ANET01

My family of four including our 2 sons 10 and 15 will be going to Europe for 13 days the first part of June. I have planned nothing other than the flight (using award points) in and out of Paris. (wish I would have booked into Paris and out of another country, but too late to change it now, since they were award tickets). We were thinking of going to Paris/Normandy, Switzerland, and then Rome. We have not traveled international before.

Since we think that is probably too many destinations, we are looking for overall suggestions. My kids are okay with museums but don't love them. They love outdoors, adventure, military history, and trying different foods. Any suggestions on must do things or ideas. Want my kids to have a great time.

mamcalice

It is too many destinations and they are too spread out. Why not consider Paris, Normandy and London. If your kids like military history, London is a treasure trove. Normandy is great for WWII history and the Imperial War Roons in London will provide another perspective on the war.

bobthenavigator

I agree to drop Rome--just too far.
I would opt for the Swiss Alps as your 2nd destination---that with Paris will eat up 13 days.

TDudette

How exciting for you and your family. Considering that you will lose days 1 and 13 to travel, think about how many other days you would lose if you go to Rome and to Switzerland on this trip. Even if it's 1/2 day to each country, you would be left with 10 days for 3 countries. Plus back-tracking to Paris.

So, yes, I'd edit the trip to 2 destinations if possible. How long a trip would it be to continue on to Rome that 1st day? You could stay there half the days, then go back to Paris for the remainder. Your kids would love the ruins, Coliseum, Castel St. Angelo and Vatican Museums in Rome.

Hubs and I never got to Normandy and I'm not certain if you could do the beaches as a one-day tour from Paris-other Fodorites will weigh in. Your kids would enjoy Ecole Militaire in Paris-the Soldiers Museum and Napoleon stuff.

Food will be fabulous in both places.

As for Switzerland, I've never been so can't advise-do you have something special in mind that would make it your 2nd country?

Be prepared for much advice!

qwovadis

Congrats relax u will have a tonne of fun

travelforkids.com Europe great tips for kids

My wife and I are doing the same thing on aa.com Awards points

in April have started booking we go a lot here are some

nice planning sites for you. eurocheapo.com/paris

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/desti...ance/dday2.htm

D Day Beaches then head to sunfrance.com Carcassonne is

Awesome they have the largest Castle in Europe kids LOVE it

Hotel de Cite my fav there some Provence leclendal.com Arles

Nice for some beach... seat61.com/france hop regional

trains on family rates they are quite cheap.

or

Paris/Environs for a week or so then usually cheapest to

fly easyjet.com CDG Paris to MXP(Milan) do it a bunch

train to metropole.it Portofino Rome Florence venice-tourism

back to Milan for your hop back to Paris and home.

That is what we are doing booked in advance deals on easyjet

30 euros per person or so way cheaper and faster than train.

or

Fly one leg train back up from Milan via Stresa(awsome)

Simplon Pass Interlaken Geneva Paris if you want Swizerland

3 options lots of time to decide...

Lastly Hotels in paris are quite expensvie also venice rome

We find our best deals on good 4 stars from $60/nt

We have booked the Marriott CDG bidding priceline.com $69

for our flight night and also the secret 4 star

Louvre/Vendome hotel in Central Paris 115 euro an awesome

deals in an area where 4 stars average $500/nt

If you have any FF miles left you can book hotels with

them recently for us Ambassador Aran Blu Suite 40000mile/nt

1000 euro on the hotel booking sites so good deals to be

had but book early.... insuremytrip.com cheap wise once

you start for cancellation we book with Patriot usually

$1-2/da for comprehensive cover... Happy Planning!

qwovadis

betterbidding.com otel.com

our 2 fav cheap booking sites

Best 4 star deals all over bidding priceline.com.

qwovadis

Our Novotel Less Halles Louvre Hotel 4 star for $159

was on hotwire.com good deals there sometimes usually

priceline.com bidding yields best values for us.

zeppole

Given the way you describe your kids, I would pick France and Belgium. There is plenty of military history in both places, and if they love trying new foods, both countries are a budding gastronome's paradise.

You could spend some time biking around Brugge and near the seashore in Belgium. Or try out some land yachting. And they can visit Fort Napoleon (presumably having seen Napoleon's tomb and the museums of armor in Paris).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/201...eaches-secrets

http://www.flanderstoday.eu/content/unknown-ostend

I think you have time for a 3rd destination. Sometimes kids are more attuned to the excitement of cities, so London would be my pick (6 Paris/Normandy, 3 Belgium, 4 London), but if they are mountaineers who like cable cars and hiking, then Switzerland is grand -- although I think the Dolomiti are even grander.

zeppole

PS: Fodor's posters have never found it worthwhile to wade through qwovadis's unintelligible fantasies. The advice is bum and undoable, so feel free to skip the thread-clogger post.

zeppole

This might interest you too

http://www.visitbelgium.com/index.php/bastogne-waterloo

FamilyFriendlyItaly

ANET01,
You often can't do open jaw tickets with award travel, so don't worry that you're flying in/out Paris.

You have no shortage of advice posted here, but I will add another suggestion to your growing list of things to do: consider staying in France the whole time. With really only 11 days on the ground, traveling to another country is going to rob you of valuable time. Getting to London is quick by train (2 hours) or by plane (less than 1 hour)...but you have to get from your Paris hotel to London St. Pancras Station, and then from there to your hotel. Ultimately, 2 hours of travel time ends up being about a half day. Many people like to visit several countries during a big overseas trip. Which is fine, and that might suit your travel style better. But France (and Italy and Spain, for that matter) are so vastly different region to region, that you won't get tired of 2 weeks in one country. I just wanted to offer that up, but of course that's for you to decide.

