Alternative to European beach holiday

[Igottastartthinkingbee]

with young children? DCs will be 6 and 3.5yr next year, would love to do something different for our holiday next summer. Had been looking at Iceland but it seems our youngest will be too young to enjoy it. We're outdoorsy types but don't really want to be sat on a beach or by a pool all day every day. Any ideas? Or do young kids = beach/pool holiday and wait till they're older to do something a bit different.

European city with reputation for being child friendly? (Berlin, Stockholm, much of Italy). Kids do love beaches but can also do lakes/rivers. Centreparcs / European centre parcs? The various small kid friendly theme parks that exist? There's one in holland that I've heard good things about but never been.

How about the Alps in Summer? Mountains, cable car rides, lakes, biking etc.

Gothenburg fab transport system so you can go.most places by tram/ferry for very reasonable price. Kid friendly. Lovely parks. Visit the islands for lovely walks/bike rides.

We gave up on beach holidays as bored silly. Next week taking Eurostar/TGV to Lyon picking up car and travelling around Rhone/Alpe region. Staying no longer than 2 nights anywhere and have even found a parkrun to do on Saturday morning. Very close to Switzerland and Italy so hoping to go to Turin or Milan for day trip. We could not take another year of Majorca/Canaries etc.

What RatOnnaStick said, the alps are lovely and well set up for children

Bavaria. Beautiful lakes, mountains, super efficient train system (Deutsche Bahn) and helpful people.

Most places people go on beach holidays have lots of other things to do so you could go anywhere and spend some time by the pool/on the beach and do other things a few times too. Lots of Spanish places have really good outdoor playgrounds, which would be good for DCs too.

Lanzarote has the volcano park, caves, boat trips to other islands, camel rides, bike rides, al sorts of things.

Caves in Nerja and Mallorca, train ride through mountains from Palma to Soller, Alhambra in Granada is accessible from the coast, Malaga is great for a citybreak, as is Barcelona and both have great beaches too, loads of castles and Roman ruins across Spain. There's a great gorge walk near El Chorro inland from Malaga (El Caminito del Rey) and lakes and mountains for hiking and activities on the lake.

Spending 4 hrs on an ancient double decker to get off it for 15 mins: that's the Volcano experience in Lanzarote. And 30 Euros a head for the pleasure!

Black Forrest Germany! Mountains, lakes, caves outdoor activities, lovely towns / cities. We found it very child friendly and depending where you stay free travel on local bus & trains.

It's nothing like that at all Iggity. Sounds like you were taken by a cowboy operator.

You can go on an organised tour or you can drive there yourself and pay about 8 euros each to be taken round the lava fields on a nice coach with a multi lingual commentary and atmospheric music.

And then spend as much time as you like looking at all the other exhibits and see straw set fire to by hot lava, steam jets produced when water is poured on hot lava etc.

The cafe even serves nice and reasonably priced food. UK attractions would do well to look at the food offering in a lot of Spanish places, which is almost always good quality and cheap, instead of vastly overpriced beige shite you get here.

I doubt anyone spends 4 hours on any vehicle let alone an 'aincient double decker' seeing as nowhere on Lanzarote is more than about an hour away from anywhere else.

OP You could go to Billund in Denmark. There is the original Legoland and an indoor waterpark/activity complex plus accomodation, bikes, woodland etc. Fly cheaply with Ryanair from Stansted.

Agree the Alps. Many resorts have a kids activity programme you could dip in and out of, summer toboggan runs, lakes and rivers for bathing, skilifts and trains to access walks through meadows and feeding animals like marmots or visiting alpine farms. Fresh air and often car free.

I think city breaks are fab - lots of museums, parks, castles, open spaces and lots to see and do. Equally, we've been to a few places in Spain and done the beach/pool bit then hired a car and gone off into the mountains. Found some fab places to visit and no one got remotely bored. Spanish beaches are really child friendly. Nerja is a fantastic area, lots of lovely villages within driving distance.

UK seaside holiday. Whitby and north yorks coast....fly kites on big beaches, fossil collecting, donkey rides, catching crabs on the quay, fish and chips on the pier, play hide and seek in explore old ruins, go on a boat trip, catch a steam train on the North Yorks railway, go puffin spotting at Bempton.
No upset kids because it is too hot or the flight is delayed. Lots of traditional seaside fun.

Thanks for all the comments. Lots to think about, will definitely look at European centre Parcs (one near Amsterdam could be a goer) and Gothenburg. I've always wanted to go to Scandinavia, just need to check out it out from a kids point of view and convince DH.

You're right barbara there are usually things to do outside of resort beaches/pool but we've done a couple of those types of hols and want a change. I just need to see if I'm brave enough to do it! (The younger DC is the issue, trying to calculate how much easier she'll be in a years time, cause her year as a two year old has been somewhat challenging! and it's not over yet 😫).

iggity your trip sounds fab! It's still the kind of thing I could only imagine doing pre children (or with older children) though. How old are yours?

Netherlands? We've been several times mainly staying in Eurocamp. There are surprisingly nice beaches and you can hire any type of bike, trailers for small kids, bike seats, all sorts. And it's so flat even small kids can cycle for miles.

Our DC are a bit younger but we're just enjoying our second holiday in London. We are also reasonably outdoorsy and have mainly been going to parks, museums, there's lot to do that involves running around. We're probably going to the Olympic Park tomorrow.

We went to Nice when DS was small, pre DD. Aquariums, steam train, walking about in town, we had been before pre-DC and then we did go to the beach, also various small hill towns to walk around (I seem to remember one of them is good for spotting art, some of the galleries are reasonably child friendly). Parks etc. too.

So I'd recommend a city holiday with DCs, definitely.

We've also been skiing and I think you'd find enough to do in an Alpine resort in the summer.

Ooh lots of posts while I was replying! Keep the suggestions coming!

seal we've done east yorks coast a fair bit as it's just about manageable as a day trip for us. Northumberland is on my 'to do' list though, beaches are supposed to be amazing. I'm after foreign trips cause I get itchy feet. I love seeing different countries.

Alps and Nerja on the list now too thanks.

Fair enough OP.
Northumberland is a great place when you do next fancy a UK holiday.

Any other cities in Europe that are particularly child friendly and near beaches/lakes? Thinking more Northern Europe as we're not heat seekers.

We didn't get on well with the the Centre Parc by Amsterdam but one of the Belgium ones was great. Landal Green Parks are another suggestion for that age group and a farm holiday in Germany was another of our successes when the DC were little. All of the above get cheaper about the last week of August,

I could have written your post OP. We're back from Ibiza with similar age children & after few years of very similar holidays have had enough of blazing hot beachs & pools, we want more from a holiday! After looking through previous mumsnet posts for advice, we are considering Villa Pia in Tuscany as child friendly alternative. Also read that Jura region of France is highly recommended.

Thanks mirabelle, useful to know which centre Parcs are good in Europe. I assume they're not an exact copy of CP over here?

Just off to look at Jura thanks seasalt.

Found it, Erpeheide. I've heard Kempervennen is good too. Not been to a UK so unable to make a comparison. Lots for little ones in Erperheide if I remember correctly.

Mirabelle where was the farm holiday?

We are likely to go on holiday v late August next year and that sounds lovely.