Where to take 3 1-month "staycations"?

Hi Kingda,

Logroño?

1. It is not touristy. It gets a lot of Spanish tourist in the summer, but not tourist. Not near the seaside.
2. Logroño is compact, and there is now need for a car. The old town is totally pedestrian and there are lots of kid who play in the squares. There are also many parks all around an walkable.
3. Logroño there are plenty of good food, and there are the two main tapa streets, Calle Laurel and Calle San Juan, and if you become a "local" you will find the "Cheap Laurel" where the locals go. Also we have a great ice shop, Della Sera. The ice cream maker Fernando Saenz was just written up in the Michelin guide for his ice creams. There is some history here, and a Michelangelo in the Cathedral.
4. From Logroño both local small towns and big cities are easily reached for day trips. For the kiddies there is the largest deposit of dinosaur footprints in Europe, and they have a whole thematic route set up to visit, and an adventure park. There is also San Millan the birth place of Spanish, and a UNESCO sight. Pamplona, Vitoria, and Soria are an hour bus ride, and just a bit more will get you to Bilbao or Zaragoza or Burgos.

Just a thought. Take a look. Also, it will probably cheaper than Girona in the summer.

We did a 3 week staycation in Lyon. It was great. Lots to see in the city and many day trip destinations close by.

You mentioned Girona, Spain so maybe you are ok with starting your first stay somewhere where it will already be quite warm in June. That gives you options for a second location in an Italian city like Bergamo in the north or Bolzano in the Dolomites. Both have good train and bus connections. For a third location I’d head somewhere potentially cooler like a vibrant small city in the Netherlands. Several come to mind but I really like Leiden where you can bike through the sand dunes to the beach. Other cooler places with good transportation options might be in northern Germany or Denmark. If you can keep under the 90 day Schengen limits in the EU great. Otherwise have your last stay be in the UK in somewhere like Winchester.

Newcastle in the UK
Luxembourg City
Somewhere in the Alps (don't have a specific suggestion)

What do you and your family enjoy doing? I would think that the older ones will want different adventures from the four-year-old. I know that my two kids at the ages of your older ones would want more activities than small towns would provide.
You can have local experiences in even large cities if you stay in areas that are not frequented by tourists: the 12th A in Paris, for example. Others here can recommend the same for other cities and other choices in Paris. That way you can enjoy parks, public pools, zoos, museums that kids would enjoy (Rodin Museum for the statues as well as the grounds). You could take day trips from the cities due to excellent public transportation. I also wouldn't count out beaches, either. A discussion about beaches near Barcelona was posted here a few weeks ago.

Howabout Gothenburg?

Not too touristy, but big enough for there to be plenty of things to, including a number of great museums. Good public transportation both within the city and to surrounding areas. Great food and history are also available. And if you want to travel somewhere else, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo are all within easy reach as well as several other smaller towns.

Oakay, 3 locations, 1 month each. That screams variety.

Spain is great, but you will do a month in that culture and nothing else. Well, I guess not true. If you choose Spain find a place that borders Catalonia and some other ethnic enclave so you get some variety.

Italy, choose Northern Italy for access to Switzerland and Slovenia and Austria.

France, near the Spanish or German border.

UK, consider someplace near Wales and Scotland.

Vienna opens up Prague, Budapest and Slovakia, and of course Austria

Budva opens up Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and Albania

The point is look for locations that unlock more. Then live that location, but take the same weekend trips the locals do.

kaixo James. Another point for Logroño. Euskadi is just across the river. Agur.

Which languages do you speak so you can get to know locals? That may steer you in a certain direction.

Obviously if you stay within the Schengen Zone, then you are limited to 90 days, not three months.

Newcastle upon Tyne in England - near to a fantastic coastline, Durham, York, Edinburgh and Hadrian’s Wall. No language issues. Friendly people. Good transport links.

Chester in England - near to the castles of north Wales, Liverpool, the Lake District and Snowdonia.

Jerez in Spain - near to Seville, Cadiz and the white villages of Andalusia.

Split or Zagreb in Croatia - visit Dubrovnik, the islands and some great National Parks.

Rouen, Caen, Nantes or Rennes in northern France with easy access to the coast, the Normandy battlefields for WW2 history and smaller towns such as Bayeux.

Lille in France - close to the Belgian border.

