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Best tourist attractions/ holidays for primary aged DC

23 replies

Sola123 · 26/02/2021 23:37

I need to cheer myself up by dreaming of distant holidays I might take in the future, when all's well!

Can anyone help by suggesting the best lovely/ interesting/ fun places or sights that you have visited with primary aged DC? Or things you enjoyed as a kid? UK or abroad.

I'm thinking:
Beamish
Disneyland
Kennedy Space Centre
Hampton Court Palace...

OP posts:
RampantIvy · 26/02/2021 23:46

Chester Zoo
Longleat
West Midlands Safari Park
Yorkshire Wildlife Park
Fossil Hunting in Lyme Regis

greyinganddecaying · 27/02/2021 00:51

Yorkshire sculpture park
Alton towers
Lego land
Forbidden corner
Tower of London
Eureka kids museum
Harry Potter studio
Alnwick castle
Speke hall & woods

Doublechins · 27/02/2021 01:06

Legoland

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heidbuttsupper · 27/02/2021 01:08

Portaventura

Fivemoreminutes1 · 27/02/2021 08:01

Eden project
Isle of Wight

Ylvamoon · 27/02/2021 08:10

Camping, lots of freedom and new friends

For theme park I highly recommend this:
www.europapark.de/en

I took my older primary age DC to Rome, we organised ... sight seeing with kids, they loved it!

TeenMinusTests · 27/02/2021 08:31

Paulton's Park theme park nr Southampton (including Peppa Pig World). The main park is great for primary aged kids.

SnowCrocus · 27/02/2021 08:58

The US is great for the outdoors and museums, which are really well set up for kids. We've enjoyed going to:

Chicago

  • Field Museum of Natural History
  • Shedd Aquarium
  • Adler Planetarium

Washington, DC

  • Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
  • National Air and Space Museum
  • Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (has the space shuttle Discovery and the Enola Gay)

San Francisco

  • Kimball Natural History Museum (has a rainforest in a 4-storey glass sphere)
  • Muir Woods (ancient redwood forest)

Arizona, Utah and thereabouts

  • Route 66
  • Zion and Bryce National Parks
  • Monument Valley
  • Grand Canyon
  • Hoover Dam
SnowCrocus · 27/02/2021 09:07

Oh yes, also:

Virginia, easy to get to from DC

  • Mount Vernon (George Washington's home)

Maine

  • Acadia National Park
tilder · 27/02/2021 09:11

Camping. Always camping. Beach. Especially if it has a stream for dams, cave to explore, rockpools and enough waves to bodyboard.

We have been to several of the places listed and beach camping is still their favourite.

Bairnsmum05 · 27/02/2021 09:37

Heads of Ayr Park
Edinburgh Castle
Balloch Country Park
East Neuk
North Berwick
Aviemore
Millport

mogloveseggs · 27/02/2021 09:40

Edinburgh-museum of scotland, museum on the mound, so much to see and do. We stay in Falkirk and do Stirling castle, the kelpies all that too.
Legoland
Hull was a great holiday. So many free museums, a fishing trawler to go on, the deep is excellent, drove to robin hoods bay and Whitby,

NotPennysBoat · 27/02/2021 09:43

Lots already mentioned, but would also add:

London open-top bus tour
Warwick Castle
Folly Farm (S Wales)
Blackpool (embrace the tackiness!)
Lapland

RandomPatternedTiles · 27/02/2021 09:53

Dorset, including a trip to Brownsea Island

Sola123 · 27/02/2021 11:12

Super ideas! Thank you so much

OP posts:
lolulop · 27/02/2021 11:19

Paultons Park is my fave!

willstarttomorrow · 27/02/2021 11:41

Eurocamp type places are great for kids. They offer so much freedom, holiday friendships, entertainment and pools etc. It is lovely when they form a little gang and watching them have such a great time .

Last summer we actually managed to get to Italy and stayed in an incredible tent with kitchen and fully plumbed bathroom on a site in Tuscany. We had been before but stayed in a mobile home. The tents were actually more spacious. Eurocamp are on the expensive side, (still cheaper than the UK though) but there are loads of other companies. Find a site you like the look of and Google it to find all operators or try Allcamps. I discovered Lifestyle holidays and have a week in Spain at the end of August for just over £300 then taking on a stay for Portaventura. Flights to Spain are usually relatively cheap because airport charges and taxes are low. Fingers crossed I will not be moving yet another holiday!

willstarttomorrow · 27/02/2021 11:54

Also consider skiing. I no longer ski but still take DD. We tend to do Easter as it is sunnier and just to cheap and cheerful places rather than France/ Switzerland which she is bit particularly fussed about.

We ended up doing a week in Romania once by accident as had found cheap £10 flights there for Feb half-term not realising they had a small but pretty ski resort. So plans changed from a bit of a tour to a ski break. The hotel had an amazing spa, food and wine cost next to nothing and DD had some of the best ski instruction she has ever had. She also tagged onto the British school of Bucharest's group who were there on a trip. This allowed me to sample the (£1 a glass) mulled wine sitting in a wheelchair looking at fir trees and snowy mountains. You don't get a deal lile that in Verbier Grin.

Pseud · 27/02/2021 11:57

Duinrell

Bandol · 27/02/2021 12:37

7 nights in Disneyland Paris staying in a club level room with a beautiful view over the lake. Certainly not everyone's cup of tea, especially for 7 nights, and definitely not cheap, but I found it great.

We drove there and parked up the car and didn't get in it again until we went home. No cooking all week, restaurants for evening meals booked in advance so very little thought into where to eat.

Everyday there was little thought into planning the day (appreciated not having to think up and plan day trips), going to the park in the morning and relaxing in the hotel swimming pool in the afternoon. Being there such a long time meant we didn't have to rush about to get all the attractions done.

I just liked having a relaxing week without driving, navigating, no cooking, no cleaning, minimal planning once there, and having kid friendly entertainment right there.

We also did 7 nights at Legoland in Denmark. We stayed in a self catering lodge at Lalandia. I got annual passes to Legoland (worked out cheapest for us) and we went to Legoland most mornings, and swimming in the amazing pool at Lalandia in the afternoons, plus one full day at Lego house. This trip did require driving but very short distances and the roads weren't busy! For the self catering I took a massive case of really easy to prepare food and boxed wine, which we topped up with fresh stuff at the local shop. (Think jar of sauce, meat, frozen veg and rice / noodles / pasta.)

Basically, with primary aged children I like having a holiday where there are activities that the children enjoy and I still get a bit of a break and don't have to do too much thinking, planning and navigating on strange roads with crazy drivers!

Seeline · 27/02/2021 12:41

We had the best holidays on the Isle of Wight when our DC s were little. Lovely beaches, loads of places to visit of all different types, lots of activities and best of all you have to go on a boat to get there!

HelplessProcrastinator · 27/02/2021 13:00

Duinrell and Efteling in the Netherlands
Disney Paris in May half term, not too busy
Folly Farm in Pembrokeshire
Blackpool
St Fagan’s open air museum near Cardiff
Paulton’s for younger children
Camping at Dart Valley country park in Devon
Cornwall or N Devon beaches for body boarding

CustardyCreams · 27/02/2021 13:04

The summer events at Arundel Castle are fabulous.

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