Perfect Euro Itinerary

[masqueradingatlife]

I’m moving to England for 12 months at the start of the new school year. I’m a single parent and my ex is staying in another continent. I’m looking at travelling for all the holidays to make the most of being in Europe- my kids are well travelled, long hall, trains, buses and boats- they’re 3&6. Money is not an issue, we’ll go to Lapland, I’d like to go to Ireland & poland, Italy- Rome and Venice, Spain, some of France and quite fancy euro rail and Croatia and everywhere!

I'm coming from a very hot country so would not be put off by any heat less than 45 degrees, I would also struggle in just all cold.

id love a perfect itinerary please!

Well, what is your holiday allowance? While your child may have 13 weeks off, you may not.

I would look at city breaks for inset days, making them long weekends like Thursday pm to Sunday.

While you may like it hot, a cilty like Rome in August is a nightmare, you can't compare a heat in a build up city to a beach resort, keep that in mind. Saying that, you could do a week at the coast/lakes and travel down to Rome.

Lapland will be very cold and most of Europe as well from November to March/April and also wet, even Spain won't be really warm, think of mid-teens if you are lucky. Do research the weather.

You can go by train quite well, incl. sleeper trains but think about the fact that with just one adult, you need to sort out the luggage etc all on your own. There is a website, https://www.seat61.com/ which lots of people swear off for travelling by train.

I would put Copilot/ChatGBT to good use.

I can take the leave, that isn’t an issue. Inset days are a great idea! I didn’t think of that. Chat has some suggestions however it isn’t fabulous for this unfortunately.

I’ve lived in Europe before so am aware of the weather and happy for some of it to be cold but not all, as I said. I’m planning on leaning into the winter with Lapland either October, Christmas or February half term but will need some sun by Easter!

I’ve looked at seat 61 and we’d be travelling first if Eurorailing. It’s just where will be best spent as I feel that I’m maybe trying to fit too much in. Though I’m not adverse to add flights in to save time. I really need help to narrow down the countries/places.

I would definitely save Ireland and anywhere in the north of Europe for the summer months. Copenhagen and Stockholm might be other places to add to your list.

Places like Rome and Venice are better in the winter because they are less crowded and as a PP had said, they are not much fun in the heat no matter how heat tolerant you are.

The Christmas holidays or February half term would be a good time to go to Venice. Rome can be rainy in the winter though.

Many Spanish cities have pleasant weather all year - I've had lovely weather in Seville in December and Valencia in February.

Lapland is just a weekend really, a lot of schools have an inset at the end of November/start of December which might be a good time to go.

Bless your cotton socks to think that taking 2 small children on public transport in the UK and Europe during each holiday will be an exciting prospect.

i don't want to be patronising but every single plane and train journey that my OH and friends have taken in the last 6 months, and I live in France, has been cancelled, delayed, had to have mechanics fly out from the UK to the European airport to mend said plane, diverted, changed or otherwise totally ballsed up in some way or other.

I really think you might need to adjust your expectations. But wish you well.

Where in England are you moving to? This will make a difference to your potential departure points and how to optimise school holidays.
Will you have a visa that allows you Schengen zone and move around for the 12 months you are based in England.

Your DH and your friends have been incredibly unlucky. I’ve experienced one cancellation (and the next train was 20 minutes later) in the past 2 years! That’s with extensive travel on various modes of transport. My kids have always travelled well and it sounds like the OPs have too.

OP, what about Greek island hopping? The ferries are so much fun, chaotic and then you arrive in paradise.

I would fly to Athens, see the sights there and then ferry to the Cyclades. Do not miss Paris/Antiparos. You could fly out of Santorini to Rome and work your way up to Austria and Germany. That would be a fantastic summer trip.

Thank you! I’d love to do Greece but thought it may be a bit too crammed in @NContheand @Decorhatethere’s far too many places I want to go to and not enough time. I’d love some must do places with kids. @IbizaToTheNorfolkBroadsManchester area, the kids and I are duel citizens and have British passports and can apply for a third in a European country if it’s easier. @Shedmistresswe’re pretty adaptable and have traveled a lot including in developing nations where transport is unreliable we’ll just roll with it as usual.

I'd possibly tell that to all the people in the queues to leave the UK at the weekend. We are just going into more extensive border checks so that will make things even worse.

Mate, it’s the first day of the school holidays. It was like that at Dover even without them.

Surely your husband and friends aren’t all travelling through Dover every time? And is completely irrelevant to the train and air travel you were talking about.

If we’re still talking anecdotally then my friends arrived bang on time in the canaries yesterday and my aunt was delayed 10 minutes flying to Zagreb but they made that up and landed early 🤷🏽‍♀️

If you are talking 6 weeks in summer then I would start in Munich for a few days (check out the public outdoor pools), then cross over by train into Austria. Salzburg and many of the smaller towns in the mountains are fantastic for kids.

