Summer Holiday Advice for 9 people

GymBunny2222

Hi,

We are a group of 5 adults and 4 children (11,12,13,13) looking to go away this August. We would ideally all like to stay together (in 1 property) and be catered for (ie all inclusive or half board) as much as possible. The Boys all love the water so either beach or pool. We would also like other activites to do or nearby somewhere to go out. Any advice gratefully received. Thanks

eskbanker

That's a very broad scope, there must be many thousands of hotels that fit that bill!  What's the budget?  Do you have any ideas of potential countries (or desired temperatures, languages, etc) or have you never been abroad before?

GymBunny2222

We ideally wanted to be in 1 property together and all inclusive possibly in Europe but open to elsewhere.  I've been abroad to lots of places a few years ago but this is the first time as a big group. We don't want to spend crazy money but would like to go somewhere nice with things on offer for the children as well as adults.

eskbanker

GymBunny2222 said:

We ideally wanted to be in 1 property together and all inclusive possibly in Europe but open to elsewhere.  I've been abroad to lots of places a few years ago but this is the first time as a big group. We don't want to spend crazy money but would like to go somewhere nice with things on offer for the children as well as adults.

Not sure that really narrows it down!

It would be unusual to find a hotel that couldn't accommodate nine people, although you might wish to consider how many rooms you'd ideally be wanting and the occupancy of these, e.g. multi-bedded family rooms, etc, together with connecting/adjacent rooms and so on.

However, that's for a later stage, once you've identified a country and resort - Europe is a big place and neither 'not crazy money' nor 'somewhere nice with things on offer' are particularly useful in homing in on specific options....

TELLIT01

As a first step the OP could try putting their requirements into the search facility of any of the tour operators.  Just select a country, type of holiday (AI, Half Board), number of people and see what results come up.  That will at least give a start point.  Alternatively, and probably the best idea, is to call into a High St travel agent and get their suggestions.

daveyjp

A cruise ticks every box.  Choose the right ship and you will barely see the children.

NoodleDoodleMan

If AI or HB is a prerequiste then you are looking at a hotel which would be reflected in the total price.

The respective adult relationships are also a factor to consider for allocation of rooms.

If the children are all boys then one large enough room with 4 beds would seen sensible to keep the cost down.

May I ask - are you all close family, or a group of friends ?

zagfles

I'm going completely off piste here but with a big family group I wouldn't even consider an AI hotel, and look at something like a couple of chalets/static caravans on a beachside campsite in France, somewhere like the Vendee or Brittany. Or maybe Duinrell in Holland, water park and theme park onsite and included. I reckon the kids would enjoy that more than some AI hotel. IME bigger groups work so much better on that type of holiday. 

NoodleDoodleMan

I was going to suggest similar.

A really close friend told me that the absolutely best holiday they ever had with their 3 kids was a Eurocamp site.

They have a large choice of locations, with proximity to beach areas in Spain, including near Port Adventura.

https://www.eurocamp.co.uk/

Accommodation can include air conditioned chalets - the potential drawback issue there for the OP would be meals - either go self catering or use the pay as you go restaurants on site.

GymBunny2222

eskbanker said:

GymBunny2222 said:

We ideally wanted to be in 1 property together and all inclusive possibly in Europe but open to elsewhere.  I've been abroad to lots of places a few years ago but this is the first time as a big group. We don't want to spend crazy money but would like to go somewhere nice with things on offer for the children as well as adults.

Not sure that really narrows it down!

It would be unusual to find a hotel that couldn't accommodate nine people, although you might wish to consider how many rooms you'd ideally be wanting and the occupancy of these, e.g. multi-bedded family rooms, etc, together with connecting/adjacent rooms and so on.

However, that's for a later stage, once you've identified a country and resort - Europe is a big place and neither 'not crazy money' nor 'somewhere nice with things on offer' are particularly useful in homing in on specific options....

I was hoping for us all to have 1 property/villa and not separate rooms in a hotel, yet would like it on or near a resort and for it to be AI or HB hence why the search is not quite as easy.

This is why I am open to recommendations if this even exists....

GymBunny2222

NoodleDoodleMan said:

If AI or HB is a prerequiste then you are looking at a hotel which would be reflected in the total price.

The respective adult relationships are also a factor to consider for allocation of rooms.

If the children are all boys then one large enough room with 4 beds would seen sensible to keep the cost down.

May I ask - are you all close family, or a group of friends ?

We are 2 families of 4 and our Mum.