Hi and welcome back Highlandness,
I havent been on a holiday with a 2 year old but will throw in a couple of suggestions. Crete has many smaller, quiet places( I qualify this by saying it some years since I was last in Crete). It is a beautiful island with lots of history. Throw in a beach and a children's swimming pool and you might find it would be perfect.
I am wondering if our members would recommend Malta?

We took our then 2 year old to Malta (and have been back several times since) and had very few issues. We stayed s/c in Marsascala, which, lovely place though it is was in retrospect a mistake, mainly because it took so long to get anywhere. If considering Malta, you might want to look at the St Pauls Bay area, which is quieter than its neighbours Buggiba & Qawra, but is still close enough to give you plenty of options. It is also close to the central bus station in Buggiba if you fancy hopping on a bus somewhere. The Maltese people love children, and language is not a problem should you need any assistance.

I would agree with Fiona's recommendation of Crete. It has history, museums and plenty of ancient sites to visit. I would suggest Western Crete probably the Chania area. The small resort of Almyrida comes to mind, it is about a half hour drive from Chania with it's lovely Venetian harbour, and has a couple of nice family hotels, loads of villas or apartments and a lovely beach perfect for children. It certainly isn't Britain abroad but as in many resorts in Greece these days you will find a British influence.

I returned just last week from a holiday in Crete, I spent two nights in the small resort of Panormos, situated between Rethymno and Heraklion, perfect location for those wanting to see the museums and ancient sites of these towns, you would probably need to hire a car. The majority of my holiday though was spent in the very far east of the island, the long travelling time to the area has prevented it becoming a tourist centre with only one place of any size Sitia, which is a working town more than a resort. For anyone wanting a holiday off the beaten track I would highly recommend the area but it is pretty much devoid of tourist facilities.

Like Fiona and Judith, I think that you might find what you are looking for in western Crete in one of the smaller resorts such as Almerida or Kalives if you want something bigger with more facilities on your doorstep. It was a few years back when I was there but there was quite a good bus service running up and down the coastal road connecting the smaller towns and villages with Chania in one direction and Heraklion in the other but to get to many of the archeological sites you probably would need to hire a car. For example, getting to Knossos is easy an day trip from Almerida with a hire car but you would spend the best part of the day sat on buses if tried to do it by public transport. Not an enjoyable prospect with an active toddler!

If it wasn't for the culture requirement I'd suggest Menorca. It's a lovely quiet Island that is small & easy to get around in a hire car, the roads are great. It's also very popular with young families.

I think Barcelona is a good choice also. Not too long a flight & there's lots of parks etc too for your toddler to have a good run about.

https://barcelona.de/en/barcelona-parks-places.html

September you need to check the temperatures, you don't want it too hot with a baby who may spend time in a buggy.

Good luck & let us know when you've made your decision. 👍

Thank you so much for your suggestions really appreciate it.

I should have added we don't want to hire a car. I don't drive abroad and we want to give hubby a proper holiday as we've had a rubbish start to the year with illness etc. so no driving.

I think Crete would involve a lot of driving from your posts so maybe another year as it sounds perfect.

Maybe Malta would be a suitable bet and yes we will be taking a stroller as whilst he loves to walk we know he gets tired and need to go for a rest and or a nap 😂

Before you give up on the idea of western Crete completely I'd suggest you give a little thought to what sort of balance you want between days spent just relaxing and letting your little boy play on the beach etc and how many days you want to spend visiting some of the archeological sights etc. Basing yourself in Kalyves rather than Almerida would make life easier without a car because you'd have everything you'd need on a daily basis close to hand with a bigger range of tavernas and kafenions to choose from plus there was more than one agency selling excursion bus trips when I was there so it would make getting to do some sightseeing easy. It also has a better public bus service (run by KTEL).

