Not Florida!!

[coastergirls]

Not able to do Florida this year as we don't want to take kids off 2 weeks from school. Our holidays are going to be in July so we can fly anytime between 13 & 19th July for 2 weeks.
Way too hot in Florida and way too expensive for flights.
Thing is can't think where we could go . They have never been anywhere other than Florida. They would be bored spending 2 weeks at a beach as I would so would like to go somewhere where there are things to do. Definately not Euro Disney and most defiantely not Turkey!!!. Thought about Port Aventura but we are five and can't stay on site.
Don't really fancy Salou much . Done the Spain thing before kids and wouldn't want to go back.
I am really stuck. Would love to go to California but couldn't afford it. Kids are adamant they don't want to do Disney anyway . Although they would love Universal and Seaworld.
Anyone help please. tempted to just stay at home!!! Should be finished our self build and feel Dh deserves a holiday or rather DH wants a holiday!!

[Splash Mountain]

Skegness?:pgig: tough decision, what about a skiiing holiday?

[coastergirls]

Yes at this rate it could be Skegness. Butlins is looking more like the top runner. They have seen the ads on tv. If only weather was guaranteed !!!

[susieb]

switzerland or austria? cheapflights on easyjet etc. an alpine activity holiday.

[dibbaholic]

The only place that is cheap during school hols is Alicante. :d:

[coastergirls]

Skiing holiday is totally out. I have arthritis . Have priced Gran Canaria which is quite reasonable but kids have now decided they definately want to go to Skegness to Butlins.
Apparently you can ballet dance with Angelina Ballerina!!!! Why I pay for ballet lessons every Saturday I don't know. Well DD3 wants to go as she has looked at website and has seen ballet lessons.
Why we have paid to go to Florida all these years when it would appear they would be just as happy to go to Butlins I don't know.
Need to break the bad news to DH when he comes home. Don't think it was quite what he was thinking of.!!!!

[ju_itfc]

I appreciate you may have come to a decision now but for others in the same boat how about a week in Slovenia?

It might not sound the obvious choice but my Wife and I needed a second holiday back in 2003, after going to Florida earlier in the year. We looked at Greece and Portugal but they tended to be quite expensive, it was the first week in September after all.

Suddenly my Wife came up with Slovenia. A beach holiday with the option to head up to Lake Bled and experience that majestic place.

We flew Easyjet to Ljublana, although Trieste in Italy is actually closer to the Slovenian coast (far more expensive on those dates though) and just hired a car down to Portoroz on the coast.

Portoroz is a nice coastal resort, although the beaches are man made. There are two areas to stay in, one is the package holiday area where the Brits were staying, and the 2nd an area dominated by the Metropole hotel group. This area tended to be more European, and as the hotel prices were reasonable (4 star Hotel Rosa) we opted for this. There was a fantastic shared Olympic sized swimming pool which all guests of the Metropole hotel could use. Restaurants were plentiful and very good, mainly Italian inspired although there was a fantastic tex mex as well. Plenty of bars, although they did seem to be quite quiet....a nice change from the heaving bars of a Greek resort for example.

Also just along the coast (take the ferry) there is Piran. A fantastic little town with hugely impressive architecture. Well worth a day trip, maybe 2 days to see it all. Lovely place.

We headed up to the much cooler Lake Bled part way through the trip. This place is amazing, very beautiful. Well worth the 2hr journey up there.

Temps at the start of September in Portoroz were 25c+, so hot but not ridiculous. It was just a very nice change from Greece or Portugal and should not be overlooked.

Of course now Slovenia are on the euro (it was the tolar back then) you might not get such good value as we did back then.

[colufan]

Make sure Angelina Ballerina is on when your staying there, we went Monday to Friday and Angelina only appears on Saturday's!!!!

DH says Butlin's suck the money from your pockets as soon as you get through the gates.

We stayed at the hotel in Bognor, very nice but the weather was freezing (August 2007) - hence our countdown.

[heaven2006]

I would suggest you Algarve! I spend 2 weeks there for the last 2 weeks of July for almost 10 years (my father owns a timeshare apartment). It is definately a beach destination, but there are other things to do. There are 3 major water parks (Slide' n' Splash, Aqualand and Aquashow) and 1 marine park (Zoomarine). I've been 2 times to the first 2 water parks and 1 in zoomarine and they're a good day out. Also you can do a dolphin interaction in zoomarine, but it's more expensive than in Florida. Besides this there are good shopping centers (AlgarveShopping and Forum Algarve are the best). You can do boat trips departing from Vilamoura to see dolphins and beaches that are not accessible from the land. Plus you can do some karting too!

As far as wheater is concerned, you can expect it to be hot, but is bearable (at least in my opinion). However, the sea water is much cooler than in florida!

In my opinion July is a much better month to visit than August! August is really crowded in Algarve. This is why I always go in July and save a week in August to visit europe (last year it was Italy :))

I also strongly recommend you to hire a car. I may not be the ideal person to advice this destination as I'm a Portugal native (i'm from Oporto) and always use my own car there.

Hope it helps!
Any question please ask ;)

[susieb]

our children totally love the £9 sun holidays to caravan parks more than any other holiday!! We have paid for all kinds of costly hols for them and guess where thye ask to go back to - yep, Butlins.

[pluto66]

How about Dorset? Loads to do beautiful beaches and everyone is really friendly.

We don't live there but we go there most summers.

[Heather1957]

There are fabulous places to see in the UK, why not try Ireland or Wales, they both have some fantastic places to visit and statistically you wont have to worry about the temperature being too hot!! ;)

[_Gill_]

When we came back from Florida last summer, some of our party were talking of going back again this year. DD (13) pipes up with 'can't we go to Butlins again?' So we are going for a midweek half board break at Easter. She even went for the New Year with her Dad.
We're going to France in the summer, doing a few days in DLP as she really wants to go there too. I said "but you've been to Florida" "I know but I want to go to DLP" she replied