You didn't say if you'd have a rental car, but I'd suggest one. If it were me, and I had only about 11 days, my trip might look like this:

I'd start with arriving in Paris for 3 nights. BTW, there is an excellent war museum at Les Invalides (fascinating museum of the French army and Napoleon's tomb) which is worth visiting for war buffs. The Lourve, if you're interested, could take at least half a day.

I'd then rent a car and go up to Normandy for 4 nights. Here you can visit the Normandy beaches and major WWII monuments. You can even hop over to Brittany...there's Mont St. Michel, great beaches, and beautiful scenery.

I'd then drive to the Loire Valley for 3 nights. If your kids are interested in history, then the Loire Valley is a great family destination particularly the chateaux of the Loire...the castles. Three days of exploring the Loire Valley, including some of the chateaux highlights of Azay-le-Rideau, Villandry, Chenonceau, and Chambord) is fantastic. Tours, Samur, Amboise, Chinon all make for a nice base. You could then drop the rental car in Tours and train back to Paris for your last night before you depart the next day. At some of the chateaux, you can row boat, or hot air ballooning is popular in the Loire Valley (ballooning above the chateaux is spectacular.) There's horseback riding, and Samur is famous, in part, for the Cadre Noir--the Black Squad--of horses and cavalry. They put on shows and it is impressive to see. Biking in the Loire (or in Normandy), because of the relatively flat terrain, is also a great activity for one day, and there are plenty of tour outfitters you can contact locally for that.

For your final night I'd spend it in Paris, and then depart the next day. It's about a 2.5 hour drive from the Loire to Paris, if memory serves me.

That's my 2 Euro! Bon voyage!

jh2011

I think you're going to too many places in just a few days. Do you think you could choose to trim down some destinations?

flsd

For military history, don't overlook WWI sites to the east of Paris, e.g., Verdun.

TDudette

Didn't I tell you you'd get more advice? Just remember, it's your trip so do what feels right and please, report back.

bilboburgler

A fodorite recommended using google maps and set the scale to match a similar length holiday in the States, this just gets you to see the relative scale you are planning. Good advice and I forward it.

In June I'd just do Paris, Normandy and Brittany. The last two offer you fortresses, castles, harbours, ancient villages, great local food and miles of beaches/rock pools etc. Looking at Normany as a WW2 site misses out on the opportunity that is offered.

Search on Brittany and Normandy on this site to get a good picture

Mimar

Are you sure you can't change your award tickets to open-jaw? I just did it with British Air FF tickets. It cost $70 each, which I didn't consider a bad price to pay. As it is, it will cost you money to backtrack plus you will probably need to spend your last night in Paris. So you lose some of your valuable vacation time.

L ilike bilboburgler's suggestion of Paris/Normandy/Brittany. But you probably want to visit more than one country.

I never read quovadis' replies. Too hard to wade through.

nytraveler

In your limited time I would either sitck with 1 country - or two adjacent ones. If you do Paris and London - or Paris and somewhere in Switz (although there's not a lot of military history there) then should bag Normandy. (To really see much of Normandy you need 3 days/2 nights.)

There is a lot of military history (from Waterloo through WWI and WWII in Belgium an Luxembourg - you could combine one of those with Paris. If so spend 5 days in Paris - then rent a car and head out to the various military sights (try to find places close enough together that you don;t have to keep moving hotels).

We did a trip south through easter Belgium and Luxembourg and find several incredilbly fascinating museums we had no idea ere there (this is why we do road trips). One was a small town museum of every sort of item left behind my soldier of both sides - and civilians - ranging from weapons to rations to cig pack and matches. It was amazing what they had collected. Another was a museum of WWII vehicles - again ranging from motorcycles with sidecars up through large trucks - from both sides - and you could often see damage from being fired upon. A great area to explore.

Michel_Paris

The simplest, since Paris is your arriving and departing point, might be to do a France "loop", with possibly an excursion to London thrown in. While you could do London by train in a day, it will be a long day. But with the time you have, maybe it might make sense to do it that way. Your London day could focus around the Trafalgar Sq down to Parliament area.

Perhaps arrive in Paris, spend 3-4 days there. London for a day. Paris for a night or two, rent car.

You could train to say..Caen, rent a car there and do the WWII beaches, Bayeux,etc.

Or, rent in Paris and drive the Loire valley, east to west, loop back to Paris via Chartres. I did that for my trip to the Loire, but added Fontainebleau (Napoleon's house) and Giverny (Monet) at the end. The Loire has many small towns, castles everywhere, dungeons, vineyards, caves,a smattering of smaller museums, Da Vinci's house, etc..

Michel_Paris

At the end, end up back in Paris. Allow one night in Paris before flight, perhaps near airport.

Even if you based yourself only in Paris, with TGV, you could do many say trips out of Paris, say Strasbourg, Rouen, Dijon,Brugges, etc..

ANET01

Okay, we are still just trying to lock in an itinerary here. I think I am like most on their first trip, trying to do to many destinations, but my oldest son who is 15 really wants to go to Rome.

Here is what we are looking into

May 31 8am, land in Paris, take additional flight to Rome
June 1, 2, and 3 Rome
June 3 Travel to Switzerland....not sure how yet
June 4, 5, 6 and 7 Switzerland
June 7 Travel to Normandy or Paris...not sure
June 8 and 9 Normandy
June 13, 11, 12 and 13 Paris
Evening 13th Fly home

We plan to pack light, and we are looking for an overview, not to fully absorb each country. Still....we may be crazy. Please let me know if we are .