European holidays with small children

[cheesychips15]

Pre-kids when we went on holiday we'd pick a city we liked look of, book some flights and book an apartment separately. Had a great time, was usually fairy cheap.

Since having kids we haven't really had a proper holiday abroad. We've done quite a few UK self catering holidays and we have done a cruise from Southampton (not in a rush to do that again!)

Next summer my son will be 4, and my husband and I have started thinking we might be ready to attempt a fight with him and his little sister before we lose the option to go out of school holidays. The problem is, we just don't really know what sort of holiday we want.

Neither of us are interested in an all inclusive/stay at the hotel round the pool type holiday, we want to be able to easily get into towns and cities to explore a bit. However I think it would be useful to have some sort of "holiday park" facilities like a kids pool or a play area or something like that for days we aren't going out exploring.

We need an apartment/house/lodge etc with ideally 3 bedrooms, although we might be able to cope with 2. We also need to be able to fly there from Leeds or Manchester airport. And finally, we'd really like to be able to get from the airport to where we're staying (and getting around while we're there) via public transport so we don't need to worry about car seats etc for car hire/taxis.

Do such places exist? I've had a look at Eurocamp and a handful of those seem to fit, but most have a caravan for the accommodation, we'd prefer something a bit nicer.

Martinhal Oriente in Lisbon

We’ve been to Sunparks in De Hann, Belgium and had a 3 bedroom house, lots to do there for small DC and families and near enough to visit Bruges and the coast, we went via the Eurotunnel.

We've just come back from our 4th Eurocamp and love it. We try somewhere different every year, each site is very different. This year we went to Lake Garda and stayed at Hu Altominicio, which is great for younger children (ours were 4 and 21months). Although you would probably need a car for this site, Lots of other eurocamps around Lake Garda. The area is beautiful and a good mix of kid friendly things, zoo, theme parks etc and beautiful villages on the lakes and easy access to Verona, Venice and Milan if you wanted a day in the city.

If you did decide to do a Eurocamp, choose the most expensive accommodation you can afford. We went for a cheaper option last year, and really wished we hadn't.

I've been thinking (similar aged children, similar dislike of resort holidays) it would be fun to rent an apartment in Berlin with the kids. Loads to do, it would be pretty easy to pick an apartment with good playgrounds nearby, and we could swim in the lakes.

Thanks, just had a look and it seems to be a good mix of stuff available but near enough to other things to explore too. Only problem for us is getting there, neither of us fancy driving and it's impossible to get flights to Bruges/Brussels from the North is England!

I do think I'll have a proper look at some of the center parcs in Europe though to see if they tick the boxes. I'd just assumed they'd be in the middle of nowhere like the ones in the UK but it looks like there's one in de Haan that's in a great location (other than being able to get there!)

Yeah part of me has been thinking it'd be easier to do something like that, I think I just feel like I want a safety net of something just there and available for our first attempt at it. But I don't know if I can find what is in my mind!

Look at Beekse Bergen in the Netherlands- you can get caravans or chalets/ houses depending on your budget. Includes a full zoo, small funfair, two swimming pools, lots of playgrounds, lake beach, peddle boats, car safari etc all in with the cost of the stay. And only about 30 minutes drive to Efteling theme park which is fairytale/ storybook themed and has loads of rides for this age group.

Majorca is lovely with children, we went with DD when she was 2 and just before 4.
Lots to do, the beach around Alcudia/Muro is shallow water, clean and large.

Austria or Bavaria - lots of lakes, public lidos or indoor waterparks and plenty to do. Northern Bavaria (Frankonia) is also great, less mountain-ish, more hilly.

Netherlands - flat, get bikes with child trailer, great sea side

We had a great stay at Cordial Mogan Valle Apartments in Gran Canaria when DC were younger - they have self catering apartments (although only 2 bedrooms) plus a kids splash pool (as well as a normal pool). There's a little playground and soft play too and I think they may have an animation team. Plus Puerto de Mogan is so lovely.

Would you consider eurostar? Obviously depends where you are in the north, we're north west and London is only a 2h train into euston which is a 10 min walk from the eurostar terminal

Top tip: check the school holiday dates for the country you are visiting - they might be different from the UK.

Look at Lalandia in Billund. We did some brilliant holidays there when the kids were little.

Check out the overnight ferries from Hull. You should be able to get to Rotterdam that way.

