Anonymous wrote:Not Europe… but Montreal?

Can be quite cold still in March/April.

Anonymous wrote:Don’t forget to factor in the time change- 6 hours isn’t easy and only for a week.

Do you plan to skip museums or drag the kids to them? My kids hate museums but can tolerate ones that are like the Met / British Museum bc they have “stuff” rather than endless paintings.

Agree with others to go with something more nature (non city) focused- Ireland is perfect for a week.

NP and agree with an outdoorsy focus. My DH frankly doesn't like museums either so our vacations were never museum-heavy even before we had kids. Think about what you enjoying doing together as a family in the US and then look for a European destination that has those features.

I know you were asking about Europe, but have you considered Costa Rica?

Not Europe… but Montreal?

Don’t forget to factor in the time change- 6 hours isn’t easy and only for a week.

Do you plan to skip museums or drag the kids to them? My kids hate museums but can tolerate ones that are like the Met / British Museum bc they have “stuff” rather than endless paintings.

Agree with others to go with something more nature (non city) focused- Ireland is perfect for a week.

Spain is great at that time of year.

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. Europe is wasted on kids that age and is exhausting and zero fun for the parents. Face it: your vacation life is gonna suck for another half dozen years at least. Can’t you pawn the kids off on their grandparents and go somewhere yourselves? Our kids do that all the time and we’re always happy to oblige. The kids have fun with us and their parents get a break.

That’s nice of you but many of us do not have grandparents willing to take our kids for the week. So we either take our kids on vacation or don’t go anywhere! Also sounds like you’re a bit removed from traveling with kids yourself, TBH.

OP, I think the key is a direct flight, and be careful if it’s Holy Week because some places will be crowded. We actually considered taking our kids, who are a bit younger, to Portugal for spring break this year because we have friends who live there right now, but ended up having a conflict and couldn’t go. But it seemed very family friendly and relatively easy.

Anonymous wrote:Rent a horse-drawn caravan and drive through Ireland. No horsey experience needed, and if it rains you have portable shelter.

Does the horse have shelter?

Anonymous wrote:Iceland— it’s basically being outdoors and seeing cool volcanic formations (and birds). Fair bit driving around though

Good suggestion. Also Smithsonian Travel does family trips.

Rent a horse-drawn caravan and drive through Ireland. No horsey experience needed, and if it rains you have portable shelter.

Take a cruise.

Visit Puerto Rico. Good mix of beach, outdoorsy activities, history, etc.

Iceland— it’s basically being outdoors and seeing cool volcanic formations (and birds). Fair bit driving around though

Ugh. Europe is wasted on kids that age and is exhausting and zero fun for the parents. Face it: your vacation life is gonna suck for another half dozen years at least. Can’t you pawn the kids off on their grandparents and go somewhere yourselves? Our kids do that all the time and we’re always happy to oblige. The kids have fun with us and their parents get a break.

We had amazing (but cool) weather in Amsterdam and Copenhagen for spring break this year.

Barcelona
Portugal
Greece
Turkey


All good options!

We want to do something different than another overpriced Caribbean beach vacation for my kids’ spring break next April and would love any and all ideas. Our kids will be 5 and 9. We were thinking Europe because it’s not too hard to get to but also open to other ideas.

We don’t want a beach vacation per se, but also don’t want something jam packed with museums that the kids won’t appreciate or be excited about. We were considering London or Paris & a couple other cities in France, but are concerned about the weather - we don’t care if it’s warm/hot, but don’t want it to potentially rain the entire trip - which could be risky in April.

Please throw out any ideas you have for a great trip with kids this age.