Where to take a 6 month old on holiday?

[Cder]

Hello, looking for advice on taking a 6m old abroad for the first time. Any suggested locations? It’d be good to have a short flight time from the UK (up to 3 hours) and then maybe a rail connection at the airport to easily reach our destination with pram etc.
Any hints and tips also appreciated for travel. Would be going in May/June; just the three of us.

Hi,

I’m in the exact same predicament. My little girl will be 7/8 months when we plan to go away in July/August.
Were thinking somewhere like Morocco. Only 3ish hrs away. Although family are telling us not to as there saying it’s dodgy over there. I’m like 🙄 there’s just been another terror attach in London so it doesn’t matter where we go ! X I don’t know why I’ve always been ani Europe and said we’ll do it once we have kids. Now she’s here i still don’t want to go 😂.

Oo I never thought of Morocco! Will take a look, thanks. It might be too hot though..

I'd recommend going to Nice and staying at Novotel Nice Centre.
Sunshine is almost guaranteed but it's not too hot and it’s only a 2hour flight. The famous palm-lined Nice promenade stretches along the sea front for 8km and is perfect for pushing a pushchair. There are lots of gardens and green spaces and it's always easy to find a bench or a shady spot. Great for feeding your LO or just people watching!
The Novotel has baby baths and baby sitting on request and family rooms are generously sized. It has a rooftop pool with sea views. Children get a warm welcome and a little gift and it's worth noting that there's a children's library and play area. The hotel is a few minutes from the tram station and Nice airport is just 9km away.

Go wherever you want. A baby doesn’t care (if anything, they’d prefer to stay at home).

Cornwall

I think a self catering apartment is best- doesn’t really matter where! Means you can put baby down at night and not have to go to bed yourself! Hopefully they will have a travel cot there. A nice balcony or garden would be a bonus! Also you will be weaning so you will need an apartment with a high chair and there will be food everywhere! You probably need to sterilise bottles still if you aren’t breastfeeding! Take some Milton tablets and use the drawer in the fridge for sterilising. A shaded pool if you’re abroad is a must as Is a very lightweight stroller. Ellas pouches handy for emergencies and travelling. You can buy little yellow inflatable baby rings which are brilliant for the pool so you don’t have to carry them constantly and can have a swim. You will need to bring your car seat....

With a baby, it's just the same crap but in a different place. It doesn't matter where you go. I wouldn't take a baby anywhere hot because you'll spend the entire time trying to find shade.

We are going to gran canaria in May with our 6 month old. We found a family friendly hotel that provides cots, strollers, steriliers etc if you need them. Really looking forward to it. We found the shorter the flight was more expensive finding something family friendly especially for smaller babies.

We did a lovely trip to Bruges when DD was about that age. Was so easy on the Eurostar. Weather was pleasant in June but not too hot. She snoozed a lot in her pushchair whilst we enjoyed Belgian beers and chocolate in the sunshine and took in the scenery.

We're going to France when our lo will be 6 months old, but we're going on the boat instead of flying. Staying in a self catering house with a big garden and walking distance to a nice town centre for meals etc. We're going with my parents, bro and sil so we can all pitch in with baby duties!

My baby is 9m old and we have been to SE Asia, France, Italy, Dubai and we are off to Morocco next week. You can pretty much go anywhere with a baby as long as you are well prepared! Having a baby doesn't need to mean giving up all the things you used to do & enjoy, ifs about finding a way to adapt it for the whole family to enjoy. I will let you know how Morocco is and whether it's baby friendly :)

They are super portable at that age and usually not mobile so anywhere you want to go. I took my youngest to Barcelona (alone, I wanted a holiday and was bf). It was great. Easy flight, pushchair friendly bus from the airport, easy to get around. He loved the food and we had a great time.

A few things to consider, most babies that age probably won’t tolerate a relaxing beach/pool sort of holiday as they can’t be out in the sun and may be mobile (mine was crawling from 5.5 months). A city break was great as he could easily come to museums and cafes and I got an Airbnb with a big secure roof terrace so when we needed a break, we sat out there and be crawled around and explored. Be mindful though of how pushchair friendly transport is. Barcelona was really easy and there are lifts from street to platform level in most major stations. Not all cities are like that though.

And give some thought to food. You’ll be weaning then, so somewhere with food that will be appropriate is good. At 8 months, mine ate nearly everything I did so I didn’t have to make or bring anything special, except some yogurt pouches and some crackers and things for snacks.

With a baby, it's just the same crap but in a different place. It doesn't matter where you go

This is such a sad attitude. We took DC1 to Malta at 8 months and had a great time. We had a hotel room the balcony overlooking the harbour so after dinner we went back with wine and pastries for us, put him down and had evenings reading on the balcony and people watching.

Malta is really easy to get around on the buses so we went out and saw loads. Lots of ancient sites, museums, lovely squares with cafes, boat trips, castles.

Definitely nothing like the "same crap in a different place".

Thank you everyone! Advice is much appreciated. Hadn’t given much thought to food but that is a very valid point! Yeah I don’t see looking after my baby as “crap” haha, she is like a sponge - so keen to see new things and loves getting out & about. So I’d hope she would enjoy some aspects of going somewhere new (not that she’ll remember it but still). We are in Scotland so unfortunately flights are limited and expensive to places like Nice, although would love to go. Will keep looking. Might end up going to a holiday park in Loch Lomond area, although weather will be crap and it’s not really as exciting haha.

@DappledThings was Malta hot? When did you go?

We went in early October and it was hot. Hot enough for the unheated pool. If you get a SnoozeShade for the buggy that helps a lot.

Lots of people don't like Malta and I don't really know why. We found it full of pretty towns, really interesting ancient sites and so easy to get around.

It doesn't have a lot of good beaches around Valletta where we were but we weren't too bothered about that.