European Holiday with a toddler

lauratkd

Hi all

So I am pretty bleary eyed from looking up holidays and am turning to you for advice!! What I would ideally want is as follows:

- Travelling in August
- Somewhere suitable to bring a toddler
- Beach
- Nice "genuine" town/city i.e. not completely geared a tourists
- Self catering accommodation (airbnb, owners direct are sites I'm currently trawling though) ideally with some outdoor space (balcony or terrace)

I would love to fly from Shannon but I don't think that's likely. We're happy to rent a car if necessary. I know August is a bad month to be travelling because of tourist numbers and heat but there's nothing much I can do.

I had considered Arcachon, Biarritz, San Sebastian, Lagos, Tavira, Lake Garda but just can't settle on one to tick all our boxes. Any comments on these places or others would be greatly appreciated.

lauratkd

Add Annecy, France to the list I'm contemplating too!!

bpmurray

After bringing our own kids here many years ago, and reading what people still say about it, it's probably the best possible location to visit. It's close to a shingly beach, to friendly restaurants with good food, to a little village, 30 mins by bus from the city, pretty much perfect: https://www.tuiholidays.ie/f/greece/ionian-islands/corfu/psarras/apartments/loulas-village

naughtysmurf

Of the places you mentioned, I'd pick Lagos, haven't been there but had a place booked there a couple of years ago but had to cancel, seems to have everything, decent sized town, decent sized beach, marina etc etc, a bit of everything

ncmc

Annecy, is beautiful. But it doesn’t have a proper beach, it has a shingle type beach area and the lake is lovely for swimming but it’s not a beach by any stretch. Lake Garda would be the same afaik. I’m returning to Annecy for the third time this year, have been when my daughter was 15 months, 2 years and she’ll be 4 when we go in August (we’ll also have a 15 month old) We love it, there’s a lovely flat walk along the lake, ideal for buggies. There are playgrounds everywhere, seriously I’ve never seen so many in one place! The old town is stunning but not all the restaurants are kid friendly purely due to them being very small and not able to accommodate buggies, high chairs etc.

If you were willing to rent a car, I could suggest some great day trips. Chamonix is a must, there are ski lifts, cable cars and trains up the mountains that kids would love. Feel free to PM me if you’d like more info on accomodation or anything. We always stay self catering through Airbnb or Homeaway

mfceiling

I've done Annecy and it is very nice but gets busy in the evenings with traffic etc.
If I had to chose I would go with Lake Garda. Very family orientated with lovely restaurants and similar people doing the same holiday as yourself. Plenty to see and do and if you have a car the little villages in the surrounding hills are beautiful as well as being cheap to eat in and generally less touristy.
Try "agriturismo" for decent priced accommodation.

ncmc

Funny I can’t say I find traffic bad in Annecy in the evenings. A lot of the old town is pedestrianised and the walk along the lake is set back from the road. We stayed just at the edge of Annecy (opposite the imperial palace hotel for reference) and we strolled in along the lake every evening. We found it offered the best of both worlds, close enough to the town but far enough to be away from the noise and busyness. This year we’re staying just outside the walls of the old town so it will be a bit of a different feel for us.

I agree with mfceiling though, overall, Lake Garda is more child friendly. But I still prefer Annecy overall!