Anonymous wrote:I am actually shocked so many people travel for Spring break. That is the worst time of year for crowds! I would rather take the kids out of school for 1-2 days and have a 4-5 day long weekend during a slower time of year

Depends on where you go.

Anonymous wrote:I am actually shocked so many people travel for Spring break. That is the worst time of year for crowds! I would rather take the kids out of school for 1-2 days and have a 4-5 day long weekend during a slower time of year

1 day out of school does not equal a 4 day trip. That equals a 1 day trip with 2 travel days. Or, a 2 day trip with 2 travel days, if you pull out for 2 days. Some people like to be able to settle in an enjoy a place for 4 - 6 full trip days.

As kids get in higher grades, pulling out for 3 or 4 days starts becoming a problem.

A lot of folks will travel in summer as well, but sometimes you need a break after the winter. This is also why I like fcps and their two week winter breaks. Until this year, for some time the kids have been off the week before Christmas and that has been a great week to travel.

We did a week in Portugal.

Flew into and spent 4 nights in Lisbon. We stayed by the Principe Real in an airbnb and it was great. Nice, quite residential area with some good restaurants nearby. Walking around Alfama was my favourite part of Lisbon. We went to Belem one day, but in hindsight I would have skipped that and maybe squeezed in a museum.

Day-tripped to Sintra to see the Pena Palace and Castle of the Moors. The former was nice, but super crowded. We ubered out there and that was super smart! The latter I didn't enjoy b/c I am moderately afraid of heights. I could usually manage that, but with my younger kids I was a nervous wreck.

One night in Evora at a really lovely bed and breakfast. We had an amazing meal and there was a hot tub that the kids loved.

Then we drove down to the Sagres and stayed at the Martinhal Family Resort for three nights. This was hands-down my kids' favourite part of the trip. The resort lives up to it's "family-friendly" description, so we were able to end the trip on a relaxing note.

We flew out of Faro (back to London where we live).

Everything worked out and it was a well balanced trip, city exploration, culture, food, scenery, down-time. I wish it was a few days longer.

I am actually shocked so many people travel for Spring break. That is the worst time of year for crowds! I would rather take the kids out of school for 1-2 days and have a 4-5 day long weekend during a slower time of year

Anonymous wrote:Had a great time in Europe with the family.

Yeah, I had a great time here on Earth with some people, too.

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Anonymous wrote:7 days in cape town was amazing!!!!!

Oh, please tell me more about your trip. I always wanted to visit Cape Town.

There is so much to do in that city. We have 2 kids- 2 and 4 years. We went to aquarium (small but excellent), Table Mountain, Cape of Good Hope, Boulders Beach (penguins), Wharf shopping and eating, Botantical Gardens, I also ran the amazing 2 Oceans half marathon and we visited friends. We live in Africa so for us it was a huge treat to be in such a modern well functioning city, but really you cant not love Cape Town. Next time we will do vineyards as well.

So the near constant news of a Cape Town water crisis is fake?

Def not. Public places only had hand sanitizer and los of campaigns about water usage

Just returned from Croatia, with mixed reviews.

4 nights Dubrovnik. Love, love, love Villa Dubrovnik. Enjoyed walking city walls. Took a day trip to Elafiti islands, but it’s off season and everything is closed, & seas are a bit rough for comfort. Food was underwhelming everywhere except for hotel. City is small enough to easily explore by foot.

2 nights Plitvice. I hadn’t realized that Easter marks the anniversary of the start of the Croatian independance war. The hotels in this area are very basic. We stayed at Degenjia, which is run by a large extended family. It was interesting to speak with many of them to hear their stories of growing up during that period. Lots of snow and rain filled the lake region and the boardwalks at the lake were submerged in some parts, so we got rather wet. But the falls were still pretty. Lots of tour busses even during this season. DH gets vertigo and could not bear the path approaching the falls, so heads up if you’re fearful of heights.

4 nights Zagreb. Esplanade is a great hotel with Art Deco touches. Really enjoyed a Segway tour of the town - my 12yo was just big enough to ride. He’s been studying different forms of government lately, so there was plenty (Austrian-Hungarian empire, Yugoslavia 1&2, Democracy, EU member state) that he could reference.

Transfer between points was done via hired driver. We considered a one-way car rental, but the internet is rife with stories of scams from even the big rental companies, plus hidden extra fees for passing through Bosnia, which you have to do. It was much more relaxing to be passengers and have a fixed, known rate. The ride between Dubrovnik and Plitvice is way longer than google says - about 8h. We stopped off in Split for lunch.

This trip had been on my bucket list for a long time. In retrospect, I’d trim a night off of Dubrovnik and Zagreb for the offseason - a lot of things are closed. The weather was cool and pleasant, but we got rain a few of those days. If we didn’t have school schedules to contend with, I’d say early June or September would have been better timing. And I’d have brought wet gear for the lakes (boots, raincoat). Zagreb would have been super boring for young kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Went to Mont Tremblant and Montreal on advice from this forum.

The weather was nice most of the time but warm enough that the snow was a bit slushy. The resort closes everyday at 4:30pm, with no night or evening skiing, so that was a disappointment.

The skiing is vast and for avid skiers, it would be amazing. I have more beginners and it was tough to get them out beyond one or two green slopes. I have been taking them skiing for 3-4 years now and I thought it would have been a more fun experience than PA or WV skiing, but I will stick to those places next time, at least until they are much, much older.

