Holiday Advice for a family of 4

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Hi all,

I am lucky enough to be in receipt of £1000 from my generous Grandad this month and thought of going on holiday with it and taking my partner and her two kids...

My partner has never been out of the country before, the kids have hardly had what you could call a proper holiday (day excursions here and there I think) and I haven't been on holiday since a lad's one in tenerife in 2002 - which seems and is a long time ago!

So with that in mind I thought it would be a good idea to spend the money on a holiday for all of us but the problem is I've never done anyhing like this before so basically I'm after a bit of advice...

We're after a sun and sea holiday, somewhere with nice beaches and things to do during the day, not so bothered about the night time activities as we have the kids and we'll most likely be chilling out at the end of the day.

The kids are 9 and 10.

The Important stuff:

My passport expires on June 10th - so we would need to go somewhere where it's hot ideally at the beginning of June (ie. June 1st).

I need to buy my partner and her two kids passports which I've figured out comes to around £180 in total... then I need to buy flights, accommodation, insurance, car hire etc.

£1000 won't cover everything but I will be adding to it on a modest budget for whatever other expenses are required. We would probably go for 7 nights somewhere - 10 would be nice.

Here's a list of things we would like:

A villa with a private pool

Car hire to go for a brum brum

Quite far away from English people (I am English before you take offense :D) ( I don't want to go to somewhere like Benidorm and be meeted by a load of bloody chavs)

Somewhere close to nice beaches

Somewhere HOT ! :)

Somewhere where there are things to do and see, it would be nice to take in some culture and walk around places as well as tanning on the beach...

So where would you recommend and can you give us any advice please? Thank you.
 
ok thanks for the heads up on the passport - if that is the case and I'd be looking at spending around £300 just on passports maybe I will opt for a holiday in the UK down south instead...
 
holidays in the uk are no cheaper generally. even caravan parks are not cheap during peak season.
do you know anyone with a holiday home or caravan on a site? that would be a cheaper option.

even butlins for a few nights wont be cheap.

get your passports sorted and then look abroad, there are some great cheap islands out there :]
 
Yeah I agree Morba, will be cheaper going abroad probably... I don't think finding the right villa will too hard a task but looking at the flights some of them seem really expensive.... and that's just in June.

Just did a test to see how much flights would be through Monarch to Pathos in the first week of June for 2 adults 2 children and it came back at around £200-300 pp!!

Is that the normal going rate?!
 
I would try teletext holidays (online).

Me and the gf went to Majorca, all inclusive 4* (which means a reasonable 3*) £250 each including taxes, bags and parking.

There was lots of krauts, but it was quiet enough, 25 metres from the beach and had enough to keep us interested for a week.
 
aproctor said:
I would try teletext holidays (online).

Me and the gf went to Majorca, all inclusive 4* (which means a reasonable 3*) £250 each including taxes, bags and parking.

There was lots of krauts, but it was quiet enough, 25 metres from the beach and had enough to keep us interested for a week.
Click to expand...

is that £250 pp for return flights?
 
If you go for a car - make sure you have something to keep the kids occupied at 9 and 10. Also consider a phone for them if they don't have one (or dogtags with your name/hotel etc for them) - They might get bored easily - especially if you want to spend time looking at the scenery / culture etc - so make sure you mix their fun with yours. A holiday with kids can be a sharp shock to some people & is completely different to a single/couples holiday.

Just remember - it's a holiday for all 4 of you - so take turns doing what each of you enjoy - and not just what you think everyone should enjoy. Are the kids mature enough to enjoy a villa in a quiet spanish town / or some quaint french village with no mobile coverage ? Are you sure they could handle the heat of greece ?
 
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smr said:
Here's a list of things we would like:

A villa with a private pool

Car hire to go for a brum brum

Quite far away from English people (I am English before you take offense :D) ( I don't want to go to somewhere like Benidorm and be meeted by a load of bloody chavs)

Somewhere close to nice beaches

Somewhere HOT ! :)

Somewhere where there are things to do and see, it would be nice to take in some culture and walk around places as well as tanning on the beach...

So where would you recommend and can you give us any advice please? Thank you.
Click to expand...

I'd recommend going Cala Galdana, Menorca. I've been there quite a few times, and for families it's great.

car-hire-menorca-cala-galdana.jpg


The only thing I can think of that might be difficult is getting a private villa in Cala Galdana, most of the villas do tend to be either homes, or too far away from the beach and shops etc and up quite a steep hill! :p

The beach there is fantastic. Although small in size, it is one of Menorca's most loved, most photographed and most visited resorts!

Each time i've been, the majority of the tourists there are Spaniards so with you not wanting to be around too many Brits, this shouldn't be a problem :p

There are also several different shops in the resort to hire cars from, and with a car you can visit most of the island. Driving from east to west on the island only takes about 1 hour, so it doesn't take too long to get to most places!

The cities at the east and west, Mahon and Ciutadella, are both real eye openers.

Anything else you'd like to know about the island, just ask :)
 
chrisxuk said:
I'd recommend going Cala Galdana, Menorca. I've been there quite a few times, and for families it's great.

car-hire-menorca-cala-galdana.jpg


The only thing I can think of that might be difficult is getting a private villa in Cala Galdana, most of the villas do tend to be either homes, or too far away from the beach and shops etc and up quite a steep hill! :p

The beach there is fantastic. Although small in size, it is one of Menorca's most loved, most photographed and most visited resorts!

Each time i've been, the majority of the tourists there are Spaniards so with you not wanting to be around too many Brits, this shouldn't be a problem :p

There are also several different shops in the resort to hire cars from, and with a car you can visit most of the island. Driving from east to west on the island only takes about 1 hour, so it doesn't take too long to get to most places!

The cities at the east and west, Mahon and Ciutadella, are both real eye openers.

Anything else you'd like to know about the island, just ask :)
Click to expand...

Yeah I've been to Menorca before and it is a very nice island, although this was over 10 years ago so I don't remember all of it.... I rememember some go kart track, a beach and my dad about driving off the side of some really steep mountain just to get to the top to an arty crafty store.

We could go there, I know they'd like it.

I just never had any idea how expensive the flights were for holidays as in the past I've had everything paid for me !

£600-700 just for flights, then the accommodation on top! That's best part of £1200-£1300 before spending money!
 
try and get an all inclusive if you can - cuts down on "cokes and beers" which can run up a big bill. use trip adviser to find the resoirt/hotel and read reviews, but dont take it as gospel - there are some muppets out there lol!

teletext holidays do some stonking deals, but also some of their hotels are a bit crummy.
Greece, Crete, for 7 nights AI, assigned accomodation, £274pp inc flights from midlands airport departing mid June - there are cheaper options in Balearics too.

Ok so tiny URL doesnt work, useful. Just go to teletext holidays, select all inclusive, search by location for dates and pick what you like!

Be warned, AI sometimes has silver packages or limited packages, which dont include drinks - so double check - and also dont forget kids school holidays - if you creep into those dates prices go up!
 
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