40th birthday - Oct half term family city break!

[ritzbiscuits]

Starting to research what I could do for my 40th. It's just before October half term so we'd be able to go away for a break then, ideally for 4/5 nights.

Where could you lovely Mums-netters recommend to take a 6 year old, DH and me?

So far I've got Barcelona and Lisbon on my list, I'd love to go to Copenhagen but presuming it will be too cold.

We've done Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Nuremberg with DS, so Germany is out!

Any other ideas of cities with lots to do for this age?

Zurich in Switzerland?

Following! We're contemplating Venice, Madrid or Lisbon.

We did Stockholm this summer which was good. And we loved Amsterdam.

Rome? New York?

I would avoid northern or middle Europe. We had once freezing temperatures in Germany but also times with mid-tens so it varies too u predicable to go in these regions in my opinion.

Southern France can be T-Shirt weather, we did Provence in October and DH often went to Nice in January and could have lunch outside so October should work for Canne, Nce and Monte Carlo.

Valencia ❤️

Kraków
Florence
Madrid

Palma in Majorca. We went as a family in October half-term, and it was perfect.

I was going to say Lisbon. But for totally reliable weather the canaries. I went to lisbon in october at it was amazing. My friend went a week later and it rained a lot.

Venice - would be truly magical.

We loved Copenhagen! Went when the DC were 8 and 5. We went at the very beginning of April and it was very similar weather/temp to the UK. Maybe check out average temperatures before you dismiss it. We were there 4 days,could have stayed much longer!

Vienna and Amsterdam are both really family friendly. Likewise for Budapest.

Valencia is lovely with DC. We had great weather in Lisbon at new year, but yes could be rainy in Oct (as could most places in Europe, to be fair!). If you want sunshine and warm then Canaries or Cyprus are your best bets.

I am just back from Palma and it was lovely.

Barcelona is great. Apologies to the Lisbon fans but while it was pretty, it didn’t blow me away at all as a city as others have nor did I like the food. If you weren’t looking for somewhere warmer I’d suggest Stockholm as we’ve been in October - it’s parky for sure but a very pretty city with lots to see and easy to get around. Based on where we have liked, I’d go for:

Seville or Granada
Barcelona
Bologna (went for my 40th, pretty historic city, off the beaten tourist track and the food is greaf!)
Venice - it’s just wow and while it’ll still be busy, nothing like the summer
Rome - it’s my favourite city, huge amount of history around every single corner, great shops, great food, great art and the crowds would have gone home
Paris - easy to get too, always something new to see
Dublin

Seville, we went in the summer it was amazing but far too hot. In October, it should still be t-shirt weather and really pleasant. Great eating spots, lots to see.

Rome
Athens
Barcelona
Krakow
Crete
Cyprus
Iceland

Agree Barcelona is good - the Aquarium, cable car, zoo, maybe a stadium tour or match at Noucamp?

My 6 year old loved Lisbon, the area around the aquarium is great for kids. What about Malta? The weather should be nice and it's small enough that you could have a day or 2 in Valetta and then a few day trips to other parts of the island.

Seville or Valencia. Seville for best weather but Valencia has the beach.

Oh re Rome we went in early November, unfortunately the crowds hadn't gone home. It was rammed and wet, bloody awful.

That's interesting @fussychica we were there in summer and it was boiling and I'd thought later in the year it might be less packed!!

We're veering towards Venice.

If we all liked the same places life would be really boring! The only time I've been to Rome out of summer was one wet April, a lot less people than in peak summer and still stunning. In comparison,thought Valencia was ok but nothing special (much prefer Segovia, Toledo, Granada, Seville and Barcelona). Obviously @fussychica we shouldn't be booking a holiday together anytime soon 😊!

Thanks so much everyone, sorry for late response I didn't get any Mumsnet email alerts!

I'm going to have a play around with flight prices when EasyJet launch their autumn 2020, I'll probably be driven by a bargain too!

I second Seville. I went in January and it was gorgeous with all the oranges on the trees. Very pretty place, great food and lovely castle and town centre

Madrid

Third vote for Seville, also look at Cadiz