Foodie Family Adventure: Brussels, Venice, or Barcelona

Hello LTHForumites-

My wife and I were discussing taking a trip in the spring (March-ish) to Europe for 10 days. We're thinking <someplace> with a side of Paris (because we love bulot, etc.).

On the list so far are:

Barcelona
Venice
Brussels (the dark horse)

We have two little travelers with us, our 4 year-old daughter and 7 year-old son. They're good little foodies. This will be their first trip to Europe, so it's important that the this trip give them a good feel for what's so great about Europe, the people, the history and the beauty, along with the food, of course. My son would love the medieval/ancient vibe, where my daughter would prefer the renaissance and the baroque, because she's into princesses.

As far as food, our favorite restaurant on Earth is La Tupina in Bordeaux, however I would walk a mile across a desert for a good Italian beef. We like a mix of local food with a smattering of the high end cuisine.

So I come to my question: what's good about each of these cities? Are any of them anti-kid, that is to say, they only shine after 7:00 p.m.? What's commendable about them?

Thanks in advance for your contribution to what I hope will be a lively and interesting discussion.

Tom

The 7-year-old is less of a problem than the 4-year-old, who really needs to go somewhere there's places for little kids to just run around and play and be little kids, and could care less about urban culture. I didn't think urban centers for that age, I thought beaches, farms, things like that.

Spain was extremely kid-friendly, however Barcelona was the least kid-friendly part we went to there-- in the sense of being the most gritty-urban. The hours in Spain are generally quite late, we found the best choice was to more or less stay on Chicago time and just plan to get up at 10am and have dinner at 11pm. Anyway, you can read a lot about our adventures here, draw your own conclusions.

I think kids would dig either Venice or Brussels for a day or two, not sure 10 days in either place is going to entertain them. Really, I'd find somewhere in the country or on a coast and go to the big city for the day occasionally. What about somewhere like Nice? You've got a wide range of stuff near there-- beaches, fancy restaurants, art museums, markets, medieval towns-- and it's very oriented to families and play, needless to say. We did Nice, Paris and Avignon on a trip once (before kids), and it was a great combination.

My son would love the medieval/ancient vibe, where my daughter would prefer the renaissance and the baroque, because she's into princesses.

I'd suggest something like the Loire Valley - lots of wonderful chateau to occupy the kids & great food & wine too. My parents used to take me when I was a child & combine a week on the Loire with a few days in Paris before heading back to London.

Personally, I would cross Venice off of your list. It is a magnificent place, beautiful and unique. But I can't imagine two children there for 10-days. I spent two days there and I could have seen spending two more, but it can get disney-esque in its intense touristy-ness. It can start to grate on you.

Also, the best thing about Venice in terms of food that I experienced were early-evening snacks (cicchetti) eaten on bars and washed down with little glasses of wine or beer. It was immensely enjoyable to move from bar to bar and eat cured fish, fried things, little sandwiches, olives, etc. I did not see to many children, if any at all in these crowded bars. Beyond that, the best of Venice seemed to be in expensive restaurants.

If Italy and food is interesting to you, I'd suggest camping out in Bologna and making smaller side trips to places like Siena. The medieval vibe that your son would love is overflowing in those places and I think your daughter would like it too. The people are wonderful and the cities (especially Bologna) is vibrant and varied. But, most importantly, the food is impressive from every angle. Street pizza, delis, bakeries, street markets, mom & pop trattorias, etc. there's so much to eat and cook that you'll never eat the same meal twice and you'll love every one.

When we left Bologna, I said to my wife, "When we have children that are old enough to come to Europe, we're renting an apartment here with a really nice kitchen for a couple weeks."

Best,
Michael

I would cross Barcelona and Venice off, right on top. Barecelona isn't that kid friendly, in my opinion, Venice is not a real food desitnation, it is disneyland with 3 inches of water everywhere. if you want to have good food in italy, take the above advice and stay in Bologna and do side trips from there.


Brussels is a great food town, some of the best food in the world, and some of the people who take food the most seriously. the food includes stuff that kids will like - chocolate, fries, crocettes and other stuff. not that the spanish and italians don't love their kids, but Belgians are a great deal more kid-focused and friendly in the ways that americans would recognize. Brussels has several great art museums, an african museum, a zoo, and some good parks. and it is veyr easy to get to Paris, Amsterdam, achen and dusseldorf, each worthy of a day trip. the city center is one of the best examples of boroque archetecture in the world.

here is another thought (that might be cool for your daughter) - there are the "romantic trail" and the "fairytale trail" in germany - each take about 2-3 days to cover, and will allow you to visit several castles and old cities. this would be less about food, but would be great to show history to your kids.

have fun - if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask or pm

Brussels has several great art museums, an african museum, a zoo, and some good parks. and it is veyr easy to get to Paris, Amsterdam, achen and dusseldorf, each worthy of a day trip. the city center is one of the best examples of boroque archetecture in the world.

