Which do you prefer with your kids on foreign holidays: self-catering or hotel half-board?

[MrsMerryHenry]

And why?

We always do self catering and b&b en route.
Why? Because it works for us. Well actually we have a small holiday house in France which is obviously an important factor...but I love cooking and it also works out cheaper than hotels.

At Easter we thought about a change and I was truely appalled at what it would cost to spend a week in a hotel. And with DCs aged 2 and 4, who go to bed at 7ish, what do you do every night in a hotel? Room service, hide in the bathroom? Have a suite? When DS1 was tiny we chose to leave him in the room and go to the restuarant. Now we don't...a lot of things have changed. So why pay for all those facilities you can't use - or we can't at the moment.

That's what I though, mumof222222222222. I think it would be so much easier to live in more than 1 room - not to mention not having to share a bedroom with DS (age 2), who sill find it very difficult to readjust to having his own room when we return.

Also I generally tend to dislike hotels - unless they're extraordinarily expensive (I've never actually stayed at a hotel like that, but I can dream ).

I like sc, in terms of can make my own coffee when up at dawn with dc rather than wait for breakfast room to open.. But works out expensive for me as we tend to eat out a lot.

Great option is a kinderhotel. Suites are not so much more expensive than a hotel room ime, so you have your own space in the evening AND free child care in the day if you want it, as well as baby listening service so you can leave the room if you like.

Self-catering, for any significant length of time. A hotel is nice for a couple of days, though.

Stayed abroad in a hotel once with dd when she was 4, room was cramped and had 3 single beds in it. We generally stayed up until 10ish, then had to listen to everyone else thumping back to their rooms at 12am when the entertainment had finished.

Went on a package holiday to an apartment last year in Menorca, generally it was better but you still get noise, we had to move rooms as the people below us were incredibly noisy and stayed out until the early hours and had a little one in tow, who then ran about when he came back, squealing and screaming at the top of his lungs.

In the UK, we always go for a flat or house - much much better.

Self catering, there tends to be more room and flexibility.

You can always go out for a meal if you feel like it.

Self-catering. Wouldn't dream of a hotel type holiday with my dcs.

Reasons:

1. I like rooms and my own space to disappear to
2. I can't sleep in the same room as the dcs ((light sleeper). Ideally like somewhere with 3 bedrooms so that I can crash out somewhere else if dh is snoring.
3. Problem of what to do in the evenigs in hotels.
4. Wouldn't want to have to eat in a hotel or other restaurants with the dcs - far too stressful.
5. Noise of other people.

My ideal holiday is a cottage in the middle of nowhere.

No doubt: self-catering.

Went to hotel once, never again. Too inflexible, you'd have to be dressed to go for breakfast , no room for darling DSs, go to bed at same time as DSs etc etc - never again. At least not until they are 25, have their own children (not with each other obviously ) and pay for us to come with them to mind their children!

Self catering - more flexibility. We tend to get a villa or cottage somewhere. Have done this since before DD was born TBH.

We are staying in a hotel this summer. DD is 7y. We have had to ensure we have one that has a decent balcony s that me and DH have somewhere to sit if DD needs an earlier night.

You are all marvellous. I shall show this thread to my DH! That'll convince him .

Self catering works for us. We eat out most days (once) but for the other 2 meals a day the kids can relax and not be on best behaviour ie eat brakfast in their pj's - it is their holiday too!

Also as mumof2 says it is much better once the kids go to bed - if you get somewhere with a patio, you can sit outside chatting over a few glasses of wine while they snooze away indoors - lovely!

ALso you get a lot more space at a really good price - we just had 12 nights in southern spain for £360 - nice clean quiet place, 2 beds, communal pool etc. Bargain!

For summer we prefer self-catering - easy to eat al fresco without too much fuss, barbecues, picnics etc. DC can go to bed when they are tired and we can relax on the balcony or terrace, with a drink and chat - very civilised

Winter ski holidays, we prefer catered chalets (as opposed to hotels) as, IME, owner-run independent chalets offer a much better experience, better value for money, you're not being cooked for by a gap year student who has only just mastered pasta etc. Going out on a cold Alpine night, looking for a restaurant, or cooking after a day's skiing, doesn't work for us.

In the UK, we always camped and obviously thats self catering.
Abroad we go to a family friendly hotel and go all inclusive. Even when they were small. (they are now 10 and 14)
We are not the sort of people that like being out late anyway. So we took the kids out in the buggy with a blanket in the evening time.

but were always 'home' for 9.30

We usually go self catering to Cyprus but the family house there is now sold, so we are off to Portugal self catering soon.
(Hope it's cheaper than Cyprus has become!)

