Would you like to plan a holiday for me?

[Librarina]

So we've never done an abroad family holiday and I would really like to do one next Easter but I am drowning in overwhelm and am struggling to make a decision so I wondered if there was anyone here who enjoyed planning imaginary holidays! These are my criteria and all suggestions will be considered.

Dates... Between 25th March and 12th April 2027
Duration... About a week
Family... 2 parents, 1 x DD13, 1 x DS 11
We like....old castles, cathedrals, nice food, gentle hike or bike ride, trains.
We don't like... Very hot weather (ginger kid), driving abroad.
Languages spoken... French and Spanish, some Arabic.
Budget. 2k. Could stretch to 2.5 if was really lovely.
Flying from Manchester or possibly an interesting train.

Thank you!

This year we're flying to Basel from Manchester and staying in the Alsace. Good food, lots of charming medieval villages and vineyards. We've booked an aparthotel in the centre of Strasbourg for 4 adults for about 100euro a night, which may well be cheaper at Easter. Lots of good day trips by train including into Germany and Switzerland. There's also a massive theme park nearby that a couple of our group want to visit while I'm at a vineyard.

We did Amsterdam last year which is an amazing place to visit with teens/preteens but accommodation was quite £££ for something spacious in a nice area. Your budget would go further in France.

Fly to Lyon, see Roman stuff and Mediaeval city, get train to Avignon, see castle and train, keep going to Nîmes, see roman stuff, go back again! Can also be done from Montpellier or Marseille, but they're less historically interesting cities.

Other option, fly to Malaga, do museums and castles, maybe day trip to Ronda, then go to Granada for more history and walking. Malaga will be nice mild beach weather for a Brit.

Both options have great food.

Krakow. Flights and accommodation are cheap - you could probably fly for less than £500 and accommodation will be about the same. The food is fantastic and there is so much to see. Krakow is a beautiful old town with lots of history. There is a Jewish Quarter, Salt mines, museums, spas, hiking in the mountains and the food is amazing.

Second Strasbourg. Seville is also amazing and shouldn’t be too hot that time of year.

Italy has excellent high speed trains. You could fly into Venice, spend maybe 3 nights there and take high speed train (3.5 hours) down to Rome and see Vatican city, coliseum. Food is good. You can also get train to Pisa and visit leaning tower, only needs 1 day there and best to pre book or Florence. Venice is full of churches and they do free candlelight evening concerts.

Malaga could work. Cathedral, castle, alcazar, Roman ruins, boat trip. Day out to Camino del Rey. Lovely weather likely at Easter. Walks along the coast.

I was going to suggest Loire river area in France. Fly to Tours.

@OneZanyCat for £2k budget?! Fat chance!

Thank you for the suggestions so far. I had originally wanted to holiday in Seville however there don’t appear to be any direct flights from Manchester next year. Krakow seems exactly what we are looking for, and I love the Lyon tour too. I’m so happy that someone has suggested Amsterdam, I’ve always wanted to go there but don’t want a raucous sort of holiday with the children.

I will look into these in a bit more detail and report back!

Here are a few for you

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https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/bookaccommodation?noOfAdults=2&noOfChildren=2&childrenAge=13%2C11&noOfSeniors=0&productCode=951255&duration=6&bb=RO&rmtp=bf6bb5ad-8c83-4ba4-ac85-0864486a45a8&rmbb=RO&tra_o=E4a3c7fa4f3b259aa9194afb862f356a5&tra_i=E842a4a338cad4514694fb67e9d40d56c&flexibleDays=3&airports%5B%5D=LPL&flexibility=true&when=26-03-2027&units%5B%5D=001528:DESTINATION&searchType=search&pkg=8477100966/3/814/6&packageId=951255A177761318060192000001806019200000FR636018065376000001806537600000FR6359bf6bb5ad-8c83-4ba4-ac85-0864486a45a88477100966/3/814/6&index=8&brandType=T&rmpc=1%7C2%7C0%7C2%7C0%7C13%2C11&isVilla=false&fc=n&greatDealDiscount=0&price=pp&utm_campaign=holiday_details&utm_content=holiday_details&idfv=DF11B12A-DE10-4B42-BC9B-1076FA6CF962&ga_id=DF11B12A-DE10-4B42-BC9B-1076FA6CF962&utm_source=tui_uk%2Cdirect%2Cnone&utm_medium=app&agent=tda&appsflyer_id=1774300203493-1112104&app_tealium_visitor_id=858C01E4DA0A4F42A0090F1C4E9F0476&app_webview=true&idfv=DF11B12A-DE10-4B42-BC9B-1076FA6CF962&ga_id=DF11B12A-DE10-4B42-BC9B-1076FA6CF962

