Who doesn’t dream of travelling to Europe and opening your family’s eyes to new cultures, experiences and places along the way? But where to start! Jumping on a plane and heading to the other side of the world is daunting to say the least. Here’s 20 tips from on travelling in Europe with kids from North Shore Mum Liane Shatrov, who has been living in France for the past 18 months.
Ready to tackle the many amazing sights of Europe with the family in tow? Pack those suitcases and hit the air, with these handy tips to make your travels as smooth as possible. Here are 20 tips on travelling in Europe with kids.
1. Book, book, book
It is not just you wanting to travel, the world is ready to travel again, too! Book ahead in Europe, like you’ve never booked before. I’m talking accommodation, sight seeing activities, restaurants. For example, to go up the Eiffel Tower in November last year, tickets sold out one week before. Paris has become busier by the month since then, so book this part weeks in advance. Even some museums sell out. I advise you map out what you want to do on each day in the major cities and book the main attractions weeks ahead. As for restaurants, if there are particular places you want to eat at, book well in advance, too.
2. But then, don’t overbook your time!
Everyone has different ideas of the perfect getaway and how to travel with kids. But remember, what you may have packed into a day of sightseeing pre-kids, make sure you modify your expectations with kids. Even though you may lock in certain things as I mentioned above, allow time to just walk around, for the kids to play in playgrounds and to rest. They cannot do museum after museum, so plan your time wisely.
3. Include the kids!
When travelling Europe with kids, it makes sense to include the kids!
- Before you go away, talk to them about where you are visiting. If they like to read, there are stacks of great kids books out there to make some fabulous ‘pre-reading’.
- Stay in some ‘different’ places that will help to keep the kids engaged and amazed. In the Loire Valley, we stayed once in an old stone farmhouse in the countryside (very cool!) and once in a chateau (also very cool!). Research where you are going and stay in something different. My little girls LOVED staying in a castle – their imaginations ran wild.
- And speaking of the Loire Valley, the Zoo Parc du Beval is brilliant. Not just to see the panda and the white tigers, but the enclosures are really creative. Overall, try to mix up doing ‘kids’ things like the zoo, with the museums, so there is a balance.
4. Tours
I highly recommend private walking tours for particular sights if you have a young family (private in the sense that it is just your family plus the guide on the tour). That way, you can go at your own pace, skip lines and the kids can be included in the discussions and comfortable to ask the guide questions.
Some guides are so great they recount history as an entertaining story. I recommend sites like withlocals where you can choose and check reviews carefully for each guide. You will find some guides have particularly positive reviews when it comes to including kids, for example, bringing props and images to show what it was really like. We did this at the Colosseum in Rome and the Acropolis in Athens.
5. AirBNB
Maybe it was like this pre-covid and I was unaware, but AirBNB seems to have become a lot more ‘commercial’. We have come across less places that are run and owned by the owner, and more that are run by agents. The great thing about that, is that the spaces feel more like a hotel with a higher standard of cleaning, sheets washed commercially and less personal items around (aka less things for kids to break!).
Whether it is run by an agent or individual owner, they seem more available to provide a ‘service’. So, they can help with local recommendations, especially for restaurants. Our experience through Italy in particular, was they even pre-booked restaurants for us. In other places, they can help to arrange transfers (so you don’t overpay on taxis).
6. Uber
Yes! Use it! Try to avoid picking up a taxi off the street, as often they will overcharge. Book an Uber, just as you may use it back home in Australia. Another option is Bolt if you cannot get an Uber.
7. Paris Metro
Amazing. Use it. Pre-buy tickets for the number of days you are there. Although it may seem expensive initially, it is a lifesaver to get you all around. Plug in any destination to your iPhone, set it to ‘transport’ and it will tell you exactly what stations to use. The bus system is hit and miss, but the metro is great. With kids, don’t run for a train. You don’t want to leave a little someone behind. The trains come every few minutes so there is really no need to run for it.
8. Homelessness
Travelling Europe with kids will open their eyes to many new experiences. Have some discussions with your kids before you leave. I have never seen so much homelessness and begging in Europe. Asia, yes, but not Europe. This is not just Ukranian refugees, this was going on last year, too. It is worse over here since Covid. Some are from Northern Africa, some are from other Eastern European countries like Romania, but a lot are from its own country.
Interestingly in France, welfare is provided more to refugees and is less available to its own country people. Depending on how your kids take it, they will want to give coins to everyone. Be prepared to make your own decisions on this. We have often dropped food (especially to the regulars that we see).
9. Pickpockets
Probably due to Covid as well, pickpockets are alive and well, and stronger than ever! Do not have mobile phones sitting in your back pocket. Do not drape your handbag over the chair behind you as you eat at a restaurant – literally hold it in your lap. Do not have valuables in a backpack behind you that you cannot see. Women tend to get around with a small handbag (with valuables in it), with the strap going across the body and the handbag must be sitting in front of you (not behind you and not to the side). Then, take a separate backpack for all the kids things like water bottles that can just go on your back.
10. Help those little legs!
Some of the best sightseeing you can do is just walking around. We walk and walk. Before you leave, start getting the kids to walk around more. Walk to the shops, walk to school, walk around the neighbourhood, to help build some endurance. Take them on longer day trips in Sydney, like the zoo, to help them get used to being out for a long day.
