chosebinne

Hi !
We have a hard to chose what will be our next trip. We need ideas so we can read more on those options. Somme informations to help you find something that would suits our need !¨

1) family of 4. " adults and 2 kids (7 and 11 years old) from Montreal, Canada.

2) french speaking (my wife and I can easily speak english)

3) Already done (in family): Germany, Salzburg, Catalonia, Portugal and many places in Canada ans USA

4) Already done (as a couple or in solo) : Belgium, Netherlands (Amsterdam only), France (Paris and Alsace), Italy (Rome, Fflorence, Venice), London, Poland and Czech Republic

5) vacations are from july 1 to august 20 (no choice there)

6) budget is around 300 euro by day (excluding flights), ans we have budget for 23-27 days (more or less)

7) Adults like: history, good food, craft beer

8) kids like: playground, museum with buttons to touch !, theme park, good food and beaches

We are very open minded about our destinations. we Also can go back to some place we already been to except for Germany (that we have seen enough), Portugal (very nice but have seen all what we want) and Rome, Florence, Venice (been there last year no need to go back again for now)

Thanks a lot !

annalynn

My kids were 11 and 13 when we went to Iceland, and they LOVED it. Its their favorite country ever. With IcelandAir's free stopovers for up a week in Iceland, you could include Iceland with a trip to the rest of Scandinavia this summer. I feel like you'd have plenty of time for Norway and Sweden, as well as Copenhagen and possibly parts of Finland. And if you want to get really ambitious, you could take the kids up to Lapland to see Santa Claus.

Alternatively, you could do the Croatia and the Balkans. Or a big tour of Scotland and England.... so many choice, and such a long time. I am jealous!

thibaut

Venez donc en France, dans le sud.

We take most of our summer holidays in south-east of France. Since a lot of French do the same, you'll find a large mix of tings to do (beach, amusement parks etc). I'd say you go to Provence, spend 2 weeks inland (Aix, Avignon, Pont du Gard, Luberon (Roussillon, lavender fields) gorges du Verdon, Carcassonne (medieval city), pont du gard (roman aqueduct) even south west (nimes : roman ruins)... If you like wilderness, stay a few days in Ardèche, if you like to gain a few kgms, go to Dordogne. End on the côte d'Azur.

I'd recommend you start buying 'le guide vert' by michelin - THE reference all of us French use.
https://voyages.michelin.fr/

If not, hundreds of possibilities including Greece etc.
Advantages of France however are numerous :
- we speak French, like you do (ok, we'll have some difficulties to understand your accent at firsdt, but still we'll manage)
- we have good wine
- we have good food
- we have good weather
- we have good doctors in case you need those
- we have good trains, good roads
- we have good wine
- we are becoming more children friendly (we don't yell anymore in restaurants when a child plays...)
- lots of amusement parks
- we are civilized
- we have no guns - safety is no problem
- we have good wine.

Beer ... well, we have very good wine in the north but you don't find those easily in the south, stick to belgian beers, they make good beer. But no wine, sadly. Did I say we have good food and most important good wine ?

Can't go wrong with France. Best country in the world. Great wine too.

Jean

You've only been to big cities in Italy? I'd explore small towns and the countryside. My first pick at that time of year would be the Dolomites and the Lakes, but you'd have to investigate whether there would be enough there to interest your children.

Or Scotland/Ireland (history). Or southern France (great food). Or Norway (wildlife).

Gardyloo

One could easily become paralyzed by all the choices. But one question: when you travel with your family do you tend to move around or do you prefer to stay in one area and do day trips? With as much time as you have, you could do either - make it something of a "road trip" or rent a house someplace (or two different places) and "go local" for a week or 10 days. Both have their advantages, but usually the house rental option is cheaper and often will permit staying in a place with plenty of room for the family, maybe even a pool...

But top of the head, a couple of ideas come to mind.

Iceland and France. Icelandair has cheap flights from Montreal to various places in Europe, all with a plane change in Iceland. As mentioned above, Icelandair offers a free stopover in either direction, so what if you flew to Iceland and spent a few days, then moved onto the continent?

I'd pick one of two different areas in France for the continental part of the trip. The first would be Brittany, which offers a great deal of variety (even some beaches) as well as terrific food, amazing history (some prehistoric) and is somewhat less crowded and expensive than other parts of the country in high summer. The other would be Haute-Savoie, specifically around Annecy. This is a region of remarkable beauty, lots of activities for kids, and excursions into Switzerland are easy as day trips (which also saves money.) Both regions are a few hours' drive from Paris, or you could take a train and get a car locally.

