Where to go in Europe with an 8 & 10 year old who love history?

[Ladyofthemanor11]

A sort of city break type holiday. I'd like it to be very child friendly & interactive. Thanks in advance!

I know this is a minority opinion on Mumsnet but we really didn't like Budapest.

Even in a short break, the politics of Viktor Orban were very visible - big billboards which were subtly (or not subtly) anti-semitic for example. Go to an ostensibly fun exhibition but undertones of Christians under threat from Muslims. And those were just some of the examples. It's also v big on stag dos - while this bit is easy to avoid, part of town is very 'massage parlour' heavy and DH found if he came home late by himself he was getting accosted by miserable looking women trying to sell him a blow job.

Given there are so so many other options, I wish we had given Hungary a miss.

That's good to know too. Nice to hear the good, the bad & the ugly!

Thanks - DH has just said 'it wasn't that bad' but then reeled off about 10 things about it that frankly you don't want on holiday, right down to museum guides telling us not to believe the exhibition.

Compared to everywhere else where the worst was dodging a red light district, he agreed it was bad even though v pretty with excellent food.

Krakow is beautiful. Even better if you can time it to go during the Christmas markets.

St Petersburg

Why not?

I love Amsterdam, but I wouldnt say it was the best city for history particularly unless you are happy doing the art galleries.

Rome, Vienna, Budapest or Berlin would probably be the ones I would pick for history with multiple different things to do.

Re Rome - DH and I went to Nero's Domus Aurea near the coliseum, which was mainly an active archeological dig with an incredible VR section that recreated the actual villa you'd just walked through. I'm a full on classics geek so was already loving it but that was the point at which DH who was there for the rugby suddenly fell in love with Rome and started noticing all the other bits of visible Roman-ness around us.

On the bucket list, it's meant to be an incredible city but who knows when travel to Russia will be possible again

Rome is great and it’s not very far from Pompeii, but I think you can cover everything within few days.
Paris is easier to manage with kids ,very kid friendly , so many things to see, and most museums are very interactive , The Musée du Cluny is great for any lover of the Middle Ages.
it’s also worth visiting Versailles as it’s just a short drive from Paris , and at this time of year the gardens and surrounding forests are wonderful , for me it’s the best time to do Versailles ,
you can do Paris/Normandy.Mount Saint Michel is a must see/do it’s truly magical,

Prague is a beautiful city, especially the older parts and we loved it there. Just stay away from the main square and all the tourist tat. The Castle/Cathedral at the top of the hill is breathtaking.

Anne Frank's House would be fine, but I always think Amsterdam is primarily about art (rather than history, as such).
Rome is definitely the obvious place, to me.
Paris would be good too.

If you want more gritty, modern history then Berlin.

Istanbul?

We did Paris with the kids a few years ago (aged 5, 9 and 10 at the time) and had a fab time, we did the Eiffel Tower after dark which we all loved and the Luxembourg Gardens and the Botanical Gardens and the Sacre Coeur and Notre Dame and the Louvre and a boat trip up the Seine. We had an airbnb which was reasonably central and walked about a lot absorbing the atmosphere.

We've also taken them to Florence in October and loved it. We had this kids guidebook which is great, has some great ideas for things to look out for, DS had fun seeing all the signs of the Medici and there are modified street signs all over the city as well. We did the Uffizzi and the Pritti Palace (prebooked tickets with an early start), didn't go into the Duomo (queues too long) but did enjoy spotting various things outside. My greek myth obsessed son loved all the artworks. And we had a day trip to Lucca which was lovely (more churches plus a fun cycle ride round the city walls). And we loved the food, Italy is great for food they are familiar with that is still 'foreign'.

The PP who suggested Stockholm is right actually, there is loads of child friendly stuff, we went prekids but now I'm wondering about going back with them!

The important thing to remember is to be relaxed about doing less with kids than you would without them and try and vary your days so there's some more chilled out days as well.

In the UK we are trying to fit in lots of city breaks with them now as well. They loved Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Manchester, Oxford, York, Bath. We need to go and have a holiday in London soon as well I think.

Hadrians Wall, Colchester, Hastings, Edinburgh, Belfast, National Memorial Arboretum,Sutton Hoo, Stonehenge……. Throw a stick almost anywhere in the UK and there is history, and the labels and information will be written in English, very helpful for younger historians.

Rome 100%

Copenhagen- all the Viking stuff, boat trips , funfair, the Scandinavians know how to do Christmas too.

If you go to Normandy, try to coincide with D day. We went this year as ds3 who is 10 is very interested in the wars. It was amazing. Moving and upsetting of course, but there were so many celebratory things going on to mark the anniversary. People dressed up in ww2 clothes, driving round in jeeps, a real feeling of joy and of togetherness. It was so lovely. We are going to go back the year after next as it will be the 80 year anniversary.

My vote is for Bruges too. Much more accessible than most of the other places mentioned, you could even go by car so you could go to other places around. The canals, the churches, the museums, thé chocolat chops ( bear of Bruges) it’s just lovely and not too hectic.

Aachen. Charlemagne's town. The excellent museum charts the history of The Holy Roman Empire right up to the present and is very followable. It explains much of why Europe is as it is. It's one of my two favourite museums in the world. It's also a nice town to stroll about in, with good restuarants and cafes, and there's an amazing 9th century cathedral. There's almost certainly a Christmas market, although it's a small town, but Cologne is only about 50 minutes away on a train and has a really good market. I've been by train from London which is slower than flying but interesting.

Granada for the Alhambra. Read Philippa Gregory's The Constant Princess first.

Valletta. Lots of history from the Crusades to WW2. Don't miss the co-cathedral. Another lovely place to visit.

I want to go everywhere! I feel the Dc have missed out on so much travel due to covid, want to start bringing them as many places as possible now!

@JaninaDuszejko you did not miss anything by not going in the Duomo. It's strikingly empty.

The good bit is climbing the dome but it is really really really high. Although ticketed so minimal queue.

Road trip to northern Spain and Madrid. I recommend driving through france one way and back on the Santander ferry, Madrid, Toledo, Salamanca, Santiago de compostela, Bilbao... also can recommend a great medieval b&b in france and an old monastery now a small hotel in the Pyrenees with roman ruins

This year we flew to Madrid had 4 nights there, then train to Valencia for a week and then lastly few nights in Toledo. Lots of museums and galleries and amazing buildings and history. Bit of sea in Valencia

All of the Italian options mentioned sound fantastic too we were going to do a similar tour of Pisa-Florence so fly into one and then get trains about but they still required a Covid test this year and I couldn't take the risk.

I booked air bnb for all our different stays and it was great, met lovely people and lots of space/bedrooms.
It was very hot and exhausting though and I would definitely build in either somewhere with a pool or a few days just relaxing.

Rome. So much to see in centre of city.