Holiday while 5 months pregnant
 

Hi, we are thinking of a 9-10 day holiday towards the end of the 5th month of my wife's pregnancy - end Oct / early Nov timing. We will be traveling from India - so trying to keep the travel within 6-7 hours (ruling out US, Australia). We were thinking of two options -

1. Turkey and Greece - Istanbul, short hop in Athens and one of the islands (Santorini, probably)
2. Spain (& Portugal) - Barcelona, Madrid, Seville OR Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon

Wanted to understand how are these destinations for pregnant women (from safety, medical access, and ease of sightseeing point of view), and also if they are good places to go during the Oct-end / Nov-beginning timeframe. Had considered Croatia as well but ruled out on both counts. Also, if there are other options that we could consider, it would be great to hear that as well.

Pl advise. Thanks.

Option 1 sounds easier but Greek islands start shutting down restaurants, hotels in October.
We were in Spain in early November and the weather was nice, cool, sunny.
Maybe Madrid, Seville, Granada.

I agree with Happy Trvlr…stick with Spain. Obviously the further south you go the weather gets warmer, but Barcelona and Madrid are still great during that time of the year, especially Barcelona, and you can count on safe travel, your wife having readily available and good health care, and less stress all around. I would only put Lisbon in the mix if you're wife is up to the extra travel.

Best of luck to you.

Get good medical/travel insurance. It's a requirement for Schengen visa, but also a necessity given your wife's condition. Hopefully everything will go without a hitch, but it's reassuring to know you have access to medical care when needed. Check the small print, as some insurers exclude pregnancy-related conditions or those past certain stage.

I too suggest Spain, or Southern Italy.

Yes, although the Greek/Turkish trip would be one of my favourite trips, it is a bit late in the season for Greece, and the healthcare would definitely point me towards Spain. I've been in hospital in Granada and it was top notch (a ski-ing accident), but wouldn't fancy my chances on a Greek island. So another vote for Spain

I was in an ER in rural Greece, sweet people who stitched me up but rather 3rd world. Cats walking around, unclean conditions. Spain is a better choice.

Santorini specificaly has a new very modern private health center and one decent public one. Emergencies and serious health conditions might need to be air-lifted to Athens though.
Athens hospitals, both public and private, vary greatly in terms of infrustructure but Greek doctors are very highly educated and skilled.

All that said,
I am not very sure what kind of holiday you are after. What the focus is? Sightseen, sunbathing, something else? I would think that with only 9-10 days and a pregnant woman, it is wiser not trying to fit 3 destinations, but stay put in one or two places and if need be, take sort,comfortable side trips. Moving from/to airports and train stations, traveling for several hours, checking in/out of hotels, packing/unpacking is a rather tiring activity, especially if you have to repeat every 2-3 days, and not a wise use of your time on my opinion. Better to settle in somewhere and explore in depth.

Note that Santorini only has a "health center" and not a hospital! We were just in Santorini and our guide who is a Greek citizen reminded us of this many times on our trip!

My daughter and his husband just came back from Chania, Crete via Athens and flew back to Chicago.

They enjoyed Chania very much and said they wished we had been with them.

On the way, they had a late afternoon and an early morning in Athens but managed to see a great deal thanks to a wonderful taxi driver.

They flew pegasus between istanbul and Athens and Aegean between Athens and Chania.

They had a rental car in Chania and although could not find an automatic, found driving very easy.

They advise lodging outside the city in high season due to touristic crowds but in city lodging at one of the restored Genovese mansions may be a better idea in October.

We've just had someone staying with us who is early in her sixth month. She was a very good sport but quickly tired, so much so that we ate at home rather than going out to dinner all but one night.

She had considerable back pain and also needed very frequent toilet breaks as we toured the sites/sights.

If you have a quiet trip in mind -- beach, sitting in cafes, boat or motor tour, easy walks, small museums -- it would be fine, provided that toilet facilities are available. Otherwise . . . .

Do you have other children or is this your wife's first pregnancy? Does she know how tired she will get (varies a lot by exact timing and what each specific woman experiences). You may need to have a very low key trip with a lot of time resting rather than being active all the time. And as noted above very frequent access to a toilet may be necessary.

Regarding medical access, I would be very careful where you choose to go, even Spain, where austerity measures resulted in widespread of reports of smaller hospitals in the secondary cities of Spain facing serious cutbacks in staff, and pharmacies facing shortages. The hospitals and clinics of Greece are in a deep crisis, and nothing can be counted on there. I do not follow the news about Turkey in that respect, but many things about Turkey are now under stress, and I don't what expectations you should have.

Also, you must have all your insurance papers and documents in perfect order. This may sound like an excess of caution, but it is better to err on the side of caution. You are contemplating entering areas of Europe where, right now, there is no consistent policy about the acceptance of non-EU residents. It is not clear when this situtation will be resolved.

The above post appears to be an ad, although a very weird one given the woman is pregnant. Some French advertiser.

FYI, many travel insurance policies will not cover complications of pregnancy because it is a known, preexisting condition. Maybe they have other options in India, but I know some of those I've read in the US do not. So you have to be careful on that point.

This is close to madness! How can the woman be menstruating if she is pregnant? Do you even know what pregnancy is?

Obviously vaginal bleeding is possible - but if it occurs the patient should head to her MD immediately to determine the cause of the problem.

NYT: >>This is close to madness! How can the woman be menstruating if she is pregnant? Do you even know what pregnancy is?<<

it was an ad . . .

In fact the OP registered and posted and never returned so either the trip is off, they have already taken it, or they are sitting waiting for a response from Fodors . . .

Yes - but an ad that made no sense - wrapped in a mass of misinformation.

Apologies - trip was decided at the last minute waiting on my wife's health, as we kept on debating the above (and more options) to finally decide whether (and where) we wanted to go. We finally went ahead with Spain since she felt comfortable and up to it - both the travel as well as sight-seeing at the local destinations. We just got back two days ago.

We covered Barcelona, Madrid and Seville in 10 days - Barcelona was rainy for a day, but all in all it was a great trip, and we were able to spend enough time between cafes / tapas breaks and actual sightseeing, so all in all we had a great time - not too stressful, and also balancing our resting requirements with touristy stuff.

We had a great time in Spain - it wasn't so crowded as it was off-season, and the weather was mild - not very cold - and quite comfortable. Thanks for the advice - all went off quite well!

Thanks for coming back
Great that you had a good trip before getting your child.
Have a good day !

Itinerary we followed (took it slow on some days) -

3 days in Barcelona:

Day 1 - Park Guell, Gracia neighbourhood
Day 2 - Sagrada Familia, Gaudi sites along Passeig de Gracia (La Padrera, Casa Batllo, Placa de Catalunya, La Rambla, Gothic quarters
Day 3 - Montjuic Castle, Placa d'Espanya, Boqueria market, Barcelona cathedral, Santa Maria del Mar

Didn't realize Mondays were off day for museums (which is what we had originally kept day 3 for).

3 days in Madrid:

Day 1 - Prado, Real Madrid match
Day 2 - Retiro park, mercado de san miguel, puerta de sol, reina sofia
Day 3 - royal palace, thyssen-borenmisza

3 days in Sevilla:
Day 1 - Cathedral, Giralda, Flamenco show at Casa de la Memoria
Day 2 - plaza de espana, parque maria luisa, santa cruz
Day 3 - Alcazar, Parasol