Family holiday destinations with young children

[Stephan]

Hello,

Curious on peoples experience/recommendations on places to visit/hotels/resorts in Europe which are kids friendly in particular for toddlers. Currently thinking Centre parks but thought I could find someplace else in Europe.

Thanks,
Stephan

[0 post]

France/ Italy/ Spain/ Portugal/ Greece are all countries where they love kids & tolerate the antics that toddlers sometimes get up to & possibly a tantrum & tears. You’d probably want to avoid the sourer northern European countries (and yes, UK is one of them).

[The Savage Squirrel]

The Netherlands was one of my favourite places to go when our children were little. It remains so today.

Travel is very easy from most of the country – if you find you have a lot of child “accessories” then driving and car-ferry is easy from all parts of the country, with the ferry taking most of the strain, car-time is minimal.

If you are looking for Centreparks but better and classier then this place would be ideal.

http://www.hofvansaksen.com/resort

While this place is magical for children of about 4 and up (to adult!); it’s actually a Nature Park where they put up some fairytale models 70 years ago and then have kind of just kept adding stuff ever since until now… :D. The best of the accomodation (link provided here and tucked away in a tranquil forest) is embarrasingly good compared to anything equivalent in the UK. In fact our children say they like it more than Disneyworld and we have visited 3 times now.

http://www.efteling.com/en/bosrijk

[Bill]

Centre Parks have locations in Europe so depending on your dates it may be cheaper to go abroad to CP rather than one in the UK

[Rob]

‘Toddlers’ is a bit of a vague description. To be honest, if you are kids are 2-3 years then you can do anything with them as they are just sat in a buggy anyway!

Skiing – Elmauhof, Austria

Summer (not tried if for ski) – Cavallino Bianco, Ortisei

Don’t overlook long haul. 7-9 hours in long haul business is a lot easier to manage than 3 hours in short haul.

[iplaypoker]

We took our 5 year old to a Zafiro resort in Psain. He loved it yet. I think it depends on what sort of holiday you want. We have also planned a city break to Amsterdam. Don’t forget the new Centre Parks in Ireland.

[Stephan]

Thanks for the suggestions, had forgotten that centre parks also existed outside the UK. I guess having readthe remark on Domes of Corfu under the BA sales being a goso place for small children I was curious what other places would be similar in their offerings. The kids are under 4 (1 & 3).

[BuildBackBetter]

Hilton Dalaman.

[aseftel]

Stephan wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions, had forgotten that centre parks also existed outside the UK. I guess having readthe remark on Domes of Corfu under the BA sales being a goso place for small children I was curious what other places would be similar in their offerings. The kids are under 4 (1 & 3).

Ikos has well-regarded family-friendly resorts in Europe.

[Michael C]

Peppa Pig World + the nearest ok hotel with a pool!

[The Savage Squirrel]

Michael C wrote:

Peppa Pig World

Nobody needs that much pain in their life.

Actually, Sundown Adventureland will give a similar experience of an under-7s UK “theme park” but at a fraction of the cost – especially as under 90cm height they get in free – (so you feel far less need to stay all day and can leave as soon as you can get away with – which is of course a massive bonus and the real aim of the game).

More dated and not quite as flash, yes, but trust me, your 3yr old doesn’t give a s**t about that.

[NorthernLass]

Eurocamps are extremely well priced and fantastic for kids as long as you’re not looking for luxurious accommodation (which you won’t be able to afford anyway in school holidays, lol!) There are some lovely ones in the south of France, we stayed near Frejus when my son and his cousin were 11 and used it as a base to explore the local area and do the odd longer day trip, e.g. to Monte Carlo which they were very impressed with!

[John]

The only non-UK place we made it to during the pandemic was Croatia (and the Isle of Man lol)

A trip can be very different when you have a car versus not having one

[NigelHamilton]

Second vote here for eurocamp type holiday which often have superb pool facilities. You can also book direct with the campsites or continental equivalents (e.g. Vacances soleil) and if booking towards the end of August with the continental based operators, can get a non-school holiday price with some of them. If your kids are not school age, June and September are fantastic times to go and about a third of the price in school holidays. One tip would be to read plenty of reviews of your chosen site as there is quite a lot of variation in quality.

[Stephan]

NorthernLass wrote:

Eurocamps are extremely well priced and fantastic for kids as long as you’re not looking for luxurious accommodation (which you won’t be able to afford anyway in school holidays, lol!) There are some lovely ones in the south of France, we stayed near Frejus when my son and his cousin were 11 and used it as a base to explore the local area and do the odd longer day trip, e.g. to Monte Carlo which they were very impressed with!

NigelHamilton wrote:

Second vote here for eurocamp type holiday which often have superb pool facilities. You can also book direct with the campsites or continental equivalents (e.g. Vacances soleil) and if booking towards the end of August with the continental based operators, can get a non-school holiday price with some of them. If your kids are not school age, June and September are fantastic times to go and about a third of the price in school holidays. One tip would be to read plenty of reviews of your chosen site as there is quite a lot of variation in quality.

Cheers thanks for that piece of advice. Last year before to school starts so will look into those for the coming year.

[FatherOfFour]

We found Buitenhof de Leistert in Netherlands to be a good alternative to Eurocamps. Lovely detached cottage accommodation, suiting small and large groups. Whirlpool bath, sauna, pet friendly garden, cots, highchairs etc. Onsite pool was nice, but not spectacular if I recall. There is also an onsite campsite for campers.

Centerparcs Belgium/NL border too, about £1k cheaper than UK in the school holidays.