Short haul Europe - inspiration needed!

[Glamisastateofmind]

Hello!

I was hoping to get some travel inspiration / ideas from you lovely people! DH and I were planning a weeks break for us, his DPs and our baby late august/early September. Original plan was to go to the Cotswolds, but we have just got back from Croatia and found that our little one seemed to enjoy the travel. So we are thinking we may go a little further afield! We’d like to stay within Europe so the flight isn’t too long. We’re not really beachy / sunbathing people - pre baby we have done hiking holidays in Canada and the US. We’d ideally like somewhere where there’s lots to do during the day and some nice restaurants (so not too remote). We’re not fussed as to whether we go self catered or a hotel, but we’d like somewhere nice and where we can chill out as a group.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks so much!

Plenty of the greek islands would work, or even Athens if you prefer city life with the bonus of a beach for the odd day.

Other places I've found plenty to do are Malta, Funchal and Barcelona. We aren't really a beach family but these places all tick the boxes for a combination of history, sight seeing and good food, with good hotels and places to relax in the sun for some down time.

Southern Germany! You can still go hiking/walking, there will be pubs with nice food on every corner. Lots of hotels, b&bs, farm stays, … Lake Constance is beautiful with lots of different things to do.

Malaga.

Brittany. South of France north of Nice. North Spain. Normandy. All have lovely towns, fantastic scenery, good food and plenty to see. Tuscany could work too.

I was going to say Malaga - close to sea and mountains, lots of art and history, or just chilling round plazas and so on. Barcelona and Lisbon also good like that. The German suggestion is good, or the Netherlands.

Lake Garda could work well - there’s a buggy friendly promenade round several of the towns, lots of restaurants, plenty of gentle trips to do by bus/boat/car. Should be a bit less hot than Greece etc too. I do love Greece but would aim for mid Sep there for slightly cooler weather.

Lisbon

The eastern side of Sicily around Mt Etna, Catania and Taormina

Seville.

Sam Sebastián

I'm not beachy at all and in past years we've done Madrid and Toledo, Brussels, Lisbon, Menorca and the Algarve.
Lots of nice days out in all, as active or not as you want. All very child friendly.
The biggest surprise was Brussels. We only went because of the cheap flight. It was bloody lovely and really interesting.

Thanks so much!! Loving all these suggestions. I think the Germany/Lake Constance idea looks most promising so far - lots of research to do I think!

French Alps, Lake Annecy

Burgundy is lovely - lots of great food / wine. Easy to get to on eurostar.

Budapest! Or Riga - another surprisingly beautiful city

Munich / Bavaria. The weather is lovely in the summer. Great food and beer, with lovely outdoor dining and beer gardens. Day trips to castles and lakes. The centre is easy to get around on foot and public transport.

Chamonix/French Alps

Late Aug/Sept is a good time to go after the UTMB madness. I've just come back from there and it was wonderful. Had such a chilled week, weather was great, scenery wonderful, mountains really hard work! If you want to hike there's a number of very pretty low level paths, the town itself is flat as a pancake and you'd have no trouble with a pram.

I live in Seville. It will be very hot then.

Vote for Basque region. Either France or Spain.

Different. Not swarming with Brits. Good food.