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Have you stayed in a complex with a kids club?

Have you stayed in a complex with a kids club?

Old Jun 15th, 2008, 11:15 PM
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Have you stayed in a complex with a kids club?

This is not a question I've seen asked much on Fodor's but I'm hoping someone will have been to the kind of place I am looking for.

My husband and I are for the first time considering going to a place with a kids club so that we can get an hour or two each day to relax without running around after our busy little girl, who will be just under 2 when we go on holidays next August / September.

Up to now we have been independent travellers and avoided the package-type places. But this time we do need a bit of relaxation and on a recent trip to Bath where we took it in turns to babysit while the other went off for some quality time we realised that if we can have some "time out" to ourselves on holiday we do enjoy it more. We would like to have the "time out" together rather than one at a time so are trying to see if we can achieve this.

We are looking for somewhere that has all of the following (but I'm well aware it may not exist!)

- short flight from Dublin (e.g. Portugal/Spain/France/Italy)

- kids club where we can drop off a nearly 2 year old for an hour or two each day

- ideally an apartment or 2-part room so that we are not sharing a bedroom with our daughter, who must be the noisiest sleeper in the world

- somewhere by the sea, within walking distance of a town with bars / restaurants.

We like:

- nice food, sea, sun, swimming pools, strolling down the town in the evening before a leisurely dinner

We do like lots of other things but being based in Europe we have the luxury of doing weekend breaks quite a lot within Europe so for this holiday our priority is relaxing rather than seeing / doing.

We don't like

- places where the reps put on nightly shows / bingo

- resorts full of Irish bars and restaurants with pictures of the food outside

We did consider Club Med for this holiday but the Club Med villages we found seem to be very self-contained and miles from anywhere. We don't want to be cooped up somewhere for 2 weeks where we can't escape to a local town.

If we don't find somewhere that fits the bill we will just go for an apartment in a nice seaside town and take turns letting each other have some time off. But I'm hoping a nice Fodorite will have some suggestions for me.

Many thanks

Jane
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Old Jun 16th, 2008, 03:10 AM
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For France you may consider Pierre et Vacances http://www.pv-holidays.com/

Azureva http://www.azureva-vacances.com/

and Belambra (in French only)
http://www.belambra-vvf.fr/belambra/...ants-ados.aspx
have fun!
coco
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Old Jun 16th, 2008, 04:44 AM
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check out mark warner (located in different sunny places around europe)...they are probably best known in europe for this type of holiday (kids club and family apartments). they are strongly british in nature but you can use them just for a convenient home base. of course, the mccann incident occurred at one of their properties in portugal but they seem to have a very good reputation (despite bbc scrutiny). with scrutiny comes improvements and i would have no safety concerns myself.

as for the country, i suggest greece. greeks are very forgiving of screaming and playing children. many tavernas and bars have a play area in the corner where family and customers' kids play. you can 'dump' your kid in this area and enjoy a quiet cocktail or dinner while your child makes new friends. unfortunately, britons love greece too and they are much less forgiving of other people's children. ignore our dirty looks and just enjoy the patience and attention that your child receives from the greeks.

you might want to also look at other sources of info. we don't tend to discuss these types of holidays here as most people here are americans who typically don't do this in europe and the europeans here don't tend to discuss these types of holidays.
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Old Jun 16th, 2008, 05:29 AM
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Thanks a million to you both for your suggestions. I'll have a good look at them later.

I know this isn't the best place to ask for these types of holiday but I have looked elsewhere and so far any suggestions I have got seem to be more for the person who really buys into the whole package holiday thing. I don't think the travel agents we have visited really understand what we want and both of you have given us much better ideas than I've been given so far.

walkinaround,I came across a reference to Mark Warner for the first time on another site yesterday and wasn't exactly sure what they did so it's great to know. It looks like we would have to fly through the UK for any of their holidays but I'll do some more digging later.

I hope there might be a few more Fodorites out there with kids who have reluctantly accepted that they would like to stay in a place with a kids club (and managed to do it without completely selling out on the enjoyable aspects of travel).

Thanks again

jane
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Old Jun 16th, 2008, 06:02 AM
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I suggest Mark Warner as well. They can offer pretty much what you are looking for. Prices seem quite high to start with, but absolutely everything is included.

In the past I've been to various campsites in the UK and France where we have stayed in chalets or static caravans (you'll never get me in a tent LOL!). Most of these places have kidcamps/clubs and are great fun for the children, but probably when they are a bit older than your daughter. Many companies have accommodation on the same sites, Matthews, Eurocamp, Keycamp, etc. I use Haven or Parkdean in England - and in 3 weeks we are off to Croyde on the North Devon coast for a few days in a 3 bedroom luxury caravan!

Hope you find what you are looking for.
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Old Jun 17th, 2008, 01:59 AM
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Thanks Julia. I'm holding out against the tents too!

I have found two helpful websites if anyone is interested, www.kidsinthemed.com and www.babygoes2.com both of which feature hotels and apartments with kids clubs. The Mark Warner site looks very good (as did the PV and other sites Coco suggested but unfortunately most of the French places only offer childcare during the French school holidays and not year round).

Thanks to all for your help.

Jane
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