5 countries in 5 weeks - family trip

Old Feb 17th, 2017, 09:38 AM
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5 countries in 5 weeks - family trip

We are taking a 5 week trip to Europe/Africa this summer. Our children will be 13 and 14 years old. We will be in London, Munich, Madrid, France and Morocco. I am looking for hotel recommendations for Paris AND any and all day trip/tour recommendations for all 5 countries. This trip is quickly becoming overwhelming.

We prefer luxury hotels over boutique hotels and location is a top consideration. Ideally, we would like a hotel with a room that accommodate 4 people or the option of connecting rooms. Is that even an option anywhere?

I'm looking for feedback regarding what would be especially good for young teenagers. They are not excited about art museums and long walking tours. I'm sure they will get some of both, but I want to be sure to arrange some activities that are more fitting for their ages.

Thanks in advance for your help. This is so exciting.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 09:52 AM
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hi Katpal,

i know that 5 weeks seems like a long time, but it looks as if you want to pack a lot into it - 5 countries is a lot of ground to cover even in 5 weeks.

Also, you say that your kids aren't interested in art museums [does this mean that there are some museums that they ARE interested in?] or long walking tour,s and you want activities more suited to their ages.

if that's the case, how did you select your 5 places? How are you expecting those places to fit those criteria?

Also, how are you in the heat? Morocco and Madrid are likely to be very hot, possibly stinking hot in the summer so I'm not sure what activities you are going to manage to do in those places which will interest your kids.

You know your kids best - what do they like to do? I can think of lots of possibilities - canoeing on the Dordogne or Ardeche in France, bike tours on the Loire and in the UK, trips to the mountains from Munich - IME most kids enjoy those - but they are not necessarily compatible with the sort of accommodation you're thinking of.

Accord hotels often have family rooms - and top end hotels often have connecting rooms or suites. booking.com will allow you to select for rooms for 4 for example.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 09:57 AM
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. . . Stinking <red> HOT
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 10:00 AM
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You have listed three cities and two whole countries. Are you planning on visiting multiple cities in France and Morocco? My Morocco trip was years ago, and we had three weeks, so I find it hard to imagine trying to visit Morocco in a week. Do you have an are you want to focus on? We loved Fez (and the Palais Jamai, where we stayed). In checking online, it is now managed by Sofitel. We had a car and driver and drove over the Atlas Mountains. We very much enjoyed the hotels in the old Riads, such as one in Touradent. By the way, Booking.com makes it easy to request a room for four people.

Involve your teens in the planning. Get guidebooks for each destination (your library likely has a large selection) and get them to tell you what they want to do/see.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 10:25 AM
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How did you pick these places? I can imagine it's becoming overwhelming because you are trying to do too much in too little time.

Where in France do you plan to go? Where in Morocco? Both are large countries that cannot be seen, even sketchily, in a week.

Your children are plenty old enough to be able to do research and figure out what appeals to them, especially if you have no budget limitations.

You should have no problem finding rooms for 4 or chambres communicantes anywhere, but they are less common than other types of rooms, so book well ahead.

I hope you're fine with hot conditions.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 10:28 AM
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Thanks for the quick responses. Here are answers to the questions... The locations were picked for various reasons, which don't all make sense now (for instance, we picked Munich thinking my husband was going to buy a BMW at the plant there, but has since changed his mind); however, plane tickets have already been booked, so we're making the most of it.

Our kids like tech museums where they can play with things rather than art museums. I'm sure they would love being able to make things, cook things, explore underground, ride in a boat, etc. I'm not sure what options are available. I'm hoping someone who has traveled to any of these places with teenagers can share some specific activities that their teens loved. I know all kids are different.

We will be in Paris, France and Marrakesh, Morocco.

Thanks!!!!
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 10:46 AM
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Katpal - can you give us an idea of your actual itinerary? order of places, how long there, how you're moving from place to place?

e.g. Day 1 arrive Munich, Day 5 fly to Marakesh, etc, - that will make it a lot easier for us to see the shape of your trip and what may or may not be possible.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 10:58 AM
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Annhig, yes I can share our itinerary, but I'm embarrassed to admit it. Here's the scoop... Our daughter is a competitive gymnast in the USA, so she cannot be away from the gym for 5 weeks prior to her season starting. So, we started this adventure planning on staying the whole time in Spain where I have arranged for her to work out with a local gym there. We were going to do Spanish classes during the week and take small weekend trips. Additionally, my husband originally was going to buy a BMW while we were abroad, which is why we have plane tickets to Munich. He has since decided not to purchase the car though. Anyway, plans change, plane tickets aren't as easy to change. I know it's crazy, so please no criticism. We are trying to make the most of what we've started.

