The autumn school break is a great excuse to forget about difficult lessons and picky teachers for a while. And take the kids on a trip to ensure it doesn't turn into a week at home with the weather and endless computer games.
One of our articles was about the autumn holidays at the seaside, and today we will tell you about the best places to go with children in Europe during the school holidays.
The end of October is the low season for tourism when the best theme parks are still open, but there are no queues at the box office and attractions. And the autumn weather will tell you whether to spend the day outdoors or in a museum.
Austria
Vienna knows how to spoil young travellers like no other capital city. Fancy a walk in the daytime?
Take the kids to Schönbrunn Palace Zoo (where they'll love watching the animals being fed and weighed) or the Prater amusement park (the Ferris wheel has been turning for over a century).
Do you want to hide from the rain? The interactive museum ZOOM, a mixture of playground, research centre and creative laboratory, will keep children busy for hours.
Boys and girls will love a trip to the Technical Museum and won't miss the chance to learn how to make a traditional Austrian strudel.
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Other Austrian cities also welcome children. Salzburg has a toy museum and a descent into a salt mine, while Innsbruck has the highest zoo in Europe.
Germany
The country is full of amusement parks, most of which are open until late autumn. Europa-Park in Rust, Spieleland in Ravensburg, Legoland in Günzburg, Movie Park in Botrop, Phantasia Land in Brühl...
You can choose from all of them, and the quality of the attractions is excellent. For children who enjoy learning during their holidays, visiting the Deutsches Museum (Munich) or the Extavium (Potsdam), where you can learn about other people's technological discoveries and make your own, is a must.
Schoolchildren in biology will find plenty to interest them at the Ozeaneum (Stralsund), including a stuffed blue whale. At the Berlin Zoo, you can see animals preparing for winter.
And if the holidays are cold, the vast Tropical Islands indoor water park near the capital is a great place to beat the weather.
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Some of the more unusual museums include the Labyrinth and MACHmit! Interactive learning and play centres in Berlin, the Neanderthal Museum near Düsseldorf and the Miniature Wonderland in Hamburg.
France
Disneyland Paris is the dream of many children, and on a hot but sunny autumn day, you can make that dream come true.
If the kids aren't interested in Disney characters, suggest a trip to the Futuroscope (Poitiers), where one of the rides allows you to travel through time.
For a trip from the real world to the world of fairytales, go to the Château de Ramboutey, inhabited by characters from Charles Perrault's fairytales.
If technical wonders are best for children, then Paris is the city of science and technology.
Scientific knowledge is also essential for magicians, as children will discover at the Musée de la Magie (Paris). If you want to forget autumn for a while, we recommend visiting Aquaboulevard, Europe's largest water park in Paris.
Spain
October usually gives visitors to this country the opportunity to travel a lot. At the PortAventura theme park (Salou), you can take a guided tour around... the world. There are many attractions in each themed area.
You can meet animals worldwide at Barcelona Zoo and get a glimpse of the Earth's past and prehistoric lizards at Dinopolis Park (Teruel). The mysterious underwater world comes to life at the Oceanarium in Barcelona and Valencia.
Schoolchildren can test their physics, chemistry and biology knowledge at the CosmoCaixa Experimental Museum (Barcelona).
Italy
This country knows how to have fun, and young visitors can find out at Mirabilandia (Ravenna), Gardaland or Movieland Park (both near Lake Garda).
But they also know how to be inquisitive: at the Explora museums in Rome and MUBA in Milan, children can discover the force that pushes up the jets of a fountain and the uses of pieces of pipe and spools of thread.
And if your child likes to say, "When I grow up, then...", give them the chance to grow up and see all of Italy from a giant's perspective at Italy in Miniature.
Combine a walk in the fresh air with a close encounter with animals at the Natura Viva Safari Park (Bussolengo). In Rome, schoolchildren should not miss a showing of 'The Time Machine' to travel back to Roman times.
The Czech Republic
It's no exaggeration to say that Prague is a destination in itself. However, as the autumn weather can be fickle, here are a few places to visit with the kids on a rainy day if this fabulous city has been chosen as a holiday destination.
These include Majaland Amusement Park, Aquapalace Praha, the Toy Museum, where a battered teddy bear and a shiny robot transformer stand side by side and the Railway Kingdom.
The ChocoStory Museum, where children can take part in a chocolate quest with sweet gifts at the finish line, will tempt the sweet tooth (in addition to Prague, the Czech Republic has a chocolate and marzipan museum in Tabor).
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If the days are warm and dry, visit the animals at Prague Zoo, one of the best in Europe. You can also visit the dinosaurs at DinoPark in Pilsen.
If you want to immerse yourself in less ancient history, you can take a trip to one of the old castles in the Czech Republic (Kynžvart, Zvíkov, Karlstein, Loket, etc.).
You can also see their scale replicas and models of other places of interest in the country in the Bohemian-Moravian Park (Mariánské Láznì).
As you can see, holidays with children in Europe can be varied and exciting. Kidpassage is sure that when children return from such a trip, they will only regret that school doesn't require an essay on "How I spent my autumn holidays".
