Best European trips with teens (we are running out of places!)

[Traveltart]

Big birthday coming up next month. It’s me, DH and two early teens. Wanted to book something exciting and long haul but events have spiked prices everywhere. We are now thinking short haul. Trip will be one to two weeks. The problem is we have done a lot of European travel…

What has been your best European trip ever? We loved Sardinia but it was peak summer and we need to take leave in April.

We have been to: Italian lakes, most of the big Italian cities, Paris and many places in France, Greece and many islands, major cities Rome, Milan, Berlin, Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Budapest, Copenhagen, Sofia, Stockholm, Geneva, Zurich, Basel, Warsaw, Prague, Salzburg, Venice, basically anywhere beautiful! We have also had plenty of Croatia holidays and have driven a lot through Europe.

I have looked at inter-railing but DH thinks DC would hate it as it would be a lot of travel and bouncing from hotel to hotel. I must have overlooked some gems or fab holidays you’ve experienced in spring?

I would agree with Andalusia unless you think you’ve seen enough of it already.

Granada/Alhambra, Seville (has a big festival in April), Cordoba, Rhonda (can do via ferrata/quad biking), the White villages, Sierra Nevada mountains, Caminato del Rey (book ahead!) and somewhere on the coast.

Or you could all decide to walk part of the Camino del Santiago route together… depends if that is up your teens’ street or not!

Watch out for Easter weekend which will be busy and booked up- some amazing processions to see though.

Somewhere completely different- Georgia. The capital Tblisi is fascinating. You can either fly BA from Heathrow or EasyJet from Luton.
interesting articles by an Aussie living there. https://wander-lush.org/
It is also only an hour’s flight to Baku the capital of Azerbaijan which is meant to be a great place to visit as well.

Norway

OK I have one more suggestion. The relatively undiscovered part of the South of France, Cathar country and the Canal du Midi. That was amazing. Fly into Carcassonne, hire a car, go over the Pyrenees to Andorra and the swish town of Puigcerda. Then to places like Mirepoix, Pamiers, Ax les Thermes. There are amazing prehistoric caves at Niaux and so much more. Plus cheese, wine cassoulet and much more.

A barge trip on the Canal du Midi is amazing, but guides are in French, well ours was! You can go all the way to Narbonne, stay over, and come back to base. The town of Limoux is great for its market and the wineries where Cremant de Limoux is made. Free tasting! Carcassonne itself is a bit kitsch but it's a nice town just the same.

I suppose by the time I've finished typing this, others will have some more fantastic suggestions for you!

How have you had time to go to all these places? I only have a few summers left with my dds and there are so many places i want to take them to.
One trip I'd love to do is south and west Ireland, though it might be wet in April....

Albania.

Would also second the idea of Iceland or the Azores.

North Wales. If you can afford it, stay in Portmerion.

Lake Constance, Helsinki, Karlovy Vary

Strasbourg?
Berlin?
Bucharest?

We have been to Sao Miguel on Azores and liked it a lot, went in March though weather was half rain and 17C ish but it worked fine as we had got a thermal spa bath hotel in Furnas and also hired a car. When we had to cancel Sri Lanka and move to Europe it was our first preference but didn't work for flights for us. Island hoping by plane is possible there and Flores looks wonderful though flights can apparently get delayed a day or two so need some flexibility. Its good for thermal baths, botanical gardens, hiking, dolphins, tea plantation. When we went there was a grand prix race and lots of pilgrims touring the island as well as flowers everywhere. BA start direct flights on 4 April. Ryanair have just stopped theres.

Norway? A Norwejian Fjords cruise for something different?

Norway, Bergen, get the train up to Tromso on the Artic circle a real adventure. We loved Shetland as well.

We’ve done Barcelona, Copenhagen, Ljubljana, Lake Bled, Krakow, Budapest, Seville, Rome, Lake Garda, Reykjavik, Nice, Alicante, Vienna, Munich, Valencia, Lisbon, Tromso, Palma, Funchal, Dubrovnik, Venice, Verona, Split, Malaga.
Favourite was Seville but can see you’ve been.
Next Tromso or Reykjavik but maybe better experienced in winter to see the NL (not guaranteed) and not cheap!
Third maybe Budapest.

More ideas which are on our list next are Valletta, Athens, maybe Istanbul.

I just asked my now adult DC, they said either their Baltic cruise (when you could go to Russia) or their Black Sea cruise to Romania, Bulgaria, Istanbul and a few other places followed by a week at a really nice hotel in Turkey (so not a completely European holiday).

Bucharest is great. There’s loads to see in the city and Therme is fantastic
for teens too

Sarajevo. Pain in the arse to get to unless you live in London but massively different and a real experience - worth looking at and trying to find a way to make it work. I love Bosnia.

Or fly into Helsinki, get the ferry to Talinn and fly back out of Talinn (or the reverse depending on what's cheaper). Both excellent but different cities and it's easy to do both in a single bounce.

Budapest is amazing. Lots to do.

Riga I liked but it's one for Christmas markets for me. It's not big.

Why don't you so some research on some 'off the beaten track' areas in the Canary Islands?

I know they are associated with Brits abroad, but I would bet that if you did some research there are some really beautiful places to visit away from the main tourist areas. And the weather will be great in spring.

I've done Albania. It's an experience. Not one I'd necessarily recommend. North Macedonia is better if you want to go that way - Lake Ohrid is beautiful and doable easily from Skopje. A few of the cheap airlines fly to Skopje but I think Jet2 started flying direct to Lake Ohrid last year.

I recommend off the beaten track Tenerife. There's so beautiful parts which tourists dont tend to go to.

What about Iceland? I went without my teens but think it would be a really good holiday for them!

Where would your teens like to go? I would not have enjoyed a lot of these suggestions as a teenager. Especially the driving around France idea.

Greek island hopping would have appealed, but maybe not in April!
If you want to be somewhere warm and able to swim in the sea then really your options are the Canaries or North Africa at this time of year.
The nature reserve beaches on Fuerterventura are breathtaking.

With two weeks, the Red Sea and snorkelling / diving in Egypt with tours of the historic sights is probably what I would like to do. Perhaps a 3 day Nile cruise on a small-ish boat. It would be a memorable and varied trip. Though travel is not the safest at the mo.

Also skiing in Norway in April - my teens loved that and we had a couple of days in Oslo at the end too.

Budapest
Istanbul
Iceland

Belgium - Ghent and Bruges in one trip.
Iceland - our teen loved it.
Norway - the fjords were stunning and Oslo was great.
Finland - Helsinki was awesome, island hopping too. That said a bit too close to Russia for my liking at the moment.

Krakow?