5 Family Friendly Tips for Visiting Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik has been on our list of places to visit for a while but it wasn't until this summer that we made it over to Croatia to discover all it has to offer.  Travelling to a city with four small children can be challenging and we definitely see a different side to places than couples or backpackers but I love seeing the new sights through their eyes and we found Dubrovnik was a brilliant city to take children too, especially with a bit of preparation!

The city is built along the coast and there are so many stairs so the obvious tip is to be prepared when it comes to transport.  We took a small stroller but it didn't make it through the holiday and annoyingly we forgot the sling so we had a few days with just our legs to get us around (and my arms for the smallest one when she got tired).  We made sure we added lots of rest stops and thankfully our children are all at the age where we can sit with a game of Uno and an apple juice when we needed to get out the sun or just take sometime out.

Everywhere we visited was child friendly, we always felt welcome and the absolutely stunning coastline and architecture was amazing to us all.  Here are my top 5 tips for visiting Dubrovnik with a whole gang of small children (or even just one or two)


Where you stay

For us, apartments are much easier than hotels and we love the opportunity to self cater.  We were away for nearly 2 weeks in total and eating out with them all can be tricky so we loved being able to make our own breakfast and grab a take away pizza when we needed a film night.  We booked through Booking.com and this was our three bedroom apartment.  It was only a few minutes walk from the centre of the old town and was right next to a playground and a pizza place (another tip if you visit Croatia as a vegetarian - stick to Pizza as they don't do meat free dishes in most places!).  There are so many wonderful districts a little further out that we would love to explore but our apartment was fantastic for being a central base with plenty of space. (If you do want to book this link gets you 10% back)

Day Trip

We had 5 days in the city which gave us plenty of time to see other things and we decided to go on a Three Island tour.  There were booths all over the town selling them and we paid roughly £100 for the day for the six of us (under 6 are usually free and children are discounted) which included our lunch and drinks for the day.  We sailed around the coast of Dubrovnik and discovered three small islands, all of which don't have any cars and are mostly just nature, two of which had the most beautiful sandy beaches.  We had between an hour and three hours at each one of free time and we ate lunch aboard the boat.  We loved the freedom to explore, the wonderfully clear waters and the fresh air on the boat and I would really recommend this with any age children - there were a couple of babies in prams on the boat too!

Playgrounds

For us, an important part of travelling with them is knowing when we need balance and sight seeing, culture and trips have to be balanced with familiarity, play and parks and we quickly located some local parks for when the children needed to run around and be kids.  There was a little one right next to our apartment and the one we visited most was right next to Pile Gate via a little pathway.  There was a fountain there as well as the usual swings and slides and it helped balance the day for us.  There was also a fun playground at the main port as well as an outdoor gym and we had a long play there before our day trip.

Water Fountains

Dubrovnik certainly isn't the cheapest place we have visited and drinks were very expensive in the main areas, but there were water fountains around the old town where you could fill up water bottles and the water was fresh and cold.  The fountains are impossible to miss and are wonderfully built in white stone with intricate carvings.  The kids loved filling them up themselves and it helped remind them to keep hydrated which we needed when the temperatures never dropped below thirty degrees.

Cable Car

There is a cable car that runs from the old town to the top of Mount Srd which gives you the most spectacular views of the city and surrounding islands and definitely shouldn't be missed.  You can walk up or down via a zigzag stony path and we decided to walk down (definitely don't bring a buggy for this) and whilst it was exhausting with little people, it was so worth it and one of the highlights of our trip.  At the top there is a cafe and gift shop as well as the opportunity to zipwire most of the way down which I would have totally tried if we didn't have all the children with us!

So those are our tips based on our recent trip to Dubrovnik.  We absolutely adored it as a city and I am desperate to go back and see the rest of the country as it is just so beautiful!

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A Day out with Kids on the Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight, Blackgang Chine, Dinosaur Isle, Travelling with toddlers
We managed to fit in a couple of day trips on our recent trip to the Isle of Wight with Park Resorts and both the places we chose were just perfect for young families like ours.  Finding somewhere suitable for a baby, entertaning for a 2 and 4 year old and enjoyable for adults isn't always easy, but we did some research (spoke to my cousin) and found the perfect destinations.

Blackgang Chine is a fun park on the south coast of the Isle of wight and with so many different sections there was something for a budding pirate or little princess.  Our first stop was 'restricted area 5', which is full of huge model dinosaurs and rather amusing signs.  It took Dylan a while to warm up as the dinosaurs were prone to kicking up their tails and roaring but as soon as the boys found the models designated for climbing on them they were in their element.

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Visiting Copenhagen with AirBnB

Airbnb, Copenhagen, denmark, travel with children, travel with toddlers

When we were looking for places to stay on our recent Denmark trip, one of the options that stood out was AirBnb.  Since having children we have found it easier to stay a little outside the city centre on holidays, as for the same price you can get more space, which helps make it a holiday for all of us.

Whilst hotels have many benefits, we love being able to put the boys to bed and stay up having some time as a couple.  In a shared room we end up playing cards by phone-torch light, but we chose a spacious house in the outskirts of the city which had a bedroom for the boys, one for us and plenty of communal space.

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Copenhagen as a Child Friendly City

Denmark, Copenhagen, Copenhagen with children, toddler travel, travel Denmark with children

Copenhagen is a wonderful city and it is perfectly designed for exploring with kids.   From parks, to attractions to the attitude of the locals, we had an amazing experience, even with three little ones in tow.

Denmark is child friendly, and I saw far more children around than you would in London at this time of year.  Everywhere we went was pushchair friendly, and there were always lifts or ramps making it accessible.  As their schools start much later than ours a child is generally considered to be over the age of six, meaning our three were free to enter all the attractions we visited.

Staying outside the city centre had some definite advantages for travelling with young children, one of them being there was a beach only a short walk from our house.  Whilst we didn't spend much time there, and it wasn't really the weather for sandcastles and swimming, it was lovely to balance out a bustling city with a peaceful seafront.  The boys had the freedom to run and explore and it was the ideal place to go after a couple of hours cooped up on a plane.  

At the tourist office, you can purchase a Copenhagen card, which is valid for a period of time (24,48 or 72 hours) and gives you unlimited free travel and entry into a number of the city's main attractions.  There is a handy calculator on the website that helps you work out whether it is worth it, and we found it definitely was as it covered most of the places we wanted to visit and we could use whichever transport we chose (it even includes transport to and from the airport)

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Rome as a City for Toddlers

Rome is a beautiful city, with so much history and culture that it is just asking to be explored.  Holidaying with toddlers isn't quite the same though and with a three year old, a 19 month old as well as a growing bump, we saw Rome in a different way.

Explora Museum

There is so much to take in, that Rome can be an overwhelming city for toddlers.  We were keen to break up the days with activities that gave them freedom, and ultimately wore them out enough that they would sit through a nice dinner! After some internet research, we found a place called Explora children's museum, and we booked a session on the day it was most likely to rain.

This was probably one of the best deicisions we made, and if you ask Dylan he would tell you it was the highlight of his holiday.  Located centrally, but down a quiet street, you enter the museum at set times (10,12,3 or 5) and have one hour and 45 minutes to explore.  The museum is toddlers paradise, and reading the reviews on trip advisor it is perfect from baby to around 7 or 8 years.

There is so much to do that you could easily visit more than once if you have time.  There is plenty for role-play lovers, including a very extensive kitchen, a bank with cash machines and a fantastic supermarket, with shelves and fridges stocked full of food, and a proper till with scanner too.

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