June - July
Fly into London (4 days)
Fly London to Munich (4 days)
Fly Munich to Madrid (stay in a condo for 4 weeks)

Side trips from Madrid:
Marrakesh (4 days)
Paris (4 days)... Haven't booked Paris yet. Could skip it.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 11:22 AM
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So the places where it says 4 days, do you have 5 nights? Just trying to see what the actual available sight-seeing time is.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 11:27 AM
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No need for embarrassment, KatPal, and congrats to your DD - she must be very talented and work very hard, and of course there's the family commitment too as you are very nicely demonstrating here, by spending a whole 4 weeks in Madrid!

Presumably you will want an apartment in Madrid, and you'd better get used to their funny hours - in the summer it seems that they only start to go out at about 10pm!

if you are not wedded to Marakesh or Paris, how about going somewhere a bit cooler at the end of the trip ? Amsterdam perhaps - you could spend a few days there and a few days exploring the Netherlands by biking along the canals.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 11:59 AM
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3 nights, 4 days. Kids are pretty excited about both Marrakesh and Paris.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 12:03 PM
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You mean you're in Madrid then go to Marrakesh but back to Madrid again, separate trip Madrid to Paris then back to Madrid again? Those two trips subtracted from the month stay?

Overall I think you have a good plan and idea, but that part seems a to involve quite a bit of 'backtracking'?
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 12:11 PM
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suze, We have rented a place in Madrid for the month. Paris and Marrakesh will be short side trips flying in and out of Madrid. We will be abroad 5 weeks total. (London/Munich one week, Madrid/Paris/Marrakesh four weeks) Sorry it's so confusing.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 12:32 PM
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No, I got it now. Thanks for explaining.

That would be way too much "running around" for me, but everyone's different in that way, so may work OK for your family.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 12:35 PM
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to London
London to Munich
Munich to Madrid
Madrid to Marrakesh to Madrid
Madrid to Paris to Madrid
Madrid to London for flight home?

I think maybe the planning is feeling "overwhelming" because of how much you are trying to cover. It's a lot.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 01:16 PM
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Let me point out that three nights is never 4 days. It takes 5 nights to make 4 full days. You have to take transit time into consideration, not just how long does the flight to train take, but also packing up and checking out of your lodgings, getting to the station or airport, waiting time, actual transit time, getting to your next lodging, checking in and getting settled. Then we haven't even talked about getting oriented to public transportation.

Frankly, I think you are trying to cover too much in your limited time.

Since your husband is no longer planning on buying a car in Germany, can you cut out Munich? Then you could add another day to each of your other locations. Four full days in those cities isn't much, but it is better than a mere three days.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 02:07 PM
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If you could give up Marrakesh on this trip, the flow would not include backtracking so much. Perhaps you could hit Paris for a few days on your way to London from Madrid. This would give you time in four cities and time to spend some quality time in each.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 02:24 PM
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You have a long (did we say HOT) stay in Madrid and a lot of other dribs and drabs. flying in to Munich seems to be a given so in the very short non-Madrid time you have do JUST Munich and London.

Or even JUST Munich/Bavaria

Forget the rest . . .
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 02:50 PM
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Just a few thoughts about possible hotels. A luxury hotel in Paris for two connected rooms will cost about $3000 a night. London will be about $2500/night. Unfortunately both above my pay grade. We enjoyed the 4S in Marrakesh and The Sofitel in both Munich and London. You can do a decent job of seeing both Munich and Marrakesh in about 3 full days each but London and Paris are full of things to see and explore.
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Old Feb 17th, 2017, 03:51 PM
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Here are some out-of-the-box suggestions:

- Are you committed to the Madrid training facility? If not, I'm guessing her coach(es) have contacts with other international clubs; maybe she could train one week in Paris, one week in London, one week in Madrid, etc. (My daughter used to be a competitive skiier, and her coaches knew people all over the U.S. and Europe.)

- Can your husband and son, and/or you and your son, do separate trips while the other spouse stays with your daughter?

- Just pay the change fees on the airfare within Europe that you've already paid for Munich (save money by staying in non-luxury hotels) and figure out different places to visit from Madrid; kind of weekend breaks between your time in Madrid. See where you can fly using Ryanair or Easyjet. And there are plenty of long weekend trips you could make within Spain, to Barcelona, the mountains, the Basque country, etc.

In terms of things to do, at those ages, my kids (now 18 and 21) pretty much liked the same things we did (lots of museums, plus other stuff). But castles of any type are always great, though most of the areas I think of would be more difficult from Madrid (Loire Valley, Dordogne, Czech Republic). In London, check out LondonWalks; they have a great list of walking tours, and we've enjoyed a variety of those.

We were able to find rooms for four people (usually called "family rooms") in most places, including London and Paris, but we were not looking at luxury hotels, so I can't tell you whether they're available at luxury hotels.
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