Ideas for family holiday that isn't the typical beach and pool

[puppylovey]

Thinking of holiday destinations for next year. For myself, DH and 2 DC age 5 and 2.

I wanted to look at some different options, as opposed to booking up a beach holiday in Spain/Portugal which is what we originally do.
A nice city or mountain holiday that would still be good for the kids?? Any ideas?

We would have to go in the school holidays and ideally would like to spend no more than £2500 but up to £3000 at a stretch.

We’ve been to Stockholm with young DC and had a great time. We spent a few days in the city and a few days in a lodge on the archipelago swimming and paddling around the lakes.

If you wanted to stay in the UK then a couple of days in Edinburgh followed by a stay in Aviemore would be great for kids that age.

West coast of Jutland, Denmark. Rent a summerhouse (cottage) - there are thousands near to the lovely wide-open beaches. Fly to Billund, then rent a car. Billund itself of course has the original Legoland, but also the fabulous Lego House which is really good for adults and children (even the 2 year old). Lots of other activities in the west coast area (Aquarium, Viking museum, WOW Park and much more).

Austria is also a good bet. Serfus as the others above have mentioned. Saalbach-Hinterglemm is also great in summer. There is a playground at the top of every cable car (cable cars there are free to use in the summer if you stay in accommodation that participates in the Joker Card scheme - which is almost all hotels, B&Bs and apartments) as well as a few in the valley, and there are treasure hunts and adventure trails on the mountains. There are a couple of Kinderhotels, such as the Ellmauhof in Hinterglemm.

We flew to Salzburg and had 2 nights exploring there before getting trains to a few of the lake/mountain areas eg Zell am See and it was one of our best holidays. Stayed in wonderful hotels with pools so you still get that but so much more to do with exploring the mountains and small towns and lakes.

I would also suggest Copenhagen having just moved back from there

It's got white sandy beaches all along the coast- the bridge over to Malmo is a lovely cheap trip on the train (even better views in a car) there are playgrounds everywhere and tons of superb family hostels and also great indoor shopping centres if you hit bad weather, plus you have the zoo which is in a lovely part of the city, Bakken (which is like a Hansel and gretle theme park in the woods (getable to on the train) Tivoli in the centre of the city and a superb metro for getting around with lifts down at most stations. There are also lots of boat trips , a terrific open air street food area you get to on a boat - food and drink out are pricey but there are ways around it- portions are big ! (easily shareable) And you can drink your own stuff by sides of docks, in parks etc- supermarket booze is cheaper than uk !! It's a very fun place

Agreed. This is a beautiful part of the world. We ski in Rauris, which is just down the road from Zell and it looks beautiful in the summer, as does Zell.

I know Rauris has a community outdoor swimming pool and you can also swim in the lake on the mountain (it's right by the gondola station). Looking at the webcam, they've got a swing set up for the summer by the gondola too.

www.raurisertal.at/en/service/valley-weather/livecams/

If your budget would stretch to it, Boston and stay in an AirBnB or aparthotel. The best family holidays we have had have been there. so many amazing and family friendly museums and great parks too. I’d go in October, Easter or May half term rather than summer though.

I would second Lake Garda. It’s our favourite family holiday. It thinks every box for us - scenery, food, outdoorsy, easy to travel around, but you can also do the whole hotel & pool thing there too.
You can do day trips to Milan, Venice or Verona

We are in Center Parcs in the Netherlands.
Loads to do for all ages. Mine is a teen so we haven't been near the tots bits but have seen lots in passing.

The weather is glorious. It's much cheaper than the UK and the cottages are all refurbished and really lovely.

I'm currently toasting on the patio and DS has gone to the pool/waterslides

This

Like @RhubarbFairy and @drinkwithanumbrellainit I recommend the Netherlands.

Im at Beekse Bergen safari resort right now with a 5 and a 2 yo. We’re having a brilliant break, we came over on the night ferry, we’ve been round the safari park, to Efteling and to the playland (speelland), plus just hanging out in our lodge watching the animals and going for a swim at the resort pool.

This is the first time we’ve brought our kids abroad and the Netherlands feels very family friendly, there’s changing tables in almost every toilet, plenty of public loos at the places we’ve been and playgrounds everywhere.

We are already planning on coming back in a few years time.

My daughter used to love De Efteling (and we loved the price outside Dutch school holidays!). It is about an hour from Schiphol airport on a good day.

We also had a lovely time at Lalandia in Billund (like a nicer version of Centreparcs and opposite Legoland). The airport is about a mile away and there are some nice beaches within an hour (albeit chilly water).

Invariably we have combined such visits with a Youth Hostel of a rural/historic Airbnb. A lot of small farms had converted outbuildings when DD was small enough to love calves/puppies/ponies.

Bodensee (Lake Constance), which covers Germany, Austria & Switzerland.
Beautiful thermal pools, lakeside beaches & play areas, cycling, paddle boarding, sailing, boat trips, fabulous ice cafes, and even a Zeppelin museum! Just perfect - fly to Zurich or Basel, then get the train to Konstanz in Germany as a base.

Keeping on the Netherlands trend I can recommend Duinrell

Huge waterpark and little one friendly theme park on site . Easy cycle access to wonderful clean beaches and the small town (Wassenar) has some lovely restaurants, pancake houses and an excellent jumbo supermarket for self catering

We've taken our own tent, stayed in euro camp and canvas holidays mobiles and stayed in their own chalets there. Only about a 4 hour drive from the euro tunnel

Dcs loved it from ages 3 to 12. Still reminisce about going down the huge bumpy slide on cheap fleece blankets that went so fast they burnt friction holes

Further to @Madcats post about Billund in Denmark - where both the Lego Hotel and Lalandia are really good - English school holidays do not clash with the Danish and German school holidays (Danish schools went back on Monday 8th Aug.) so prices are not too bad and Legoland and the excellent Lego House are not as busy as they would be in July.

There are flights to Billund from several UK airports and nowhere is more than a 5 minute bus ride from the airport. There is a shuttle bus service that runs all day in July and August.

I call bs on that one
2 and 5 are fine for museums you just got to make it fun for them but it's totally doable
most cities have play areas or places to burn off steam
how do you think people live in cities (where most people live!) entertain their kids!?
for example my littlest daughter is mega into dinosaurs and fossils so adores any natural history museums (she's 4 but has loved them since she was a toddler)
my older twins (9) enjoyed city breaks to Paris, Barcelona and london when they were under 5 we just mixed things up a bit

Efteling this year.
Then in a couple of years Duinrell (has water park and kids theme park).
Disneyland Paris when they're both over 5.
All of these are short breaks so you can have a few days at the beach as well.

Zombie! Sorry I didn't check.

Why are museums out? DD was going to all kinds from babyhood onwards.

Yes, it's not the most relaxing trip but we always had a great time. If there was something either DH or I wanted to see in a bit more peace we would split up for a while.

I’d do a farm stay with children 2 and 5. We stayed in a great place in Majorca . The visiting children were allowed to feed the chickens and collect the eggs daily . They loved it . There was a playground and lots of toys / ride one .

Having lived in Copenhagen it's a good bet with young kids- especially if you like cycling as they have the bikes that are like cycle/pushchair combined- it does have a great beach, excellent modern metro, boat trips, 2 fantastic theme parks, little kids playgrounds everywhere, Tivoli in the centre and Bakken 20 minutes out in woods on the train , fantastic zoo and aquarium. Meals out are not that cheap but enormous - so kids can just eat bits of yours. Tons of amazing high end Airbnb's or funky hostels with family rooms at the budget end -