Anonymous wrote:I would do Spain. Either Barcelona with a couple nights in Costa Brava or Madrid & Seville. You can fly to Madrid and take the fast train to Seville in a couple hours. I have adult kids and they would be bored staying in one place for 5 days FWIW.

You could also do Switzerland and combine a city with a lake or mountain area for a couple of days. Lots of great combos from either Zurich or Geneva.

I think Spain would be great except it would still be pretty hot in early September, which OP said they didn't want.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fly into Zurich and train all over Switzerland

This. Plus the Dolomites and French Alps. These places are so pretty and the small towns have fantastic foods. Make sure Lake Como is a stop.

The OP has 5-6 days! Do you people not read? It would take half their time just getting to and from these places.

We have younger kids but I loved Copenhagen. Just so much to do. I think Vienna would be great as well, particularly because there are also so many easy daytrip options.

Have not been to Lisbon yet but contrary to the persistent PP on here, everyone I know IRL seems to enjoy it so it would be on my shortlist for the paremeters you are working with.

I would do Spain. Either Barcelona with a couple nights in Costa Brava or Madrid & Seville. You can fly to Madrid and take the fast train to Seville in a couple hours. I have adult kids and they would be bored staying in one place for 5 days FWIW.

You could also do Switzerland and combine a city with a lake or mountain area for a couple of days. Lots of great combos from either Zurich or Geneva.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for all the great suggestions! I will ask the kids about Edinburgh, Copenhagen and Lisbon.

IMO Edinburgh alone is not worth 6 days; you could throw in Glasgow. If they like Viking history, you could take the train to York for a couple of days, too.

I hear Porto is nicer than Lisbon. I've been to the Algarve region, and it wasn't all that.

I'm a big fan of York, but I think it works better for ages 5-15 than for adult kids. If I were going to do Edinburgh, I'd try to find a day trip to go out in the country for a day or two by train or by car hire. I don't think I'd bother with Glasgow -- I don't think it would add much -- maybe i'm wrong, but i view it as a grittier version of Edinburgh.

Anonymous wrote:Fly into Zurich and train all over Switzerland

This. Plus the Dolomites and French Alps. These places are so pretty and the small towns have fantastic foods. Make sure Lake Como is a stop.

Anonymous wrote:Ibiza 100%

To can walk from the cheap flight beach of British or Germans or French or Italians.

If you’re going to do a beach trip, go to Mexico or Puerto Rico - much nicer than the European equivalents of cheap resorts and drunkenness

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did Amsterdam/Brussels/Bruges last year and young adult kids enjoyed it. Stuffed ourselves with stroopwaffel, Belgian waffles, chocolate and beer.

Gross. Were you loud and obnoxious? This is the classic American or British chav thing to do.

I mean on the one hand never change DCUM 😂, but on the other hand the travel forum used to be at least marginally better.

Anonymous wrote:We did Amsterdam/Brussels/Bruges last year and young adult kids enjoyed it. Stuffed ourselves with stroopwaffel, Belgian waffles, chocolate and beer.

Gross. Were you loud and obnoxious? This is the classic American or British chav thing to do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Copenhagen will check all the boxes! Wonderful museums, architecture, food, nightlife, shopping and easy to navigate.

+1
I was going to say Copenhagen, Stavanger, or maybe Luxembourg

Me again - or Vienna

Anonymous wrote:Copenhagen will check all the boxes! Wonderful museums, architecture, food, nightlife, shopping and easy to navigate.

+1
I was going to say Copenhagen, Stavanger, or maybe Luxembourg

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We loved Portugal - both Lisbon and Porto. Different strokes, etc. We found there to be plenty to do, to include driving out to beautiful Cascais along the coast and exploring Sintra. Gorgeous place.

OP clearly stated they won’t have a car, which means no trips to the coast.

Wouldn’t you agree that a week in just Lisbon/Porto isn’t all that fun or amazing (once you eliminate the coast and other areas)?

Plus: the airport in Lisbon to catch the flight to Porto was a disorganized mess.

NP. You can easily train to Sintra and Cascais.

Anonymous wrote:We loved Portugal - both Lisbon and Porto. Different strokes, etc. We found there to be plenty to do, to include driving out to beautiful Cascais along the coast and exploring Sintra. Gorgeous place.

OP clearly stated they won’t have a car, which means no trips to the coast.

Wouldn’t you agree that a week in just Lisbon/Porto isn’t all that fun or amazing (once you eliminate the coast and other areas)?

Plus: the airport in Lisbon to catch the flight to Porto was a disorganized mess.

Ibiza 100%

We loved Portugal - both Lisbon and Porto. Different strokes, etc. We found there to be plenty to do, to include driving out to beautiful Cascais along the coast and exploring Sintra. Gorgeous place.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for all the great suggestions! I will ask the kids about Edinburgh, Copenhagen and Lisbon.

IMO Edinburgh alone is not worth 6 days; you could throw in Glasgow. If they like Viking history, you could take the train to York for a couple of days, too.

I hear Porto is nicer than Lisbon. I've been to the Algarve region, and it wasn't all that.

I’m the poster who said Lisbon is boring and I think Porto is even more boring. It was nice for a day of wine tasting and wandering around, but there was nothing outstanding about it (and the locals are furious that foreigners have snatched up the bulk of their housing for Airbnbs). The food was pretty good and the wine was good, but there wasn’t anything impressive regarding the architecture or sites.

I think a lot of people just go there to drink.

Sure, what places people like is subjective.

I hated Florida, for example, but tons of people seem to go every year. I just don't see the appeal to places like West Palm Beach.

Okay.

But I doubt anyone is trying to compare anywhere in Europe/EU to anywhere in Florida.

I believe we are offering candid feedback on European destinations, right?

I mean, Portugal is right up there with Iceland and Costa Rica on dcum’s travel hate list.

I wouldn’t necessarily write off Portugal entirely, but I standby my assessment that Porto is lackluster. I couldn’t imagine vacationing there for a week. Fwiw, I was there for 5 nights one spring for business and despite my best efforts to “see something” with my local hosts, I found it all rather ho-hum. I enjoyed most of the food, although it wasn’t rave-worthy. And the wine was good. Basically a lot of the tourism seems to center on drinking. And the locals really do have serious beef with foreigners thanks to their impact on the housing market (Airbnbs).

I know people who have tacked Portugal on to longer vacations in Spain.