Paris has a swag of museums for kids, including the Museum of Curiosity and Magic, the Middle Ages Museum and, depending on your son's interest in things irky, the Sewers Museum, the Catacombs and a visit to Montmartre or Pere Lachaise cemetery.
Your son will probably want to go all the way to stage three of the Eiffel Tower, so trade off with a relaxing visit to the Musee Rodin, which has a gorgeous garden.
Take a three-hour bicycle tour with Gepetto & Velos, or a Bateaux-Mouches river cruise.
London's top attraction for kids these days is the London Eye, and, of course, your son will put everyone to shame back home with the latest street gear from Camden High St, Covent Garden, Islington, Portobello or Spitalfields markets.
London has heaps of kid-friendly museums: the Tower of London, London Dungeon, London Transport Museum, Imperial War Museum and Victoria & Albert.
Glasgow's Science Centre is highly rated by kids, as is the weird and wonderful Sharmanka Kinetic Gallery & Theatre, the Tall Ship at Clyde Maritime Centre and the 19th-century Tenement House.
Take a boat trip along the Clyde, visit the huge Barras flea market, go for a saunter along the Clyde pathway or try some off-road cycling into the spectacular countryside.
Many youth hostels these days have twin or multi-bed family rooms, some with private bathrooms.
Staying in a cabin or chalet at a caravan park would be another way to mix with other families and young people; check out the UK Parks website.
Lapping up the charm
We are travelling to Helsinki in September next year and have seven days free before catching the ferry to Stockholm. We want to experience some highlights of Finland and Lapland in this time. What should not be missed? Should we drive, fly, train or bus it? We are healthy, reasonably fit seniors.
- Heather
Finland's charms lie largely outdoors, in the endless lakes, pristine forests and reindeer-dotted wilderness. Autumn is a beautiful time of year to visit, and Lapland's changing colours should be breathtaking.
When it comes to cities, dynamic Helsinki, quirky Tampere and lakeland's Savonlinna are an enviable mix of culture, style, museums, shopping and nightlife.
Other highlights include chilling out in the world's biggest smoke sauna at Kuopio, crossing the Arctic Circle into Lapland to visit Santa in his official grotto at Rovaniemi, sampling Karelian cuisine in canalside Lappeenranta, visiting Porvoo's Swedish-flavoured medieval old town, dropping in to Turku and its maritime port, exploring the lovely seaside towns of Naantali and Hanko, and taking a boat to Aland (six hours from Turku).
Train is a great way to get around Finland: it's fast, efficient and comfortable, and the distances are never too far. The longest trip, Helsinki to Rovaniemi in Lapland, takes 10 to 12 hours.
Express trains run daily from Helsinki to Turku (two hours), Tampere (2 hours) and Lappeenranta (three hours). The Finnrail Pass costs $275/367/496 for three/five/10 days' second-class travel within a one-month timeframe.
Motorhome stays
In late August and early September 2008 we are travelling to Canada for a well-earned holiday. We are hoping to spend about eight days in a motorhome starting from Vancouver and travelling up to Jasper, then heading south and dropping off our motorhome in Calgary. Do you have suggestions of places we can stay?
- Rodney Francis
You'll be wowed by Alberta's spectacular mountains and valleys, not to mention the peaks and glaciers of the Canadian Rockies and the picture-postcard rivers and lakes that water them.
Mountain towns such as Banff, Jasper and Lake Louise draw the tourist crowds, but you can easily lose yourself in Banff's and Jasper's remote and rugged national parks.
For mountain town life, there's nothing like Calgary, the southern cowboy town that's evolved into the fastest growing city in North America.
You'll be able to see all this and more by RV (as they like to call motorhomes in North America), plus have your own roof over your head at night.
All Stays has a comprehensive listing of Canada's RV-friendly camping grounds, with useful information for Alberta and British Columbia.
Other good sites are Parks Canada, with details of all its camping grounds, and RV Park Reviews, for candid user-generated reviews of the sites.
Options include the immense Whistlers Campground (Whistlers Rd; RV sites $46) outside Jasper, Tunnel Mountain Village (Tunnel Mountain Rd; RV sites $46) at the top of Tunnel Mountain near Banff, Lake Louise Tent & Trailer (off Lake Louise Dr; RV sites from $35) near Lake Louise and the Calaway RV Park (RV sites from $32) amusement park near Calgary.
