My wife and I are in the early days of exploring a family gap year where we would likely spend 6 months in Europe with our kids who would be 2-3 years old and 4-5 years old when we got in 1-2 years. We would likely split our time with 90 days in UK/Ireland and 90 days in another region to maximize our time without needing any visas (thanks to this forum for helping us figure out how to navigate visa rules). We lean towards doing Italy near Tuscany as we have traveled there pre-kids and I have some distant family still there, but we are looking for ideas from families that have done something similar. We prefer more small villages/countryside for this leg of the journey and think we want to stay in one place for the entire time to create an home base and then just making smaller trips. Would still want to be within 30-60 minutes of a larger city with good international airport as we expect family/friends will want to visit.

Looking for recommendations on locations, tips, or blogs that touch on family gap year (young kiddos) experiences.

Thanks!

Had you thought of somewhere like Germany? Mainz or Heidelberg are close enough to Frankfurt Airport. If you are looking for furnished short-term accommodation the search term is 'Wohnen auf Zeit'. Mainz is just a little closer, but I think three months in Heidelberg would be just glorious!

Lavandula

I think it would help if you let us know what months would be involved. Three months in Holland in the winter is going to be very different from the same three months in the south of France or southern Spain.