Travel Challenge: The Secluded School Holiday Break
Getting away during the school holidays can be a nightmare, especially if you leave it too late to book: flights are expensive, resorts and airports crowded and the selection of available properties is limited. It’s the dilemma facing many families as as May Half Term approaches – and the reason our reader Nicola got in touch….
We were going to wait until the main summer break to go on holiday, but we’ve had enough and would like to try to get away in the Half Term week at the end of May! The prices we have seen so far are sky-high. There are two of us and we have two children, aged 7 and 9. We would like to go self-catering in the Med. Naturally, we’re looking for something child friendly, but our worst nightmare would be an all-singing, all-dancing family complex. We’d like to go somewhere secluded (perhaps a rural villa) and we’re open to the idea of hiring a car. We need to fly from the South East and we have a budget of £1500 – can you help?!
The Half Term break is a fortnight away now, meaning that the fares to popular family destinations are very expensive. Contrary to popular belief, waiting until the last minute rarely yields these days, especially when you’re travelling during a peak week like this one. Villa holidays are a lovely idea, but they’re rarely available last minute and only work out good value-for-money if you can pck in at least six paying adults. Return seats to places like Majorca are on sale for as much as £450, with the only real deals to be had in Scotland and Ireland, where the children aren’t off school. We decided to look at fares to less obvious destinations, and managed to find you some reasonable tickets to Venice. OK, you’re not going to want to spend seven nights in central Venice with two young children in tow (apart from anything else, that would cost a small fortune) but you might consider staying on the outskirts. We’ve found the 3* Villa Paradiso, in historical Malamocco area of Venice’s Lido. There are only six rooms here, all of them spacious with bright blue tiled floors. The area is stunning with lots of traditional houses and quaint seafood restaurants and there’s a beach about half an hour’s walk away. Nearby, you’ll find watersports, horse riding, bicycle hire and some of Italy’s best cycle paths. Spend at least one day of your holiday exploring central Venice, easily accessible by bus and water taxi. This is a great way of showing your children the iconic (but hectic!) city and having somewhere relaxing to retreat to at the end of the day. There’s a playground and plenty of space for little ones to run around in the pretty gardens. Clean rooms, attentive service and the ‘best-of-both-worlds’ location all combine to make this hotel the perfect base for the secluded getaway you’re looking for.
Hays Travel have 7 nights bed and breakfast in a quadruple room at Villa Paradiso, departing London Gatwick on 28th May for £1280. (Manchester flights available for a supplement.) This price includes flights and accommodation only. Transfers from the airport to the hotel are either by water taxi and bus or taxi. Limited availability. Call 0800 408 4130 or click here.
Enjoy the best of both worlds at Villa Paradiso
