Best European cities for early teens?

[cobblers00]

Just that... they're not particularly into culture & we only want a short city break for Easter. Where would you go??

Budapest and go to the baths?

Do they like football? Lots of cities do great tours of stadiums.

Barcelona.

Barcelona - we did the zoo, fountains, football stadium, beach, Olympic stadium and the hard Rock Cafe.
It's a clean city and even as a single parent I felt safe.

Its hard as they are all slightly different
How about Cadiz for a short history trip, good beaches?
Malaga is nice we went one year and didst know it was the spanish music festival it was fantastic

Seville

Where do you want to go?
Show them a map and ask them?
Where have they heard of?
Do they like beaCh swimming or ?
What,are they studying at school eg roman s?

Barcelona. It’s a young city.
Gaudi buildings are bonkers. Children love them. There’s Camp Nou for the impressive stadium, a beach, a cable car. Easy to walk around. Not to far to fly ( great views of the alps and coming in over the sea).
And it’s warm which is nice.

When are you hoping to go?

I'm thinking Barcelona or Rome.. just wondered if anybody had any less obvious suggestions. What's Iceland like??! Easter time

Barcelona, we had it booked for DS1s 13th birthday but got cancelled cos of Covid.
We were going to do a tour of the Nou Camp, the cable cars, the beach, Gaudi Park and eat some nice food job done.

What's Iceland like??! Expensive

Amsterdam? Really interesting and different, and you can stay just outside the city and travel in very easily. Our preteens/teens loved it, we stayed at Duinrell so had the theme park, beach, etc as well as going into Amsterdam to the Anne Frank house and some museums and galleries. We went at Easter and had lovely weather but might have been lucky!

Have you asked them OP? My kids enjoy city breaks and always have (now 14 and 10). Before it was the parks, zoo, aquariums, playgrounds they liked, now it's the food, iconic views and opportunities to shop somewhere different. Cities on the beach are always good - Valencia is less obvious than Barcelona, less crowded, cheaper but just as fun IMO.

We've never done a city break with the kids before.. usually just a big beach based or long haul summer hol, so it's a bit alien to them. Asked DD to research but she doesn't seem that into it (ungrateful teen!). Might give them 3 options to choose from.. I don't mind as been to most of them before, DH thinks Amsterdam will be full of stag dos & pot heads 🙄

@Hellocatshome

What's Iceland like??! Expensive

I had heard that...Might save that one for a grown up break then!

What do they like? DS is into cars and Munich was a big hit (Audi factory and lots of WW2 stuff). He also loved Zurich (though have to say Switzerland is very spenny) and Barcelona as pp's have mentioned is great for kids.

@cobblers00

We've never done a city break with the kids before.. usually just a big beach based or long haul summer hol, so it's a bit alien to them. Asked DD to research but she doesn't seem that into it (ungrateful teen!). Might give them 3 options to choose from.. I don't mind as been to most of them before, DH thinks Amsterdam will be full of stag dos & pot heads 🙄

I adore Amsterdam and it's super family-friendly. The red light district is really just a couple of blocks across and easy to avoid - when I went with a group of pals last time we had to make a detour as they hadn't seen it - and the smoking cafes are similarly easy to avoid and not actually that intrusive. That said, it can still be a bit cold in April if sun's important to you.

Iceland is absolutely fantastic, buy very expensive and I'm not sure if Easter is the very best time to go because you might be too late for the northern lights but too early for the midnight sun. Although maybe it cheaper then and will still be amazing even without lights/midnight sun.

I think it's also a much more active break than something like Barcelona. You'll need all the gear and it's quite physical.if you want to see everything. So I suppose it depends if you want a relaxed, warm city break or an active cold one.

Mine liked Barcelona.

But also Amsterdam was quite charming and you don't need to go into the red light district at night. Nice museums, we hired a self drive electric boat to pootle around, did a guided canal tour etc. Anne Frank's house was very interesting, as was the Banksy museum.

Mine also particularly enjoyed a place across the ferry that was packed with retro computer games (you paid by the hour). Think the Eurostar goes direct both ways now too.

I think you should introduce them to culture. Why not? Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence, Barcelona, Lisbon, Naples and Pompeii, Berlin, Amsterdam and Nice are all great for Easter holidays with lots to do.

Berlin, absolutely. What a brilliant city with so much to see and do for all interests.

Lisbon would be good I think. Food is amazing, lots of Insta worthy backdrops and a compact city to explore.

Sintra is close enough to visit for a day too.

Valencia brilliant if you want a beach as well. Loads to do there.

Just came on to say Valencia too. Beach, 9km park running the length of the city, amazing wildlife park…..we took our teens after seeing Travel Man with Richard Ayoadie (apologies to Richard for incorrect spelling of his surname!)

Remember too OP that everyone is off at Easter, plus lots of people haven't been anywhere for two years, so the big cities like Rome, Venice, Paris, Amsterdam will be even busier than they normally are at that time of year (and they're normally heaving). Rome is also full of pilgrims at Easter. Another reason for going to a smaller, less obvious city.