Since traveling with our daughter, for the past 3 years, we have slowly added more cities to our itinerary. For example, on our first trip we only ventured out into Paris (she was 1), on our second trip we went to Rome and the Amalfi Coast (age 2) and now on our most recent trip we went to Madrid, mini day trip nearby and Barcelona (age 3). As a family traveling with a young a child, I always want to ensure she is as comfortable as possible so we can all experience a relaxing and successful trip. Through personal experience, having done the above and really taking our time to introduce her to new cities slowly while abroad has seriously helped keep everyone happy, calm and above all going back for more!
While in Madrid I knew we were going to visit a city near by but I had absolutely no clue where to begin. A few things that I did know I wanted out of a day trip were:
- A short train ride. Nothing too far from originating city.
- Visit a child friendly town…especially for strollers.
- Travel to a city with deep historical roots.
- Get back to original city before nightfall (helps with saving money).
Be sure to take some serious thought into what YOU want out of your day trip. Life was sooo much easier when you were traveling solo or with your significant other but when traveling with a little one it can sometimes be a challenge. Super early mornings may not be the best option, group tours can be difficult, long extended hours on the road may not work so well, a train ride might be a better option than a long bus ride and the list goes on!
After many conversations with traveling buddies and my best friend “google” I was finally able to narrow down my search to 2 towns: Toledo and Segovia. After extensive research we decided to go with Segovia! We felt Segovia was our best option because it is only a 30 minute train ride from the train station in Madrid, everything in Segovia is walking distance and only takes a few hours (like 2 to 3 hours) to visit the most important sites Segovia has to offer! We are HUGE on location, the ease of navigating the town solo, walking proximity to everything, great food and memorable sites: the Roman Aqueduct, Segovia Cathedral and Alcazar de Segovia which is also known to be one of the inspirations for the Cinderella Castle at Disney World. My daughter was in heaven, LOL!!
**Something to keep in mind is if you want to travel solo with a guide book or go with a group tour. This is completely up to you and what you feel your family will do best at. For my family and traveling with a 3 year old we would rather not deal with a big group for the fear that our daughter could get out of hand and ruin everyones holiday…just being honest. A bus tour would take 8 to 9 hours, with multiple stops and having to be on everyone else’s schedule. The train ride option is only 3o minutes long, easy to take a taxi into town, eat whenever, relax and really take in the sites at our own leisure. This is a vacation after all, right?
