THE RESULTS OF my informal Family Holiday Highlights Survey took me by surprise. Devised and carried out by myself – the mother of three children, aged ten, nine and five – it involved one simple question: what was the best day of your Italian

ViennaVienna is one of the few cities where both adults’ and children’s ideas of indulgence meet. To me, Vienna is old-world charm in unhurried cafés where Freud dreamt up theories and Trotsky planned a revolution. To my husband, it’s the setting

BarcelonaThis is a city that could have been designed for children, by children. With its mix of bright paint-box buildings, parks full of crayon-coloured sculptures and museums stuffed with crazy modern art, it’s a perfect break for all the family

, which was billed as a “once-in-a-lifetime VIP experience to eat alongside killer whales”. The buffet meal wasn’t up to much, but it was fun to see the whales interacting with their trainers. We were then whisked off to the Shamu Stadium, where the whales