Visiting European cities with and without a baby can seem like night and day in some ways. You can still visit that museum if you time it right and have enough supplies but you’re a lot less likely to be out and about from sun up to sun down. Your baby changes your schedule and just like at home, you pretty much do what your kid allows you to do. But that doesn’t mean that you should totally give up on trying to explore a new city, enjoy a good restaurant or even join an awesome tour. See below for what we did in Europe with our then 10 month old son.

Walking Tour

In December, my husband and I visited London, Amsterdam, and Madrid and in Amsterdam and Madrid, we took free walking tours with Sandeman’s new Europe. Sandeman’s offers lots of tour options and are based in other cities including London, Copenhagen, and Jerusalem. I loved walking tours even before traveling with my baby but even more so now.

My son loves to be walked, whether it’s in his carrier or his stroller; as long as he’s moving, he’s happy. It was pretty cold in Amsterdam but thanks to our stroller sleeping bag, beanies, mittens and jacket, baby stayed warm whenever we were outside.

The tour guide takes freedoms with the style of tour that they give because their fee is solely limited to whether or not people enjoyed the tour and tip them. So while our tour guide in Amsterdam was entertaining and always had a good one-liner, our guide in Madrid was a history buff and brought the story of the Hamburgs and royal line all the way down to Franco to life in a way that I’ve never seen before. I would never call myself a history buff but I enjoyed the tour in Madrid better than in Amsterdam just for the passion and character of our guide alone.

Pro-tip: When tipping your free walking tour guide, ask them what their average tip is and go from there. If their average is less than you would have paid for a traditional tour, then increase it. It’s a win-win.

Audio Guides

I’m a huge fan of audio guides and I’ve talked about them a few times before. At first I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t be able to give my son my full attention if I used an audio guide at the Prado Museum in Madrid but our son actually fell asleep as soon as we got into the museum! We thought, “how lucky”, right? While he did give us about 2 uninterrupted hours of baby-free museum time, it still wasn’t a problem when he woke up. When he decided he’d had enough of the stroller, we put him in his Ergobaby carrier and shared our audio guide with him.

No, he had no idea what they meant by Caravaggio’s revolutionary use of light but someday he will. Start them young 😉

Enjoy a Meal

This might seem like a no-brainer but let me tell you, it is not. A lot of the fear around traveling with your baby starts at the most basic level. Logistical questions like “will they have a high chair?” and worrying about how other people feel about your baby’s presence are just things we tell ourselves to stop us from doing things.

We’ve been to plenty of restaurants that didn’t have high chairs and even the ones that did, our son refused to sit in half the time. When that happens, that means that we take turns eating or take turns entertaining the baby, etc. It always works out and we always enjoy that meal. As long as you’re realistic about how much your baby will let you do before a meltdown, enjoy yourself while you’re away. Your world does not stop spinning just because you have a baby.

However, I can’t recommend a fine dining or Michelin Star restaurant with your infant. You’re on your own if you decide to try that out.

Try New Food

This is related to the last tip and if you’re still on the fence about traveling with your infant in Europe, hear me out.

If your baby is around 9 months or older, he or she is now able to eat almost anything that you eat, right? Now while I would never recommend testing a shell fish, nut or new food allergy while away from your primary pediatrician, I can recommend letting your baby try some cuisine that they may not get to try at home. Or at the very least, another version of something they already like.

Side note: watching my son try new foods is actually the greatest joy I have as a mother. Not because I like to watch him enjoy something new, but because the reaction and subsequent shudder he gives when he doesn’t like something is the funniest thing I have ever witnessed. Ever.

I don’t know how true this is but I have heard that the more varied the food that your baby tries at an early age, the less likely they are to be picky eaters. Because my husband and I are pretty adventurous eaters and love to try new flavor profiles, I would be pretty upset if my son turned out to be super picky. I know I can’t really control it but I will do my best to prevent it by exposing him to different flavors as often as I can.

Meet New People

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As a reformed avoider of all things stranger (I talk a little about this on a recent instagram post), I give this last tip for traveling in Europe (or anywhere) with your infant with an enthused exclamation point. People actually love babies and the perfect conversation starters usually start with, “Oh your baby is so cute! [insert question about aforementioned baby here]”.

Now, I have gotten some strange moments, like the time in Puerto Vallarta when a really sweet woman insisted on taking Solomon over to meet her family – that was odd – but more often that not, people just want to say hello to the baby and make him smile. Take those moments as an opportunity to speak to a local that you may not have had the chance to converse with before.

What other tips do you have for traveling with an infant while in Europe? Or even a toddler?! We will be in Switzerland in August and I can’t wait to see what this little guy gets into.