Please tell me all about your trip to Italy (or elsewhere in Europe) with a baby and a toddler...

[BroccoliSpears]

Where did you go?
Where did you stay?
How did you get there?
Was it very expensive?
What did you do whilst you were there?
How did the children enjoy it?
What do you recommend?
Anything else?

We're planning a family holiday this summer. I quite fancy Italy, though could be persuaded to go elsewhere. Greece? Portugal? Not France!

We will be two adults, a two-year-old and (all being well) a baby of a few months old.

We'll be on a fairly tight budget.

Thinking about the end of the summer / Septemberish?

Could fly or drive.

We like...

• Sight seeing
• Pretty villages
• Self catering
• Trying lots of local food
• Eating out
• Interesting things and adventures

We absolutely don't like...

• Complexes
• Places that serve British food
• Theme nights, karaoke, rowdy bars
• Lying on the beach or by the pool all day

I have a vague idea of a small villa or appartment (or something approximating a villa on a complex perhaps(hey, I can compromise)) within walking distance of a pool or the sea for swimming, walking distance of a village with restaurants, cafes and shops, near enough to do day trips to see interesting things.

Or what about Rome? Would that be madness with a baby and a tot?

avoid paris with a pushchair at all costs if you will have to use the metro to get around. Barcelona is very walkable everywhere. you haven't mentioned citybreaks but had to chime in as last new year's i ventured to paris with a sodding pushchair that dd didn't even want to sit in.

Noted. Thank you for the tip.

Anyone else?

G'wan. What did you do on your holls? I'll even pretend to look interested in your out-of-focus holiday snaps.

We went to Sardinia.Can fly easyjet (my preference as they took our pram,travel cot,car seat as not part of our luggage allowance) or ryanair.Beaches beautiful white sand and calm shallow water for our baby and food great being part of italy.Nuragi (sp?) old ancient stone settlements and roman ruins where we where.

Next door Corsica (stayed near Calvi) which we visited the year before is lovely, has prettier villages (but French!) but is more expensive.We love Sardinia but may be biased as we stay with our local friends when we go.Both Corsica and Sardinia can be a bit expensive but may be OK end of Sept.

We have previously stayed in a small apartment/villa complex in Tuscany near Siena which seems to fit all your requirements.I loved Rome when I visited pre children but would agree with keeping things simpler if you actually want to relax when on holiday.A morning sightseeing trip alternate mornings with an afternoon nap and then out for an evening walk and ice cream seems to work well for us.Tuscany has plenty of lovely villages.A small amount of apartments around a pool area within reach of the lovely hill top towns would be a good bet.Can't remember who we booked through where we stayed in Tuscany as it was a few years ago but booking flights through one of the budget airlines and booking accommodation direct (car hire paid with tesco clubcard vouchers) is usually the cheapest.Need to book as early as possible if you are doing this as flights only seem to go up nearer the time.Perhaps post and see if anyone can recommend a small complex in Tuscany if you fancy this.
Oh , also stayed Costa Brava near Aiguablava (villages close lovely) which we enjoyed - fly to Girona or Barcelona budget airline-avoid the overdeveloped area south of this.

Would go back again to all the places listed above.The problem always if finding somewhere good to stay within a budget.Usually walking distance of a nice town or the sea makes things more expensive anywhere.

Didn't like Portugal where we stayed in the Algarve as very overdeveloped but my mum (!) loves the area near to Lagos which is further west along the coast and looks much nicer.

I think the best bet is to find somewhere to stay which is baby/toddler friendly as holidays do change post children.Whilst we do still enjoy sightseeing the time allocated to this we have found has to be much less with children.

I would not go for Rome with 2 young children unless the villa was a good bit out of the city. Perhaps towards Frascati, we were there this year.

Tuscany would be a much better bet. We went with our DC last year, they were 2 and 4yo at the time. We were on a campsite between Siena and Florence, near Greve in Chianti. Fab campsite, not too "resorty" although it is big. There was not a village within walking distance but they have several shops and restaurants. They have a villa too, a bit seperate from the main campsite right next to the wine bar. (but it was always very quiet) Swimming pool was great for toddlers.

Our 2 loved it, and keep asking to go back.

Thank you both!

Sardinia sounds lovely. Have been googling it and it looks lovely too. Could be just the ticket. Tuscany also looking good - and could possibly work out a little cheaper...

I hated The Algarve too Cats, but agree with your mum that further West is beautiful. We stayed in a tiny fishing village and walked for miles along the cliffs. The birds and flowers are breathtaking. Stunning scenery. Cute markets. Great food. We did a day trip to The Algarve and were sooooo thankful that we'd not stayed there.

Hi, you sound a lot like us in terms of what you want on a holiday. We have two DSs (now 3 and 1) and we have been to Sardinia (when DS1 was 4 months), and it was lovely, they love kids, we had nine days, stayed in a hotel right on the beach and hired a car.

Have also been to several Greek islands, including my favourite Samos, they too love children, we always do self-catering, and hire a car, and Corsica, where we did stay in a resort, but still did self-catering and hired a car.

Are just back from Marrakesh, and it actually reminded me of Rome - lots of locals zipping around on mopeds, not particularly relaxing, especially with two little people.

Your holiday sounds like a lot of fun,

We went to Italy in summer 2006 and we all loved it.
For £1,200 we had:
A three bedroom former farm house with 3-acre olive grove
A Vauxhall Zafira for the two weeks
Flights with Ryanair
We stayed near a gorgeous ancient town called Atri in the Abruzzo region and were about 15 minutes drive from the coast and about an hour in the opposite direction from the mountains and national parks.
The food was fantastic and the children were treated like royalty everywhere they went.
we're hopping to go again this year but not sure i can do it so cheap a second time.

This is the house we stayed in.
It's two-bedrooms, not three as i said earlier.

Look at Canvas Life - we priced 2 weeks in Aug in summer hols for the 4 of us (2 and 2) at lake Maggiore in a chalet for about £600!!! Would be less out of season - ie 2 weeks later! Looked stuinning, on shore of L Maggiore, 30 mins from Switzelrand. On campsite with pool etc but very quiet which was what put dh off unfortunately!!! We're going to big n busy campsite on Venetian coast as big n busy is what kids n dh like at mo!! I've had my 6 yrs of quiet French campsites I'm afraid!!

Otherwise, I lived in Greece for 5 years and can recommend Skoopelos or Alonnisos!