https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/bookaccommodation?noOfAdults=2&noOfChildren=2&childrenAge=13%2C11&noOfSeniors=0&productCode=953542&duration=7&bb=BB&rmtp=d154214f-b217-4f72-ade5-4776f0667870&rmbb=BB&tra_o=Ed381d4374c32913470a242396788ef45&tra_i=Ec1b016bf87991e20dc1784a5e0408173&flexibleDays=3&airports%5B%5D=MAN&flexibility=true&when=31-03-2027&units%5B%5D=ITA:COUNTRY&searchType=search&pkg=8477094238/3/819/7&packageId=953542A150596518064512000001806451200000FR289818070560000001807056000000FR2899d154214f-b217-4f72-ade5-4776f06678708477094238/3/819/7&index=2&brandType=T&rmpc=1%7C2%7C0%7C2%7C0%7C13%2C11&isVilla=false&fc=n&greatDealDiscount=0&price=pp&utm_campaign=holiday_details&utm_content=holiday_details&idfv=DF11B12A-DE10-4B42-BC9B-1076FA6CF962&ga_id=DF11B12A-DE10-4B42-BC9B-1076FA6CF962&utm_source=tui_uk%2Cdirect%2Cnone&utm_medium=app&agent=tda&appsflyer_id=1774300203493-1112104&app_tealium_visitor_id=858C01E4DA0A4F42A0090F1C4E9F0476&app_webview=true&idfv=DF11B12A-DE10-4B42-BC9B-1076FA6CF962&ga_id=DF11B12A-DE10-4B42-BC9B-1076FA6CF962

https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/bookaccommodation?noOfAdults=2&noOfChildren=2&childrenAge=13%2C11&noOfSeniors=0&productCode=956440&duration=7&bb=RO&rmtp=2e1c86c1-3300-44a3-bd25-6da9a69ba844&rmbb=RO&tra_o=Efb3aa9c2862ae225b09c4739d2732764&tra_i=E2168829492f4ae623ef27c76a6c03c1c&flexibleDays=3&airports%5B%5D=MAN&flexibility=true&when=25-03-2027&units%5B%5D=ITA:COUNTRY&searchType=search&pkg=8477094860/3/813/7&packageId=956440A152226918059328000001805932800000EZY212318065376000001806537600000EZY21242e1c86c1-3300-44a3-bd25-6da9a69ba8448477094860/3/813/7&index=5&brandType=T&rmpc=1%7C2%7C0%7C2%7C0%7C13%2C11&isVilla=false&fc=n&greatDealDiscount=0&price=pp&utm_campaign=holiday_details&utm_content=holiday_details&idfv=DF11B12A-DE10-4B42-BC9B-1076FA6CF962&ga_id=DF11B12A-DE10-4B42-BC9B-1076FA6CF962&utm_source=tui_uk%2Cdirect%2Cnone&utm_medium=app&agent=tda&appsflyer_id=1774300203493-1112104&app_tealium_visitor_id=858C01E4DA0A4F42A0090F1C4E9F0476&app_webview=true&idfv=DF11B12A-DE10-4B42-BC9B-1076FA6CF962&ga_id=DF11B12A-DE10-4B42-BC9B-1076FA6CF962

Valencia might work. It has the most spectacular cathedral, a lovely old town, excellent food, beach and parks plus there’s a nature reserve not far away. Very easy public transport - metro, bus and tram.

If you do want to go to Seville, you could go via Malaga, it’s a couple of stops on the local train from the airport to Maria Zambrano station in Malaga and then just over two hours to Seville. You should have plenty of options to fly into Malaga.