Are we there yet?
Travelling with children can be a problem as well as a pleasure, so here's a holiday guide that puts the fun back into family to
ensure the little ones are kept busy – and you can relax
European Boating Holidays
How about a gentle cruise along the water? With European Boating Holidays you get a traditional French canal boat or a luxury motor boat and, with a full induction before you begin, you can skipper your way across France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Venice or Poland, with plenty of room for all the family. Prices start at £944 per family of up to five for seven nights on a canal boat in August. Call 0845 450 5229 or visit www.cardinalboating.com or www.locaboat.com.
Tots to Travel
Tots To Travel lists self-catering gîtes, villas and chateaux – almost all within an hour of an airport across Italy and France. All properties come equipped for babies and toddlers, and include plastic cutlery, sterilisers, stair gates, enclosed pools and toys too. Prices start from £695 for a property in August. Call 020 8123 4511 or visit www.totstoitaly.co.uk and www.totstofrance.co.uk.
Eurocamp
Eurocamp has 162 parks across Europe – many with free kids' clubs – while accommodation includes staying in a luxury tent, chalet or mobile home. There are restaurants, bars, shops, pools and laundry on-site, as well as free toddler equipment. Prices start from £650 for six people in a luxury tent for seven nights up to mid-August, including ferry crossing. Call 0844 406 0552 or visit www.eurocamp.co.uk.
Hoburne Holiday Parks
Hoburne Holiday Parks have seven locations from the Cotswolds to Cornwall where you can stay in lodges, chalets or caravans – one site also has camping facilities – while five of the parks have kids' clubs. Prices start from £320 in a two-bedroom caravan for the last week in August. Call 01425 612340 or visit www.hoburne.com.
Camp Bestival
If you fancy a couple of days away with great live music and fun, this is an ideal way to embrace festival life with kids. It's happening on the 18-20 July at Lulworth Castle in Dorset and kids under 12 go free. For tickets call 0844 888 4410 or visit www.campbestival.co.uk.
Top tips for tiny travellers
- Tourist offices are much under-used resources, says Donald Strachan, author of Frommer's Tuscany & Umbria With Your Family (£12·99). Before you go, email the tourist office with your children's ages and ask them to suggest suitable attractions.
- When flying, give kids their own small rucksacks in which to keep spare clothing (planes are always chilly so don't forget something warm), a
leak-proof drink, their favourite toy and activity games. - Playing games such as 'I-spy' in the back of the car makes kids focus long-distance, which can help alleviate travel sickness. Avoid reading and colouring-in books which can make kids feel wobbly. Window shades help to keep the fiercest sun off kids.
- Try to plan your car journeys for when children are asleep, taking them in their PJs from bed early in the morning on the way there and late at night on the way back – the roads are clearer, too, points out Lucy Huxley, editor of Travel Trade Gazette.
- Just in case your luggage gets lost, have enough to keep everybody going for at least a day packed in hand baggage.
- Babies and children can suffer excruciating ear ache during take-off and landing in planes, so don't forget a dummy or lollipops when you fly – the sucking helps balance the pressure in the inner ear.
Great value Pink Angels trolley case, £8;
Pink Angels backpack, £4
Reader panellist Taruni Cook, 10, enjoyed her family holiday at Center Parcs in Longleat recently, 'Me and my sisters loved it because we were able to do so much there. Swimming, horse riding, archery, tree-trekking, flying down the zip wire, riding our bikes and pottery painting. There wasn't any time to get bored.'
Center Parcs has four villages in the UK, with three-bedroom woodland lodges or four-bedroom executive lodges. (The executive lodges have a games room and private sauna). Apart from the sub-tropical swimming paradise, there are more than 50 (paid-for) activities and there are spas, too – but no babysitting. A three-night weekend break in August costs from £605, and a week from £1,378 for a woodland lodge. Call 08705 200300 or visit www.centerparcs.co.uk.
Mark Warner
Tracey Schaverian tried out a Mark Warner holiday resort in Greece with partner Jerry and their toddler, Paddy.
'As any parent knows, the days of lounging on the beach for hours are long gone once children become your new travelling companions. But there are still places left in the world where grown-ups can combine freedom with the joys of parenthood.
'To find out whether such a parental paradise on Earth really does exist, my partner Jerry and I took our two-year-old son, Paddy, to try out a Mark Warner's holiday at Paleros Village Beach Resort in mainland Greece. Combining a quiet, sandy beach with enough activities and facilities to exhaust an entire family, it gave us just the perfect break we needed – time with Paddy as well as time with just each other.
'We had great fun with Paddy in the mornings in the large, family swimming pool or teaching him to swim in the kids' pool, while in the afternoons, Jerry and I could let all the exhaustion of our busy lives disappear while Paddy spent a couple of hours in one of the six children's clubs, which are free for the over-twos and open all day. It was such a release seeing Paddy having a ball playing with other children his own age, under the supervision of qualified British nannies.
'Meanwhile, I could relax while having a blissful massage at the on-site beauty salon, Jerry could explore Paleros village on a free-hire mountain bike – and we'd still have time to play at being grown-ups at a choice of bars, a buffet restaurant and pizzeria. And you can book nannies for a charge to babysit in the evenings.
'When you're feeling invigorated, there are tennis courts, waterskiing, scuba diving, windsurfing, aerobics, water polo and beach volleyball to enjoy.
'All your food – and wine – is included so there's no cooking or clearing up and the bungalow-style rooms, leading out to private patios or balconies set in manicured gardens, are cleaned regularly. So there's nothing to do but have the time of your life.'
Getting there
Prices from £3,191 for a family of four for one week in July and August. Includes flights, transfers, half-board accommodation (£50 extra per adult or £35 extra per child over two, per week for full-board). Also includes waterskiing, sailing, windsurfing, tennis, mountain bike guiding, aerobics and childcare fo the over twos (childcare for those aged four months to two years is £150 for six mornings or £300 for six full days). Call 0871 7033944 or visit www.markwarner.co.uk.