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??

Berlin is great for young teens because there’s lots to do, Hamburg is also well worth a visit (spent hours in Miniatur Wunderland).
Depending on time you could do a few days in each, it’s easy to get the train between the two cities.

Barcelona. Or Budapest both are incredible

Lisbon, so lovely. We did a dis surfing with our teens. Also Venice - just unreal. My surly ds actually smiled.

Venice incredibly cool and so much to see and do-my DC were a bit younger and loved it.

Are you looking for city break or city with beach?

Copenhagen very cool as well-and very family friendly with lots for kids to do.
Walk and cycle everywhere!!

@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 🙄

Amsterdam kind of is I'm afraid.

Wonderful city, easy to get around, fun, interesting, educational - but there's no escaping the crowds of pissed men and the reek of pot wherever you go

A PP said Paris was expensive but we found it no more expensive than London. We stayed in Novotel Suites by the Stade de France, public transport was really cheap and you can usually find a cheap fixed price menu, especially at lunchtime when it's cheaper.

So we've booked Barcelona.. thx for all advice!

I took my 16 yr old dd to Lisbon. It was fab. Trains really cheap to beach; Sintra was very special; trams, etc. Lots to do.

Do you have to go abroad? why not go to Liverpool - museums, the Cavern, boat trip on the river Mersey, theatres. Or Edinburgh or Newcastle - you can get the Metro to the beach.

We are off to Berlin but....ds will have 4 months left on his passport when we go. Done lots of googling( so please dont suggest that) but am getting two different answers. Some say you only need 3 months but some say 6. Does anyone know which is correct?. Thanks

@dementedma

We are off to Berlin but....ds will have 4 months left on his passport when we go. Done lots of googling( so please dont suggest that) but am getting two different answers. Some say you only need 3 months but some say 6. Does anyone know which is correct?. Thanks

It’s 3 months from the date that you plan to leave Germany.

Passport validity

If you are planning to travel to an EU country (except Ireland), or Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino or Vatican City, you must meet the Schengen area rules.

Your passport must meet 2 requirements. It must be:

less than 10 years old on the day you enter (check the ‘date of issue’)

valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the ‘expiry date’)

www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/germany/entry-requirements

Read this with interest. Thanks for the thread. Enjoy your break. We did Barcelona in 2019 and both kids loved it as did we. Combo of beach plus sights is a winner.

Our teens' favourite city breaks were Barcelona and Paris. We rented cheap yet central Airbnb accommodation and there was so much to see and eat!

Barcelona is fantastic, such a great city with so much to do . Another vote for Valencia too as its smaller than Barca but still with tons to do . My teen also loved Amsterdam, we were so lucky with the Easter weather and stayed at the Sir Adam ( as featured on Travel Man with Richard Whatisname) ....the swing was a huge hit with my teen

Just did Barcelona with mine. Easy to get around, nice food, friendly. We did park guell, sagrada familia, super yacht gawping, food market, loads of eating. Moco museum had a really cool street art exhibition which they loved.

We travel a lot with our teen & over tye years they've enjoyed: Prague, Budapest, Krakow, Gdansk, Malaga, Venice, Dublin, Galway, Florence, London, Madrid, Paris, Berlin. We research a lot & found things of interest in every place
I think introducing then to art & culture at an early age is vital if you can.
Some of those places they've been to two or three times.
On our wish list to bring teen we have:
Rome
Lisbon
Bruges
Tallin
Warsaw
Naples

Barcelona, Amsterdam, Iceland, Rome!