The Algarve region of Portugal has been on my bucket list for YEARS, and we finally got to spend a glorious week there in October of 2022. It did not disappoint. Luke and I were actually researching what visa’s looked like for moving there one day while we were exploring the area. It was amazing. I hope its already on your bucket list, if not, add it stat! This post includes..

• the extensive list of beaches and areas we explored, along with a custom google map with all the places pinned

• Link to the amazing house we stayed at, heated pool, badminton court and rooftop deck included!

• Travel with kids tips and tricks, our daily schedule and more

• Our favorite town we explored in the area

• What local famous dish you absolutely need to try at local restaurants

• The boat tour we used and loved to see the coastline even better

• An optional day trip add on to Spain for the day, which we did and loved

First things first, a little introduction to who I am. Hi - and welcome! I'm Eileen and in summer 2021, my family and I uprooted our lives and moved from Greenville, SC to a small city in central France for an expat assignment with my husband's job. We have three kids, all girls: 8 year old twins and their five year old little sister. My husband and I have always loved travel, and one of the main factors we considered when choosing to move to France was accessibility for trips to the rest of Europe. We were thrilled to be able to expose our children to different cultures, lifestyles, and world travel as well!

We headed to Portugal late October 2022, and it was gloriously warm compared to our home in central France. The temperatures hovered around mid-70’s, and imo it was an incredible time to be in Portugal.

It was warm enough to swim in the ocean a lot of days, and we saw lots of other people in the water as well. Our airbnb had a heated pool, so on the days the highs were 70, it was still super warm to swim in.

Below is a google map with all the places I mention in the post pinned on it, click the map to be taken to it and save for your trip!

Disclaimer! This is what we did in Fall of 2022. I can’t vouch for the state of these places when you go, so I recommend doing some up to date research before your trip. Parking spots may have changed or anything like that, so search the locations and then do some research! I’m not associated with Airbnb or any of these places, so check recent reviews.

We flew into Faro which had a great regional airport, rented a car and headed for the cute town of Carvoeiro, 45 minutes outside of Faro. We LOVED this town being our home base. It seemed like it was 5-25 minutes away from all the beaches we we wanted to explore. It had great grocery stores and restaurants, and the cutest downtown with lots of shopping, restaurants and a famous local beach to explore as well.

We spent our week hitting up beach after beach, waking up each morning and seeing what we felt like that day. We grilled at our amazing airbnb and swam all afternoon, took naps and read, and hiked the amazing cliffs.

LODGING:

Airbnb link here.

I booked this airbnb 8 months before our trip and counted down the months and days until we got to go. It’s one of my top airbnbs of all times, and we have stayed in a LOT of airbnbs over the years. Heated pool (we paid extra for heating), amazing outdoor area with grill, outdoor shower and dining, seating, a badminton court, multiple decks and a rooftop deck, 4 comfy bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and great equipped kitchen. The yard had fruit trees and we had fresh oranges every day. It was laid out so well for our family of 5.

The airbnb had a recommendation for a local restaurant called O Escondidinho, and we LOVED it. (It’s marked on the google map). We did takeout twice from them, its cash only and filled with locals. While in Portugal, you HAVE to try their famous dish of Piri-Piri Chicken. We ate it like 3 or 4 times. It’s so good and fresh.

I also marked our favorite grocery store in the area on the map!

Instead of doing a day by day recap, I’m going to mention each beach and area we explored and what we loved about each one so you can plan your trip. Each one is relativiely close to each other so its easy to plan a great day. Some beaches had a lot of seaweed while we were there, so we didn’t spend a ton of time in those and others we spent hours at swimming, playing and exploring the cliffs.

NOTE: The Algarve is known for its stunning cliffs, and WOW they are amazing. But I did find that they very rarely had any safety railing at all, its miles and miles of them! So wander at your own risk. The beaches also have a safety sign at each beach with a map of safety areas, the cliffs can be unstable so they have a image showing where to sit to avoid falling rocks. With our young kids at the cliffs, we kept them close, didn’t get close to the edges at all and kept our distance, but I saw so many people scaling right to the edges!

A practical note. Most of these beaches have small parking lots. We wanted to make sure we got a spot so we did our normal plan of heading out early (around 8:30, we are up with our kiddos then anyhow!) and explore all morning. Head back to the Airbnb for a late takeout lunch and rest/swim time, and then back out to the beaches late afternoon. This allowed us to always get a spot. We were also in a shoulder season, although it was European fall break so it was still busy for sure!

I’m going to start from the Eastern most beach on the google map, and head west so its easier to follow along.

Praia do Castelo

Lots of little coves to explore and swim in. We loved this one so much we went back twice and spent hours here. Cliffs to walk on and clear water in swim in? I’m sold.

Marinha Beach

Famous for a reason! Unbelievable cliffs to wander and a good beach to swim in too. This one had a lot of trails wandering the cliffs to get « that famous » shot (see below). These cliffs made us nervous with our kiddos so we didn’t get near the edge at all. We went here twice as well and loved it in the morning morning and at sunset!

Marinha had vendors outside with fresh fruit and lots of picnic tables to sit and enjoy those gorgeous views on.

Benagil Cave is super famous in the region as well, only accessible by boat or swimming. We did boat tour and got to go up in the cave, and it was so cool. Gorgeous spot!

Praia do Carvalho

A really cool beach with a secret tunnel with stairs to get down to the beach!

Algar Seco
A really gorgeous spot for walks along the cliffs and down into a natural swimming pool cut into the cliffs. People were swimming and cliff jumping here, it was so fun to watch! Was too low a tide for us and our young kids to swim in but I would have loved it at high tide or without the kiddos!

Praia de Carvoeiro

This beach is in the center of the town of Carvoeiro, 5 minutes from our airbnb. We loved wandering the town and shopping and getting ice cream, the beach was beautiful and we took a boat tour to see the caves (Benagil included). We loved the tour, the guide was so nice and knowledgeable, it was fast and fun and our kiddos loved it too.

We used Carvoeiro Tours for the boat ride.

Praia do Paraiso

A little jewel of beach tucked in between two cliffs. You wind down a lot of stairs to get to it, but its worth it!

Praia dos Caneiros

One of our favorite beaches. Has a bar/restaurant right at the beach and a lot of space to run and explore, along with other coves to head into when the tide is down. We went 3 times!

Praia dos Tres Irmaos

A big beach with lots of room to spread out, many different coves and lots of caves to wander into!

Ponta da Piedade

We had heard a lot about this spot, its more touristy we felt like. Gorgeous walk along the cliffs but we were happy to head back to Marinha, which we liked much better. It was gorgeous though!

Whew. You guys still with me?? That wraps up all the beaches we explored, and we only scratched the surface!!

Bonus day trip. From our airbnb, Seville Spain, was only 2.5 hours away. So we took a road trip one day over there and it was so fun! There is so much to do and see in Seville so its a fun destination. We parked near downtown and took the tram into the old city, and it was easy peasy.

We spent a rainy day at Zoomarine park and it was delightful. An aquarium, carnival rides, wave pools, dolphin shows and swimming with dolphins, a pirate show, a dinosaur river ride, and more. We had a great time!

Portugal, we love you. Your people are so kind, your food is amazing and your views are unparalleled. We can’t wait to go back!

