Published 28th Jun. 2021
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Here are our top tips for surviving (and enjoying!) family holidays whilst travelling with tots. Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin...
Your young one's routine is key to the holiday happiness of everyone concerned. We can recommend the hotels that really understand your needs, be that with restaurants serving meals at times when toddlers tend to eat, or with family-friendly pool opening hours. Some hotels even have entertainers in the restaurant so mum and dad can snatch five minutes of grown-up conversation.
There may be additional charges for babysitting and/or creches, but we will always give you the heads up on any additional costs. File these firmly in the 'money well spent' category!
Most kids' clubs only take childen from the age of four, but while we're absolutely not advocates of depositing children for the duration of a holiday, some are excellent and take little ones from a younger age. Exhausted parents who have been under the pump (sometimes quite literally) for months can then enjoy some well-earned downtime.
If you follow a few simple rules (see A Parent's Survival Manual to Flying with Infants) travelling with pre-schoolers on planes can - and should - be painless. The key requirement is not necessarily short flights (although that reduces the risk of a meltdown) but direct flights to minimise the faff factor.
Make the most of those precious pre-nursery years when you can travel with children outside of regimented school holiday dates, and avoid the corresponding hike in accomodation and flight prices. On the subject of flights, under-twos also benefit from significantly reduced airline ticket prices.
As your children get older the possibilities for adventure broaden exponentially. But, for now, we appreciate there are very precise criteria for young families, and our team of expert destination consultants are here to help demystify the places that will fulfil your most demanding requirements.
Practical advice and inspiration for your next trip
With four teenagers in or entering sixth form, my family have noticed firsthand that A Level study demands not just recall but interpretation. The jump from GCSE to A Level is substantial; essays are longer, critical thinking matters much more and independent evaluation is rewarded. Several experts suggest that examiners across AQA, Edexcel and OCR consistently reward students who demonstrate awareness of competing perspectives, real-world examples and a confident grasp of context.
26th March 2026 - Family Travel
With four teenagers currently moving through the GCSE and A Level years in our household, we have become mildly obsessed with the idea of the ‘incremental gain’. Not in a hot-housing sense. More in the way that any decent sports coach knows that small, cumulative advantages often show up where it matters – in the final scoreline. Because one thing becomes very clear very quickly when you have children doing GCSEs and A Levels across AQA, Edexcel and OCR:
24th March 2026 - Family Travel
It’s no secret that we’re strong advocates of a family sabbatical, so amid the downpours of February, we were delighted to host an event at the Royal Academy discussing just that. Bringing together Thomasina Miers of Wahaca, Walter Kerr of Oppidan Education and, of course, our very own Tom Barber, the event opened the floor for a practical and frank conversation about the best way to take a sabbatical with your children.
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Our team of destination experts will get to know you and your unique requirements for your holiday
We work with you to build an ultra-personalised holiday itinerary with your choice of accommodation, experiences and activities
All of our holidays include little extras designed to make a big difference to your trip, from fast-tracking you through airport check-in and security to our network of local Concierges
