Good city break for a 5 yr old

[OlafLovesAnna]

My husband is working away for 6 months from late October and I'd like to plan a little break before he goes.

We have 3 children 12,10 and 5 and would like to visit somewhere pretty close which will be fun for everyone just before 1/2 term. I've considered Amsterdam and Copenhagen but any other suggestions would be great!

I really rate Amsterdam it was the first city break I did with the kids it was brilliant. I used to live in Copenhagen but haven't been with the kids yet.
Our Amsterdam itinerary was..
Afternoon Day 1 Vondelpark
Day 2 strolling/parks/canal tour/stroll/park
Day 3 Bike hire and cycle round the nature reserve Amsterdam Bos
Day 4 Science Museum
Day 5 Keukenhof
I could have stayed another week and we planned to go to the beach..next year!
Kids loved the trams - check out www.iamsterdam.com/en/visiting/what-to-do/families-and-children

Paris is always fun with lots to do (famous stuff and less known stuff)

Depending where you live, Edinburgh, Belfast or London also have lots for kids (I don't know about Cardiff)

We've taken our kids (now aged 9 & 6) to Paris three times and there is still masses of stuff we haven't seen. It's a brilliant city for kids. We were just there on Tues actually.

Amsterdam is lovely city too, but it can be very crowded in summer - out of season would be better, but it can be cold and damp in winter.

Rome. The temperature is still pleasant but the crowds much smaller.

Lots of great options--Amsterdam, Rome, Barcelona. I prefer city breaks with kids vs a stale all inclusive beachy holiday tbh. We took DS to Prague when he was about 5. It was brilliant.

We have taken dd on lots of city breaks from when she was very small, they were all great in their own ways. I have found that the trick for us is to research very well before hand and have an itinerary planned for each day and make sure that each day has something to please / suit the kids ages. I usually have an idea of restaurants serving the sort of food dd likes (pizza, decent burgers, pasta etc) in the areas where we will be each day so we don't spend ages wandering about trying to find somewhere. I appreciate that people with less fussy children may not need to do this!

We have taken dd to Paris, Venice, London, Palma, Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Krakow, Belfast, Dublin and are looking at Lisbon or Gdansk next.

Barcelona. Went with a 5 year old and he loved it.

Barcelona or Valencia. Plenty to do in the city and a beach on hand also.

I've taken my children to Madrid, Nice and Lisbon, less to do but nice cities to mooch around with kids.

Stockholm is great and has a lot which would appeal to all those age groups. On the Djurgården island alone you have Skansen (a huge zoo in beautiful surroundings), Gröna Lund theme park, Junibacken (children's interactive literature museum, very fun and quirky with eg Pippi Longstocking's house to play in), and the Vasa Museum - huge ancient viking ship. Plus loads more. Lots of opportunities for boat trips and shopping, plus most importantly Swedish fika 👍🍰☕️ Weather might not be brilliant that time of year mind you - wouldn't be awful, temperature wise, and could be very pleasant and autumny, but rain could be a worry... Nonetheless it's a fab city with lots and lots to do.

I'd also suggest Valencia (although I went without children). Hotel with pool, beach, amazing aquarium, the "City of Arts and Sciences" area. Plus the tradional city centre.

Ooh yes Valencia is lovely for all ages!

Great suggestions, thank you! We're on the South Coast but have done 2 nights in London a couple of years ago, the youth hostel in Cardiff (brilliant), Edinburgh/ Stirling as we have family there.

I am drawn to Amsterdam and the trams.

I hadn't thought of Valencia - I went on an exchange trip there about a million years ago.

I enjoyed Barcelona and Granada as a student too.

I agree that the key is research, it's just sometimes tricky to mesh the interests of the 5 and 12 yr old.

Bruges has been our favourite family short break, we all loved it and hoping to return soon.