Azores

One thousand miles west of Lisbon, surrounded by the deep waters of the Atlantic, the Azores archipelago feels like the edge of the world, its lush landscape virtually untouched. The beaches are black sand so may put off some sun worshippers but if you are after somewhere different, the dramatic scenery makes a beautiful backdrop to various activities including whale and dilphin watching and walking or simply enjoying the islands' sleepy charm. Sunvil's (020-8758 4722, sunvil.co.uk) seven-night holiday departs 7 April, staying at the family-friendly Hotel do Colegio in the historic centre of Ponta Delgada on the island of San Miguel, costs from £596pp B&B, including flights from Gatwick and transfers.

Portugal

If the four-hour flight to the Azores is too off putting, stick to mainland Portugal. Muxima is an eco-retreat set in a eucalyptus forest but close to some of the best beaches on the Algarve. Run by a couple who previously worked in Africa on aid projects, this is a homely and child-friendly retreat with plenty to keep kids entertained, whether they are learning to surf, playing with the free range pigs, or swimming in the onsite pool. Stay for a week between 1 April and 9 April and receive a €10 discount per day on your stay, so a family sharing a junior suite would pay €130 a night if booked through i-escape.com.

Cycling in the French Alps

Cycling is a great family option – the potential for bickering is greatly reduced when the kids are distracted by the scenery – and it knackers them out. Velo Vercors, a small, specialist cycling company run by British couple Roger Dunne (an ex cycle pro) and Teresa Harte in the Vercors national park in the Alps, has put together a family package for this Easter, staying in a gite with private terrace, barbecue and shared garden in the village of St Jean-en-Royans. They have mapped out a selection of child-friendly day trips along flatter, quieter routes, most incorporating an activity such as a river boat ride which stops an interactive garden (jardin-des-fontaines.com), and plenty of cafe stops along the way.
• The trip costs £900 with Velo Vercors (+33 4 7571 3550, velovercors.com) for a family of four sharing, and includes seven nights' self-catering, bike and helmet hire, mapped family-friendly cycle routes and a home-cooked, seasonal evening meal on the day of arrival. Available from 31 March-28 April. To get there take the TGV to Valence TGV, then a 30 minute taxi-ride. Or fly to Grenoble from Stansted with Ryanair (40 minutes by car)

Spain

Small rural hotel and active children do not always go well together, but La Casa del Puente in eastern Cantabria (01223 328721, casas.co.uk) is well set up for families. As well as standard rooms it has six suites which sleep up to five and three apartments with kitchens (sleeping up to nine). There's a good restaurant and a play area for children.

But the big draw is the surrounding scenery. The hotel is set in the Valle de Soba, an area as spectacular as the Picos de Europa but almost completely untouched by tourism. With dramatic mountain scenery on your doorstep this trip would suit a family with older children who want to make the most of the landscape. The hotel can organise excursions on foot or by bike along marked trails through the Collados del Asón nature park, which contains more than 4,000 caves – you can see cave paintings at the prehistoric caves of Cullavera and Covalanas near Ramales de La Victoria are worth a visit.

If you're lucky with the weather (they don't call this area Espana Verde for nothing – it can rain a lot here), the beaches of Laredo or Santona are a half-hour drive away. Or for a city fix, Santander or Bilbao are an hour away.
• Five nights at Easter would come to £670 including breakfast, for a family of four in a suite. Fly to Bilbao or Santander

Sicily

Relais Torre Marabino offers the best of both worlds for parents: it's a simple but elegant hotel where you can self-cater. Converted from an old grain store, there are seven rooms including suites with kitchenettes that sleep up to five people, a pool and a small kids' play area. A 15-mile drive takes you to the Vendicari nature reserve, a five-mile-long expanse of wild fields, lagoons and marshland stretching to the sea, dotted all the way with wild flowers.

And the pretty Baroque towns of Noto and Modica, renowned for its chocolate – an Aztec-inspired, milk-free kind that comes in all kinds of flavours from meat to mint – are also each less than 15 miles away. Ice-cream, sunshine, beaches and chocolate – the ingredients for a successful family holiday.

