holiday with small kids

loishasdied

hi all, i hope mods accept this post in this forum - as i'm sure i'd get more advice here than in the travel forum.

my children are 5 and 2. we are planning a holiday abroad with them in july. we have taken them twice before and these experiences have taught us what we want from this holiday. basically, we want the holiday to be as stress free as possible and centered around the children. we are looking for a completely all inclusive hotel - with no limit on times that icecream and drinks are available. a playground is a must in the complex and a mini disco. we also want to be near the beach. we won't be wanting to leave them in a kids club or go to a waterpark so don't need a place with or near these facilities. and also we are thinking we'd be better to stick to a shorter flight (3 hours or under) and short bus transfer (an hour or under)

i wouldn't have thought we were being too fussy but on researching on the net and phoning a few agents we are left with not much choice.

also, how much should we expect to pay? i found one hotel jupiter in alcudia lanzorate that looks perfect but is 2950 for the 4 of us - although anyone i've mentioned this to reckons that's a bit pricey? they seem to start from 2400 but those ones recieved bad reviews online

maybe someone on here has stayed somewhere fitting our description and has some advice, thanking you

Ludo

Are you tied to the idea of a hotel?

We went here last october with 2 four year olds and had a blast. Heading back in May again...

http://www.cambrilspark.es/en/index_html

It is extremely child friendly, spotless and very well maintained. Nice food also on site. A bakery and supermarket also.
Only issue is that it is around an hours drive from Barcelona airport. We rented a car for the week.

cynder

If you want all inclusive you have to be willing to pay all inclusive.

Lagotel is one of the cheapest, thats in majorca but for the average hotel your talking around 3k and even up to 5k. Depending on 1 or 2 weeks stay. I went all inclusive at los zocos in lanzarote last year, all inclusive food tends to be repetative. 1400 for 3 of us in august.

Im off to Italy 1k for 3 adults and 3 kids ryanair flights and canvas holidays mobile home, and 1 weeks car hire. We will get in a big shop for around 200 euro and they place has about 6+ water slides and is right on the beach (Adricatic ) cant wait. Child ages 12, 6 and 5.

http://www.canvasholidays.ie/campsite-overview.aspx?gclid=CJeSw_rdjq8CFZRX4Qodx3T8zg&id=AD08Z



For what your looking for and if you want the hotel next to the beach might be better off looking at turkey or bulgaria, tunisa or egypt.

How Strange

Ludo wrote: »

Are you tied to the idea of a hotel?

We went here last october with 2 four year olds and had a blast. Heading back in May again...

http://www.cambrilspark.es/en/index_html
.
Only issue is that it is around an hours drive from Barcelona airport. We rented a car for the week.

I thought of this place too when I was reading the op. I think we'll probably go here when our son is a little older but a colleague of mine went twice (once to the older park and the next to the newer one closer to the beach) and he said both times were fantastic.

cynder

Ludo wrote: »

Are you tied to the idea of a hotel?

We went here last october with 2 four year olds and had a blast. Heading back in May again...

http://www.cambrilspark.es/en/index_html

It is extremely child friendly, spotless and very well maintained. Nice food also on site. A bakery and supermarket also.
Only issue is that it is around an hours drive from Barcelona airport. We rented a car for the week.

That's pricey, 2800+ in July for 2 weeks and you have to book flights separate and no food drink or ice cream included.

Looks like fun though. We went to the south of France for 3 weeks in July with flights and key camp accommodation and 3 weeks car hire c-max it came to 2400. Stayed 11 days in argles sur mer and 11 days in st Raphael ( near Cannes). Camping holidays are cheaper but they are never all inclusive.

loishasdied

thanks a mil for replies, very much appreciated.

tbh, i don't mind paying that price (2950) so long as i know it's a good deal, which i thought it was - however some people i mentioned it to disagreed so i thought it best to get some opinions. since our little ones are a little older now i'm having to accept paying for 4 people as i'm sure you all agree takes a little getting used to also want to be guaranteed that this will cover all food and drink unlimited in the hotel - we were stung before where we were only allowed a certain type of icecream and snack - much to our sons disapointment when he saw other kids who weren't all inclusive buying 'better' snacks etc

not tied to a hotel per say but would love to be able to spend all our time having fun with the kids without having to worry about cleaning and cooking, for this year anyway. last year meals were a nightmare since our kids can't sit still for very long so thought maybe in a familiar environment we might be more relaxed and since we don't get to 'enjoy' the meals so much the repetitiveness might not bother us too much - though this might be a different story after a few nights also, at least with a buffet we cut out the waiting time. what we really want above all is as much quality time with them as possible

am looking forward to trying holidays like you mentioned when our 2 are a little older and less needy . thanks again