Whether negotiating a busy airport or embarking on a long drive, we have collected many ideas for keeping your little ones entertained, interested, or asleep – whichever suits you best!

And please add your own tips and ideas so we can share them with other readers.

Travelling with toddlers
When travelling with a toddler, try to plan your journey so that they are tired out when you set off. That way, you can guarantee you’ll get some peace before you need to start entertaining them.

If your little one doesn’t drop off that easily then prepare your in car entertainment! New toys and books with multi-images per page, with funny noises, textures and flaps to open and shut will occupy your toddler for longer. Colouring books and pencils or crayons are also a must.

Plan your stops
If you’re travelling by car, work out when your toddler is likely to need a break and work out your motorway exits. If it’s a long trip you’re going to need a couple or even more, which will probably add an hour or two on to your journey. Yes, the journey will take longer, but at least your toddler will burn off some energy running around the service stations (which are fabulous in France) and you can relax with a cup of tea and a croissant. French motorways also have toilet stops every few kilometres.

Choose your music
All kids love music and in a car especially, it’s a great way to keep them occupied. All right, so you were hoping to listen to Michael Buble rather than the Pirate Club hits, but at least this way you’ll have a quiet life.

If you prefer to fly-drive, there are a few things to consider.
 

Protecting your child’s ears on the plane
Taking off and landing can be painful for both adults and children. Allow your tot to suck either your breast, bottle or chew a gum during take off and landing since pressurisation of the cabin on take off and depressurisation on landing is tough on little ears. The flight attendants are usually very helpful on all flights about providing blankets for privacy if you ask.

Some popular ways of preventing ears from getting blocked during the flights are:

Hot Towels: place one hot towel over each ear. The heat expands the air in the middle ear relieving the negative pressure on the eardrum.

Blowing: if your toddler knows how to, get them to blow through their nose, while you hold the nostrils closed. This pops the ears and relieves the pressure.

Screaming: this is the easiest for toddlers to do, despite being annoying for others. Screaming in fact reduces the pressure on your toddler’s eardrums and eases the pain.

When travelling to Europe it is very easy to get hold of the usual baby items such as nappies and food, so don’t worry about filling up the car with two weeks worth of supplies.

You can also hire out many of the essential items, including travel cots, baby baths, buggies and high chairs from as little as 50p per night.

What are your top tips for keeping kids entertained on the holiday journey?

For full information on train travel to and in France, the best resource is the excellent website www.seat61.com

Prices
Cheap fares are available but BOOK EARLY, as fares only go up as you get nearer the date, not down.

Look at going via Lille or via Paris — the former is easier but there is far less choice, so cheap fares are harder to find.

Prices vary by destination. La Rochelle, half way down France’s west coast, can be done for as little as £400 from London and back for two adults and two children travelling via Paris, but these fares need to be dug out and will be more difficult to find at popular times, such as Saturdays in summer.

Onzain, in the Loire Valley, is more like £300 (via Paris) with the Paris to Onzain bit being easy to get cheaper fares as it’s not on the TGV (France’s high speed rail network). It’s the Eurostar part of the journey that you need to book early for.

Advantages of taking the train
The main advantages of train versus flying are the much better general experience, especially with kids (it feels like part of the holiday!), the transparent pricing with no extra ‘add-ons’, the lack of baggage restrictions, no security hassles and, of course, the environmental benefits.

Also, the reliability and punctuality of the trains is probably better than many short haul flights.

Main disadvantages of trains are the length of time it takes to travel anywhere other than Paris/Lille and from anywhere outside south east England. It’s likely you will face a whole day travelling, changing once or twice (especially if you need to cross Paris with luggage and kids). You have to put in a lot of effort and pre-planning to find cheap fares, especially compared to the airlines who make it easy to book flights.

Trains aren’t perfect, strikes do happen and SNCF customer care can be variable, ranging from quite good to the verbal equivalent of a Gallic shrug of the shoulders.

Proximity to siblu parcs
None of the siblu parcs are within walking distance of train stations, so you need to plan in car hire as part of your journey.