I have a saved instagram highlight (eileenandco) that follows along with this blog post with more videos and tips for trip planning, so don’t forget to follow along!

Xoxo

Eileen

This past April, we spent 2 glorious weeks in Italy. We spent our time centered in wandering Tuscany and then headed down to Rome for 4 days. Are you dreaming of or planning a trip? Let me help you! In this post, I will be sharing:

• Our full itinerary

• My best travel tips

• Links to our AirBnBs (like the rooftop apartment with the most INSANE view over the top of Rome).

• Slow family travel advice for all of your travels with kiddo’s

First things first, a little introduction to who I am. Hi - and welcome! I'm Eileen and in summer 2021, my family and I uprooted our lives and moved from Greenville, SC to a small city in central France for a year and a half. We have three kids, all girls: 8 year old twins and their five year old little sister.

We love to travel and being so close to so many of our bucket list places is a dream. And let me tell you: traveling Europe with kids takes planning and intentionality - and I'm not just talking about packing lists! This is where the concept of slow family travel comes into play. So what is it, exactly? I like to define it as: traveling with an intention of savoring family time and the beauty of your surroundings, while moving at the unique pace of your own family in order to minimize stress and preserve the joy of the trip.

In practice for us, this looks like slow sunset picnic dinners in a local park while the kids run around, spending the morning at local swimming holes, moving at a restful pace with plenty of time to recover between excursions, and being okay with not "seeing all the things." One of the benefits of this kind of travel is that you really do get to experience what life might be like in a particular region, instead of feeling like a tourist.

Last notes before we get to our itinerary-

To go along with the blog post, I have created a story highlight for our Italy trip on my instagram (@eileenandco_). The story highlight will follow the blog post with more pictures and details for each spot we visited.

A little disclaimer- This is what we did in Spring of 2022. I can’t vouch for the state of these places we visited for when you go, so I recommend doing some up to date research before your trip. I’m not affiliated with Airbnb or any of the these places so while the places we stayed were great when we went, I can’t say whether they will be a good fit for you. Check recent reviews and do your research!

Ok let’s get to it!!

We spent 2 weeks in Italy and the first 5 days we stayed in this amazing villa near Volterra. This part of the trip was all about soaking up the Tuscan views and really just pretending we were locals. We explored the cute city center of Volterra and shopped for local groceries to cook at home, wandered the olive grove the house was set in the middle of, ate outside under the pomegranate trees, and made fires on the fireplace in the middle of a 300 year old room. It was magical.

Volterra is a gorgeous walled city set on the top of the rolling hills, the views really are magnificent. We took a day trip to Cecina to spend a day on the beach, and it was delightful as well.

Volterra Lodging:

Airbnb Link here.

Pros

• I mean wow look at it.

• 300 years old so tons of amazing details.

• OLIVE GROVE.

• 5 minutes from Volterra, which is adorable.

• Lots of bedrooms and comfy.

• Amazing fireplace

• pool

• sleeps 9!

• extremely well equipped kitchen

• lots of amazing outdoor space for the kids to run around in

Cons

• lots of up down slight height changes, we kept tripping.

• We had to be careful with hot water.

• Pool isn’t blocked off so might be a safety issue with young ones.

• Old so not super modern amenties if that is important to you, didn’t bother us!

After we left pretending like we lived in Tuscany, we headed up to one of our favorite cities, Lucca! It’s an hour and a half drive from Volterra. Lucca is a gem of Tuscany and we have been twice now. It is a fully walled city and you can wander for hours in the old city center, as well as walk or bike the entire city wall! It’s a special place and has great shopping, dining and sightseeing. We spent 2 days there and could have spent 5 more!

Lucca Lodging:

Airbnb link here

Pros

• Located inside the walls of the old city AND the Airbnb is built into the walls of an old Roman ampitheater and overlooking a fun square so 10 out of 10 for location!

• Comfy!

• Small kitchen but had all we needed.

• Host was great.

• Restaurant and gelato places steps outside the door was wonderful.

Cons

• Only one bedroom has a bed, but it sleeps 6 total with 2 on two sleeper sofas. The Kids said they were comfy.

• Kinda dark in part of it, because its in an old ampitheater!

Lucca is close to Florence and on a great train line so we left our car in Lucca and took the train down to Rome. We always use Trainline to buy our train tickets! I was so excited to get to Rome, this was the girls first time in Italy and I couldn’t wait to show them around my favorite city. The weather in April was so great and spring and or fall is definitely my favorite time to visit Italy. It’s not sweltering hot and its busy but not like mid July. I was dying to get to Rome because I was mainly excited about the Airbnb I had found for Rome.

Rome Lodging:

Airbnb link here

THAT VIEW. The star of this airbnb is for sure the rooftop terrace that looks out over a lot of Rome’s great sites. Who needs to pay for a rooftop bar (like the one you can see in the pic) when you can sit on your own terrace in pjs with takeout and the same wine?

Pros.

• THE VIEW

• THE LOCATION. It’s right in the center of old Rome right where you want to be.

• Check in and check out was easy and good communication

Cons

• The spiral staircase isn’t the safest. We were fine but just be aware with kids.

• Old bathrooms (the hot water was fine!)

• Kitchen isn’t well equipped

We had a great 3 days in Rome. Here’s how we allotted our days with young kids. We arrived late afternoon so we just got takeout and enjoyed the view from our balcony the first night. The second day I had tickets for the Colosseum after lunch so the morning we spent wandering the old city (the Airbnb location is great and close to so much) and we went in the Pantheon (you normally don’t need tickets for the Pantheon, but sometimes you do need free ones so check the website!). We grabbed groceries and then spent the rest of the day in the Colosseum, getting gelato and hanging out in that area.

The next day we explored Trastevere (a famous neighborhood in Rome), more gelato and pasta, and then used our Colosseum tickets to be able to see the Roman Forum (normally you can use your tickets for 24 or 48 hours to get into the Forum).

Next day we spent our morning in Villa Borghese, which is an amazing park in Rome. The kiddos played on a playground and fair rides and we booked a 6 person electric bike to explore the park. We had a charcuterie snack and then went to lunch at (American alert) Hard Rock Cafe and I had REAL FAJITAS for the first time in so long. Hey, don’t judge me. We had been living in France for almost a year at this point and I needed fajitas. They were so good. We shopped and got takeout pasta and pizza for dinner and enjoyed our balcony one more time, because it was time for Florence the next day!

One thing we did was walk to the Airbnb from the train station, but next time I would use this app (itTaxi) to hire a taxi. It was too far with our luggage and our kiddos. We used itTaxi to set up a taxi to pick us up from the train station in Florence and take us to the airbnb and back and it was easy to use.

We took the train to Florence the next day and explored and then crashed in our adorable airbnb downtown Florence.

Florence Lodging

Airbnb link here.

Pros

• Hosts were amazing and left special things out for the girls.

• amazing location downtown

• beds were super comfy

• Rainhead shower

• Well stocked kitchen

Cons.

• honestly none. We loved everything about it

We spent our 1 full day in Florence wandering the main down and Ponte Vecchio and shopping. We got gelato and brunch and ate pasta again of course. It was wonderful. The next day we headed back to our car in Lucca and drove back to France.

