What would your European vacation look like with an 8 year old and 3 year old?

[mommylamb]

I know this is a really long time away, but we've decided to go to Europe with the kids in 3 years. It will be a big trip for us, so we're starting to save now. We'll be going with another family that we're very close with who have a daughter that's DS's age. My boys will be 8 and 3 when we go. At the moment, we're thinking either South of France, Italy or Greece, and we'll probably make a stop in Paris. We're planning to rent a house.

So fantasize with me for a moment-- what would you prioritize for a European vacation with kids that age? Where would you go? How would you do it? What should I start researching now? Of those three countries, the only one I've been to is France, and I've only been to Paris and the surrounding area, so the South would be totally new to me.

[roseyloxs]

If you haven't seen Italy then I would do Italy. Rome can't be missed and you could probably spend 4-5 days there easily. I would check out Pompeii to the south and Cinque Terre to the north.

The only other place in Italy I have been is Venice. It was nice but if you are crunched for time I would just stick with the 3 places above.

[Still-in-Shock]

I think the most kid friendly cities I've been to in Europe are London and Amsterdam.

London has that great zoo, double decker buses, and there are lots of exhibits at museums geared for children. You can use a subway, a bus and a boat all in one day. Outside of London, Windsor Castle is a great place to take kids - lots of swords and armor for the boys and Queen Mary's Doll House for the girls. Lots of good kid friendly places to eat too.

Amsterdam has trams and canal boats, and there are good parks for letting the kids run.

Neither place is cheap, but Rome is much more expensive than both of them!

Athens wasn't very expensive when we went, but it's hard to say what it will be like in 3 years. I didn't see as much for kids in Italy or Greece, but we didn't have kids with us, so we didn't look.

[mommylamb]

I've been to Amsterdam and I used to live in London, and you're right they are awesome cities, but we want to do something warmer with beach access, and not as big a city. I'd like to rent a house. I'm having visions of rolling countryside and vineyards and beautiful blue sea. Plus DH is British and I want this to be a trip for us, not one where we feel pressure to go to Manchester to visit his family. We also live in DC, so the kids have access to museums and a zoo at home.

[Philly Mom]

Greece. In 3 years I would guess it would be most affordable. I would skip Athens and fly directly to an Island, Santorini, Rhodes (great town on Rhodes called Lindos), Etc. We spent our honeymoon in Lindos. So peaceful and calm. No cars allowed. My husband is also British and he started going to Greece for vacation at 3. Another option could be Croatia.

[hillview]

I'd rent a house in provance or tuscany. We rented a place outside of tivoli for a week -- it was super. Also loved a rental in Provance we did once. Lots of little markets to go to every day.
/hillary

[bisous]

I lived in the south of France for 18 months. Friends would dip "down" to see me and would fall in love! Of course, this was years before small children. Anyway, south of France gets my vote!!

[LMPC]

I agree with PP and say that I would fly into Rome....go North to the Cinque Terre (rent a nice little apt) and then maybe head south to Sorrento to the cooking school called Mami Camilla. They have very good rates....are well located...you don't have to go to the cooking school but you can partake of the yummi-ness in the evening. It's very casual and very fun. The rest of the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii are easily accessible. My plan would not call for renting a car but taking the trains....this I love about Italy!

Alternatively, I would fly into Rome and then do Pisa/Tuscany/seaside town afterwards.

[nfowife]

How long would you have?
For Italy, I would not venture south of Rome. Not because it isn't fabulous and amazing (I spent 2008-2010 living there with my family) but because it is kind of out of the way in terms of travel time and effort and there is just so much to see you will likely have to wittle it down a bit if you want to do some relaxing on your trip.
Not knowing how long of a trip you are planning, I would recommend in Italy, staying in Tuscany outside of Florence. There is so much to see and do and taste in the area, and it is very peaceful and kid-friendly. You will have many options of places to stay but my first recommendation would be an agriturismo, which is a farm stay. Some (most!) of these are not actual working farms but kind of like "guest farms" which usually consist of small apartment-style units on a large piece of land with a pool, maybe some animals (or just some friendly pets), sometimes a playground for the kids, etc. The bonus is that many have a small restaurant exclusively for the guests with dinner each night. You don't have to partake but it's nice to have the option. Being in Tuscany you could then easily drive over to the Cinque Terre which is gorgeous and unique for a few days or even a day trip if you wanted. Lake Como is drop-dead gorgous as well and our family had a great time there for a visit.

You could then move to France and if you didn't want to do Paris there are many beautiful places to visit there- in fact, though I love Paris, it is probably my least favorite place we visited in France overall!! The rest of the country has so much to offer.

If you give me more (understandably rough) info about your possible trip, I can give you more specific recommendations. We loved traveling all over with our kids (2-4 years old at the time) and found both Italy and France very kid-friendly and accommodating.

[elbenn]

I think it depends on what you want to get out of the vacation. Do you want a more relaxing vacation where you soak up the ambience of the location or do you want to see a lot of famous sights? I think the south of France would be more relaxing, but Rome and Paris would have much more touristy things to do.