Then have a look at flights to Athens. Use ferry hopper to work out an itinerary but either Paros, Naxos, Milos, Santorini or Kos, Symi and Rhodes would be an excellent trip and you can still make it fun and relaxing whilst seeing a few different parts of Europe

Add Iceland to your itinerary! That could either be October half term, or February half term: you’d get enough daylight hours and a chance of seeing the Northern lights. Lapland, maybe combine with Oslo or even Svalbard for Christmas. Other half term maybe some winter sun in North Africa? Or Christmas markets in North Europe.

That leaves you Easter: I’d suggest fly to Berlin, then train to Italy, maybe via somewhere else (Alps?), aiming for Venice then Rome, and May half term - Croatia, Dubrovnik plus islands.

Summer hols could be Greece island hopping with a bit of time in Spain, either based in Barcelona or Malaga.

Bear in mind your 6 year old is going to want some time at home to go to friends parties, and year 1 or 2 can be tiring, esp coming from a different education system - we start them early here and there maybe some expectations about catching up during weekends. You should also set some time aside for visiting more of the UK! Edinburgh, Giants Causeway in NI, Lake District and the peaks all worth seeing.

@titchymakes an excellent point about the uk. Northern Ireland is fabulous. Belfast and the whole of the causeway coast should definitely be on the itinerary.

Work on looking at the different school holidays and how long you have for each and plan based on that.

suggest Netherlands with young kids (in summer time) and can easily combine with Belgium and Germany.

maybe start the process of getting the eu passports. It’s likely at some point in the near future they will make it compulsory to enter the eu on an eu passport if you have citizenship (like the uk has just done)

I’d go against the grain and say Rome in August is fine if you don’t mind the heat. We always go in August (family live nearby) and yes it’s hot but it’s actually less crowded as the Italians go to the beach, and tourists have been scared off. May and October are much much busier. The buildings create wind tunnels and there are water fountains everywhere and lots of cool churches to pop in to escape the sun.

Is there a type of place you’re trying to see, or things your kids like to do?

Croatia is stunningly beautiful but the coast versus Zagreb are very different. I love
both and we did both in one holiday and it was a great contrast.

Italy - Im a huge fan of Puglia and its little white hill top towns in southern Italy, and Turin in the north is an incredible city with fabulous museums (Egyptian, Car, Art) - a great winter trip as weather might not be great but you’ll mostly be inside visiting places. Also a good tunnel network under the city you can visit.

Belgium is much overlooked, but easy to travel around and the smaller towns like Dinant and often overlooked but beautiful.

Poland - we loved Warsaw, Krakow was lovely but very touristy. If you don’t like the cold avoid before March.

Germany - Berlin is an amazing vibrant city with so much to do and very easy to get around. Munich is smaller but very family friendly. The German lakes expensive but glorious scenery and lots to do outside and museums. The black forest too is more spread out but fantastic sight seeing.

Switzerland - more expensive but wonderful rail links so easy to get around and tick off a few places very easily.

France - has every option, but I love Brittany but I’d definitely want a car there as stuff is very spread out. I don’t love Paris but plenty do! Montpellier on the south coast was a surprise (a good one) and I fell in love with Dijon (small but so much to see) in the East.

Spain - San Sebastián in the Basque Country, Valencia, don’t overlook Zaragoza which is a fantastic under-known city in the centre. It gets hot, and stay on the historic side of the river, but it’s so alive and full of history.

Portugal - obviously Lisbon, Porto is great but might be under utilised with kids as it is very centre around the Port trade. The Algarve is all about relaxation and enjoying the summer.

So yes, for me it would depend on if you’re trying to tick cities off the list, or famous landmarks, or really get to see countries in which case some of the lesser known places can be the best!

My kids loved Eurocamps, lots to do and can have a day where they can play and then a day exploring the nearest big city, which could be Paris or Barcelona or wherever.

Thank you so much for all the amazing recommendations and for taking the time to suggest things everyone! @Maraudingmarauders I think that question is the key. I am aiming to get that sweet spot where history and culture is balanced by fun kids activities like water or theme parks. Although they’re very well travelled we do need to stop places for a couple of days as otherwise they’ll get fed up and cranky fast (as will I) I think 4 days per ‘base’ minimum is key. It reduces the countries but we can investigate the area and have a mix of activities.

If you have a block of time off, have a look at doing the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland. You can fly into Knock Airport (Ireland West I think it's called officially), hire a car and you will be knocked out by the journey around the North and West Coasts. You could meander around the South and East coast too and end in Dublin. There are hundreds of flights from there to everywhere in Europe, take your pick! There are limited flights from Knock, Shannon and Cork, but have a look. Or do Ireland separately and fly to Europe from UK.

