Trips to The Continent with your kids.

Have you taken any trips over to Europe with your kids? Where have you been, and how was it?

(I'm thinking about a half term jaunt with my two -- 3yrs and 6yrs -- near the end of October, possibly some sort of cottage or apartment rental in France, Spain, Italy, etc.)

I've not done it but my friend spent a month in Amsterdam with her 18 month old this summer and they had a great time, they said it was very child friendly. Also, I think Barcelona is really child friendly.

took my toddler to a small village in Italy this summer and it was great.  I've always heard Italy is very family friendly, but it was true.  It was just a given that I could take her to restaurants with us.  People don't seem to get sitters there when they go out--it's a family affair.  There were high-chairs all over for her.  I couldn't get down the street without strangers stopping me to comment on our cute little bambina.  I even had multiple shop-keepers give her little treats while we were walking around. 

We stayed in a villa in the countryside, and the owners were fantastic.  I asked if I could get some milk and keep it in their fridge, and they said not to bother as I could use theirs anytime and several times they gave her bits of biscotti to munch on.  They had no problem with me coming down and using their sink and dishsoap to wash up her beakers and such either.

I did have to watch her carefully because of all the tile floors and steps, and our villa was built on top of a steep hill, so I had to be vigilant outside.  Being able to spend several days with a swimming pool just outside the door though made up for all of it.  My little one thought she had died and gone to heaven with that one.

Hopefully, my friend Yorkshire/Virginia will turn up with some advice as he & his wife have taken several holidays with the kiddos - most recently to Corsica last spring, but also France & maybe some others.

I think going with a self-catering cottage/etc is a great idea for a family!  A lot of European countries seem to be so family friendly - Spain, Greece, etc.  My husband and I (we don't have kids) on our holiday in Spain a year ago - we really enjoyed seeing all the Spanish families come out for the evening paseo into the various town squares...where the adults will stop for a drink or a coffee and a chat, while the children run around the square (in view of the parents) and play.

My husband has really fond memories of his own childhood when his parents took him to different places in Europe on holidays - and the local shops would give him & his brother free treats (sweets, etc) & people teaching him a few foreign language words/phrases and things like that.  Glad to hear that's still the case in many places!

We went to the Netherlands for a wedding with our children when they were 5 and 8, over the October half term.  We drove our car and took the ferry.  The kids loved it.  We stayed in a small village near the sea, and they enjoyed going to the beach as well as sightseeing in Amsterdam.   They were pleased that every children's menu seemed to include french fries and applesauce (the American type).  

Consider Northern Italy (Lake Cuomo, etc.) and Switzerland....the Alps and lakes are beyond stunning

Spain has never appealed to me....read a lot of stuff in the guardian about shoddy villas and drunken Brits...Germans draping their towels on the chairs...but I've never been.

Risk Steves has a lot of good stuff about traveling with children on the Continent.

Consider Northern Italy (Lake Cuomo, etc.) and Switzerland....the Alps and lakes are beyond stunning

Spain has never appealed to me....read a lot of stuff in the guardian about shoddy villas and drunken Brits...Germans draping their towels on the chairs...but I've never been.

Risk Steves has a lot of good stuff about traveling with children on the Continent.

Risk Steves has never appealed to me -- far too keen on the white-knuckle thrill-seeking stuff. I prefer his more sedate brother Rick.

 

We took the kids to Paris once thinking we could find restaurants that would offer food they would eat -- but ended up at McDonald's more than we cared to  They enjoyed the parks and the Cite des Sciences. DS was disappointed in Musee d'Orsay because DH had told him it was a former train station and he thought it would have trains on display!

A better holiday was in Switzerland. In fact we went there twice with them. To a small family hotel on Seebodenalp, Rigi am Kussnacht (Hotel Rigi Seebodenalp). We flew to Zurich then took the train to Luzern (Swiss travel pass is wonderful), then to Kussnacht, then by cable car up the mountain to the hotel surrounded by cows!! They had a great time with all the modes of travel plus a visit via steamer to Verkehrhaus Lido Museum of Transport. And they coped with the hotel set dinners fairly well, augmented by bread, cheese and fruit while out and about. Wish I was there now 

Spain has never appealed to me....read a lot of stuff in the guardian about shoddy villas and drunken Brits...Germans draping their towels on the chairs...

LOL!  Well yeah, if you go to all the package holiday resorts that a good majority of Brits who go to Spain seem to go to!  There you can drink buckets of lager, eat British-style fish & chips, and do nearly all of the stuff you could do if you just stayed back home here in Old Blighty.  

On the other hand, if you go into the authentic bits of Spain, rub elbows with real Spanish people, maybe even speak a little Spanish - Spain is simply amazing!  (It's also a really BIG country, btw - so there's room for both to keep everyone happy -- appalling package holiday resorts for the Brits who want that, and the good stuff for everyone else.)

...but I've never been.  

DH and I have traveled through quite a lot of Spain on several different holidays, and we have never experienced shoddy villas, drunken Brits, or those pesky towel draping Germans - not even once.  We did, however, once go to to a lovely & amazing beach in the south of Spain that I seriously doubt had any Brits other than us on it, but there were Spaniards, Italians and Germans there.  There weren't beach chairs though, because the beach was preserved in its natural state - free of resort hotels and all the tacky crap & paraphernalia that people (in many countries) use to blight beaches.

On a cool note, DH recently found on Youtube a really old Dr Who video (I forget which actor playing Dr Who but one of the earliest ones) that was filmed at the historic hotel where we stayed in Seville!  

Anyway sorry for the hijack, but I had to set the Spanish record straight.    

Everyone has had good suggestions, and Spain is only place among many, of course!  So many places to go, not enough holiday time (and money)!

