City breaks with young children.

[Gonnaeatalotofpeaches]

Does anyone have any recommendations of great city breaks for October either UK or Europe with children? They are 3 and 5, capable of walking well but obviously zero interest in culture.
Has anyone been anywhere with amazing museums and activities for children?
Im happy to be told to shelve the idea for a couple years.

The science museum in Amsterdam was fun 😊

At similar ages my kids loved Palma de Mallorca. Numerous playparks, loved the hop on hop off bus ( on top deck we had to duck to avoid palm trees) and trip to city beach. Lots of open areas to run around. Still have lovely photos of them on swings under city wall under Palma Cathedral (La Seu) and a street artist’s pencil portrait of them.

Edinburgh and Copenhagen both have good museums and attractions for these ages if you want more organised stuff.

We had a surprisingly good city break to Rotterdam! But you need to go in fine weather.

Went to the amazing Plaswijkpark - easy to catch a bus there and entry was so cheap and it’s just brilliant, we spent the whole day there in the sunshine. Great for kids under 10.

We went up the Euromast to see the view of the city; visited the fabulous Markthal food hall/market; took a historic tram ride; went to the Maritime Museum which has a good kiddy play area inside and also has some exhibits that the kids loved eg being able to climb around on/inside real boats in the dock. There’s also a model village of various parts of the Netherlands which is cute. Oh and a pancake boat! You can enjoy touring the canals whilst the kids eat unlimited pancakes (excellent distraction as boats are quite boring after a while for little kids).

Edited to add: Dutch people are great and very family oriented, you will love it if you’ve never been to the Netherlands.

Thanks for all the recommendations, I’m not surprised to see the Netherlands recommended. We have family in the Netherlands and have always found it really family oriented when visiting.

We’ve done a lot of city breaks over the years with our kids, the best trips we had were Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo and Paris with a side trip to Euro Disney. We also loved Nice but that was mainly beach orientated so probably more suited to Summer, and San Sebastián but with older kids who enjoy/tolerate eating out.

In the UK it’s been mainly south east based so London, Brighton (again maybe more suited to a summer break) and Southampton (Peppa Pig World).

Amsterdam came to mind straight away. Also Luxembourg city - the playgrounds are next level! Spain is excellent for young children but nicer in seaside towns than cities. Valencia has the free gulliver playground and the huge park, giant aquarium, zoo, science museum. Copenhagen is lovely.

York is good for children those ages. The Castle Museum is hands on, as is Dig. They’d probably like the ride in the Jorvik Centre. Walking the Walls is fun. I’ve heard the Railway Museum is good too. You can do a boat ride down the river that’s nice.

Copenhagen with dc 6 and 9 was great.
Paris the year before was OK.
Be prepared to lower your sights on what you expect from a city break.