short haul sight seeing breaks.

[morethanpotatoprints]

We have just come back from 4days in Rome and it was brilliant.
Now we have caught the bug and want to find lots more little breaks that we can grab a bag and go.
It is mainly for dd and myself but the older 2 dc took time off work to come as well this time.
So somewhere that has lots of history, culture, music, different language,
or Geography, RE type of thing.
Any ideas gratefully received, obviously politically safe areas.

[maggi]

Iceland!

[juneau]

Paris! We've been twice with our kids (who are only 6 and 3), and they loved it. The secret, we found, is to not go too heavy on the cultural stuff and mix it up with lots of fun things. The DK Paris with Kids guide is great and lists all the playgrounds, children's museums and bits that appeal to DC and what ages.

Barcelona is also great and has a beach, as well as interesting buildings, museums and food (tapas is great with kids - lots of little dishes for them to try).

[Saracen]

Are you just looking abroad?

We have been to York several times and found it a fantastic place to spend between three and six days. It's very compact, crammed full of good museums and historical sites, and fun to wander around. You can sometimes get a very cheap rate at a Travelodge which is in a fantastic location.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Wow some fantastic ideas there, we are looking at this country too so will definitely do York and also Norfolk/Suffolk this year.

I think Barcelona sounds good too, but will have to save as I know all the family will want to go

Maggi

Ok, I'm intrigued, why Iceland? Of course, why not, but wondered what your recommendation was based on.

Paris sounds great fun and maybe there are really cheap ways of getting about and free museums etc.

We aren't really a family to travel until recently, its always hard for dh to have time off during the summer as they are his busiest times.
So now dd is H.ed we are making the most of it and wanting to go everywhere.

Anybody else thinking of doing this I can recommend Rome, it was fantastic. I would like to go again though and do excursions to Florence, Naples and Venice.

[mrsnec]

If you are thinking of Italy again look at budget flights to Bergamo. You can pick up the train near there and get to Venice Milan or verona very easily and do 2 cities in 4 days or maybe all 3 in 5 days.

[Blueuggboots]

Venice is amazing! If you feb/match time, immediately after the festival has finished, it's really reasonable.
I've been 8 times and find it fascinating.
Book flights and hotel separately, as you may end up staying on the mainland if you book a package which is totally unnecessary.
Can recommend the following hotels:

lovely hotel

more rustic and simple but still lovely

I've never paid more than £350 including flights and accommodation for 2 people for 3 nights.

[Saracen]

We thought St Fagans National History Museum, near Cardiff, was well worth a couple of days. It has a large collection of historic buildings which have been dismantled and re-erected on the large wooded site. Best of all, it's free.

If you go in the week in term-time there is plenty of opportunity to chat with the craftsmen.

www.museumwales.ac.uk/stfagans/

[Rooble]

Berlin has any amount of history and culture, fab museums and galleries, language etc.
Iceland has all the geological stuff (amazing), plus sagas you can read, the oldest parliament in Europe (founded in 873 or thereabouts...) - historically v civilised nation!

[ToffeeWhirl]

No recommendations, but I had to say - I'm just so jealous! What a fantastic thing to do with your DD, morethan! I read an interesting home ed blog the other day about a family who educate their children entirely through travel. Will see if I can find it....

[ToffeeWhirl]

Ah, found it. I was reading it last night: here.

[SoonToBeSix]

Am sure it's very educational toffee but how many people can afford to travel with their dc like the family in the blog. It was a bit smug IMHO.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Thank you all.

Toffee, no need to be jealous honestly, we are talking hotel room not much up from camping as we aren't very rich.
Tbh a lot of it is borne out of guilt at not taking the older ones on holiday when they were younger, we just couldn't afford it.
So now if they want to come I feel obliged to pay for them too, even though we do it so cheaply.
We saved for Rome and did the whole thing including hotel and flights for under 1k. It is very cheap to live if you use the water fountains during the day and don't go to expensive restaurants. Although, our last night we had a great dinner at a posh (ish) restaurant on ds1
I don't think we could afford to do it all the time, people must be really rich to be able to do it.

[Saracen]

"I don't think we could afford to do it all the time, people must be really rich to be able to do it."

I think that too, but I don't suppose it works out any more expensive than paying full fees for boarding school. It would be loads more fun and more educational to travel with your kids instead. So I don't understand why more families who ARE rich don't do it.

[maggi]

Why Iceland.
It has:
Live volcanoes
Gysers (can't seem to spell it - holes in the ground where water shoots out in a spectacular manner)
Lava fields which look like you are on a different planet
Hot springs to bathe in
Astounding lakes
Mountains, gorgeous mountains
Glaciers which you can snowmobile over
Icelandic ponies which you can trek around on
Lots of Viking history (including the ponies)
The Northern Lights (sometimes)
The hardest language to learn in the world (according to one tv programme I saw)
Snow in large quantities
Chunks of ice washed up on black beaches which looks otherworldly
Erratic rocks and moraines and all those other geography features
Jules Verne - Journey to the center of the Earth
Whales