The best family holidays in Europe for 2026

Best for: a city break for the whole family

There’s nowhere quite like Paris, of course. But if you want a version that’s a load more laidback, compact and family-friendly (plus a little cheaper) it’s Lyon. The whole city is navigable by accessible public transport, with playgrounds dotted along the highly strollable riverbanks along the Rhone and Saône.

What to do with kids in Lyon

Kid-friendly attractions include the huge Confluences museum, with everything from a sensory children’s gallery to escape room-style puzzles for preteens. There’s also the sprawling Mini World in the suburb of Villeurbanne and the massive Tête d’Or park, with a totally free (and very impressive) zoo and old-school, ride-along model train.

💡 Time Out tip: Speaking of trains, the nearby Brasserie L’Est – founded by Lyonnais culinary legend Paul Bocuse – has a miniature railway that does laps of the dining room: perfect for entertaining young diners as they work their way through the impressively gourmet kids’ menu.

🏨 Stay here: This impressive mansion is just 10 minutes from downtown Lyon, and has a sunny swimming pool to keep the kids active - perfect to tire them down before bedtime. Book here.

Best for: all-inclusive stays and outdoor activities

This underrated corner of northern Italy has been getting more international attention in the last few years, though it was already a major destination for central Europeans thanks to the language factor: the mother tongue of most South Tyroleans is German.

What to do with kids in South Tyrol

The key draw for travelling parents is a clutch of high-end family hotels where kids aren’t just tolerated, but veritably spoiled. At places like Sonnwies, AKI Family Resort and Falkensteiner Family Resort Lido, the facilities put most so-called family-friendly hotels to shame: year-round water parks; beautifully designed bedrooms, laid out to comfortably sleep your whole squad; epic kids’ clubs with hands-on activities all day, every day; buffets and ice cream bars at child height; games rooms and climbing walls for teens; entire miniature farms, and so on. Parents can take advantage of built-in childcare to hit the spa, the restaurant or the slopes: most of the region’s hotels are perched in the villages of the Dolomites, with skiing in the winter and hiking for the rest of the year. 

💡 Time Out tip: This is a perfect alternative to classic Mediterranean all-inclusives. All that’s missing is the sea – but the cooler mountain temperatures and spectacular views should more than make up for it. 

🏨 Stay here: Book the aforementioned AKI Family Resort PLOSE here and Falkensteiner Family Resort Lido here. 

Best for: Kid-friendly activities 

The Nordic countries are known for their distinctive, progressive approach to parenting, and Copenhagen is a great place to find out what’s working for them. The Danish capital is thick with brilliantly imaginative playgrounds, and safe enough that you’ll genuinely see parents leaving their babies outside cafés for a nap in the fresh air (in fact, some places won’t even let you bring your stroller inside).

What to do with kids in Copenhagen

Travelling with kids might stop you hitting up the city’s avant-garde restaurant scene, but a glut of incredible bakeries makes snacking dangerously easy. For burning off energy, there’s the nostalgic rush of the Tivoli Gardens in the city centre – with rides for all ages – plus out-of-town Bakken, the world’s oldest amusement park. Another worthwhile day trip is to the Louisiana gallery, with outdoor sculptures and a whole children’s wing full of hands-on art and fun. The Danish Architecture Center has a great kids’ room and immersive exhibitions perfect for Lego fans, and the enormous aquarium, the Experimentarium science centre and the beaches of Amager are well worth the easy trip to the suburbs, whatever the weather.

💡 Time Out tip: Kids go free on public transport right up to the age of 12 – but if you want to do as Danish parents do, hire a cargo bike to zoom around the city’s peerless network of cycle paths.

🏨 Stay here: 1 Hotel Copenhagen offers connecting rooms for families, or ‘seedling sleepovers’ where little ones can slumber in style in a personal kids’s tent, popcorn and candy included. Book here.

➡️ Discover more of the best things to do in Copenhagen

Best for: beach holidays

When everyone’s in need of sun, sea and sand, the Algarve is always a good idea. In the southernmost chunk of mainland Portugal, it may feel like the Mediterranean, but the water here is actually the Atlantic Ocean – which helps keep extreme summer temperatures in check. 

