BEST shorthaul destination for two women and a 5 yr old in January??

[hazlinh]

Am going on holiday to London for a month in January (am based in Malaysia) with mum (65) and dd (5). Planning to go to Eurodisney and one or maybe two more destinations in Europe. Can anyone recommend any easy destinations (i won't be hiring a car or anything and will be relying on public transport) that are nice and relaxing for two women with a preschooler in tow and not too far off the beaten track. And recommendations for cheap and decent accomm is welcomed too!

These are my possibilities, can anyone let me know what they think?

-Amsterdam
-Marseille (don't know if nice? or can anyone recommend other French towns)
-Madrid
-Prague (tho mum has been already, and I have not)
-Italy? tho am not familiar with it, so wouldn't know where to go? Maybe the obvious places like Rome/Milan? Or shd we go to Capri, Amalfi, Napoli etc type places.
-Morocco (a bit far, and not sure if we could cope, travelling with dd. and she might get bored??)
-Turkey? same as above

Thanks in advance!

Message withdrawn

Hey Christiana, thanks so much for the tips!
The Astrid Lindgren museum looks nice! And the Vasa ship too.

Will check out Nice...I think I agree about Morocco, but I was worried I was being overly-paranoid.

Thanks again!

am bumping for any more ideas, esp suggestions re Italy!

Second what has been said re: Marseille! There are much better places around. I love the scandinavian cities, but it will be dark at 3pm - not sure that is so great if you are with a young child who wants to stay outdoors.

On Italy - January is cold unless you go deep south, but if you do not mind that you could be having a really good time as Jan is low season and tourist towns are relatively empty.

I would spend a day in Venice where you can hop on and off boats, and feed the pigeons in St.Mark's square (I remember doing that when I was about 6!). A day there is probably OK as a child would get tired quickly. You could then catch a train to the Dolomites and see the snow.

Rome is also good - a visit to the catacombs is fun (at least I enjoyed that at that age!!!), and stories of lions eating Christians at the Colosseum also go down well. Unlike other capitals, Rome's centre is fairly small so a weekend is probably OK unless you really want to do all the museums etc... You also get amazing ice cream parlours there, with literally a hundred flavours available. Rome's noisy markets could also be a hit!

Florence is good for adults over a weekend, but perhaps less enticing to a small child as the museums there are pretty full on. Naples could be good - it is by the sea, you can watch a vulcano smoking in the background, and a visit to Pompeii could also be fun if your child is the type to like gruesome stories... You could perhaps continue towards the Amalfi coast.

Contrary to common belief, Milan is not a good place to visit - it is rather industrial and hardly child friendly. Not too much to do there, and frankly London is much better if you want to go shopping!

Wow thanks for that minervaitalica! sounds extremely good! now i'm seriously leaning towards Italy...

Thing is, I plan to spend some time in London too, so I won't have THAT much time to spare for Italy. I think at the most 5 days? What's a good sort of trip taking in Rome, Naples and Amalfi? I'd love to do Venice but think mum not too keen. Do they have internal flights, or should I take trains/buses? (Sorry, the last time I went to Italy was when I was 5! and that was with Trafalgar tours LOL. Don't think I can afford them now that I'm paying for my own holidays. Unless you can recommend a very cheap tour company?).

So Milan is a no no? I thought they had cheap designer outlets for Gucci, Prada and stuff?

Thanks again! (Oh and will it be as cold as London or slightly milder?)

OK - a few things:

1)5 days for Rome, Naples and Amalfi is pushing it, particularly with a child. I would stick to Rome and Naples, or Rome and Florence for 5 days, including travel.

2)Internal flights exist, but almost always are not worth it unless you are going from one side of the country to another. Trains are sometimes a bit slow but inexpensive and you can get to most places.

3)There are outlets in Milan for Gucci etc. But not much else. If I had limited time to visit Italy I would not spend any time there - but it depends what your priorities are. There are outlets outside Florence and Rome as well I think.

4)If you go down south, the weather is likely to be milder than London. If you stay up north, it's the same as London or can be even colder (e.g. Milan). In my experience London hardly gets cold - while Northern Italy can!

hi minervaitalica, thanks for all the info! sigh. am wishing i had more time now...
thanks again!

ok, someone's suggested Portugal to me. So now am weighing Italy versus Portugal. Anyone have any tips on where to go in Portugal or would like to share their experiences?

TIA