10 great family breaks for a happy Halloween

It's not easy going back to school. So it's as well that the midterm break is just around the corner. SANDRA O'CONNELLhas some ideas if you fancy getting away from it all

ALREADY THE NEW jumper is ripped, the shirt buttons popped and the scuff-proof shoes well scuffed. Over in the other camp the knee socks have gone south and the school coat west, and the kilt pin is but a distant memory.

Back a matter of weeks and already they’re cranky and exhausted. The parents, that is. The kids are having a ball.

Thankfully, the Department of Education and Science long ago realised just how tough term time is on hard-pressed mums. So, before we’ve had time to hoover the sand from the boots in preparation for the pine needles of the Christmas tree, it provides us with a little window of holiday opportunity: midterm break. Here are 10 of the best to help you beat the back-to-school blues.

Spanish steps

If you can find a cheap flight, you could get great value from Holiday Homes Direct (holiday homesdirect.ie/10650). It has a two-bedroom apartment, sleeping five, in a small holiday complex with pool on the still-sunny Costa Blanca, in Spain, for €180 a week.

Temperatures should still be in the low 20s, and the complex itself is a short walk from bars, restaurants and the blue-flag beach at La Zenia.

There are also three championship golf courses within a 15-minute drive, spectacular cliff-top walks to nearby Cabo Roig and equally spectacular rides at the Terra Mítica theme park, an hour and a half’s drive away, in Benidorm. The park is open on Saturdays throughout October.

Mini midterms

It’s not before time, admittedly, but Irish hotels are now offering some of the best-value deals around, many with extras thrown in to boot.

Two adults and two under-12s can have three nights’ BB during midterm, with two evening meals, at the Castlecourt Hotel (098-55088, castlecourthotel.ie), in Westport, for €519 – less than €45 per person per night.

The hotel has a pool, creche and babysitting facilities, plus a kids’ club running throughout the week and hosting Halloween parties for youngsters.

For older kids, there’s horse riding, bowling, Laser Quest and a cinema nearby.

Alternatively, Carrygerry Country House, a member of the Private Ireland group (061-311182, privateireland.com), is offering two-night family BB breaks over the midterm, with dinner one evening, for €170 per person.

Children sharing with parents are free, and the price includes family entry to Bunratty Castle Folk Park.

Devilishly Disney

Midterm can be a great time to visit Disneyland Paris (disney landparis.ie or 01-6079900, breakaway.ie) – shorter queues and cooler than in summer, but warmer and less like a ghost town than in winter.

Halloween is a big deal for Disney, which this year, throughout October, is staging a spooktacular event featuring all the Disney villains, the cartoon characters kids tend to like the best.

Visitors can opt for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, for €27 per person, or, the main event, a big Halloween party on October 31st, for €32 each, scares included.

Resort prices start at €119 per adult per night, and right now a special offer gives visitors all of their meals free during a stay of at least two nights. Book by November 15th for arrivals until April 1st next year.

How many chips can you eat?

Fun in the sun

The prices of family sun holidays are generally at a premium over midterm, thanks to stricter rules about taking children from school, but value is still around.

Budget Travel (01-6311111, budgettravel.ie) has week-long holidays at the Maxorata Beach apartments, a spacious three-star development in Corralejo, on the family-friendly Canary island of Fuerteventura, from Saturday, October 24th, for €1,789 for two adults and two children.

Still in the weather-reliable Canary Islands, Sunway (01-2311888, sunway.ie) has holidays in Lanzarote from Dublin, Knock and Shannon the same weekend, staying at the two-star Costa Volcan apartments in Puerto del Carmen, for €783pp.

The same company has BB at the two-star Dalia Hotel, in the Tunisian resort of Hammamet, where the average October temperature is 24 degrees, from €623 per person, with flights and transfers.

Orlando blooms

There’s terrific value in the US, and nowhere more so than the theme-park capital of the world: Orlando, in Florida.

1800hotels.ie (1800- 468357) has seven nights at the three-star Holiday Inn on International Drive from €200 for a family of four for seven nights. It’s a modest, family-friendly hotel with a great location for all the parks, including Universal, where the attractions include a haunted house.

Alternatively, shift up a gear with a week in an apartment at the five-star Point Orlando Resort for €470 for the same size of family.

