Sorry, above when I said 3 days in each place, I meant 3 days in the city, 3 days in another spot in that country, then fly a day in between and do another 3/3 combo of city and smaller town perhaps.

It would help if you could give us a better idea of what your (and the kids') interests are on this trip. Why did they choose Spain and Germany. What are your primary goals: Hiking, museums, doing "fun" things, outdoor things, etc.? For example, if seeing mountains and a ski are important, then maybe you should consider Switzerland or Austria instead of Germany. Also, Spain and Germany have two different types of climate - makes more sense to visit Spain in April and Germany in June, but Germany can be cold in April and Spain can be (as you have found out) hot in June. Then there are the distances. Personally, I would suggest either something like Spain/Portugal/French Riviera or some combination of Switzerland/Austria/Germany.

>>They've both agreed on Spain & Germany.

You have raised these boys to have sound judgement!

>> But my boys are HUGE Barca fans

Oh my, I spoke too soon.....


Well Munich is probably the best city base in Germany given your boys interests. They may think it a bit shoddy but the do have a pretty good football team there, too. GO BAYERN! You could spend 4-5 days there and 2-3 in the Alps, maybe Garmisch for hiking, rodelbahn, Zugspitze cable car.

From Munich you could fly to Barcelona for 3-4 days, there is the coast and beaches for the boys and Monserrat and some mountain activity nearby too. The either fly (intra Spain airfares can be very reasonable if booked early) or take the train to Seville. for 3-4 days.

An AVE train gets you back to Madrid for 1 night at an airport hotel for the flight home.

I believe that both Munich and Madrid are well served from Boston.

Thank you Tom & Aramis for your replies...

Tom, both the boys have taken Spanish since kindergarten, their Spanish teacher is from Spain, and one of my older son's closest friends (and soccer teammate) is from Barcelona (living in the States now). So I think that's there reason behind Spain. I'd actually prefer if we were going outside of Catalonia, but again, I don't want to bite off a huge multiple destination jaunt. And they know that my husband and I have been a couple of times and enjoyed it, so that adds into the appeal. As for Germany I think it's a heritage thing...as their great-grandfather is from there, their grandfather lived there for a number of years as an adult and likes to teach the boys German phrases.

As for "goals" I guess it's a mix. We do all like to hike, walk, just be out and about. It's mostly about just being someplace different. I'd like to leave many of our days just free for exploring and let the kids kind of guide the days, rather than dragging them to things we'd like to do. I love museums, but the kids notsomuch. So we'll limit that a bit. I can see them enjoying a castle visit, but not multiple ones. We do like to ski, but we live in a ski area, and the point of this isn't really a ski trip. I could see potentially scoping out a nice town for a future ski vacation. My husband and I have skied in St. Anton and Zermatt before. My older son wishes we could visit Chamonix (and so do I), but I don't think we can squeeze it into this visit. We aren't looking for a warm weather vacation, Germany's climate is similar to our home, so I'm not worried about a bit of rain/chill. I do agree with you, that the two suggested separate vacations would be better (and probably less tiring).

Aramis, LOL. But at least they are fans of the right kind of football, right? Thanks for your suggestions about Garmisch. I'll check it out. I had thought of flying from Barcelona to Seville (I did the reverse last summer), but I'm thinking that sadly we may have to omit Seville from this trip.

Thanks again for your advice and appreciate other ideas as well. I'm going to start really digging in on my research, so I'm sure I'll have questions soon!

IMHO Spain is too hot in June. I would do April to get moderate weather there and jut take a jacket for Germany.

Just wanted to thank those who gave advice. We've decided because of limited time we are going to go to Spain at another time when we can visit more than just Barcelona. So now we are flying into Zurich so we can see our friends, will have about 11/12 nights free (with no itinerary as of yet), then take the train to Paris for the last 3/4 nights before we fly home.

Off to do some research here for ideas of a stop or two during those 11/12 nights. But if any of you have suggestions, would love to hear them!

If you are thinking about stopping somewhere between Zurich and Paris you might consider either Colmar or Strasbourg in Alsace in France. You can get from Zurich to Strasbourg in under 3 hours. You could stay there for 2 or 3 nights, rent a car and visit the Route du Vin in Alsace and also Colmar, and then take the TGV to Paris in less than 2.5 hours.