10 of the best places for summer holidays

A deserted cove on the Maddalena islands Italians come to Sardinia for the beaches but there's actually much more to it. We – my wife and children aged nine and seven – drove around the interior: a vast, empty landscape of mountains littered with huge boulders. We took child-acceptable short walks, to Neolithic tombs and iron age fortresses, which abound. We took a ferry to the Maddalena Islands, where the children paddled on beautiful, remote beaches, and then crossed the causeway to tranquil, forested Caprera Island, a national park where the children were intrigued (quite) by the house of Italy's liberator, Garibaldi.
• We stayed in the cool of the hills, at Li Licci (+39 079 665114, lilicci.com), from €45pp per night B&B or €65 half-board (children aged 4-12 sleeping in the same room as parents receive a 50% discount). Villas to rent for longer stays

Scotland

The fishing village of Lower Largo in Fife is heaven for our London-based kids (9 and 7). Just an easy hour from Edinburgh, it's a great spot for our Scottish clan to gather in the summer. We all rent cottages along the white sand of Largo Bay, overlooking the North Sea. Adults relax on the Elle Deco-style terrace of No.56 Main Street (eastfifeletting.co.uk) as the cousins rock-pool, dig for lugworms and paddle right below, in rain or shine, for hours on end. An outing to Anstruther (eastneukoutdoors.co.uk) for kids' sea-kayaking or abseiling is topped off with a treat of fish (or lobster or venison) and chips at the award-winning Anstruther Fish Bar (anstrutherfishbar.co.uk). After the kids are in bed, I run along the lush coastline in the late summer light, thinking of thriller plot-lines, not missing the West Coast midges one bit.

France

Les-Saintes-Maries-de-La-Mer in the Camargue, watery delta of the Rhone, is more like the wild west than the south of France, with white horses and bulls among the tall reeds, flocks of flamingos, huge never-ending sandy beaches, frenetic gypsy music in the market, crazy Mistral wind and mosquitos making for a memorable time. The whole area is a nature reserve so it's a great place to ramble with older children, and of course, it's also brilliant for horse riding.

There are plenty of places to stay from budget campsites to good hotels, most of which are independent and low rise – no tall buildings are allowed. We have a family house over there, but we know friends who have stayed at the four-star Bastide Blanche and they loved it.

On 24 May, the Gypsy and Romany communities from across Europe descend en masse for the Gitan Pilgrimage, a religious festival that develops into a massive pastis-fuelled flamenco face-off of guitars, handclapping and dancing in the narrow cobbled streets. The Gypsy Kings are natives of the region, but don't hold that against it. It is truly a gritty and magical place, steeped in history and traditions, and far from the pretentious nonsense of the French Riviera further down the coast.
• Family suite at Bastide Blanche from €400, room only (+33 4 90 97 81 02, bastideblanche.com). The local tourist office lists other accommodation

Ireland

Some riding centres can be snooty if you haven't had your kids in jodhpurs since they stepped out of nappies. But Slieve Aughty, a family-run riding centre in County Galway, is far from haughty. Everything here is gentle and organic, as they specialise in natural, bit-free riding. We were broken in gently too, trekking across hills, streams and forests in the remote foothills of the Slieve Aughty mountains with attentive, charming instructors. Staying in a cottage on the other side of the woods, we had a donkey to accompany us there and back, and dined on superb organic, homegrown and homemade food, round a lively, communal table in the centre's restaurant. Our boys, eight and 12, loved the freedom here, taking off on bikes around woodland trails, cooking pizzas in a clay oven, chilling with other kids round the fire pit and, of course, bonding with our beloved equine escorts. There were tears as we reluctantly (two days later than planned) said our goodbyes.
• +353 (0) 90 97 45246, riding-centre.com. Adults from €126 per day, children €107

Larmer Tree Festival, Wiltshire/Dorset border

In mid-July, hidden in the folds of the Salisbury hills, a pop-up city known as Larmer Tree Festival sprouts each year. Free of the gushing masses of Glastonbury and the sparse crowds of tiny "boutique" fests, Larmer Tree's size and superb organisation gives you a true festival feel without the gigantic treks and endless toilet queues. With a plethora of fine and truly eclectic musical acts as its heartbeat, the festival also provides superb food and a range of alternative therapies. While kids are sometimes seen as irritable add-ons at some festivals, here there is enough storytelling, theatre and activities to keep over-fives going for blissful hours. Our three boys (11, seven and four) love hanging out in a family tent, with makeshift football pitches and hundreds of potential players only a couple of guy ropes away. And the surprises are never far away, as you are just as likely to bump into Billy Bragg as be frowned upon by one of the peacocks strolling through the sumptuous grounds.
• Prices vary, a three-day ticket costs £130 per adult, £99 for 11-17s and £76 for under-10s. +44 (0)23 8071 1820, larmertreefestival.co.uk

