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!

I think you might be overcomplicating it by looking for multiple centres. What about a lakes/mountain combo in either France or Austria, they can be pretty warm in summer but are often have a down period with limited lifts and accommodation open between Easter and end May.

Fly to Málaga then bus to Nerja.
Or fly to Palma Mallorca and the cute train to Soller.
Train to South of France

Lake Como would be perfect mix, esp if you move dates to early June

Very good point I hadn't considered, thank you!

I hadn't heard of this chrome extension but could be a lifesaver, thank you! Will check it out

On the cold topic: ski season in Switzerland can extend into April. Don’t look at the alps for reliable lovely summery walks at that time of year… Go somewhere lower.

Agree on apartments. For France look at Pierre et vaccances maybe?

Not too different in temperature to at home might be best for a baby in any event. A bit warmer, yes, but if you go a long way to a very different temperature you are more likely to have a challenging week.

Thanks so much everyone for these suggestions! 😊

Agree Greece/Greek Islands would be lovely for this time of year but slightly put off by the length of the flight @BendingSpoons

Copenhagen is a really interesting thought @Caspianberg but perhaps a bit on the chilly side - but maybe if I bump things to late May/early June workable!

Haven't heard of Cefalu but will look into it, thanks for the rec @SchoolDilemma17 @FKAT

And agree @Radiatorvalves maybe trying to do 2 countries in 1 trip might be a bit ambitious, but two areas of one country... Lisbon sounds great @HangryHandful and could mix with the Algarve, or one of the Italian Lakes @Chocbuttonsandredwine especially if I could combine it with day trips or a stay somewhere else nearby.

Love the sound of Monte Santo and Carvoeiro too @Clearinguptheclutter , I normally prefer to avoid hotels and get an air bNb but looks brilliant!

Lake Garda. We took a baby there years ago, lightweight buggy/sling. Great local transport, nice walks and hotel staff loved the little one. No car needed.

Honestly honestly you hoof yourselves and the baby and 17 bags across Europe and have done 2 airports etc etc you will be more than happy to unpack once and RELAX. The baby really won’t care where it is, and will hopefully be super chilled just to be in the sunshine.

Enjoy your holiday.

oh actually just thought, Lisbon and Cascais is a thought?

Lisbon and Caiscais is a great option. We stayed here which has apartment rooms and a lot of pools. Bit of a trek to other restaurants though there is one onsite.
https://www.booking.com/hotel/pt/sheraton-cascais-resort.en-gb.html

Southern Spain Malaga to feungirola is serviced by an amazing train.

It's very easy to fly to Malaga - catch train and stay somewhere coastal (most apartments have pools) and then can travel inland to somewhere greener and hillier from there as plenty of places inland from southern Spain.

If you're looking at the west coast of Portugal, I'd go as late as possible in your time bracket. Don't know that Lisbon would be swimming weather in April, unless you're hardy.

I also think that you are being a bit over ambitious for your first holiday with a baby, I presume you are trying to continue to do the same type of holiday as before or similar maybe?
I am not saying you can only have a hotel?AI type holiday now but there must be a halfway house you can do that doesn't involve a lot of travelling, especially by public transport.
If you want sight seeing and mountains look into Kinderhotels

Have you considered European Center Parcs or Landal Green Parks? They will have indoor pools, lots of activities and on site grocery shops. I'm not sure which ones would be OK without a car, but definitely worth a look. Landal Hof van Saksen is fantastic.

Forgot to add that there will be Facebook groups for UK CP and Landal users which will be a good source of info.

We're car free, so do this a lot! You can get trains to all the beach resorts between Barcelona & Tarragona, or Marseille to Nice, most of which will have villas within a short taxi ride of the station. Brittany is easy by train too, but buses are few and taxis expensive so you have to stay nearish a station. Including mountains on the same trip is going to be harder. It's often a long train ride from mountain to sea because the trains have to go along valleys. Most ski resorts are accessible by public transport and a lot of alpine complexes have pools. The big lakes often have beaches, but it's not quite the same. Turkey might be an option because transfers between towns are cheap as are internal flights. Cyprus has both, as does northern Greece, but you'll have to stay in towns.

I imagine you wouldn't want to drive on the opposite side of the road with unfamiliar signs, etc in your first few months of driving even if you could.

A package with flights, accommodation and transfers included is going to be easiest.