When you think of dream holidays before kids, it probably looked slightly different to a dream holiday now with kids. For us, before kids, a dream holiday would have been a long haul destination to a paradise island with beautifully clear, sandy beaches and relaxing while sipping cocktails. Now, with kids, we’re happy to have any holiday where we can keep the kids entertained.
However, there’s no need to give up on that dream holiday even with kids as there are some fabulous villas and vacations that will tick all the boxes. For example, the luxury beach house in Turks and Caicos can sleep 8 of you and would provide all of you the holiday of a lifetime! The exotic, paradise setting coupled with plenty to do will sure keep all of you entertained and create memories for life.
We love exploring new places so we would be excited to check out the national parks, marina, interspersed with some local shopping and sample the fabulously fresh seafood. Their must-try seafood includes lionfish, conch ceviche, snapper, grouper and lobster tail. There is also a weekly Thursday Fish Fry. Every Thursday at the Children’s Park in the Lower Bight area, locally owned pop-ups fry and grill late into the night. They churn out some of the Caribbean’s best conch fritters, coconut conch and snapper. You can’t leave until you try the curried conch with some local Bambarra Rum and PeppaJoy hot sauce.
As a family, we would all love to try the horseback riding tours of the area too, especially the kids as they have mentioned it a few times since they tried riding at a local farm a couple of years ago. Mr C would love a round of golf too because of the weather and the sense of occasion afforded from such a location.
This particular villa also includes kayaking, paddle boarding, snorkelling and yoga should you be so inclined. Exploring the waters around such a paradise destination would be amazing. If you’re feeling more adventurous, there are various scuba tours where you can try diving into some of the most beautiful waters to experience the abundant sea life. The last time we tried diving was when we were on honeymoon and we had a great time! We can’t wait to introduce our children to this fantastic experience!
Staying in a villa means you don’t have to share amenities with others like in a hotel meaning it should be quieter, provide more private space and give you greater privacy in general. You can spend more family time together rather than be holed up in a room, cook more healthily and eat when and where you want. The luxury villa mentioned above is exceptionally well equipped with air conditioning, TV and ensuite bathroom in each bedroom and an ocean view from the kitchen, living room, terrace, and every bedroom. There is even a friendly staff of housekeepers, butlers, and an evening security guard to make your stay even more comfortable.
We just came back from a fabulous family villa holiday with 11 of us in total. You can read part of the Fun Sightseeing in Palma post over here. I will blog the rest of our trip soon! This holiday was in the Mediterranean but it would be a dream holiday to be able to ‘upgrade’ this to the Caribbean. Our ages ranged from two four year old twins (my nephews) to a 72 year old grandma (my mom). We ate out most of the time and made some packed lunches for day trips. I love that we were completely on our own schedule so could lie-in if we wanted and cooked our own brunch. We also had a couple of lovely evening meals which we cooked ourselves in the villa too. Despite the large age range, the enduring theme that we managed to carry through this holiday was that we did most of the activities and trips together. It’s precisely this type of quality family time that we will think fondly of for years to come. We were also able to chit-chat till the early hours before retreating into our cosy bedroom without waking up the children.
This was actually our first villa holiday and we would definitely look for something similar in future for a large group. Being a novice, here are a few tips I’ve learnt from this experience:
- Check if towels are included. If so, this will reduce the volume of your luggage.
- Check if the villa has a washing machine and dryer. We found this out beforehand and we were able to just pack a few sets of clothing and cycle through these by doing a daily wash.
- You may wish to pack some of your favourite foods with you, such as coffee, tea bags, baked beans, biscuits etc. However, pack them into smaller storage containers and/or zip-lock bags to ensure they don’t take up too much luggage space.
- Some villas might include tea and coffee, so do check!
- Make sure you know the nearby areas for food and their opening hours.
- If you have access to table tennis, tennis, or other facilities, check if bats, rackets, balls are included to again save you space in your luggage.
So have you and your family stayed at a villa before? If so, do you have any tips you would wish to share with us? Also, what is your dream vacation? Why not share with us in the comments below? I’d love to know and read about it for more inspiration. I can’t wait to plan another villa trip with my family soon.
Disclosure: This is a featured post.