Plan the perfect vacation with your baby or toddler

Check the kids club minimum age first

Every hotel website says "family friendly." Most kids clubs still start at four. If you are travelling with a baby or a toddler under three, you need a creche or baby club that actually exists, not a playroom for older children with a cute name. Check the minimum age before you book. I mean it. Before anything else.

Look for qualified childcare, not just a playroom

A supervised playroom is not childcare. You want qualified baby carers, published staff ratios, and a separate sleep room for naps. The best resorts run named programmes (Worldwide Kids, Scott Dunn Explorers, Four Bears Den) with ratios you can verify in writing. If they will not tell you the ratio before you book, that tells you everything.

Check beach reality, not just photos

Marketing photos lie. Gently. What you need is shallow water, soft sand entry, shade, and paths you can actually push a buggy down without carrying it up steps. We rate every hotel's beach reality out of 5 based on what it is like with a baby, not what it looks like at golden hour.

Start with flight time

On a first trip with a baby, flight time is not a footnote. It is the whole mood of the holiday. My rule: keep it under five hours from the UK or Ireland, and aim for three if you can. Spain, Portugal, and Malta all land around three hours. Cyprus does not. Budget four to four and a half hours from London or Manchester, and I'd only book Cyprus if you're already sold on the hotel, because that extra hour with a wriggly baby feels longer than the clock says. I have done Morocco at nearly five hours. Beautiful trip. Would I call it a starter destination? No. A stretch? Absolutely.