Has anyone done a city break with young children children in Europe?

[NightOwlGirl]

This is really a follow on post from a previous post I made about options for an October half term holiday. We have budget of £1500 (including spending money), but more importantly dh only has 3 days a/l. My preference is an all inclusive break to the Greek Islands, but dh thinks that 7+ hours travelling time each way ( including airport transfers) is too much. He favours city break in southern Europe somewhere, but where? Has anyone done city break with a 5 Yr old & 7yr old? The idea doesn't fill me with any enthusiasm. What worked or didn't work? I'm open to ideas or suggestions. Main requirements are a destination that has a reasonable prospect of warm sunny weather, and a maximum three hours flight time from Heathrow or Gatwick.

God i wouldnt even consider this with my 2.5 year old.... the 6m only... yes but the toddler 😑

Against the grain i am going to suggest Ghent as the most suitable city break i can think of.

Eurostar and train gets you there... fun for a toddler.
Lots of riverways / boats which are again fun
Decent food
Nice cafes too
theres the gravenstein (which would be okay / considered fun by my toddler)

Rome is also not a bad shout - italians really do love kids!
The vatican would blow my oldests mind!

If you want warm off season, our (admittedly pre kids) strategy was to book the time off and then wait until a couple of days before and try to find somewhere with cheap flights where the weather forecast for the next week was good. We had very successful breaks to Florence, Amsterdam and Lisbon doing this.

Yes to the "find a play area" aspect - I always look on Google maps for one even local to us if it's somewhere we haven't been before.

Lisbon has been the biggest hit with my 5 year old so far but we were there for a week and his favourite thing to do is travel on public transport. There is a good playground near the castle. With just 3 days you could go on the Eurostar and make the train part of the holiday - anywhere in Belgium is accessible with a Eurostar ticket, or Paris/Lille or Amsterdam. Or Disneyland Paris?

Someone has already suggested Ghent which I love and agree would make a good city break. Not sure if it would be warm enough for you in Oct. You could easily do a day trip to Bruges on the train from Ghent. Also Belgium has an amazing zoo, think the biggest in Europe. Not very easy to get there from Ghent by train but only an hour drive from Ghent if you took a car/hired a car.

We did Porto when then kids were 3 and 6, which was a good break.

Rome and Seville were my first thoughts but in your shoes I would probably look at logistics for travel and cost first. Almost anywhere can be a success because it will all be new and 'an adventure' and there will be two adults for two children which makes life easy.

Another vote for Rome, we went with 4 and 8 year olds had an absolutely amazing time. Food was fabulous, so much to see and do. Recommend gladiator school for kids in suburbs of Rome and also Mount Vesivous and Pompeii

I am just back from Valencia and it would be perfect. Direct flight from Heathrow.

Easy city to navigate-gorgeous beaches nearby, big arts and science complex, a zoo/nature reserve and lots of parks to play in.

People very friendly-highly recommend.

I took m just turned 5 year old to Paris last year. He is well travelled and a fan companion. We loved it and did all the touristy things including the Eiffel Tower, boat trip etc.

Definitely do it!

We love a city break with the kids!

We've had the most success when we've planned our days and stayed in an aparthotel with an indoor swimming pool.

Particular favourites were Copenhagen, Amsterdam and London. Looking into Brussels/Bruges next.

@MoveToParis We absolutely loved Porto but went without our kids and when we were there commented that it seemed a good child-free destination. Is there much for young kids to do? Lisbon seemed better for families.

We've been to Ghent this year, we took our car theough the Eurotunnel which was a lot cheaper than 4 tickets on the Eurostar, even when you factored in E40 for 3 nights parking in a city centre car park. The drive was easy although depends where you live in the UK. Our DC are adults but we enjoyed the Gravenstein Castle which had Horrible Histories style audio tours (lots of younger DC using them), the boat trips, going on the trams, waffles and ice creams. Probably chilly in October though.

