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Kids Start Here - Let's Explore the World

Click on the country below to get our best kid-tested and approved sites, things to do, restaurants, places to stay, and tips and suggestions.

Italy

Suggestions for Florence, Rome, Sardinia, and beyond!

Greece

Suggestions for Athens, Peloponnese, Crete, and Rhodes 

Spain

Suggestions for Barcelona and Costa Brava

We do not pretend to know everything about traveling with kids—not even close. I still seek out help and suggestions from others. I look at reviews online. When I do look for kid-related assistance, I like to know the type of traveler I’m reading, so here is a bit about us. We have traveled internationally with both of our kids since they were about 7 months old, and we have taken them to 10 countries. My husband and I have traveled to 38 countries together, with 30 in Europe. Before kids, we left our jobs on the East Coast and spent 5 months traveling in Europe, with the first two months living in Florence.

 

Our philosophy has always been one of immersive travel, not vacationing. Do not get me wrong – we love a relaxing beach or mountain vacation (and we try to do both), but when we visit Europe, we prefer traveling. *Look for a future blog post about travel vs vacation. This resulted in a significant number of short-term apartment rentals when our kids were little. More on accommodations later, but now that our kids are older, we find we do equal numbers of apartments and hotels. We are not cruise people, but we have absolutely no problem with them and hope that if you are, you can find some family-friendly, but off the beaten path things to enjoy here.

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Immersion travel means we try to get into the rhythm of a place, going to the same bakery or café numerous times. We love when the owners of a restaurant in the Sardinian countryside recognize our 6 year old and call out his name, even though they do not speak a work of English. Our kids get to know the local cats and meet new friends at dinner. They play soccer in the square in Fiesole late in the evening with the local kids. This is immersion. 

 

I hope to fill in lots of blanks, but if you have requests for certain topics or locations, let me know! For now, we have traveled with kids to: Italy (numerous times, including Sardinia, Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, and more on the way!), Portugal, Bulgaria, Greece (Thrace, Peloponnese, Athens, Crete, Rhodes), England, France (mostly in the south), Austria, Germany (mostly Bavaria), and Spain (Barcelona and Costa Brava).

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