A large family, including those with young children, is not a reason to give up traveling. But let’s face it: with toddlers and older tomboys, rest can be a serious challenge. In order for a vacation to be a success, you need to take a particularly careful approach to choosing housing, and in the age-old question “Hotel or apartment?” in this case, the second option confidently wins. We tell you why and share tips on how to choose the very apartments for a family trip.
Content
- Why you should choose an apartment for holidays with children
- Check the area
- Take care of your safety
- Evaluate the kitchen equipment
- Check the availability of household appliances
- Check the availability of the elevator and parking
- Explore what’s nearby
- Look at reviews
- Ensure flexibility
- Bonus: how to save money
Get a promo code with a 20% discount for booking an apartment or apartment for the May holidays. The code word is AS a HOUSE, the validity period is from April 14 to May 5. It will work for bookings on the Island from April 25 to May 15, you can apply it only once, the maximum discount is no more than 1,500 rubles.
Why you should choose an apartment for holidays with children
Everyone has their own corner. Just imagine: a standard hotel room with an area of 20-25 m2, a cot, a cot for a teenager, suitcases, two offspring jumping on the beds and parents dreaming of finally relaxing. In this case, it will not be possible to properly put the baby to bed for a nap, and for parents to be alone together and discuss plans.
The apartment expands the room for maneuver: there is more space, it is easier to find an option with a separate nursery, a bedroom and a spacious kitchen-living room where children can play without interfering with others. And if you book two rooms and move out the older kids, you’ll have to keep checking in on them. It’s not a fact that the rooms won’t end up on different floors or even in different buildings.
There is a kitchen. It allows you to quickly prepare a familiar meal, whereas it can be difficult to find something suitable for kids on the buffet at the hotel. Warming up baby formula or cooking gluten-free pancakes is also not a problem.
It’s more comfortable this way.Apartments are more like a house, which means there is a chance that children will be less moody in a more familiar environment, and the vacation as a whole will be calmer and more comfortable.
Apartments are more like a house, which means there is a chance that children will be less moody in a more familiar environment. Photo: Geber86/Shutterstock.com
Let’s move on to the promised tips.
Check the size and number of beds
Square. Keep an eye on apartments with an area no smaller than your home apartment: if children are used to running around at least fifty squares, it will be cramped and difficult for everyone in twenty.
The number of beds. After checking the area, you should count the extra beds and make sure that their number matches the number of children. Three guys of different ages on two sofas — it would seem that what could go wrong? Let’s be honest: everything can go wrong, from an epic pillow fight to a tantrum from a junior who wanted to sleep on the edge. These are clearly not the memories that you want to bring back from vacation.
Suitable apartments on the Island can be found by the filter “Suitable for children”.
A baby cot.You can check its availability in the property’s card, in reviews, or ask a question to the Island’s support service. Our specialists are in touch 24/7 and will help you solve any problems that arise before or after booking. By the way, in most cases, cots are provided free of charge.
Blogger Olya Kiso
Blogger Olya Kiso, Life and Travel channel, shared how to make a vacation in an apartment as comfortable as possible for the whole family. So that without chaos, tantrums and suitcases on your head:
- “We zone the space immediately — even if it is small. Even on 30 squares, you can create a mini oasis for parents and an adventure corner for a child. We immediately put our suitcases in their places, put our toys in one box, and organize a cozy tea corner with a view from the window (even if the view is on the wall — a candle and a cup of matcha work wonders).
- Children’s Rescue station. Grab a couple of board games, a tablet with pre-downloaded cartoons, and new surprise toys. It’s not a bribe, it’s a strategy. The child is busy — the parents’ coffee is hot.
- Aromatherapy and plaid — make the atmosphere “like at home”. An aroma diffuser with your favorite scent plus a soft blanket is equal to a cozy vibe even in the most minimalistic apartment. Psychologically, it helps everyone to relax.
- In the evening there is a mini cinema hall. We close the curtains, turn on a cartoon or a family movie, make popcorn, spread a blanket on the floor — and the family premiere is ready. The child is delighted, the parents have half an hour of horizontal happiness.”
And where to go?
To choose an apartment, you first need to decide where to go with the children. We are sharing ideas for the May and other holidays.
Take care of safety
If the family is traveling with young children, it is important to take care of their safety in the apartment. What to pay attention to:
- window locks,
- steep stairs or options without railing,
- balcony railing,
- window screens,
- multiple mirrored or glass surfaces like a coffee table with sharp corners,
- an unreliably fixed TV
- slippery tile floor.
These are all sources of danger that can significantly ruin your vacation. Vases are easy to break, just like a TV, and you can hit sharp corners — and it’s good if you don’t have to go to the emergency room.
First, check the description of the apartments in the place card: sometimes it is enough to understand how suitable the accommodation is for families with children.
It is also important to think about whether children will be able to walk or play on their own, without the minute-by-minute supervision of adults. Ideally, the apartment has a children’s playground in a closed courtyard, which is visible from the window.
Blogger Katya Bugayets
Blogger Katya Bugayets, Telegram channel “Katya, Ruslan and Milana Bugayets”: “When choosing an apartment while traveling with children, cleanliness, comfort and safety are primarily important to me. Therefore, it is mandatory to have a baby cot with high sides. There should be no unnecessary heavy and breakable interior items on the floor, such as vases and figurines. And for a family vacation to go like clockwork, I advise you to stock up on ready-made children’s food, delicious treats, take a couple of favorite toys from home and a handful of optimism. And, of course, use a proven service to select a comfortable home.”
More details
Even more life hacks on choosing an apartment on the Island can be found in this article.
