A unique month in Europe-with 5 year old! Help us plan our itinerary

There are almost no bad ideas for this. You have a week to spend in each of 4 or 5 destinations. You should obviously pick destinations where there is enough to keep you engaged between the locale and nearby train or bus trips. Lots of places come to mind, as I'm sure they do for you as well, since you are seasoned travelers.

One question: What do you hope your son will get out of this trip? Do you want this to be memorable for him? Do you want it to be educational? Or do you just want to keep him busy and entertained while you do things that appeal more to the adults?

In other words, are you looking for Legoland and Disney? Or the Vatican and the Louvre?

Without being specific, I sugget a couple of visits to either a beach or a water park (assuming your son enjoys the beach or swimming). These will be somewhat restful days for you, and may be fun memory-making for you son. If you go to one of the bigger German thermes, you and your husband could trade-off spa time with watching your son time.

England, Scotland, Italy, France, are options.

London to Paris on the Eurostar.

Or London to Edinburgh by train.

Or Rome to Milan to the Dolomites and then Venice.

Random thoughts.

The Netherlands are great for kids. Look up Efteling. It’s a theme park based on traditional fairy tales that would be ideal for a 5 year old. They have tons of family friendly places to stay like Landal parks and Center Parcs where you would have facilities like swimming pools on site but they’re very nature centred.

If you do go to the Netherlands, there’s also Madurodam, a miniature representation of the country, with houses, streets, canals, working windmills etc. It’s run by a charity and was created in memory of a young war hero by his parents. It was the highlight of my trips to Holland when I was a kid.

Thanks to all! I find this type of conversation really fun. What we hope to get out of this: memories, simply put. We know it won’t be the hours long cafe dates of trips past, but we can appreciate our son enjoys a cafe/restaurant for an hour before needing to go run some energy out. We are thinking about a good mix of really trying to 1. Essentially just parent in a new place (ie days exploring playgrounds, enjoying parks), 2. Throw in a few major sites for mom and dad which our son can tolerate for a few hours here and there 3. Lots of nature (he can hike 3-5ish miles, nothing too crazy) and 4. Open to 1 or 2 theme park days for him. We are not Disney people, but I get how those places can be exciting for a kid.

I really appreciate hearing people’s thoughts!

Salzburg and the surrounding area. Check out the Red Bull hangar. Salt mines in either Hallstatt, Hallein or Berchtesgaden. Castles in Salzburg or Werfen. Sommerrodelbahn in Hallein (right across from the salt mine) or Berchtesgaden. Water parks. Beautiful lakes with the alps for a backdrop. So much to enjoy.

Copenhagen has a lot of interest to little ones. Thomas Dambo's troll sculptures, which you can "hunt" for and climb on. Tivoli. The Mermaid. Maybe the harbor tour?
Anyplace with a beach, even if it's not a white sand and hot temps situation. Maybe especially if it's not that.
How about Bruges for the windmills and the canals? We did a day trip to Ostend to see the Atlantic Wall Museum, which I think a 5-year-old would love to explore. Lots of narrow stairways and stuff. After that, we went to DeHaan and put our feet in the North Sea. You could do it the other way around, day trip to Bruges and stay at the beach. There's an aquarium there, too, a little further east.
Speaking of which, my son (he was 12 but still) and I loved the aquarium in Genoa. They have dolphins (controversial, I know), and we were all alone watching them for 10 of the most peaceful minutes of our trip. Just lovely. We went to LOTS of aquariums, including the one where Cousteau worked.
And car museums. The Mercedes Benz museum in Stuttgart was amazing. A whole room of emergency vehicles. If he can resist climbing on them, he'll love it.

When I was 5 we lived in London. That was a very long time ago (1968) but I have these memories: seeing the big battleship guns and the planes at the Imperial War Museum with Dad, golden treasures at the British Museum with mom, a boat ride to Greenwich to see the Cutty Sark clipper ship, the Regent’s Park zoo, riding around in the front seat of the top deck of the bus, the Tube, Mom reading me the Narnia books at the laundromat (no washing machine in our house), playing in the park. Throwing up in a black cab. All these experiences are still there and I recommend them, except the last one.

Okay, so you don’t provide much to go on.

But you are experienced travelers you say, so I presume you have done most of the top destinations in Europe and maybe don’t want a repeat or you might have said “I love Paris” so nothing that you have seen is driving you back.

Then there is time of year, June-is might mean June/July so given that is the high season and you will have enough of a challenge with a child to be messing with tourist crowds and locations that are attacking tourists with water guns and putting tourist go home posters.

One hopper flight means you are open to a broader experience.

Finally, a child. So that adds cost to the trip.

Based on all of that I say the Balkans and one conventional city.

The Balkans: Sea to Mountain at good prices (a third less than the West) and without the tourism crush. Stunningly beautiful nature and very, very interesting towns and cities.

Research the towns of the coast of Montenegro. (A start Herceg-Novi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOqLXoeE_o4 Cetinje https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6RwWDPe9M8 Perast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd6ErEHPHmg Uncinj https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaPcThRQdi4)
Research the mountains of Montenegro
Research Dubrovnik and up the coast of Croatia
Research Sarajevo in Bosnia.

The City: Really your choice. The Balkans are an hour flight from Rome and Budapest (https://1drv.ms/b/s!Ai7Zk-szxfTJi79Yd9F2yuKCVeZLYw?e=3ddmAg https://youtu.be/0nd9DuDGCz0?si=aa0c19KaJHEtabkX ) Maybe 90 minutes to Paris. Flights begin at about $50 depending on how you pack.

