Long weekend in southern Europe with baby

[tgi]

can anyone recommend a good place to go in March for a long weekend. We will our 11 month old with us and no car.

we are looking for a relaxed local town, ideally on the coast (but not necessary). Nice places to walk around town, restaurants and cafes, and scenic pretty place.

thinking of Italy or Spain. We have stayed in Monopoli in puglia before and loved that, so a similar vibe would be great. Cefalu in sciliy also looks great but I can’t find any direct flights in march.

ideally i’d prefer to avoid big cities, as we want a fairly chilled few days.

Estepona or Nerja

Cefalu is amazing, I can’t recommend it enough. Been there a few times with kids and ticks all your boxes.
can you fly to Catania and do Taormina or Siracusa?

Also nice Bardolino or Lazise at Lake Garda (fly to Verona) - please note March is not summer season yet in Italy, choose a touristy place like Taormina where things are definitely open.

I think Lake Garda would be a bit chilly in March .

I agree these are both lovely . You are looking at about 45 mins from airport for Nerja or an hour for Estepona.

Thanks for the replies, really liking the sound of Siracusa (specifically Ortigia). Will it be ok with a pram? Taormina looks lovely but a bit too steep with a pram.

also like the sound of Lazise in lake Garda. I don’t mind it being a little chilly as long as it’s not wet (but it would be nice to be able to sit outside fairly comfortably)

out of sircusa and lazise which would you say is best for a long weekend with a 11 month old, if we want a relaxed few days pottering around a nice scenic town with good food? We’ll be with parents in their early 70s.

any recommendations for apartments to stay in?

Because it’s March I would do Siracusa. Lots of restaurants etc don’t open at Lake Garda until April/May. Ortigia has a daily market for example and it’s easy to do day trips for beach walks to Avola or Fontane Bianche. But if you only have 3-4 days you can easily fill them in Siracusa.

I would take a very light weight stroller that can easily be folded, you should be ok in Siracusa. I have a Silver cross travel one that is allowed as hand luggage and makes it so much easier. When you land you can immediately put baby in buggy and don’t have to wait around.

The food is amazing!