- family
- (1932)
-
I use Prague-Stay.com when visitors come to Prague. The agents are really professional and friendly, the apartments are cool, located in the center and are much more reasonable than a hotel. One friend of mine stayed at the Franciscan Garden Apartments and his apartment was just amazing-it was all windows and had awesome views of Old Town and this massive Gothic church. I really suggest you have a look at their selection of apartments.
This must be the best B&B in Wales. The rooms are really bright and comfortable and spotlessly clean and the food is delicious. Nick and Mair the owners are friendly, helpful and great with the children. The surrounding area is beautiful. We have been back time and time again.
Ty Derw, Dinas Mawddwy, Machynlleth, SY20 9LR 01650 531318
www.tyderw.co.uk
Absolutely fantastic tapas in this place on the Shore in Edinburgh. Genuinely Spanish taste as well as being child friendly. Great value.
19 Shore Place Edinburgh EH6 6SW
Phone:
0131 4766776
Mon - Sat:
12:00 - 01:00
Sun:
12:30 - 23:00
www.tapaedinburgh.co.uk/
Do what the Istanbullers do. Escape the heat of the city with a ferry day trip to the Princes Islands. Drink tea and eat bagels served to your seat during the 1 ½ journey as the ferry stops at four of the islands before terminating at the ornate Ottoman quay on Büyükada. Take an island tour by phaeton (no cars allowed on the islands). Stroll along the shopping streets. Marvel at the extraordinary ice cream parlours. Eat fish on the waterfront, then return to the city. For just three TL (£1.50) each way, a bargain.
Ido Ferries, regular departures from Kabatas quay, Istanbul. www.ido.com.tr/en/index.cfm
Absolutely superb ice cream from this place - it is Italy after all!
So many different flavours to choose from you'll find yourself going back again and again and again.
No. 35 Piazza Yenne at the right hand side as you come up the hill from Via Roma.
Great beach only 10 minutes by bus from the centre of Cagliari.
Beach does get packed on Sundays but even then we were able to hire sun loungers and umbrellas.
Beach is five miles long so if you want it less packed you just have to walk a little bit.
There are cafes/bars surrounding the beach area so you'll want for nothing here.
Seen as one of best city beaches in the Med.
We got off at first stop at beach (Gorgona).
Yellow bus PQ or PF from Piazza Matteotti at west end of Via Roma on waterfront.
Buses go very regularly to / from beach with fares at €1 each way. Tickets can be bought from a kiosk at bus station or from most newsagent kiosks.
Well worth seeing. According to the guide she said this was the third best preserved amphitheatre (built between 1st & 2nd century AD) in Italy after Rome and Verona.
The tour of underground chambers under amphitheatre was worth it - also used as an air raid shelter in 1943. In summers it is used as a concert venue.
Off Viale Buoncammino near botanic gardens.
Very near city centre. From Piazza Yenne, turn left into Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, then take a right into Via Sant Ignazio Da Laconi.
Walk up the hill along Via Sant Ignazio Da Laconi and go past botanic gardens. Entrance is on the right.
www.anfiteatroromano.it/
A summer fete for kids throughout the summer. They provide everything from African dance workshops to face painting and book libraries. All in Italian, but all very accessible, friendly, a great play park and free!
www.lacittaintasca.it nr Circo Massimo
'Mountain' restaurants (restaurants found up in the Nebrodi and Madonie mountains, which are along the north coast of Sicily).
Fantastic food and wine, and enough of it for even the biggest of appetites, and for the smallest of wallets.
Multiple courses of speciality foods, all washed down with locally produced wine. Life can't get any better, especially when it costs in the region of €20 - €30. And lets not forget the views!
Too many to put here ! Just ask the local people and I'm sure they will point you towards one of their favourites.
