Holiday Ideas

clones1980

Hi. I am a single parent to a 12 year old boy who loves football and swimming. We have had a number of holidays over the past few years but for sun holidays always we always went in September when things were a bit cheaper. This year however he is starting secondary school so I wont be able to take him out.

We have so far been to Bella Italia twice, Barcelona, Lapland, Disneyland, Valencia, London, Scotland. I am looking to go somewhere different this summer for a week that wont rob the bank. I looked at flights alone for Lanzarote for August and they were coming in at almost €1300 before I even looked for accommodation. We both loved Bella Italia as it had the soccer camp every morning and as he is an only child I would prefer somewhere with lots of Irish families so he can mix with other children. Has anyone any ideas or am I living in the clouds thinking its possible to get cheap or reasonably priced holiday during the summer?

taxAHcruel

We always found it relatively cheap to camp and/or rent "Fixed place mobile homes" in places along the French Coast for a week or two. Noirmoutier and Carnac for example spring to mind. Depending on the dates you go these can be exclusively targeted at the French - or also targeted at UK/Irish people.

We went early one year and all the activities were Bilingual and many UK And Irish Cars parked around. Another year we went quite a bit later and barely saw a single UK or Irish car and all the activities were just in French.

Didn't bother us either way as the majority of our time was spent in the pools, down on the beaches at the sea, or going off on our own for bike days out and other activities (hand gliding off the side of a mountain was a personal favorite). But my kids did seek out and find other UK and Irish kids each time.

An example of one place we went back to a second time the following year because we enjoyed it:
https://www.lagrandemetairie.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gmb_search

Getting there by Ryanair and bus/train/rental is an option but so too is a Ferry direct using your own car or a ferry over the UK and driving to the Ferry Dover-Calais. But if the French Seaside is not for you there are other places in France with similar 4/5 star camping style resorts. Like Lake Annecy for example which is - for an added day out bonus - not far from Geneva.

I would also guess that a lot of soccer and swimming camp orientated holidays in Germany would be quite English speaking especially near the bigger cities like Munich and Frankfurt. Germans do like their swimming indoor and in the summer an absolute multitude of outdoor options. And they do love their football. Pretty much every town over a certain size has an outdoor swimming pool which is great. There is also a place called Therme Erding which is meant to be one of Europes bigger, and most visited, water parks.

Tombo2001

If you go mid to late August a lot of the football seasons will have started again so you might be able to take in a game somewhere.

For example - if you went to Lake Garda, you might be able to fly into Milan and take in a match with AC or Inter.

EDIT - Actually a very good place for this would be Casceis in Lisbon, its kind of like what Howth is to Dublin, seaside town/ suburb. There are some nice beaches, not amazing but grand for a swim. Its a quick enough train ride to Lisbon, and the atmosphere at Sporting Lisbon or Benfica if you go to a game is just brill. Buy him the jersey while there, all the locals will be impressed.

clones1980

Thanks Tombo. I meant somewhere that he has a football camp he can play with other kids daily. We did go Lake Garda last two years though and went to visit San Siro. We stayed at the Bella Italia where there was football camp daily however, the prices are crazy this year.