And the Bernissart iguanodons! The first major scientific find and display of dinosaurs in the world. I would also mention Bruges as a day trip-- a charming medieval city.

My reasoning for Venice is that I've heard they have an incredible variety of seafood. I haven't done much research to that end yet.

One thing to remember about urban destinations with kids is that large cities tend to have parks, such as the Bois de Boulounge in Paris.

Belgium is a great first European destination. Frites, chocolate, culturally, you've got the statue of the kid peeing which is nice, plus all the great stuff I've learned about in this thread.

At this point, we're thinking Brussels and Paris. Not sure in what order, though.

Thanks for all your great feedback.

Tom

Tom in NC wrote:My reasoning for Venice is that I've heard they have an incredible variety of seafood. I haven't done much research to that end yet.

I did have nice seafood in Venice, but mostly in bars. I still think most of the really good stuff was confined to expensive restaurants.

I had a much better seafood experience in Rome or the Cinque Terre.

Best,
Michael

Four days in Venice—without kids—is unimagineable; with kids is ever so much more so.

I'm sure this place wouldn't be under consideration this time, but maybe next time you might think about Collioure, a lovely, quiet, very family-oriented, genuinely unspoiled Catalan fishing port. Lots to do with kids, and the Spanish border is about 15 kliks away. My wife and I loved it. There's a map on the web page, so you can see what's around there.

Geo

globetrotter wrote:Venice is not a real food desitnation...

An aside that I probably shouldn't get into, but while I don't disagree for a moment with the other criticisms levied against Venice, I'll fight you to the death over this statement. The food of Venice is both outstanding and incredibly unique. Sarde in saor, bigoli in salsa, carpaccio di manzo (trite as it has become), fegato alla Veneziana, seppie in nero, paste e fagioli, the incredible seafood, the tramezzini and little bites that eatchicago mentions -- I agree, at least in the tourist areas, it's mostly upscale and, like any other major Italian tourist city, the heavily trafficked areas are chock full of terrible restaurants catering to those who don't know any better... but we're talking about a trove of unique culinary treasures, here. How is this not a food destination?!?

Incidentally, on our first family vacation to Italy, we drove across the country and hit seven or eight cities over the course of a month. My sister was six at the time, and the one she couldn't get over and begged us to return to for years was Venice.

eatchicago wrote:I had a much better seafood experience in Rome or the Cinque Terre.

Best,
Michael

My wife and I went to Cinque Terre when we visited Tuscany. We want to return with the kids when they're old enough to do some or all of the hike. Knowing there's quality seafood is an added bonus. Thanks for the heads-up.

Tom

P.S. For seafood, shellfish especially, Paris is hard to beat.

Dmnkly wrote:

globetrotter wrote:Venice is not a real food desitnation...

An aside that I probably shouldn't get into, but while I don't disagree for a moment with the other criticisms levied against Venice, I'll fight you to the death over this statement. The food of Venice is both outstanding and incredibly unique. Sarde in saor, bigoli in salsa, carpaccio di manzo (trite as it has become), fegato alla Veneziana, seppie in nero, paste e fagioli, the incredible seafood, the tramezzini and little bites that eatchicago mentions -- I agree, at least in the tourist areas, it's mostly upscale and, like any other major Italian tourist city, the heavily trafficked areas are chock full of terrible restaurants catering to those who don't know any better... but we're talking about a trove of unique culinary treasures, here. How is this not a food destination?!?

.

I try to avoid italian tourist cities altogether. there are so many bettery places to eat in italy, that almost the very last (no, let me correct that, the obsolute, end of the list, last place) would be venice. but that is just my opinion. I didn't like florence, either.

I agree, at least in the tourist areas, it's mostly upscale and, like any other major Italian tourist city, the heavily trafficked areas are chock full of terrible restaurants catering to those who don't know any better"

More so, I think, in Venice than any other Italian city; it's the one place in Italy you could never say "It's impossible not to eat well." As a result this city, for me, required more research than any other on the peninsula, but it was worth the effort (as also indicated in the above post) since, there are treasures to be found, particularly in regard to the variety and preparation of local seafood. One piece of advice: visit off-season and stay overnight (after all the daytrippers have left). At night and off-season, what was Disneyland in daylight becomes an eery, captivating dreamworld.

jbw wrote:One piece of advice: visit off-season and stay overnight (after all the daytrippers have left). At night and off-season, what was Disneyland in daylight becomes an eery, captivating dreamworld.

That was always my family's MO. We'd spend Christmas in Rome, New Year's in another city, and visit some other spots in the surrounding weeks. I remember the first time -- after regular Christmas trips throughout my childhood -- that I went during the summer and suddenly understood what everybody meant about the hordes of tourists

Though it's been a long time since I've visited in the winter (the last couple were spring and summer trips) I've been told by others that there's almost no such thing as an "off-season" in Venice anymore, which, if it's true, is too bad. There really was a time, not too long ago, when we could walk around all day and only see a handful of other tourists if we went during the right time of year and avoided San Marco.