Location independent family of 7- Where to stay for a month?!

I would suggest Sevilla or Barcelona, Spain. Barcelona has many day trips to charming small towns.

Rent a super-motoryacht that cruises you though Mediterranian Sea following the sun.

Weather-wise, October-November is a great time to visit most of Spain (except prob. the north), Sevilla, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, all are large cosmopolitan places with plenty of culture and day trips to keep busy for a month.

On the other hand, one of those quaint/charming Spanish towns and villages, like Albarracín or Trujillo can get quite dull after 4-5 days, especially for youngsters, I would not want to spend a month in one of those small places and I'm from Spain myself! lol

Consider Sicily, weather is great then. Lots to see,seaside, ferries to nr by islands, museums, churches, opera house , Roman antiquities,
Amphitheater, Greek temples... affordable also.

Alsace, France. We have spent more 600 days as EU tourists, mostly in France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and find there is nothing comparable to Alsace. Top sights in Alsace 1] the Route de Vin Alsace 2] Colmar, 3] Strasbourg. The only Baroque Church in France is in Alsace between Strasbourg and Colmar. There is a string of spectacularly cute villages along the Route de Vin. To eat: Kaysersburg's Au Lion d'Or, a sight in itself. The restaurant is still operated by its founding family in its original building. It opened for business in 1729, three years before George Washington was born in 1732.

Nearby: the Alps (Swiss or French); Mosel Valley (Trier was the capital of the Roman Empire for 200 years); Rhine Valley; Heidelberg; Mainz (Gutenberg); Black Forest.

An educational reason for France. The French are an especially good case of study for cross cultural comparisons: Example: At a Michelin ** restaurant famous for its dessert. We ordered two desserts ($53 each). Our waiter said, "NO! One is enough for 2-3 people. I will put you down for one order.".
The waiter was right. One was plenty for two.

Consider these questions:
Would an American waiter stop the house from collecting $53?
Would you go back to this restaurant?
Would you go back to this restaurant if he let us order two desserts?
We're from America? Why should the waiter care about our repeat business? He will never see us again.
Why did the waiter put us ahead of making more money for management?

Why do the French eat salad at the end of a meal rather than at the start.

Why does the waiter ignore you after you get your food? Or does he?

The weather will be better in Spain or Portugal at that time of year. I would suggest somewhere such as Caldas da Rainha north of Lisbon, which is very near the beach at Foz do Arelho and it has great local markets, museums and is a good location for getting to other parts of Portugal. It’s traditionally where the Portuguese tiles come from and many of the properties are decorated accordingly.

Many touristy parts of Croatia will be closed for the winter and the weather is likely to be wet.

The island of Oleron near La Rochelle in France would be a good base for a month - it’s connected to the mainland by a bridge, so no need to worry about ferry timetables. It has great cycling tracks, plenty of supermarkets and some great cafes and restaurants. It’s the sunniest part of France that isn’t the Med.

If you want guaranteed good weather, head to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands for great beaches, surfing, good restaurants and is popular with families.

Kb1942 what was that dessert???

..... Would an American waiter stop the house from collecting $53?........ Sure, you just need to good to better restaurants. I have had more than one American waiter suggest splitting a dessert or even a salad. Silly to suggest only a French restaurant would do that.

I'd think about the vehicular challenges of staying somewhere other than a large, sight-rich, city and depending on private transportation to make a bunch of day-trips (which you'd probably want to do since a small city may get a bit boring long before the month is out). What sort of vehicle will accommodate your whole family? Will it be maneuverable on narrow streets? Will you find it impossible to make an overnight trip anywhere by car because there won't be room for even minimal luggage?

If you stay in a major city, you'll probably have a lot more public-transportation day-trip options because--in addition to places that are close by--you'll most likely have access to fast rail service to at least a few other important cities (though this may be quite costly if you don't buy promo tickets very early) located a considerable distance away. Example: from Barcelona the AVE and other fast trains will whisk you to Girona, Zaragoza and Tarragona. If you stay in a small town, you'll need to take a regional train (or bus) to begin any day-trip not involving a car, so your range will be more limited--perhaps a lot more limited.

Of course, I may be overstating the potential for boredom, since I go to Europe as a vacationer, not as a working parent with children to homeschool!

just note that this topic had been asleep for 4 months before being woken up again.

The family will have completed their October trip by now....

We actually did not make our original intended travel date but still want to do so. Thank you for your insights and comments. We have taken each and every suggestion into consideration and value it greatly! Thank you!

Already mentioned are great places, Seville and Barcelona. Also, consider some places in Greece. Staying on an island would impose more costly ferry or flying charges, but Greece is very nice that time of the year.

You could spend two weeks on Crete and two weeks in the Athens area. Lots of history.