We are looking for a European beach holiday suitable for a two-year-old – somewhere quiet and relaxing, a hotel or self catering, not too overrun with tourists. We will be travelling in May.
Binker

In my experience two-year-olds don't like moving around too much by car, like going to the beach and introducing their favourite toys to paddling pools. May is a good month to travel as even popular destinations will be fully up and running but still relatively quiet. One suggestion is Ibiza. The north-east of the island around Santa Eulària d'es Riu hides quiet coves and family-friendly resorts you can visit as part of a package or individually. One budget option is Camping Cala Nova (tents £4, bungalows, sleeping four, from £32 per day) offers a friendly-family atmosphere just 50 metres from the quiet Cala Nova bay. Surrounded with pine trees, the beach offers fine sand and crystal clear water and is located in an ecologically-protected area of sand dunes. For a mid-range option, Invisa La Cala (doubles from £75.50 per night) is located in Santa Eulària del Rio. It is close to the beach and boasts swimming pools for both adults and children. For more accommodation options and transport details, see ibiza.travel.

Other places that spring to mind include the beaches near Tamariu on Spain's Costa Brava and the French Atlantic resort of La Baule, though I'm sure readers will have plenty of other suggestions.

In April I'm travelling to Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Can you recommend anywhere that's a bit off the beaten track and quirky? Also, as I'm travelling on my own, where are the best places to meet people?
Adman 1982

Meeting other travellers won't be a problem. Vietnam's long, narrow shape and primary travel route – into Hanoi and out of Ho Chi Minh City or vice versa – lends itself to a linear journey and you'll meet plenty of fellow wanderers on buses, tours and in guesthouses. You'll almost certainly be able to put together small groups of like-minded adventurers to get off the main trail here and in Cambodia.

My colleague at Lonely Planet Robert Reid knows Vietnam better than most, having lived there and written several guides on the country. He suggests: "The Mekong Delta has changed dramatically since tourism made a mark there in the mid to late 90s. Most go on one, two or three-day package trips from Ho Chi Minh City, which are fun, easy and cheap. But it used to be that was the only way to go, now you can go independently, arranging transport as you go, or just driving yourself on a motorbike, and break out of what's become tourist bottlenecked sites in places."

For off the beaten track beaches, Phu Quoc offers more scope for finding pristine stretches of sand you won't have to share with others, especially if you take off around the island by motorbike.

Cambodia has two tourist bubbles: the capital Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, gateway to the temples at Angkor. Both are wonderful but you'll find a less-visited Cambodia if you head anywhere else in the country. Battambang's temples, reached by slow boat from Siem Reap are popular without being overwhelming, and open up an obvious round-trip route around the country. If you really want to leave the crowds behind, then head pretty much anywhere else. Kompong Cham province, best explored from the city of the same name, is home to lovely, quiet villages and Mekong backwaters that are ripe for exploration. I haven't been to Laos for a while so am not totally up to date on how it's changed in the last 10 years. If anyone has been recently, I'd welcome your suggestions on travelling here.

My boyfriend and I are looking to visit a friend currently posted to Nain, Newfoundland and were hoping you could recommend the best way to get there and anything worth stopping to see along the way. We can take up to three weeks for the entire trip, hopefully spending about five days in Nain itself, probably in September although we'd appreciate advice on when is best to go. We're happy to travel by any means you think might make the trip unique – driving, flying or by sea – but would like to keep it all as cheap as possible. That said we wouldn't want to miss out on an adventure just for lack of funds.
Sara Collins

This one had me rifling through my atlas but it has unearthed something of a hidden gem of a ferry trip. A quick geography lesson: Nain is on the Labrador coast of eastern Canada and is the administrative capital of Nunatsiavut, an autonomous area of Canada claimed by the Inuit.

There are two practical ways to get to this tiny town of just over 1,000 hardy souls. The first is the three-day ferry journey from Goose Bay, the gateway to the coastal settlements scattered along the coast of which Nain is the northernmost. From June to mid-November, depending on the ice, a service leaves Goose Bay on Mondays and arrives in Nain on Wednesdays. This is a classic lifeline service, carrying goods and passengers and travelling on it looks like a real adventure, as well as promising to be a beautiful journey. This service is operated by the Newfoundland and Labrador Government and costs £92 one-way/£186 return for an adult, plus £41/£82 for an economy berth.

There's also a flight, which may be worth considering as a way to do one leg of the journey if time is tight, but it is a more expensive option. The hop over to Nain on a propeller-driven Twin Otter plane with Air Labrador costs £262 one-way.

Air Canada's £833 return from London to Goose Bay is a little pricey, but I haven't yet got to the bottom of whether there's an overland option for this leg of the trip. You can get to St John's for £498 return from London in September, again with Air Canada. From here proposed changes to the ferry schedule have baffled me somewhat and, as much as I'd like to persuade someone to send me to check it out in person I'm trying instead to speak to someone at the Department of Transportation in St John's and will post an update here when I have the necessary information. You can pick up the trail for yourself here: ferry services.

I'm looking for a holiday village or apartment in France which would keep my two teenagers happy (ie pools, games rooms, etc) plus have enough of a taste of real France and its countryside for the adults. Any recommendations?
farleft

France Magazine, which celebrates its 150th issue with its March edition (on sale 9 February) has offered some suggestions. The La Croix du Vieux Pont holiday village in Picardy could be ideal. The area's sprawling forests and prairies should satisfy the parents' desire for La France profonde, while the site is packed with sports and game facilities (swimming pools, table tennis, mini-golf etc) for the teenagers. There are also organised excursions to Paris and Disneyland, as well as local towns and chateaux. If you prefer to be near the sea, somewhere in Brittany or the Vendée might be better. If the kids are interested in water sports, they will be spoiled for choice in Brittany. Start your search in this part of France at Brittany Tourism.