In saying that, use any little aids of transport that you can for the little legs. Even if your 3 or 4 year old has outgrown using the pram at home, use it! Bring it! My kids take turns having ‘little rests’ in the pram. Especially when our days out can be 8-10 hours, having the pram has been a saviour. Plus, it’s very handy to store all the water bottles and bags.
I am a little reluctant to suggest this, because it completely depends on the child, their age and how compliant they are. But, kids on scooters can be great to help cover the longer distances as well. They fold down to fit in a suitcase. However, you can only do this if they listen and don’t go ahead. Remember, the roads are different here and are busy, so take this suggestion with extreme caution.
11. Photos
I have seen this through others, but if your child is particularly good or interested in something, bring a prop with you to help make some incredible photos. For example, I have seen mid teens bring along ballet shoes, and do a beautiful pose with the Colosseum or Eiffel Tower in the background. Cool idea!
12. Facebook groups
Whichever country or region you are going to, if you want to read more or hear more about it, chances are there is a dedicated Facebook group with lots of interactive discussions. Some examples are : ‘Italy Travel Planning’, ‘Secrets Paris’, ‘Provence travel planning’.
13. Disneyland Paris
Wow, just wow. I had thought, with so much to see and do in Paris, it is hard to fit in Disney too! It truly is incredible, so if you have the time, do it. We have been a couple of times now and did both options of staying out there and staying in Paris.
The best part is the night time fireworks at – wait for it – 11pm in the Summer. Yes 11pm! (And 9pm in Winter). So for this, if you can, stay out at Disney. After dinner, we got the kids to bed for a sleep, then we got them up for it, but it was totally worth it. I’ve never seen anything like it and we all loved it!
We stayed at the Newport Bay Club and loved its nautical theme and swimming pool. I would recommend it and the buffet dinner. It is walking distance but there is also a bus shuttle. There is the main 5-star Disney hotel which is still being renovated, so keep an eye out for that, as it is closer.
The local word here is they are building a new Frozen section, so watch out for that too. The current Frozen section isn’t that great (the Frozen show wasn’t good), but the Lion King show was brilliant. You don’t need to pay extra for the shows but they are good to do, and a nice rest for the kids.
Download the Disney app as it shows waiting times for each ride. On that app, you can also pre-book restaurants.
If you are coming from Paris and have luggage, I highly recommend the Disney service that picks up your luggage from the station and takes it to your hotel (and vice versa when you leave). It will save a lot of time. This is a really hot tip! Again, pre-book it.
I’d avoid Disney in the hotter months though! I think the kids would be miserable waiting in lines in the hot sun.
14. Paris with kids
When travelling in Paris with kids, include a couple of extra places to visit (other than the usual sights) that kids will love:
- If you have science lovers on your hands, take them to the National History Museum. Allow a full day out there. There are a number of museums to go into – The Museum of National History, another for paleontology, another for geology, etc. There is also a small zoo out there. We loved seeing the dinosaur fossils. We don’t have anything of this scale in Sydney, so do it if you can.
- Do a river cruise through Canal Saint Martin and then onto the Seine. Passing through the locks and vaults and under the Place de la Bastille was awesome! Get there early to sit at the front so they have a good view of the locks opening. We used the company Vedettes du Pont Nerf. The kids will love that!
15. Pick your travels with the season in mind
Sounds obvious! But a couple of tips here is that places like the Loire Valley are beautiful to see in spring (with the flowers out in the countryside) or in autumn (with the stunning colours on the leaves).
For the lavender fields down in Provence, you must time this carefully in July to see the full bloom. Refer to the Facebook group mentioned above Provence Travel Planning for the latest.
16. Keep the kids active
If you are going out of the major cities, try doing something active like hiring bikes and enjoy a long ride as a family if you can. There are dedicated cycle paths in certain areas like the Loire Valley or through the vineyards of Bourgogne. It is a great way to be in the countryside and keep the kids outside and having fun!
17. Passports
Check the validity and organise these early. There are long waits on Australian passports at the moment.
18. Dinner from 7pm!
If you have little kids, you will want to know this. Often, restaurants in France don’t start serving dinner until at least 7pm. Plan this into your day, as grumpy hungry children is no fun for anyone after a day of sightseeing. I think generally in Australia, we eat quite early. This is not the case in Europe. They eat late and kids go to bed much later, like 9, 10 or 11pm.
19. Comforters
When you are moving from one place to another, pack the comforters FIRST! You don’t want to loose your childs’ favourite bunny in bedding.
20. Less is more
Stay in each place minimum four nights to allow everyone time to adjust and settle in to a place, and sightsee. Staying less than four nights means you will loose a lot of time to packing and moving. In our time abroad, we have spent over a month in total in various trips to Paris and every trip we do there, we do something different. You could never get bored of the place! I advise you choose less locations overall to go to and stay and enjoy each one for longer.
Liane Shatrov is a North Shore Mum, who has been living in France for the last 18 months, because of her husbands’ work commitments. Here, she writes an article on her experiences on travelling with young children through Europe, in the ever changing landscape, post covid. She happily shares her tips to help others plan their holidays.