Family Holidays - Choosing What's Right For You!

When it comes to choosing family holiday's there's a lot to consider. Not least the cost. The budget you have can affect the type of holiday you chose vastly. To date, we've only ever taken the monkeys on UK holiday's. This is largely due to finances but also personal choice. Now they are older though, they would love to fly somewhere and to be honest I'd like some sunshine, with a pool close by! We've not flown since we went on honeymoon and that was ten years ago.

Depending of your needs (and budget), choosing the right holiday needs to take into consideration various factors. These might include the type of accommodation you stay in, whether to hire a car, go on a package holiday, a self catering one, or go all inclusive for example.

I often sway between an all inclusive package holiday with well known travel firms and the lesser known travel companies that specialise in 'build your own' holiday's.

A self catering holiday in a villa, with it's own pool and the use of a hire car for island exploring is probably more suitable for us as a family. With the monkeys being aged 6 and 9, I think fending for ourselves in a villa, where we can eat when we like, dine out, explore and use the pool as we wish, appeals more to our current needs. As much as 'being waited on' sounds fabulous, our first holiday abroad may be more relaxing and less 'alien' to the monkeys if we stay in a villa and go self catering.

Photo credit: Villa Plus

I've been on self catering holiday's before and never found a problem with shopping in local supermarkets for produce. Eating out amongst the locals can be a great learning curve for both adults and children and gives us all an opportunity to see some culture and diversity. We've hired cars before (pre children) and really enjoyed exploring where we've been. Staying in a villa means you're 'home from home' and pretty much on your own in terms of what you do. Most come with barbecues which of course the hubby would use and I just think they offer a more relaxed atmosphere. Of course, they come in different shapes and sizes too! With hotels, a family of four often have to share a 'family room', yet villa's often offer 1-2+ bedrooms, some living space, a bathroom and kitchen.

Choosing a villa can of course also depend on your budget but there are plenty out there that would suit most budgets. Of course choosing where to hire a villa is another factor to consider! We're thinking The Balearic Islands for our first family holiday abroad. Not too far away and oh so pretty. Menorca is my first choice. I visited many years ago with my brother and parents and loved visiting the white washed villages. We went self catering then too!

Photo credit: Villa Plus

I guess we'll keep looking for something for next year and in the mean time get passports for us all. They're not cheap are they!