jodiroll

5 week sabbatical in Europe with husband and kids 15 and 9. We want to be near a beach as it is June and hot. We also would like to travel Europe for 3-4 days per week but need this home base for the other days. We feel we should be near an airport and rail. At first glance we think we would like to be at a beach in Italy, Spain, or France but don't know what city to use as a great home base that would be near beach, rail, and airport?? Please help us. We are not too experienced here.

rialtogrl

Barcelona. There is a beach and you can fly or take the train to many other places.

annhig

Not much beach in Barcelona though. I might look at Valencia -a proper beach, and less touristy - or Malaga. Both well situated for day trips and longer plus good train and air links. Here's a list of the places you can fly to from there:

Destinations - Valencia Airport - Aena.es

Viajero2

Facts: June travel; 5 weeks, two kids, want to travel 3-4 days of the week. If so, then you need a coastal hub with good and realiable connections intra-Europe. Barcelona and environs have beautiful beaches, but the rate of petty crime in Barcelona against tourists is so high that I could not recommend Barcelona (I travel there frequently for business). If I was you, I would definitely look into the French Riviera, even the Italian Riviera. Beautiful, easily accesible coastal locations, great connections to other European cities. Go to vrbo.com and see what rental options you have in that region. Good luck!

thursdaysd

Nice? Although the beach is pebbly. Be aware that any beach resort in southern Europe is going to get crowded.

Gardyloo

Welcome to Fodor's!

A bit confused... You want a home base but will be traveling 3-4 days per week. Okay, so does that mean you want to rent a house but only use it half the time? How do you plan to "travel Europe" on your trips? Driving? Flying? Trains? How about your budget?

If driving, you'd be pretty limited on how far you can go; if you stay around Barcelona, for example (I'd look at Sitges, a nice suburban beach town close to the airport) then you won't be able to get very far past the French border, or farther into Spain, and still be back at your base a few days later.

Beaches: There really aren't all that many sandy beaches a la Florida or California in Europe. Some, but the majority tend to be pebbles. Would that be okay?

What about fresh water instead of salt? That would open up numerous lakes in areas better suited to day or weekend trips than the Mediterranean coast. Think the Italian lakes, or the Swiss or French Alps, for example.

Come back with more information and we'll be more help, and again, welcome to Fodor's!

bvlenci

True, there aren't many beaches in Europe to compare to the best American beaches, but there are plenty of sandy beaches.

If you want an airport so that you can visit other places in Europe, or transfer to flights to the US, many small local airports have good inter-Europe connections. I would start with choosing a few suitable towns and then investigate their rail and air links, because you don't necessarily need to be near a large major airport. In Italy, there are rail lines along both the Tyrrhenian coast and the Adriatic coast, and many of the beach towns are near a decent regional airport. The major rail hubs are Milan, Bologna, and Rome. Of these, only Rome is near (actually on) the coast. The beaches near Rome aren't the most fantastic in the country, but there are several fairly nice beaches very near Rome: Anzio, Nettuno, and Santa Marinella come to mind.

As mentioned above, beaches can be very crowded in the summer, but less so on weekdays than on weekends, especially if you arrive early or in the late afternoon.

PalenQ

For train info check www.seat61.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

You want one base for the whole time?

The nice Nice area would be good - but I'd try to do more than a few beach bases. And consider basing also in places like Paris or Rome

bvlenci

If the reason for wanting to be near a beach is the heat, it might be better to look for a rental with a pool. At busy times, not only are the beaches crowded, parking can be a major issue.

HappyTrvlr

Sandy beaches are found a little west of Nice, Antibes, Ramateulle. The beaches bellw Ramateulle are wide and sandy. Just be aware of the dates of Cannes Film Festival, Monaco Gran Prix which impact the area in late May/early June. It is easier to be near trains than an airport.
Look at Sestri Levante or Levanto on Italian Riviera. What about the Italian Lakes, Maggiore and Como are not far from Milan?

Tulips

June is not a holiday period; it only starts getting busy in the south of France from July, and then mostly after July 14.
Nice would be a perfect base, good transport options by plane and train, lots to see and do in the area. The only downside is the pebble beach.
You can easily go to Juan les Pins or Cannes for the beach. Juan les Pins is not bad as a base; not busy in June, sandy beaches, train station, and about 40 minutes drive to the airport.
Or Antibes - there's a sandy beach to west of the old town.
As it's not high season, you may get a good deal on an airbnb or homeaway property. There are also plenty of holiday apartments with pool.
Ramatuelle/St Tropez is very inconvenient for traveling, the beach is very nice though.

bilboburgler

Sandy beaches... well the French west coast and lots of Spain's north coast are lovely. I don't understand the travel thing, are you skipping about for business or just want t o go somewhere else on a whim.

