City Break May

[LightOfAThousandStars]

Any ideas for a city break with tweens and a 7 year old? We've already been to Barcelona, Portugal and Paris. Thinking of May half term, something that isn't too expensive is a bonus.

Poland?

Budapest or Prague.

We've been looking at slovenia for later on in the year, looks really nice

Porto is lovely and good value. Lots to do

Sorry - missed that you said you’d been to Portugal. Berlin is really fab

Thank you for the lovely ideas, we were considering Budapest but it's good to have recommendations

Not been to Budapest, although my husband went there for a stag-do and really enjoyed it.

Like another poster I would recommend Poland, in particular Gdansk.

The “Old” Town of Gdansk (much of it was destroyed in the Second World War and rebuilt) is vibrant with its colourful buildings, shops (especially Amber) outdoors restaurants and Museums. You could take a “pirate” boat trip to Westerplatte (start of invasion of Poland and WW2), climb St Mary’s Church Tower (over 400 steps), visit the beach at Sopot with a range of water sports and a pier. If you have time you can take a day trip by train to Malbork Teutonic Castle (largest brick built castle in Europe). We found Gdansk very reasonable (especially compared to Barcelona).

Seville

We're just back from Krakow, and it was wonderful. Beautiful city, cheap, easy to walk around or get public transport/bolts. Every type of food you can think of, and some great street food areas. Although we went without kids, there's plenty there that would be good for kids, including a theme park that's not too far away, and some fun attractions/museums in the city centre, plus several day trips in the surrounding areas.

@LightOfAThousandStars We always linked a city with school work. Eg MFL, geography or history. Berlin is good. Paris for art etc. Amsterdam for WW2. Depends whether they like art and history though! Rome and Venice were popular too. Sadly St Petersburg is off limits. Very good trip there. Nice is great and you can get the train to Montecarlo. Didn’t find Budapest that great but Vienna was. Copenhagen and Stockholm are also worth considering. The Vasa is a fantastic exhibition. Lastly Reykjavik. Not the greatest city but the geothermal area is amazing.

Wow thank you that gives us a lot to think about and adding Reykjavik to the list!

Thank you, that sounds lovely!

Thank you, we didn't even think about Poland but will add it to the list.

How about Vienna? We went the year before last in May and the weather was fantastic. Loads of museums, stunning city to just walk around, great food (it's not just schnitzel) river cruises and a massive permanent fun fair.

I'd recommend Poland too. We really enjoyed Krakow last year and are going to Gdansk this month.

Budapest, Krakow, Seville, Prague (though Prague is very cheap no longer). Wroclaw is nice, and cheap, if Ryanair still flies there. Zadar in Croatia. Valencia was very reasonable for food / activities etc. Dd did a bargainous 3 night trip to Athens (but in February) cost about 100 euros each for flight and accommodation, but I imagine that might not be doable in May. I would look at Skyscanner for your dates and see where the bargains are - then come back for recommendations - or look at Booking.com for accommodation. Flight prices will go up normally during the holiday - but sometimes if you are flexible on dates or times you can still get a bargain.

@LightOfAThousandStars Does it need to be cheap? Lots of wonderful places just aren’t cheap any more. Therefore cheapness very much limits destinations.

It doesn't have to be cheap but it's more feasible for budgeting, Prague/Budapest are within range

We visited Budapest early May last year and it’s definitely worth a visit. We thought it was good value, particularly the price of eating out.

It might be an idea to start by seeing where you can get cheap flights to during the week you want to travel and then finding out about those places and whether you would fancy going there rather than starting with a fixed idea, but unfortunately most travel and accommodation costs will probably go up half term week.

Budapest is a lovely city.
I didn't rate Reykjavik as a city, i think you really need a car and a longer trip to see the best of Iceland and it's eye wateringly expensive.
Closer to home, Edinburgh and Belfast have loads to see and do. (avoid edinburgh on the bank holiday weekend though as it's marathon festival weekend and accommodation is thin on the ground).

Almost anywhere in Italy! I think Italy is perfect for holidays with kids - in part because most kids love Italian food (including gelato…) which makes eating out a joy and stress free.

There are the rightly popular classics: Florence, Rome or Venice, but also beautiful cities like Siena, Perugia, Lecce, Bari etc, etc. Also, depending on the ages/interests of your children, definitely worth considering somewhere which is in easy distance of Pompeii and/or Herculaneum (but get a guide for those sites!)

@MiddleAgedDreadThere are day trips out of Reykjavik. You don’t need a car. It’s a way of seeing the countryside and a city. However sometimes it’s worth spending a bit more and hiring a car, but I’d do a week plus with a car ideally. Reykjavik is no more expensive than New York or Oslo. As in most cities, there are options.

Most Italian cities work with dc. Agree with food comments.

Going to disagree. I don’t think Krakow is ideal for younger kids tbh. Yes there’s Energylandia but most of the museums we went to were quite traditional. There’s the underground rynek which is a bit more interactive but not much that will interest a 7 year old. Loads of basement bars, nice churches to visit and architecture to admire, guided walks, etc but I’m not sure my 7 year old would have been that impressed, my 15/16 year old definitely! Auschwitz isn’t for under 14s and Zakopane is a long long day. Salt mines maybe but quite strenuous for little legs with all the steps.

Malaga

Lisbon is lovely. And very well priced.