If it’s driving on the opposite side of the road that’s putting you off driving, you could try Cyprus?

i have a nearly 4 year old and would honestly rather die than do any kind of city holiday with him. it would be absolute hell on earth. all inclusive, activities, water parks all the way for us. regardless of what we like - it’s the kids that count now

We mostly drove because it’s easier with kids, overnight ferry from Portsmouth. We went as far as Italy and Spain visiting places for 2-3 night over the route.

How about mountains we did a lot of Austria when they were young walking and exploring the mountains - Kinderhotels are lovely
Lake Garda is another place we loved but I would recommend a car - we did the Bertoletta Apartments one year and loved it

Yep second this
They still whine even with that but a city break would be horrendous

Why? Your likes matter as well as it’s also your holiday.

I have a four and one year old and we take them on city breaks as that’s the kind of holiday we prefer. We try to make sure there’s something for everyone (interactive museums and parks for the kids for example). Having kids doesn’t mean you have to be tied to AI places :)

Driving 2 hours to see the in laws with a constant barrage of "why?" questions is difficult enough, I couldn't face driving much further than that!

A AI with DD under the age of 7/8 would have been an absolute disaster for us. Sorry, a city break/s/c holdiay with plenty of sightseeing was a dream.

It also depends a lot what your child is used to, we live in London and DD has been taken to museums, galleries and all kind of sightseeing since she is born, at least once a month. Because DH and I do it a lot and DD was just carried along.

So a city break is basically the same just for a couple of days in a row. A sightseeing holiday with a mix of visits and beach/pool days was fantastic for all of us.

Friends with a child the same age hardly ever did "cultural stuff", they went to parks, pools, playcenters. A museum trip with them was a nightmare as the child hated everything.

I don't think my son would enjoy it though. He likes going to museums (child friendly ones obviously) and walking round. I think he'd be bored stuck in the same place all week

Don’t discount that your kids won’t like the way you travelled pre kids just because others on here wouldn’t like that sort of travel. Your travel pre kids sounds like my sort of travel both pre kids and now with my 8yo. You just need to slow the days a little, do half what you’d usually do and build in some kid friendly activities. Children can learn to love the world and new experiences. Pools and beaches can also feature in those sorts of trips (and have for us) without it needing to be a full on beach holiday, holiday park or all inclusive if that’s not your thing. Some travels will be more kid focused and others more balanced as your kids grow.

I’ve been travelling with my DD since she was 3. As long as play parks and ice cream feature daily she’s pretty happy. She’s been to some incredible places and visited 12 countries so far with plans for many more. As she’s getting older, she gets more involved with the planning. We recently booked a trip she researched and planned to Italy including all the activities for a school homework project.

That's why I was thinking Berlin, as I remember it being quite a laid-back, easy city, and there's loads of good playgrounds in the Tiergarten, for example. But maybe it would be easier to pick a smaller town as a compromise - e.g. Heidelberg has a massive public open-air swimming pool where some families spend pretty much all day in summer, so if you could find an apartment near there you could treat that as the easy on-site (ish) option and still be able to do sightseeing and trips when you felt like it.

Eurocamp generally rent an area on a holiday complex for their tents and caravans, so if you like the look of the facilities on a particular site, google the actual site to see which other holiday companies do the same and what the site offer themselves. We’ve often browsed Eurocamp them booked directly with the site to get better accommodation.

I would suggest going to Copenhagen OP - get an airbnb - some totally amazing funky houses and flats- we once had one that was unbelievable for £1200 for a week -absolute luxury penthouse - airport is only 3 miles out centre and connected- great public transport and lifts down to the metro for buggies - there is a lot to do, fabulous if you like cycling. You have both Tivoli in The centre and Bakken just up the coast on the train ( beautiful old funfair- oldest in world) set in woods with deer etc . White sand beaches , blue sea and pizza shacks on beach . Good shopping, - it’s quite pricey eating out and drinking out but if you have an Airbnb you can balance this up - booze in supermarkets is quite cheap, many takeaways are superb -the soft ice cream is the best I’ve had in the world , as are the botdogs with remoulade and crispy onions - we lived there for 20 months , hence why I know it well and I think it’s a banker with kids - English is spoken by everyone and well . personally with youngish kids I think it’s a nicer option than Berlin ( which I know well too) because of the beaches, sea and amusement parks - the Netherlands and Belgian versions of centre parks as people have mentioned are really good options too but far easier with a car. Copenhagen I know has flights from ‘up north’ .