Family Travel in Europe: 3.5 Weeks with Kids Ages 5 and 7

Our Euro Summer did not start out as a nearly month-long trip. It began as trip to celebrate my friend Laura’s 40th birthday in her favorite place, the French Riviera. Our favorite direct flight to Europe is the United Denver-London flight, so then we decided to tack on a few days in England. Once I looked at a map, I realized that Nice was driving distance from the Dolomites. Then, we had to add in Paris.

This is how many of my personal travel plans develop. Luckily, I have a supportive spouse who says “yes” to my insane ideas, such as dragging our 5- and 7-year-old children to 6 hotels between three countries and 6 cities.

I affectionately called our children the Bougie Bunnies, which you will see on my Substack. They are incredibly spoiled when it comes to travel, and they love five-star hotels as much as I do.

Stop 1: Estelle Manor, 4 nights

You can read my full review of Estelle Manor in the Room Report section of the Upgrade from a couple of weeks ago. This was my second time staying at this hotel. I stayed there a year ago with my girlfriends on my 40th birthday trip, and had an incredible time. Hearing all the options for children they have built out, I wanted to experience the property with my kids along for the ride.

They do have some great activities for families, such the Little Landies (mini Land Rovers the kids drive around a small obstacle course). They also have a kids’ club on property, the Nook, that you can book for 2 hours each day for a quick break.

Despite some pre-planning hiccups, kid-friendly pool hours that are only between 9-11am and 4-5pm, and the restriction of only being able to use the kids club for 2 hours at a time, this hotel is a fun option for a jaunt away from London with children.

What we did:

Falconry walk – excellent, really fun activity with our kids

Picnic and forest walk – they loved learning a bunch from the guide. The picnic was underwhelming, but the vintage land rover was fun to ride in to get there. We had a run in with a local dog who ate some of our sausage rolls and covered us in mud, but we laughed about it.

Little Landies – very fun for the kids and enjoyable to watch

Spa and Baths for the adults – Excellent, I maintain this is one of the best spas I’ve ever been to.

Pool – fun vibe but super crowded on the weekend. I really didn’t like the time of day for the kid pool hours – I wish they were in the warmer part of the day.

Stop 2: Covent Garden Hotel, London, 3 nights

What We Did

• The Lion King – Our kids loved this. We bought the Ambassador Lounge upgrade and that was awesome. We had a nice place to use the bathroom quickly and have a drink and a snack waiting for us at intermission, or, as my son called it, “half time.”
• The Transportation Exhibit - My 5-year-old son loved this. He was big into the busses and pretending to drive the Tube in the simulations. It was a bit disappointing that we couldn’t really go upstairs in the busses, and note that it is HOT in the museum.
• The British Museum with a Family Guide from Pinocchio Tour - I keep hoping that the next trip will be the one in which my son enjoys museums, but alas, we were still trying to keep up with his short attention span on this one. Our poor guide tried to explain the Rosetta Stone and Pantheon marbles before Jack jetted off with zero regard for her knowledge. My daughter and I loved everything we saw.
• Murder Mystery Train Dinner - This was a shot in the dark because my kids wished they could go on the British Pullman Murder Mystery train ride, but it wasn’t running the dates we were there. I found this dinner theater experience instead. They had a blast – it was very slapstick and fun.
• Meeting up with friends - One of the things I love most about visiting London is getting to see so many wonderful friends that live there. The city was alive between Royal Ascot and Wimbledon.

Covent Garden Hotel Review

For anyone who has followed me for a while, you may know that I am a die-hard Lanesborough fan. If I’m traveling through London or booking clients in the city, that’s typically where I put them – not only for the traditional Bridgerton vibes, but because of how well they treat kids, they have a hotel cat named Lilibet, an indoor pool, an ideal location next to the park, and truly impeccable service.

With Royal Ascot overlapping our stay, the rates at the Lanesborough were enough to make me look elsewhere for once, and we settled on Covent Garden. I’ve never stayed in that part of the city before, but it reminds me a lot of a mixture of SoHo and the theater district in NYC.

The little streets of the Seven Dials area specifically, where the Firmdale Covent Garden is located, are dotted with perfumeries and boutiques, small cafes and classic pubs. Yes, it is full of people, but it didn’t feel overwhelmingly crowded by any means.

I loved how close we were to the British Museum, Transport Museum, and theaters.

Fast Facts:

• 58 rooms
• Room we stayed in: a Four Poster Room connecting with a Luxury Room, total of £1,782 per night for the two rooms.

