Best holidays with young kids?

[UpUpAwayz]

We have 3 DC who are currently 6, 4 and nearly 2. Looking for ideas of places to try for holidays, want places that are interesting and a bit different. We’re not looking for AI or beach/pool holidays - although my kids do quite like the beach they’re not really water babies and with three young ones it’s quite stressful keeping an eye on them all. We prefer holidays where we can explore a bit more and do sightseeing, get trains or buses to interesting places, check out local parks or walks or museums etc. We regularly camp in the UK and we’ve always done summer hols to France using the ferry and self catering places but wanting to start branching out a bit now. Prefer ferry or possibly even train but open to flying as well. Tied to school holidays but we don’t like it super hot so wouldn’t be interested in eg. southern Italy in July. Thanks for any ideas!

I haven’t been but a friend goes regularly to Copenhagen and was raving about it - I think they tag on somewhere in the Danish countryside too but not sure where.

Amsterdam and Efteling also jumps to mind.

Or the Charente on the west coast of France - La Rochelle is a lovely small city, take boats to the islands, take a trip down the coast to Royan where there are zoos, more beaches etc.

Yes Eteling in the Netherlands is a lovely place for families it’s a short break more but you can tie it in with other places like the centre parcs (much cheaper in Europe than the UK)

Eurocamp !

We had a brilliant holiday in Amsterdam when our son was small. So many parks with amazing splash pools, we rented bikes, cycled from park to park. You could probably rent two bikes, one with a tag along/ carrier and one with those basket things that carry a few kids. Trams. Canal trips. Amazing science museum that's trait hands on. It still ranks as one of my most chilled out holidays.

Woodlands family theme park in Devon (cheap and cheerful) or Efteling, both brilliant for those ages

Netherlands - great beaches, plenty to do and see and a good train network. You can drive, hire bikes.

Bit further - northern or southern Germany or Austria. Hikes, zoos, swimming, castles,

If you feel adventurous, I highly recommend the Black Forrest in south Germany.

Yes, Holland!

A euro camp style holiday? There are better providers than eurocamp such as Roan or Sandaya, but a good guide would be to look at the sites via EC first. We’ve done a few, plus 4/5star AI and we all prefer the campsites!

We are tentatively looking at a site in Slovenia for next year, Terme catez, looks amazing! Will likely drive too, with a couple of stopovers.

Thanks, Netherlands and Denmark definitely going on the long list! I’ve considered both of these before but not sure if we’d be better off trying to do a trip in one of the UK half terms when the rest of Europe aren’t also travelling but have never been confident enough with the weather in Northern Europe to risk it. I don’t want hot beach weather every day but do want to be able to get out and about without pissing rain the whole time so need to think about the best approach.

@DancefloorAcrobatics please tell me more about the Black Forest I’m intrigued!

Centre Parcs
a British seaside with donkey rides etc
the Swiss and Austrian alp resorts
disneyland or uk theme parks
lake garda and garda land

A caravan or chalet on a campsite on the Isle of Wight. Find one with a pool if that's what you'd like, they all have playground and other facillties for children like crazy golf, it's low key and therefore low stress. Lots of things to do, not too hot, and they get the excitement of going on the ferry! The weather is good compared to most of the UK.

@UpUpAwayz - it would take a bit of organising but the link below is a good start. Also, if you would decide to go for it, they do have a tourist tax ... with it comes a ticket for free local public transport. We've used it twice, drove down there to a campsite, parked up the car and didn't really use it except for a bit of food sopping and a trip to France.

www.schwarzwald-tourismus.info/erleben/familienferien/ausflugstipps

I wouldn't be so sure about half terms and Europe not travelling.

Lots of countries do October holidays at various times and in the last week of May is often a public holiday and plenty of people do a long weekend, some German states have a two week holiday around Whitsun for example as well.

We went in May half term to Belgium and France and it was pretty full with various holiday makers.

I find Summer holiday is now a risk with the weather everywhere, too hot in some areas, can be mixed in others. Germany had a wash out in July for example.

Yeo good point and also about heatwaves, just been in Northern France and met some folk who had been in Brittany the week before and it was 39 degrees. Insane. But when we came last year, August had been a wash out and the owners said they’d never known summer rain like it.