pittsburgh

Trying to plan a trip to Europe for 2014 with my wife and 18-month (ish, depending on exactly when) for about a month. We are thinking of basically setting up camp in 1 or 2 cities, getting a place to stay and then doing road trips from there. France, Italy, and Spain seem to have the most interest for us at the moment.

So, the questions:
- Any accommodations that people would recommend as being specifically young child friendly?
- Any specific things that we should definitely try to hit?

Obviously this is pretty open ended since we haven't narrowed where, but that is half the fun!

Thanks.

pittsburgh

I should add that I have done Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Granada) on my own before. France -- only Paris. And not Italy.

ribeirasacra

Answer, if you get any, will not mean much unless you give us more details. Yes I did see that you say you are opened ended at the moment.
Actual time of year.
Length of stay.
Ports of entry and exit.
Method of travelling.
Maybe interests would be good too.
PS what do you mean by child friendly? Most hotels accept children. And whole let houses or apartments may or may not have furniture to cater for children.

pittsburgh

Time of year: March-May
Length of stay: 1 month in Europe in total. Undecided how to divide it.
Port of entry/exit: Depends on: 1) Best award mile deals + 2) Target cities we want to see
Methods of travelling: Likely car, train. Not averse to plan.

annhig

pittsburgh - my experience, albeit limited largely to my own two children, is that from about 12 months onwards, what they most appreciated and thrived on, was routine. They were happiest [and thus so were we] when they knew where they were, when they would be fed, when and where they were expected to sleep, etc.

so my advice would be to fix on somewhere that you think you could be happy and interested in for a month or so, and rent an apartment for that time as your home base. Then plan excursions from there. The obvious choice would be Paris, from which you could do many nice 2-4 day excursions by train/car eg a few days in Nice, the Loire valley, Strasbourg. A wonderful chance to get to know a magnificent city and see some of France at the same time.

good luck with whatever you decide on doing.

nytraveler

With a toddler I would definitely get a 1-bedroom apt in a neighborhood with parks and/or playgrounds. While you will be fascinated with sights a toddler not so much.

Best to have a separate bedroom so your child can nap/sleep when want to be awake and active and it will be much easier to deal with breakfast and snacks - and some dinners (since you won;t want to take a toddler out to late night dinners) and the laundry you will need to do with a little one (they seem to need about 3 different outfits a day unless they are unusually tidy and dry).

I would make sure that the apt is safe and childproof if possible = and not up too many flights of stairs - difficult to deal with the stroller and diaper/food/toys bag.

bvlenci

Even though I normally prefer to stay in a hotel, for some of the reasons mentioned above, I usually stay in an apartment when traveling with a small child. The ability to have early suppers and a more child-pleasing breakfast are major advantages, as well as the possibility of putting the child to sleep in a bedroom while allowing the parents to stay up without waking the child. NYtraveler suggests making sure the apartment is safe: I've stayed in apartments with toddlers that were definitely not safe, so this is very important. One apartment had a large window that was only a short distance from floor level, on a second floor overlooking a concrete courtyard. There were no bars or other child restraints on the window, and it was too warm to keep the window closed. We told the child not to go near the window at all, but that made it an irresistible attraction, and we couldn't lower our guard for a second the whole time we were there, which was fortunately only a few days. I would also say that you should be sure there is someone you could contact for help and advice if, for instance, you would need a doctor or pharmacy. Hotels are usually very helpful with such matters, and you're much more on your own in an apartment.

Italy is a country that absolutely loves children; they're welcome everywhere. Restaurants are always willing to warm a bottle of milk or prepare a very simple dish of well-cooked pasta or rice with a simple cheese dressing (or any other simple dish) for a small child. Not all bathrooms have baby-changing facilities, though, so you might want to carry a simple folding mat to use for changing the baby. Many old city streets have uneven paving, sometimes without sidewalks, or with walkways obstructed by illegally parked cars. We often found a sling to be more useful than a stroller, although the stroller was very useful at other times.

Little children usually don't do well on a hectic schedule, so I would try to stay in a place that is very near to places you would like to visit, and where you would be able to spend a lot of "at-home" time without getting bored. The specific place would depend very much on your own interests.

ribeirasacra

Time of year will include Easter. some great traditional religious processions going on that that time of year. In the past 3 years the ones in Andalusia got rained off. Hopefully this year(2014) will be their lucky year.
If you hire a car your child has use a child restrain seat. You can hire these with the car.

pittsburgh

Thanks for all the responses. Had not thought to check on the child-proofing on accommodations so that is a good tip. Playing around with some ideas today, the thought of doing a Barcelona to Venice (or vice versa) route with stops in between (either coastal via Marseille/Nice/Genoa/Milan or Alpine via Grenoble/Turin/Milan) seems intriguing. Thoughts on either of those ideas and whether car or train would make sense? We would like to have some stops in small towns to relax for a bit from the sightseeing if that also makes a difference.

ribeirasacra

with your last idea a car is going to prove very expensive. You will have to pay for the car to be returned to country of origin.
But carrying all of the things needed for such a young child on a train could prove too much.
It is a toss-up as to what is best fro your family, which only you can make.

TexasAggie

We traveled internationally with our oldest at 7 months (Greece) and 19 months (Italy). We found that renting apartments was the best (so much more room to let the little one play, a kitchen available and often laundry facilities too, etc). When we couldn't stay in an apartment, we chose small b&bs. By small, I mean really small. Places with 3-6 rooms max. We always informed the b&b that we had a small child and inquired as to if their establishment was set up to accept young children. In one case, the owner very nicely explained that her b&b was a romantic retreat for couples. We were so happy she was candid with us, and easily found another option.
Re: things to do, try to pick bases where there is a nice park or playground for your little one to play. We stuck to a usual nap schedule.

tmitch4

Hey Pittsburgh,

I'm in the beginning stages of planning a similar trip in the summer of 2017. Our child will be ~20 months when we depart. I'm curious as to how your trip turned out?

nytraveler

Pittsburgh has not posted in 2 years - doubt you will get an answer.

Why not start your own thread?