The nearest parcs are Le Bois du Valmarie, l’Hippocampe and La Sirène (all in Languedoc) and Le Montourey (Provence), Domaine de Dugny (Loire Valley) – all of which are a few kms from train stations. Siblu parcs in La Carabasse, Lac des Reves and Sables du Midi (Languedoc), Le Bois Masson and Le Bois Dormant (Vendée), Les Charmettes, La Pignade and Bonne Anse Plage (Charente Maritime) and La Réserve (Aquitaine) are all 15-20 kms from the nearest stations.

Managing connections
If you are travelling to Brittany or south west France you will have to transfer from Paris Nord station (destination of Eurostar) to Montparnasse, where you can catch the TGV for part two of your journey. It is easiest to take a taxi, or to leave yourself lots of time, as you have to travel 14 stops on Metro Line 4 and then make a frustrating journey from Montparnasse metro station to the mainline station.

If you are taking a TGV to Languedoc or Provence on the south coast of France you have to make the much easier connection from Paris Nord to Gare de Lyon, which takes just two stops on RER line D and involves much less walking.

If you are travelling to Onzain in the Loire Valley you have to get from Paris Nord to Austerlitz, which means taking Line 5 and does not involve too much walking.

Well Katy Holland does a great job of arguing the merits of a mobile home versus villa in The Independent’s travel column.

She identifies four points that can help to settle the argument – cost, friends, entertainment and freedom.

The idea of your own villa sounds dreamy, but the reality is that kids don’t do dreamy, they do running around, and playing sports, and mucking about with other kids, and making noise, and all those things that don’t quite work if you’re on your own in a villa.

And the standards of modern mobile homes are great, with en-suite facilities, powerful showers, proper ovens, comfy beds… in fact everything you need for a comfy stay.

So I’m going to stick my neck out, and say villas are okay if there’s only grown ups, but they’re a terrible option if you are travelling en famille.

The west coast is especially good for brilliant coaches with small secret coves, golden sands at the edge of rolling forests and town beaches packed with activities in evocatively named areas such as the Côte de Jade (Loire Atlantique), Côte Lumière (Vendée) or Côte Sauvage (Charente Maritime).

I’ve listed below a small number of the highlights for French beaches in 2010, but what I really want is a list of the beaches you think are best. Feel free to add your comments.

Côte Lumière

The St Jean-de-Monts tourist office has announced a programme of family activities on the town’s stunning sandy beach through the summer, ranging from baby games to Thai fitness. Visitors are encouraged to take part, but it can be difficult to drag yourself away from your lounger once you have settled on the immense Côte Lumière beach. Stay at Le Bois Masson siblu parc.

Côte de Jade

The Côte de Jade in Loire-Atlantique is popular with water sports enthusiasts who practice their skills on the region’s long sandy beaches. Les Pierres Couchées holiday parc is a short walk from a great beach where guests can now try kite surfing. A two-day introductory course starts from €166.

Côte Sauvage

The Côte Sauvage in Charente Maritime has the sunniest weather on France’s west coast, massive sandy beaches screened by forests of pine trees and fun seaside towns, making it a favourite family destination. There are more than 100 beaches to explore, including the seaside resort of La Palmyre, where the sea is gentle at low tide but the waves crash in at other times. Try Les Charmettes siblu holiday parc.

So, which French beaches do you recommend?

Les Charmettes holiday parc on the Côte Sauvage in Charente Maritime has a giant swimming pool complex with slides and waterfalls that the kids will love. The region’s many beaches are screened by pine trees, and surfing and cycling are favourite activities. A 12-night holiday at Les Charmettes from 7 August starts from £1,435 for a family of four, with a January saving of £221. Dover to Calais return ferries are included.

La Réserve siblu parc, in Aquitaine, sits on the edge of Lake Biscarosse, which has a gentle beach and shallow waters making it the ideal play area for parents with young children. A 12-night holiday at the parc, which also has indoor and outdoor pools and free children’s clubs, costs from just £1,090 starting on 3 July, with an early-booking saving of £175. Dover to Calais ferries are included.

Lac des Rêves is a truly relaxing family site in Languedoc, close to the Mediterranean coast and Montpellier (it’s where I took my wife on our first wedding anniversary, old romantic that I am!). There is a highly rated pool and large sandy beaches nearby, and this is the biggest wine region in the world. A 12-night holiday, giving families plenty of times to try out the beaches, swimming pools and vineyards, starts from £1664 for a 24 July departure, saving £152. This price includes Dover to Calais ferries.