Looking towards next year and given this years British summer, we want to go abroad next year, sun sea sand and entertainment for two lads 12 and 13, and pampering for Mrs Squirrel, somewhere in Europe and affordable – we need an active holiday that is more than just a pool side experience – any recommendations? good experiences? ( allowing for the unpredictable nature of Euro exchange rates).

Many thanks
DHS

DHS, not much advice there then! For the record I run a MTB holiday company in the Basque Country in the NW of Spain / SW of France, just so you know but I'm not trying to sell you a holiday and I see you haven't asked about biking so assume you're not looking for that anyway! This area is great for all sorts of activities and pampering. You have the sea for surfing, body boarding and it's great fun for swimming in the big waves. The beach in Hendaye is 2kms of sand but if you go to Hossegor there's mile upon mile of uninteruppted sand with pine forests right down to the sea; it's a wild and beautiful place. There's loads of mountains, not as big as the Alps but just peak after peak after peak. You have the normal activities, walking trips, horse riding, rafting (depending on season), climbing, dingy sailing, quad biking, kite surfing etc etc etc. Then for the missus you have San Sebastian, Biarritz and Bilbao just here so loads of shops, enough shops to make me dizzy and long for the quiet mountains! There's also loads of Spa's set up using the sea water some way called Thalasotherapy which my missus loves. The food and drink are something else too. It's not stupidly cheap and accomodation is quite expensive depending where you go. There's lot's of 'campings' in France which actually have houses you rent and have a pool / activities for the kids. Oh, people won't speak much English if that's a problem.

Anyway, just an area to consider if you haven't already.

My Basque missus gives me into trouble for telling everyone on here how good it is because she's worried we'll get loads of STW mountain bikers moving here 🙂

Appologies, that was a long post. Too much coffee and a genuine enthusiasm for the area!!! I have a list of some of the campings somewhere so feel free to mail and I can drop them to you if you're thinking about it.

Have a look at the Roya Valley in SW France

I've only been there with work so can't really comment on it's suitability for a family holiday but it's beautiful & not too touristy

A quick Google brings up hits like this
http://www.responsibletravel.com/trip/Trip900478.htm

http://www.bovec.si/en/default.asp?id=417

Domača stran

Just come back from 6 weeks in the Pyranees Orientale, Spanish Cardagne valley and Andorra.

Les Angles and Font Romeau in France are great for weather, loads of stuff to do off a bike and biking (Bikes parks, road and XC)
Andorra (Grand Valira and Vallnord) has great bike parks and beautiful walking
La Molina is mostly a biking destination but not far from any of the above
Also, Font Romeau is about 1.5 hours from the coast if you wanted to visit a beach.

Didn't mention biking as not all the family enjoy a day in the saddle, but it might be included somewhere … beach / water sports / activity for the kids is priority I guess.

Thanks for all those suggestions people .

DHS

I would put the kids first imo going by the glum faces I saw this year 😳 As teens they will be probably be at "that awkward stage" ❓

DHS,

We went to the Italian Lakes last year and still rave about them now!!! Great facilities, lots to do (try a day trip to Venice – fantastic).

Loads of camp sites, villas, etc on the lake and most of the sites run Animation Teams who organise water sports, etc.

We stayed at http://www.pianidiclodia.it/en/ and drove (it took 2 days using the tunnel – which you can get cheap tickets on via Tesco ClubCard) and the mountain biking is some of the best in Europe (apparently – I wasn't allowed to take my bike, boo hoo).

Highly recommended, we're hoping to go ourselves again next year!

Landal in Holland….like center parcs without the british underclass and very bike friendly.

Eurocamp at Messange, SW France