A note on slow family travel and travel goals. I think its important to really hone in on your top goals for a trip, especially with young kids! Be realistic about your family and what you can handle and still enjoy and focus on the most important. Our goals this trip were to see the Colosseum and a few other important monuments with our kids, wander as many side streets as possible, and eat our weight in Cacio e pepe. I didn’t have every day planned out to the half hour, and left plenty of time to try gelato whenever we could. I wanted it to be fun for our kids and us so I made sure to add in an amazing park and playground, and built in rest times back at the Airbnb. I picked a central airbnb in rome so it was feasible to head back to rest. Having realistic goals with our young kids made this trip go as stress free as possible (bc you know there always be stress when you are traveling with kids! I try to mitigate what I can). As the wise sage Olaf says « we call this controlling what we can when things feel out of control. » And gelato always helps. Always.

Go forth and travel!

Do you want to visit France and not just Paris and have no idea where to start? I got you! Hi, I’m Eileen and my family and I have lived in France for the past year and a half. In this post, I’ll be sharing…

• A round up of my favorite places we have traveled to and why I think they should be on your bucket lists

• My best travel tips

• Links to our favorite AirBnBs

• Slow family travel advice for all of your travels with kiddos

A quick introduction into why we love the concept of slow family travel. When we moved to France for an expat assignment with our 3 young daughters, we knew we were going to take advantage of being in such an amazing location to travel around Europe. But we wanted to do it in a way that worked WITH our family rhythms, and this is why slow family travel works for us. So what is it, exactly? I like to define it as: traveling with an intention of savoring family time and the beauty of your surroundings, while moving at the unique pace of your own family in order to minimize stress and preserve the joy of the experience.

It can look different for every family, but for us it looks like slow sunset picnic dinners in a local park while the kids run around, spending the morning at local swimming holes, moving at a restful pace with plenty of time to recover between excursions, and being okay with not "seeing all the things." One of the benefits of this kind of travel is that you really do get to experience what life might be like in a particular region, instead of feeling like a tourist.

A couple of important notes:

To go along with the blog post, I have created a story highlights for each of these trips on my instagram (@eileenandco_). The story highlight will follow the blog post with more pictures and details for each spot we visited.

Must See Place: Annecy

Annecy is a magical town known as the « Venice of the Alps. » It is a beautiful spot perched on the edge of Lake Annecy and is full of canals to wander, bridges and beautiful flowers everywhere. We LOVED our time here. There is so much to do! You can rent bikes and bike around the lake, which is unbelievably stunning, swim in little coves around the lake edge and wander a wonderful weekend market on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursday (check your travel dates to make sure it is running during your trip!). There is a lot to do in the area and its only 45 minutes from Geneva, Switzerland, which is a good airport to fly into.

We spent 5 days in the area and our favorite things were swimming as much as we could, wandering the main canals and market and having picnics by the lake side.

Also check out the Gorges du Fier nearby. We didn’t end up making it over here but it was on our list! Also if paragliding is on your list, Annecy is famous for it! We had a great time watching all the paragliders.

Lodging:

Airbnb link here

We stayed about 45 minutes out from Annecy, nestled in a chalet in the Alps ( the drive up the mountains was crazy!) with the most gorgeous surroundings. We met my family there from America so it fit a lot of people and was super affordable which was great but had its quirks for sure. The bathroom situation was… interesting with the saloon doors on the toilet room lol. And we had flies for sure but I think that is normal for a non air conditioned place in the alps surrounded by farmland. The views were stunning and we did have a great time, but just be warned you might want to read the reviews and study the pictures.

NOTE: if we went back with a smaller group I think I would try to find a place closer to the lake, but with a big group like we had this place was great.

Must See Place: Chamonix

Nestled in the Alps pretty close to Annecy is Chamonix, the ski capital of France. The village is tucked into the alps and the views around every corner are breathtaking. It’s a must see and ski if you are a skiing family. We just went for the weekend to soak up the vibes, shop and wander and WOW. We loved our time.

There is a lot to shop and do downtown, cable cars to get to the top of the mountains (note: they said the cable car was a not recommended for our 4 year old (because of her ears popping and a quick elevation change) so maybe check before you book. There is a huge number of outdoor activities like skiing, sledding, rock climbing, paragliding and any other number of fun things to do. There is a great Saturday market as well!

Lodging:

Airbnb Link here.

Ok so I booked this Airbnb in the basement of someone’s chalet 2 weeks out before we traveled, and it was great for what we needed. The view out the little kitchen was BANANAS. It has it’s quirks as well so check the listing but Chamonix can be EXTRAORDINARILY expensive (fancy ski town) so this place was amazing for the price. We were about 20 minutes outside of Chamonix and it was a beautiful drive in and close to grocery stores and all we needed.

Must See Place: Arles and Provence

Ok so you could spend months exploring Provence. It is a delight and one of the places I could go back again and again to. We took a week trip and were based in Arles and LOVED it. I picked Arles as our home base because it was close ish to our house in central France, it has a Roman amphitheater and a famous weekend market.

It’s also close to the Camargue National Park with France’s famous wild horses and flamingos. Did you know that France has wild flamingos? Now you do.

You can ride horses, take tours of the park or visit the beach and we loved our day there in the park.

The amphitheater in Arles was a dream and we loved shopping up and down the little streets downtown.

Arles is also famous as the town that Van Gogh left Paris for and cut off his ear in. We enjoyed the Foundation Van Gogh for an afternoon surrounded by art and it was a great size museum for our kiddos. (Their collections on display change so research before you go!)

The market in Arles is HUGE and we had a blast wandering. When we were there the market was every Saturday and Wednesday but check days before you go.

I went a little crazy at the market basket booth, obviously :-)

We had a lot of fun grabbing other specialties of the region like lavender and Herbes de Provence.

Tip: Get to the market as early as possible like the locals! When we were leaving to go to a cafe at 11, you could almost not walk down the street there were so many people!

Lodging:

Airbnb Link Here.

This place felt like a Nancy Meyers film with all the flowers blooming (we were there in May), quirky paneling all painted white, and cozy furnishings. It was also super affordable, we paid like $100 a night. We had good hot water and a well stocked kitchen. Great quiet location, 5 minutes out of downtown Arles. Quriks: Look at the listing photos and you can see, its quirky. Like the stove is mounted up at the ceiling and I couldn’t reach the controls.The nicest bathtub didn’t have a shower head, just a handheld bath.

Overall we loved it and would 100% stay again.

Nearby Area Must Do’s

Les Baux de Provence is one of our favorite towns in France hands down! A walled village tucked high on a rocky hill with gorgeous views all around, this place is magical. We loved it so much we went twice.

Great for shopping, dining and exploring, we had such a good dinner at Au Porte Mages… don’t miss the Provençale beef stew. This régional specialty is my favorite!

Pont du Gard is another must see. A roman aquaduct spanning a river, its a great stop! We went for swimming and a picnic but apparently there is a great museum as well. Tip: get there early as the parking lot fills up during the day!

We only scratched the surface of Provence, and I’m already planning our next trip back!

We are so thankful to have had time living in this amazing country!

I hope this helps you as you plan your trip to France, and don’t forget I have saved highlights on my instagram (@eileenandco_) with more details on each trip, so check it out for more videos and details on each trip.

