Dear Emma, We are planning a Summer holiday with another family, and are thinking of Spain or Portugal. We have two children – aged 6 and 9, and our friends have three children aged from 4 to ll. We are debating whether to plump for a hotel resort with built-in entertainment, or a villa with a pool? What would you recommend? Jane and Ian Johns, Taunton, Somerset

Times online family travel expert Emma Mahony responds: Given that the school summer holidays start mid July - Spain and Portugal’s hottest month - I would head for the hills to avoid the heat of the coast. I wouldn’t bother with hotels at that time of year, teeming with other people’s children, but cater for yourself at a villa with pool, especially now the toddler-and-pool worry is over with your age group.

Cheap flights to the Costa Del Sol would make somewhere like Mijas near Fuengirola a good bet and there are plenty of big villas from specialists such as Mijas Villas or Villas in Mijas to accommodate two large families. Las Columnas for example would cost around £2,000 for the week in high season, and will offer plenty of garden for the children to run around in, views over North Africa and the cooler mountain air. For entertainment with that age group, the Water Park in Mijas is ideal to challenge the 11-year-old with high slides, and thrill the little ones in whirlpools. Eating out in nearby Mijas is ideal for families because the town is smaller and more manageable than the bigger coastal resorts. Although buses run up and down the mountain to Mijas, you would need to hire a car.

For Portugal, if you wanted built-in entertainment, two families would fit nicely into one of the bigger villas in the upmarket resorts of Vale do Lobo or Quinta do Lago. Both of these resorts offer golf, tennis, children’s Penguin clubs and are set in acres of pristine natural grounds with a number of restaurants next to the beach. Such an immaculate environment does come at a price, and expect to pay up to £4,000 for a five-bedroom villa with pool at peak season if you book with an Algarve specialist such as Sun Hat Villas .

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Personally, I prefer my family holidays to be a little closer the local scene, so would go for a villa in one of the pretty fishing villages on the sea, such as Carvoeiro. A holiday villa in Centianes Beach offers a tennis court as well as a pool for around £2,000 in high season, and the advantage of the chilly water of the Atlantic sea means that even the most overheated four-year-old can always be cooled down. For the most oversized prawns and peculiar fish in Europe, head to Portimao for the fish restaurants on the Marina. All the above places should guarantee that you will return home even better friends than when you went out.

Got a question about family travel? Email our trio of experts at yoursay@timesonline.co.uk - Chloe Bryan-Brown takes care of questions for the 0-6 year olds, Emma Mahony handles the 7-12 age group and Jane Owen the teenage and single mother groups

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