Which city to go to with kids?

[99Luftballon]

Really want to take DC (all under 9 but including a very energetic 3 yo who is not keen on the pushchair) on a break abroad. Can find reasonable flights to Milan, Madrid or Cologne and would be in October. Has anyone been to these cities with kids, and would anyone recommend one over the others? Online research seems to suggest all are fairly family friendly, but would love to hear some people's experiences/thoughts.

I’d lean towards Cologne. I’d spend a few nights in the city and at least one night at Phantasialand, which is easily accessible by train and could even be done in a day trip if you didn’t want to do everything. AquaWorld is also a good day trip from Cologne.

Try Valencia, plenty to do with kids and a great beach!

I know Milan well and probably wouldn't think of it as the best place to take kids, although under 9s are fairly unfussy and it has several parks with playgrounds, it has gelato, pizza galore, and a Metro for getting around. Madrid I haven't done with kids and again it has lots of parks, because there are lots of kids in Madrid, but do you want to spend your time in city parks? You can probably do that in the UK. I don't know Cologne, but I think I'd lean towards yes Valencia or Alicante or somewhere with a beach.

I'd fly to Milan and go to one of the Lakes - Maggiore and Garda are easy to get to

Thanks @Fivemoreminutes1. I hadn't thought about places outside of the city and had forgotten about Phantasialand so will investigate.

@zafferana excellent point...no, I don't want to spend all my time in city parks! Will investigate Alicante and Valencia, they'd be easy to get flights to.
@MissAmbrosia thanks, I'll have a look at the Lakes, I've always fancied them so will investigate further.

I'm not sure cities with a three year old are ever fun are they? Also in October a lot of Europe won't be that warm. I'd go to the Canaries instead. We stayed at Tui Blue, Flamingo beach Lanzarote, was cheap as off season in October, lovely little beach, lovely car free promenade all the way along to Playa Blanca. At that age I'd take them all out of school a day or two earlier for cheaper flights.

There is a reason why they are coming up cheaper than the other destinations 😀

I have taken DCs to all three. Of the three, I suppose that Madrid may present some reasonable possibilities for young children. There is a huge park (Retiro) right in the middle - I doubt a three year old would prefer anything else. I would probably pay a tenner each more and widen my range of options.

I should have said in my OP, but I’m really not into beach holidays. We’re taking them to the beach in summer so I don’t think they’re missing out particularly, but I fancied something a bit different if we were going abroad. Somewhere like Valencia might be good here as I suppose it combines a bit of both.
@Gowithme I think you’ve made a point I might need to accept…I might have to just accept I need to wait before they are old enough to go to explore cities unless I can find somewhere that is super child friendly. We have managed cities before, but there don't seem to be many glowing recommendations here and I may perhaps have got ahead of myself!

One city that's great with kids (and easy to get to) is Paris @99Luftballon . We've been several times with our DC and we're going again this summer now they're older, because there is so much to do there. There's the Bateau Mouches or Batobus for sightseeing from the river, the Museum of Natural History, the Jardin d'Acclimation (a little theme/play park), the Cité des Sciences, there are playgrounds all over the place and they're good - I remember several on the Champ de Mars and between the Eiffel Tour and Trocadero. There's the Parc de le Villette, the catacombs, and of course there's Disneyland and Parc Asterix just outside Paris. The Metro makes getting around very easy and in terms of food, it's brilliant as there is always bread and ice cream for the fussiest of eaters!