Europe in the winter ... with kids
 

Hey all,

My husband and I will be spending a few months next year in the Netherlands with our three little boys. At the end of our two months there we are hoping to do a few weeks of travel before heading back to the States. We have both lived internationally before and have traveled quite a bit on our own, but never with all the kiddos.

What we are looking at specifically is a trip the first couple weeks (ish) of December, 2016 with three little boys. At that time they will be almost 2 years old, 4 years old, and 6 years old. We are NOT interested in doing big cities or anything hectic where there are tons of people or where we'd be moving around a lot. We are also not super interested in being out in the cold (so potentially ruling out anything where it will be snowing) that would require us bringing three children's worth of snow gear. Some of our preliminary ideas are some sort of beach community in Spain where it would be warm and we could have a relaxing, beach/hike/explore kind of time. Other ideas were Lisbon or somewhere in Ireland where we could have some variety of activities available to us. Those would also be new places for my husband and I which we are excited about as we've been to most of the "big" European cities.

We're thinking of either one destination that is a good launch pad for touring about a bit for two weeks, or two separate locations, each for about a week. We are going to try to do it as cheaply as possible ... probably finding some sort of house or apartment on someplace like verbo.com to stay.

So throwing this out into the glorious land of internet for ideas and thoughts???

Personally, I would discount Ireland with three little ones in December. It can be cold, rainy, even icy in December. Being cold and wet might be just as unpleasant as snow.

Spain, while certainly warmer than other places, will not have beach weather and it may be rainy in December.

Some cities might have more for small children to do than rural areas.

Hope you find places to suit all of your needs.

Children don't mind being out in the cold during the winter. Normally, you should know that already. Warm weather frankly cannot be guaranteed anywhere in continental Europe during the winter months, even Spain or Portugal. And sometimes there can be something that can be called a heat wave. Sorry, the heat wave schedule for December 2016 has not been published yet.

I suggest that you bite the bullet and get appropriate attire for cold weather for the entire family. And maybe you should bite the bullet and imagine spending some time in cities like Paris or Strasbourg or Lille or Brussels to fully appreciate the magic of December in northern Europe.

If you are in the Netherlands running up to the trip in December you will almost certainly need some warm clothing for you and your boys anyway. We may have a really mild autumn, we may not. Earlier this month we had highs of just 4C, today, in the south it was 20C, 14C in Amsterdam. Average daytime temp in October is around 12C in October, getting lower as you go through November to December when the average is only about 3C. Wet and or grey are often the order of the day too.

If you just want to go somewhere to relax then the Canaries may be you best bet for warm weather, though even there it isn't guaranteed - they had dreadful flooding there this past week for instance.

>>some of our preliminary ideas are some sort of beach community in Spain where it would be warm and we could have a relaxing, beach/hike/explore kind of time.<<

No place in continental Europe will have beach weather in December (other than the possible/rare freakish heat wave)

>>We are also not super interested in being out in the cold (so potentially ruling out anything where it will be snowing) that would require us bringing three children's worth of snow gear<<

As hetismij says -- you will all need cold weather clothing in any case since you will be in the Netherlands in November.

I actually think a city would be better than a rural or beach location. If the weather is nice-ish they can run in the parks, if it is 'normal' there are museums and fun indoors things.

The Canaries or Cape Verde Islands. Or Marrakech.

<< beach/hike/explore>>

Yeah . . . no.

Look: Rome is on a latitudinal parallel NORTH OF New York City. Yes, you read that right, a major capital of "Southern" Europe is north of the second most north-most major northeastern US city (and I don't want to hear from people who live in Providence, that's not a major northeastern US city; Boston is). Madrid and NYC share the same latitude. Another "southern" city north of NYC: Istanbul (also true when it was Constantinople).

This means you're not getting beach weather in continental Europe. You can hang out in a beach community on what will be the off-season, but you're likely to be dealing with something akin to the mid-Atlantic in autumn (think Virginia tidewater or Maryland Ocean Shore areas).

You will need winter clothes in December in Europe, maybe not down coats, but warm coats, sweaters, mittens, scarves, hats, warm socks and boots.
Kids may not mind cold, but being wet and cold is no fun.

BigRuss is right about latitude, but altitude also counts. Madrid, for example, is the highest Capitol in Western Europe, so is quite cold in winter. Of course, just as the Atlantic and Pacific have different effects in the US, so do oceans and seas in Europe, some increasing the effects of cold and some mitigating them.

There are wonderful Christmas markets, with music, hot drinks, gingerbread, etc. but the best are mostly in big cities.

Southern Germany (Bavaria) is beautiful in winter, but it is all about the snow, sledding, skating, etc. then getting inside for a warm fire and hot food. That has no appeal?

If you really want warm beaches, you may have to head to the Caribbean. They have flights from England. You would have a flight at the end of your stay anyway.

Southern Spain is warmer than much of europe - as is Sicily and Malta - but nowhere in europe has beach weather in winter - if you mean actually going in the water. You may get temps of 60 but not more than that.

In much of the rest of europe - including Amsterdam - you will have a real winter with chilly (40s) being normal, and quite cold and sleet/ice/snow possible (even as far south as Rome, although not likely there.

So for warner temps you will have to stick pretty far south. And I would think that a city - with museums, playgrounds and other attractions will be more interesting to kids than a not very warm beach.