If you were going to "educate" your child by making sure they've seen...

[Domus]

the best/most important things in Europe, what would your list of 10 trips over 5 years include?

10 & 12yo ATM and would be good if they could be fun/enjoyable as well as educational!

Naples. Best city ever for kids that age. Spooky & beatiful & great food (pizza and cake, but seafood too).

You know to be honest I wouldn't worry about 'educating' then and just enjoy a family holiday never mind the fact I took my children to CERN

I had a conversation with my husband a while ago about taking the children back packing in Asia. We thought it might would 'spoil' it for them in that they won't be able to discover these places for themselves when they're older. Although we do know it's a very big world out there so there would still be loads left to 'discover'.

If you want a suggestion from me CERN was amazing, wait until they're 13 though and they can go on the hard-hat tour underground and see the LHC.

Really though I would just focus on a fun family holiday.

London
Rome and Florence
Paris
Edinburgh
Fjords
Dordogne area
Moscow
Budapest
WW1 battlefield tour
Herculaneum/Pompeii/Capri
Greek islands

Oops - can't count!

And I think I'd also want to add the Alps.

Ooh, interesting. Any more tips on Naples/Pompei?
I know that we should avoid high summer. I am thinking of going at Easter. On a budget.

(I have avoided foreign holidays for dc until recently but I am planning some city breaks)

What about Amsterdam? Anne Frank's house? Anyone done that?

Ralph, would you just post or pm me the best place to stay and the best places to eat in Naples if you have been recently, please?

I was just about to suggest Anne Frank's house - I went when I was 8 with the school.

I would also suggest Skocjan caves in Slovenia.

Sarajevo

Prague and Lidice (very haunting)

Iceland

Sicily

What do you want to teach them?

Do you want them to see lots of historical stuff? Or do you want to teach them about other cultures, languages, etc? Are they into science, nature, museums, food, cars?

I guess it depends what is important to you.

so many to choose from!

Rome
Sorrento for Vesuvias/Pompei/Capri/Naples
London
Barcelona
Denmark
Lisbon
France
Greece
Jersey
Mostar (Bosnia)

Naples, Feb half term is just about warm enough to manage walking round Pompei and cheap then. We stayed in a B&B in the Montecalvario quarter. We more or less had the place to ourselves, only seeing the nice young men who ran the place when they brought up breakfast in the mornings.

Bulgaria. Home of Spatacus and Aesop. Introduce them to the Cyrillic script and take them to Plovdiv, one of the oldest, continually settled places in Europe. Plus it's cheap.

Budapest. Simply because it's awesome

St Petersburg or Moscow. Go to the Hermitage and see the great art or to the Kremlin to see the great hall of the People or Lenin's embalmed body.

While Krakov is beautiful and people all take a side trip to Auschwitz, I would recommend going to the salt mine as well. A chapel carved from rock salt is something to behold.

Thanks for that, Slug.
Any more information on Naples?
Ty to Anne Frank House, although they must read the book first. (I would give it to them at the airport.
Most of this stuff is boring to an early teen.

Where we stayed in Naples

For WWII history:

Germany or Poland - concentration camps, the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, Ploetzensee (gallows for traitors and resistance members)
Anne Frank House in Amsterdam

Culture:
Museums in Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, Paris, Florence

Knossos in Crete, Pompei, Rome (not only Ancient Rome but also Early Christianity)

Scandinavia for Viking history

Seville, Cordoba and Granada to understand Arab occupation of Spain and the Reconcista

Natural beauty - cave paintings in Southern France or Spain, gorges in the Alpes or Southern France or Ronda in Spain

Venice and Trieste
Athens
Greek Islands esp. Samos and Crete
Cofffee shops in Amsterdam (okok I am joking !!)
Berlin

Rome - we had the most fantastic 3 day break there. Religion, Romans and really good food. All walkable and every corner and street has something interesting to look at.

My DS's are 13 and 15 and some of our best trips in Europe have been to:
Pompeii
Leaning Tower of Pisa
St Petersburg. Especially Peterhorf Palace and gardens
Dubrovnik
Ephesus
Sicily
Rome
Norwegian fjords
Skiing in the Alps
London- only an hour from us but we love it!
Disney
Apart from London, we have visited these places as part of a fun holiday not just for an educational purpose.
Out of Europe I would pick:
Everything in Cape Town
Iguassa Falls
Whale watching in Cabo, Mexico.

The Gaudi buildings in Barcelona are incredible to see.

We've done Rome, Naples area. Paris, London, Barcelona, Amsterdam.

Mont st michel,Paris obviously,battlefield cemeteries,Rome,glacier in Switzerland..IMO too young for Auschwitz (I was 18 and it really affects)PUBLIC TRANSPORT in any country which enables speaking and opens their eyes to a whole different way of travelling eg tram in Vienna,Amsterdam,metro,Rome buses we met such generosity of spirit and pocket this way throughout the years!
I haven't been to Pompeii or the Greek islands myself but it is on the bucket list ...oh and Seville

Somewhere relatively poor for a while in a developing country

Apartheid museum, what an education, a brilliant museum

Robben island

Table mountain

And Europe- capital city art galleries, museums

Rome & Greek monuments

Pompeii

Berlin -wall museum (whatever it's called), check point charlie

If a city kid, anywhere in the countryside for a few days alongside animals

scaevola

London
Rome and Florence
Paris
Edinburgh
Fjords
Dordogne area
Moscow
Budapest
WW1 battlefield tour
Herculaneum/Pompeii/Capri
Greek islands

Wow. Seriously good list.

However, if I were being REALLY picky then I might say St Petersburg rather than Moscow, but preferably both.

Budapest I agree is great, but if you are looking for an alternative then maybe look at Vienna. Then,as you say in your later post the Alps. I think I would replace the Dordogne with the Alps.

I haven't done a WW1 tour but I have been to the other places and totally agree with what you say.

Kendodd

never mind the fact I took my children to CERN

they can go on the hard-hat tour underground and see the LHC

Never mind my dc, I so want to do that

London
Pompeii
Paris
Florence
Reyjavik
Oslo
Auschwitz
Moscow
Prague
Barcelona