Help me plan an adventure!

[Havefacewilltravel]

For various reasons my 10yr old has had a difficult time this last year or so and as a treat I’ve promised a European adventure this summer. It’s just us two.

I’m thinking of flying into somewhere and then training it around a few cities. Does anyone have any recommendations of routes/ great places/ places a bit different to visit. I was thinking maybe some Scandinavia (although maybe too pricey) or some Eastern Europe. I don’t really want to do cities like Berlin, Paris, Brussels. Lovely as they are I’m looking for something a bit different - to show the different cultures of the world a bit!

It will probably only be 7-10 days (dependent on how expensive it is!) so not a massive tour but hoping to do something fun. Not luxury, but not hosteling either. Any ideas or experiences v welcome!!

We flew to Prague and did Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna, Seefeld in Tirol and Munich. Very cheap by train in Eastern Europe, though I priced up against an interrail ticket. Under 12s are free I think. We did 2 or 3 nights in each place and I booked apartments via Booking.com. Loads to see and do.

We have done Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro - beautiful countries, not sure about trains/public transport. And maybe too much to do all three in a week. Of the three I’d pick Montenegro - cheapest and our favourite.

We flew toMadrid and then went by train to Granada and Seville.

For me, it would be very stressful to try and do a train trip to go to lots of different places in this few days. You would be travelling a lot and worrying about connections, trains being delayed, cancelled.
I would focus on one or two places - like fly to Geneva or Turin to get to the mountains. Or fly to somewhere like Barcelona or Athens’ have a couple of days in the city and then catch a ferry to one of the islands nearby.

A European adventure sounds lovely, OP!
Many great ideas in the thread.

I think I agree with @Genericusername12345 , two destinations sounds like enough for the time you are planning to be away. But, of course, you know yourself and your child the best, and what you can handle.

One idea could be to fly to Stockholm, enjoy the city and the Stockholm archipelago, and then travel by ferry to for example Finland or Latvia.

I hope you will have a wonderful adventure!

Happy travels!

As a starting point, what is your son into - ancient history? WWII? Watersports? Football? Art? Try and choose somewhere that has some interest for him along the way. I love this bit in the planning stage, finding something to do it see that each of the family will appreciate.

My first thought was Croatia/Slovenia and Venice as my 11yo loved how unique venice is! You may even be able to do Switzerland and northern Italy/Venice in that time. Or what about Lyon over to the Swiss Alps? There’s the awesome glacier express train that runs through the mountains. I haven’t been on it yet but it’s on the list!

Amsterdam also a big hit with mine as there’s so much to do there - museums, cycle hire, windmills and tulip fields. You could take the train to Den Haag, Rotterdam or somewhere else in the Netherlands, or even Antwerp or Germany? The rail routes are really good. If he likes theme parks, Efteling in Kaatsheuvel (Netherlands) is magical.

I’ve never been further north to Scandinavia, so no help there but I’ve been pondering the southern coast of Portugal and Spain, including Gibraltar and maybe a trip over to Ceuta or Morocco.

Happy planning!

No idea why I assumed it was a son you were talking about, sorry!! 🤦‍♀️

Best website to look at for European train travel is https://www.seat61.com/index-mobile.htm

We considered the Bernina Express for example which looked amazing!

@SkaneTos yes I was looking at that. Stockholm then overnight to Tallin!

she’s a girl! She’s into music and creative stuff and likes exploring and discovering museums and stuff. Loves Greek history but not heading there in August we’ll fry!

You could do Stockholm Helsinki Tallinn. Sadly you can't add St Peters burgers into thay schedule anymore. You can ferry between each.
Or you could Stockholm, ferry to Turku, train to Helsinki, ferry to Tallinn

We did Krakow, Tatra mountains, Bratislava, Vienna but Krakow to Bratislava was a road trip. Just Bratislava to Vienna was train.you could do Bratislava -Vienna then down the Danube by boat to Budapest

You could also fo Lisbon & Oporto if you want somewhere warmer. Sinatra is a short train ride from Lisbon.

Sintra ot Sinatra!

I would do the Baltic states and Poland as your budget will stretch better. If funds allow you could even take the ferry to Finland (it's not as pricey as Norway and Sweden) the overnight train to the arctic circle would be worth considering.

Eg fly to Warsaw, trains/coaches through to Estonia, ferry, train to north, train/fly c south to Helsinki and fly home/ferry to Stockholm, fly home. Not sure how tight your budget is?

We've done Zurich (Switzerland) than train to Freiburg (Germany) and train to Strassbourg (France). All 3 cities are beautiful and very different... they also offer great "add ons" if you want to explore the surrounding areas.

Some amazing ideas/ routes here thanks so much. Might come back and update when I’ve planned it.

@countrygirl99 damn, I fancied a burger…..

Has anyone visited Albania with kids?

We've done a couple of city hopping trips. The first was flying into Bratislava, then a boat up the Danube to Vienna, a train to Budapest and then a train (I think) back to Bratislava. The second one was flying into Riga, an overnight train to St Petersburg, a train to Helsinki, a ferry to Tallinn and then a coach back to Riga (appreciate St Petersburg might not be doable at the moment). We varied the amount of time in each place, depending on what we fancied doing there and we mixed up the type of place we stayed to include some slightly quirkier options (eg a Rapunzel-esque tower in Tallinn, a former prison in Helsinki etc.) There are so many options and fun things to do in cities across Europe, I'm sure you'll have a great time wherever you go.

One thing I would say though is that on our second trip, we were quite exhausted by the time we got to Tallinn after action-packed stops in the first 3 cities and all the travelling, so even though it was a beautiful place, I don't think we really got the most out of being there. We said we would probably limit it to 3 cities if we did something like that again. Just something to bear in mind.

@CloseTheCurtainsPlease these sound brilliant! How long were you around for?

My DS and I did the whole thing by train, London to Zurich, 2 nights in Zurich, week in Morzine in a chalet in the summer so all the alps stuff, back to Paris for 3 nights, Disneyland Paris for 3 nights and then on to Brussels for 3 nights before home. Loved it. Best holiday ever.

@Havefacewilltravel They were both fantastic trips. I think the first one was only about 4/5 days. We actually thought it would be fun to do 3 countries in one day on one of the days so that is what we did - breakfast in Bratislava, lunch in Vienna and dinner in Budapest! It meant we only had a few hours in Vienna which definitely wasn't long enough, but we preferred the other 2 cities anyway to be honest and it was a very fun day. The second trip was about 12 days I think. I'm getting a bit jealous of you planning your adventure. I loved planning our trips. We have a very energetic toddler now so it might be a while before we do this type of travelling again!

I want to go to St Peter's Burgers now!!

@CloseTheCurtainsPlease thanks for all the advice, and don’t worry I’ve done my fair share of resort holidays with a toddler - that’s why now she’s older I want to break free!!

We went to St Petersburg a few years ago - it was incredible. I fancy St Peter’s Burgers though!!!!

Hopefully my St Peter's burgers are nice and juicy! We did a ferry trip from Helsinki. Overnight and docked breakfast time, left early evening. I'd love to go back but obviously it's not going to happen any time soon. I wouldn't go midsummer again though. Couldn't get near anything in the Hermitage, it was rammed.