Is childcare or nanny really affordable on holiday in Euro countries?

[bacon]

We have a 4 yr old and 6 month baby and want a luxury holiday shorthaul within the next two months. Tenerife seems the only option and have seen some lovely hotels that offer this type of service but is it really affordable?

I'm sure I have seen £15 per hour for babysitting is this correct because we cant justify that on top of holiday!

Not as if we want to dump the children everyday but would like to go out in evening or have the odd trip out or is it just so far out now that we should wait till they are older. Both my children like to go to bed around 7-8pm and are impossible to handle if its later.
Help!!!!

bacon - Didn't want your post to go unanswered. We had the same problem when looking into a holiday in August. Our DS was 18 months old then.

We looked at European countries as well because I would have been 28 weeks preggers then and did not fancy flying long haul with a toddler (even though DH was with us).

Be warned that a lot of the kids' club offered with these hotels only take kids 3 or 4 years onwards. So do read the small print that accompanies these kids' clubs. In the end, we ended up going long haul to the Maldives to this resort called Bandos Resort Island and Spa and we absolutely loved it! Free kids' club from 8am-5pm for kids 8 months onwards and additional babysitting in the evenings were US$15/hour.

Another alternative is to look at companies that send British nannies out with you. Powder Byrne was one company we looked at but you have to basically commit to a whole week of nanny services whether you used it or not. And it is rather expensive as their resorts are fairly exclusive too. Basically, a week in one of their European destinations would have cost us the same as 2-weeks in the Maldives all-inclusive! Good luck!

I searched the web for ex-pat nanny and found one who does the hotels...however she does charge £12ph (against hotels making a mark of 18-30 euros).

However I am still in two minds Tenerife is really pricy now and the addition of the babysitting may just push us over the edge.
Thanks Angel1976 but cant face longhaul and 2 weeks I think is too long for us. I think 10 days would best suit hubby before he turns!!!

The euro at 1.1 makes the holiday truely expensive - can we justify £5,000 in total?

Have you thought about heading to Egypt or Jordan?

If you are looking for childcare on holiday for next year my daughter is married and lives in Turkey and provides a babysitting/childcare service. She has a childcare qualification, first aid, GB police check and lots of experience with children of all ages. She has worked as a private nanny in the French Alps and ran a childrens club in Lapland.She has also been an aupair in Turkey and speaks fluent Turkish.

Not remotely short haul (9 hours) but we have just been for a week to Jamaica with a 2 year old and 9 month old and it was def the best holiday I've had with them as one nanny came as part of the hotel (a second was $20 a day) and if you wanted them to babysit it was $6 an hour in the evening. Not luxury by any means in terms of the hotel but super friendly and def luxurious in that could actually read books, lie on loungers etc and know the children were happy as well. The 2 year old especially LOVED it. Flight was fine too- premium economy so bit more space.
DH and I were saying that it didn't seem remotely possible to do that sort of thing in Europe without it costing an absolute fortune. Would be interested to find out if it is.

I would just avoid Carebear Nannies - the owner has a terrible attitude and temper. She let us down considerably during the Christmas period of Dec 15 and benefitted from pre paid services which she did not provide. She effectively stole over 350 euros from us. She did not show up after 3 days and did not even bother to even call us, just sending a text last minute which is shocking given her responsibility is child care. She demonstrated no care for the children and only about the cash in her pocket and taking advantage of the good will of people. She has not refunded our money to date after committing to do so in writing.

I would just avoid Carebear Nannies - the owner has a terrible attitude and temper. She let us down considerably during the Christmas period of Dec 15 and benefitted from pre paid services which she did not provide. She effectively stole over 350 euros from us. She did not show up after 3 days and did not even bother to even call us, just sending a text last minute which is shocking given her responsibility is child care. She demonstrated no care for the children and only about the cash in her pocket and taking advantage of the good will of people. She has not refunded our money to date after committing to do so in writing.

we were at Caserio del Mirador (mainland spain) and if we wanted child care we just paid 10 euros an hour if they are asleep and bed time and 15 euros if they are awake for day care, one morning we jsut went to the village for a coffee and a wander without the kids and sat and read the papers in the sun. kids (1 and 3) hadnt really noticed we were gone. lots of people on site including owners and other parents so we were very relaxed about it. and didnt have to commit or decide ages in advance. like when i paid a fortune at mark waner but baby got chicken pox and was thrown out of day care/no refund!!

Zombie