San Sebastian or St Jean du Luz are lovely, but pricy.

I'm lost by the need for an airport, to where?

StCirq

It's not going to be terribly hot in most of those places in June, at least normally it isn't anything like end of July and August.

But I don't understand the need to be near an airport, either, though there are plenty of regional ones all over France, Italy, and Spain. Do you plan to settle down in a "home base," travel 3-4 days each week, and spend the other 3-4 days in the home base? That doesn't strike me as terrifically economical. Moreover, if you plan to travel 3-4 days per week by air, well there go 2 of your 3-4 days each week just to travel.

I don't think I"m understanding your basic plan here. Wouldn't it make more sense to hunker down somewhere (or a couple of places) for 2-3 weeks, then use the rest of the time to "travel around Europe?"

Sandrine_from_Vence

Nice would be a good choise. Close to the beache, airport, rail and buses.

You can easily go to Italy or Spain by train and other European places by plane.

You can find a rent in june, with a pool is a good idea, and there is quite no one on the beach...

PalenQ

Agree with StCirq- 5 weeks in one beach resort area would get same ole same ole for many - Nice area is nice however because there are so many neaet places nearby - Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, Italy, boats to Corsica, Marseilles and yes Spain though a long train ride.

suze

I think this is a bit "cart before the horse".

I think first they need to figure out WHERE they want to go when they "travel Europe for 3-4 days a week" to figure out what might possibly make a good "home base" to do so from.

StCirq

Yep, and I would posit from the viewpoints of budget and having kids that bilbo's suggestions of northern Spain and the southern Atlantic coast of France would be perfect. No huge crowds, sandy beaches great food, easy transport, and none of the what I consider to be the general hassle of the Riviera.

jodiroll

I will try to better explain, we are taking a family vacation to Paris London Iceland. Then we are going on a sabbatical for 4 to 5 weeks somewhere in Europe. I feel near the beach would be wise as it’s hot. Our goal is to rent an Airbnb in a location and take some short trips to other places while we’re there. Rail and plane mainly. We will likely have to rent a car as well for some closer trips. I haven’t thought of budget yet but not highbrow and not on the cheap either. This may be the only sabbatical I get all my kids are still living at home and think it would be a great cultural experience for the whole family. Our goal would be to see for five different countries well on sabbatical. I’m not married to any of these ideas but do like the idea of Italy France Spain etc.

StCirq

Does "for five countries mean four or five countries?" But you haven't answered my question.I don't see any value in taking off from a base camp for 2-3 day every week, especially by plane which is really impractical, as opposed to hunkering down in a place for a few weeks, THEN going traveling.

It will be a great cultural experience for sure, but you're going to have to do a lot more research than you've evidenced here to make it so, as it doesn't apear that you even have destinations in mind or reasons for those destinations. Anyone can wander around Europe and pick up a tip or two here and there,but it this is actually a sabbatical, one would assume a more serious purpose and one would want to do more than be by the beach

annhig

Actually, I can exactly see where jodiroll is coming from. Neither of our kids liked holidays where we moved round from place to place - they much preferred having a home base. So they would have liked this sort of idea - "living" in one place and using the plane or train to travel to others.

I'm going to repeat my suggestion of Valencia as a good base for the project - a terrific beach, lots to see and do in the city itself, easy train connections to other parts of Spain, and a small and convenient airport nearby for longer trips. Of course the OP needs to do research about where they could go but the link I provided shows that there are flights to Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Faro, etc. etc. Personally I think that I would spend the first week or so in and around Valencia, then take a trip, then spend some more time in Valencia and perhaps do overnight trips to Madrid and Barcelona, then do another trip, etc. Given the number of available destinations, and the ability to book accommodation on line at the drop of a hat, they could even leave deciding where they wanted to go until there were there, particularly towards the end of the trip.

It sounds like a great idea jodiroll - perhaps involve the kids too in deciding on the places you'd like to see. the 15 year old is certainly old enough to have his/her own ideas. Our 15 year old was blown away by Rome, for example - and yes, you can fly to Rome from Valencia. Have a great time planning and travelling.