Other African destinations I'm considering are Ghana and Botswana.

Don't know anything useful about Ghana. Botswana is a great place to go – superfriendly people, very safe, lots of interesting nature stuff, can't wait to go back.

However, it's not tropical, it doesn't have beaches and it takes more than 8-9 hours to get there. So I'm a bit bewildered that you're considering it!

Long haul all depends on the child, our first was just under 2 when we went to the Maldives, she was fine (10 hours each way). Our second is not so good (same age now) and spent about an hour out of a 4 hour flight back from Greece on Wednesday screaming. He won't be going long haul for a few years.

In order to advise you properly on a Tropical destination we first need some pics of your wife in a bikini, just so we can picture her in the right location to make the right choice! 😉

molgrips – Member
'Port Douglas, North Queensland.'
I think Australia might be a bit far for a toddler tho!

There's an international airport at Cairns. So it's Heathrow to HK, then HK to Cairns. Cairns is just 50 km from Pt Douglas.