Xoxo

Eileen

In 2022, while living in France, we celebrated my twins 8 year old birthday in London in July and then in September we headed to Paris to celebrate my 5 year olds birthday. It was such a magical time to be able to celebrate them in such amazing cities, so I thought I would round up my favorite (kid approved!) things to do in both cities. In this blog post, I will be sharing…

• our detailed itineraries

• Where we stayed and why I picked the areas to stay in that I did

• How we celebrated our kiddos

• How to get around the city

A couple of notes before we get to the good stuff.

These are clearly not meant to be full guides to both cities, you could spend months in each place and not see everything! I am going to share why I picked to see what we did when we only had a few days in each place and why it was important to us.

We love slow family travel, where we focus more on experiencing the place we are in at our families unique pace, while leaving lots of time for picnics in the park and taking it slow. This guide reflects that! You could fit in wayyy more than we did in our few days if you so choose!

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of these places and don’t know how it will be on your trip, so do some up to date research. Read the latest reviews, check opening times and do your research!

Ok lets get to it, London is up first!

We were celebrating our twins birthdays and we only had a weekend (one full day) in London as we drove up to Scotland. (We also had a day in London planned for our drive back down to France, and I’ll share why in a little bit!)

I decided to pick two things to really focus on for our Saturday and stay within walking distance to both.

The Natural History Museum was first on our list and it did not disappoint! We have a dinosaur obsessed girlie and her face when she saw them was CORE MEMORY. We signed up on line for free tickets for the first slot of the day and got there right when it opened. It was so much fun and the architecture of the building is worth seeing just for that! We ate lunch at the museum in their T. Rex Restaurant and it was really good, and the dinosaurs were very exciting. They each picked something at the gift shop for a birthday present and we just had a really good time!

After lunch we took the tube over to see Buckingham Palace from the outside while we waited for our next reserved spot, Harrods High Tea!

We wanted to splurge and take the girls to high tea for their birthdays, and I landed on Harrods. Classic tourist London and it was DELIGHTFUL. I signed up online for our slot about a month in advance, I could even put in my daughter’s food allergies and they created her a custom tea spread with all food she could eat! I bought the girls fancy twirly dresses from H&M and we made an afternoon date out of it. Harrods is fancy and fun and they were so kind to the girls. I had put it was their birthday in the reservation and they had made them a special birthday dessert and gave them each a stuffed Harrods bear. We stayed for a long time and pretended to be very fancy and ate amazing food. It’s a memory I will cherish, the girls felt so special and it was lovely. And the food was SO GOOD.

Each girl got their own special harrods bear full of treats and they picked hot chocolate as their drink and it was delish!

After Harrrods tea we shopped their amazing toy section and then we shopped around Harrods some while we headed back to our hotel for takeout dinner, Nando’s. Nando’s is my favorite London fast takeout place, their Peri Peri chicken is soooo good! We got it twice while we were there. :

Ok so London is obviously huge. And we had been before so we weren’t as interested in seeing as much as we could. So I decided to focus on one neighborhood and make it walkable, Kensington. The Musuem and our hotel were in this neighborhood, about a 10 minute walk away. Harrods was a 25 minute walk from the hotel and you walked right past the museum to get it Harrods.

You can also take the tube to get there and its fast and easy.

Lodging:

We ended up staying at the Park International Hotel which I found on booking (you can see in the background of this picture above- the white building). It was great for what we needed but there are a lot of other hotels right around there which looked good too. We did have to stay in two different rooms (3 people and 2 people) because they didn’t have a 5 person room. This happens to us a lot around Europe and we just ask that the rooms can be as close to each other as they can be. London is expensive so the hotel isn’t cheap. I was bummed that they didn’t have room service for breakfast (maybe they do now? I’m not certain) so we got Starbucks for breakfast.

We headed out early the next morning for our 9 hour drive to the Highlands of Scotland, and then after 2.5 weeks in Scotland, we headed back down to London. Watford, actually. Can you guess why??

Yep. Harry Potter World!

Living my best life. Luke and I had already been but we were so excited to take the girls and it was just as fun the second time. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Watford and it was great. It had a great breakfast ( I think included in our rate?) and was steps from the train station.

Ok here is how it works to get to the Studios. If you are in central London, you take the Tube out to Watford where they have a shuttle (very well marked and covered in HP) when you walk out of the station that takes you to the Studios. The hotel is steps from the train station as well. We had our car so we drove to the studios.

It really is magic for HP fans and our kiddos were obsessed! I had packed HP outfits for them so they wore their robes and were in heaven.

So much to see and do! Make sure you set aside at least 4 hours for the studios, although I think you could stay all day!

Halfway through the studios, there is a great restaurant where you can get butterbeer ice cream and drinks, and plenty of food. It’s a good spot to refuel.

We came home with a HP trunk for me and wands for the girls. Heaven!!

OK, lets switch to PARIS!! Back in September, we headed to Paris to celebrate my daughters 5 year old birthday and to get family pictures done by the talented Katie Donnelly, which was such a DREAM.

We had won a photo shoot with her in a giveaway and it was magical to document this time of living in France with my family. (Photo above by Katie) She and her team did the best job and I’ll treasure our pictures forever! If you want family pictures while in Paris, check her out!

Lodging:

Hotel apartment link here.

This time, we stayed right next to the Louvre in a hotel apartment and it was such a great location for so many Paris treasures. We were meeting Katie for pictures right near the Notre Dame and it was a 10 minute walk from our hotel apartment. We loved the location and the apartment was very nice inside. Would stay again!

We saw Katie for pictures Saturday morning and then wandered around the Notre Dame and headed across the river to the famous bookstore Shakespeare and Co, which was so fun. The birthday girl picked a book about the Eiffel Tower! We grabbed lunch at a bakery and then headed to our Louvre tickets which I had already booked. There was a long line to get in, even with tickets, but we had a stroller for our youngest and there was a place for anyone with a stroller to cut the line and get in quickly.

The Louvre is amazing and overwhelming. You could spend days in there! The Louvre website has a great section on visitor trails , where you can see the paths through the museum to hit highlights or special family trails.

So we didn’t get overwhelmed, we did part of the Masterpiece’s Trail so I could see a few favorites and then we cut over to Egypt. My kids were mainly excited to see real life MUMMIES, so the Egypt collection was awesome.

After a few hours, the kids had all they could handle and I had seen my main list, so we headed out and went back to the apartment for a takeout dinner, Chipotle lol (Don’t judge me. I had been living in Europe for over a year at this point and hadn’t had good Mexican in as long).

The next morning was time for the Eiffel Tower and the toy store, the birthday girl’s request. We checked out of our hotel and used a baggage holding store to leave our luggage while we explored for the day. Highly recommend this while traveling! There are a lot of baggage holding stores in big cities around Europe, we have used one in lots of places!

I wanted to see more of the Seine without tiring little legs so I had found the Batobus, a hop on, hop off water taxi that goes up and down the Seine and stops in lots of places. It was great, easy to use and fun to see the river from the boat. We took the Batobus down to the Eiffel Tower and ended up getting walking tickets. The Elevator ones were all sold out even a month ahead of time!

We walked to the first level (our 5 year old did fine!) But keep in mind there is no stroller parking at the bottom so you have to carry it up with you. We managed to grab seats at the cafe and had pizza and macaroons overlooking the city. It was a dream!

