What do you do in the evenings when holidaying abroad????

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Stupid, stupid question!!!! We are looking at booking a holiday to the Canaries in November with our 3 yr old son. Havent been on holiday for 4 yrs and after having a terrible year have decided to blow some savings on a deluxe package holiday so we can all have quality time together...however, if we stay in a hotel am I to assume that we have to stay in every night as my little one stuggles to stay awake after 8pm and gets really ratty if doesnt cuddle up. Baby listening service doesnt seem to exist anymore and not convinced by a baby sitter. What does everyone do????

I would go for luxury villa, eat out all the time, go out early evening to eat, then relax back at the villa with wine while ds sleeps.

If you can find several villas together with maybe shared pool(all family sized), this might work well, as your ds might make friends with the other children during the day, and you might get to sit out with the other parents in the evening (compromise for not being able to go out late).

This is the sort of thing we do.

Luxury caravan with decking terrace - kids in bed by 7.30 (each of them in their own room!) then nice wine and good books, or DVD on laptop for us on the terrace while the sun goes down. The thought of being stuck in a hotel room, even with the extra bedroom for the boys (which they would have to share with each other) would send me claustrophobic! Either that or a villa with private pool - if you can stretch your budget. We did this with friends and it was great- even got a night out without the kids as we all babysat for each other! Hope you have a fab time whatever you decide to do.

We planned to move to a more mediterranean routine - long nap in the afternoon, then stay out late with the buggy - for DD (2) on our holiday in Spain this September.

This has worked well for us on previous holidays, however this time she refused to have a nap during the day, was tired and grouchy all afternoon, then falling asleep for the whole night by 7/8pm.

Luckily we were were staying in a nice wooden chalet type thing (on a holiday park) where we could sit out on the patio and drink wine. Would have gone mad being stuck whispering in a hotel room!

The other alternative is to pick somewhere with childcare/creche in the evening - I know that Mark Warner and Sunsail offer this kind of thing.