Lisbon - although a capital city, it doesn’t feel huge but there is plenty to see.

Someone mentioned northern Italy. Of course I’m partial since we lived there for 2+ years…..

Lago Maggiore would be a great place for a month with kids. Verbania is the hub for ferries north to Switzerland, across the lake, and to the south end of the lake. The lake is a great temperature for swimming all summer.
While Verbania gets European tourists, I would not describe as touristy. The train station is a short bus ride from the City. You could do day trips (or overnight) to Switzerland or Milan. Rent a motor boat for 1/2 or full day to explore lake in your own.

Lots of great restaurants.

If interested in more info, let me know and I can post a list of links on things to do.

Despite there being tourists, the great cities of Europe are not necessarily “touristy.” You can live in sections of Rome, Florence, Paris, or many other places that are not teeming with tourists and have a local flavor for the day-to-day experience, but are a convenient to trains for day trips or weekend getaways. One of teh big cities would afford a multitude of cultural options.

We lived in a neighborhood of Rome that was not at all touristed, but could walk to the center in 1 hour, or in 25 minutes on a bus be at the main train station and off to so many places like Florence, Venice, Tivoli, Sorrento, Orvieto, the Cinque Terre, and many many small towns.

You might look at Sabbatical Homes for affordable lodging in some interesting places. Be sure to get a place with A/C!

Here are a few suggestions:
1) Siena, Italy- from there you can see Tuscany, including Florence, Pisa as well as places like Cinque Terre, Umbria (Assisi and Perugia).
2) Somewhere near Strasbourg, France or across the border in SW Germany (Friberg, Triberg or Heidelberg).
3) Chipping Campden-take in SW England and perhaps some of South Wales.

Although I'm not a fan of Lisbon, they have the best aquarium I've ever visited and a zoo, which I did not visit.

For 3 months with 3 kids, I'd be looking at locales that's somewhat cheaper than the big European cities. And I'd be looking to stay in 3 completely different places.

Budapest is very economical. Inland Spain is very well priced--like Granada. I'd also be looking at one of the small cities outside of Rome with commuter train service into the city--like Zagarolo.

kingdna, David, I have some guests in Budapest who have been there for going on 6 months now. A mother and 2 children. The mother comments often on how kid friendly the city is; both in things to do and the cost. She comes from a city with an even lower general cost of living but says the activities for the kids are still cheaper in Budapest. I suspect she would be willing to share her experiences.

The only place I came close to staying 30 days or so consecutively to serve as a "staycation" was Berlin for 2 full weeks at a Pension. It certainly has its advantages doing this sort of stay of two weeks or better still, 3-4 weeks. In France the longest stay was 3 weeks in one trip but that was not consecutive days, ie two consecutive weeks, then a week elsewhere, after coming back to France again...probably a total of 3.5 weeks.

Where to do this?

I would suggest France near Belgium or France near Germany in Alsace-Lorraine going back and forth between France and Germany, very interesting culturally and historically.

Easy to spend two weeks minimum to see Alsace-Lorraine to know the place well, using either or both languages. You'll see those in the service industry who are bi-lingual. A good number of French do exactly that with have jobs in Germany, returning home at day's end to France.

Wow, thank you all so much. We are leaning toward Orvieto in Italy and Crete (Chamia) in Greece. Any particular thoughts on these locations?

Orvieto is nice. Another town to consider in northern Italy is Lucca. When we visited Lucca in 2019, we felt it had a kid-friendly vibe.

Orvieto's upper town (the historic center) is charming and has more quality sights than most places of its size. I will caution you that it gets a great deal of tourist traffic (a lot of it may be Romans), which you will be very aware of in the area around the Duomo.

Orvieto may not be as convenient for side trips as you might expect from its position on a map. For a month-long stay, this could be a bit of a drag. Orvieto has a modest number of intercity trains to Rome (70 or 80 minutes) and Florence (closer to 2 hours), but the rest are slower regional trains (regional veloce options being a bit speedier than the plain-vanilla regionals). For example, there's only one morning connection to Viterbo, and it takes 1 hr. 43 min. Assisi takes over 2 hours and Pisa is at least 3 hr. 20 min. away. I urge you to do some research on possible side trips and how long they will take.