After a couple hours in the Eiffel, we grabbed the metro and headed up to Champs Elysées to hit my 5 year olds dream, the Disney store! We came out with more Spider-Man things than you can count and a happy little 5 year old. We grabbed our luggage and caught our 4 PM train back to our home in central France. It truly was a dream weekend!

I hope this helps you as you plan your trips, and don’t forget I have highlights on my instagram (@eileenandco_) with more details and lots of videos of each of our trips, so head there for more information.

Xoxo

Eileen

We spent a glorious week in Switzerland last summer with our 3 kids (aged 5 years old and then 8 year old twins) and had the BEST time. In this blog post, I will be sharing..

• Our detailed itinerary

• Money saving tricks (bc Switzerland be expensive!)

• Why we playground hopped as many Swiss playgrounds as we could!

• Links to our airbnb in Interlaken (which had access to a private cove for swimming in the lake!)

• Slow family travel advice for all your travels with kiddos

First things first, a little introduction to who I am. Hi - and welcome! I'm Eileen and in summer 2021, my family and I uprooted our lives and moved from Greenville, SC to a small city in central France for an expat assignment with my husband's job. We have three kids, all girls: 8 year old twins and their five year old little sister. My husband and I have always loved travel, and one of the main factors we considered when choosing to move to France was accessibility for trips to the rest of Europe. We were thrilled to be able to expose our children to different cultures, lifestyles, and world travel as well!

We travel a lot within Europe, and let me tell you, enjoyable travel with kids takes planning and intentionality - and I'm not just talking about packing lists! This is where the concept of slow family travel comes into play. So what is it, exactly? I like to define it as: traveling with an intention of savoring family time and the beauty of your surroundings, while moving at the unique pace of your own family in order to minimize stress and preserve the joy of the experience.

So, what does slow family travel look like, in practice? It can look different for every family, but for us it looks like slow sunset picnic dinners in a local park while the kids run around, spending the morning at local swimming holes, moving at a restful pace with plenty of time to recover between excursions, and being okay with not "seeing all the things." One of the benefits of this kind of travel is that you really do get to experience what life might be like in a particular region, instead of feeling like a tourist.

A couple of important notes before we get to the detailed itinerary!

To go along with the blog post, I have created a story highlight for our Switzerland trip on my instagram (@eileenandco_). The story highlight will follow the blog post with more pictures and details for each spot we visited.

I have also created a google map (click the map below to be taken to link) with all our of favorite locations pinned. Hopefully this helps you plan your trip! Almost every place I mention throughout the post is pinned on the map.

Disclaimer! This is what we did in Summer of 2022. I can’t vouch for the state of these places when you go, so I recommend doing some up to date research before your trip.

Ok… Here we go!! We spent most of our time based in Interlaken to access as much of our must do spots in the region as possible. We also spent two nights near Zermatt at the end of the trip.

Switzerland is known for being super expensive and it was, so we focused on leveraging the costs to get as much bang for our buck as possible. We have youngish kids, so we decided to strategize our trip and spend as much time as possible playground hopping in the Alps. Here’s why….

• the swiss are FAMOUS for their playgrounds in the alps, and you will see why with the pictures!

• Playgrounds are FREE

• We could take the funiculars up the mountains to get to the playgrounds, which are a main part of the alp experience and a joy. Our kids were in heaven.

• There were little cafe’s near most of the playgrounds, so mom and dad could get a coffee and sit and enjoy the view while the kiddos played.

• We packed a lunch every day from grocery store supplies to save on the restaurant costs (a small personal pizza was like $30 in most places we saw!)

• Our kids were a little young to enjoy some of the main draw activites in the area, like zip lining and go carting and things. So playgrounds were just our style, also, did i mention FREE.

Day 1-4: Interlaken and surrounding areas

TIP: We went to Switzerland in mid July so it was busy and hot. Our strategy was to get out early to beat the crowds. We were up anyhow with our young kiddos so this was our daily schedule. Up and out the door by 8:30, adventure around, picnic lunch at the playground and back to the Airbnb to rest from like 2-5, the most busy and hottest part of the day. We would swim in the lake later in the afternoon or hit up not as main attraction sites. This works SO WELL for us when traveling. We have rest time built in for the kiddos, we miss a lot of the craziest traffic, and we missed the hottest part of the day too. A lot of parking lots and places were completely full and people were fighting for spots as we were pulling out at 2 pm to head back to rest.

Interlaken rundown:

Nestled between two stunning lakes in the heart of the Alps, Interlaken was a great base for us. We went in mid july so it was HOT and having the lake to cool off in was heaven. We also liked Interlaken because it seemed to be about 30 minutes or so from a lot of our top spots to see (we had our car but the train system is great as well). Good grocery stores and easy to get around. We didn’t spend a ton of time downtown Interlaken, honestly the villages around it were more gorgeous imo and were our main focus. But it has all you need and we LOVED being on the lake for swimming and boating!

Lodging:

Airbnb Link here

We picked this airbnb because of the view (look at that castle out the bathroom window!) and its access to a private cove for the area to swim in lake Brienz (google pin in the map, bc we had a hard time finding it the first day!), which we hit up every day, sometimes multiple times a day. It was clean, cozy and had two nice bedrooms and a well equipped kitchen. Here is the kicker. No AC. Which meant sleeping with the windows open and it was right on a road. I don’t know if this would have been as much of an issue if we didn’t visit Switzerland in the middle of a heat wave when temperatures were soaring up to 95.

We used a great COOP grocery store which is pinned on the map.

Day trips from Interlaken:

Lauterbrunnen, Murren and Allmendhubel playground (INCREDIBLE. DO THIS IF YOU HAVE KIDS!)

Lauterbrunnen -

This was an incredible day. Lauterbrunnen was one of my must sees and it did not disappoint! We got there first thing in the morning and the morning light was stunning in the valley. We walked around downtown and then walked to Staubbach Waterfall. You climb up a 5 minute climb from the parking lot and you get to go behind the waterfall! It was super special being there first thing in the morning, we almost had it to ourselves. As we were leaving a huge tour group showed up! There is a playground in front of the waterfall too so we hit that up before heading to Murren.

Murren-

After you explore Lauterbrunnen, head to the Gondola to ride up the valley (INSANE views on the way up!) to Murren, an adorable town perched on the cliffs above Lauterbrunnen. Gondola is pinned on the map. You change gondolas on the way up to continue up to Murren, but its well documented where you switch.

When you get to Murren, its an adorable town but we had big plans to hit up a famous playground even higher up in the mountains! So when you leave the gondola station, head to the Murren Funicular station to head up to Allmendhubel, aka heaven for your kiddos. (Funicular is pinned on the map as well). It’s a 5 or so minute funicular ride up to Allmendhubel.

Allmendhubel playground-

Step off the funicular and sigh. Wowwwww you made it. Your eyeballs cannot take in the beauty of the alps that surround you. Your kids are already heading to the playground at full speed, which includes underground tunnels for them to explore, a water maze, rope courses and so many things to play on.

We hung out at this playground for hours, had a picnic lunch up here as well (of course we packed two bars of Swiss chocolate) and there is a cafe if you fancy a coffee. The views are insane and we just soaked them up. There are clean bathrooms too.

