Where can I find out about tried and tested child-friendly holidays

Asks alicevida

A. There are two great websites that will help you if you're trying to book a holiday with children. These are Family Travel� and Baby Goes 2.

�

Both sites are UK based and offer hundreds of tips for travelling with children, while providing a complete database of child-friendly international holidays. Once you've used these sites as a holiday resource, you're hooked -and it's really difficult to plan another trip before checking out their recommendations first.

�

Q. Can you tell me more about each site

A. The benefits of each site include the following:

�

Family Travel

The Family Travel site makes any cautious parent feel relaxed as soon as you log on to its home page. If you're contemplating travelling with a baby, for example, for the first time you're more than likely feeling just a bit nervous about it and thinking of the whole experience in a negative way e.g. what if the baby cries for the whole flight What if it won't eat or sleep What happens if I need a doctor Should I have it vaccinated before we travel etc. etc. All of these anxieties are normal, but Family Travel makes you put all your worries behind you and think positive from the out set.

�

Its home page extols the virtues of travelling with children - it explains how you'll see the world through completely new eyes (your child's fresh and excited ones instead of your jaded, cynical, old ones) and offers load of tips to make your whole holiday experience an enjoyable and memorable one.

�

But it does not see the world completely through rose tinted glasses - this site is also amazingly practical and covers every eventuality you can encounter while away from home. It includes information on relaxing beach holidays with childcare to those in the most out of the way, remote places and how to manage them. It covers accommodation, medical help etc for every age group of child, and more importantly it is independent. It doesn't give you the hard sell on any particular holiday, it does not take any commission from holidays it recommends, and the site has no advertising - so you really feel that the information you get is unbiased and true.

�

Family Travel makes keeps afloat by charging for its services, you have to pay to get all the dirt on all the actual holidays, but the public site has loads of valuable information that you can access for free. For example it lists all the pros and cons of every type of holiday - so you can make your choice of exactly how you want to spend your vacation - before you have to part with any money.

�

To demonstrate just how detailed the site is, if you choose a beach holiday it lists the advantages and drawbacks of beach holidays plus it provides information on clean beaches, water pollution, hawkers, care in the sun, health and vaccination etc.

�

Added features of this site include a noticeboard (so you can swap holiday stories); news update including information on last minute and bargain child-friendly holidays; in-depth articles on many topics e.g. current problems with kids holiday clubs; and a monthly report for members that register with the site.

�

Baby Goes 2

Although it focuses on travelling with a baby, this site actually covers children under five. It offers a completely independent, free, recommended-by-parents selection of villas and hotels worldwide alongside advice, tips, general information, shopping guides and location reports.

�

Added features on this site include its Ten Reasons Why (you should take a young child on holiday) section - they adapt easily to a new environment, you don't have to pay for the under 2s, you can book away from school holidays etc. Plus tips on choosing the type of holiday your child is suited to and you'll all enjoy e.g. hotel or self catering, near or far, with or without childcare.

�

Another great part of this website is its Why go to.... section - which is basically a massive list of destinations all over the world with reasons of why it is good to visit with small children - and they are not in Cornwall or Blackpool either, for example some of the reasons for visiting Bali in Indonesia include luxurious and affordable hotel accommodation, great beaches, and the fact that children are welcomed everywhere and people actually fight to give up their seats etc for you and your child. But it also stresses the problems of long haul flights, water pollution, vaccinations, dehydration, jet lag etc. so you are under no illusions before you travel.

�

And if far-flung Goa, Caribbean or Thailand is your destination of choice, then this is the site for you�- it explores all the pitfalls of long haul travel and offers great tips and advice on making it work.

�

The best part of this site, which I found on no other site, is its section on airlines and what they offer. A long flight is often the most worrying part of any holiday for parents, so this guide lets you know up front what you can expect. For example, Virgin Atlantic provides baby food and nappies if required; Air Malta gives you room at the front of the plane and toys for the kids etc. Plus this site provides reservation numbers and website addresses for all the main airlines.

�

Baby Goes 2 does not, however, presume that everyone travels by aeroplane, it has extensive sections on travelling by bus, train, ferry, car etc. and how to make it as easy as possible. Plus it has loads of details on all types of holiday - skiing, camping, cruises, single parent trips etc.

�

If you have any other Travel related questions, please click here

�

By Karen Anderson