My suggestions for Winter travel are Southern spots as already mentioned, Seville, Malaga, Southern Italy, Venice, Florence, Rome etc. but weather is not guaranteed. Sometimes it's better to go to colder countries in Winter anyway as they are all geared up for it.

Look at the website "The man in seat 61" for incredible information about train travel all over Europe. I would be here all day trying to give you an itinerary, but maybe break it up into Ireland, Western, Southern, Eastern, Northern Europe and Iceland/Lapland.

Sounds like a great opportunity, and you are dead right to max it out!

I am aiming to get that sweet spot where history and culture is balanced by fun kids activities like water or theme parks.

As gently as I can put it: This sounds like you don't really want to make up your mind. Everyone wants "a sweet spot" and "a balance", but no place like that exist (and if it did, it would be booked up until 2037) - all you can do is consciously plan activities in the right proportions across your trips. In general, water parks are a long way from history and culture, and if you do find them close to each other, prepare for crowds.

Anyway, if you really, really want an itinerary of this kind, to cover perhaps 40 days spread over 6 trips, including all flights, trains, hotels, and entrance fees, you are probably looking at 30+ hours of travel consultant time at £50/hour to draw up the initial plan, followed by however much tweaking you want to do. That's what I would quote, anyway. I don't think you are going to get anything actionable out of a thread like this, with a mixture of people who don't know you trying to guess what you really want (and what will/won't fly with your particular kids), some just listing places they loved under completely different circumstances, and (if the thread continues long enough) some using AI to look places up.

Apologies if this sounds harsh, but these kinds of forums are good for ideas, they are not a substitute for proper professional services if you are serious about trip planning.

@masqueradingatlifefrom Manchester, you are well placed to get the ferry to Dublin (from Holyhead) or Belfast (from Liverpool) - my DC (now teens) love it. Dublin is a quicker crossing.

I think OP could self-plan a ‘sweet spot’ selection of holidays quite easily using MN as inspiration/ guidance actually. Lido di Jessolo has beach and waterpark, plus easy access to Venice. Dubrovnik and Croatian islands have plenty of beach for kids. Lapland is surely kid sweet spot. Barcelona has port Ventura, Central Europe castles etc. Europeans have kids that want to do kid-stuff too!

Malaga or Barcelona would also be good to combine history, culture and water parks, both cities have easy access to all that so it absolutely does exist. Berlin has been suggested - there's a big waterpark about an hour or so outside the city by train. You could go to Legoland in Denmark and also travel around that country a bit. What about Disneyland Paris and the Eiffel Tower too?

Being near Manchester is good, it has the best choice of flights outside London. But you can't do anything except see a snapshot of Europe in a year, even if you spent the whole year travelling. If DC are at school, it's not an 'itinerary' you need to 'do Europe' but a mixed selection of family holidays to a variety of places across the year, taking into consideration weather preferences. If you're currently in somewhere like the Middle East, short daylight times in northern Europe will need to be factored in. Although, I'd assume you want to go to Lapland at Christmas, so as well as all the Santa stuff you have the novelty of 24 hour near darkness.

Don't forget the UK too. Loads to see and do. If you're based in Manchester you could travel on day trips to the Peak District, Blackpool for the illuminations, come across to Yorkshire and go to York, Leeds, east coast for 'the seaside'.

The Isle of Man could be a nice little short break too, several daily flights from Manchester. Nice scenery, beaches and you can travel from the far south to the top of the mountain in the middle by a combination of a steam train, horse drawn carriage, electric train and another train up the mountain where you can see England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland if it's a clear day.

Ok based on the mix you are looking for here are some suggestions

• europa park in Germany is great and you could mix with some German cities for history and culture
• Efteling in Netherlands mixed with some cities and museums for history and culture
• crete or other Greek island - hotel with a water park and some day trips.

Definitely go for lots of weekend trips in the uk, so much to see and do

I am aiming to get that sweet spot where history and culture is balanced by fun kids activities like water or theme parks

Southern Germany, Black Forrest Freiburg area would be perfect for a longer stay.
Massive theme park- Europapark and a few smaller ones.

Lots of history & culture like ruined castles and historical city centres. Nature trails and waterfalls ...
You are close enough for a day trip into Switzerland for a glacier visit or pop over to France for a different cultural feel.

I think the area is highly underrated but has lots to offer without breaking the bank.

@samarrangereally? Of course they exist. I hope you’re not one of these MLM style travel agents 😅

You can’t move very far in Europe without history and culture and, of course, there are theme parks and water parks everywhere.

As if you are charging £50 an hour for that “advice” 😂

I agree with Germany as a great shout, Verona and Venice with a visit to Lake Garda. Excellent selection of theme parks there and you’re 30 minutes on the regular buses to Verona which is teeming with history.

Barcelona, Paris (Disneyland Paris ring a bell Samarrange?)