Holiday with toddler- city break?

[mum11123]

Hi. We haven't been abroad since before covid and have had a bonus and therefore would like to go away.
We have a 1 year old- (2 in September).

We initially thought by a hotel all inclusive would be best but the more we think about it- the more we think a city break could work better for an inquisitive toddler.

Is there any places you'd recommend for a city break with a toddler?

Copenhagen and Amsterdam have been our most successful city breaks with small dc.

Yes to both those cities.

Although dd spent about 3 hours on the escalators at the Pompidou Center in Paris when she was 3.

We've done Bologna (and visited other cities in Emilia Romagna on that trip too) and Granada so far with our son aged 18 months and then 22 months. We have Palermo lined up for this summer :D City breaks with toddlers are fab.

Oh I didn't actually answer the question. I found Granada really well suited to holidaying with a toddler but I can imagine places like Lisbon and Seville would be great as well.

Just to say mine loved all the activities such as kids discos and swimming at an inclusive at the same age and we did lots of day trips so you can get the best of both in some countries.

We really liked San Sebastian. Amazing food, ice cream shops everywhere and a beautiful beach too.

Lisbon

Wouldn’t even consider a city break with my 1.5 year old. Hard hard work. Much easier to do beach holidays or all inclusive (it’s my second DC, I have done both with DC1). In the end you end up doing stuff you can do in any city in the world, playgrounds, parks, zoos… no need to fly to Lisbon or Barcelona to hang out in a playground. How do you envisage sightseeing with a walking toddler?

Salzburg - we took our 18 month there. Super clean, friendly people who seem to love children and excellent transport. There are some fantastic museums for kids, there the natural history and technology and toy museum which we spend ages in as there was so much for our toddler to do. The parks were nice and its easy to get out of the city. We got a bus to Wolfgangsee and went up the cable cart. Was the best holiday.

You do you, some of us enjoyed/enjoy city breaks with children, it takes all sorts!

@AllIwantforChristmas22 Well, mine either walked, went in the buggy or was carried in the sling as we toured various sites. He had a blast climbing up the steps to the Sacromonte Caves and looking in all of the rooms :) He enjoyed the Alhambra and seeing the fish in the ponds and all of the different gardens and running around one of Napoleon's palace grounds in Padua.

But then, at home we go to a lot of stately homes with our NT pass so maybe I'm just used to carting him about as that's what we do here 🤷🏻‍♀️

@PrancerandDancer Ooh I'd love to go to Salzburg! I was planning it for this spring but then we lost a baby and everything associated with planning that trip just felt wrong. One day though :)

@TheBirdintheCave I'm so sorry for your loss. Sending healing thoughts.

It is a beauty place, the countryside is stunning. Lots of places for calm and reflection so you might be up for going one day and making a stop somewhere to honour and think about your little one so they are included in the trip also. 💐

That's a great age for a city break! Berlin was good with a toddler. Enjoy it.

Oooohhh I'd go to Malaga and have a couple of days in Palma and then take the wooden tourist train and tram over to Soller/Port de Soller for a few days. I think a toddler would enjoy that. Go outside school hols when it's quieter, less hot and cheaper of course.

We took toddler DS1 to Monaco, New York and Washington. All three worked in different ways so I think pretty much any city can be enjoyable for a toddler if you plan activities that interest them. Plenty of blogs and internet sites dedicated to child friendly activities in most cities.

To the poster who prefers beach holidays with small children, they can be great too but personally I spent all of ours on high alert making sure no one drowned. City breaks are much safer