[Travel] NSC hive-mind – holiday destination!

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

We have a 1.5 year old and a 3.5 year old and had a great time on Lanzarote here: https://www.villaskamezi.com

We also have a family house in Paros, Greece and that is fantastic place for children, amazing beaches, towns, villages and people. Very welcoming for children. I could go on about Paros forever so send me a PM if you'd like any specific info.

 

[Algernon]

Obligatory @Your Mum

 

[junior]

Skegness?

 

[Bry Nylon]

Bexhill

 

[MJsGhost]

Thanks for all of the ideas so far - plenty of food for thought.

Pollença looks like the kind of place I'd like to mooch around. I think my mum has a cousin that lives somewhere on Mallorca - I'll have to check to see if I can get some local intel
It's a shame that this place isn't a little closer to the sea (and that there aren't better recent reviews) https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/2056...share_id=94645ff4-e103-4329-a4e4-f2bbdc260582

 

[the larks]

For something different look at Sitia, Eastern crete , it a lovely small town not over run by tourists, lovely beaches ( low key but with all you need ), great food and a number other beaches a short ride away. Its about 2 hours by car from heraklion airport.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Thanks for all of the ideas so far - plenty of food for thought.

Pollença looks like the kind of place I'd like to mooch around. I think my mum has a cousin that lives somewhere on Mallorca - I'll have to check to see if I can get some local intel
It's a shame that this place isn't a little closer to the sea (and that there aren't better recent reviews) https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/2056...share_id=94645ff4-e103-4329-a4e4-f2bbdc260582

Pollença is inland and a pretty traditional Spanish town with a particularly raucous festival, La patrona, in August where everyone is pissed and the Ambulances line up on the roads to the square. The festival is NOT Family friendly

Port de Pollença is right on the coast, some distance from Pollença and quite touristy with a lovely long seafront with beach and restaurants and very Family Friendly. Very different places

 

[Blue3]

we stayed on the island opposite the port.... very good holiday!

We were due to stay there then covid19 hit travel was banned and not been back since, but I had explored the little island years before at that time the hotel was just a abandoned empty shell as was the castle and tower

 

[Superphil]

Somewhere on the coast just north of Famagusta (Gazimagusa) in North Cyprus. lovely beaches In abundance. Superb cuisine. Amazing historical city to explore in Famagusta, and an even more amazing ruined city in Salamis, all on your doorstep. Driving is a doddle, they use the correct side of the road. The rest of North Cyprus is no more than an hour or so away, and you can drive to the end of the pointy bit to the east which is well worth it. Easy to get to, EasyJet to Larnaca then taxi to your destination. And with the exchange rate (Turkish Lira) as it is, eating out and other stuff while you’re there is ridiculously cheap.

 

[Seagull58]

We’re looking to book our first holiday since 2018 (pre kids!) so our requirements are a little different now with a 1yr old and a 3yr old. To make it more complicated, we’re joining forces with my sister-in-law and her 2 teenage kids...

It’s a tricky task to find someone suitable for everyone’s different requirements and I hoped that NSC might come up trumps with some suggestions of destinations (the more specific the better i.e. towns/villages to target, or even better an actual property they have stayed in).

We'll be going late June / early July and have an accommodation budget of £3500 (max) for a week. The requirements are:

Detached house / villa with 4+ bedrooms and a pool.
Decent garden - BBQ / outdoor kitchen & dining area.
Needs to be walking distance (15-20 mins, so about a mile) of:

• A nice beach
• Restaurant(s)
• A nice little town / village to mooch about in (so not one of the many lovely, huge villas that have been built up in the hills of, say Crete, but are a car journey to get ANYWHERE)

General location:
Somewhere with a bit of history – a quaint old town nearby, or a picturesque fishing village etc. Interesting sightseeing further afield (the older the better, we do like a dusty old ruin)

Enough tourism in the area for there to be stuff for teenage kids to do, but nothing too built up & busy (NOT a concrete jungle with an English pub on every corner). Nightclubs not required. A waterpark that’s a reasonable drive away would be ideal though.

The Mrs is doing the sensible thing of contacting travel companies, but if anyone can recommend a company that might be able to help with this above, I will pass it on to her.

We are thinking Greek islands, but I am keen to hear alternative suggestions too. Thus far, it’s proving tricky as the space we want/need doesn’t necessarily lend itself to being as close to a nice town/village as we’d like (unless we up the budget, which we aren’t able to do).

Thanks very much in advance! (even for the "Google is your friend" comment coming my way )

Any seaside town in the Algarve except Albufeira, although even Albufeira old town would fit the bill. Lagos, Lagoa, Portimao, Carvojeiro, Olhas de Agua, Vilamoura, Quarteira, for example. Several waterparks and lovely beaches

 

[Weststander]

Pollença is inland and a pretty traditional Spanish town with a particularly raucous festival, La patrona, in August where everyone is pissed and the Ambulances line up on the roads to the square. The festival is NOT Family friendly

Port de Pollença is right on the coast, some distance from Pollença and quite touristy with a lovely long seafront with beach and restaurants and very Family Friendly. Very different places

I really liked Port de Pollença, many of its hotels/buildings predate the 60’s invasion of Brits and Germans, it didn’t have the usual vibe of eg nearby Alcudia. There’s a market too.

 

[Cordwainer]

We have a 1.5 year old and a 3.5 year old and had a great time on Lanzarote here: https://www.villaskamezi.com

We also have a family house in Paros, Greece and that is fantastic place for children, amazing beaches, towns, villages and people. Very welcoming for children. I could go on about Paros forever so send me a PM if you'd like any specific info.

Loved Paros..had 5 days there and 5 days in Naxos last summer..fantastic holiday and not stupidly expensive. Would recommend both without hesitation.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Port de Pollenca, Majorca.

100% recommend, loverly little fishing town which has kept its tradition and character

 

[BrightonCottager]

Lagos, Portugal ticks all those boxes. Great beaches (Meia Praia on the other side of the river is huge - i loves it, I do), restaurants galore, wide range of villas and apartments, lively shopping area, old Fort (& oldest slave market in Europe - and a must-see museum of slavery next to it) fantastic wild beaches to the west...I could go on.

 

[portlock seagull]

Don’t forget things have changed climate wise. If you don’t mind up to 50 degrees then the Med is great in height of summer, what with roads melting, air con breaking, people dying, forest fires, evacuations, endless smoke hanging about for hundreds of miles…and no where to cool down, because even the sea is boiling. Infants and children love this environment particularly because they just sleep through… Not forgetting refugees landing on the beach from the ME and N.Africa!

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

Don’t forget things have changed climate wise. If you don’t mind up to 50 degrees then the Med is great in height of summer, what with roads melting, air con breaking, people dying, forest fires, evacuations, endless smoke hanging about for hundreds of miles…and no where to cool down, because even the sea is boiling. Infants and children love this environment particularly because they just sleep through… Not forgetting refugees landing on the beach from the ME and N.Africa!

That reads like the Daily Mail, if they gave a sh!t about climate change