We are taking a family holiday - first time (for kids) to Europe for a month. Flying into London and heading to Germany where we will base ourselves for a week (near Frankfurt ) including 2-3 days in Paris. We then plan to head down to Italy by train and base ourselves somewhere in Tuscany and do day trips to Florence, Rome, Sienna and get a feel for the village life in Italy. Prior to this we will go to Venice for a couple of days. Looking at travelling beginning of October. We are thinking of hiring a car to travel around Tuscany. We would rather spend time in one place and get a good look rather than rush and see too much Any ideas on where to stay, I was thinking of a villa with a swimming pool - will it be too cold at that time of the year? What are the essentials to see - kids are 12 and 14 and not into museums.
Travelling to Europe with teenagers
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I can't answer for the other destinations but October will be starting to turn cold in Germany. You sometimes get good weather up to September but you'll need a jacket by October, for sure. So forget swimming in those parts. Where are you going to be based in Germany?
Lavandula
Your itinerary is not quite clear. Frankfurt is a long way from Paris; they are 2 different destinations. Will you spend any time in London? Maybe lay out your itinerary vertically, listing how many nights at each stop.
I assume you haven't yet bought your plane tickets. Do an open-jaw, into one city, out of another. In your case, into London or Frankfurt and out of Rome. This should cost about the same as a round-trip ticket and save the money and time you would spend back-tracking.
And involve the kids in the trip-planning. Get them guidebooks to read, rent travel videos. Or get this stuff from the library. Maybe each child could pick a sight to see. They'll be more invested in the trip and more fun to travel with. And remember it for years afterward.
Is London just a transit point or are you staying there several days? You seem to be jumping around a bit. It would make more sense London > Paris (by train) > Germany (by train or plane) > Venice > Tuscany.
Rome is not a 'day trip' sort of place.
Where are you flying home from?
We have had frost in October in Tuscany, so I would save the money you might spend on a pool. If they want to do a water thing, the spas (terme) are kind of interesting.
Mimar's advice on involving the kids is really good.
Thousands of people do day trips to Rome, from either cruise ships or other places in Italy, so if your kids are not into museums, it is very doable. But not with a car.
It would be simpler if you planned on 2 or 3 nights in Florence without a car, both to see Florence in a day but also to take the train to Rome for the day. Siena can also be a day trip from Florence, or you can see it as a day trip from a Tuscan villa.
It will probably be too cold for pool swimming, and instead of renting a villa in the countryside, consider instead renting an apartment on a farm, especially one that serves dinners to its guests or has a restaurant on site, or is very near a small town. That way, you won't have to shop and cook for yourselves all the time, which can be time-consuming in rural Tuscany, which has few supermarkets, and small food shops keep limited hours.
It's hard to pick the right spot for your kids to enjoy in the Tuscan countryside. This is wine country, and a lot of the popularity of the region for tourists is wine plus views. If your kids like horseback riding or biking, that can be found. Sometimes families do best staying in the area of Tuscany that makes it possible to do day trips to Lucca, Pisa and San Gimignano/Volterra, because these are more dramatic medieval places (along with Siena) but not art-museum heavy.
Great advice thank you. We have not booked anything yet so our plans are open wide. We have friends near Frankfurt and they have suggested we base ourselves at their house - ie leaving luggage etc. We thought that we could go direct from London (after spending 2-3 days in London)to Frankfurt by train and then go to Paris. But maybe we should do Paris after London then go to Frankfurt and Italy.
I like the idea of a farmstay, sounds like the kids wont be swimming in Italy. I just assumed their would be supermarkets/markets everywhere!!
Have asked kids for input but it seems to big for them at the moment, DVDs sound a good idea.
I will continue with further reading of guide books !!then come back with more questions. This is a great forum thankyou all.
making any trip work with teenagers is dependent on their full inclusion in planning. They tend to be great internet researchers and can help by being clear about their interests and finding places they are drawn to. They may not be into museums generally but there may be some to fit special interests of theirs; music, cars, whatever. My son at that age loved aimlessly wandering city streets and he very much enjoyed doing so in both London and Paris, rooting around in bookstores engaged him for hours. just an example.
Well it all seems a bit , but this is how I would do it( I have taken a 14 yr and an 11 yr old to Europe on my own, so I like things simple).
Fly into London, three nights( that only equals two full days, and even kids will enjoy the Natural History Museum and a visit to the Tower of London).
Then Eurostar to Paris( that fun, only 2.5 hours , city center to city center so stressfree too).
Minimum four days in Paris.Be sure to have kids google and look up the Catacombs in Paris, my 14 yr son considered it a highlight of his trip,, and he discovered it( more on that later) .
Then, fly to Frankfurt, spend week there, do laundry , visit around , enjoy your friends. Then ( and here is where I am a bit lost as I have not done this) either fly or take train to Venice, two nights( its not that exciting if its raining) then train to Rome, a minimum of 3-4 nights in Rome( kids like seeing Coliseum,, and I would definately consider a daytrip to Pompei,, most kids know about it, and it won't be as crowded and hot as it is in July.
Fly home from Rome.
Now, I know you still have some time in there, not sure how to fit in a visit to Tuscany as i won't rent a car and drive myself, but perhaps thats a good option for you.
Lastly I took my kids on seperate one on one trips, and each of them was required to partcipate in planning . It was not an option. Kids spend hours on their computers, they are not stupid. I made my kids submit three sites they wanted to see. Its not hard for a kid to google "sites in Paris",, my 11 yr old could. Thats how my son found out about the Catacombs. The deal is ,,if they discover a site , and its within budget, we have to go.. and let me tell you, I did not want to visit the Catacombs,I am mildly claustrophobic,, but a deal is a deal. Of course both kids wanted to see the Eiffel Tower and climb the Towers of Notre Dame( it has a website, as most sites do ,, and in english!) . My daughter found a nice little costume museum in Venice. We went.
Have fun, but involve kids, and even if they are not into museums there are some amazing things to see, mummies , crown jewels, antique clothes,,etc.
Also there are some great daytrips from all these cities, so you can use them as mini bases too.
Travel light,, one small rolling bag each,, seriously, there will be much whining if you all over pack,, it will be miserable. My daugher managed just fine with a 21 inch roll bag for 26 days, and we didn't have the luxury of having friend with a washing machine( we did find one, but did a lot of sink washing!)