Ask Joan

We are a family of with five children, the oldest is nine, has special needs and has to be supervised closely; two girls of seven and five who like to mix with other children and twins who will be two next summer. We are looking for a summer holiday that we all will enjoy and not too hot. Having really enjoyed French camping holidays with Keycamp we feel the family may be too large for a mobile home now. Our budget is about €5,000. – ED, Meath

French camp site holidays are always good for families so why not try a site with apartments or bungalows. The weather in France will be slightly cooler than Spain or Italy in the summer.

Pierre et Vacances have a good variety of holiday homes on resorts in France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Austria. Many of the sites have easy access to beaches. The prices would be within your budget, ie €2,000 – €2,300 for two weeks in August. That would give you the option of taking your own car on the ferry, or flying and renting a car, pv-holidays.com. Brittany Ferries who operate a service from Cork to Roscoff also have holidays in gites, and villas, brittanyferries.ie.

A popular destination for families in Italy is the Bella Italia resort on Lake Garda. It is big with fun things for the children, available through Topflight.ie. If you book early you may be able to get free child places, (01) 240 1765.

Tour operators such as Falcon Holidays, Thomas Cook, Sunway have a great variety of family holidays on resorts in Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands and Greece. Resorts which have children clubs and water parks are ideal for families, however the prices can be a bit steep, especially as there are seven. The Falcon Holiday villages are good for families as they have kids clubs for all ages. One of the newest to become available from Ireland will be the Kolymbia in Rhodes from next May. It is an all inclusive resort and with free child place, falconholidays.ie.

I am looking for information about B&B accommodation in Dublin for the end of January. I will also be visiting Bath and London in March. I am a single traveller. – AF, Cork

You might like to consider thewhitecottages.com in Skerries or Beechlodge.ie on the Navan Road. Both are friendly places to stay with access to public transport. For a list of all the approved B&Bs go to bandbireland.com.

Bath is a beautiful city and you will find a variety of B&Bs on visitbath.co.uk. Expect to pay anything from £50-£110 per night. In London I recommend Uptown Reservations as they have lovely properties in the Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Chelsea areas, prices are about £95 per night B&B, uptownres.com.

We are visiting relations in New Zealand in February for three weeks. My wife and I both in our sixties would like to spend a week on a beach with nice a hotel in either North or South Island. We will be based in Wellington for two weeks. – DM, Cork

The Bay of Islands in the very far north of the North Island is one of New Zealand's top destinations. It has a sub-tropical climate and ideal for a beach holidays. Two hotels to look at are, Paihia Pacific Resort, paihiapacific.co.nz and the Scenic Hotel, scenichotels.co.nz.

The other place to consider is the rugged Coromandel Peninsula and The Duke in Russell boutique hotel, theduke.co.nz.

Send your questions to jscales@irishtimes.com