3month Europe trip (3x1month stays)

We have short listed our preferred countries and were hoping to stay
in one location from each. The three: Portugal, Italy, and Croatia.

I would broaden your list a little to consider Montenegro instead of Croatia, especially if the budget gets tight. And Montenegro isn’t Schengen so it buys you a little more time in the Schengen countries. For me Montenegro is Croatia before the tourist came. Still, all the coastal activities but with the addition of mountain activities (where it can be “warm” in the summer, but not hot).

Warmer weather is preferred

That shouldn’t be a problem in the summer for the destinations you have chosen. 38C (100F) should be easy to find in Croatia and Italy.

We prefer smaller towns and cities, under 200,000 ppl I am hoping
people could provide advice on towns/cities that would be well suited
for a young family. Other than airbnb, is there any recommended sites
for longer stays

Cant help you with Portugal or Italy. But for Croatia and Montenegro I could put you in touch with someone that can give you some advice. PM if you are interested.

While we are willing to learn new languages we are English speakers.
We are keen to learn but appreciate that town/cities with some English
will make the experience easier.

The world is survivable in English.

Thanks greatly for you response.
We have been to Montenegro before and loved it, so agree it is worth adding to the list.

I will be in contact regarding accomodation as we will be interested.

Australian summer or European summer?

You are aware of Schengen requirements of maximum stay of 90 days out of any 180 day period, including arrival and departure days. If you intend a full 3 months, then you must spend at least some time in non-Schengen countries, like UK or Ireland, or Montenegro.

Hi,
European summer, and yes we aware of the Max 90day requirement. We would either list our time to the 90days and/or look at Montenegro as the third option

We have lived in Europe and been to nearly all its countries. Picking a base for a month requires consideration of transportation while there. Rail or auto?

Italy is great for using rail. Consider Siena, which is in Tuscany.
Portugal you could still use Lisbon as a base, or Porto or Coimbra. Personally, I love Porto and the fantastic Douro Valley. Also, you could explore a bit of Spain from Porto.
Croatia is a bit for difficult. Dubrovnik and Split are great, but the infrastructure is not as developed in Croatia, especially the rail. You might need to rent a car for a portion of your stay.

Also, consider Budapest for a part of your visit.

Budapest and / or Lake Balaton. Here I could help you plan and get settled and that's going to be important. My contact in Croatia/Montenegro/ Bosnia can do the same.

Budapest doesn't really tick any of your boxes, I was just responding to geovagriffith.

In Croatia with children I would stay in Istria. Anywhere on the coast such as Rovjin, Poreč, Pula or the smaller town of Labin. Rovinj has ferry connections to italy (trieste, venice, cesenatico) and Piran in Slovenia. There is a good bus system throughout Istria.
Or stay on an island, such as Hvar or Korčula, in the south, which have good ferry connections to the mainland and other islands. The northern islands will be less expensive - Cres, Losinj or Mali Losinj, Krk are all popular with the locals and other europeans.

Most people under the age of 60 in Croatia speak English.

Macedonia is inexpensive and scenic, but there are significant public-transportation challenges there--though not as many as in Albania. If those challenges send you in the direction of taxis, the country won't be as inexpensive as you might expect. I wouldn't recommend it to a young family wanting to put down roots for a month and take a bunch of side trips without a car. To me, at this point it's more a destination for folks who are some combination of young, travel-experienced, interested in outdoor activities and/or prepared to travel by car.

Have you considered HomeExchange? Some friends recently used this to book their multi-city trip. Could be a good way to keep costs down. It doesn't have to be a direct exchange, there's a point system.

If I had a 4 year old and a 1 year old and I was going to do somethig like this (and its a great idea) I would look to a location where I could get some local help. I mentioned the same above, but I think its the one thing you can do that will make a world of difference.

I'm a big fan of Ravenna, but the historic area is some distance from the coast now.

Hi everyone,
I greatly appreciate the great response- and so quickly.

Some feedback:
- We have not considered HomeExchange so thank-you for the tip. We were considering also putting our property on AirBnb so will be keen to check out this website- Thanks @G3rryCee
- Coast Italy looks fantastic. Thanks @miuccia for the links to the guardian articles. I will review all this information and highly consider, I will just need to weigh up cost based on the time of year we go. I will go through the list of towns you sent through as I am sure there are many suitable gems!
- Both my wife and I love Budapest, and if we were to go to a larger city we would have this as our preferred destination. so pending how we go on our search we may also take this into consideration. @Mr E- I will be in touch if we go in this direction
- I appreciate the comments on challenges attached with public transport in some locations. This is something we will need to consider as the majority of the time we plan on utilising bus and rail.
- Porto and Lisbon are definitely highly rated and we will continue to look into these location further- thanks for highlighting the positives of Porto @geovagriffith
- Thank you @Barbara for the detail on Croatia and the Istria coast. I had been looking into Pula previoulsy as it appears a great destination. I will review further the other destinations you note.

I am interested if anyone has further thoughts on Portugal locations other than Lisbon and Porto

regards,

You may also have trouble finding an Airbnb in Lisbon and Porto. Dont know.

Hi all,
Thanks everyone for thier great feedback. Following all the feedback I believe we will definitely consider the istria region in Croatia, still looking further into Italy, but looking at coastal locations there, and despite wanting to stay in smaller towns we will be looking g into lisbon further. I really appreciate everyone sharing thier experiences and opinions it has helped significantly.

Portugal's Algarve region, Lagos, Faro, to Vila Real de Santo Antonio, all connected by rail. You can even take a ferry into Spain for the day or weekend.

Safe Travels.

For Italy, I recommend Siena, Spoleto or Orvieto.
For Portugal, I love Porto, but is a large city. Consider going up the Douro River Valley to Regua.
Croatia, check our Trogir north of Split.

Don't downplay the significance of the 90 day limit. There was report of this site of a person who was penalized for being one day late. She thought it was three months and not 90 days. I would plan no more that 85 days just to give yourself a small pad of time if something goes wrong and you need an extra day or two. Good luck -- Brave soul with a one year old. We did it with our granddaughter but her parents were along also.

You can look in Trento itself

If you are visiting in July and August, you need to check your elevation for cool climate; towns along the Adige river such as Rovereto, Trento, Bolzano an Merano (add Chiusa and Bressanone in the Isarco valley), being at low elevation in a narrow valley, can be brutally hot in summer even if surrounded by mountains.

The Alpini paratroopers had an adage, "Chi vuol stare come all'inferno, vada a Trento d'estate ed a Feltre d'inverno" (He who likes living like hell, should go to Trento in summer and to Feltre in winter) - with climate change, even more so.

Check out Senigallia, a little town on Italy’s Adriatic coast. When we visited we wished we had our grandchildren with us. It has a wide sandy beach that stretches for miles, it seems, with very shallow water near the shore (and no rocks), perfect for children.

There’s a train station & bus station right in town, for day trips if you don’t want to drive. A charming walled hill town (Corinaldo) to explore as well as the Caverns of Frassasi. Hotels & apartments line the beach, some with enclosed play areas on the sand.

You’ll also find restaurants along the beach where you can sit with your toes in the sand while the children play nearby. There’s a fort, and a Friday market, and a charming downtown area. A great place.

Much recommended so far south of the Alps. But really most places North of the Alps (or in the Alps) and 200K+ off the coast will have warm weather in summer.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen? Innsbruck? Merano?

And the Loire Valley is certainly nice, and central to a lot of places to visit ....