We decided to hike down from the playground to Murren on the « flower trail ». It was an hour hike or so (I think??) from Allmendhubel down to Murren and was great way to hike the alps without tiring little legs. We kept saying, « this view cannot be real!!! » the whole hike down. I will say the trail wasn’t super clearly marked on the way down, so I might do some more research to see if its more up to date this year? But it was so fun.

We hung out in Murren for a little while and then headed back down the mountains to Lauterbrunnen and home for rest time.

DAY TRIP 2: Grindelwald, First Cliff Walk and the Glacier Canyon

Grindelwald was one of our favorite towns, it was charming and full of cute shops and restaurants. We got there early one morning to be some of the first people up to the Cliff Walk. The Cliff Walk is a gondola ride up from Grindelwald. We decided to do the Cliff Walk first because it gets very crowded later in the day and then explore Grindelwald after. The Cliff Walk is so fun, it is a 5 to 10 minute walk which skates the cliffs and has a bridge over a huge drop off. A fun cafe and lots of hiking trails at the top too.

You take the gondola up from the Grindelwald station to the Cliff Walk. We hung around and got snacks at the cafe and enjoyed the gorgeous views. On the way back down, stop at the Bort station for another amazing playground.

Grindelwald has a great (yep you guessed it) playground in the center of town (all of this is pinned on the map!). We had a picnic lunch at the playground and shopped downtown.

It was cool up in the mountains but a steamy 95 degrees down in the valley during the hottest part of the day, so we LOVED seeing the Glacier Canyon Grindelwald after we left downtown.

It was so cool and nice in the shade walking over the river. You walk through the canyon and they even have a rope pit hanging over the river! We loved it.

Day Trip: Lake Brienz

On one of the hottest days of our trip, we rented a boat from Pirate Bay Nautical Center which was in a cute town on the opposite end of the lake from Interlaken. (You can also take a ferry from Interlaken to Brienz, its a great way to see the lake). This was so fun! It was $160 for 2 hours, which was totally worth it to us. We swam off the boat (it was kinda hard to get back in the boat with the little ladder the boat has, so I super gracefully turtle crawled over the edge lol). The lake is so beautiful its hard to take it all in!

ZERMATT-

There is so much to do around Interlaken, we only scratched the surface! But after a few days we headed to Zermatt. We only stayed for a day but we had to see the Matterhorn and we had another epic playground to hit! Zermatt is a pedestrian only town which is charming. We rode the train into Zermatt from the Tasch station, and then took the Funicular up to Sunnega station. Wolli Park at Sunnega has the most epic views of the Matterhorn ever!

This playground is amazing, it has a little lake to swim in and has a little ferry that the kids can pull themselves back and forth across on. My kids were in heaven! It has shaded places to hang out and lot of fun things to do. We spent hours here and yep, you guessed it, had another picnic lunch!

This was our last full day in Switzerland and we were so sad to leave!

Packing help for Switzerland, July edition.

Packing for Switzerland is tricky. When we went it was in a crazy heat wave, but up the mountains it was 60’s in the morning and then 90’s by afternoon. The sun is hot too. But it can snow in June too! So it ranges a lot. We did a lot of layers with light sweaters and leggings, tanks and lots of sunscreen. My kiddos had the zip off hiking short/pants so they wore those almost every day. Good hiking shoes are a must and the vibe is very relaxed, people in hiking clothes all over the towns. I wore a hat everywhere to shield from the sun and was glad I had it. Bring a swimsuit for you and your kiddos if you wanna swim, but keep in mind the lakes are coldddd. It felt so good!!
We carried backpacks around with us to hold layers and lunch and lots of water.

Whew. That was a lot! But hopefully it was helpful! I know we just scratched the surface of what we can do in Switzerland and I’m already dreaming up our next trip!

Make sure to follow on instagram, I’ve made a story highlight of our trip which has even more details and videos than the blog post!

Xoxo

Eileen

This past August, my family and I spent 2.5 glorious weeks exploring Scotland. Are you planning (or dreaming!) of a trip? Let me help you! In this post, I'll be sharing:

- Our full itinerary

- My best travel tips

- Links to our AirBnBs (like the apartment inside of an old Abbey we stayed in on the shores of Loch Ness)

- Slow family travel advice for all of your travels with kiddos

But before we get into all of that, you might be wondering: what exactly is "slow family travel?" And why do I love using this phrase?

First things first, a little introduction to who I am. Hi - and welcome! I'm Eileen and last summer, my family and I uprooted our lives and moved from Greenville, SC to a small city in central France for an expat assignment with my husband's job. We have three kids, all girls: 8 year old twins and their five year old little sister. My husband and I have always loved travel, and one of the main factors we considered when choosing to move to France was accessibility for trips to the rest of Europe. We were thrilled to be able to expose our children to different cultures, lifestyles, and world travel as well!

Now that we live in France, we travel a lot. And let me tell you: traveling Europe with kids takes planning and intentionality - and I'm not just talking about packing lists! This is where the concept of slow family travel comes into play. So what is it, exactly? I like to define it as: traveling with an intention of savoring family time and the beauty of your surroundings, while moving at the unique pace of your own family in order to minimize stress and preserve the joy of the experience.

So, what does slow family travel look like, in practice? It can look different for every family, but for us it looks like slow sunset picnic dinners in a local park while the kids run around, spending the morning at local swimming holes, moving at a restful pace with plenty of time to recover between excursions, and being okay with not "seeing all the things." One of the benefits of this kind of travel is that you really do get to experience what life might be like in a particular region, instead of feeling like a tourist.

If that sounds good to you, there is a section on each stop with details on how this concept played out during our trip!

A couple of important notes before we get to the detailed itinerary!

To go along with the blog post, I have created a story highlight for our Scotland trip on my instagram (@eileenandco_). The story highlight will follow the blog post with more pictures and details for each spot we visited.

I have also created a google map (click the map below to be taken to link) with all our of favorite locations pinned. Hopefully this helps you plan your trip! Almost every place I mention throughout the post is pinned on the map.

We also love using the All Trails to search whatever area we are in and find good hikes. Highly recommend.

disclaimer. I am not affiliated with anything on the google map, airbnb or vrbo and can’t vouch for the current state of anything. When we went in summer 2022 these were our favorite places but I recommend doing your own up to date research!

Day 1-5 of our Scotland family road trip, Welcome to Glencoe Valley!

We drove up from London to Glencoe because the first part of our trip was a weekend in London, but if you are coming straight to Scotland I recommend flying into Edinburgh or Inverness, renting a car and driving the 3 or so hours to the valley.

If you arrive from Edinburgh, spend a few days exploring the city and then head to the highlands! In Edinburgh don’t miss all the Harry Potter gems, like the place that JK Rowling based Diagon Alley off of, Victory Street. Armchair books in Edinburgh is a national treasures as well.

On the 3 hour drive from Edinburgh to Glencoe, consider adding in a drive around and stop in beautiful Loch Lomond. It adds around 20 minutes to the drive and is 100% worth it in my opinion. Bonus points if you sing the famous Loch Lomond song as you drive around, Alastair McDonald has my favorite version. Hit up the adorable town of Luss for lunch at my favorite spot, the Coach House Coffee for the best cozy warm soups and delicious scones and cream. We wandered Luss the first time we came to Scotland in 2019 and went back in 2022 because the scones were so good. Luss is a car free town so you pay to park a little outside of the cute village and then walk in. Seeing the old stone houses that make up the village along the loch are worth the trip alone as they are overflowing with vines and flowers just exploding from window boxes.

