggage allowance of your £75 return fare with Ryanair to the random destination.

It can be done, but you may not end up anywhere touristy. Not AI or with splash parks and entertainment. You’ll have to organising your own entertainment and (free) beach days.

PS Spain is hot in July. 35-40 degrees during the day and in many places, not below 25 at night during heatwaves. With 80-90% humidity on top…

You could go to Belambra clubs in France for this budget. They have some coastal destinations. Look for the 5 B rated clubs. You would probably need to book your own flights.
Dont worry about entertainment being in French as English will be spoken. You will probably just find that most other guests are French.
NB I haven’t been to one of these myself but have been on other French all inclusive holidays eg Club Med and MMV.

This is as close as I’ve gotten so far - if anyone has any experience of it. There was a Sol Cosmopolitan too in Rhodes but it fell into the too hot category though apparently the Ixia side is okay? Again no experience there. Grateful for all suggestions so far and will check them out.

www.tuiholidays.ie/f/bookaccommodation?productCode=006748&tab=overview&noOfAdults=2&noOfChildren=1&childrenAge=7&duration=10&flexibleDays=3&airports%5B%5D=DUB&flexibility=true&noOfSeniors=0&when=10-07-2027&pkg=18561131/3/920/10&tra_o=E33c21fbff4244d803f727fb7508d3f73&tra_i=Ed3ecca397d6a9eebdfeeaae2eaf68242&units%5B%5D=006748:SELF_CATERED&packageId=006748ESMJ008018151776000001815177600000FR94318160416000001816041600000FR942TW0118561131/3/920/10&index=10&multiSelect=true&brandType=D&bb=AI&room=&isVilla=false&searchType=search&finPos=10&price=pp&durationCode=1015&rmpc=1%7C2%7C0%7C1%7C0%7C7&rmtp=TW01

Hear me out. Eurocamp or similar in the dordogne region. It’s self catering but you have loads of space and a bbq so it can be picnics etc for a week. Well within budget. Before I got married, I was a 5* all inclusive girlie but now I love a eurocamp. So so good for kids

Yeah, given the budget I was going to suggest looking for a really nice villa with a pool, possibly somewhere in France. Though I must admit my preference would always be something like this rather than AI regardless of budget.

Agreed with PP on a villa. Although you don't get the all inclusive, slides, etc, it's probably more realistic for a group trip on that sort of budget. Can you send them all back to the drawing board?

Also, I went to Crete in July and, although it was very hot, it was cooler than Spain and Portugal. Crete was around 32 degrees while Portugal I believe was 40+.

I think anywhere in that budget in peak travel season will be pretty awful. Also check how they're calculating the pp cost on those sites - likely the combination of rooms will be pretty specific so you need to work out the actual pp cost of it, not charge the kids the same as the adults for example.

It seems 'too hot' means something very different for me but my family falls apart after 25/28 (we live in Scotland!) so not sure there.

Is a self-catering villa not an option? It works really well for multi-generational holidays and you could find loads of options.

As an aside I just booked flights in late July to Spain for 2027 and it was £900 for the 4 of us - minimal bags, RyanAir. So maybe start with flights!

THB Tropical Islands Lanzarote, flying from Stansted, half board, ten nights, fits your budget. LoveHolidays.com

The weather in Lanzarote would be manageable.

Half board. No slides but lovely resort.

I found a hotel in Alykes, Zante for just above budget with Jet2. Can’t do the link though!

H10 Mediterranean village Costa dorada

This might work too, if you don’t mind being a little away from the centre of town. Hotel gets great reviews. You can fly from lots of places although it might add £20 to £40 to the prices

If you can do half board, 9 nights to GF Isabel in Tenerife is coming in under budget from Bristol 2nd August.

for all inc there are a few Spain options - I find the canaries, esp fuerteventura really great weather wise. I didn’t love the resort but Barcelo castillo was great.

check out easyJet holidays.

Stayed here for two years op with small kids at the time. Its lovely. Ten minutes walk to beach and shops along the way. Rooms are lovely (sofa beds for kids are not great) . The buffet food is standard AI but there is a couple of restaurants you can book. Entertainment is good and very kid friendly. Lots of intergenerational families there .
There's a water park attached that is cheap for guests

Mallorca will be scorching in July though

Half board.
Get fed breakfast and dinner and have snacks for lunch...most half board places have either a shop on site (or you can wander to one) or the bar will be pretty cheap.

I've stayed in a fancy 5* lopesan hotel half board and the drinks were about €9 for a good cocktail.

I’ve looked at Fuerteventura considering the wind might help the July heat situation.

I’ve got a hotel arena beach within budget so fingers crossed 🤞.

I stayed in Ixia years ago. It wasn't too hot because it was very windy.

I meant to add this meant it was comfortable heatwise although we just stayed by the pool because the beach meant we were sandblasted.

Does it have to be July? A lot of European destinations are much cheaper the last couple of weeks of August as the schools go back. Might not save loads on the flights but definitely on accommodation.

Butlins Minehead!!!😁