Gotland, Sweden

Gotland is the largest island in the Baltic Sea, with a fantastic Viking heritage. Visby, the capital, is a beautiful walled town and every August they stage a 'medieval week' which sounds a bit naff but was actually good, clean family fun. We enjoyed the jousting tournaments and pageantry, but especially enjoyed fossil hunting on the shingle beaches and exploring ancient landscapes dotted with burial mounds and mysterious stone "ships" that date from the iron age. Gotland is pretty flat, so it's ideal for cycling and there are plenty of places hire bikes. Sweden has had a reputation for being pricey, but if you're not hitting the nightclubs and drinking a lot then it isn't much more expensive than the UK. It suits families who are happy to spend a lot of time walking, picnicking and hanging out together in the countryside – high octane it's not, and that's its charm.
• A cottage sleeping four in July costs about £800 and the ferry from Stockholm to Visby costs about £148 return for a car plus five passengers. See destinationgotland.se for details

Cerza Safari Lodge, Normandy, France

If you've always fancied a safari but can't face the 12-hour flight with kids in tow, try Cerza. A short ferry ride away, tucked away in Hermival-les-Vaux near Lisieux, the 60-hectare park transports you to Africa with giraffes, lions, hippos, rhinos, tigers, panthers and monkeys roaming the grounds while the Wild Valley section is inhabited with Alaskan wolves, bison, brown bears and leopards. We booked an ecolodge (but the yurts looked like a lot of fun too) and spent our days learning about the wildlife (the keeper tours are fabulous) and evenings sipping our favourite red and listening to the faint roar of the lion as we watched the Siamong gibbons trundling off to bed.
• Ecolodges (sleep four), three nights for €480, four nights €520, seven nights €860. Yurts (sleep four), €110 per night including breakfast. All guests need a pass for the park too: adult €17, children (over 3) €9.50, valid for the length of their stay. cerzasafarilodge.com

Lamu Island, Kenya

You have to be quite determined to get to Lamu – the journey involves a flight from Nairobi to the airstrip on the neighbouring island of Manda, followed by a 10-minute voyage by dhow to the island – but that is exactly what makes this other-worldly place so magical. Lamu has no roads and therefore no cars, and the locals get around by donkey or foot, making it an incredibly safe and unspoiled place for children to play while parents relax. You can search for sand dollars on the long golden beach, fish from a dhow, feed scraps to the Egyptian-looking cats, watch turtles hatch at dawn and buy henna-tattoos from the women walking along the beach. Or take a break from the sun and stroll along the narrow alleys of Lamu old town and peep in through ornate Moorish doors to watch the silversmiths, woodcarvers and basket weavers at work.
Hire a house in Lamu town or Shela village (lamu.org) or stay at the charismatic Peponi Hotel (+254 (0)733 203082 or +44 (0)722 203082, peponi-lamu.com), doubles €215 B&B, plus €60 for an extra bed – but the food there is stunning so you might want to go full board for €335 per night

Yorkshire

"Is it a real castle?" is pretty much the first question children ask when they first set eyes on Augill Castle, and happily the answer is yes. Set in the bucolic countryside of the Eden Valley, with both the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales national parks on the doorstep, the castle's towers, turrets, four-poster beds and big open fires tick all the right boxes, but it's the wonderfully informal atmosphere that makes it a real family hit. The dogs, Holly and Maisy, greet you at the door, and then scamper out into the rolling grounds where play area, treehouse, woodland fort and giant Jenga await. Convivial meals are taken house-party style, with younger ones given a high tea and then whisked away for DVDs and popcorn, leaving grown-ups to play at being lords and ladies for the night.
• Two-bedroomed family suites £240 per night (+44 (0)1768 341937, stayinacastle.com)

Club Med, Kamarina, Sicily

It's easy to be sniffy about all-inclusives, but the Club Med formula is so polished and upbeat that it's hard not to be charmed. We were grumpy and tired when we checked into this vast resort in south-west Sicily – to be greeted by 50 staff members all singing and clapping. We thought: this is not our kind of thing. But once the initial culture shock wore off, and we discovered the long sandy beach, the huge pool, the spa and tennis courts, we settled into it. Our eight-year-old son disappeared all day every day – mini golfing, rollerblading and learning archery and trapeze skills, all included in the price. The food was superb and it was refreshing to be in a country where people genuinely like children. Not very British, and all the better for it.
• A week's all-inclusive holiday with clubmed.co.uk in early June costs around £3,000 for a family of four, including flights from London to Sicily