Summer destination recs - kids 5 & 7

I see that you love carbs. Who doesn't?! I can tell you that the Spanish do amazing things with the potato. Tortilla de patatas, croquetas, the olive oil chips from the corner store. All amazing. For one-stop shopping (beach and city), consider San Sebastián. There is a crazy old amusement park up above the city that your boys will get a kick out of. One more potato thing: braised beef cheek served over potato mash on your old-town tapas tour. SO good. Enjoy!

I would recommend Croatia. The people who live along the coast are outdoor people with an emphasis on the sea. Istria would be my first choice.
Croatia is light on museums and Istria is less expensive then down Dubrovnik way. You could even ferry over to Venice for a day or two.

What about Portugal? That was our kids first European trip at ages 4 and 7 and they had a great time.

Not warm beaches, but another option would be Iceland. It is perfect for anyone that loves the outdoors, but it also has Reykjavik with a lot to do. One thing that is very popular there for the kiddos are jumping pillows that you will find around the country. Google them to see as it is too hard to describe. Also each town as a local pool and the pools are a daily event for the locals, so the boys would have a blast.

We found out this summer that Switzerland has amazing playgrounds and marble rolls for kids.

https://www.google.com/search?q=switzerlandvplaygrounds&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari

@Overpacked, two quick questions that may help get you some better responses, when in the summer and how will you be traveling, will you have a car or will you be using public transportation.

I like @G3rryCee's suggestion for San Sebastian/Donostia. They have a great aquarium there that your kids might enjoy. I prefer Saint Jean de Luz which is very close. The problem with the Cantabrian coast is that it can be cool at times during the winter. Think twice about Andalucia as it can be very hot. Also second the beef cheeks. They are very tender and it was something we used to serve to our kids when they were little as it is very easy to chew.

If you go for the whole 14day, take a look at Sardinia. We were there this summer, late August, and it was not overrun with tourists. We stayed on the west coast and it was very mellow, the beaches were great and very calm, suitable for little kids. There are several smaller towns, like Bosa, Oristano, or Alghero, which you could enjoy in the morning and get some beach time in the afternoon.

Switzerland does indeed have some wonderful playgrounds. The post above has a link to many of them. We took our two grandsons and their parents) to Switzerland when the boys were 6, and these two in the Berner Oberland were their favorites (and ours):

https://www.maennlichen.ch/en/summer/experiences/alpine-herdsmans-playground.html

https://schilthorn.ch/26/en/Adventure_playground_Flower_Park

Of course, Switzerland does not have any ocean beaches, but it does have some nice sandy beaches on some of the lakes (Locarno on Lago Maggiore for example). And lots of options for boats.

For Italy, note that the Cinque Terre are on a very rocky coastline, and the only sandy beach I know of is at Monterosso. The Amalfi Coast is also very rocky, and what beaches you might find will be VERY crowded. Sicily does have some beautiful beaches, but it will be very hot in summer, and I have no idea how many nice playgrounds you will find there. I believe the Adriatic Coast of Italy is a better location for sandy beaches, although there are some south of the Ligurian coast, around Viareggio and Forte di Marmi. But any broad sandy beach in Italy is likely to be covered with sunbrellas and loungers that you pay to rent for the day. You can find “free” beaches but they often have no facilities (I.e., restrooms and snack bars).

We've been visiting Mallorca and Andalucia with our kids since they were babies (they're now 20 and 17) and they've enjoyed it immensely. I think they'd both agree that Mallorca is their preference. Superb beaches, caves, castles, old churches, mountains, water parks, fantastic hiking, old train and tram rides, an excellent aquarium, great playgrounds, a plethora of boat rides and incredible food. You can find the same (and sometimes better) in Andalucia but the beauty of Mallorca is that anywhere on the island can be reached within an hour by car. Whilst Andalucia has many incredible sights it often can mean that many sights are a few hours travelling time apart which isn't ideal with young kids.

They didn't particularly enjoy Barcelona and were quite bored and it's not somewhere that they've shown any interest in returning to despite being older now.

We haven't taken them to Croatia but they have been to Montenegro however it isn't a patch on Spain.

They've been to Sorrento in the spring. It wasn't a beach holiday but nonetheless the beaches that I did see didn't look particularly inviting and as beautiful as the area is I don't think it has much to offer young children. They thoroughly enjoyed Herculaneum and were slightly older than yours at the time.

Out of the destinations that you're considering I would choose Spain, preferably Mallorca.

To answer these questions always takes a lot of guessing.

Since you pointed out cost relevant to DC departures, I guess cost matters little.

That make Cinque Terra, Amalfi Coast troublesome.

Summer makes Barcelona difficult (crowds, hard enough with kids not having to deal with the crowds).
Of what is left, give the time frame I would say a trip down the Croatian Coast … one end to the other.
None of your locations in your list indicated any great desire to work out of the box or explore or leave the tourist trail behind or I would have suggested Montenegro (or maybe half Croatia and half Montenegro) or maybe even the coast of Bulgaria.

The trouble with the Croatia idea is there is no great city attached to it and you did say city. Maybe Dubrovnik, but …. Ehhhhh, fun and historically fascinating but not a great city and bound to be a bit packed in the “summer”. Split? My visits to Split havent indicated it to be a great family venue.

The other problem with Croatia is the transportation isnt great. So you would be better off hiring transportation $$$ Which would be significantly cheaper in Montenegro (fewer summer tourists too and every bit as beautiful if not more so when you include the mountains and the canyons …. But no great city … Budva and Ulcinj maybe ….. )
Nope, I am not help. Sorry.

I love Spain, but don't settle on Andalucia in the summer without taking a very hard look at actual, historical temperatures in recent years. Here's an example from the website timeanddate.com:

Seville weather -- July 2024

Use the pull-down box to change the month and year displayed; I like to check the latest five years. Use the search box at the upper right to change the location.

Thank you all for the great advice. My main takeaway was that most of my prospective destinations would be very hot and very crowded at the time I'm interested in going. Your reviews motivated me to swap to a Spring Break trip (mid April) to Switzerland (acknowledge, the weather is still a bit unpredictable) and to plan on our island / beach destinations in a year that we're able to travel in September or October, notably after the typical American and European summer breaks. Heading over to the Switzerland-specific forums for more great tips.

Thank you all!

Ps- I've added San Sebastian and Istria to my list!

I see you've already decided but I have to give another shout out to San Sebastian for a family vacation. The whole of Basque country is fantastic, particularly if you want a great beach vacation, amazing food, sunshine, etc. etc. If you change your mind and want to look at summer instead of Spring Break, consider June. This area is crazy during July/August but June is not too bad! You could also go in April during Spring break as the weather is typically low 70's with fewer crowds. Just my two cents for your consideration. Happy travels!