Advice on booking a holiday that doesn’t involve sitting around a pool....

[Lovemusic33]

Hi, looking for some advice. I have never taken my dd’s abroad and haven’t travelled much myself, both my DS’s have ASD which is why we haven’t travelled but they are now teenagers and we would like to attempt a holiday abroad.

I have no experience of booking a holiday so no idea how to find what I’m looking for. I looked on tui but all holidays seem to involve apartments, pools and sun loungers, this would be dd1’s idea of hell. We don’t really do sitting by a pool, dd1 hates water and dd2 would need constant supervision so wouldn’t be much of a break for me. I’m probably looking for the impossible but ideally would like to go somewhere that’s not too busy, somewhere with culture (historical places to visit?), somewhere where we can go shopping and move around easily without using busy public transport and somewhere not too touristy 😁. Ideally a short flight as it will be the dd’s first time flying though I’m sure the plane wont be a problem, navigating through the airport will possibly be the hard bit.

Any suggestions?

Lakes and mountains?

I agree - The alps would be a starting point. Italy, Slovenia, France, Austria, Germany all have lovely little mountain towns with tons to look at and do.

I have one with ASD and we often do wildlife / animals which has always worked well. Mine is a boy and hates shopping so can't help much on that. When we've gone in Europe we've done Finland (brown bears and reindeer), Sweden (beavers and alpacas) and Norway (moose, deer, seals, eagles, reindeer, sheep, alpacas). Norway has Viking places for culture, Sweden has castles. Finland (Lapland) think we came across as many reindeer as people.

We have also done Austria which was scenic and not busy.

Depends on your budget as it’s an expensive country, but Switzerland is brilliant. Somewhere like Interlaken might work if your DDs are OK with tourist-type trains.

Also, some UK airports are far better than others so I’d factor that in. If you’re thinking about flying from the London area, Gatwick is brilliant for people with ASD. Avoid Heathrow if at all possible. I’ve heard Manchester is good as well but no direct experience.

We try to go from smaller airports whenever possible so Luton / Stansted for London.

Plenty of places in Northern Europe - cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Berlin, etc., have plenty to do (museums, attractions, architecture, culture, parks, zoos, river walks, etc), quick flights from regional airports and plenty of choice of hotels.

Most of the package tour firms do city breaks (Jet 2, Tui, etc) if you want a brochure, but also easy enough to book your own direct with hotels/airlines etc.

City break?

Or drive to France and book a gîte. You can do whatever you like then.

Thank you, some great suggestions, I shall have a look at them all. We are down south so ideally would like to fly from Exeter or Bournemouth but could possibly go from Gatwick. Dd2 isn’t very good at waiting and hates lifts and escalators which is why the airport bit is the biggest worry. Dd1 would love to go somewhere like Norway or Sweden, she loves wildlife too but dd2 not so keen, dd2 likes looking around shops, dd1 likes history. It’s hard to please both of them, dd2 is more severely autistic and I’m not sure she could cope with busy public transport.

We hired a car when we went though Norway has excellent trains if you need public transport. Norway was very expensive - Sweden and Finland found similar to UK prices.

You can do wildlife and history quite easily, shopping as we were almost always rural tended to be one small supermarket or out of town retail park, the cities obviously have lots of shops but busier. Stockholm is lovely, Alesund was beautiful and not that busy. Norway is incredibly beautiful scenery almost everywhere, Sweden and Finland there was miles of flatish scenery with trees everywhere. We went to Ruka there as well as bears, that had mountains, reindeer, summer bobsleigh, few shops and not many people but needs a car. We flew into Oulu and had beach to ourselves there. We did moose safari in Oppdal in Norway but shopping there is just out of town retail park, plenty of museums and you can go there by train, safari goes from train station. Then we went by Alesund and down to Flam via fjords. Flam is busier. Viking museum was close to Flam.

You could fly from Bristol to Geneva with Easy Jet. Then you could do Switzerland (but it’s is expensive) or somewhere like Les Gets in france just over the boarder - often there are mini bus companies who do drop off and pick up. Homeaway do nice Apartments, Great views. You can do walks, different activities. It’s a nice way to holiday.