What to do with kids in the Algarve

Head to the eastern end, near Spain, to break up lazy days on the Monte Gordo beaches with day trips to historic, strollable towns like Tavira and Olhão, or boat adventures in the backwaters of the Ria Formosa Natural Park. Alternatively, if you’d rather have nothing to do but beach, base yourself at the Algarve’s western tip in the secluded surfer town of Sagres. 

Time Out tip: As well as cooler, the Algarve is a tad cheaper than the Mediterranean coasts in Italy, France or neighbouring Spain – and, despite a reputation for rampant tourism, surprisingly diverse.

🏨 Stay here: Martinhal Sagres Family Resort offers Wiis and Playstations, alongside surf lessons, paddle tennis, and football challenges for kids – all next door to the sheltered, shallow, sandy Martinhal Beach. Book here.

Best for: accessible transport

Don’t believe anyone who tells you that Switzerland is boring. In fact, it’s an excellent place for an extended family adventure – especially if you like trains. With one of the best transport networks on the planet, it’s possible to reach almost anywhere in Switzerland via a combination of world-class trains (some with on-board playgrounds), cable cars, funiculars and ferries.

What to do with kids in Switzerland

So, where to go? The cities are a good place to start – especially buggy-friendly Basel, with its two zoos and Lego museum. But the big draw is, of course, the mountains. Adults will appreciate the clean air, rural life and jaw-dropping views. And for the kids? Oh, just some of the world’s greatest playgrounds. At high-altitude sites like the Flower Park at Allmendhubel, the Bort playground in Grindelwald or the Mooraculum Sörenberg, ambitious wooden play structures get kids active in the most beautiful settings imaginable, using wood, water and occasionally a big dose of gravity.

💡 Time Out tip: For an extra fee, the SBB train network will transport your luggage from point to point, almost anywhere within the country. 

🏨 Stay here: Basel’s Les Trois Rois is a bit of a splurge, but the suites are unmatched, you’re right by the Rhine and guests receive a BaselCard that grants free use of public transport, and a 50 percent discount on cultural and leisure activities in the city. Book here.

Best for: a city-and-beach break

Valencia is the have-it-all choice for a family trip to Spain, pairing the city buzz of Barcelona with the vast, Mediterranean beaches of the Costa del Sol – only without the tourist crowds of either.

What to do with kids in Valencia

Though it’s far less familiar to English-speaking visitors, this is the third largest city in Spain, and has serious food credentials to boot: paella was invented here, the food markets (including the cavernous Central Market and gourmet Mercado Colón) are packed with locals, and kids roam free in the car-free, restaurant-lined squares. Between meals there’s the massive Oceanogràfic aquarium and Bioparc zoo, connected across the city centre by the five-mile-long Turia Garden – complete with an impressive Gulliver’s Travels-themed playground. And then there are the sandy and shallow beaches, from Las Arenas and La Patacona in the city centre to the quieter, northerly Port Saplaya and El Puig.

💡 Time Out tip: Valencia’s clean, modern, stroller-friendly public transport network is the icing on the cake – or maybe that should be the parsley on the paella.

🏨 Stay here: This modern-designed Airbnb comes with a swimming pool, a Smart TV and Netflix for non-stop entertainment. Book here. 

Best for: a budget-friendly trip

Although western Europe is generally ahead when it comes to tourist conveniences like buggy-friendly public transport and family-focused hotels, the east side of the continent is catching up fast – and it always wins on sheer bang-for-your-buck.

What to do with kids in Albania

Albania, in particular, has been having a moment in the last few years, with beach resorts on the ‘Albanian Riviera’ like Sarandë and Ksamil becoming an increasingly accessible alternative to Croatia. The idyllic Adriatic beaches are often fabulously family friendly, especially in Ksamil, Himara and Dhermi. But by far the biggest draw of coming here is the price: a luxury family seaside break here will cost you the same as a budget one in Spain or Greece.

💡 Time Out tip: Fly to Corfu and hop on the ferry to avoid the lengthy drive from Tirana airport.

🏨 Stay here: This seafront apartment in Durrës sleeps up to five guests, and is just moments from the beach. Book here.