In Cyprus we used to stay 12 nights in the house then go to Ayia Napa, stay in a lush hotel for 2 nights getting dressed up for breakfast and having drinks by the pool, drinks in the bar and take the littlies out in double buggy with blanket on at night (but be back by 10) so we had the best of both worlds

We tend to do self-catering with plenty of places to eat out, although this year are doing full board (full American plan in Canada).

When our children were younger, we tended to eat out for lunch and cook supper in. Now we find that they have their own activities, which often means eating lunch with their groups, so we tend to eat lunch out and supper in.

Self-catering, esp. now we have 3 it seems impossible to get a fair price at hotels.

Ruby - we went to Cyprus this Easter, you're right, it's become hugely expensive. I suspect everywhere is at the moment with the £ being as low as it is. (E.g. top for 49 Euros, got charged £45 on my card. Ouch!!)

Yes, I agree with the value for money thing. Also patio is a great tip, thanks!

Apart from UK weekends away when we b&B, we always go self catering as we like to have the extra space.

However, in general we eat out at least once a day - if we take a picnic or return to our villa/apartment for lunch then we eat out in the evening, or if we eat out at lunchtime then we may do a barbecue or cook a simple pasta dish and salad at home.

We enjoy our food so eating out is always part of our holiday (we have one DS, took our first hol abroad with him at 2 years old and have always taken him into restaurants with us)

We did do a hotel half-board deal once and it was OK, but SC is soooo much better - for all the reasons mentioned above.

We go to France and always make sure we book somewhere where there are at least a few shops and restaurants within walking distance. I find it a bit of a drag if you have to get in the car every time you want to eat - especially in the evening.

Normally SC for all the reasons already stated - more room/luxury for less money. However, this year, I've opted for the Hotel HB option on the basis of cost. O.K, it's Sardinia so not exactly cheap but I still get a 2 bedroom family suite for my dosh on a HB basis which suits us since we tend to sightsee and have lunch out during the day and return back by 4pm. Plus with the dire euro/sterling exchange rate this year, the DIY self catering option for the first time ever was less appealing. I still have my reservations about going to a big resort (the SC convert that I am) No doubt, my 5 yr old would love it - well, at least we still have a separate room from the kids.

having done both, would say SC. DD1 didnt like half the food they had on offer, too much salt and hating having to ensure we were back ontime for dinner.

S/C definately. This works for all ages.
When my DSs were little I used to book a 2 bedroom apartment. This gives you plenty of space, plus you can put them to bed and relax on patio as others have said.

Now they are older and go to bed at the same time as us , a one bedroomed apartment is enough.
There is still plenty of space and they sleep on sofa beds in the sitting room. I do breakfast but otherwise eat out. This is not a cheap option but IMO much more relaxing.

I've had a few experiences in the UK of staying in a hotel in a "family room". Even in 4 stars there is hardly room to edge past the beds. Four people sleeping in one room inevitably wake each other up. Getting everyone up , dressed and down for breakfast is a military operation and does not feel like a holiday to me.

Self-catering gives you options that you don't get from hotels.

I think options are good when you are going on holiday for the first time with toddlers.

If you are in a self-catering area, there will be restuarants in the vicinity - not all self-catering customers will literally cook for themselves.

If you self-cater, you can mix and match according to your family needs.

We like to eat out on holiday, but do not value paying extortionate amounts for children's breakfasts. We tend to pay a restaurant for one main meal (lunch or supper) and cook the other one ourselves.

Saying that, this year we are going full-board We are holidaying in Canada and are on 'full American plan', which means three meals per day.

Last year, we have 3 days in Paris. The hotel charged us 10E per person for breakfast (which was basically bread and cheese). There were no places to go nearby, including McDonalds). With seven of us, I was fairly gutted at the cost and encouraged lots of taking of food from breakfast for snacks. Later in our holiday, when we were at Centerparcs, we bought baguettes daily and made our own ham/chese combs. 3 baguettes cost less than 3E.

For me, breakfast is the thing that matters. It is horrendously costly if paying a la care, but incredibley cheap and easy if self-catering. The other two meals, I tended to value based on the behaviour of the children. I found it easier to self-cater the evening meal when I had feisty boy-toddlers - and that meal could easily morph into bath and bedtime.

Now for us, we can manage a civilised lunch or evening meal. We choose only one out as amatter of cost. Eitehr lunch or supper works for us, but we can't generally afford both.

well, we always always went s/c, and it was fine, wouldn't have considered any other way tbh. Last year however, we found a bargain all inclusive holiday and thought we'd try it. It was fabulous - mainly because the kids could grab food, drinks and ice creams all day long, and went to the brilliant kids' clubs most days (and some evenings) and also because we didn't have to stress about buying things to cook. We did, i admit, spend most of the fortnight in the resort, but, sod it, one holiday with two small children entertained for most of the day, so we could literally flop out and recharge isn't going to hurt! We did, and will do again, the 'exploring' when they're older!