Bristol airport is relatively small and has one small escalator before security. I think there may be stairs too tho. And one after security. But they are not long one.

Exeter is a small airport with no escalators. There are fewer flights so less busy than larger airports like Gatwick or Bristol. TUI, Ryanair and Flybe all fly from there.
Expedia is great for finding transfers, accommodation and things to do like excursions if you’re not hiring a car.

Thank you, the escalator thing is pretty important (she really won’t go on them) so will look at Exeter. We go away a lot in the uk so both dd’s are used to being away from home, it’s just the airport bit they are not used too.

A city break to a small city might work well - walking around, able to access stuff in emergency etc. My autistic kids are younger but it worked best inplaces where I speak the language or most people speak English. Beautiful uncrowded towns in Bavaria, or could go to Amsterdam during the week, by train even - loads to see, can easily get the train or plane there and another train to a smaller city if you want somewhere quieter.

Oslo might be good - Vigelund park for running around, Thor Heyerdahl museum, soaking up atmosphere and easy to get to scenic areas. And practically everyone speaks fluent English. Is familiar food likely to be an issue? Self catering may work better than hotels, though hotel breakfasts can be a great attraction.

Budapest?
Full of history and good shopping

I think Airbnb is great for booking accommodation. Personally I prefer to book flights and accommodation separately. It also means you could travel around (hire a car) and stay in s couple if different towns.

Is Southampton too far? Fantastic little airport

Think your bigger challenge might be finding good airports at the other end maybe people can suggest nice ones

Have you been on holiday to the UK? If not I would suggest that first as a test drive- perhaps Edinburgh or London’s Christmas markets. See how that works first and then you can pick a destination based on how they react.

We have an apartment in the French Alps which we rent out and we were gobsmacked the first time we got a booking in the summer- we really marketed it at the ski season. Last summer we spent a week there and it was fantastic. We walked in the mountains, picked wild blueberries and did loads of trampoline/zip wire type activities. Our place is about an hour from Geneva airport and there are loads of places to rent in that area. Switzerland is gorgeous but expensive- if you drive for an hour into france it's cheaper.

How about Jersey? Short flight, lots of WW2 history and also the Durrell Zoo.

Depends whether you would see it as 'abroad' but driving is easy and no need to rely on public transport. You could also take the boat over to St Malo for a day.

What about Jersey. A plane ride away but English with a French feel. Lots to do - Jersey zoo was amazing the last time I went. There is the German underground hospital plus lots of lovely villages and amazing beaches.

Actually, thinking about it, I agree with PPs that Jersey might be a good choice.

I’m trying to think of any airports that I’ve been to recently that don’t have escalators. I know you said that your DD2 didn’t like lifts but will she tolerate them? I think you’ll struggle to find somewhere that could guarantee you don’t have to use either at any point.

Also I’ve found that although UK airports are getting better with ASD (definitely get sunflower lanyards), it’s still difficult to get some non-UK airports to understand that special assistance doesn’t necessarily mean you have mobility issues (Tenerife South was particularly unpleasant for that). So that might be something to practice with your DDs as the experience in the UK airport won’t necessarily be the same on the way back.

Would a ferry to France be a possibility? Or drive and go through the Eurotunnel? We've driven to Amsterdam and also to Ghent, Ghent obviously closer. Both are brilliant cities, 'easy' in the sense that English is widely spoken and understood if you don't know any of the language, excellent transport options, good food, plenty to do. We've also flown to Amsterdam and I'm fairly sure there was a travelator down to the train platforms to get from the airport into the city. There are definitely escalators up from the central station metro but you could just take trams to get around once you're there.

Grumpy, we holiday in the uk several times a year, we have stayed in hotels, caravan parks and recently travelled in our Campervan so the kids are used to travelling, just not out of the uk.

France would be a possibility and we could take the Campervan but I have never driven in France and it makes me a bit anxious.

Dd won’t tolerate lifts at all (I can’t get her in one) same with escalators but I’m guessing I could put her in a wheel chair and up them if I had too. We also need to consider this when looking for accommodation as most apartments have lifts.