Despite the precious poster, we’ve found that Austria and Germany are really child friendly. France, location dependent. Most places in the UK similar to North America.

Anonymous wrote:I will say NOT Germany. We loved Germany but found they were not super tolerant of people traveling with kids. We had ours and my inlaws kids, all of differing ages, and who are well-behaved. Truly. And we would have people move restaurant tables when they saw us come in. Yelling at them in stores before they even did anything. If a kid so much as grazed them in a line, were sighing and rolling eyes. Was not a fan of that aspect of Germany. And we have not experienced anything like that anywhere else with kids. And we travel a lot overseas with ours.

Have travelled to Germany many times and do NOT find this to be the norm. Many places go out of their way to accommodate children. Strangers give kids Haribo and explain that children are the generation that will be taking care of them. We have never had a single issue in Germany, even staying in places that weren’t specified a child friendly.

We had a fantastic trip to Italy last winter -- skiing in the Dolomites followed by Venice and Florence in the off-season. We did a photo-tour of Florence (e.g., with a photographer, all using tour-provided Polaroid cameras) which I think would also work for younger kids (I have a teenager, who also appreciated vintage clothing stores in Venice and record shops in Florence). I had never skied in Europe before -- highly recommend!

We moved to Europe when my kids were 5 and 8 and lived there for 5+ years. We were located in Germany (yes, I asked about FIS) and found it so easy to travel all over the place. Also, international schools have the BEST vacation schedules. My kids had two fall breaks (one just a 4 day break and one that was 7-9 days), a 3 week Christmas holiday, a 9-day ski break in February, and a 2 week Easter break.

Trips we took:

1. First trip - Paris, France (an easy 5 hour drive from Frankfurt) with a stop over in Disneyland Paris
2. Rome, Venice, & Garmisch (we drove...stopping in Germany and visiting the Zugspitz)
3. Prague & Berlin
4. London
5. Sweden (Stockholm)
6. UK (Bath, Oxford, Avebury) - we drove to France, and took the Chunnel)... we decided after this trip that we would only fly to countries that drive on the right side of the road and then would rent a car with the steering wheel on the right. Much easier than driving our car with the wheel on the left!
7. Amsterdam
8. Barcelona
9. Belgium (Bruge, Levern, & Flander's Field) If you like beer, there is a Westvleteren cafe at the abbey in Vleteren, Belgium. Known for being the best beer in the world.
10. Garmisch again
11. Lots of Christmas Markets : Koln, Rudesheim, Frankfurt, Nuremburg, Heidelberg, Michelstadt (probably my favorite of them all), and the ones in all the small German towns.
12. Krakow, Poland (We chose not to visit Asuchwitz at this time because of the kids' ages)
13. Scotland (We spent a full two weeks here one August...amazing. We flew into Edinburgh, rented a car, and traveled to Inverness, the Isle of Skye (please take the kids to see the Fairy Pools...get there first thing in the morning before the tour buses arrive, we drove all over!)
14. Switzerland (Basel & Lucerne) - We took the train
15. Brussels, Belgium )just a quick weekend trip)
16. Croatia & Slovenia!!! We drove. One of my favorites... we did Lake Bled, Plitvice, Krka, Split, Zadar, and Dubrovnik). Again....beat the tour buses! We were at all of the waterfall parks and at the walled city of Dubrovnik when they opened... two hours later...swarms of people.
17. France: Provence & Normandy
18. Italy: Sicily, Amalfi Coast, and Sardinia
19. Vienna (We went twice...once over Easter & once over the Thanksgiving break). Both were amazing! Music, easter markets, zoo, ice skating and Christmas markets over Thanksgiving!
20. Budapest, Hungary (over Thanksgiving one year.) Please, if you go, the best restaurant I have ever been to is there. Comme Chez Soi. Affordable and great for kids. You must email them to make a reservation 3 months in advance. http://www.commechezsoi.hu/
21. Greece - Athens & Crete. We stayed at the Domes of Elounda....amazing! We went over the fall break when the water was still warm. In the spring, the water is too cold to play in.
22. Ireland & No. Ireland
23. Keukenhoff, NL (just a weekend trip to see the tulips)
24. Norwegian Fjords...we cruised them with NCL over a summer holiday. Amazing!
25. Paris, France again!
26. Baltic Cities Cruise: Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Estonia, Stockholm, and Visby. Again with NCL.
27. *****Finland during Ski Break!!!! If I could choose one trip to do with kids this would be it. We stayed in a cabin with a glass igloo attached. Get the cabin that holds 6. it has a bathroom, shower, fireplace, mini kitchen, etc. Trust me....even though it is expensive...get it! We pet raindeer, took husky sled rides, snowbmobile rides, reindeer sleigh rides, and a horse drawn sled ride. They also have Santa's Village there. Here is the link to where we stayed. Most expensive trip we took for just 4 nights...but honestly, incredible!!!
https://www.kakslauttanen.fi/
28. Giverny, France (home of Monet) and Disneyland Paris (again)
29. Malta, Rome, and Tuscany (we visited Florence and Siena) If you go to Siena...go while they are having the Palio. Incredible! We paid a crazy amount of money to watch the horse race from the top of a tower in Siena, but incredible!!!! Be there the day before the race when all the Contradas march through town. AMAZING!
30. Portugal - probably my least favorite trip...but still fun)
31. South Africa - we went on Safari with the kids our last year in Germany. We flew to Cape Town from Frankfurt. Incredible experience... the kids loved it. We stayed at La Bella...a safari lodge that allowed kids. We drove over most of the middle/South of South Africa..and fed elephants, saw penguins, stopped to see where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans met (do not step in the water....very strong currents).
32. Last trip was to Munich, Germany with a planned visit to Dachau Concentration Camp. At this point my kids were 14 and 11. Everyone has their own thoughts on this, but I wanted the kids to see it before we returned to the US. I lived overseas as a child and visited Dachau. We made sure to plan some fun activities in Munich for after this visit to lighten the mood.