Cortona is a pocket sized town in northern Tuscany. It's a two and a half hour train ride from Rome and with a bit of searching, B&B and self catering accommodation are reasonable. The public swimming pool is located on the edge of the town and even in the heat of August is rarely busy. Prices change year on year but tend to be around 5E for an adult for an all day visit (sun beds are currently free). If you want an Italian holiday and can't afford a three-bedroomed villa with a pool, this is the place for you. The pool is a 15 minute stroll from the centre of town where many of the B&Bs are located. You can wander through the local park, plonk yourself on a sunbed all day and enjoy pizza and a jug of the local wine for under 10E in the charming cafe. Take your own swimming hat (you're not allowed to swim without one) and frolic in the cool, unchlorinated waters.
Parco Sportivo "G. Favilli" - just off Viale Passerini (behind Casa di Accoglienza)
You needn't spend the earth in Camogli to take in the perfect views and absorb the sea air. Just a few bays nearer to Genoa than Portofino, this is the place to go if you want to avoid the tourists and save your Euros.
The car-free "passeggiata" (the street that runs along the beach) is ideal for the kids to roam or stop at an ice-cream parlour or two, where the ice creams and the granite are made with all natural ingredients and taste heavenly.
If you are feeling energetic and the kids are up for a bit of a climb (stairs only) walk away from the beach on the same street, past the Cenobio dei Dogi and up the hill. Climb the very long staircase (30-40 minutes) through the orchards and get to San Rocco from which you'll admire one of the best views of the Western Ligurian coast. On a clear day you can see as far as France! Just 10 steps short of the top you'll find a little bakery where you can fill up with delicious focaccia or pizzas, cakes and espresso, ready for the slow descent to Punta Chiappa. There you'll be able to dive into the deepest and bluest of seas from the rocks for a refreshing swim.
A ferry every half hour will take you back to Camogli for just 5 Euros each! This could be a most inexpensive and salubrious day at the seaside for the entire family.
Nearest Station: CAMOGLI. Trains from Genoa take 30 min max.
Hidden away in an interior garden near Barcelona's city centre is a public paddling pool great for cooling off with kids. The Torre de les Aigues is also known as the Eixample Beach (Plaja del Eixample) and is very near Paseo de Gracia (Roger de Lluria with Consell de Cent). The park has shade, changing rooms and a sandy zone for fun with buckets and spades. Also further uptown in Gracia, the Parc Creueta del Coll located at Passeig de La Mare de Deu de Coll has a, cafe, playground, grass to lounge on and huge paddling pool open throughout the summer months. Entrance for both is two to five euros.
Family guide site to Barcelona www.kidsinbarcelona.com has information on these and other outdoor swimming pools in Barcelona
The Velib 'free' bicycle system in Paris is really a great idea. I went for a five day extended weekend with my partner and checked my credit card statement the next month to discover to my delight that I had been all over the city; to the Eiffel Tower, along the Champs Elysees, a scary whirl around Place de la Concorde at rush hour (not recommended for the faint-hearted!) and all over the Grand Boulevards and along the Seine and had spent a massive total of six euros.
The system is user friendly and self-explanatory, you can do it in a range of languages. You tap in your credit card details for a small flat hire rate (no more than five euros, as far as I recall), then hoik the rather clumsy, heavy bikes out of their stand. The bikes are a little uncomfortable and it's important to examine which number bike you'll take before you select at the controls, because some have flat tyres, wonky seats that won't budge, or rattling chains. The bikes have - ostensibly - three gears. These are 'slow', 'slower' and 'snail's cycle-rate' and it can get hairy attempting to belt across a junction will a line of irate Parisian drivers attempting to turn right and cut you up.
If you dock the bike back into another station before 30 mins are up, the ride is free. Interestingly, my partner's credit card statement showed one euro more expenditure so perhaps he had docked in a second or two after me.
However, it's an excellent way to see Paris and a lot of fun.
All over Central Paris
www.velib.paris.fr
Lots of people think Sheringham's got a stony beach full of pebbles, but just wait till the tide goes out. It's got a long flat sandy beach which is just great for the kids to play on. The beach is brilliant for building sand castles, but with such a shallow gradient and no sudden drops the kids will be able to paddle all day long.
