Summer holiday recommendations with a one year old

[bluesuperted]

Hi lovely Family Roomers,

As the font of all family-related knowledge I wondered if anyone could offer up advice/experiences/thoughts on a nice place to go this summer with our then-almost-one-year-old. We are planning on a three week trip and wanted to do something fun, special and not too stressful...

We have been considering a trip to San Francisco as we lived there many moons ago and have longed to revisit - we thought it's a kind of now or never time with a still fairly portable, slingable little one in tow. But we are starting to get cold feet in terms of the amount of driving we'd end up wanting to do (route 1, Tahoe, Sonoma, possibly San Diego/LA/Santa Monica too...) is it a bit mad to contemplate doing this sort of trip with a little one who is not terribly keen on car travel??

So now we are thinking of alternatives - and would love to hear of anyone's great holiday experiences with a one year old pretty much anywhere in the world (well, nowhere too scary and somewhere breastfeeding friendly would be ace!). Our little boy is super laid back and smiley at the moment but becoming rapidly VERY active. In our lives before baby, we loved sunny, Spanish/Italian/Greek holidays but open to all suggestions really!

Oh and doesn't have to be bargain basement but probably shouldn't be TOO pricey (although being a bit last minute and restricted to the school holidays, we are realistic!). Thank you in advance for any ideas on this crucially urgent question ;)

x

[bluesuperted]

Bumping this and removing (my) verbosity: tips on your best holidays with a one year old. Warnings about crap places to go/things to do! Thanks so much!

[kemurf]

Why don't you do what you always used to do but just add a few kids' elements in - if he is super laid back he should fit in to lazy sunny days and lovely foody evenings! Lucky you!

I shouldn't think you need to bother about too many activities for him if he is only one, but a nice swimming pool with fountains or a playpark nearby would be good.

[candj]

Lake Como. We did this a few years back with a 14 month old and it was fabulous. She ate everything - parma ham, calamari, pasta (naturally), olives and she was welcomed everywhere. Daughter was still taking her morning nap so we used to set out in the car after breakfast and drive anywhere for an hour so she could sleep (Bellagio, Lugano, Bergamo, Milan where some of the places we ended up). We'd do some sight seeing, have lunch then drive back. Really relaxed and fun for all of us.

In fact, I would recommend anywhere in Italy with children of all ages. We also use the service www.tuscanynow.com to rent villas which we do every summer. You can tailor it to the size of your party and location is not necessarily limited to Tuscany.

We went a couple of half terms ago to Thessaloniki to a place called Porto Sani Village which was very child friendly with a nice spa, restaurants, harbour and beaches which I would recommend.

San Francisco would be lovely and if your little one is good in the car you can do the SF-LA trip as there is much to see on the way (Monterey Bay aquarium is a personal favourite). There are loads of little BBs or nice big hotels to stop at and stay along the way. Santa Barbara is a lovely town about two hours north of LA. Or if you go north of SF, Napa and Sonoma for the wine route is lovely but probably not with a young baby as you'd want to spend some time at the vineyards! I am a bit biased as I'm from LA. The last time we were there we stayed at the Chateau Marmont with two kids which I too would recommend, but have also stayed at a little hotel called the Avalon in BH. Very 70's with a kidney-shaped pool and palm trees and kids very welcomed. However, LA can be tricky if you don't know it very well as we do tend to drive everywhere. The Avalon is situated in BH so easy to walk around there. Or if you stay in Santa Monica there is the promenade to walk around but everything is quite spread out and a car is essential.

Hope that helps a bit and sorry a bit rushed in typing this as just got home from one trip and trying to pack for another...

[bluesuperted]

Thank you both - those links and suggestions are really great thank you and we are investigating the Italian and SF options now :) any other recommendations of family friendly resorts/villas would be much appreciated as quite a bit is already booked - Europe seems our best bet if as go for a sunny holiday. Thanks again!!