Ideas needed for extended family holiday - 2006 - summer holidays

[beatie]

My parents want to take me and my brother on holdiay next summer. With a 6 year old and two teachers in the family, we're restricted to school holidays. My parents are not footing the whole bill, but will contribute to mine and my brothers share.

Still, me and DH can't afford too much and my brother, I believe can afford even less.... so, I'm trying to keep the cost down for my mum and dad AND please everyone.

We will be 6 adults. 2 children aged 6 and 3 and two infants under 2. We need 3 rooms for each couple and 2 extra rooms for the children. We need to be within easy walking distance of a beach and resort centre with restaurants and bars.

We were looking at self catering apartment complexes with children's clubs but we won't sleep 2 adults and 1 child to 1 studio flat and the 1 bedroom apartments add on ridiculous supplements. Do these companies really expect four people to cram into one room? Not what I call family friendly.

Are the children's clubs worth it for the age kids we have? I costed one in a brochure for £4600 whole party and when I rang Thomsons they costed it at nearer to £7000!! We could all go to the far east for £7000!

So much for early booking discounts and free child places! Do they exist in school holidays.
Now I am looking at villas with 4/5 bedrooms but need to find one within walking distance of a resort. We don't want to hire cars (we'd taxi from airport) but need to have somewhere to go on some evenings since we can take turns babysitting.

HELP!

Bumping this up as I'd like to know too - have similar requirements! Looking for a villa really - anyone been to one they can recommend?

where can you fly from?

for example - 25july 2006 birmingham/majorca
7 nts self catering - 3x 1 bedroomed apts
cala azul/esmeralda - cala do'r with transfers and inflight meals etc

total £4456 - is that the price range you are looking for??

It's a real con the way holiday companies don't count children towards occupancy levels and then charge you massive supplements. We always have this problem because we are a family of five and so would have to book a two-bedroomed apartment.
I haven't been yet but I'm about to book for next May with www.villascrete.co.uk - their prices are per villa and seem quite reasonable. Obviously you wouldn't have children's clubs etc but it may be worth considering.

there is also some good deals for menorca- 1 bedroomed apts on 28th july from manchester @ £4200

Have a look at this one it's based on 2 family suites for the 2 families and a family room for the couple - looks a really good price for the size of rooms based on half board and 4 ticks!

Holiday Costing
as at 19 June 2005, 14:10:49

Please see your holiday costing below.

Hotel Marina Torrenova
Majorca, Palma Nova.
20 Jul 2006, London - Gatwick
6 adults.
2 children.
2 infants.
07 nights, Half board
BASIC COST £540.00 X6 £3240.00
1ST CHILD PRICE FREE X2 FREE
ROOM CHARGES £21.00 X2 £42.00
ROOM CHARGES £49.00 X4 £196.00
FUEL SUPPLEMENT £15.00 X6 £90.00
ONLINE DISCOUNT -£120.00
INFANT CHARGE £60.00
Total Holiday Price £3508.00

Price here does not include insurance.

Hotels

Majorca - Palma Nova - Hotel Marina Torrenova
Summer 2006 (May - October)

The Hotel Marina Torrenova is a great family choice. It is attractive and spacious, and the facilities which have deservedly won it Gold Medal status have been designed especially for families. It's well-positioned between Palma Nova and Magaluf so you can take advantage of the amenities of both resorts!

Facts and Figures

? 254 rooms

? Lifts: 2, plus a lift suitable for wheelchairs

? Official rating:

? 3 star

Facilities
24-hour reception area and safety deposit boxes are also available

Room Facilities
? Rooms either have twin or double beds, with a sofa bed and pull out bed (suitable for child up to 12 years)
? TV
? Air-conditioning (centrally controlled)
? Fridge
? Hairdryer
? When rooms are fully occupied there is no cot space and space is limited
? Suites available with interconnecting rooms, double and twin beds (plus optional 5th bed suitable for a child up to 12 years)
? Limited number of smaller suites available (no separating door) with double bed and twin beds but no cot space

Forgot to say - that's with Thomson (portland)

My Friend did this with her family and hireed a gite with its own pool, it also had a games room and slide etc in the garden and satellite tv. They booked it through brittany ferries and it wasnt ridiculously expensive. There were about 12 of them including kids.

Bubblerock - what would the price of that holiday be a week later? School holidays begin 25 July here.

Tiredmama - we could fly from Bournemouth, Southampton, Gatwick. If we could get all of us to go for as close to £4000 as possible we'd be super happy with that.

Re the weird under-occupancy of the rooms. How do travel companies cost children? Do you pay the child price AND pay the whole supplement for under occupancy? So, would we have to pay £350 for our dd and then £20 per person per night on top of that? It seems unfair because a couple who occupied an apartment for 4 would only have to pay the £20 per person per night.

I saw one hotel which had suites suitable for families. It said it could sleep 3 adults and two children. If you didn't have 3 adults in your party, you paid a supplement for just having two! How many families are made up of 3 adults and 2 children???

Keep the suggestions coming. We did the gite in France two years ago when we just had two children between us. We all got a bit bored as the place was in the middle of nowhere. I do like to have somewehre to walk our to.

Thanks everyone.

beattie, im off work now for a week (off on MY hols!!) will look next week when im back... should find something for you. x

Enjoy your trip

Would you consider one of the French campsites - the kids go free and you could get a couple of mobile homes which wouldn't be hideosy expensive. SOme of the sites are on the beach and close to resort centres. The camp sites are FANTASTIC for kids and most have free kids clubs. Might be worth looking at. You'd be best driving but can take lots with you (and carry lots of wine back!!)

Suggest you go to THomsons Website, and look for a Superfamily property - do a search for free child places as well (there will be some!)

Superfamily places are a godsend, with great kids clubs, soft play areas, outdoor play areas (usually shaded), food for all the family, kids discos, creches, all mothercare branded equipment,the list goes on.....

For our last one, we paid 836 for the three of us.

Worth every penny. Check out the website.

Personally I'd book flights and accommodation separately - you should get a fairly big gite or villa for the prices you've been offered. More hassle of course.
Chacun a son gout (or whatever) but a superfamily holiday has never appealed to me. Despite being a sometime teacher with 4 kids, the idea of other people's kids on holiday fills me with dread. I may just me a miserable old bag of course.

crazymama - was that price during the school holidays?

Swedishmum - I have the same fears myself but then, on the otherhand, I love to people-watch, so I don't want to be in a villa that is cut off from everywhere else.

Calpopscalum - We have ruled out going to a French campsite because of the drive... but it is likely to be something DH and I do alone with our two children in the future.

So far James Villas seems to be the best option I have found. They tell you whether a hire car is essential or optional and I have found a few that are within walking distance of bars/restaurants/supermarket.

Beatie,
Can highly recommend Puerto Pollensa in Majorca, perfect for all ages. We know it inside out and have just retd from there, we had a super townhouse with a garden that sleeps 8 adults so you could possibly hire travel cots for the little ones. It was a minutes walk to the beach and I think in high season it is around £600 a week. But there are lots of properties in PP, you coud probably get two adjacent apts. We have a brilliant airport nr us, Manston, they fly to most european destinations inc Palma, its EUjet, Manston is nr Margate, let me know if I can help.

Arrange the travel yourselves -rent a villa in the south of france near the beach but with its own pool.