The Valley rundown:

The valley itself is set up as a driving destination, and when you first pull in and see those mountains, wowwwww. There are lots of pull offs on the side of the 2 lane highway to park, jump out,  admire the view and wander the many trails that make their way through the valley.

We spent most of our days just pulling off at different spots and exploring all the different trails.

(TIP!) Glencoe Valley is known as one of the most stunning vistas Scotland has to offer, but the winding valley has limited parking and gets very busy during the summer! You may want to plan around this by getting up and out early. We tried to be at the parking trails no later than 9 am and had the trails almost to ourselves, but by lunch time the parking lots were full (this was in high season in August).

Are you a Harry Potter fan? The spot where they filmed Hagrid's hut is located here on the Signal Rock, Ann Torr and Hagrids hut (here’s the alltrails link) walking trail. I have the spot pinned on the map as well. You don’t have to do the whole trail to get to the spot but its a gorgeous walk so I recommend it! The set is no longer there, but it's still recognizable from the movies! Rock cakes from Hagrid not included.

Another Harry Potter must see is the Glenfinnan Viaduct, made famous by Hogwarts Express and the HP films. It’s an hour drive from Glencoe but so fun to see. You can google the times the steam train comes by and get a shot just like the movies. The parking lot fills up when the train is coming by so get there early to nab a spot!

Castle Stalker is a great gem to see. A castle out on an island in a bay. You can park and walk for a great view of it, or a boat tour as well.

The valley itself doesn’t have much to do except hike and enjoy the scenery, and after you get your fill of that… may I recommend you head to the cute village of Ballachulish right outside the valley entrance.

Looking for the BEST scones and cream, as well as a cute little gift shop? Try Crafts and Things, right outside the valley entrance (shown above and linked on the map!).

Cuil Bay is a gorgeous rocky beach and it’s the perfect spot for kiddos (and adults!) to explore.

For the best Scottish dinner, try Hollytree Hotel and Restaurant. This dinner spot was recommend to us by our local Airbnb host when we first came to Scotland back in 2019 and when we came in 2022 we went back and enjoyed it just as much! I recommend the steak frites, and Luke recommends the fish and chips. It has great food and gorgeous lake views! Pro tip: call and make a reservation, because they reserve tables for their hotel guests and run out of open tables for non guests of the hotel.

Grab all the groceries you need at the little local Coop in Ballachulish. This store is small, but mighty! We shopped there for our whole five days in the valley and had everything we needed. 

The lodging:

Click here for the VRBO Glencoe link

I searched high and low for our VRBO in Glencoe, and finding this cozy little place felt like a unicorn find! A lot of places when I was looking for our family of 5 were expensive or required a 7 night stay. This one checked all my boxes and was around $100 a night! (As of summer 2022)

This find is so cozy with its two bedrooms and well-stocked kitchen. The views are amazing and it is a two minute drive from the beach, an eight minute drive from Glencoe Valley.

A quick lodging tip: if you're looking to stay somewhere with more of a city vibe, Fort William is the main city in this area! It's about a 25 minute drive from the valley and will have everything you need. It's totally doable to explore Glencoe from here, just plan on a further drive to get there! We drove through it on the way to our next stop in the Cairngorms, and hit up some charity shops looking for vintage treasures downtown Fort William (shops we went to are marked on the google map).

Slow Family Travel Rhythms in Glencoe:

Glencoe Valley is one of my favorite places in the world. The beauty of the valley is unmatched in my opinion, with the weeping mountains, craggy cliffs, and a new vista around every corner. Our main goal in Glencoe was just to take our time exploring the valley, letting our kids move at their pace and just soak in the beauty around us. To do this, we spent our mornings slowing hiking all the different trails in the valley, and then headed back to our VRBO for a fresh lunch we picked up from the little grocery store, naps for the littlest (and mom), and then afternoons spent exploring a craggy beach and collecting sea glass. We did slow cafe stops with all the cream we could eat and took the girls to a special dinner at the HollyTree. We watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and then visited the exact spot the filmed Hagrid’s Hut in that movie. Our 5 days were up too soon!

Day 6-9 of our Scotland family road trip, The Cairgorms

After 5 days in Glencoe we headed about 2 hours away to the Cairgorms National Park (where the famous Balmoral Estate is, favorite of Queen Elizabeth and where she had her final days). We didn’t make it to Balmoral as we mainly stayed on the other side of the huge park, but its easy to see why this National Park is known as the most beautiful forest in the UK.

The Cairgorms Rundown

• We picked an Airbnb close to the cute town of Aviemore, which I had read is a great base to explore the forest. We wholeheartedly agree! It’s an adorable town full of great little shops and restaurants. Spend an afternoon wandering here for sure!

• Hit up Smiffy’s on the main shopping street for some good fish and chips (all pinned on the map!)

• We took our horse loving 8 year old twins on an hour long pony trek through the gorgeous countryside and it was the highlight of their week! We used Highland Horse Fun and they were great.

• There are so many ways to explore the forest around here, from walking with its reindeer herds, water sports during the summer and skiing during the winter. So much to do, so little time!

• We spent one day at the famous Rothiemurchus Estate hiking around the lake to see the Loch an Eilein Castle. It’s floating on an island in the middle of a gorgeous lake and a stunning walk.

• Make sure to hit up the Rothiemurchus Farm Shop and Cafe. Both famous in the area. We LOVED grabbing local goodies like fresh strawberries, local butter, steak pie and veggies to cook at home in our cozy airbnb.

Cairgorms Lodging

Click here for our Cairngorms Airbnb Link

Our cutie Airbnb was a located in a stone attached cottage, originally build in the 1800’s as an infirmary. It’s was attached to a couple other houses but felt completely private with a great yard just for us with a trampoline! Our girlies were in heaven! The hot water took us a little bit to figure out with an electric heater just for it, but since our next airbnb in the north of Scotland had the same electric shower, we had the hang of it by then!

Slow Family Travel Rhythm’s in the Cairgorms:

We really enjoyed our time in the Cairgorms. It was on our list to see this gorgeous forest and it was a great 2 day stop. I don’t know if I would spend a lot more time than that here, with my love of the mountains and beaches I was missing the epic views. Luke is a big forest lover so he loved our time here and would have easily spent more time hiking and exploring. One of the highlights of this spot for us were the slow hike we did around the castle of Loch en Eilein and the Farm Shop of Rothiemurchus. I LOVE trying local homemade meals so being able to have a slow afternoon at the Airbnb while the kids jumped on the trampoline and we heated up a local steak pie with fresh strawberries and scones for dinner, heaven!

Days 9-15, Welcome to the top of the world!

Did you know that you can get this Caribbean blue water color in Scotland?? After the Cairgorms, we headed up to the tippy top of Scotland, Durness! This area had long been on our to-see list, and the views did not disappoint. We drove through Inverness on our way up and stopped for some shopping before heading the 3 hours up to the top of the world.