Tour America (01-8173535 or 021-4580999, touramerica.ie) can put together a week’s package, including hotels and US Airways flights, staying at the Quality Inn on International Drive, for €529 per person over midterm.

Or how about a four- bedroom, three-bathroom villa with heated pool and separate spa, in the gated community of Highgate Park, sleeping 10? Fill it up and the cost, at €395 a week, works out at less than €40 per person per week (holidayhomesdirect.ie/ 10973)

City escape

Citybreaks always seem such a couple-ish thing to do, but pick the right city and there should be plenty to keep the whole brood entertained.

Gohop.ie (01-2412389) has a deal over the October public holiday (the first weekend of midterm) to classy Copenhagen – a nice way to start the break.

Staying at the four-star Copenhagen Island Hotel, a modern six-storey glass-fronted building on an island in the Danish capital’s harbour, you’ll be only a stone’s throw from the Little Mermaid and, more importantly, just over a kilometre’s walk from Tivoli amusement park, where rides include carousel swings.

The second-oldest such park in the world, and an inspiration for Walt Disney, it’s a Mecca for children and adults alike, smack in the middle of town.

Three nights’ BB at the hotel, plus direct SAS flights from Dublin, costs €339 per person sharing.

Lake breaks

If you’d rather spurn the airport and pack up the car instead, head for Lough Key Forest and Activity Park (071-9673122, loughkey.ie), in Co Roscommon.

This midterm its Boda Borg quest centre is being transformed into Boda Booo!

The Boda Borg games, which are fun for all ages, have been scarified up to suit the time of year – although, God knows, it’s scary enough to have to follow your nimble children down tunnels and over trip wires against the clock, without them bothering to explain what on earth’s going on.

There’s more traditional fare at Lough Key, too, including fancy-dress parties, pumpkin carving and face painting.

The caravan and camping park will be open from October 23rd until November 1st. Caravans stay for €20 a night, tents for the hardy at €10 a night.

For a more luxurious option check out the Scandinavian-style log cabins in nearby Knockvicar. These cost €500 a week and can sleep eight (071-9663033, unabhan.net).

Spooky specials

There’s Halloween fun at Trabolgan Holiday Village (021-4661551, trabolgan.com), in Cork, this year with prices that aren’t going to frighten anyone. This midterm it’s running a Haunted Mansions show, a Halloween trail and a fancy-dress party with prizes for the scariest costume.

As well as more than 50 hectares of space, younger children get to enjoy all Trabolgan’s regular shows, from TV characters such as Barney, Angelina Ballerina and Bob the Builder. Older kids can run the gamut of outdoor pursuits from archery to zip wiring. And there’s a subtropical pool.

Stay at the village’s Chestnut accommodation, which sleeps five, from €25 per person per night for a week-long break.

Cruise’n’snooze

Few holidays are as relaxing, once you realise you can’t sink the boat, as a river cruise. If the thought of chugging your way down the Shannon in late October doesn’t do it for you, can we interest you in the still-sunny south of France?

Thought so. Kids love messing about on boats, and the Canal du Midi gives them a chance to do that while you take in the ancient walled city of Carcassonne, the medieval town of Castelnaudary and the Roman town of Narbonne. Navigate your way through a staircase of locks near Béziers and chill out as you wind through the glorious Languedoc countryside.

There are water parks along the way for the children, but some of the best fun is to be had by hiring bikes and letting them cycle along the towpaths beside you.

Opt for a Caprice cruiser from Emerald Star (071-9627633, emeraldstar.ie/destination/francecanal_du_midi) and it works out at €265 per person for the week, excluding flights, based on six sharing.

Turkish delight

With daytime temperatures of about 20 degrees, and not much less than that at night, Turkey is a great option if you’re looking for a last burst of sun.

Foreign Afares (021- 4278999, foreignafares.ie), in Cork, has a midterm deal, departing on October 24th, of a week’s holiday for two adults and two children for €1,668.

For this you stay at the Oya Apartments, a three-star development less than a kilometre from the centre of Kusadasi and 1,500m from the beach, with a dolmus stop – for the minibuses ubiquitous in this part of the world – outside. There’s also a pool with a bar and, for the kids, a PlayStation.