Visiting Europe with kids
 

Hi Friends,

I have 2 kids (2 yrs. and 10 yrs.) ..I am planning to visit any city in Europe for 3-4 days with them, a getaway family tour. We are planning to go anywhere between 10 to 15th Dec 2017 and leave by say 3-4 days after that.

Any good suggestions? Basically I am looking for easy to maneuver with kids yet fun experience.

Please suggest,

Thanks

Andy B

I would start by considering only cities you can fly to without connections from your home airport.

Then I would think about how much weather would impact my enjoyment of the time there. Would you have to buy clothes for everyone just for this trip?

Last, I'd think about what the kids will get out of any destination. You want a "fun experience," but we have no idea what that would mean to your family. BTW, will the 2 y.o. still need a daily nap?

3-4 days barely gives the kids time to get over jetlag before you take them home and have another dose of it.
But Jean gives you excellent advice.

Where are you flying from? U.S. or say Britain or Middle-East?

Thanks Jean,

2 yr. old would need nap but we would be carrying the stroller with us. Clothes is no problem we live in area (NY) where we get plenty of snow. But I would want to get away from snow and little warm weather and we can roam around, see beautiful places, have a good food (kids). I would go for 3-4 days because we plan to go to south east asia for 3 weeks after that.

we may not cover many places, may be just a city, that should be enough.

Any suggestions ???

Thanks

Hi PalenQ,

We would be flying from NY.

Any suggestions ???

Thanks

I was about to suggest Vienna until I read that you want to get away from cold.

That being said, the time of your travel falls during Christmas market season: twinkly lights and Lebkuchen for the little ones, Glühwein for Mom and Dad. Straßenbahn never fail to amuse children, especially the old cars (and there's even a quite good tram museum here, too). Though many of the rides at Prater will be closed, the Riesenrad (Giant Ferris Wheel) has enclosed cars and remains open year round. One or two palaces may appeal to your little prince or princess, too. There's always Schnitzel for the children; and a good Veltliner can make even Tafelspitz a memorable meal.

Austrian Airlines flies direct from NYC.

Barcelona, Lisbon?

Hi PalenQ,

We would be flying from NY.

Any suggestions ???>

Why Europe - 7-8 hours flights each way - jet-lagged one day - I think your kids would be happier in say Florida or Carribbean - not sure why Europe in winter for such a short time?

When you are coming from a cold place (NY) and heading to SE Asia for somewhere warm, why do you want somewhere also cold (most of Europe) in between? Is this more of a question in managing flight duration? If this is a case, I don't think you have that many choices of places with good connection to both US and SE Asia, wherever you are heading to. If you go to Europe with easy connection to neither US or SE Asia, you will need to do layover(s) to Europe and again layover(s) to SE Asia. I can think of Copenhagen. The Tivoli gardens opens again for the Christmas season. But it is about the same temp as NY. Rome is warmer and would find food familiar to children.

I was thinking Christmas markets, too, until the bit about avoiding cold. That's hard to do in Europe in December... so, southern Italy, Spain, Portugal are just about the only options. Rome is a great idea.

New York to Europe to SE Asia.... IMO, traveling with small children necessitates the simplest routing you can find. One flight to Europe followed by (hopefully) one flight to SE Asia.

Coming from NYC means you have several cities in Europe to consider, but you need to search which major European city offers the best options for reaching your final destination.

We can throw out European city suggestions all day, but they aren't of any value to you if the routing gets too complicated.

If you're only going to "Europe" for 3-4 days, just pick one city.

Is this a stopover on your way to SE Asia?