Help to find the perfect holiday.

[SingleHandSue]

So long as Covid doesn’t ruin things we’re hoping to take our first ever holiday abroad next year. 🙏🏻

We’re a family of 4 with 2 DSs who’ll be 16 and 20 by the time we go.

Because I’ve never been anywhere out of the country I’m completely at a loss as to where to go that would suit us all so would love Mumsnetters to throw some ideas my way!

Things we like:
DS1:
Train travel, football, photography, interesting places.
DS2:
Football, history (WW2, Cold War)
DH:
Good beer, food, football
Me:
Architecture, lakes, walking, attractive towns/cities to wander around

We quite fancy a nice city break, however we’d also quite like some sunshine and maybe a beach/coast. This has led me to think of Lisbon or Barcelona maybe?

Any help or ideas would be very much appreciated as I have no clue on booking holidays!

TIA

A city break combined with a beach would tick a lot of boxes. Italy would be great - food, football, history, architecture. You could do somewhere like Rome/Florence/Naples and then the Amalfi Coast?

I second Italy. Some time in a city, some time at a lake. Lake Garda is our favourite.

Ooh Italy would be amazing but is it not expensive?

I should add that we won’t have a massive budget and are maybe looking to go for 4/5 days unless we can find a bargain for a full week.

If you ignore football (and I do) and money is a little tighter, what about Eastern Europe. So many amazing cities, beaches and history.

I think with 4-5 days I would pick either beach or city.

How much do you want to pay?

Maybe Barcelona then like you already mentioned as you do get the best of both worlds and can do both city and beach easily without extra travel time. I haven't been but would love to one day when we don't have to factor COVID into everything!

Northern France and Belgium to see the WW1 and 2 war sites, architecture, good beer.

Berlin or Alsace-Lorraine?

@1000glitterydicks

How much do you want to pay?

This is the other problem with never having been aboard, I don’t even know what an average price of a holiday would be!

DH seems to think we could get somewhere for £1000, I think it would be more than that.

We’re hoping to pay about £400 deposit, then pay what we can every month after that.

Is it possible to find something for around £1500?

@MrsTerryPratchett

If you ignore football (and I do) and money is a little tighter, what about Eastern Europe. So many amazing cities, beaches and history.

I think with 4-5 days I would pick either beach or city.

We did think about Krakow but weren’t sure if that’s a bit brave for someone who’s never been anywhere before.

And we’ll definitely get the football there, we could see Wisla Krakow!

Well I'd start with a budget calculator. Like this www.budgetyourtrip.com/countrylist.php I haven't tried that one!

And I wouldn't put down deposits and pay as you save. I'd save and book when you have the cash. The situation could look very different when you get to the date.

Budapest - cheaper, good beer, loads of history, Danube following through the middle of it, it's a great city!

Bavaria, either Munich, Nuremberg or both.
Beautiful lakes and rivers

I would go to Italy, fly into Milan spend a night or two there and do a stadium tour of inter Milan maybe catch a match if you can get tickets?
Get the train from Milan to peschiera del Garda and then do 3-4 nights at the lakes then either fly home from Verona or Milan?

Turin/Juventus would be an alternative destination to Milan?

Alternatively Barcelona or Rome would be a good option if you would rather stay in one place?

In fantasy holidaymaking earlier in the year I wa looking at Nesebam (sp?) in Bulgaria for beach and history. I think you are going to have to think carefully re budget though.

If you're looking at a few days I would stick to staying in 1 place rather than 2 centres but maybe with options for beach / city. I'm not sure there that many place that tick all your boxes particularly with a restricted budget.
Amsterdam or around has football Ajax Stadium, beer, military history train day trip to Nijmegen, beaches reasonably close. Weather likely to be similar to SE England.
Berlin or Munich with river / lake beaches, expensive though.
Barcelona as PPs
Porto is likely to be cheaper with the stadium some historic buildings, Its possible to get the train out to the coastal strip for the day. Not much beer although the port house tours are interesting and not much recent military history.
Amalfi coast / Naples. Pompeii / Herculaneum. Day trip to Capri or Ischia. Not great beer. Some things are expensive but food and drink is good value.
Prague great brewing culture spades of history river / lake beeches.

Nesebar, thats it

I would suggest taking the train to Germany, get a train pass, visit different places, cultural, history, football and beer ... when I went 16 year olds could drink beer which might add to the appeal. Alternatively road trip is more flexible. I recommend europa parc for a day or two, I loved Munich and Heidelberg is so pretty

Barcelona would cover beach, football, architecture, city, food

We did think about Krakow but weren’t sure if that’s a bit brave for someone who’s never been anywhere before.

Travel theory here... I've been to over 40 countries and travelled for decades. I've lived in a few. My theory is that people who don't travel think that very touristy places are safer, easier and less stressful. And that places off the beaten track are more dangerous, more difficult and stressful. What I have found is that the most touristy places are full of tourists and rip-off merchants and very little else. Properly off the beaten track neither the tourist industry nor the 'ripping off tourist' industry has taken off. But it's a little less easy to work things out, obviously.

Spain is the only place I have been properly ripped off, followed by a nasty attempt in LA. Tiny towns in China, not at all!

Barcelona is a great idea. It’s also very reasonable once you get there. However, it’s ridiculously hot in July / august so i would look at trying to go out of those times

For a road trip ... On a £1500 budget it depends on your attitude, you can get a room that sleeps 4 including breakfast for £100 a night, crossing is about £100 lots of options to eat cheaply in Germany, was pretty impressed, and you can grab food from the supermarket like rotisserie chicken, salad and bread too. I carry in my car sandwich making stuff like a chopping board, knives, tin opener, tuna, Mayo in sachets acquired from places, cool bag, napkins, plates, cups, bottle opener. I also have always taken cans of Coke etc as it saves a lot over a week

Just putting it out there - do your kids actually want to do this trip, They're quite old for it? Your budget is also pretty low.

No beaches but Berlin ticks all the other boxes.

I would get yourself onto EasyJet holidays and have a browse. They have some very good deals if you book both your flight and hotel through them. You can also pay a £60 pp deposit and then pay the rest whenever you like up until a month before you go.

I also think Barcelona is a great shout. I’ve been 5 times now. In my opinion it’s the perfect mix of city and beach break and you can have a nice afternoon relaxing while the others do a tour of the football stadium.