Destination · 16 guides
The trip we're on right now — Italy, France, Spain and Portugal on our backs, written up a day at a time while it's still fresh.
Covering Italy · Barcelona · Seville · Montserrat, Spain · Levanto · Arles · Pont du Gard · Nîmes · Nice · Pompeii · Naples
A week in Italy with a 7- and 2-year-old, from a pizza class on the first afternoon to a sunset picnic above Manarola, with the trains, prices and slow days that made it work.
We saw Barça Femení play Real Madrid at Camp Nou with a 7- and 2-year-old: the museum, the jerseys, what you can and can't bring in, and a 7-0 win.
A storm, a no-show Uber, a closed metro line, a missed high-speed train, and a late-night sprint for a rental car: how our Barcelona to Seville travel day with a 7- and 2-year-old unraveled, and ended in a five-star suite.
Six days in Barcelona with a 7- and 2-year-old: Barceloneta beach, a castle spy game on Montjuïc, Parc Güell, a neighborhood festival, and a red-alert storm.
A day trip to Montserrat from Barcelona with a 7- and 2-year-old: the train and cable car in the rain, the wrong basilica line, and a surprise wedding while we waited out the weather.
We based ourselves in Levanto, just outside the five villages, with a 7- and 2-year-old. Here's why it worked, how we got around by train and bike, and what we'd do again in Vernazza, Monterosso, and Manarola.
We took the 7:15 train from Nîmes to Arles for a private Camargue safari, then stayed on for a Roman arena, two playgrounds, and three stories of free twin slides at LUMA Arles.
The best way to reach the Pont du Gard from Nîmes without a car is a direct €2 bus. Here's how it works, what to pack for a swim under the aqueduct, and how we'd plan the day with a 7- and 2-year-old.
A slow weekend in Nîmes with a 7- and 2-year-old: brunch, the climb up Tour Magne through the Jardins de la Fontaine, a market picnic at a natural playground, and one creaky carousel ride.
Two days in Nîmes exploring the best-preserved Roman amphitheatre in the world, letting the kids pick souvenir bow-and-arrows from the gift shop, and a day trip to the Pont du Gard that started with an accidental Uber and ended with a swim under a 2,000-year-old aqueduct.
We stopped in Nice just long enough for a rocky beach and our first French dinner, then navigated three trains, a cancelled connection, and the moment we stepped off in Nîmes and knew we were going to love it.
Two good days in Levanto — a morning of kids picking snails off pier rocks, a coastal bike trail through old railway tunnels, and a sunset dinner above Manarola's harbor on the way out.
We only booked two nights in Naples so we could get to Levanto for the weekend, which meant a four-hour Rome layover shrank to two, a rushed Colosseum, and then our first slow day in Cinque Terre with friends.
We booked a private LivTours family tour so Remi could get the history of Pompeii without four hours at adult pace, and Annalisa turned out to be exactly the guide a 7- and 2-year-old needed.
We left Atlanta at 3:30pm and landed in Naples after 2am our time, which is the red eye with early landing we usually avoid, but the excitement of an adventure this big pulled us through.
A lot has changed since our Vietnam trip at Christmas — we sold the house, bought a cabin in the Georgia mountains, and we're about to backpack four countries with a toddler and a soon-to-be second grader.
