ditto97

Hi. My husband and I are looking to take our 15 year old sons to Europe. We are clueless on European tourism. We are looking to go late March, but we don't know tourist attractions or anything. Are there any places that you guys would recommend? Any help is appreciated.
Thank you

Peter_S_Aus

Think about Venice - you can send your kids off on their own without too many worries.

Maybe they would enjoy this treasure hunt:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-teenagers.cfm

Cowboy1968

I think we need a bit more input.
When thinking back of your past vacations, what places did you like, and which trips weren't that great.
Did you have fun visiting big cities or were you stressed out after a day?
Did you have a better time outdoors, or was it more fun to spend hours in museums?

jamikins

Off the top of my head with little info:

England/London - lots of castles and history that the boys would likely enjoy

Italy - very family friendly and amazing historic sites

Why dont you send the boys to the book store and have them peruse the travel books and see what countries interest them?

Any country in Western Europe will be easy to do as a family and we can help you plan a good itinerary once you have decided what country.

The biggest tip is dont try to fit everything into one 2 week trip. Avoid 1 nighters, and remember 2 nights only gives you 1 full day. In a 2 week period (just as an example) dont try to fit more than 4 hotels in - i.e. pick 4 or less places to explore, some cities like London and Paris could fill a week each.

Hotel rooms in Europe are much smaller - a double room only has 1 double bed, so you would likely need 2 hotel rooms, or a quad (which can be hard to come by so start looking early). Apartments may be the best option to give you all some space and a kitchen to make some meals. Apartments may require a week long stay however so keep that in mind. Stars dont mean the same thing - the represent amenities hotels have, not necessarily qualities. There are some great 2 stars but you just wont likely get AC although you wont need that in March.

I hope this helps get you started!

sheila

Scotland is fantastic for adventure and outdoor stuff and, indeed, for history. End of March, maybe not so much. But this is a superb place to visit!

traveller1959

<<< our 15 year old sons >>>

You have twins? We too (although they have grown a bit).

It depends a bit on their interests. Usually, in this age, art museums are not on the list of top attractions. But often, kids in this age are impressed by history - Roman ruins, medieval castles. Somehow, cathedrals do not belong to their wishlists.

Study the guidebooks carefully and look for the more unusual experiences, e.g.

- walking through a 2000-year-old Roman sewer in Cologne,
- climbing the extremely narrow staircase of the tower of Rothenburg's city hall,
- seeing the museum of torture in the London Dungeon and getting photographed while executing Daddy,
- watching a medieval tournament at Warwick Castle,
- walking through a cave with prehistoric paintings in the Dordogne.

In every city or region of Europe you will find such experiences. Once you have decided where to go do some research and ask the locals here on the forum about special attractions.

Some museums will be interesting for the boys, e.g. the Experimentarium in Copenhagen, Deutsches Museum (science museum) in München or the Neanderthal Museum near Düsseldorf.

Secondly, practically everywhere in Europe you find amusement parks. Among the most significant ones are Parc Asterix near Paris or Europark in Rust, Southwest Germany. Again, it depends on your itinerary which one you may visit. Visiting an amusement park is a full-day program.

Thirdly, kids in this age may enjoy nightlife. In the bigger cities, there will be live music practically every night of the week for a variety of musical tastes. They will be announced in magazines and on special websites which are easy to find (start with the tourist office's website).

Unfortunately, you will not have beach weather in March, but in many European regions, you will find indoor pools, some of them really spectacular (with 20 slides or more), where you can spend several hours.

Ackislander

Do they have favorite bands? What music scenes are they interested in? Maybe you could plan a trip that includes some of those places.

My generation might want to go to Liverpool because of the Beatles, my son's generation to Ireland because of U2. There is a big hiphop scene in Brighton in the UK, for example, and it is only an hour from London by train. Mom and Dad can get them to go through the Palace (it's a hoot) then everyone can enjoy exploring the antique and other shops in the Lanes and the Laines, two separate places. There are lots of clothing and record shops in the former that will please the young.

Vttraveler

As others have said, it depends a lot on your kids' interests. We took a great trip to Rome with our then-16 year old son in March a few years ago. He had a strong interest in ancient Roman history and had been agitating to go for several years so possibly he is not a typical teen traveler. He did enjoy seeing the Vatican and hanging out in the various squares as well as the ancient sites. March is a good time for sight seeing in Rome--not too hot.

We rented an apartment for the week--more space for less money than hotels.

nytraveler

Every kid is different - and a lot depends on their interests.

In March you are going to be captive to the weather in a lot of places. If you want to do a lot of outdoor things you should stay in the southern part -southern Spain or Southern italy - or of course if you want a skiing vacation head for Switzerland.

Also, how much time do you have? And what does your budget look like?

robertino

Let them decide what appeals to them.

annhig

We took out not too interested in history son then aged 15 to Rome [with his elder sister] and he just loved it. we did what VTT did and rented an apartment for a week.

we also did Florence and venice for a week each but Rome was favourite with all of us.

watch out for when Easter falls with all of these as they get very busy around that time; Rome is the worst.

jgg

We have been to several European cities with our kids/teenagers and really I think they will love almost any major European city. Our kids loved Rome the most. We have also traveled a fair amount the last two weeks in March because that is when our kids spring break was. With that in mind Italy or Spain are probably the better choices weather wise (particularly Spain). I must admit after spending a cold two weeks in March in London and Paris we started looking for other parts of the globe where it would be warmer at that time of year.

Here is a link to my blog which has all our trip reports along with pictures. http://www.fromhometoroam.com/

ditto97

Thank you all for your responses.
I'm reading your blog now, jgg. Very informational and will help greatly.

I plan on having my twins do some research on where they would want to go most. Thank you all!