re Lonely Planet. I think their stamp of approval is the death knell for anything that they recommend. I like the Footprint guides.
There is web site called trip advisor. It can be a bit annoying to navigate but it has never let me down when it comes to hotels. It has classifications like family hotel etc and if you just search fr a family hotel and pick the highest ranked one in your budget you should be fine.
Since I started using it we haven't stayed in a hotel we weren't happy with.
It works on visitor ratings so it averages out pretty accuratly.
The Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forums are a great source of info and I think there's some kid branches in there.
For backpacker style accommodation, and just general crowd avoidance, I recommend going in May or October. In these months, very few universities around the world have holidays so backpackr numbers are lower (also means that more interesting people - long term travellers - are around)
It depends what you want to see while you're over there, what you're into. Food, that's a great start. What about natural features, historical features, cultural features, relaxation?
I loved Germany for budget travel - travel and supermarkets are cheap, most hostels have kitchens, many have family rooms too. Northern UK and Scotland hostels struck me as being very family friendly too, particularly the HI hostel in Newcastle.
Rail passes don't always represent a great deal, depending on whether one or both of you has EU citizenship (InterRail is a good deal in Western Europe, waste of money in the East, I wouldn't bother with Eurail)
Festivals: Hmmm, I went to heaps. Most not child friendly Anyting big makes accommodation harder to get and sometimes more expensive, like trying to get a bed in Edinburgh for Edinburgh Festival, or Munich for Oktoberfest etc.
SB - it is all about the history and the food really lol My two passions.
Neither of us are EU citizens or entitled to claim it.
Looking for events that arent necessarily as advertised as Oktober Fest, although it would be a great thing to see, dont think a 3 year old will go over well lol
So things like local fairs in Scotland...things like that weird one they have where everyone runs down the hill lol or throws gumboots and things like that. The quirky little stuff I like.
Please come back with as much as you have and care to share! I am a sponge today! lol
We went in 2007 in August/Sept with a 14mth old and a nearly 4 year old for 7 weeks. We are also contemplating going again next year with 3 kids.
We have found that the best thing to do is lease a car through either Peugot or Renault if you are going to be there longer then a couple of weeks. Having the car especially with children represents so much flexibility and freedom. Also leasing the car is cheaper in the long run (ie over 3 weeks or more) then hiring a car and you get a brand new car straight off the showroom floor! Check out Peugot and Renault's websites for more info, you can even look at each individual type of car and how much boot space each car has for luggage etc.
In 2007 we picked up our car in Milan, Italy drove up through the north of Italy through to Croatia (we both have family there) where we stayed for a few weeks. We then drove and spent some time in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Switzerland and Italy again.
Having been to the Oktoberfest it isnt the worst thing to do taking a child as there are festival rides, lots of food stalls, parades, lots of people in costume and you could still even take her into a beer hall for a drink and some food.
We just went with the flow a bit in regards to stopping and starting according to the kids needs and every time we saw a park or playground we automatically stopped to give the kids a chance to run around.
Accom wise we stayed in hotels that were usually central to each location we wanted to base ourselves in and were at least 3 star...nothing too flash but something that was comfy and clean.
We had a ball and like I said cant wait to do it agin hopefully () next year.
One thing that our boys loved in England was riding on Thomas. There are a few train buff groups who have painted up old steam trains to look like Thomas and others and have children's days every now and then.
This is the one near where my dad lives but there are heaps more Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
If your daughter isn't into Thomas it mightn't be quite so excitining as it was for my littlies.
Ang's little tour sounds very similar to what I would recommend, although I would say go to Croatia because it's beautiful, not just because you have family there! We hired a car while in Slovenia (every hostel was booked out due to one school group, so it was cheaper to hire a car and sleep in it than to pay for transport and accom) and it allowed us to get the "work" of four days done in two.
If you go through Slovenia, I strongly recommend Postojna Caves with your DD, they have a little train that takes you through their hundreds and hundreds of caves, it's beautiful and fun.
If your little one is into ballet, maybe consider going while in Budapest or Prague? It is so cheap that you don't have to worry about her not sitting through it, and the theatres are amazing.
Prague has famous puppet shows for children - and adults, which would also be good. There's also Detsky Ostrov in Prague (children's island) I wouldn;t go to Prague just for that, but if you're there, it's nice to go to. I worked as a nanny in CZ, so Prague for kids is something I'm pretty good at.
Berlin Zoo and associated gardens would be fun to take kids through, there's a market up one end there too , I think, that I loved.
If you want to take the tourist park options, there are some fabulously cheap ones open in summer only all through Italy. They're in the suburbs a bit, but still cheaper than staying in town. And there's always cheap neigbourhood restaurants nearby.
There's an international scout centre in Switzerland which has cheep cheep accommodation all year round at Kandersteg. Great base from which to do outdoorsy style stuff.
Backpack Guesthouse in Budapest has a cheap family room and great staff, and is cheap. Budapest ranks as one of my top 5 euro cities, eeeeesily.
All the little festivals I ended up at we just found out about by word of mouth. One which wasn't even a festival was a Dutch protest against a 38 hour work week - 2 million people on the streets in Amsterdam, including kids, dressed up and partying - the Dutch know how to protest! I was only there because I was picking up a friend's smoke machine for a party in The Hague that night. Another good one was Budapest's street party for International No Car Day, they close down a couple of streets and have heaps of activities and sculptures lining the road and everyone comes out for a look(and occasionally gets interrupted by exuberant Aussie backpackers who have stumbled upon it ) In Malta there's a festa every week through summer, so you just have to turn up to find the next one.
There's that horse race in Siena, I think it's in August? I missed it by a week or so, I think. Ummm.... Montreux Jazz Festival is probably too big.
There's an incredible place to saty in Granada, it's a guesthouse with a big courtyard and every night all these Spanish guitarists congregate there and have a play. Also in Spain, Santiago de Compostela has a festival in late July, religious based, but a good party. I didn't go to it, but a friend did, as well as something amazing in Salamanca, will have to check back and ask, cos it sounded really good, I missed out cos I couldn't afford to stay an extra two days
In Germany, the Leipzig AltMarkt is on every Sunday (I think) with live stage performers, and olden days reenactments, heaps of stalls, and a bar. It's free.
In Denmark, there's Legoland in Esbjerg - the original and possibly the best (only one I've ever been to, I took a friend's little brother in return for free accomm on a little island off the Danish west coast)
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Anyting big makes accommodation harder to get and sometimes more expensive, like trying to get a bed in Edinburgh for Edinburgh Festival, or Munich for Oktoberfest etc.
) next year.
NOT!
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