My kids, 9 and 12, didn't want to do much other than one day of skiing and the dog sledding. The dog sledding was the only real highlight of our trip. That and catching up on a lot of Netflix, when the wifi worked.

Montreal was boring and we didn't really like it.

I tried but they kept complaining it was too cold, too slick, too this or that. Fighting ensued a lot.

Heavy French speaking area and when you are not a Francophone, it's tough to communicate. It was tough to find people who speak English outside of major metro areas....including the Mont Tremblant area. The hotel we stayed at was nicely located (in the village), but the wifi was atrocious.

I couldn't wait to get home.

You guys didn't want to do snow tubing or ice skating? They had both of those things free every night when we went skiing there. You had to be staying somewhere in the village.

We were in the village at the Homewood suites. Not aware of the other activities, or would have tried them. We did enjoy sledding down the hill in the evenings. Had one good dinner out, one mediocre, and two dinners in.

Maybe we'll go back in a few years, but earlier in the season or when they are more into the ski activities.

Anonymous wrote:Costa Rica, Peninsula Papagayo for 10 days. Wonderful weather, food and adventures(surfing, zip lining, catamaran charter). Second spring break there, will definitely go back.

Did you stay at the Four Seasons there?

Maui. Awesome. So sad to leave.

Re: Peru- Spring was fine to go- we had about 20 minutes of rain one day but other than that it was dry the week we were there. Folks suggested that it's VERY crowded during June-August.

We spent 4 days in the Sacred Valley (including 1 night in Aguas Calliente with 2 days at Machu Picchu), 1.5 days in Cusco, 1.5 days in Lima. I wish we'd had two more days for the trip so that we could've had a little more time in both Cusco and Lima.

I think staying in Ollantaytambo for the first few nights, which is is lower altitude, helped. We definitely got winded walking up hills in Cusco!

Stayed in the Miraflores neighborhood in Lima and it was nice. Also walked extensively through the Barranco neighborhood.

It's a wonderful place to visit!

Anonymous wrote:Peru! It was amazing- gorgeous country with a fascinating history and really welcoming people. Delicious food! One of our best trips ever.

So we are thinking about doing Peru next year (including Machu Pichu). Any tips? For now I am trying to figure out the best time of year to go. Is spring OK? Or should we do winter (their summer?) I don't know anything about the weather there...

Peru! It was amazing- gorgeous country with a fascinating history and really welcoming people. Delicious food! One of our best trips ever.

Anonymous wrote:Went to Mont Tremblant and Montreal on advice from this forum.

The weather was nice most of the time but warm enough that the snow was a bit slushy. The resort closes everyday at 4:30pm, with no night or evening skiing, so that was a disappointment.

The skiing is vast and for avid skiers, it would be amazing. I have more beginners and it was tough to get them out beyond one or two green slopes. I have been taking them skiing for 3-4 years now and I thought it would have been a more fun experience than PA or WV skiing, but I will stick to those places next time, at least until they are much, much older.

My kids, 9 and 12, didn't want to do much other than one day of skiing and the dog sledding. The dog sledding was the only real highlight of our trip. That and catching up on a lot of Netflix, when the wifi worked.

Montreal was boring and we didn't really like it.

I tried but they kept complaining it was too cold, too slick, too this or that. Fighting ensued a lot.

Heavy French speaking area and when you are not a Francophone, it's tough to communicate. It was tough to find people who speak English outside of major metro areas....including the Mont Tremblant area. The hotel we stayed at was nicely located (in the village), but the wifi was atrocious.

I couldn't wait to get home.

You guys didn't want to do snow tubing or ice skating? They had both of those things free every night when we went skiing there. You had to be staying somewhere in the village.

Anonymous wrote:Went to Mont Tremblant and Montreal on advice from this forum.

The weather was nice most of the time but warm enough that the snow was a bit slushy. The resort closes everyday at 4:30pm, with no night or evening skiing, so that was a disappointment.

The skiing is vast and for avid skiers, it would be amazing. I have more beginners and it was tough to get them out beyond one or two green slopes. I have been taking them skiing for 3-4 years now and I thought it would have been a more fun experience than PA or WV skiing, but I will stick to those places next time, at least until they are much, much older.

My kids, 9 and 12, didn't want to do much other than one day of skiing and the dog sledding. The dog sledding was the only real highlight of our trip. That and catching up on a lot of Netflix, when the wifi worked.

Montreal was boring and we didn't really like it.

I tried but they kept complaining it was too cold, too slick, too this or that. Fighting ensued a lot.

Heavy French speaking area and when you are not a Francophone, it's tough to communicate. It was tough to find people who speak English outside of major metro areas....including the Mont Tremblant area. The hotel we stayed at was nicely located (in the village), but the wifi was atrocious.

I couldn't wait to get home.

We did this as well and absolutely loved it! Didn't spend much time in Montreal so can't comment a lot on that. Loved our hotel in the village at Tremblant, had amazing skiing the first few days, got gloomy after that. We're big skiers, though, so that probably helped. Had a blast in the village at laser tag, escape rooms, etc. Awesome dinner at a few spots as well. We can't wait to go back next year. Sorry it didn't work out for you this time, PP.