European Family Holidays

Although the main tourist attractions (and the streets around them) are horrendously busy and we say plenty of massive queues, our trip showed that as an autistic family you can pretty much avoid all this and still have a great time in Paris!  

As a capital city Paris has a comprehensive transport system - with metro trains, overground trains as well as buses.  But which one is best for families with autistic children?

Many people choose to visit Tromso for a couple of days as part of a dream visit to the Arctic Circle. Widely known as the capital of the arctic, Tromso is a gateway to many incredible family experiences, such as the northern lights, dog sledding and kayaking in the midnight sun. We visited Tromso with our autistic kids on a day trip from Sommaroy and found 3 great reasons to love it!

Sommaroy Island is around an hour's drive from Tromso, the capital of the arctic circle. In this region of Norway you are spoilt for choice when it comes to finding your own stretch of wonderful sandy beach. We only toured a small fraction of the Sommaroy and neighbouring Kvaloya islands with our autistic kids and yet we found so much to love.

Riga is not an obvious choice for an active family city break, especially if you have autistic or adhd kids. But after extensive research we felt confident there would be lots of autism friendly family activities to make our trip fun for everyone. Read on to discover more about what we did in Riga

We really enjoyed our day trips to Jurmala beach and would recommend it for families with autistic children. The train was super fun and made it easy to get there from Riga. The facilities on the beach (like the changing pods and playground equipment) added to the enjoyment on the day, and meant we enjoyed our picnic lunch and beach games. It was definitely a great way to make lasting memories and spend time together outside having fun!

Innsbruck, Austria, is one of those rare places that ticks all the autism friendly boxes. Peaceful, calm with lots of sensory activities it still delivers with spectacular scenery, mountain hikes and playground adventures. Highly recommended for all families both with and without autistic children who enjoy spending time together outdoors while taking in some truly breath-taking views.

We loved Bergen. It was the perfect size, compact but with lots for us and our autistic boys to do. I would highly recommend it as destination for families with neurodivergent / autistic / adhd children.

Roundup of our boys Top 5 Best Autism Friendly activities on Ortigia Island, Syracuse in Sicily

Visiting Giverny is a do-able day trip for autistic children and my guide below gives you all the information you need to plan a perfect...

All the information you need to plan the perfect Eiffel Tower visit for you and your autistic / adhd child.