Where would you go with these criteria

[MaidofKent78]

2 adults and a 4 year old. We like a mix of activities, exploring new places and some downtime.

2 weeks in early July, within a 3 hour flight of the UK.

Previous holidays have included touring Italy, Slovenia and Iceland either in camper vans or using AirBnB.

Budget around £2500. Quite happy to self cater.

Normally we're good with ideas but we're a bit stuck this year!

In laws live in the Black Forest otherwise that would be a great place for us.

Lisbon? Some great places nearby and the coast to the north is lovely. Plus the food is good!

Funny I was going to say Germany!

Take the ferry to Spain? The Atlantic coast is lovely

Fly into Nice (you can usually get cheap flights) and use the train to travel along the Riviera. Nice is lovely - I’d rent somewhere in the old town and fit in a trip to Villefranche (ten minutes by train) with its child friendly beach and pretty town. Use the train to travel around (Cannes, Antibes, Monaco are on the same line) before moving on to say Menton then move over the border, have a day or two in Sanremo on the Italian Riviera then end your journey in Genoa or Milan and fly back from there. We did about 6 years ago with a 5 year old.

If you’ve not done this already in your Italian tours then Sicily (Catania, Taormina, Syracuse) is great. Mix of beach and & Ancient Greek & Roman culture and apartments aren’t hard to come by. We did it all by train but you could drive.

I’d like to do Croatia into Montenegro, flying into Dubrovnik and then getting the bus to Kotor from there. A Facebook ‘friend’ drove around Montenegro last year and her pictures looked great!

Thanks for the ideas! They're all good. Keep them coming! We went to Sicilia as part of our Italian tour last year and loved it.

Austria is lovely. We fly to Munich and drive south into the Tirol.

Agreed - we both love Austria. I am potentially at a conference in Salzburg in early July so we're considering extending my trip and them both joining me out there when it's finished.

Slovakia, Czech Rep and Austria? Still quite cheap and well connected by trains. Weather is lovely then ..

Sicily!

Sweden. Awesome place did two weeks in August for £1200 for 4 of us.

We have enjoyed exploring Sardinia with the children. Lots to do and good weather.

Sweden or Finland, both lovely. Main city for culture, lakes and forest for down time. Visit the arcepelego between Stockholm and Finland, and then up to the near arctic in the north.

@lovelyupnorth

How did you manage Sweden on that budget?

Camper van in Norway. Although it's an expensive country they allow wild camping so plenty of amazing places to park for the night of you don't mind roughing it a little. Can intersperse with nights in campsites. Amazing scenery and lots of outdoor activities.

Also interested in how you can do Sweden on a small budget! I’ve been to both Sweden and Norway and both food and accommodation are exorbitant! A supermarket shop (without alcohol) for 3 days set us back £90 in Bergen.Understand how you can stretch the budget if you have a camper van & purely self cater but otherwise you’re looking at a rather expensive trip!

@ContinuityError

Went end of August. Flew STN - CPH had two weeks in a house with a pool on Oland the 2 nights in Copenhagen on way back

£1200 was flights for 4 with RyanAir, 2 weeks car hire, 2 weeks accommodation on Oland booked via Novasol - dropped a lot in price as end of holidays in Sweden. 2 nights holiday in CP in Copenhagen booked well in advance b&bs in a family room.

Thank you @lovelyupnorth

Never heard of Novasol - would you recommend them?

Big booking agency owned by hoseasons I think.

Places we've loved with kids that age;
Norway
Sweden
Sicily
Bruges
Lisbon
Interrailing (just going wherever the weather is good)
Asturias in Spain
Montenegro
The Netherlands

How about Ferien auf dem Bauernhof in Germany, it doesn't have to be Black Forest.

Saying that it is a good distance to stop overnight if you want to drive, we did it last year. We then went on to Frankonia but also did north of Hamburg in the past (flight and rental car though).

How is the kid's German? We found that 2 weeks this kind of holiday did wonders for DD's active language skills.

Otherwise The Netherlands, Majorca has great s/c possibilities and lovely resort town with lots to do for children.

Italian Lakes?

Thanks for all the suggestions - loads to look at.

Funnily, Estonia & Finland (ie a week in each with a ferry across the Baltic) is one of the ideas we have.

Ditto Italian lakes. Our son'so German is pretty good so a couple of weeks in Germany or Austria would really help.

Too.many.choices!!! (Yes, I'm aware it's a 1st world problem)

Hi there. I hope you don’t mind but you couldn’t give a few more details of where you went? What did you do? We have friends that visit every year and they too love it. I have tried looking and booking but I’m struggling to find something for my 5 and 9 year olds!

@imdad who are you asking?