Firmdale and the Hotel Itself:

Firmdale has 11 hotels across London and New York, all designed by Kit Kemp. Tim and Kit Kemp co-founded Firmdale in 1985. The collection has grown to 11 hotels across London and New York. Kit Kemp, the creative director, holds an MBE and designs every property herself, filling each hotel with whimsical design, rich patterned textiles, and a mix of modern and traditional art of and furniture. It feels like a manor house designed for fairies.

History:

The building dates to the 1890s and originally operated as a French hospital from 1867 to 1948, with the words “Nouvel Hôpital et Dispensaire Français” still visible in the brickwork. The hospital structure, formerly called the Shaftesbury Hospital, was designed by Thomas Verity, an architect better known for designing theatres, in 1899. So the building itself has a theatre architect’s DNA, which is a nice detail given where it sits. After the hospital closed in 1948, the building sat in various uses before Firmdale converted it. The Covent Garden Hotel opened in April 1996

What we loved:

The rooms were huge by London standards. They have very high ceilings and plenty of space to spread out. The lock off configuration for our room connecting to our kids’ room was awesome, and allowed us to breathe while they could leave their toys strewn about with impunity. Let’s be honest, they still played musical beds and came to sleep with us most nights, but the illusion of separate spaces was great.

The Staff:

This is where they really shine. We were greeted by name each time we walked in the door. They really made an effort to make our kids feel special.

When I mentioned on a room tour with the GM that I wish hotels would provide snack baskets for kids so they don’t raid the minibar, a basket magically appeared in our room that evening. That is service – it’s just the kind of touch that luxury hotels should strive for.

We greatly enjoyed afternoon tea in the drawing room that we ordered through room service, cocktails at Brasserie Max (try the Caper Martini, it was fantastic), and breakfast.

Kids:

They have kid-sized robes and mini slippers in the rooms as well as coloring books and colored pencils. Our kids were thrilled. It’s really lovely to go to a hotel where kids and made to feel like they are welcomed and not to be kept separate.

Downsides:

The only minor complaint I have is that the transfer the hotel arranged didn’t leave quite enough time to make it to Gatwick, and we almost missed our flight to Bolzano, which would have been a huge bummer.

The showers also inexplicably lack a glass panel and the water gets everywhere on the floor, so allocate floor towels accordingly. Seriously, what is it about European showers and the desire to flood the bathroom? Where are the working drains? The shower pans?

Stop 3: Sonnwies, Dolomites, 5 nights

This was our first Europe trip traveling without any form of childcare. On past trips to Croatia, England, Ireland, Lake Como, and Paris, we have brought either my husband’s parents, his cousin, or a nanny to help with the kids. Having five nights booked at Sonnwies in the middle of our Euro Summer alleviated some concern I had with this.

Sonnwies is a five-star, farm-based, family hotel in the Dolomite Mountains near Bolzano, Italy. I’m going to do a very long post about it for the Upgrade next week, because it fascinated me.

The most interesting part to me was that they include childcare in your trip – and a lot of it. Unlike Estelle Manor with 2 hours per day at the Nook, Sonnwies includes access to the kids’ club from 9am-9pm, Monday-Saturday. This means parents can actually have some date nights. The other cool thing is that you are surrounded by other families. Our kids made friends, we made friends, and everyone was in it together.

Room we stayed in: Loft Suite with a view

What we did:

Pool time, water slides, collecting eggs, cuddling bunnies, feeding cows, a land rover tour and picnic, two easy hikes, a massage.

Drawbacks:

The only less than stellar experience we had was the spa. Our massage room was incredibly hot with no AC in the middle of a heatwave. Our massages were not the best we’ve had, but the whole experience was romantic aside from that.

Maison Albar Le Victoria – Nice, France

After seeing the rates at the Convent hotel and Four Seasons Cap Ferrat, being turned down for a slot at Hotel Du Cap Eden Roc, and wondering if my kids would break things at El Negresco, I took a risk and booked a newly-opened hotel in Nice. Maison Albar Le Victoria just reopened last year after a massive renovation.

Service: Also excellent, aside from slow rooftop bar service.

Upsides:

The location wasexcellent – right along the waterfront, near the luxury shopping.

The rooftop pool was our kids’ favorite aspect of the stay, and is a rare thing in Nice. El Negresco does not have a pool.

Drawbacks: There seemed to be a lot of cruise groups there, so breakfast felt a little conference-y. The rooms also lack desks, and although I had booked guaranteed connecting rooms, they put us in two rooms that didn’t connect. There is no dedicated beach club, but the hotel does have access to a couple.

What we did:

Shopping! There are some great vintage shops in Nice.

