I stayed with Eurocamp at Union Lido, Italy, with my family of four and had a splashing good time

I was a bit sceptical about Eurocamp and self-catering holidays at first. Before children – correction – before school age children, I’d very much been a five star, all inclusive, kind of woman. Could a break at a holiday parc, where you must cook your own food and – horror – wash your own dishes, just like being at home, be as relaxing?

Spoiler: oh my goodness, yes. I’m a Eurocamp convert and plan to do one every year.

I visited Eurocamp at Union Lido, Italy, with my husband and children aged seven and three. We flew to Venice and then took two buses to the camp – which was easy, even after a 2am start.

The parc is impressive, seriously impressive. We picked it was it’s a five-star (camping) resort and the pools looked epic.

Union Lido aquapark

The Europarc holiday homes are located about a three-minute walk from the site’s biggest waterpark. And it is incredible. There’s a double wave pool, lazy river, two spa pools, a cave pool, two pools that I don’t know what to call but were huge, a kids’ pool with a large climbing frame with slides, and big slides galore. My favourite Vortex that you go down in a dinghy. My least favourite was the blue one that gave me a violent wedgie.

My little boy (seven) loved them all and was tall enough for each of them at 140cm. My little girl (three) was able to go on the medium sized ones by herself, as well as the little ones. The longest we queued was 15 minutes and there are times when you can go straight on.

There’s also a smaller water park by the beach, aimed at younger kids, that was also great. It has a large lazy river that provided hours of fun, a normal pool like one you’d get at a leisure centre except obviously nicer because it’s outdoors and there are no verruca plasters floating past, and two pools with slides and climbing frames.

They’re open from 10am to 7pm and everything in them is free unless you want to hire a lounger, that we never did. They are busy but good-natured and we didn’t feel crowded. And there’s lots of shade to be had when you need it.

Union Lido restaurants

We had breakfast and lunch one time each at Vovi, a pleasant café in the centre of the site. We had more takeaway pizzas than I care to admit from Pizza and Sapori: get the family size, you will not be disappointed. On the main though, we tried to eat in our holiday home as we’re on a budget. There’s plenty of places to shop onsite including bakeries, fruit and veg shops and two supermarkets. Some items are very reasonably priced (Pepsi Max for 86 cents thank you very much) and some things are insanely expensive especially suncream. Definitely stock up on suncream before you go and make sure you pack a lot of mozzy spray and antihistamines, the mozzies are ferocious and almost everyone we saw had huge bites. The only person from my family who wasn’t bitten was my toddler who I guess tastes horrible. Good for her.

Speaking of things to take with you…

Accommodation at Eurocamp, Union Lido

We stayed in an Azure Plus holiday home. It could sleep six and, if your budget allows, I’d recommend booking for more than your party as it means there’s somewhere to store luggage, dirty clothes and the like.The master bed was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, although space around it was tight. The shower is also large, and the kitchen is great although if I was living in a dream world a dishwasher would have been good. I took washing-up gloves and was happy I did.

On arrival, Eurocamp provide a welcome pack with a small bottle of washing-up liquid one toilet roll, a sponge, cloth and one bin bag. I brought a tea towel from home and, if I went again, I’d take another bin bag. We’d ordered a bedding set, and you need to make up the beds yourselves. This was probably the only time I missed the service of a hotel: I am rubbish at making beds with flat sheets. While we’re on the subject of housekeeping: Eurocamp expect you to clean the home before you leave and while it wasn’t too arduous, I’d gladly have paid a small fee to not do it. Maybe some habits die hard.

Union Lido to Venice

We had a day out in Venice. You could book a trip with Union Lido but we got a bus to the port and then a public boat, which was simple. Venice was stunning but very hot and I’m not sure why I thought it was a good idea to take a pushchair, but it was not. Pushchairs and forty bridges do not mix.

Entertainment at Union Lido

There is so much to do that they have an app listing all the day and nighttime activities. We loved the family spa mornings at Marino spa, and went twice, and the children loved the mini discos in the evenings. There’s football camp for kids as well as a mini club that runs in the mornings and afternoons. As holiday makers at Unio Lido are made up of about 90% German visitors, German is the predominate language in the kids’ clubs and entertainment.

I visited the onsite gym because apparently, I’m some kind of health nut and my husband found one of the onsite bars showing Arsenal, so he was pleased about that.

The parc’s central plaza is absolutely buzzing at night: there’s restaurants, bars, and a big entertainment show down by the beach. Get there early if you want a seat. There’s also a mini fun fair with very reasonable prices for rides, and I highly recommend getting the grand tour mini train around the site, which is a lot of entertainment for just 2 euros. Make sure you have cash for the evening: the arcade, fair, train, and bouncy world are all cash only, although there are ATMs on site.

For further information on Eurocamp, please call 01606 787787 or visit eurocamp.co.uk