Can anyone suggest European vacation spot?

[AllisonR]

DH and I live in Denmark. Before DS and DD it was easy for us to visit my family, in the USA, once or twice a year. Right now it is a pain, and I want to wait until DS and DD are a few years older before making more overseas flights. My family has visited Århus and Copenhagen, and feel like "been there, done that". We would all be happy to meet up in Italy, France, Spain... either this Christmas or the following spring/summer. This would be a short flight for us, and a fun adventure for my family.

The "issue" I have is space. We need between 3 and 5 bedrooms, for 7 to 12 people, and such places are hard to find. Maybe we should get 2 separate places that are connected? Or one big place? A lot of it depends on whether SIL and her family are coming or not. Anyone have a suggestion?

Either:
1 bedroom for DH, me, DS and DD, 1 bedroom for my mom and dad, 1 small bedroom for my sister
Or:
1 bedroom for DH, me, DS and DD, 1 bedroom for my mom and dad, 1 small bedroom for my sister, 1 bedroom for SIL, stepBIL, and 1 bedroom for their grown DD, and younger DS1 and DS2.

[MCR]

I went here
with my family, Me, my Mom , two teen boys. It's called Alpinus in Portugal. The apartments were really large. We had a two bedrooms and a living room with a fold out couch. One bedroom had two singles, one had a queen bed, there were two bathrooms and a large kitchen. Really nice staff beautiful beach 5 minutes away. A lovely restaurant onsite and down the street (called LaAugsuteria (sp) ) We got again in a heartbeat.

[peggyitaly]

Hi,
Just wondering what kind of vacation are you looking for? Cities? Countryside? Mountains?
Were you looking for a villa type of arrangement or hotel? You have all kinds of options in Italy.
I personally love the Dolomite Mountains here in Italy during the summer. Other beautiful places are Cinque Terre, Tuscany countryside (in the province of Sienna), Le Marche countryside (province of Macerata or Pesaro-Urbino), and anywhere in Umbria. If you do a relaxing countryside vacation, you can stay in an agriturismo (which is basically a cross between a farmhouse and hotel). They often have swimming pools and offer bike rentals. Excursions might include visiting medieval towns.

I wouldn't suggest doing a vacation visiting lots of big cities if there are many families involved with children.

i hope i've been helpful!

Peggy

[wagamama]

I'm interested in this too, as we are living in Nigeria at the moment, and need to escape once in a while! The place in Portugal looks nice, but it is 2/3 of a mile from the beach -- did you walk there or take a taxi?

[calynde]

I second the Portugal recommendation! We have had great experiences there...and I honestly can't imagine a more child-friendly place to go...the people there ADORE children.

[AllisonR]

Thanks for the replies. Will check out the details about italy, esp. agriturismo.
I have a bio mom in Al Garve, Portugal, so that is not on our list. I do like visiting there, and they do like kids, but I don't consider them kid-friendly. You can't take your children out to eat dinner, unless it is a fast food joint, and other places don't even start sserving dinner until 8:30-9pm, which is after my kids are already asleep!

[Hollycrand]

There are many family-friendly places in France. Two places that come to mind are the Ardeches (about 2 hours north of Marseilles, which is on the Mediterranean) and the Vosges mountains (on the border of Alsace and Lorraine.
You'd have more of a guarantee of nice weather below the meridional divide, so I#d look into the Ardeches.
We stayed in a nice family residence called 'Odalys'
http://www.flvacances.com/produit.as...u_hebergement&
They had two wonderful family-oriented pools (closed in), grassy areas, several playgrounds, and many many families. Most restaurants cater to children/families (you can eat at 6 or 7pm, high chairs are availalbe, children's menus/activities) and the area isn't as touristy as the areas to the South (which area very pricy). However, you are close enough to do a couple of day trips to the Coast, Avignogn, or Orange.
The Ardeches area itself is wonderful for canoeing, hiking, exploring (there are several pre-historic caves you can visit). Very nature-oriented activies.
In the Vosges mountains it is also very family-oriented. Most restaurants cater to children/families, the prices are reasonable, and there are many beautiful lakes, trails to visit and see. On rainy days there are also a few museums of interest to children (in Colmar, just a 20 minute drive there is a fabulous 3 story toy museum with dolls, trains and carpeting to let little ones romp around).

Have you tried getting a catalog from a Danish travel agency? Often they have houses for rent in the summer all over Europe. The coast tends to be more expensive, which is why I recommend Ardeches or the Vosges. When we were there there were a few Danes, so I'm sure that these areas are known to Danish travel agencies.

Good luck!

[salento]

You can't take your children out to eat dinner, unless it is a fast food joint, and other places don't even start sserving dinner until 8:30-9pm, which is after my kids are already asleep![/QUOTE]

Well, you're not going to like Italy either or Spain or Greece - best to stay in northern Europe or United States IMO! Are you looking for child friendly or child centred I wonder...

