The wife and I are in the early planning phase of a potential long stay in Europe next year, most likely Scotland. We're thinking 4-6 weeks in the April/May/June time frame. We'll have our three kids with us (4/6/8) so our intention would be to find a home base in Scotland to settle in and maybe do a few short trips from there, rather than spending the time on a big tour schlepping our kids around the continent. So with that in mind we're looking for one rental for the length of our stay, or maybe splitting it into two.

I'm curious if there are any here who have done something similar, and what thoughts or recommendations you might have. I'm not even sure where to start looking for properties other than Airbnb, which we don't typically use. Also any learnings from past experiences, things you wish you had done or glad you did, would be much appreciated. Thanks!

My aunt stays in Germany every year for 4-6 weeks. She always Airbnb's it and has never had issues.

We spent a month last year at an Airbnb in Lyon, France and three weeks this year at an Airbnb in Como, Italy. We did some remote work from both locations and the internet was as good, if not better than at our house in College Station. We stayed in the old town in both cities. I wanted to ensure there was sufficient groceries and public transportation within walking distance from the rentals. I also wanted a washing machine so I could do laundry, which cut down on the luggage we needed to take. I read lots of reviews before settling on each spot. Neither experience could have been better. We are already planning our next long term rental in Europe. Feel free to let me know if you have any specific questions I may be able to help with.

How much was the Lake Como rental ? Would like to maybe try this at some point for a couple of weeks to not be so hurried on a trip.

It was a little over $1000 USD per week for a 2 bedroom/2 bath place. We were a 5-10 minute walk to the ferry, which allowed us access to all the other towns on the lake.

Thanks

Booking.com is my go to for international stuff like this.

AirBNB and VRBO will give you lots of options. Third option is to get a local realtor to perform the search.

Well if you're thinking of getting a place in Tuscany don't bother. There's really nothing available

We've done this before and are doing it again starting next week with our kids.

The home base approach works really well for us. In our experience there are properties/services that cater to travel agents and trip planners, but we've had just as much luck - if not more - with AirBnB.

This next trip is all AirBnBs. I think AirBnb has cheaper fees compared to VRBO and I prefer to have all the reservations in one system.

We usually get places for a week at a time and move our home base around...

We haven't done this year, but its what I want to do when we have a kid. I feel like spending 6 or 8 weeks over summer in somewhere like Scotland or Italy with little trips out would be such a valuable experience and memory. Especially once I heard what people pay for summer camps for their kids.