The town has everything you need for your day trip out, while still retaining its old world charm.
If you're looking for somewhere to stay, we'd recommend www.bookcottages.com/north-norfolk-its-coast.htm , the whole of the North Norfolk coast has so many interesting and diverse beaches you've just got to visit.
The gardens which surround the Musée du quai Branly in Paris are free to enter. They are beautifully designed with lots of nooks and terraces. They even host parts of museum exhibitions such as the current TARZAN! exhibition which has sound effects hidden in the garden - great for kids. You can also view the Eiffel Tower whilst sat eating a lovely chocolate cake in the museum cafe also in the gardens.
musée du quai Branly
37, quai Branly
75007 – Paris
tuesday, wednesday and sunday : 11am . 7pm
thursday, friday, saturday : 11am . 9pm
- metro : Iéna (line 9), Alma-Marceau (line 9), Pont de l’Alma (RER C), Bir Hakeim (line 6).
- bus : line 42 Eiffel Tower stop; lines 63, 80, 92: Bosquet-Rapp stop; line 72 Musée d’art moderne – Palais de Tokyo stop
- river shuttle : Eiffel Tower stop (Batobus, Bateaux parisiens et Vedettes de Paris
A lovely villa, right in the city centre of Granada. It actually shares its garden wall with the Alhambra. It is a big place, with gardens and a swimming pool (quite rare in any city centre).
Bars, restaurants, shops and the magnificent Alhambra palace all in easy walking distance. Most of the terraces have fantastic views over the Albaicin (old Arabic quarter). It may seem a bit on the expensive side, but really isn't when you take a reasonable sized group and see the price per person.
We used the villa for a joint family holiday, it was perfect as it catered to all of us - adults, teenagers and the smaller kids. Definitely one of our top three family holidays.
The Centre National de la Mer is a vast aquarium on the northern edge of Boulogne Sur Mer and a good place to take children and young people.
It offers a broad experience of the world of the oceans, as well as showing hundreds of species of fish and marine mammals in spectacular tanks, against which you can press your nose to the (toughened) glass as sharks or barracuda swim by, alarmingly close.
Adults may find it a little too didactic an experience because, in typical French fashion, there is a very great deal of information presented to you, both at the start and at every stage of your visit. It is also rather hot and, again, adults may find that, like me, they are forced to visit the excellent bar to refresh themselves before returning to the Everglades, or the Deep Oceans or whichever part of the Centre they were at when the need for sustenance overtook them.
Children, young people and adults with energy and curiosity will enjoy Nausicaa enormously.
Nausicaa, Centre National de la Mer, Boulogne Sur Mer. www.nausicaa.fr
A great find! A beautiful family run beach front hotel in a small Turkish village. The warm welcome lasts all week! If you are looking for a taste of Turkish culture and spectacular food then this is the place to be! Bodrum is only 15 minutes bus ride away but we only visited once, there was always enough to do nearby. Local markets, horse riding, live music.
The Mandalya Hotel
Golturkbuku
Bodrum
City sightseeing tour with live guide or multi-lingual commentary. It is amazing! Takes you on a huge sightseeing tour of the city and we hopped off at the People's Palace and Mitchell Library which were superb. Recommend also visiting Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow Cathedral, University West End area of Byres Road. Fantastic value for money. Interesting. Breathtaking architecture. Your ticket is valid for two consecutive days.
www.citysightseeingglasgow.com or Tourist Information, George Square also Buchanan Bus Station. You may also pay as you get on the bus.
My family and I recently visited a brand new apartment complex on the Costa Del Sol, near Malaga, called Terrazas Costa Del Sol Holiday Village. It only opened this year, so there are some really good deals on one-bedroom apartments – ours slept four people and was about £300 for the week. We have young children, so the kids’ clubs were great. It also has a gorgeous infinity pool that has views of the Rock of Gibraltar. The kitchen in our room also meant that we were able to cook food cheaply and make meals that we knew the kids would like. We will definitely be back!
Is this your business?