I think it depends on your children's personalities. If they will struggle to wait patiently for 5 minutes while you read a map or figure out metro tickets for a city you don't know then it might not be the right option... Or if they're fussy with food. Our 7 year old refused to eat his burger and chips in a European city recently because it was made with mature cheese, proper bread and proper potatoes (rather than mcds style tasting of nothing much...). He would happily have eaten a plate of plain broccoli/carrots/peas though but funnily enough that wasn't on the menu...
Or if your child is liable to sing a song about bums loudly on public transport maybe rethink....
Needless to say our recent trip wasn't entirely successful....! It was only for a day though, maybe having a base to retreat to might have helped. I am not going to attempt it again in a hurry though...
My children are more than capable of behaving themselves and are used to public transport and visiting UK cities but the 7 year old seemed to be on a mission to be the worst possible version of himself that day....

Oh and it's always fun when child announces they need the toilet right now and you're in the middle of a city you don't know... So allow a bit of extra money for getting a drink in a cafe to use the toilet and similar.
Also remember in many European cities you have to pay for public toilets so have plenty of change ready.
Not a reason not to do it but just to make sure expectations are realistic.... :)

It's true that Greece is a bit of a schlep for 5 days max, but equally I can see why a 5 year old on a city break might seem more trouble than it's worth. And certainly more effort than an all inclusive with a pool and kids club. So rather than you just acquiescing, I'd be looking at compromise options. Especially if it's going to end up falling to you to do the organising and mental load aspects of the trip. Which let's be honest, is hardly unknown for the woman in a family.

What about half board in a hotel somewhere near a coastal city, so you can mix things up? Pick one that has a heated pool, even if just indoor, so there can be easy beach and pool plus culture vulture options. For this sort of thing, the southern half of Spain probably the best option within a couple of hours flight, if warm is a priority. You could also try the Algarve but at that time of year, the further west you go the riskier it is weather wise. Faro is lovely but I don't know what it's like in October.

City breaks are great with children! When the worst comes to the worst, there are parks, museums, river trips...and McDonald's if they need a bit of familiarity

Paris (kids were 4 and 7)
Copenhagen (5 & 8)
Nice/Monaco (7&10)
Belfast (8&11)

More recently Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Vienna

I found, travelling with smell children, if they were nicely behaved, we often got fast tracked through security.

Smell children is about right with my two…. 😅😅😅😅

Just back from Paris an hour ago with 8 and 5 year olds. They enjoyed our 2 night stay and wanted to stay for longer.
We were in Croatia last week which they also enjoyed and is a 2 hour flight from the UK.

Loads of good suggestions already but next on our list city break wise is;
Rome
Amsterdam
Barcelona

We will be going to The Algarve, Portugal for the October half-term which, again, is only a three hour flight.

A city break is ideal. Greece is both too hot and too far. Young children love museums and ice cream and cafés. They only like theme parks because someone tells them they do

Yes Rome! There are lots of activities aimed at younger kids like gladiator school and pizza making class. Even without these, Rome is a great city, download a child friendly guide to the monuments (Rick Steves is good) and tell them some of the stories of ancient Rome as you wander round. And obviously the food is great for kids.

Marrakech is also a good option IMO - should be warm and sunny, it’s exotic and colourful, feels very different but a short way away. We took ours at younger than yours and they loved it. Recommend staying outside the medina for quiet and more space to run about, there are various family friendly places about a 10 min taxi ride from the medina.

Or maybe Amsterdam plus Efteling? More of a weather risk but they’re just the right ago. 2 days in each.

As mentioned Barcelona is brilliant with kids.

I'd say Barcelona only because so many if the hotels have pools as well as a beach. Feels more "sun holiday" if that's what you wanted.
Rome is a good shout but less pools.

Both are very kid friendly, easy to walk around, lots to see and do for free and fabulous food and drink.

Cities we've been with kids in October that were wonderful:
Barcelona
Valencia
Malaga

I agree with your husband, take as short a flight as possible!