Holidays will never be the same once you have children, we all know that…family holidays have a different rhythm and indeed are a different experience, but they are a lot of fun, create the best memories and bring the whole the family together to recharge.

Here are our tips to you, how to prepare and plan well to make your family holiday great.

1. Holiday destination

The choice of our holiday destination is personal, but when you are travelling with a baby or a toddler, best to choose a relatively close destination, especially if you have not travelled with your childen before. It is not an easy job to keep your children entertained, happy and seated for many hours, so the shorter the journey the less stress you will have.

When it comes to travelling with your children, you also have to think about timing. Consider their daily routine, such as their naps, mealtimes or when they most active during the day and time journey, book your flight accordingly.

Weather is also an important factor that you should consider, particularly when you travelling with a baby. Try to choose a destination where the temperature isn’t going to be too high. If you choose a warmer destination, make sure to stay in during the hottest part of the day (between 11am and 3 pm). Your baby can overheat and dehydrate quicker in hot weather, so make sure to keep your baby cool and protected from harmful rays.

Mum lifting her baby up in the air on the beach and both laughing  

2. Accommodation

Choose a place that is family friendly! Almost in any destination you will have a great selection of hotels for families, which will provide all the equipment you might need (cots, feeding chairs, toys). They will have children friendly meals (great for your fussy eater toddler) and fun activities for your little ones. Family friendly hotels are also great, as their stuff is well trained and other guests will be mainly families, so no one will complain if your baby cries or if your toddler misbehaves and you and children might as well make new friends during your stay.

If you are not great fun of hotels or resorts and you are looking for smothering cheaper or prefer to self-cater for your family, you can still find dozens of family friendly apartments, villas, country houses that are also well equipped to accommodate the need of a family.

We truly advise you to choose an accommodation that is family friendly and contact them before you book, to make sure they have everything you will need. It will save a lot of space in your luggage and will make your holiday a better experience.

 

3. Location, location

Whilst without children you likely to choose a location where you are further away from the touristy areas and don’t mind the extra time of commute, with children you should look for a place with a more convenient location. Try to find a centrally located accommodation, from where it is easy to get around, do sightseeing, go to the beach or find any shops or amenities you might need.  It is great when you don’t have to rely on public transport and you can get around on foot with your children. You can also easily get back to your hotel or apartment if it is needed (when you run out of clean baby clothes, nappies or forget to pack that one toy…)

 

4. Something fun for everyone

Make sure everyone will have fun during the holiday. Depending on the age of your children, look up activities, museums, parks that they will enjoy. Have many options and places to visit and see but don’t over schedule your holiday. Try to go with the flow, and choose the places, activities, make some planning on the day, or the day before, and avoid having a rigid holiday schedule.

Involve your toddlers to choose what activities they would like to do.

This way everyone will get involved and can truly enjoy themselves.

Family playing on the beach whilst the sun is setting