UK/Europe Holiday (with 3-ish year old) - Where to start??

I am trying to start planning a trip to Europe and the UK for next year, but not sure where to start.

I want to see all the obvious touristy things, but really want ot make sure I can see some local festivals and fairs and the like throughout Europe.
Also want to make sure we go at the right time of year to get the best out of it - we will be taking Charlotte, who will be around 3 when we go (and hopefully toilet trained!! lol)

So Im not sure where to start with finding the right places to stay and how to get around, what there is to see and do and things.

We will be on a budget, but not a tight one, and was hoping to do a combo of backpacker ish type accom and some cheap hotels around the place too.


So any ideas on where to go to find this type of info?
Or any where you have been off the beaten track (but not so far off Charlotte is going to get kidnapped and sold for organ transplants please lol), festivals or events you saw?
Where did you stay or where do you know of?

Also love to hear about restaurants/inns in France and Italy in particular to satisfy my cullinarian side (see Cai, it IS a word now!! lol)

Should I get a Lonely Planet? Are they any good or is there better references guides out there?

Oh, the least amount of money I can spend finding this info would be great! ;)


TIA

Lex x

my brother, wife & 4 kids (aged 11, 9, 7 & 5) went through europe for 3 months, they primarily stayed in tourist parks with tents that were almost like cabins. They hired a car for the time they were there.

ooh I hadnt even thought of tourist parks!
Thanks Punks :)

that's ok. Glad I could help, in a small way :)

I'm considering a trip OS next year to visit friends in England & Europe - but it will just be me in my pre-pregnant state.

:bump:

:)

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 :redface: 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.

I'll be back with more if you like...

Thanks for that Bron will check it out :)

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 (:pray:) 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 :redface:) 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)

ohhh, this is fun....

wow that is ace SB!
Thank you so much for taking the time :)
Will certainly be going to Prague - the Torture Museum is there :) :)

I think there's actually two torture museums there. The big one is very good.

BUT you mustn't overlook the keyboard [computer] museum in Kosice, Slovakia. Highlight of my trip :lol: NOT!

I've spent quite a bit of time over the past couple years booking and using accommodation in Europe. Probably the best site I used for booking the type of accommodation you are looking for is hostelworld. It has pretty extensive lists of backpackers, hotels and apartments (which will be really good when you're travelling with a child) which you can book online. For reviews I used trip advisor, but I rarely actually booked through that site because I could usually use find the same place cheaper elsewhere. So reviews on trip advisor but bookings on hostel world (or direct with the accommodation).

My tip would be to use hostels and hotels for shorter stop overs (1-2 nights) but every now and then get an apartment with a kitchen and laundry (or laundry facilities on site). It is great to be able to get all caught up on your washing and cook a few meals yourself when you have been in hotels and hostels for days. I loved going food shopping and finding all sorts of weird and wonderful local foods to cook. Reindeer anyone :lol:

Oh and for festivals......I didn't really ever try to find these kinds of things but often you just manage to stumble upon something interesting. I can remember one great night in Italy when we were accidently in town for the 50th birthday party for a car (!). Totally random and not something you would plan but it was lots of fun. But if you do want to search for festivals I think lonely planet books and site have listings??