La Plage Beach Club – we had an excellent seafood lunch here and a nice day of swimming. I also got to tour Le Negresco with their sales director, and now am convinced I should stay there next time I’m in Nice. It’s such a gorgeous hotel with amazing art.

Stop 4: Villa Spencer, Grasse

Villa Spencer is a stunning villa near the town of Grasse, an hour from Nice, Antibes, and Cannes. It has a heated pool and air conditioning.

We were relieved to be able to do laundry and spread out for a week in a house with our friends and their kids.

What we did:

Boat

We rented a boat for a day zipping around to Billionaires Bay and attempting to order pizza from a pizza boat. We had a very grumpy captain, who absolutely did not want to be taking us out and about, but we made the best of it and he gave us endless amounts of comedic material for the rest of the trip.

I would highly recommend a boat day for anyone visiting this area with kids, just don’t book with this dude. I won’t even put his info in here.

We had an incredible lunch at the Grille at Hotel Du Cap – Eden Roc. I also had the unique privilege of a site visit with the head of sales, which was so very special. This hotel is my Mount Everest of hotels. I swear I will snag a stay there some day.

For those who haven’t tried to stay there, they have so many returning guests, that you have to go on a waitlist to get a reservation, and it probably won’t be for the dates you want.

They have 5 night minimums in high season and 3 nights in late Sept and early May, and even those are on waitlists. The hotel closes for the rest of the year.

Beach Club Day at Le Geurite in Cannes, 11:30 am seating.

The party starts here around 4, so if you are going with kids, go for an earlier seating. We didn’t have to wait long for the boat over to the island, and were seated immediately. There were musicians who came around and played songs for each table, so our kids still had the chance to get up on their chairs and waive their napkins around. Then, we spent way too much money on a couple of lounge chairs and a bottle of rose so we could swim in the bay.

Lunch was expensive, but I think the whole thing was worth it. Would do it again without our kids to experience the party.

Market in Valbonne – some of the best shopping of our trip. Every stall was different and we ate our way through the market. I got some great clothing pieces. Parking is a challenge, so go early when it opens.

The rest of the trip was spent eating and swimming at our villa.

Hotel Regina Louvre, Paris, France

You can read my full review in The Upgrade, but I’ll add what we did here.

Boat ride on the Seine

I usually book smaller, private boats for clients and have done these cruises myself in the past. This time, we all jumped on one of the giant river cruise boats and stood on the rooftop surrounded by Chinese influencers who had their phone lights on them the entire time. The whole thing only cost 10 euro per passenger, so for the money, it was a great way to see the city light up our first night. The wait to get on was about 45 minutes in line at sunset for the 9:30pm departure, so I probably will go back to recommending private boats, but it was good to experience this once.

The Matisse and Erlich Exhibits at the Palais Royal

I love Matisse, but found this exhibit a little underwhelming. It could just be that it was very crowded and hot, and we didn’t get to see much of the Palais Royal architecture with where it was located.

The Erlich exhibit was very cool. We were yelled at by a French man who said he couldn’t concentrate when my children were talking, which floored me. I am the first one to apologize for my kids being loud or disruptive. They were actually being quite well behaved and just discussing the exhibits with me. I couldn’t believe the audacity of this guy. I have heard the reputation of the French, particularly in Paris, being perceived as rude by Americans, but until this moment and our interaction with our boat captain, I’d never experienced it before.

The Fair

There was a giant fair right outside our hotel, so our kids enjoyed those rides and we all took the Farris wheel up for an epic sunset view of the Paris skyline.

Shopping

Our kids went to the Luxembourg gardens to run around, and then we went shopping at Maje and Chanel. My favorite area for shopping is the Marais district, because it’s filled with little cafes and boutiques. We usually try to stay in this area, but knew we’d see more sites this time, so stayed in the 1st.

Overall Takeaways

I’m glad for each stop, but I think 3.5 weeks was a bit too long in retrospect.

I overpacked, as usual. Having laundry halfway through was very helpful, but we still had to pay an exorbitant amount at Covent Garden for two loads.

We planned one big thing per day and then left a lot of days at leisure. That helped a bunch.

In the future, I need to book a hotel with open pool hours for our first stop. It’s a requirement to burn off the jet lag.

Sonnwies is incredible and I can’t wait to book people there with our new partnership with them! We will be one of the first agencies they’ve worked with, and I’m very proud of this.

I know re-entry will be rough for all of us, and I think I’ll keep our trips to 2 weeks in the future.

However, I hope my kids will remember this trip. If they don’t, I know I will.