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We find ourselves in a position that next Oct, for around 6 weeks both my wife and I are likely to be off work together when my wife "returns" to work after maternity leave and instead uses her accrued leave and I take her remaining bit shared paternity leave. We will also have a 10 month old mini two legs with us.
This opens up an interesting option that will likely not offer itself again in our lives to spend a month from Mid October to Mid November in an AirBnB somewhere interesting (and cheap).
So where in mainland Europe would you head to for a month of low cost, chilled out living with a 10month old?
a month of low cost, chilled out living with a 10month old?
Made me laugh....
Ummm, well what do you like doing? Need some solo riding trails from the door? Bouldering? Just sun n'lounging?
Then pick wherever in France to suit. Or hit a number of places on a road-trip.
Malaga or thereabouts. Decent weather, plethora of accommodation, sea food.
Sardinia.
Granada or Malaga. Are you going to have your car with you?
What we like to do now, whilst childfree is kind of a moot point!
The chain of thought is it's notoriously wet and windy here in Scotland Mod Oct - Mid November. If we can find a cheap enough place where it's nice weather then we may as well play there for a few weeks as a family. I can't imagine we'll be doing much more than short walks and paddles in the sea if it's warm enough!
The thought of Mainland Europe was that we could drive over so we don't have to hire a car / makes it easier to explore the general area.
Go as far south as you can for the weather.
If it was me, I'd be heading to Slovenia. And going by train/sleeper train for a relaxed way of travel https://www.seat61.com/Slovenia.htm
We’ve just come back from a month travelling round Italy by train and from Tuscany south the weather was very nice - so take your pick.
For a month Sicily would be lovely, cheap and with plenty to do. Flying there and hiring a car would be best, but to save money spend a week travelling down and and another travelling back, enjoy the journey.
If you don’t want to drive so far, around Naples has plenty to offer. And the south of France is even closer and had good weather too.
Southern Spain - it will still be Sunny and warm. You can rent an apartment for around €500 a month.
Southern Spain. Good weather, cheap and lot's of great countryside/beaches.
Defo Southern Spain. We’ve just come back from a month in Estepona, booked up for 5 weeks next year ( last week of September then October)*
Probably loads of (vertical) off-road gravel-MTB, walking + great restaurants/bars/weather. What’s not to love?
*already booked for 2 months, October & November 2024. Same area.
You can rent an apartment for around €500 a month.
That depends on what you want. You can rent a flat in a dodgy part of Leeds for a similar price.
Just spent 6 months in Europe. I loved Berlin. (we went from uk to spain, france, holland, bulgaria and italy). i'd go back there for sure.
So where in mainland Europe would you head to for a month of low cost, chilled out living with a 10month old?
Macedonia, Greece or Portugal.
The thought of Mainland Europe was that we could drive over so we don’t have to hire a car / makes it easier to explore the general area.
This puts a a different spin on things. The recommendations for driving with a baby is something like 90 min then a break. This makes driving long distance very time consuming. We are ~9hr driving from partners Dad, we used to do it in 10 hour total travel time pre kids. My partner was strict on the driving time and it meant we took a over night stop just to go from the South of the UK to Fife. Given all of that I would go with Portugal if you are insisting on driving as you can at least get a ferry from Portsmouth or Plymouth to north of Spain.
Or one person drives and the other takes the baby back plane.
I was in Albania a few weeks back, end of October, it was actually quite nice in Tirana and very cheap.
There's a chance the Rosyth - Zeebrugge ferry could be operating a passenger service by that time. Could offer a whole new set of options but if it's the weather you're trying to escape then maybe not all that pertinent.
Or one person drives and the other takes the baby back plane.
yeah that (or the train) was a method we have used as well
We would be happy to discuss renting our house in Cataluña, the weather in the last 4 weeks has been perfect, mid 20's and no rain. There's lots to do locally, hundreds of km of bike trails. 15km from beautiful beaches and nature reserves or historic castles and villages. PM me if you've interested.
Casa Tomillo, Costa Daurada
I was also thinking Catalunya as well. Girona seems like it would be nice that time of year and would provide a nice, laidback feeling. Banyoles if you prefer a smaller town up in the mountains. If I was going though, I'd definitely want to bring my bike as there are trails everywhere (or at least seem to be, I've never ridden there). It's also a notably shorter drive than southern Spain.
Have you thought about hiring a camper/ motorhome? Then you can tour around Central Europe.