Evaluate the kitchen equipment
To comfortably prepare a delicious breakfast for the whole family, it is important to evaluate the equipment in advance kitchens. A microplate and a symbolic pair of plates won’t do.
There is enough space for cooking. This will allow you to simultaneously fry cheesecakes and scrambled eggs and cook oatmeal (or whatever is preferredyour family members at this time of day), and feed everyone, rather than waiting for a place to be vacated at the table or a bowl of porridge.
There are household appliances and a set of dishes. A refrigerator, a kettle, a large stove, a microwave and a set of dishes slightly larger than necessary are a mandatory minimum in the kitchen. It’s great if the kettle is equipped with a thermometer: it will be easier to dilute baby formula and sterilize bottles. A dishwasher will save you time and effort. The most responsible and kid-friendly landlords equip the kitchen with a slow cooker.
A baby high chair. Some apartments provide it, but you need to warn in advance that you will need it. As a rule, this service is free.
A homemade breakfast will save not only money, but also nerves: you will not have to explain to the waiter exactly how to prepare semolina porridge for a little fussy.
Check the availability of household appliances
- The washing machine is the first on the list if you are traveling with small children. Ideally, it is complemented by a dryer, if not, you need at least a dryer, ironing board and iron.
- A TV with children’s channels will allow you to distract your child for a short time or calmly feed him to his favorite animated series.
- Air conditioning is important during summer trips, without it it will be more difficult to tolerate the heat.
- A robot vacuum cleaner (yes, we’re not kidding, it’s possible) will quickly put things in order, so that kids and their parents can play on a clean floor.
The robot vacuum cleaner allows you to clean as often as necessary with young children.
On the Island, you can check the contents of the apartment by opening the “Services and amenities” section in the card of the object of interest. Another way is to look at the reviews.
If you don’t find something important, feel free to contact customer support. You can contact us by phone or via the feedback form.
To clarify the availability of the elevator and parking
The elevator. Walking up the stairs with children, suitcases and a stroller is a very dubious pleasure. If the apartment is located on a high floor, check for an elevator and make sure it’s working — fresh guest reviews will help again.
Parking space. It is worth checking the distance from the parking lot to the entrance: how close can you get by taxi or rented car? Just imagine that you have to climb 300 meters of stairs in the evening with a sleeping child in your arms — will it be convenient, will you survive this hero’s path? Especially if you add a stroller and a couple of bags of fruit and milk for breakfast.
And free secure parking right next door will be an undoubted advantage for car travelers and dramatically increase the mobility of the family.
If the apartment is located on a high floor, check the elevator and make sure it is working. Photo: Gerain0812/Shutterstock.com
Explore what’s nearby
Infrastructure is another point that deserves a thorough check. What shops, pharmacies, restaurants, as well as playgrounds, parks, green areas, museums and other interesting or necessary objects are located near the apartment? Looking for diapers of a certain brand or suddenly running out of milk a couple of kilometers from the apartment at 23:00 is for an amateur.
For those who plan to travel by public transport, we advise you to pay attention to the location of the stops: it can be difficult to persuade a kid to walk a couple more blocks uphill after a long day.
- Where to relax with children: hotels with water parks and fairy-tale characters
If you have decided on a list of activities in advance, calculate the distance from the apartment to the desired location. On the Ostrov platform, this can be done using an interactive map and the Ruler tool.
You can calculate the distance from the apartment to the desired location using the interactive map and the Ruler tool.
Blogger Alla Zemskova: “First of all, we look at the location. Ideally, the apartment is close to both the sea and the airport. Then we study whether the area is safe. It is important that tourist spots are close to the apartments, as children get tired quickly and cannot withstand a long journey. And also to have shops, playgrounds and a hospital next to the apartment, just in case.”
Take a look at the reviews
The strength lies in the reviews and the honest rating of the apartments. Our “Rating by reviews” filter will help with the first one: for trips with the whole family, choose a proven option with ratings from 8 points and above.
As for the reviews themselves, we recommend sorting by recent ones and paying special attention to comments from families with children. Here you will find valuable information about high chairs and other invaluable things that will make up your comfortable vacation. Needless to say, single travelers or childless couples will not write about such small things from their point of view.
All reviews on the Island are genuine: they can be left only those who actually stayed in the mentioned apartments.
How to read reviews
Reviews often become fascinating reading material and are no less sticky than your favorite TV shows. How to learn to read between the lines and not get into trouble was described in a separate article.
Ensure flexibility
All parents know that life with children is full of unpredictability, and plans often have to be changed at the last moment. On the Island, you can easily personalize your trip for family needs.:
- select a fare with the possibility of canceling the trip,
- add early or late check-in,
- choose an apartment with a cot.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact support — our specialists will do everything to help you.
On the Island you can choose a fare with the possibility of canceling the trip.
Bonus: how to save money
Discounts on the loyalty program. We support all travelers, even if they are still so small that they cannot pronounce not only the name of our service, but even their own name. It’s easy to save money on a trip — just connect to the GURU loyalty program, which gives you a 10 to 40% discount on accommodation.
Promo codes.Another way to save money in the family account is to use one of the promo codes that Ostrov regularly publishes on the website and on social networks. We remind you that with the promo code LIKE HOME you can save 20% on bookings in May. The main thing is to have time to use it before May 5th. The trip will be available from April 25 to May 15.
Among thousands of options for apartments and apartments on the Island, your pearl is hidden — don’t miss it! Have a good search and have a wonderful family vacation experience!
Cover photo: Dmitry Galaganov/Shutterstock.com
