Edward_Lorenson

Hello everyone. We are planning a few weeks vacation in Europe. We are a family with 3 young children (4,7, and 9). We would like to rent a home or apartment with a pool in a few scenic areas. We have been to Provence and love it. We plan to spend a week there. We are also considering spending a week in Tuscany. I have some questions I was hoping to get some guidance with.

1) We are looking for some recommendations on the Algarves. Is it comparable to Provence, in terms of beauty and fun for the family?

2) Is there a region in Spain that anyone would recommend for a family vacation. We don't want it to be too crowded. Is there a region similar to Tuscany or Provence?

3) What are your favorite towns in Tuscany? Do you have any recommendations for our trip there?

I look forward to your insightful ideas.

iris1745

Edward; I realize you suggested Tuscany, but this villa has a cottage perfect for a family, close to many Tuscany towns and of course many Umbria towns. It has a great pool and I think the price is reasonable. We stayed in the cottage, La Casetta with eight adults. Go to apartments and you will find La Casetta. Richard www.villazuccari.com/index_eng.php

johnnyomalley

Elizabeth Minchilli rents out her villa in Umbria
http://pergolaccio.com/

Edward_Lorenson

Thanks. I will look into your Tuscany recommendations. Iris, it doesn't look like they have availability on our dates. Does anyone have any experience with Spain or Portugal? Has anyone used homeaway?

gailw

I have rented houses 3 times in a small village in Spain halfway between Granada and the coast. It was a delightful village, surrounded by lemon groves, very walkable. A number of houses in the village (Chite) had been bought up by Brits and I suspect in the few years since I was last there, this has increased. Both houses had pools. Half an hour drive to Granada, half an hour drive to beach towns on the coast. About 2 miles to a larger town (Lecrin) that had grocery stores, butchers, banks,restaurants, etc. When I was there, there were still little vans that delivered fresh fish, baked goods, etc. to the village on a regular schedule. Occasionally we'd see burros carrying loads of lemons to the coop up the road. Not a long distance from the Alpujarras for some amazing scenery and heart-stopping hairpin turns on narrow roads up into the mountains. Quite a few of the houses rented out had gorgeous views and roof-top terraces. As you can tell, I loved it! I think I found the town initially by googling "vacation villas Andalucia".
Buen viaje.
gail

HG001London

how about northern Mallorca?

the northern part is gorgeous, mountainous with little coves and great food

after a quick search i found this in fortunux, a very very pretty village near Port de Soller

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p432255

HG001London

just seen this

http://web.me.com/tolopomar/web.me.c...osta_dalt.html

their own website, all the villages around this area are very provence like (beautuful cream stone houses with bourgainvillea pink flowers, pretty walks and mountains...it really is very nice

HG001London

and i use homeaway a lot, has always been absolutely fine from our experiences

jamierin

For Tuscany a lot of families like the Chianti area because it is close to both Florence and Siena. This agrituismo in Castellina has 3 different apartments that look lovely to suit a family of 5. Take a look:
http://www.querceto.com/querceto_en.php

alsacekid

Hello, try algarvissimo.com for the Algarve. The area they work at is none touristy and stunning. Great beaches and coastline and nature.

Edward_Lorenson

Thanks for the great tips.

SloJan2

We have a house that we rent out in the Algarve. The Algarve is very different than Provence. I call it the Florida of Europe. The weather and beaches are fabulous. Dry and warm days (in summer) and cool nights. The beaches are everywhere and fun to discover. You can always find one away from the maddening crowds, even in August. It is an area to relax, explore, hike, BBQ, golf, drink wine and just chill. It is not an area for wonderful museums, great restaurants and thrilling architecture. The natural beauty is tremendous and the attitude is incredibly laidback. It is generally an area that children adore.

What time of year are you going?

HG001London

Hi there,

would u consider the Dodogne? it is a beautiful region- we stayed here very close to Sarlat, which has a great market and is a very nice town

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p74875

and it was amazing value and we hadwonderful weather even the first week of may last year.

The pool is great and quite big indeed!, there is a nice bbq area with a full table, two double rooms, one with a separate single bed so would be perfect for the kids.

(There is also a huge TV (don't think the pics have been updated for this) which randomly has full proper UK BBC1. Normally this stuff doesn't matter to us all that much but might be of interest to some)

There is also a nice swing and plenty of outside space.We loved it

SloJan2

[hijack]HG001,
You are a godsend! I am trying to plan a driving trip from Prague to the Algarve and need a place to stay in this area. This looks perfect.[/hijack]

HG001London

haha, glad you like. It is actually far nicer than the pictures especially the outside space which is covered in pretty flowers etc etc and they magically come very early eahc morning and sweep the leaves! One of best pools we have experienced.

HG001London

Oh and OP in Spain I would say Andalucia is very nice option for Spain region.