anw

We are interested in planning a family trip with 2 children 11 and 15 to see some key sites in Europe. We would like to start in Rome, head to Paris, than London, and possibly Germany and/or Prague , Brussels. After landing in Rome, we would prefer to take trains to get from one destination to the next without being on the train for a whole day. What are the best modes of travel and places to see to accomplish this trip. With the exception of Rome, Paris and London we are flexible on the other family locations and sites to see. We have allways taken structured family tours for international vacations. This is the first one with the kids where we would like to do without a tour so we can hit a few of the highlights. Thanks in advnace

StCirq

How much time do you have on the ground?

jkbritt

In Paris, London, Brussels, Rome, etc. you will use public transportation or your feet. I hope you have 6 weeks or so for this trip. Otherwise, you need to narrow your scope a lot. With 4, train or plane expenses to go to each city is going to be expensive. You might want to consider renting a car to travel between cities, stopping at smaller cities on the way. If you really want to do public transport, buy the tickets in advance, way in advance to get specials, to save a bit. The further apart the cities you wish to see, flying becomes a better option. See skyscanner.com for plane ideas. Luggage allowances are miniscule, but Ryanair and Easyjet, airlingus,are some of the cheap airlines, there are more. Be sure to read the small print before you book. Also, there is an extensive bus system in Europe that you might want to check out. See: eurolnes.com. I would pick a city and try to stay a week or so in each, renting an apt. instead of hotel rooms. Cooking your own food for 4 will save a bundle and you have 3 times the space. Been there, did that with my two kids and hotel rooms get really crowded in a very short time. Apartments are the way to go.

jkbritt

That would be eurolines.com. My i is not working so well these days.

nytraveler

Agree that we need to know how much time you have.

We took daughters 11 and 14 first trip - and that ws 2 weeks in London and Paris (with a day trip from each). It gave them a chance to really see/understand somethng of the cities - and also some alone time for us while they shopped or lollygagged.

Your kids are cetainly old enough to help substantailly with the planning - esp sights and restaurants.

As for transit - the more places you go the more you will run up your expenses. We almost always do road trips (we prefer driving except in a few cities where it doesn;t make sense) unlees we are doing just 1 or 2 major cities. The more people you have the easier driving is to making a lot of fixed transit schedules - never mind the serendipity os seeing exactly what you want - versus seeing some adorable town pas by out the window of a train.

Gretchen

As someone said I hope you have weeks, and also buckets of money.
Pare it down and rent a car.