In summary, spending a month in a town or small city (which is unlikely to have much express-train service) is likely to be somewhat limiting from the standpoint of making a lot of day-trips. Be sure you're OK with that; long train trips could get boring for the kids. If you want to introduce them to a lot of sights in Rome and Florence, you might be happier with smaller chunks of time in more places, including some time in each of those cities. As already mentioned, you could stay outside the tourist zone of a place like Rome and have a more local experience--and with easier access to trains heading in all directions..

If you stay up in Orvieto's lovely historic district, every side trip by train will have to begin with a walk or short bus ride to the upper funicular station and a ride down to the train station on the lower level. That extra transportation leg will add to the travel time.

Be very careful as you schedule your trip. If you are traveling on US/Canadian passports, you are limited to 90 days within any rolling 180-day period in the Schengen countries (which include all the heavily-visited European countries except the United Kingdom and Ireland). Italy and Greece are Schengen countries. Both your arrival day and your departure day count, so three one-month stays would be a bit too long and could result in a substantial fine for each of you. You could also be banned from returning to any Schengen country for a period if years.

I’d suggest Senigallia in Italy. It’s on the Adriatic coast, so a perfect seashore for children. No big waves, literally miles of golden sands, and a very shallow entrance to the sea — you walk a long way out before it gets deep. And there are several restaurants along the beach with tables on the sand so you can enjoy an apertivo while you watch the children play.

And while it’s on the sea, it’s not overrun with tourists. The Adriatic coast is still relatively under the radar.

Senigallia also has a pleasant downtown area, daily (?) markets, and good bus and train connections. The train runs through the town between the beach/city so it’s easily accessible. Nearby you can explore the caverns of Frassasi or visit the 15th century hill town of Corinaldo. Lots of places within a short train ride, including Bologna.

It has GREAT restaurants— three with Michelin stars and lots of “regular” restaurants. Lots of seafood & fresh pasta.

When we visited Senigallia, our granddaughters were young and I remember thinking what a great place this would be to bring them.

Okay, I'm going to throw you a curve ball. I'm going to suggest the city I spent nine months doing research, the place I called, "A nice place to live, but you wouldn't want to visit," -

Katowice, Poland.

Yes, Katowice, Poland. It fits all your requirements.

Not touristy? Check. Have YOU heard of Katowice? Exactly.

Public transport? Check. A myriad of buses and trams to get you around the city and its environs/suburbs, plus trains for everywhere else (for more, see below).

Great food and history? Well, I think the history is interesting. And it's as good a place as any to try Polish food. Should the kids balk, you can introduce them to the wonders of Telepizza.

Proximity to interesting places? Check. Krakow is less than two hours away, Warsaw is about 2.5 hours, Wrocław is about the same. Pszczyna is a local train ride away, with a cool, small square and a fun manor house (that they call a castle). Wisła, on the Czech border, is also close by and is fun for hikes.

It was an easy city to live in. There's a huge mall complex - Silesian City Center - that also has a nice movie theater. The town center is mid-19th Century buildings that would gleam if someone just took the time to pressure wash them. I stayed in an apartment about a 20 minute bus ride from the train station, next to a basilica. Poland is pretty inexpensive, especially with the current exchange rate.

Again, just a curveball for you to consider.

We spent a month in Aix-en-Provence last September and loved it! Nothing touristy to see yet tons to do. Daily markets, a huge park Promenade de la Torse, a soccer stadium with local games, Musee Granet with some famous art, Cezanne’s home.

We are looking for our next “home for a month” and are leaning toward Sevilla. Padua, Bath, Bassano del Grappo, Dijon and Strasbourg also are on our list.

Ljubljana, Slovenia. Beautiful, compact city with a castle, a river running through it, surrounded by stunning mountains and lakes, spectacular caves to explore, affordable and full of history you probably know nothing about. Two hours from Venice if you want a weekend getaway, or 2 hours to Salzburg. You can get to anywhere in Slovenia within about 2 hours, and could also venture into Croatia.

Ljubljana, never been there, but looks amazing and is on my list as soon as I figure out how to get there in a logical fashion. 3 hours on a bus from Venice isn't my cup of tea and 2.5 hours in a rented car ... not a great option for me either.

Salzburg would be a great connection, but again a 4 hour bus or a 3.5 hour rental car drive. Still a bit too far.

Its not the best connected city; especially with discount airlines. Zagreb is slightly better connected, but only slightly.

BUT, sometimes the hardest to reach are the most rewarding.