Help - European holiday with no car and a 9 month old baby!

[DelfiB]

Am trying to organise a trip for me, my partner and our will-be-9/10-month-old baby in April/May this year... Stressful enough trying to imagine how it might all work with a baby on board for the first time, but all the options that seem like a good idea with a baby, like renting a little villa, all seem to be impossible to manage if you can't drive!!

Does anyone have any advice or recommendations for possible locations I could look into? In an ideal world, I'd love to have two legs to the holiday to get a mix of different landscapes as I was hoping in Europe it might be relatively easy to hop on a train between countries -

one greener place with a lake/hills/walks - Switzerland? Germany?

one warmer place with a beach (would be great if could hire a villa with a pool so probably not one of the obvious 'nicest' places for this as would break the budget!). Somewhere in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia? This leg is the trickier one to nail down as everywhere walkable to a beach tends to be far from basic amenities.

Any advice much appreciated!

Villas and not driving don't often go hand in hand. The only time I've done so was in Croatia and as you've discovered there wasn't even a convenience shop in walking distance, it was a 20 minute bus journey each way for a pint of milk (I'd add that I was not involved in choosing or booking the villa!).

It might be easier to look at aparthotels instead, so you get the central location of a hotel but with an apartment and kitchen facilities? We did this with our 6 month old in Spain and it worked well for us.

I'd look at eurocamp / Siblu etc.

I'd do Tenerife we stay at Royal Sun Apartments in Los Gigantes it's half board with restaurants and a shop on site and a supermarket nearby for nappy supplies etc, each room has a kitchenette which is useful when you have a little one with you, all rooms have massive balconies and you could take a blow up paddling pool for the tot to have out there as well as the main toddler pool.

Black sandy beach available which has some good snorkelling.

Then there is a main bus station nearby and you could travel and stay in the North of the Island for your second leg which is less touristy and more forestry. If you book with TUI they can likely do you a multi-centre holiday with transport between the two or just use the bus / taxi.

It's very frustrating, my driving test keeps getting cancelled by the centre and rescheduled for months later - the Covid backlog is making it impossible!

Aparthotel is a good idea but would love a pool just because baby loves the water so much and it seems like an easy win for a fun activity... from what I've looked at, they rarely seem to have pools and are just self-catered accommodation 😐

We got an apartment in San Sebastián and loved it. V foodie and a beach. And we managed to go to Bilbao by bus though I would maybe make that or the mountain leg two of your trip

An outdoor pool is going to be freezing in April/ May. You won’t be able to use it or take a 9 month on in to the see in April in Europe.

If you want to go in April/ May then I would be looking at a hotel with an indoor pool. It will be easier to get to without a car, and pool will be heated inside

Loads of apart-hotels (especially in Spain) have pools. That's sort of the point, that they have all the facilities of a hotel but with apartment style accommodation.

I'd go for Northern Spain or South of France eg Bilbao or Toulouse or Nice. You should be able to find a property or hotel with a pool that is accessible by train or taxi and also access to shops and restaurants etc.
Personally I'd probably stick to 1 centre holiday rather than trying to achieve too much

Not related to the thread but download the DVSA cancellation helper chrome extension and rebook a cancellation yourself. DP did this and managed to get a test in 3 weeks instead of 5 months!

Italy is good for getting around but rarely have hotels with pools unless spending £££

Greece and Turkey are the best value for getting nice hotels imo. How about Athens and then getting on a ferry to a nice island?

Cefalu in Sicily is nice, sandy beach, everything in walking distance. Take a train from Palermo airport. To swim in the pool, you can’t go earlier than mid/end May. I don’t think anywhere in Europe is pool weather in April.

When ds was 11 months we took him to the Algarve and stayed in a very nice self catering place called Monte Santo. A posh but affordable apartment/townhouses complex. A very nice pool set up, bar, restaurant etc. We did hire a car but it wasn’t necessary. It was about a half hour walk to the town (Carvoeiro) and beach but there was a shuttle service and taxis readily available. Easy to organise taxi or private transfer to/from the airport which is about 25 minutes away.

Also some of the train distances between countries are huge and I would not travel overnight on a train w a baby. Focus on one country and area, otherwise you will end up travelling lots.