Wanna actually feel like you are on top of the world away from everything? North Scotland is your PLACE. We had done research and I still was surprised at how remote it was up north. I knew there were towns and so just naively assumed they were large towns with little villages scattered around. Well I was wrong. Durness is one of the biggest towns we learned in the north of Scotland and there was 1 restaurant and one tiny grocery clustered around homes. But wowwwwwwww the beaches and views. We couldn’t take it all in, it was so stunning.

Durness Rundown

If you want to be truly disconnected and just have slow mornings wandering on yet another gorgeous beach with crystal clear water, have the weather turn from gorgeous to rain to wind to gorgeous again in 10 minutes, eat delicious cheese toasties from the local food truck every day, find lots of sea glass, meet locals on a walk who will talk you through the history of the area, dodge the sheep constantly walking in the road, and read books and nap, this is YOUR place.

We loved our time here. We wanted to truly disconnect and just soak up this area, and this was the perfect spot for it.

Don’t miss Snoo Cave, it really is gorgeous.

Cocoa Mountain Balnakeil is a famous little shop with amazing hot chocolate, don’t miss it!

Durness is located on the very popular NC500, a driving route that follows the upper coast in Scotland and begins and ends in Inverness. We saw loads of campers every day as they made the scenic trek or were parked and wild camping in one of the beautiful spots that popped up around every corner. If you are a road trip person and camping and views are your thing, check out the NC500!

Durness Lodging

Click here for the Durness Airbnb link

The lodging in Durness was a true fisherman’s cottage perched up on a cliff with views that made their way down to a gorgeous crystal clear bay with the ocean stretching out behind. I booked this place in January 2022 for our August trip 2022 and I got one of the last weeks available for the whole summer if that tells you anything! Incredible view and cozy house. We loved.

Slow Family Travel Rhythm’s in Durness

Our whole time in Durness was the definition of remote relaxation. My husband was in complete heaven. It was a little too remote for me to spend almost a whole week there. I loved our time and the area had been on my bucket list for such a long time so I’m so glad we went, but I don’t think I would need 5 nights there again. I might do a shorter time and do more time on the NC500 seeing more of the coast with lodging more spread out. But my husband wants to go back to Durness for a month so I think it depends on what your individual goals are!

Day 16-19, Loch Ness and the most magical Airbnb EVER.

We drove back down through Inverness and headed down the gorgeous drive that follows the curve of the famous Loch Ness. I was so thrilled about this part of the trip, mainly because of the Airbnb I found. Housed in an old Abbey and now a private club of apartments, this airbnb was set within old stone walls with endless charm and « wow I’m staying in a castle vibes! » The private club of apartments is right on the lake and has a fancy indoor pool and sauna, life sized chess board and old cloisters to explore. It was truly the highlight stay of the trip. We also LOVED the little village the Abbey is located in and I can’t recommend a stop here enough! We are going to be back one day!

(The grounds of the Abbey the Airbnb is located in)

Loch Ness Rundown

• Loch Ness is obviously very famous and I didn’t know what to expect, would it be too touristy and not enjoyable? Spoiler alert, it was one of our favorite stops of our trip. The little villages surrounding the lake were charming and the views were stunning. Our kids were enthralled with the legend of Nessie and we had fun at the Loch Ness Center and Exhibition learning more about the legend and all the searches done for the monster.

• The village of Fort Augustus (where the Abbey airbnb is located), is delightful! Cute little shops dot the side of canal and lock system where the boats come through to travel down the Caledonian Canal- a canal that travels the width of Scotland, from Inverness to Fort William. We stayed a whole morning watching the boats come up and down, and they drew quite a crowd! You can rent boats and do the whole canal (3 day trip each way) and we saw lots of families doing it. Looked like so much fun for a week trip down the gorgeous loch’s of Scotland! It’s now on our list of things to do!

• Don’t miss the adorable shop The Wee Little Highland Shop in Fort Augustus, it as one of my favorite shops of the trip! (Don’t forget to check the google map, so much of all my favorites are saved there!)

• We loved eating at the restaurant on the Highland Club grounds, the Boathouse. Delish!

• Don’t miss the cute village of Drumnadrochit, where the Loch Ness Center is. We loved the Courtyard Cafe for a soup and sandwich. Don’t forget the dessert case!

• We could have done a few more days in Loch Ness, we didn’t make it to the famous Urquhart Castle on the loch. Tip, you have to book tickets ahead of time to get a parking spot, spots are very limited!

• Another way to see the Loch is a boat tour up the lake, they leave from Fort Augustus and around Drumnadrochit as well. Great way to see the loch! Pack your rain gear!

Lodging

Click here for our Loch Ness Airbnb Link

I know I know just get to the link for the Abbey already Eileen. The indoor pool was a huge hit with the family, the whole place inside and out feels like staying in an old castle and the pool room will make your most royal dreams come true. We were SO SAD to leave!

Slow Family Travel Rhythm’s in Loch Ness.

We were finishing up our time in Scotland as we wrapped up Loch Ness and were so sad to leave this magical place. Scotland is a place that gets into your bones and stays forever. Our time in Loch Ness was the most splurge stay of our trip to Scotland, and we got our money’s worth by how much time we soaked put the Airbnb and the grounds. We wandered around the Loch, played the life sized chess set, swam in the indoor pool and ate at the restaurant on site. We wandered Fort Augustus and loved watching the boats go through the locks in the center of town (which is right outside the abbey gates!). We spent a morning going through the Loch Ness Centre and the girls looked for Nessie, we had slow lunches at local cafes with fresh traditional Scottish breakfast’s and watched local Coo’s out the cafe windows. Our time here is my definition of why I love slow family travel and it was such sweet family time.

We headed back down to London after 4 nights in Loch Ness with such full hearts from our time in this special country. « We will be back soon »  we say as we cross the border into England!

Weather Tips and Packing for Scotland
Scotland is a magical place, filled with glens and lochs, magical views around every corner and WEATHER. Lots of weather. You will go from rain to sun to mist to wind and back within 10 minutes. We found the best way to enjoy the land no matter the weather was to be prepared for anything.

Layers are your best friend, even in summer!

Up in the highlands we found the highs in August (in 2022) were pretty normal for the region and mid 60’s during the day, down in the 50’s at night. We never wore shorts and always had layers with us.

Here was my packing strategy.

Leggings for hiking, a tee and lightweight knit sweater, puffer, rain jacket, wool socks and hiking boots. I then mixed and matched each day depending on weather with maybe just wearing a knit sweater and rain jacket or a puffer and rain jacket or just a puffer or just the sweater. But those layers gave me everything I needed.

You will need a GOOD RAIN JACKET. I’m talking actually 100% impermeable which a lot of rain jackets are NOT. We found that out the hard way when we moved to Europe and were walking everywhere.

I swear by the Rains Jackets for adults (see above) and Helly Hansen for kids. Rains is a Danish company so they know rain. I take my normal size and its roomy enough to layer a lightweight puffer under but also fine to wear on its own. Helly Hansen is a Norwegian brand and their kids jackets are amazing. It’s all our kids wear and they hold up beautiful for rainy day hikes and all the mud a kid can throw at them.

Guys.Whew. A+ to you if you made it through all that! Let me know if you have any questions, drop them below in the comments or email me.

Make sure to follow along on instagram, I’m active on there sharing up to date travel plans and what life in France looks like for these expats. Thanks for being here!

Xoxo

Eileen