Europe with young kids (2u2)

As I recall from back in the day, traveling with your firstborn feels very different than with 2 littles. It's more divide and conquer. Not so relaxing, but it's the phase you are at, so you just go for it. What about Portugal? Florida if you want warm ocean water. If you want a really fun family trip with littles visit San Diego in CA. Enjoy your precious family time!

I'd definitely seek out advisement from pediatrician, with current polio concerns in Europe.

@KD I hear people recommending to wait until the youngest is over 3 years old, but we think that we should travel while we were young and have energy, and not stop living our life because of kids.

I’m sure the trip needs to be adapted, but that’s better than no trip! We were interested in Portugal but I hear the water there is super cold. Would you just go to San Diego and skip LA/other parts of the west coast?

We always traveled with our kids from the time they were babies, but not to Europe until they were teens. But, we're on the west coast, so Europe is far. We did a lot of Hawaii and mainland USA. You have the luxury of being closer to Europe so what would have been daunting for us, wouldn't be for you.

It's been a long time since my kids were little, but the 3 year old won't remember anything more than a 2 year old. Of course a 3 year old is more capable than a 2 year old. But, it's not like there's a magic number for when they are ready for travel. Really, it's just about what you want to do, and how much you are up for. I'd be cautious about getting on a plane with a 3.5 month old, but that's why I suggest the chat with the doctor to decide what is best for your family. But I sure wouldn't wait until the baby is 3 to start traveling if you have the interest to do it earlier.

I wouldn't go to Los Angeles. No appeal. Either do the central coast of CA (a more quiet relaxing experience) or San Diego. (Lots to do with kids.) But if you are looking for warmer water next month, then Florida is it. The ocean in CA isn't warm, but there's lots to do and explore. Look into staying in La Jolla or Del Mar. Visit the Zoo. Visit Old Town. Visit Balboa Park. Birch Aquarium. Sea lions at La Jolla cove. Walk along the beautiful beaches. Spend the day in Coronado. Take a harbor cruise. Carlsbad flower fields (need a reservation.) Lots of kid friendly things to do. Also, 2 year olds aren't out body surfing all day. They stick their ankles in the water and go dig sandcastles, and there's hotel pools. The forecast this week is high 80F. Next month it could be 69F or 87*F in So Cal, but its' always nice.

What about the West Coast of Canada? Or have you already traveled throughout your home country?
South Florida is starting to get pretty warm in April. The water is definitely warm enough for splashing around in. I have spent a fair amount of time in Palm Beach County, mostly in the winter. There is a surprising amount of outdoor stuff to do in that area (nature reserves like Loxahatchee and Wackadohatchee, Blowing Rocks Preserve in Jupiter, driving down to see the Art Deco hotels in Miami). My parents had a place for a long time in Boynton Beach. Del Ray is really nice and has a strollable Main Street with lots of shops.
I'm not at all familiar with the areas north of Jupiter, but that might be worth checking out, as there are long barrier islands that might be less crowded than Palm Beach County. My friends who live in Orlando frequently visit New Smyrna Beach. There's also a lot more to Orlando than the theme parks. Get a place with a pool.

Gulf Coast is nice. Look at Pensacola Florida area or Gulf Shores Alabama.

IMO, KD offered you some great suggestions as did others. We’re also on the West Coast and Hawaii was wonderful for our young children and now our grandchildren but we also took and take our adult kids and grandchildren (3 and 6 mo the first time) to Europe. I think we found the hardest part with the 3 year old was keeping him entertained on a long flight. The grandkids are 8 and 11 now and great travelers. Frankly, from where you are, lower Florida with warm water, sandy beach and hotel pool would seem great.

I would want to spend as little time as possible in airports and planes, so that would determine where I went.

First of all, remember that this trip is entirely for you. Your children won't remember any of it. They might enjoy experiences in the moment, but there will be no memories. How will you need to modify your trip so that the experiences of the moment are positive? That is the main question. The first ones that come to mind are shorter flights vs. longer flights, more rest and play time scheduled into each day, limit the number of museums/art gallery type experiences.

Will you be able to enjoy the same type of experiences that made Europe such a wonderful destination for you in the past? Will the alternative experiences be just as satisfactory? Only you can answer these questions. Some people love traveling with young children and don't mind the modifications. Others find that it ends up being an expensive trip that is more memorable for the challenges faced than the sites experienced.

I tend towards the wait until they are older to try to Europe again group. There are plenty of wonderful locations to explore closer to home that will still give you great family time together. However, it is your vacation and you need to do what you think meets your needs the best.

Honestly, with such young children you can’t beat a good beach resort holiday. Greece would be perfect for this with ideal weather and water temps in September. I would start by looking at where you can fly into easily as I don’t think you’ll want to have a complicated journey and go from there.

One of my daughters friends traveled to Paris with a very young baby and an under 2. The kids are like 15 months apart. They had a marvelous time.

The pictures I saw was them in parks so I am guessing they spent more time outdoors than in museums.

We did a 4 week trip to W Europe (Germany, Austria, Alsace in France) with a baby (7 months) and toddler (23 months) and the following worked well for us:

• Stayed in apartments or multi room spaces (a must for jet lag) with a washing machine, close to grocery store.
• Stayed close to what we wanted to see in case babies needed some downtime and one parent wanted to go out.
• Stayed close to park or green space and visited often.
• Brought our own (double) stroller with rubber tires and storage space, also brought baby sling.
• Museums during nap time in stroller.
• Rented a car (helpful for baby gear x 2).
• Brought our own car seats. Brought one on the plane for toddler and reserved bulkhead seating with bassinet for baby.
• Travelled to next destination during nap time, kept travel time under 3 hours.
• Destinations were a mix of urban and rural. Typically stayed a minimum of 3 nights in one spot.
• Favourite destinations on this trip: Salzburg, Rhine, Rothenburg.

Since this trip, we've travelled to Europe multiple times with our kids, now 19 and 20. Each trip changed, depending on their ages and interests and we planned things we never would have if they hadn't been along (e.g., horseback riding in Slovenian countryside, service trips in Moldova, music competition in Italy, etc.).

Of course there are challenges to travelling with kids, but for us, it's been well worth it!

Have a great trip!

When my daughter was young, we started going to Sanibel Island, FL (Gulf Coast) in the Spring during her breaks (first tended to be early March, then it tended to be April) until just a few years ago. We live in the mid-Atlantic, so it hadn't really warmed up yet, so we sought the sun and warmth. We loved it. They have some resorts, but they also have condos/apt you can rent - per some of the good advice here to get a place with a few rooms - and got around basically by bike. The island is well-served with bike trails. The pace was easy and the water was swimmable. We stayed in areas that didn't really have massive waves so she could wade and/or 'swim' in the shallow water and we spent hours upon hours looking for amazing shells. (It's one of the best shelling areas in the world, I think.) When she got a little older, we'd send her to Sea School for 1/2 day sessions that took them on little educational excursions on the beaches looking for sea life. And, we got a little break for ourselves.