2 toddlers and a glorious holiday...

[NoseyNooNoo]

I've just been reading in the Times how child-friendly the Maldives are. It sounded wonderful. We haven't had a 'proper' holiday, by which I mean sunny, relaxing, posh etc, since before the children were born and I want to have that again before DD starts school. I did look into the Maldives option but that was looking like c.£8k! I have finally scraped myself off the floor!

So, I have 2 children 1.5yrs and 3.5yrs. I'd like a nice holiday with them, perhaps with a bit of childcare, somewhere sunny(ish), with nice restaurants, some activities but also the option to just chill.

Any ideas???

This is a bit different from the Maldives, but we had a great holiday with DS and DD in a KeyCamp campsite when DS was 2.5 and DD 9 months.

It was near Limoges I think and we all had a lovely time. We stayed in a static caravan and enjoyed spending quite a bit of time in the campsite but also exploring the area. DH and I were both able to have some time off, it was sunny and was a lovely holiday .

We took ds to rhodes and although am admittedly vvbiased, was amazed at how much attention was paid to the lovely boy. We really liked it, the hotels are geared up for mass tourism so have sitters / kids entertainment and we went in sept so lovely & hot but not expensive (£900 for 2adults & boy all inclusive). Also would recommend Zante but particularly Dom Rep (but the high end hotels 5* only) as they adore children - the first time we took boy (he was 13mo), staff learned his name on the first day and went out of their way to talk to him. We're going in Dec with DS & DD & can't wait!
DH says best holiday we've ever had was 10 days on the Gower last July (when the heatwave hit) but it's where he's from so I think that's slightly biased.

We always take our children to Turkey. It is very child friendly there, they will do anything for children. The weather is great, there are some very good hotels too and there are always a good selection of restaurants in the resorts and it is very reasonable to eat out there.

It wont cost anywhere near £8k either !

Since I posted the OP I've spent many hours on the internet to no avail. I think we want to go late September but still have sunny warm weather. We don't want to share a room with children so need interconnecting rooms or a 2 bed suite/villa. I'd like some kind of child care so that I can spend some chill time with my husband. I'd also like to go somewhere that does not involve a super-long flight (so I think the Med is our focus) and/ or a 6am flight! I think 9am is about the earliest we could do.

Please if anyone has any tips? Everytime I think I've found somewhere decent there is somethig about it that would make it unsuitable.

Having been to the Maldives 4 times I don't see it as particuarly child friendly, part from a couple of islands that specialise in families.

We've recently come back from the Coral Sea Holiday Village hotel in Egpyt with our 2.4DD. Hotel is amazing for kids, they run kids clubs throughout the day and night (so you can eat in peace if you want) and best of all, if you book a kids Den room, the kids get their own bedroom.

I am fairly pickly about holidays and never imagined we would enjoy a full on 'family' hotel but we all had a lovely time and would definitely return.

This is your place! We went in August when DS1 was 18 months old and I was 30 weeks pregnant. It was fab, fab, fab! Free kids' club for kids from 8 months onwards. We put DS1 in there for a couple of hours every day so I could get a massage and DH could go diving. I loved the food, very fresh, lots of choices for the kids (a pasta station doing fresh pasta every lunch/dinner and fresh baked bread meant there was always something for DS) and the staff really love kids there.

When we looked on the official website, it was really expensive (£5k for two weeks inclusive, no flights) but we booked with Thomson and got the same accommodation, two weeks inclusive plus flights for £3,600 and this was during half-term. We had the loveliest holiday there and we can't wait to go back.

The problem with the Maldives is that the flight there is absolutely awful at the best of times, and with two little ones that would put me off completely!

I would have suggested Madeira, which has some lovely family friendly hotels, but obviously is in a bit of a mess at the moment. It might be worth considering for September though.

Hi
Have you looked at Lake Malawi Africa,
Fab Beaches, fresh water lake with over 500 different fish so great for snorkelling / sailing and diving. Private islands. the temp is around 28
you could add a few days safari in Liwonde National Park they have lovely family chalets at mvuu camp
Good hotels are
Kumbali Country Lodge (this is where Madonna stays)
Danforth yachting
Club Mac
Ngala beach lodge
each around £70 F/B per adult
I live there and i am a British nanny so if you needed someone to help with the children I can help!

Thanks everyone for their help. We definitely wanted to stay around the Med because of flight times. Our DD is pretty good but DS has ants in his pants and would have been a nigtmare on a lomg flight.

I did find somewhere in Greece which totally fitted the bill but DH decided he didn't want to spend a huge chunk of money (well when I say it fitted the bill, the bill was quite big ) so he decided we should go alone and I've found us somewhere in Morocco (which was a second home for me once). Just have to ask the grandparents if they'd like to do some babysitting.