I guess that for a 5- year old the clear #1 sight in Europe is Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg which is located in Northern Germany - between Copenhagen and Amsterdam.

You have a lot of directions you could head and probably all would be good.

I might throw a couple of weeks in Ireland and a couple of weeks in Scotland into the mix. Both have great scenery, are easy places to just “be”, but also with things to do and places to go. Spend 2 weeks in each or the whole month in either.

I have no recommendations for you at all for yourselves or your 5 year old. I just want to commend you on a very sensible and reality based itinerary so so unlike the usual things I read here. It is nice to read an itinerary post that does not bleed out anxiety and worry and FOMO.

It looks like an itinerary at a nice pace. We stayed in Leiden this past May and preferred it to the busyness of staying in Amsterdam and found it was a good base for site seeing. On the recommendation of another traveller on this forum, we took the train to Kinderijk, rented bikes and spent the day exploring- there are bikes and trailers for children. We had a great day. For St Malo, I would suggest spending some more time in the Brittany region and also Normandy depending on your interests. There should be a lot of apt rentals in both Normandy and Brittany. There are lovely beaches for some downtime and its easy to get picnic supplies. I would suggest renting a car though, Its easy to take the train to Dinan, Caen or Rouen and pick up a rental there on your way to or from Paris. Driving is not difficult and public transit isn't the greatest. Definitely also check out Mont St Michel. So many child friendly choices in London and Paris. Beautiful parks close to many key attractions. When travelling with my kids, a park and ice cream or patisserie treat almost always followed a visit to a historic site or museum. At a younger age my children preferred some of the London museums to the ones in Paris. Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, changing of the guard are still memorable experiences. Now in their mid 20s my kids and I still love to travel together and although they don't have as many memories as I do, they have lots and love to recall their early travels. Have fun!

Hi Everyone,
We really appreciated everyone's input and have a basic outline of our trip. We have flights and accommodations booked and are really looking forward to the trip. Our airbnbs are all in very good locations. Here is a basic outline of what we have planned...if anyone has thoughts or tips about anything you see, we would love to hear them! Would specifically appreciate Ghent day trip tips and any thoughts on Zaanse Schans vs Madurodam in Amsterdam. Knowing our son, I think we have a good mix of getting to see/experience new things vs not tiring him out too much. This outline isn't our super inclusive version that we like to make ourselves, but just know that we do not intend to have the 5 year old for 12 hrs a day....more envisioning 0800-1400, then some quiet time with an easy evening.

Paris to Bruges to Amsterdam to Copenhagen
Day 1:
Flight:
Depart evening flight
Day 2:
Flight:
Arrive CDG early AM
Activities: Explore area around Airbnb, consider Seine boat ride this afternoon/evening as an easy decompression activity
Day 3:
Sights: Parc Floral and possible castle tour (?), cafe lunch, Jardin de Luxembourg

Day 4:
Day trip: Fontainebleau

Day 5:
Sights: French transportation museum trip, stay up late to watch the tower sparkle

Day 6:
Sights: Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, ice cream on Ile St-Louis

Day 7:
Train: Paris to Bruges
Sights: Bruges Canal Tour boat ride

Day 8:
Sights: Rick Steves Bruge City Walk (begin at Market Square), tour the Bell Tower (Belfry) while on walk (get frites from stand at base of Belfry) and go into the Church of the Holy Basilica (free)

Day 9:
Sights: Train to the beach, carriage ride, Mary to possibly visit the medieval hospital of Sint Janshospitaal (about 1 hr to tour, closes at 1700).

Day 10:
Day Trip: Ghent Day Trip

Day 11:
Train: Brugge-Brussels-Amsterdam
*Would like to store luggage at train station and go check out Brussels main square

Day 12:
Sights: Linnaeushof playground, relax in the local area in the evening.

Day 13:
Sights: Zaanse Schans vs Madurodam?

Day 14:
Sights: Vondelpark, canal boat ride, meander around downtown Amsterdam

Day 15:
Flight: AMS to CPH
Sights: Settle into local airbnb neighborhood

Day 16:
Sights: Royal Library Gardens/Fredericksburg Garden/King’s Garden

Day 17:
Sights: Rick Steves Copenhagen Walk, LEGO store

Day 18:
Sights: Tivoli Gardens

Day 19:
Sights: Experimentarium

Day 20:
Day trip: Malmo, Sweden: Rundan Canal Boat Tour (50 min), explore the great square, Castle, Slottsträdgården

Day 21:
Sights: Copenhagen Cathedral, Rosenborg Castle

Day 22:
Sights: Relax in the city

Day 23:
Fly home.

We took our daughter to France for kindergarten spring break when she was almost 6, and she loved it. We split between sightseeing and kids’ activities - who knew there was a great playground on the south side of the Notre Dame?! There’s also a very nice one in Jardin Luxembourg. Good luck with the trip!

Mary,
Your plans sound excellent. I am sure you two and your son will have a wonderful time! Bon voyage!

Madurodam vs. Zaanse Schans? For the adults or older children, I’d definitely choose ZS, but for a 5year old I’d probably go for Madurodam. Perhaps have a look at their websites and see what you think will best suit you all.

I lived overseas and traveled with young children several times. My kids were 5 and 11 when we first toured Europe.

One thing I discovered about museums with young kids under 10 is that after 15 minutes they are ready to go.
Also, they get tired easy.

My young ones loved things like climbing the Eiffel Tower, taking a canal gondola ride in Venice. Also, they were in awe of the Sistine Chapel.

While in Paris, check out the carousels. They are all over the city. I’m sorry you are not going any place in Switzerland, they have outstanding playgrounds and marble runs.