City break with 1-2 year old

[Toddletoddler]

My toddler is 18 months but I'd love to take her on a city break in Europe (with DP). I don't want a beach holiday and I'd like the city to be easily accessible to the airport via public transport as we probably wouldn't hire a car - or maybe we should? My concern is that I'd have to book an Air B&B so we don't wake DD in the evening (we would wake her in a hotel room). I'd appreciate any suggestions! Thank you.

Helsinki, just because there’s the most amazing soft play there, Leikkiluola. Small, compact city, enough to do for a weekend. Carousels everywhere (we went at Christmas because we then took the night train to Lapland).

Paris is also great for toddlers; lots of small city squares, larger playground parks like Luxembourg, the amazing Jardins des Acclimation which has playgrounds, attractions, petting zoos, splash pads etc. Every small town square seems to have a carousel. Plus lots of sightseeing and resting oppos like the bateaux mouches.

Edited to say that Stockholm was also a hit. The Pippi Longstocking place was great, as was the larger outdoor museum whose name escapes me for now.

I second London!

We went to Verona when DS was 18 months old and had an absolutely great time, even managed a day trip to Venice 😊

Ok so, naps. My son at 18 months sounds very much like your little one. He would not nap in the buggy at home but in Italy he had no choice as most days we were out and about all day (we did factor in two days where we returned to the apartment after lunch so he could get a solid two hour nap in his cot).

We bought a lie flat travel buggy and a Snoozeshade and he just fell asleep and stayed asleep for ages. We were amazed.

We enjoyed Lisbon. Loads to do. Good zoo, aquarium, science museum.
Short train ride to beach or sintra.

Do you enjoy city days with her in the UK? If so, go for it...

I did Paris and Amsterdam with my son at 2.5 and it was great. Tiring, but great. Not the same as an adult trip, I've been to a lot of play areas and parks in paris that an adult would never go to.. but equally we did some amazing things that he would have never done at home.

That said, the beach is way easier..

The Hague. It's a city break AND it's by the sea (although climate is similar to UK).

Copenhagen 100%. Best place to visit with a child, toddler, baby. They’re so well fit for families. I lived there for a while and can’t recommend Cph enough!

Yep!

You could hire bikes too with a baby seat or the ‘pram bit’ on the front.
White beaches, great cafes and a tram rude out from the city.

The Netherlands is so easy for public transport and a very quick flight into Amsterdam. Depending how long you are there, you could also visit other cities.

Honestly OP , she’s just going to be strapped in a buggy all day and over hot! A city break with a toddler sounds horrific tbh.

Definitely Munich! Was there in 2008 with my eldest DC who would have been 19 months old at that time. Lovely place to travel to with young children. Lots of transport links accessible with a buggy. Child friendly city.

Amsterdam - lovely small city, child friendly, lots of parks
easy to do day trips to the sea side or to other areas

we live in London and have taken DD everywhere since she is born so city breaks are just similar for us.

i would get an Appartement with a kitchen though, easier to organise sleep and handy for meals if a restaurant 3x a day is just too much.

We also did Venice with a pushchair. First bridge we can to had been adapted and I thought how easy it was going to be. That was one of two adapted bridges we saw in the whole city!

Does your little one go in a carrier? Much easier for travel and sightseeing for them, but bring a buggy for naps, especially in the evening. My son always slept on me in his carrier; sometimes I’d even eat dinner with him strapped to my back asleep! He was very good though at sleeping in a buggy (essential in late night Italy, where you’ll see kids of 5 or more asleep in buggies late at night). We had a City Jogger which went totally flat. With that and a snoozeshade, he slept peacefully whilst we had dinner.

We have had some great city breaks with young children! Lots of my faves already mentioned but I also recommend the Scandinavian/Nordic cities for child-friendliness. Smaller, walkable cities are preferable and having low expectations of ticking off lots of sights - plan on pootling round side streets, stopping in parks etc.

Getting them to sleep in a stroller is a major advantage. As someone mentioned earlier we found the snooze shade a gamechanger. We would sometimes take them out in the stroller around bedtime, walk round until they dropped off and then go to a restaurant for dinner (easier in warm climates with outdoor seating with space to park the stroller next to the table).

We’ve used Airbnb in many places without issue - off ten same apartments are listed in booking.com, either way the platforms are just middlemen, I don’t think one is inherently more trustworthy than the other.

I think she'd enjoy a city break.

what part of a city break do you think she’d enjoy op?

I’m glad someone revived my old thread! My daughter likes cities (we don’t live in one, but been to a few in the UK). I would be bored sitting on a beach or by the pool all day all holiday. Cities mean we can sight see. I might look into the Scandi countries as a lot of posters have suggested!

So where did you go after asking for recs?

and yes…. You enjoy them. Me too. But definitely not a holiday that would be a toddler’s dream holiday! They don’t need much. Mum and / or dad, playground or pool, little walks along the beach, local town etc.

what do you think your toddler enjoys about city breaks? Has she been on one?

Found this as we are just about to leave Budapest our first city break as a couple and we took along our 8 month old and just turned 3 year old and it’s been an absolutely fantastic experience! The parks here are something else ( gellert slide park, Városliget and the transport park were incredible) she has enjoyed the public transport. Her highlight was doing a family bike round Margaret’s island and watching the water fountain show (there is also a fabulous lido/natural spa but we didn’t luck out with the weather!) she’s enjoyed ice cream, hot chocolate and cake including chimney cake. We also did the children’s railway but given she was doing so many trains/ buses/ trams to get around she wasn’t too fussed. She loved pretending to be a princess at fisherman’s bastion. We didn’t get round to a boat tour, the big wheel, the cable car (wasn’t sure on H&S), zoo, think there is an aquarium, aqua land and the funicular. We’ve stayed in an air bnb and eaten out every night it’s pretty cheap and as pretty much everything we’ve done has been free we’ve hardly spent too much. I honestly cannot recommend it enough!