Importantly, this trip includes flights which, if booked separately, can rack up the cost of a holiday at Easter.
• Departing 31 March, Real Holidays (020-7359 3938, realholidays.co.uk) has a week's self-catering across two double rooms from £784pp including BA flights to Catania and car hire (four sharing)

Tuscany

Self-catering in Tuscany in the school holidays can be a pricey option but Invitation to Tuscany, a family-run business which has hand-picked all 200 of its properties, is offering an idyllic cottage just outside Siena from £561 for the week (based on four sharing). Campalfi is a cluster of three cottages converted from a group of ancient farm buildings with a pretty garden and a safe swimming river 200 metres away. The English-speaking owner is a great chef and serves meals every Saturday night and on alternate evenings (€25pp including wine) should you fancy a night off cooking duties. The smallest apartment, sleeping four, costs £561 for the week beginning 7 April, another sleeping four is £613 and the largest, sleeping five, is £665.
• 020-8444 9500, invitationtotuscany.com

Lincolnshire

So many self-catering properties take the safe option when it comes to decor – all beiges and grey minimalism – that it's refreshing to come across somewhere as loud as Priory House, which is owned by a sculptor and a fashion designer. The rooms won't be to everyone's taste but if you have a penchant for exotic kitsch, you'll love it. The sofas are covered in animal print fabrics, stag heads decorate the walls and the dining room is a vision of sugary pink with gold chandeliers. It is set in 1½ acres of private grounds (the garden is the perfect spot for an Easter egg hunt) on the edge of the village of Long Bennington, only a mile from the A1, making is easily accessible from London or the north.
• Sleeps eight (in four bedrooms) from £1,210 per week over Easter through holidaylettings.co.uk

Cumbria

The Lake District will be heaving this Easter – as it is during every major holiday. So avoid the crowds and head east into the Eden Valley, a much less well known but absolutely beautiful part of Cumbria. Farmers Steve and Paula Roberts branched out into glamping last year, with two yurts and a gypsy caravan on their 12-acre small holding. This year they have added a wooden cook house with two mini kitchens, one for each yurt. Children will love joining Steve on his rounds feeding chickens and rare breed pigs. Parents will enjoy chilling by the Eden river which runs along the edge of their land. A hamper of the farm's own sausages, bacon and eggs and homemade bread and jams means you're sorted for breakfast on your first day. You can also buy the farm's produce to cook onsite. There's no shortage of things to do: Armathwaite station on the Carlisle-Settle line is a 20-minute walk away; from here you can take a short ride to the ancient border city of Carlisle, or take the train into the upper Eden Valley and explore the market towns of Appleby and Kirkby Stephen.
• Drybeck Farm (07854 523012, drybeckfarm.co.uk). A long weekend (Friday-Monday) costs from £180 for the gypsy caravan (sleeps two) to £330 for the larger yurt, which sleeps a maximum of eight (at a squeeze), or £350-£595 respectively for the week

Wales

The name Mudtrek may not scream brilliant family holiday, but actually, this mountain biking holiday has all the ingredients for a successful trip (mud notwithstanding). Lots of fresh air, someone else doing all the planning and cooking, and spacious, luxurious but cosy base to retreat to after a hard day's cycling. Styling themselves as a ski chalet for mountain bikers, Mudtrek offers fully catered stays in a converted barn in rural Llanllwni, Carmarthenshire. Nikki, your "chalet girl" will set you up for the day with a big breakfast and a generous packed lunch while her husband Jason, a qualified MIAS guide will guide you along the Brechfa trails. After a day out on the trails, you'll return to tea and chocolate cake, followed later by a three-course meal.
• 01267 202423, mudtrek.com. Three nights, fully catered over Easter from 6 April now costs £275pp (discounted from £325). Bike hire can be arranged for an extra charge for those not able to bring their own bikes

Suffolk

Are you a foodie family? Food Safari is a Suffolk-based company offering courses in butchery, bread-making, foraging, and visits to local smokehouses and oyster beds. New for this year is its Children's Food Safari, where kids become mini butchers for the day, boning and mincing pork to make sausages – which they put through the sausage machine and tie themselves. The reward for your hard work? You get to sit down together tuck into the freshest sausages you've probably ever eaten, with salad leaves picked straight from the garden and bread rolls, also made earlier.

The following day (15 April) Food Safari is hosting the Suffolk Gran Calcotadamini, a gathering in the style of Spanish village festival with a barbecue at the barn. The company also has a selection of recommended places to stay on its website, including nearby Alde Garden, a small campsite with a yurt, gypsy caravan and cottage sleeping four which has plenty of availability the second week of Easter.
• 01728 621380, foodsafari.co.uk. Food safari £45 child (including one adult), Gran Calcotada £14 per child