Or a two-destination plan, with a week or 10 days in each. For example, you could combine Brittany and the southwest of England very easily, using the ferry between Plymouth and Roscoff. Or Scandinavia - rent a house within day trip range of Copenhagen or Stockholm, or both. Copenhagen is one of the most kid-friendly cities in Europe.

Or my favorite part of Britain, Edinburgh and Northumberland. Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and - provided you leave before the festival crowds arrive around the first of August - a terrific place for kids, with museums, parks, and activities galore. Then get a car and head south into England, stopping for visits to numerous castles, historic sites, beautiful countryside, museums... Visit Alnwick Castle (especially if the kids are Harry Potter fans) as well as magnificent Durham Cathedral, and maybe end up in York with its railway museum. You could then take the train down to London for a few days at the end. It's a superb trip.

Anyway, just throwing out ideas...

suze

Switzerland! The french-speaking area outside Geneva on Lac Leman. But with 3-4 weeks you can see a bit of much of the rest of the country.

PalenQ

Pretty open-ended question. Are you driving or taking train or planes from place to place? What did you use last times? Anyway for visiting cities and moving around a lot go for trains and planes - but if want to dwell in one place like Provence (maybe rent a gite- country house often in small villages) and drive around - maybe a few of those bases twinned with Paris and London, etc. Anyway great train resources: www.seat61.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com - all have lots of info to plan your own rail trip and where to go by rail.

Southern Europe especially France can get very crowded in summer - go as early in July as possible if there. Switzerland is always a great place if go to Alpine wonderland areas like the Interlaken - Jungfrau Region - kids would love riding the cable cars and mountain trains and could do some easy walks. Maybe land in London - do some day trips - take Chunnel train to Paris - several days and then head to Switzerland or southern France or vice versa?

adi_plainsailing

Time to hit the Med? Greece is pretty cheap for beach holidays, and so, so beautiful.

otherchelebi

Here's some info to whet your appetite for Turkey.

1. It is both very different and very European.
2. There are some central locations which allow a great deal of history and good food as well as interactive museums or theme parks, water parks.
Istanbul has fortresses, city walls, mosques, churches, Rahmi Koc museum, vialand theme park, ferry boats,
Antalya has ancient cities galore, water parks, great resort hotels.
Kusadasi has Ephesus, Aphrodisia, Pamukkale within easy reach, water park, many other ancient cities

thibaut

Only been to Istanbul and Eskishehir but concur that I loved everything in Turkey. Food, history, people. Wine is less good than in France however. Kids are kings there, a splendid destination with young people.

chosebinne

Hi to all and thanks for all those ideas ! Choices are plenty making it harder to choose !
C'est une possibilité, mais la chaleur et le grand nombre de gens sont des inconvénients.

Moving around or stay for a longer time both fits the bill. We have done both and love both. The only thing we try the avoid is one night in many places. The only time we do that is when we have to stope for sleep between two places.

The idea for a 5-6 nights stopover in Iceland is not a bad one at all. From there we have three options (wont, of course do them all !) that seems fun for us: France, Scotland and Scandinavia. more choices to make !

Switzerland is exepnsive and not that appealing for us.

It depends. In our last summer trip we have use train only (Rome , Florence and Venice). In spain and Portugal we have rent a car and taken a flight between Barcelona and Porto. In Germany a mix of train and buses. Train, car, plane is not a problem, we go with the most convenient !

We like beaches but not THAT much. After 2-3 days at beaches we are ok for the rest of the year ! greece is not that much appealing for us.

Not sure about it. The many terrorist attacks in Istanbul in the last years are a bit worrysome for us. Usually it,s not something we look into, but it seems different for that part of the world. Maybe we are wrong....

thibaut

AFAIK there have been less terrorist attacks in Turkey than in France.
Take out the attacks on military in region close to Kurds, you have what ? 2, maybe 3 attacks in Istanbul ?
France : Charlie Hebdo (ok, no tourists here) Bataclan, Nice and a few policemen and a priest attacked (and killed). Add the attack on the Jews the year before, so you should avoid France.
Then Avoid Bruxelles (multiple attacks in the metro and ?) and a few policemen.
etc.

StCirq

If Switzerland is too expensive for you, you're not likely to enjoy Scandinavia.

kerouac

I'll vote for Latvia at random. Because it's there.

PalenQ

switzerland need not be so expensive - especially if you head to areas like Interlaken region where budget hotels and things like Nature Friend's Houses (communal kitchen - private rooms - cross between hostel and hotel) abound. Swiss hotels usually come with all-you-can-eat breakfast buffets and supermarkets have lots of take out deli fare - in nice weather picnics are great. Wine is not that expensive either. You can cut expenses in Switzerland - but if want to dine out that's very expensive often. And Swiss cities are very expensive - not often having cheaper lodgings.