Specific holiday recommendations for child with ASD

[Marieme]

I decided to post here as I’m looking for personal recommendations of hotels and I have specific criteria which I’m sure parents of children with ASD can understand. We’ve had a few holidays that have went well but the things I’m looking for can’t be found by filtering on package holiday websites!

DS age 6 has autism, PDA, AFRID attends a mainstream school, no physical disabilities but unwilling to walk any distance without constant moaning.
DD 5 no issues, goes with the flow.

we really like the canaries for the weather but open to other locations.

key requirements in order of preference;

• heated pool
• close to a decent supermarket (Aldi/Mercadona etc)
• low rise and self catering facilities
• Pretty surroundings or nice view
• short taxi ride to nice restaurants/shops
• few nearby restaurants
• at lastly (feel a little pathetic writing this) it would be good if there was a McDonald’s within taxi distance as it’s a real treat for DS.

Thanks for reading.

One of the best places we've been from people being understanding is Denmark.

Our DD8 is Lego obsessed so we did 6 days in billund Denmark. We stayed at lalandia - self catering with a huge water dome with slides and multiple different swimming pools. Lots of different food options in the complex. They've got a little train that goes around the site to go to and from the main center.
Legoland is a 5 min walk away, we did 2 days there.

What was great was everywhere recognizes the sunflower lanyard, the airport, lalandia, Legoland, Lego house all of them were on it with being help giving us time and patience.
The swimming pool gave us a fabric wristband version for while she was swimming.

McDonald's in not sure on as DD is OBSESSED with meatballs so was very happy in most places in Billund.

There was an Aldi nearby it was 30 mins walk but the were local busses that were fairly regular that took maybe 10 mins.

We went to a hotel/apartment complex in the algarve Portugal that was fab, it doesnt hit all your buttons so might not be right but it was perfect for our asd son - we had a huge 2 bedroom apartment so ds with asd could shut himself away easily and the gardens were really quiet and pretty, we had a big patio too, never felt crowded, no queues at the buffet breakfast, quiet pool and indoor option, we had a dishwasher and massive kitchen so could buy in all the beige food he wanted and all the fruit (found an amazing supernarket called Apolenia). It was a 5 min drive to an aldi and maybe 10 min drive to a lovely small town with a beach, shops, ice creams etc. You couldn't really walk anywhere but the complex had a pool, games room, restaurant and bar if you needed, we hired a car to go out every day but taxis weren't expensive. There was a mcdonalds maybe 15 mins drive away towards portimao and the whole vibe of the area was quiet, no crowds, no loud noises, very understanding culture it was called Vale D'oliveiras, set in a really peaceful pretty surrounding. It wasn't expensive with jet2. We did day trips to see dolphins in the wild on a boat, see some caves, there was an awesome waterpark and zoopark thing. It was the easiest holiday we've ever done and he stayed regulated the whole time (I think due to the space and quiet, it was very peaceful). We've discovered that having a quiet, spacious "home" to go back to works best for him, and gives him capacity to manage busier days.

If you would be interested in a uk based holiday at some point...(maybe not what you had in mind for this particular holiday) I would recommend The Thomas Centre in Lincolnshire.
https://www.thethomascentre.co.uk/

Do you mind sharing the area or name of the hotel? Thanks