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My wife and I are looking for European resort destinations for us and our first child who is on their way in May. We are looking to go at the end of Sep/early Oct.
We’ve considered the Algarve (Pine Cliffs, W) seems to tick a lot of boxes. Any other destinations at this time of the year that is family friendly? And relatively easy transfer wise. We will be flying from Bristol which suits most Mediterranean countries.
Hilton Dalaman comes to mind, I took my kid there when he was 2, had a blast.
Make sure you have some insurance and meds for fever, burns etc.
Hope everything goes well with the birth – if so, a 4 month old will be relatively easy to deal with. We did long-hauls, short-hauls and long driving trips at that age, at least in our experience “family friendly” wasn’t important until he was a bit older.
A 4 month old sleeps most of the day and night, they can just be put in a baby carrier and you will be reasonably free to do what you want. You can stay out late, stay out all day if you have enough energy (unlikely, but still possible). If you are able to/choose to breastfeed, the only thing you’ll need to think about is where to do it. Babies won’t really be interested in anything except what is directly in front of their face. Rather than bothering with cribs or travel cots, we decided to let him sleep in our bed when travelling, just be careful with blankets and positioning.
Of course every family and baby is different, from my experience travel started to get harder from 8-9 months as sleep became difficult, he wanted to crawl around more and we had to start thinking about food. From 2 years or so you will be largely limited to activities that your child wants to do. So I would suggest in the first few months go wherever you like because it will become hard to do so for the next 10 (or 18) years.
Hope everything goes well with the birth – if so, a 4 month old will be relatively easy to deal with. We did long-hauls, short-hauls and long driving trips at that age, at least in our experience “family friendly” wasn’t important until he was a bit older.
A 4 month old sleeps most of the day and night, they can just be put in a baby carrier and you will be reasonably free to do what you want. You can stay out late, stay out all day if you have enough energy (unlikely, but still possible). If you are able to/choose to breastfeed, the only thing you’ll need to think about is where to do it. Babies won’t really be interested in anything except what is directly in front of their face. Rather than bothering with cribs or travel cots, we decided to let him sleep in our bed when travelling, just be careful with blankets and positioning.
Of course every family and baby is different, from my experience travel started to get harder from 8-9 months as sleep became difficult, he wanted to crawl around more and we had to start thinking about food. From 2 years or so you will be largely limited to activities that your child wants to do. So I would suggest in the first few months go wherever you like because it will become hard to do so for the next 10 (or 18) years.
Thanks so much! That is actually a really good point and food for thought..
We were planning a shorter trip in Sep/Oct and a longer trip in Jan (Middle East, Mexico etc). It almost seems to make sense to do it the other way around! Thanks again.
I would add that you have about 4 years before you’re constrained by school holidays, so either for this one or future breaks picking destinations that you want to visit that are great in September but too busy (or in my case too hot) in the summer (Dubrovnik or Portugal in Europe perhaps) would be a good call. One further (slightly odd but useful) thing we tended to consider was what the paths were like from the resort into the town – much easier to get a buggy along a smooth cycle track than a road with no pavement for example!
+1 on the school holiday thing. Unless you’re a millionaire it’s during these years that points really come into their own!
Hope everything goes well with the birth – if so, a 4 month old will be relatively easy to deal with. We did long-hauls, short-hauls and long driving trips at that age, at least in our experience “family friendly” wasn’t important until he was a bit older.
A 4 month old sleeps most of the day and night, they can just be put in a baby carrier and you will be reasonably free to do what you want. You can stay out late, stay out all day if you have enough energy (unlikely, but still possible). If you are able to/choose to breastfeed, the only thing you’ll need to think about is where to do it. Babies won’t really be interested in anything except what is directly in front of their face.
I completely agree with this. 3-6 months is a sweet spot. You aren’t yet really looking for family-focused accommodation. That said, you’re probably seeking an easy life, so I’d suggest taking a look at one of the Ikos resorts – Dassia perhaps.
Here are two recent threads with a lot of good info in them:
https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/travelling-with-infants/
Echo some of the comments above. We’ve done New York (4 months), Ibizia (7 months) and Thailand (10 months). (My wife is a teacher hence we’re making the most of her mat leave)
My general advice:
– Baby carriers, and a good high quality breathable one, are worth their weight in gold!
– Email hotels/excursions etc. ahead to let them know you’re travelling with a baby. You’ll be surprised how accommodating people are
– Babies are incredibly resilient and will adapt quickly (in fact, our daughter adjusted to the time difference quicker than me in Thailand), at this stage, do what you want to do and the baby will fit around that. As alluded to by other posters above, that will shortly change so make the most of it now!
– Pack intelligently. You’ll be able to get a lot of stuff at your destination (nappies, bags, wipes etc.) but do identify where you’ll be getting them before you goEnjoy it! Travelling with our daughter (esp post 6 months when she’s more alert, trying new food, engaging with people etc.), has been one of the most incredible and rewarding experiences of parenthood.
Entirely agree with other comments.
You have many years of eating at
shitfamily friendly restaurants with plastic giraffes, play areas attached and menus that can be coloured in ahead of you, while hotels will be judged (by your child) entirely by the waterslide selection available.Take your last chance while your little one is interested in little else other than boobs/bottles and stay somewhere a bit more upmarket and refined.
You do tend to spend more time in the room with a small baby (if just from exhaustion) so also splurge here if you can.Yeah – when they’re young it can be fairly easy to have long meals at nice restaurants with them. Try explaining to a toddler that they should sit and eat for a couple of hours, though! It’s still fun to take them out to try new foods etc when they’re older, but it’s a very different experience!
Agree about getting a nice room. If they’re sensitive to noise it’s particularly useful to have a room with a separate bedroom and living area or a balcony (so they can sleep in one bit while you do whatever else in the other).
One thing where child-friendly is relevant even at 4 months is if there’s a pool – is there somewhere you can take them for a splash, or is it adults only?
In your situation, I might try to book a cancellable longer and shorter trip then see how you get on when the baby arrives. I think my partner and I would have been too knackered when ours was 4 months to enjoy a long haul trip (though the baby would have been fine!) How a baby is sleeping, feeding etc by 4 months will vary a lot, too.
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