European city break with 7yo

[Cakeandslippers]

Any suggestions? We'd be going in February. We're not bothered about weather other than I'd like to avoid very snowy places as we don't have the gear. Only real criteria are safe, easy to get to from the airport, suitable things to do with a child, and ideally architecture / old areas to walk around. My daughter loves looking at old and interesting buildings and nice scenery.... She's like a little old lady at heart!

I was thinking Lisbon perhaps. I considered Barcelona but I think it might be too big for us this time. I think she'd love Copenhagen but I'd rather go when Tivoli gardens is open and it's not open in February.

Suggestions gratefully received. It'll just be me and her.

Venice. Plenty of old buildings to admire. Excellent scenery.

Seville. Will be warmer as its so far south. Amazing architecture, food is delicious, lovely to walk around.

My dc love weekend trips. In past few years we've done Athens, Barcalona, Amsterdam, Valencia, Pisa (then train to Florence, then train to Venice, flew back from Venice).

Valencia is lovely, not far from the airport, there's the old town with the Cathedral containing the Holy Grail, the Science Centre, and the Zoo. It should be about 17° so warm enough for a beach stroll. The buses make it really easy to get round too.

Whilst I totally agree and the vasa too ( love both) not sure they would be of that much appeal to a 7 year old- the mum probably yes!’

I was going to say Rome as well. As long as you stay centrally it's really easy to get around - I say this as someone who avoids walking wherever possible but found that easy! Have also been in feb and was lovely weather - sunny, dry, crisp but not too cold.

Rome. Stay in the Monti district which is close to the Forum and the Colosseum.

DS and I had a brilliant trip to Edinburgh in October but I'd maybe leave that for when the weather's nicer.

I’d recommend Valencia.

We took DS when he was about 7. Very easy train from the airport, city not too big. Lovely old town with cathedral and covered food market. We went to Gulliver Park, a huge play area made to look like the giant from Gullivers Travels, open top tourist bus which we took out to the beach for the afternoon.

We went in February half term and the weather was pleasant for sitting out.

Rome was a great success with my kids, as was Athens (I definitely felt safer in Athens too), Vienna looks like 👍 t would be great too but maybe cold?? I want to go to Budapest next but not so kid friendly maybe??

I took my 8yo to Istanbul last Feb and it was fantastic. So much to see, amazing food, boat trips. Would definitely recommend!

lisbon is a brilliant city and gets my vote

Rome!
Absolutely perfect for this. The colllosseum, the pantheon, ruins everywhere, fantastic pizza and gelato AND the Romans are often covered in y3 or y4 so it'll help with school.

A few people have mentioned Venice, which is indeed gorgeous in winter: but for a Feb visit you’d need to remember that the carnival is on until the 17th. Obviously a great thing to witness, but incredibly difficult and expensive to get accommodation at this late stage.

Seville, actually any Spanish cities. Was in Salamanca recently and that’s compact, fully walkable, nice cathedral, museums, architecture, nice food etc but not sure specifically for a child as ours are grown, mine dc were 10&12 when I took them there years ago and they liked it, but we had a car with us (road trip) and stayed at a hotel with a pool and spa. Note that in Spain we found even in October most pools were closed , stayed at 7 different places and no open pools despite websites not being clear they were closed

I am biased as my DD was obsessed with ABBA at this age, having watched 'Mamma Mia' with me.

To add to the Google complication, I'm going to suggest Palma. Smaller scale than Barcelona and just as pretty.

Love Istanbul - a real east meets west city

Prague or Amsterdam. The boat trips are interesting if you wrap up warm enough.

I took my daughter to Venice when she was 6 and Amsterdam when she was 12 and would recommend both. We were actually in Amsterdam in February and it was fine - rained some but nothing dramatic and it wasn’t super cold or anything. We spent and entire day at the zoo, saw a ballet, ate a ton of pancakes, did some shopping, went to the graffiti museum - all would be great at your daughter’s age too. We also did some of the Jewish museums and such but probably for a bit older

we went to Venice in May so not sure on the weather but it was a lovely place for a weekend. My daughter loved all the glass animals everywhere - we went to Murano for a day and she loved watching the demonstrations. Really fun city to walk around and explore. We made masks on our last day which was super fun.

Budapest has the Children's Railway (haven't been, but it looked really interesting), and lots of open air swimming pools as well as the spas.

I think Spain would be a good bet.

Valencia has a lovely science centre area with an aquarium and some nice museums.

Girona has a beautiful old town and walking along the old city walls is great for kids.

Tarragona has lot of Roman ruins of you are in to ancient history.

Garanda has beautiful architecture and probably the best weather.

Also Florence could be nice.

DS was 11 when we went to Athens but he absolutely loved it. We stayed in plaka which is central to everything and did the Acropolis and museum, Olympic stadium, museum of technology, visited the national gardens, plenty of shopping, hope on hop off bus although you don’t actually need the bus, the metro is really to get around on, some lovely places to eat and so much walking you can do.

Florence or Vienna - mid sized, walkable cities x

These replies are brilliant, thanks so much! I'm hoping that if our trip goes well, we can make it an annual thing (perhaps not always say the same time of the year). I actually have two children and so some of these might be options to take them both to. This one's just got the girls as my son will be doing something else.

Paris!

Gdansk was wonderful. It was about uk temperatures, cheap, some wonderful museums, beautiful city and in the next town (a cheap Uber) a great water park our kids loved.