So many other places to visit...we just did not have enough time! Best of luck to you!

Hope this helps!

Anonymous wrote:Are you interested in Munich, Ireland, Copenhagen, Barcelona, or Brussels? If so, I can write a detailed reply. We've spent 3 months in each of those places with our two young kids.

Not the OP, but I’m taking the kids to Munich this year! Will take any recommendations.

Without knowing where you will be, I'll just remind you that there will most likely be other families with children of the same age no matter where you decide to go. Europe isn't any more or less kid friendly than the US--just different.

For weekends, visit places you can access by car first. Then move on to short flights if needed. For longer breaks, look at renting a house in or near a city and take day trips from there. For example--in Paris, rent a place in the 11th. Get to know the local bakeries and restaurants, do one outing in the morning and another after lunch and a rest. Eat dinner later than typical and walk around your neighborhood. In Munich, rent a place in Starnberg or similar. Explore the town, the playgrounds, etc. Take the train to Munich, drive to one of the Ludwig castles. Same in Ireland--there are castles everywhere. Find an Airbnb in a place like Kerry or Galway, or Wexford. Then explore the castles and such in the area.

Austria or Ireland

Ireland

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brainstorming here DCUM! We have the opportunity to live in Europe for a couple years for my spouse’s job. Kids will be 5 and 7 when we go. DH and I have been a handful of places but have not travelled extensively, and all our European travel was pre-kids. What have been your favorite places to visit with kids? All seasons welcome as their international school will have breaks, and I’m even thinking about the possibility of some weekend city breaks (we’ll be in a central European city with good flight connections). We enjoy a mix of city and nature; my oldest is also really interested in visiting castles. All ideas welcome!!

Ireland and Scotland! People are nice and welcoming of kids. Lots of space outside the cities. And both have THE BEST PARKS. Everyday we made time to scope out local parks for playtime and they put American parks to shame.

I agree with Scotland. It was our kids first trip overseas and I thought it was perfect. Castles, history, hiking, Harry Potter…they loved it.

I dont have advice, just want to say how amazing this will be for all of you and how much I wish I had this opportunity. My family lived in europe for one year when I was 5 and it was, for me, life changing (at least, I'm pretty sure the path I took in life was because of this year). One of my regrets in not going into academia (frankly one of the very few) is that I can't take a year long sabbatical with the kids somewhere.

Anywhere is great. When you live there you will be going on vacations that are different than if you fly for a 2 week vacation from the US. You might go camping in Croatia or Tuscany, rent a country house in Brittany and spend time at the beaches, or go to the North Sea. There is SO much variety in Europe and hard to fit it all in.

Smaller towns rather than tourist hotspots

I will say NOT Germany. We loved Germany but found they were not super tolerant of people traveling with kids. We had ours and my inlaws kids, all of differing ages, and who are well-behaved. Truly. And we would have people move restaurant tables when they saw us come in. Yelling at them in stores before they even did anything. If a kid so much as grazed them in a line, were sighing and rolling eyes. Was not a fan of that aspect of Germany. And we have not experienced anything like that anywhere else with kids. And we travel a lot overseas with ours.

Anonymous wrote:Brainstorming here DCUM! We have the opportunity to live in Europe for a couple years for my spouse’s job. Kids will be 5 and 7 when we go. DH and I have been a handful of places but have not travelled extensively, and all our European travel was pre-kids. What have been your favorite places to visit with kids? All seasons welcome as their international school will have breaks, and I’m even thinking about the possibility of some weekend city breaks (we’ll be in a central European city with good flight connections). We enjoy a mix of city and nature; my oldest is also really interested in visiting castles. All ideas welcome!!

Ireland and Scotland! People are nice and welcoming of kids. Lots of space outside the cities. And both have THE BEST PARKS. Everyday we made time to scope out local parks for playtime and they put American parks to shame.

We did Copenhagen, Paris, and all over Switzerland between those years. DS has always said Paris was his favorite, but DH and I thought Copenhagen was a better trip (we took him when he was 6). I loved. Switzerland but it was expensive and felt it was wasted on DS at that young age.

Outside that age but still in elementary school we've enjoyed London, Brighton, Barcelona, Valencia, and Ireland. We also did Germany around Christmas and did a bunch of Christmas markets.