With the mid-year school holidays not too far away – yes, already! – and winter settling in, now is the time to think about a family holiday. We asked around on what type of holiday ideas mum’s like to read about and you asked for holiday suggestions that are:
1. Suitable for the entire family – tick
2. Somewhere to feel at home – tick
3. Warm – tick (sorry Tassie, New Zealand and Canberra)
4. Different to everyday life at home – tick
5. Somewhere personally recommended - tick
6. And “luxurious – we want to feel like we’re on a real holiday” but it can't cost and arm and a leg – hmmm, okay. Anything that calls itself ‘luxury travel’ usually has a price tag to match.
But we did the best we could and here's five suggestions from different parts of the world.
Greece is one of the most marvellous places on earth to visit and, because of the economic situation of the country at the moment, there’s some fantastic holiday bargains available.
Domes won Condé Nast’s Most Excellent Family Friendly Hotel in 2012 and it’s easy to see why. Greek people are naturally tuned-in to the needs of kids anyway, but this luxury hotel takes it even further with bathrobes, slippers and mini bar snacks especially for children. The suites are family-size; the kids can have fun at the Kids Club; and at turn-down time, they get organic milk and Yia Yia’s best shortbread biscuit. For older kids, there’s tennis lessons, drawing lessons, mountain biking and watersports. The family dining options include giving children drawing pads and crayons to occupy them while you enjoy your moussaka and wine, and every July and August there’s a culinary festival. And you don’t need to bother taking anything with you – there’s highchairs, bassinets, cots, baby monitors and more available for you.
One and Only, Saint Géran, Mauritius
Top UK baby and child nutritionist, and recent Motherpedia contributor Annabel Karmel, tipped us off to this place – so we take her word for it. In a word – she says it’s “gorgeous”.
And we know the food must be good, because Annabel has designed the children’s menu. The rest of the place is also very geared-up for kids with some wonderful and memorable activities lined-up through their Kids Club for 3-11 year olds. Some of the activity includes night time treasure hunts, cooking classes (of course!), gardening club, computer room and more. Children under 3 are welcome also but must be accompanied by an adult. Annabel says the resort is nestled on silver white sands on a peninsula with a sheltered lagoon.
One and Only are a small and exclusive chain of hotels in beautiful locations. This one is no exception and the 'One and Only' name might give a clue to the price tag also.
With Qantas and Emirates now sharing flights to Europe via Dubai, there will be very few Aussies who won’t have a stop-off in this Middle Eastern oasis at some stage.
And in a city where ‘over-the-top’ is the norm, there’s nothing else quite like Atlantis the Palm. Located on the topmost point of the man-made palm-shaped island in the Arabian Gulf, the Atlantis is huge. It's also the ultimate aquatic playground especially designed for families, with natural as well as built features. There’s a fabulous Kids Club with SpongeBob Squarepants for 3-12 year olds and a ‘Club Rush’ for teenagers which is a fully supervised, mocktail-serving private club where parents can set a spending limit. There’s a pirates’ playground, fitness classes, beach soccer, waterparks, underwater world, DJ classes and so much more. If your kids are bored at Atlantis the Palm then, frankly, they’re much too spoilt and probably need to be sent on a bootcamp instead.
One word of warning here: Dubai in the middle of the year is hot. Very hot. Most activities will be indoor and in air-conditioning, but we still think it's at least worth a stopover if not a destination in itself.
The Absolute Suite, Cape Panwa Hotel, Phuket, Thailand
It’s not possible to have a travel round-up without including perennial favourite, Phuket.
Located on the south-eastern point of Phuket, Cape Panwa recently launched The Absolute Suite as its top-of-the-range two-bedroom, two-bathroom glass encased penthouse. It is certainly not for everyone’s budget but it is worth looking at the photos with the 360 degree views across the Andaman Sea. The Hotel has other, slightly less expensive options too including one, two and three-bedroom family villas as well as regular hotel rooms. The Absolute Suite has its own private elevator, access to the hotel’s yacht, a personal butler, private spa and more. There’s activities galore, but the highlight is a private and safe magnificent stretch of white sand beach with crystal blue water, very reminiscent of the Phuket of 25 years ago.
Strattons Hotel & Restaurant, Norfolk, England
This is very different in style to the other suggestions, but no less comfortable and is handily located less than two hours from London in a lovely Georgian-style English village.
We think the best thing about Strattons – besides the fact that you can take your dog as well as your children, but that’s not really useful from Australia – is the option for the hotel or self-catering. But when you get there and don’t really feel like too much of the ‘self-catering’ bit, there’s also an onsite café deli and award-winning restaurant. It’s also green, caring and flexible. So you won’t get bathrobes and slippers – too much carbon footprint – but you will get the coffee grains from breakfast recycled, and nothing’s too much trouble if you have a fussy eater, or a special occasion or just have a dietary need. As well as dogs, there are cats and chickens, and children can not only feed the chooks but collect their own breakfast eggs if they wish.
P.S. Don't forget our competition to find Australia's best beach with the chance to win five nights at Coolum Beach.
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