Playing on the beach in Annecy, France

I just came back from my 10-day trip to the South of France and Geneva, which I took with my husband and our very active two-and-half-year-old son. And you know what? It just may have been our best family trip yet! I have so much to blog about…

It’s no secret that I was worried that this trip would be more difficult than it would be enjoyable. Two-and-a-half-year-olds are challenging and traveling can be challenging, so would the whole thing just be too, well, challenging? I asked several top family travel experts whether I was crazy to be embarking on such a trip, and most of them seemed to think that we’d be OK. My insatiable desire to travel compelled me go forward despite the nagging voices in my head… and all around me. In the days and weeks leading up to the trip one of my favorite things to do was to tell people that I was going to the South of France and watch them grow envious. Then I would tell them that I was bringing along a toddler and their expression would change completely until not one drop of jealousy was left. This is highly amusing and I suggest you try it even if you don’t have a toddler and you’re not going to the South of France. 

So what made this the best family trip yet? It had some serious competition from the last two trips to Europe. We loved the trip that we took to Lisbon, Seville and Sintra when our son was 11 months. We adored the trip that we took when our son was 19 months to Stockholm and Copenhagen, which was made extra-special by staying with our Swedish friends in the countryside of Skane. But somehow this trip was even better. Somehow our very active toddler made us slow down and just take in the beautiful landscape of France.

If you look at our itinerary, it certainly doesn’t look relaxing. After all, we stayed in four hotels and one apartment in the span of nine nights! Two of those hotels were incredible luxury — Terre Blanch in Provence and Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva — and luxury makes everything very relaxing. For the most part, we were going to beaches, playing in the pool and running around in the parks. And all this was with a backdrop of spectacular scenery: the French Alps, Provence, Cote D’Azur and Lake Geneva. Without him, there would have been even more rushing around to see all of the sights in the guide book. As it was, I only made it to one museum, the Picasso Museum in Antibes, while the toddler napped in the stroller. The rest of the time, we were just soaking it all in. Instead of being tourists, we felt like we were just another family on holiday.

Another reason that made this the best trip is that the toddler has improved so much when it comes to restaurants. Almost every restaurant meal was enjoyable, which was the biggest difference from our last big trip. Letting him play with our iPhones was mostly what got us through, but even so, we were really surprised at how well he did. A big part of this may have been that he was going to bed a lot later — we kept his bedtime quite late so he’d have a smaller adjustment coming back and also so that we could enjoy our evenings and sleep later in the mornings. Dinner wasn’t really coming up against his bedtime as much, and we felt no pressure to keep a bedtime, all of which made the dinners that much better. We sat outside for almost all of our meals just in case he was loud, which he hardly ever was.

So if you’re thinking about taking a big trip with your toddler… Just do it! Nothing to worry about.