[MCR]

Originally Posted by wagamama

I'm interested in this too, as we are living in Nigeria at the moment, and need to escape once in a while! The place in Portugal looks nice, but it is 2/3 of a mile from the beach -- did you walk there or take a taxi?

the hotel had a mini bus that ran us up and down to the beach it ran every 30 mins or so, or if no one wanted to ride it, they waited for a family to ask for a ride.
Then they would wait in the same spot at the beach for any of their families to ride back. We liked to walk it was a nice place, and we'd stop for ice cream and drinks on the way back.
We got the Bus into Albufiera fr the day, a really nice cobble street of fishing town. Loads of cool places to eat up back alleys with outside tables, shaded from the hot sun.
We also went inland one day to a huge market, full of both tourists and locals.
Last summer we went to Barcelona. Didn't like the hotel much, but we were visiting family and werEn't there much. Next year 2009 we'll go back but are staying in an apartment in Castelldefels, on the beach and closer to the family. Thats a nice place to visit, not a lot to do, but it's a short trip to Barcelona on the bus or train, and you can wander about the Ramblas and enjoy your self. It gets a bit raunchy and noisy most nights, it's a hot spot for young people to vacation, lots of bachelor parties and Bachelorette parties for a couple of nightS at a time, it's only $100 return flight from the UK

[MCR]

Originally Posted by salento

You can't take your children out to eat dinner, unless it is a fast food joint, and other places don't even start sserving dinner until 8:30-9pm, which is after my kids are already asleep!

Well, you're not going to like Italy either or Spain or Greece - best to stay in northern Europe or United States IMO! Are you looking for child friendly or child centred I wonder...[/QUOTE]

I find Spain, France, Portugal to be very kid/family friendly, we ate out most nights before 8pm, but we'd still stay out till midnight. My 2.5 year old goes to bed at 7pm at home, but on vacation she got really good at staying up late (and in a great mood) and sleeping late and napping like the locals in the afternoon. We never hit the beach till 4pm, then showered and went out to dinner late.

[calynde]

[/QUOTE]
I find Spain, France, Portugal to be very kid/family friendly, we ate out most nights before 8pm, but we'd still stay out till midnight. My 2.5 year old goes to bed at 7pm at home, but on vacation she got really good at staying up late (and in a great mood) and sleeping late and napping like the locals in the afternoon. We never hit the beach till 4pm, then showered and went out to dinner late.[/QUOTE]

It works this way for us, too. When in Rome...

[peggyitaly]

Hi again,

this is one of our favourite agriturismo in our area

http://www.lacampana.it/defengl.htm

Check out the photos. It's run by a cooperative. As far as what time you can eat, I think you could request something. The beach is a 10 minute drive away if you want the sea. There are also beautiful small medieval towns nearby.

If I can remember others, I'll try to post them.

Peggy

[KBinSATX]

When I still lived in Europe I really loved Spain.

[prairiesprite]

How about the Croatian coast? It is beautiful, and many of the accommodations available are "bed and breakfast" type arrangements where people rent out space in private residences.

[christophersmom]

We LOVED the Canary Islands and can't wait to go back! The places to stay are nice and inexpensive, eating out is easy and yummy!

[aussiemum]

We recently hired a house in France, in the town of Larchant, about 70 kms south of Paris- self-catering, well set up, great outdoor activities.... & not ridiculously expensive. But it was definitely a make your own meals & fun kind of extended holiday. We found what we wanted by searching around online.

If you are interested in France, here are some of the good (& secure) sites that we found.

http://www.gites-seine-et-marne.com/ Gite no. 29

http://www.chambreslyon.com/index-gb.htm

http://www.homelidays.com/EN-Holiday..._Home/Home.asp

http://www.holiday-rentals-avenue.com/

We stayed here in Lyon.

[dawningmama]

I would suggest doing a search for vacation home rentals in the area you want. (I just did a quick google of "vacation house rental europe" and plenty of sites came up.) With that many people, it sounds like renting a house is the best way to go. Have fun!

[Ghislaine]

I agree with aussiemum and dawningmama that some kind of vacation rental would work for you and your family. My family (myself, husband, father, mother, and brother) just rented a house in the Normandy area through the Gite system in France. http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/france/FR1026.htm
The place was a little out of the way and you'd probably need to drive everywhere but they were definitely set up for children with kids books and a high chair.

While we were figuring out where we were going on this vacation we checked out all kinds of vacation rental possibilities including villas in Spain and places in Portugal. I think you'll find that every country has options like this.

Since you'd have your own kitchen you would be able to make the meals for your children whenever they needed them rather then having to wait for restaurants to open.

[CharlieBrown]

or try

www.vrbo.com

vacation rental by owner

Turkey is nice and cheaper than Europe.