Europe

The honest verdict

🎂 Best age range

4+ if they can handle car days, old towns, castle steps and the occasional “it’s only a short walk” betrayal

💰 Cost feel

£££ — fuel, tolls, city parking and Christmas-season treats add up faster than the kids can ask for snacks

🏆 Our favourite bit

The mix of Christmas markets, castles, snowy Slovenia, Dubrovnik sunshine and those “how is this our life?” driving days

🙅 We’d skip

Trying to make every scenic drive short. In Europe, “just down the road” can somehow mean three borders, one toll booth and a family emotional incident.

Getting around with kids: Europe by car gave us freedom, but it was not effortless. The upside was being able to pack too much, stop when the kids needed a reset and chase weird little detours. The downside was tolls, parking, narrow streets, winter weather and transfer days that looked fine on Google Maps but arrived wearing hobnail boots. The big lesson was simple: do one proper thing a day, leave space for food, and never trust a historic city centre to care about your luggage.