It's always been fun traveling with our five-year-old. If you can keep them fed and entertained, you're set. Our first trip was a week in Budapest last autumn, which was great because our hotel was so central to town and plenty of pizza places where she was happy to eat (they also have a fabulous zoo--you can feed the animals! Having the giraffe wrap its tongue around my hand was definitely the highlight of my trip.). We also spent a week in Cyprus and another week in Salerno, Italy, both of which were super easy because the beach was right there and food was cheap and plentiful. Both cultures adore children, so we never felt out of place.

The worst was the trip to Zurich in January. So cold the fountains had frozen over into these massively beautiful stalactites. Snowed constantly. The first day was spent shopping for warmer clothes. The rest of the trip was pretty much spent alternating between freezing and warming up again. We got pretty bored (my husband was there for work), so we even went to the zoo despite the onslaught of snow and spent most of our time in the zoo's tropical house.

Anyway, traveling with kids isn't the same as a romantic getaway you might take with your spouse, but its totally doable, and fun. My only advice is if you're traveling to a city, make sure to research beforehand different activities for the kids. Whereas I can just wander through the city and have a good time, my daughter demands more kid-centric things to do.

LOL!  Well yeah, if you go to all the package holiday resorts that a good majority of Brits who go to Spain seem to go to!  There you can drink buckets of lager, eat British-style fish & chips, and do nearly all of the stuff you could do if you just stayed back home here in Old Blighty.  

On the other hand, if you go into the authentic bits of Spain, rub elbows with real Spanish people, maybe even speak a little Spanish - Spain is simply amazing!  (It's also a really BIG country, btw - so there's room for both to keep everyone happy -- appalling package holiday resorts for the Brits who want that, and the good stuff for everyone else.)

DH and I have traveled through quite a lot of Spain on several different holidays, and we have never experienced shoddy villas, drunken Brits, or those pesky towel draping Germans - not even once.  We did, however, once go to to a lovely & amazing beach in the south of Spain that I seriously doubt had any Brits other than us on it, but there were Spaniards, Italians and Germans there.  There weren't beach chairs though, because the beach was preserved in its natural state - free of resort hotels and all the tacky crap & paraphernalia that people (in many countries) use to blight beaches.

On a cool note, DH recently found on Youtube a really old Dr Who video (I forget which actor playing Dr Who but one of the earliest ones) that was filmed at the historic hotel where we stayed in Seville!  

Anyway sorry for the hijack, but I had to set the Spanish record straight.    

Everyone has had good suggestions, and Spain is only place among many, of course!  So many places to go, not enough holiday time (and money)!

I want to second this!! Although I don't have children yet, I looove Spain (ok, so I have family there but I don't think that changes my opinion too much)!

I want to recommend Cantabria (northernmost province) to everyone thinking of Spain...it is GORGEOUS. Mountains, rolling green hills, countryside, castles...I mean really. Also has some of the most gorgeous beaches (albeit too cold for my taste...). And I've never run into a Brit when I spent time there!

Santillana del Mar (very near to where the Cuevas de Altamira are...gorgeous prehistoric cave paintings), Comillas (lovely beaches), Santander, Potes (on your way to Los Picos de Europa)...highly recommended by me :-)

See and the things you mentioned aren't even places we have been to yet!    We have loved Barcelona, Figueres, Madrid, Segovia, and Toledo...but really fell in love with Andalucia (have gone there twice).  Staying away from some of the Costa del Sol (Torremolinos, Marbella, ugh!)...but Las Alpujarras area, Granada, Cabo de Gata national park (warm, uncrowded beaches on the Med!), Cadiz (highly recommended & just lovely!), Seville, Jerez de la Frontera, and Ronda.  I <3 Cadiz & Seville soooo much!  But DH wants to explore the north of Spain (especially Basque country) the next time we go.

If you don't know Spain (which we do cos we've done the research & also DH speaks Spanish), then look up the package holidays that Brits usually take - and where do they go?  Torremolinos, Marbella, Ibiza, Majorca, Menorca, Benidorm, the Canary Islands etc...  Stay away from those, easy!    Although I've heard that even the places like Majorca and Menorca, etc have their off the beaten track places, if you seek them out.  Still leaves a heckuva lot of Spain to be seen!

I <3 Spanish food and flamenco, & the people are just so lovely & warm - oh really I could just go on & on.  

ETA:  We have yet to do a package holiday - because we want to go where we want to go, when we want to go there!  Not something that someone else figured out as what they think you ought to do. 

Yes I think the Observer is referencing the package deals when they print Spanish horror stories every week. They seem to be big on adventure type holidays. Just last week they had spreads on Palestine and Malaysia, but that's a bit much for a family I think. Always show young fit backpacker types. Then run stories about being kidnapped by pirates off Somalia. I think it's better just to not sail near Somalia....nor trek across Pakistan...give me a cafe and a decent stage show of Guys and Dolls.

I do love my Observer, but they are a bit unrealistic when it comes to travel and fashion (they still support skinny jeans for some reason)...

I'll second Italy. It truly is family friendly and even in the more touristy areas you'll still find the waiters cooing over babies and chatting with the older kids. My son was 1 when we went to Sorrento and we had no problem taking him anywhere.

I'm a big fan of France, as it is very easy to reach - esp. if you are in the SE of England.  You will find some good ferry/tunnel prices in October, if you want to take your car (prob. the easiest way to go w/kids IMO).  Brittany and Normandy are very pretty, with lots to do for kids - the only thing is you will have to take a risk with the weather in October.  We have rented cottages in France through 'chez nous', which have always been good.

If you want a better chance of sun and warmth, then you will need to jump on a plane and head to Greece, Italy or Spain.