But it might be worth having a look at Chania itself as your base if you want something that would be a halfway house between a city break and a beach-based holiday. I've never been to Paphos so can't say how it compares but Chania is a mainly working town rather than a tourist resort and I don't think you'd find it either as touristy or as British dominated as Paphos. There are plenty of nooks and crannies to explore in a town that has been part of both the Turkish and Venetian empires in the past and bus services from the main bus station in the area will bring lots more places into reach via public transport as well as giving you a bigger choice of agencies offering coach and boat excursions to places further afield. As a non-driver I have certainly contemplated going back to the area but basing myself in Chania for all the above reasons.

Malta is lovely, especially Valetta. Nearest resort is Sliema which I wasn't keen on tbh as a lot of traffic.

We stayed in Marsaxlokk which is a small fishing village & beautiful but a bus ride from places of interest. Busses are good, reliable & cheap.

Have found my trip report from 5 years ago Highlandness :-

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/forum/hi-malta-t155792-0.html

I think my concern would be that you couldn't necessarily get a stroller on a bus and not having car seats he'd never sit still on a moving vehicle.

I think in that if you are anxious about using public transport then you have a difficult decision to make - I suspect that wherever you go, you are going to have to decide between an essentially urban holiday or a beach one because I can think of very few shorthaul destinations where you'll find the sort of things that you as an adult would like eg culture, museums, picturesque harbours to sit around etc and the things that your son will love eg a child friendly beach or hotel with a child friendly pool within easy walking distance.

It might therefore be better for your first time away as a family to look at somewhere closer to home, where you can be certain that the public transport will be child friendly for his stroller etc and see how he gets on and perhaps even more important, how you can juggle wanting/needing different things from a holiday. I don't have children of my own but I know from being away with my nieces when they were that age and having them and friends with young children come and visit me up in Scotland that a) hot sun is not a necessity for toddlers or young children to enjoy a beach and a paddle (I remember tossing a coin with my brother to see which of us was going to have to get into our cossie and brave the sea off Fife one August when my eldest niece was desperate to get in the water - thankfully he lost!) b) a lot of museums and historic sites are not going to retain their interest. Thus Scott's ship, the Discovery, and Edinburgh Castle were perennially popular as well as any highly interactive museum with buttons to push and exhibits that did things, but that most National Trust houses bored them after less than 30 mins and continually telling them they musn't touch anything was wearing. The National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh was a good place to visit once they were old enough to listen to stories about the people in the pictures (especially the top floor galleries featuring historic Scots - what child isn't fascinated by the stuff of "Horrible Histories') but the main National Gallery was of little interest.

We had a break in Barcelona with a 1 year old and a 4 year old and it was a great city to visit with children. It has a great zoo, aquarium and beaches for your son and lots of culture for you. Our umbrella fold buggy was no problem on public transport and we used a hop-on, hop-off bus tour to get around the main sites.

SMa not so much nervous but having been abroad some of the buses have been no more than a shack on wheels in some places and that's our concern.

It's certainly not our first time away as a family as we've been away a few times now especially with family down south but we fancy going abroad instead this year.

Its not that we want culture all week long but neither do we want to go somewhere that's an all inclusive resort and be holed up there for a week without a nice view or somewhere nice to walk to. We've done that a few years back and whilst it was OK you kinda felt claustrophobic at the end of it. We're a fair bit older now and I think the all inclusive in the middle of nowhere has lost is appeal. I know we seem picky but I can't really drive a car abroad because I have to drive an automatic (there's seldom one available) and I don't want my husband to have that stress this time.

Thank you Elaine, sounds a strong possibility then. Did you stay in Barcelona?

I think you'll find that the buses in Crete are indistinguishable from the single decker buses in this country - we might be leaving the EU but Greece will still bound by EU regulations on minimum standards for public transport.
https://rethymnon.com/TheBus-Bus-Service-Crete/

We stayed in an aparthotel outside the centre and we were able to get a tram in from just round the corner. We had been staying in a friend's house in the south of France but had flown to Barcelona as we couldn't get flights from Glasgow to France so we decided to tag on a few days seeing Barcelona. We had a car so staying in the centre wasn't going to work for us.