Hi and welcome.
I think if you can answer the following questions you will get lots of help.
1. When can you go? Are you stuck with school holidays?
2. Do you like it hot?
3. Are you prepared to go long haul? How many hours in the air?
4. How much are you prepared to spend?
and finally if you can give an idea of the sort of things your family likes, eg beaches, history, sport etc etc.
Good luck
Bridd

visit your local travel agent and get all the summer brochures for next year. they will give you an idea of all the places you can go/the weather in the resorts for different months of the year/interesting things to do or see and most importantly the prices.
work out how much you can afford to spend on your holiday and compare with prices in brochure.
you will now find (at least most of us do) where you can afford to go and when, and will be able to come up with some alternatives within your price range.
for a first trip abroad i would suggest somewhere in europe(unless you have just won the lottery when i will be able to offer more advice and a personal service), probably spain/greece/canary islands.
once you have narrowed it down a bit we may all be able to offer more specialist advice.
hope this helps.

and also.. do you want to be all inclusive, self catering or half board etc.. what sort of accomodation arrangements do you want? I would suggest as you have 4 kids ( and you will pay adult prices for the 14 and the 12 year old) an apartment with 2 or 3 bedrooms or some sort of family suite. Failing that, you could get adjoining room for your 2 oldest children, but that depends on how sensible they are and obviously what gender they are and have the youngest in with you. There are so many options available to you..lets start with where do you fancy going?

Hi Eldess! If you post the answers to Bridds questions on here you will get plenty of advice and reccommendations. We can start with the country move on to the resort and lastly you can look at the accommodation in the hotel review section.

hi thanx for all replying back to me.
We all love being outside in the sunshine and really love being on the beach, also like to take long walks around to get to see the sites. Also love shopping, and eating out. In the evenings it would be nice to either have family fun like disco's etc or just to chill out and have a meal, or to find a nearby theme park.
As its our first time abroad i am a little unsure on what the flight is going to be like so i think less hours on a plane the better to start with
The dates i have been looking at is between 23rd june 2007 to beginning of september 2007. Gran canaria keeps popping up, whenever i am searching for holidays, or somewhere in spain (i really don't know where to go!!!!!) I would spend around £2000 for the holiday but the less to pay the better so i can get more money together for spending!!!!

gran canaria is a lovely place to go.. but sometimes the flight times are rubbish ( as bad as arriving back at 4.00am!) but i think it depends where you fly from...Puerto Rico is very lively and has something to suit everyone but many of the hotels are some distance away from the beach. Maspalomas and Playa Del Ingles are also popular. If you want something quieter, then Mogan or Taurito may suit, but they are more expensive as i think they are AI..Gran can is apporx 41/4 hours flying time, as are most of the canary islands. Check out the Thomsons web site ..they show photo's and videos of places they offer.

I would also suggest Tenerife or Lanzarote ( we love the canary islands) again it is roughly the same flying time and you would find some good deals..Costa Teguise in Lanzarote is very nice, not quite as busy other resorts on the island, but still plenty to do. Most people stay in the south of tenerife, such as PDLA, Los cristianos or Los Gigantes.. and i would say that Tenerife is the livliest of the islands. All of them are very pretty and i would recommend them to anyone travelling abroad for the first time...Airtours and Thomas Cook both have many bargains to Lanza..but i guess you should shop around until you find somewhere within your price range. If you go SC, the price will be cheaper and many places offer child discounts up to the age of 16, but of course you will need more spending money. If you go All Inclusive it obviously costs more, adult prices are paid for the kids as soon as they reach 12 in most places..but you don't need as much spending money as everything is in ( handy as kids want an endless supply of drinks, snacks and ice creams!). You will have to think what will suit you as a family

Hi! How about Playa D'en Bossa in Ibiza. Around a 2hr flight, cheapish with plenty of family fun. There are loads of restaurants and pubs a lovely beach and a great Aqua Park. For a first holiday abroad with children of those ages it would be great. I would reccomend early June or SEptember - fab weather and much cheaper than peak season.

If you go All inclusive the children can have as many ice creams and drinks as they want if you go where there is plenty going on for all the ages I would suggest maybe majorca on menorca fo those dates

For your first holiday with the children I would go with Ibiza or Majorca. Plenty of resorts to choose from and a relatively short flight time. Where is your nearest airport? Another important factor with children is the flight times. You don't really want a night flight or early hours of the morning especially on the return flight as you will have to check out of your room hours before.

The Canaries are lovely and I would recommend Tenerife for a great family holiday - there's something different to do every day if you like to get out and about. We've also been to Lanzarote which was fantastic and we adore the place and want to live there; but I wasn't "right impressed" with Gran Canaria (too 'European' for me...) definitely Tenerife though, for a great family holiday
However, for a 'first' holiday you may be better considering mainland Spain or Majorca/Ibiza/Minorca, simply because it's a much shorter flight. Personally I would recommend Majorca for a 'first' holiday - it was my first holiday when I was seven years old, and my kids had their first holiday there when they were six and nine. There's plenty to do in Majorca, waterparks, great beaches, sightseeing etc and many people go back there year after year and still manage to do something different each year.
Whatever you decide, have a great time - and don't forget to use your local travel agent to get as many brochures as possible and look into every option.

Gran Canaria - playa del ingles

Thomson

Perfect for all ages, and times in noember and december (2 days before christmas was 40*c) and extremely cheap (£161pp) excellent weather, excellent activities - perfect beaches and many shopping centres and cafes,pubs bars perfect for all ages
with most flights through the day(like mine 9am from manchester previously)