Dad holiday with two sons, 10 and 12

[Austin_Metro]

I want to take my boys away in August. Dad and lads trip. Rough requirements:

- activities available, e.g football mix in, maybe with coaches, padel, kayaking

- pretty relaxed, don t want kids club as such, more dip in dip out -

- not too hot, thinking more alps than beach resorts. We burn.

- decent, kid friendly restaurants. Kid friendly place.

- pool, or lake swimming.

- cold beer.

Height of the summer holiday haven t booked anything . Have briefly looked at club med in alps and Stock resort in Austria later has no availability.

I d be grateful for anyone s strong recommendations for anywhere?

Thanks!

[Andy_290]

Mate of mine keeps taking his kids here and can't recommend highly enough, looks to fit your bill, although may be a little hotter than you'd want:

https://www.neilson.co.uk/beach/croatia/alana-beac...

[craig1912]

Andy_290 said:

Mate of mine keeps taking his kids here and can't recommend highly enough, looks to fit your bill, although may be a little hotter than you'd want:

https://www.neilson.co.uk/beach/croatia/alana-beac...

Was going to say the same. We went a few years. Might be a bit hot and IMO they started going downhill when private equity got involved.

[PushedDover]

craig1912 said:

Andy_290 said:

Mate of mine keeps taking his kids here and can't recommend highly enough, looks to fit your bill, although may be a little hotter than you'd want:

https://www.neilson.co.uk/beach/croatia/alana-beac...

Was going to say the same. We went a few years. Might be a bit hot and IMO they started going downhill when private equity got involved.

annnnnd I was going to say the same. We've been regulars for 6 yrs now. My now 13 yr old said she'd swap Christmas for a week at Neilson Vounaki.
Suitable endorsement?

[Austin_Metro]

It’s strong.

And the place is booked solid the week I need! Which perhaps is another endorsement

Thanks gents.

[Bill]

Do you definitely want resort based/AI?? And bricks and mortar rather than glamping?

Loads of campsites in the Alps/Vosges/Pyrenees/Ardeche (you mention kayaking) will have football etc but I suspect you might be a bit late as they're popular. You could easily do something somewhere like Morzine or Chamonix of your own back but it'll involve a bit more organisation.

[HocusPocus]

Anywhere alpine will have super intense UV, so if you burn easily make sure you regularly slip, slap, slop.

The entire Med will be baking hot in August.

Why not think about northern Europe instead?

[PushedDover]

Austin_Metro said:

It s strong.

And the place is booked solid the week I need! Which perhaps is another endorsement

Thanks gents.

No doubting it is string

Are all their resorts full? The Vounaki one is a high demand location certainly

Alternatives are Mark Warner- but I’ve never tried, as Neilson has been our go to

[Austin_Metro]

HocusPocus said:

Anywhere alpine will have super intense UV, so if you burn easily make sure you regularly slip, slap, slop.

The entire Med will be baking hot in August.

Why not think about northern Europe instead?

Yeah. I did wonder about the UV issue up a mountain in summer. Might be worse!

[Gargamel]

Anglesey !

Sea Kayaking, loads of rocky coasts to climb around, sunsets in the west, castles, the zip line across the bridge and a day on Snowdon.

Great place to explore.

Ok no football, but it is August.

[_Rodders_]

We had an absolute miserable time camping in Anglesey a few years ago in July.

Persistent heavy rain every day. Below 10 degrees at night.

I think that's the only holiday we've ever given up on and come home early.

[Bill]

We're going on Tuesday! Can't wait, kayaking looks epic.

[PushedDover]

Sadly the truth

UK is amazing, if the weather plays along…..if it t doesn’t: Grim



Alternate, sat on a boat currently in Turkey:
Charter , with skipper / pro, a boat in Turkey , Croatia or Greece for a week of adventures ???

[Gargamel]

_Rodders_ said:

We had an absolute miserable time camping in Anglesey a few years ago in July.

Persistent heavy rain every day. Below 10 degrees at night.

I think that's the only holiday we've ever given up on and come home early.

Ah thats a real pity, I took my kids their as the first holiday after the divorce, we had amazing weather - beautiful sun shine every day and an epic storm on the last day.

Agree UK is unpredictable, but when its good its so good.

[williamp]

I did a Dads and boys holiday to the canaries last year (11 and 14). Lovely, water park everyday. evening entertainment.

Be warned...

Took them for a walk and cut through across a beach. They suddenly went very quiet. Not their usual chatty, daft selves. They went very quiet and just stopped talking... The reason??

Boobies. Lots of 'em.

Topless beaches. Doubt they've ever seen real ones before..

This year I'm playing safe: Normandy. Indoor swimming pool, WW2 beaches, cheese museums and Le Mans museum/track tour.

[Austin_Metro]

Thanks to everyone for input on this. I was about to book a Neilson in Sicily when the last two rooms went … I am booking for two weeks’ time mind - so I looked again and Vounaki beach was now available. So I booked that, on poster up thread’s daughter’s recommendation that she’d swap Christmas for it.

I will report back.

Neilson regulars, do I need to book everything on an app three weeks before I get there? Any other tips for newbies?

Ps. On the not too hot requirement, I think I may have failed spectacularly.

[PushedDover]

Hmm what date arriving ??
Heading there ourselves shortly

As for booking stuff ? No
Joking aside of their motto - Relax As Hard as you like (or similar)

Some try to book all this all that- fine if you’ve goals
Or just take it easy and find your feet / goal
Morning one is worth going to see what is on offer, get the boys away to club, see if you want to learn something / do something - but if not that’s fine too. Pick up and put down any boats, bikes, sups, rackets as much nor as little as you want.
The regatta on about 4:30 is good low stress and fun for me

But : enjoy

DM if you want more ?

[craig1912]

We used to be Neilson regulars and been to most resorts. Was in Vounaki 10 years ago and it was great. Youngest did wake boarding most days. I did tennis, cycling and sailing.
The first day welcome meeting is a must to get an idea what’s available and when.

[Antony Moxey]

If you want football book somewhere that’s got a football team! Fixtures aren’t out yet but I’d imagine your lads would love to see a game at somewhere like Milan or Madrid (and as an added bonus both of these cities have more than one football team so you’re pretty much guaranteed a home fixture for one of them).

[Austin_Metro]

PushedDover said:

Hmm what date arriving ??
Heading there ourselves shortly

As for booking stuff ? No
Joking aside of their motto - Relax As Hard as you like (or similar)

Some try to book all this all that- fine if you ve goals
Or just take it easy and find your feet / goal
Morning one is worth going to see what is on offer, get the boys away to club, see if you want to learn something / do something - but if not that s fine too. Pick up and put down any boats, bikes, sups, rackets as much nor as little as you want.
The regatta on about 4:30 is good low stress and fun for me

But : enjoy

DM if you want more ?

Cheers. That sounds chilled enough.

Going next Sunday. Are you already there?