I think you are trying to do too much. You can't have a 2 centre, non-driving villa holiday near lakes & mountains and a mediterranean style beach with a 9 month old in April / May unless you have a yacht or infinite time and budget.

I think pick an aparthotel with pool in a good sized city where you can get public transport or day trips to lakes/mountains rivers/beach. Porto, Faro, Valencia, Nice, Split, Palma will all have options.

Maybe Copenhagen?
You can fly in directly, walk or public transport, or even hire bike with kids seat.
Get hotel with pool.

You have museums, zoo, parks, museums. At 9 months you can still do more things you like and just baby tag along as they aren’t a running around toddler.

Yes I took my 9 month old to Cefalu and we had a lovely time. Very small, close to beach and they love babies. That said, we had a car and it was August.

Where are you actually travelling from? I did a lot of travelling when kids were small but would not have contemplated eg Switzerland and Portugal in one holiday. You can do mountains and sea in one location (Sierra Nevada or French Alpes Maritimes just 2 examples). But you’ll need a heated pool. Sea /unheated pools will be freezing. I remember a very cold pool at Easter in Egypt 🥶

Many hotels offer 1 bed apartments where you have a kitchenette and a separate bedroom area. You can either put your baby to sleep in the bedroom and join them later or in the living area and be on the balcony/bedroom. Some offer 2 bedrooms if you want that. I would look on a holiday site like EasyJet holidays or Jet2, even if you don't book through them. We have stayed at lots in Menorca/Greek islands with small pools/splash pools, although without a heated pool I doubt your baby will go in! (Or you!)

As an aside, Croatia/Portugal are often pricier destinations in my experience. We have found cheaper options in Spain, although trickier to combine.

How about Annecy in France? You fly into Geneva and take the train - around an hour and a half. Annecy is not a beach resort but has a lovely lake with lots of accommodation options (including parks with indoor pools) and good bus transport. Annecy itself is pretty and well catered for tourists. End of May would be better weather wise.

Canaries would be your best bet for April although the water will be cold unless you get a place with heated pools. We like Lanzarote. Or you could head to Egypt/Morocco but this would be more of a health risk with a very young baby.

For your first trip with the baby why not make it easier for yourself and book a hotel with apartment style rooms and a shared pool? Walking distance to beach and resort for restaurants etc.

Yes good point, you maybe want to look at the Canary Islands or maybe Cyprus/Crete that time of year. Go for somewhere with a heated pool too, we went to Lanzarote in march one year and it was warm enough for sunbathing but the pool was absolutely freezing, colder than the sea!

How about Madeira? That has mountains, beaches, is warm all year round (currently 21 degrees), and has a good bus service

Agree. I'd look to be in a town. Albufeira is usually quite warm by late May, or perhaps somewhere like Chania or Heraklion in Crete? With no car, you either want to be in a resort with options on site or in the middle of the action in a town.

I recommend this to everyone with a baby looking for holiday suggestions but we took our baby to Lisbon when he was 9 months old and it was the best holiday of my life!

great public transport so easy to get from airport to city centre hotel… we had city exploration and then great train links from the city to various towns - we took day trips to the beach and also a bus tour around a few different castles.

it Was so easy to get around and super child friendly, loads to see and do and various changes of scenery easy to hop on a bus/train with minimal planning.

Completely off topic but there are some apps that you can use to get driving test cancellations.

ds used one as he failed, then had a retest which was then pushed back 3 months. He got a cancellation within 2 weeks.

I would shift to late May/early June if you can (but avoid half term as £££).

Agree about looking for apartments - Greece is covered in small apartment complexes with a shared pool so that would probably be my first port of call, and they tend to be in a small resort so with shops, restaurants, beach close by. Crete would be lovely at that time, have a look at Panormos for example but there are loads of small beach based towns. Or Corfu, I believe Meganissi beach on Corfu is ideal for small kids as very shallow and sandy. Having said that a pool is easier than beach with a baby!

Villas tend to be further out of town as you’ve found, plus it’s not easy to find a villa sized for couple & baby so you’d be paying for extra rooms too.