Six no-fly family holidays your children will love
Waking up in a grand train station in a European city, after a night rattling over the rails, harks back to a golden age of travel. Shunning flying, especially with children in tow, might once have seemed eccentric, but more families are now embracing the adventure.
Tui’s recent partnership with Byway, the slow travel specialist, will help customers to swap flights for trains or ferries, if they wish. It suggests how such thinking is becoming mainstream. Also, The Man in Seat 61 (seat61.com) is a useful resource to begin planning. Interrail passes are generally the most affordable way to explore as a family, with under-12s travelling free (supplements apply), and Europe’s sleeper network is enjoying new routes and better stock, despite some teething problems.
My kids are eight and five, and over the past two years we have travelled to Italy, Greece and Arctic Sweden flight-free. These journeys have always proved memorable, as these six flight-free holidays should be for families of all ages.
Sandflat hiking on the Wadden Sea at low tide (Photo: TasfotoNL/Getty/iStock Editorial/Jeannette Tas, Netherlands)
Holland’s Frisian Islands
There are 14 islands in the chain of the West Frisians, scattered off Holland’s coast, with five large enough to visit. Island hop to Vlieland, the furthest from the coast. It’s car-free and you can hire bikes to visit the eight-mile long beach on the island’s north side. The one village, Oost-Vlieland, is worth exploring, with its art galleries, seafood restaurants and church dating to the 12th century. Summers are warm, if breezy.
The Wadden Sea, between the mainland and the islands, is a Unesco site, vital for wading birds such as the red knot and the avocet, and is the largest unbroken system of tidal flats in the world. At low tide, and with a guide, you can take part in mudflat-hiking (wadlopen in Dutch) from the mainland out to several of the islands.
How to do it: Stena Line’s Rail & Sail goes from London to Hoek van Holland, with an overnight sailing in a basic cabin with bunks beginning at £300 for four. From there, it is three hours on the train to Den Helder, where you can head out to Texel and then on to Vlieland. Kampeerterrein Stortemelk is a campsite on Vlieland that’s close to the beach and has a swimming pool (pitches from €58.60, tents available to rent).
Europa Park is fun for all the family
Theme-park thrills and the Black Forest
Europa Park in Rust, south-west Germany, celebrates its 50th birthday this summer. It has its own train station, and at just two-and-a-half hours direct from Paris, you can get there from London in less than a day. Advance fares between Paris and the park start at €40pp.
The park sprawls over 21 areas that are largely themed on European countries, and has a packed schedule of ice shows (try The Race, new this year), acrobatics and parades. It’s significantly cheaper than Disneyland Paris (where a two-day family ticket is around £700, compared with £458 at Europa Park) and has 14 rollercoasters, but there are gentler attractions aimed at smaller children, including Grimm’s Enchanted Forest. Rulantica, a vast waterpark, is next door.
To make it more of a holiday, add on a few days in the nearby Black Forest. Hike through the woods, take out a pedalo on one of the lakes, and explore the Treetop Walk at Baumkronenweg Waldkirch.
How to do it: A log cabin at Camp Resort in Europa-Park starts at €180 per night for a family of four. Adult entry to the park starts at €67, and €48 for Rulantica. Hotel Tannenmühle in the Black Forest has an adventure playground and rooms from €165 per night.
A field of poppies and olive trees in Catalonia (Photo: Yvan Tessier/Getty/iStockphoto)
Donkey trekking in Catalonia
Girona-based Burrotrek offers donkey trek excursions ranging from an afternoon to a week, with no prior experience necessary. In the summer there are options in the higher mountains; in late spring or early autumn try the six-day hike through the villages of the Costa Brava, ambling through olive groves and vineyards in the shadow of the Pyrenees, and finishing up at the Mediterranean.
If the idea of getting your children to go on a walk sounds fanciful, leading the donkeys and looking after them in the evenings can be surprisingly motivating. Once you reach the coast, Burrotrek will take your donkeys home.
Days are gentle, between five and nine miles, with nights spent in simple hotels. Pass a final day swimming in the coves of the Cap Ras nature reserve.
How to do it: Spain is less than a day away by train. Board the Eurostar in London mid-morning, and then it is six hours direct from Paris to Girona. Donkey hire begins at €60 per donkey per day from burrotrek.com (plan on two donkeys for four people). Hotel Costabella in the centre of Girona is a good stop-off, with family rooms and a pool from £215 B&B.
The basilica of the Santissimo Redentore, patron saint of Venice (Photo: Riccardo Fabi/NurPhoto/Getty)
Venice city break
Stuttgart to Venice launched in late 2022 as part of Europe’s expanding sleeper train network. It will soon be operating with the new generation of Nightjet trains, more comfortable and more spacious, and with some cabins en suite. Aim for spring or autumn to avoid the worst of Venice’s crowds.
Wander the backstreets, enjoy the world’s most child-friendly food (pizzas, pastas and ice cream), try painting a carnival mask with a local artist, or catch a Vaporetto out to Murano to try glassblowing. You might even choose to continue onto Croatia – fast ferries depart frequently in summer for port towns in Istria, taking as little as three hours.
How to do it: Depart St Pancras on Eurostar mid-morning Friday, have lunch in Paris, and walk 10 minutes to Gare de L’Est to catch the three-hour train to Stuttgart. The Nightjet leaves Stuttgart at 8.29pm, from €49.90pp in a six-berth couchette, reaching Venice at 8.34am. Family rooms at the Generator Venice from £178 a night.
Take to the water in Denmark (Photo: Francesca Dolnier)
Canoeing in Denmark
At 93 miles, the Gudenåen is Denmark’s longest river, and is popular for canoeing. The gentle Tørring to Randers stretch is 87 miles, which should take about a week to complete depending on how often you laze on the banks. At Tørring, the river is not much wider than a stream, but it soon opens out revealing lush forests, wide lakes and the ruins of medieval monasteries.
The lakes can be tricky if the wind gets up, but nothing is too technical. There are frequent campsites where you can swim and cook. Keep an eye out for kingfishers.
How to do it: Take the ferry to Hoek van Holland and then it is a day on the trains to Vejle and a short bus ride to Tørring. Tørring Kano Udlejning rents canoes from £245 per week (reckon on one canoe between two) along with optional extras such as tents and waterproof barrels (life jackets and paddles included). In peak season, book campsites in advance (your canoe rental company should be able to help). Torring to Klostermolle can only be paddled from 16 June until the end of the year to protect birds during breeding season.
Stop off to buy homemade pasta in Bari (Photo: ivotheeditors/Getty/iStock Editorial)
The Ionian Islands
This is the most ambitious journey. Catch a late afternoon Eurostar to Paris, spend the night (Hostel Paris Yves Robert, near the station, rooms from £84) and the next morning take a train to Milan, with stunning views as it tunnels its way between Alpine valleys. Have dinner in Milan before boarding the Intercity Notte sleeper to Bari, in Italy’s south.
Spend the day in Bari, nosing around its labyrinthine old town, where women sell homemade pasta from their doorways, and board the evening ferry to Patras. The food is a revelation, with good wine and an excellent buffet (try the lamb stew). Let the waves rock you to sleep, docking in Patras at lunchtime the next day, where there are ferries to the Ionian islands. Try Kefalonia (3.5 hours from Patras), with idyllic, shallow beaches, or Ithaca (four hours), which is quiet and magical for snorkelling.
How to do it: An Interrail pass offers a 30 per cent discount on Superfast Ferries – cabin for four from Bari-Patras from £280. Alternatively, travel to Venice and then a ferry to Patras where Moxy Patra Marina has family rooms from £121.
