Staycation ideas with two boys under 4

maynooth_rules

Sounds like torture

Want to go somewhere in August with wife and tw chaos. Hotels are pretty much out, sleeping arrangements there just don't work. Any ideas of somewhere suitable that won't break the bank?

Sharpyshoot

What’s your budget and how many nights?

Caranica

You're going to be hard pushed to find something for August at this stage. Most places have been booked out since January.

Sharpyshoot

I’d go abroad. You are talking 4K for a week here in August for any decent kind of holiday.

maynooth_rules

Sharpyshoot wrote: »

What’s your budget and how many nights?

Max of thousand, preferably under 800 though. 3 to 4 nights. We are flexible with any dates in July and August really.

History Queen

maynooth_rules wrote: »

Max of thousand, preferably under 800 though. 3 to 4 nights. We are flexible with any dates in July and August really.

We went to Cork last year and stayed in holiday homes attached to Clonakilty Park Hotel with two kids under 3. Highly recommended. Loads to do in the area (fota, open farm, model railway, beaches etc) and hotel has fab enclosed playground and a leisure centre. Was 550ish euro for 4bed house for 5 nights in September.

Sharpyshoot

History Queen wrote: »

We went to Cork last year and stayed in holiday homes attached to Clonakilty Park Hotel with two kids under 3. Highly recommended. Loads to do in the area (fota, open farm, model railway, beaches etc) and hotel has fab enclosed playground and a leisure centre. Was 550ish euro for 4bed house for 5 nights in September.

September is not summer, off peak.

Sharpyshoot

maynooth_rules wrote: »

Max of thousand, preferably under 800 though. 3 to 4 nights. We are flexible with any dates in July and August really.

Keep an eye on Lidl or Aldi for a tent.

spurious

Your best bet might be talking to colleagues/friends about any holiday homes/old family homes they could let you have for a few days.
Prices are crazy.

SusanC10

maynooth_rules wrote: »

Sounds like torture

Want to go somewhere in August with wife and tw chaos. Hotels are pretty much out, sleeping arrangements there just don't work. Any ideas of somewhere suitable that won't break the bank?

If your kids are not at School yet, would September be an option for you ?
Better value.

Cape Clear

maynooth_rules wrote: »

Sounds like torture

Want to go somewhere in August with wife and tw chaos. Hotels are pretty much out, sleeping arrangements there just don't work. Any ideas of somewhere suitable that won't break the bank?

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=116828113&postcount=7

kiki smiling

I've just booked a 3 night stay in Killarney on AirBnB for August for under €500, two bed cottage all to ourselves so perfect for families. Also Supervalu do good getaway breaks for self catering too. I agree on holding out till September if you can though, your money will go much farther.

JimmyVik

We were wondering what to do this year.
We live in Dubli. We have friends living in the west.
They fancied a couple of weeks in Dublin, we fancied a couple of weeks in the west.
So we decided to swap houses for a couple of weeks.
Now lots of other friends are looking at doing the same thing. We will soon have a network of people we can all swap with for staycations
But I yearn for foreign holidays again.

maynooth_rules

History Queen wrote: »

We went to Cork last year and stayed in holiday homes attached to Clonakilty Park Hotel with two kids under 3. Highly recommended. Loads to do in the area (fota, open farm, model railway, beaches etc) and hotel has fab enclosed playground and a leisure centre. Was 550ish euro for 4bed house for 5 nights in September.

Thanks, sounds like a good suggestion.

maynooth_rules

SusanC10 wrote: »

If your kids are not at School yet, would September be an option for you ?
Better value.

It would be for everyone but me. I'm a secondary teacher

Sunny_Arms

JimmyVik wrote: »

We were wondering what to do this year.
We live in Dubli. We have friends living in the west.
They fancied a couple of weeks in Dublin, we fancied a couple of weeks in the west.
So we decided to swap houses for a couple of weeks.
Now lots of other friends are looking at doing the same thing. We will soon have a network of people we can all swap with for staycations
But I yearn for foreign holidays again.

It's like from the netflix movie, The Holiday. Though, they weren't friends and they just met through a website. Sounds fun!

JimmyVik

Sunny_Arms wrote: »

It's like from the netflix movie, The Holiday. Though, they weren't friends and they just met through a website. Sounds fun!

Havent done it yet.
Worst part is we have the clean up the house

Sunny_Arms

JimmyVik wrote: »

Havent done it yet.
Worst part is we have the clean up the house

oh. well ure gonna swap houses so I guess that's part of the deal.
hope ure gonna do it some time in the future and maybe let us know how was it

SusanC10

maynooth_rules wrote: »

It would be for everyone but me. I'm a secondary teacher

Fair enough!

We stayed in the Lodges at Castle Leslie in Monaghan when the kids were younger. Also Fota Hotel has Lodges which were lovely. Renvyle House Hotel in Connemara.

Otherwise Airbnb for us.

JimmyVik

Sunny_Arms wrote: »

oh. well ure gonna swap houses so I guess that's part of the deal.
hope ure gonna do it some time in the future and maybe let us know how was it

In the summer. Cant come quick enough tbh

Its not like we are strangers in each other houses or anything.
Its with friends so i think it should be painless enough.

Mrs OBumble

Staycation literally means that you stay at home, in your own house, and do "on holiday" thing there.

If you are going somewhere, you having a vacation ( ie making your regular place VAcant), not a staycation.

So: stay at home. Do fun stuff in your own area.

History Queen

Sharpyshoot wrote: »

September is not summer, off peak.

I realise that. That's why I said that we went there in September, to put the price in context.

beggars_bush

Sharpyshoot wrote: »

I’d go abroad. You are talking 4K for a week here in August for any decent kind of holiday.

The negativity here from some posters is just crazy

Consider a house swap - plenty of websites even for houses in Ireland
Self catering- yes there is very little out there. Do the leg work. Ring plenty of places and explain you will take any cancellation.
Would you be willing to go in June? There may be availability if you contact places.
What do 4 year olds love? Beach, water and more of both of those two with a picnic or two, trip to pet farm or zoo, few playgrounds they've never seen before and its a holiday never to forget for them

jasonb

Some hotels have 'interconnecting family rooms' that basically means two rooms, one for the kids and one for the parents. Great National Hotel is one that does that. No idea if they have availability or not, but really with 2 kids you need at least two rooms (in a hotel) or an Air BnB etc. that gives you space.

Edit: Just did a very quick check, Great National Hotel in Ballina has Mon-Fri in the first week in July in an Interconnecting Family Room for €600 on their website. Mon-Fri in the first week in August is €670.

Sunny_Arms

JimmyVik wrote: »

In the summer. Cant come quick enough tbh

Its not like we are strangers in each other houses or anything.
Its with friends so i think it should be painless enough.

maybe like an adult slumber party of something? hahahah anyways, i hope it'll go well despite this pandemic going on

fits

We have twin 4 year olds. I wouldn’t do anything other than self catering at this stage of our life. Keep an eye on Airbnb. New places come up. I was first person to book a house near skibbereen last week. Got it for late July.

fdevine

We did a hotel stay in Mideleton last summer.

Beaches & Fota within easy reach. Family room was a decent size. Highly recommend Fota.

Hotel pool had to be booked 24 hours in advance which took some of the spontaneity out of things.

No outdoor space, other than the carpark & bar/dining restrictions were the negatives.

Doing Limerick/Clare this year. Found a self-catering suite in Castletroy Park Hotel so hopefully pool access & bar/dining will be operating by mid-July. <€1k for a week. Plan is to explore Clare - Burren, beaches, cliffs, caves, castles, boat trips......subject to some normality resuming