How to survive your first overseas holiday with a baby

With warm weather on the horizon, new parents across the UK will be searching for the best place to take their family for their first holiday – the search term ‘family-friendly holidays 2024’ is already up a whopping 450% in the past 30 days (Google Trends).

But how can new parents navigate this tricky milestone? After all, travelling with a young child can present all sorts of unexpected challenges, from working around nap times to making sure your airport transfers have car seats.

Luckily, Martinhal Family Hotels and Resorts in Portugal are built with parents in mind, to help make this transition as smooth and enjoyable as possible. Everything at each of Martinhal’s four properties is designed to facilitate family life, so that children of all ages are accommodated and parents can still enjoy a relaxing five-star holiday – as well as their cappuccino with the foam still on!

Here are the top tips from Martinhal’s family travel experts to help new parents not only survive, but thrive on their very first overseas family holiday:

Make a list of everything you need

For your first trip away, your list of must-haves will likely be long. As well as everything your baby needs day to day, such as nappies and wipes, clothes, a pushchair, bottles (with formula if you’re formula feeding and a cooler bag to store them in), dummies and a baby monitor, you’ll also need a travel cot, car seat if you’re hiring a car (or your transfer doesn’t provide one), first aid kit, swim nappies and swimwear and enough SPF 50 to last the trip.

At Martinhal, we try to take some of the stress out of packing by providing a list of items that parents can pre-book with our Baby Concierge service. These include:

• Door protectors
• Thermometers
• Potties
• Bottle Sterilisers & Warmers
• Safety Gates
• Baby Cots
• Baby Baths

Choose a room that has family-friendly amenities

The first big difference between travelling as a couple and travelling as a family is the amount of space you’ll need. Make sure your chosen accommodation has room for a travel cot – many hotels will provide a cot on request, but if you’re bringing your own you’ll need to check in advance that there’s enough space to accommodate it.

Many of our parents at Martinhal choose a self-catering property with a kitchen and fridge, which is ideal for not only prepping, storing and sterilising bottles, but can be packed with snacks and drinks to keep parents going during those night feeds.

Make sure you have your own space once baby’s in bed

While you may not be out hitting all the local nightlife until the early hours, there’s no reason that you should be sitting cooped up in the dark and quiet once your baby’s gone down for the night. A room with a separate living space or terrace is ideal for sitting enjoying a glass of wine or a plate of tapas with your partner while you listen to the ocean or watch the sunset. If your chosen resort offers room service, you can even have dinner delivered so you don’t have to worry about eating early – at Martinhal Sagres, you can mobile order from any of the restaurants in the resort and have delicious Mediterranean, Asian, South American or Portuguese food delivered right to your door.

Be flexible with your timing

Going away with your baby will inevitably cause your routine to fly out of the window – and that’s okay. Sometimes things won’t go as planned, and the baby may not nap when expected or may get tired and fussy in the middle of your fun activity due to all the new sensory experiences. Try to relax and take things in your stride as much as possible. Heading to a beach resort with everything on site can take some of the stress and travel out of a holiday, or you may want to pick a self-catering apartment in an easily navigated city to have a calm base to return to. Whichever you try, picking a baby-friendly property will do half the work for you.

Martinhal’s Baby’s First Holiday Offer

Martinhal Sagres on the Eastern tip of the Algarve has a Baby’s First Holiday package which is bookable until 4th April 2025.

The package includes:

• 4 nights in a Beach Room or 1-bedroom apartment with breakfast included (Possibility to extend to 7 nights)
• Baby welcome pack upon arrival: nappies; baby wipes, talcum powder/nappy cream
• Bottle warmer and steriliser, changing mat available in room
• Special gift for the baby
• 1 session in “Raposinhos” Creche per day (3h) – from 6 months*
• 1st water experience for baby and parents*
• 1 spa treatment for a couple – 50 min relaxing massage*;
• 1 romantic dinner (2 hours of babysitter during dinner) – 3-course menu (beverage not included)

Prices start at £84 per adult per night for two adults and one baby (up to two years old).

(*All services must be pre-booked and are subject to availability.)

About Martinhal Family Hotels & Resorts 

 Martinhal Family Hotels & Resorts has been renowned for providing luxurious family holidays since the opening of its first resort in 2010. Martinhal is helping more families have a holiday together to remember at their properties: Martinhal Lisbon Oriente,  Martinhal Quinta, Martinhal Sagres and Martinhal Chiado . Each Martinhal Family Hotels & Resorts’ property is designed with families, luxury and design in mind. Found in some of the most prestigious areas in Portugal, Martinhal Family Hotels & Resorts offers superb accommodation from beach front locations, sophisticated golf areas to Lisbon city centre.