Trip to Europe for family of 4
Dec 21st, 2013, 01:17 PM
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Trip to Europe for family of 4
Our daughter graduates college in 12/2014. Our family, including our son who will be 19 want to go to Europe. We are interested in London, Ireland, Amsterdam, Italy and the Mediterranean. We could go in 12/2014 or spring of 2015 and would like to go for 7-10 days.
We know we can not see all of the countries we are interested in. Would like opinions about what countries to visit and whether to take a tour or not, Our budget is moderate. In addition, would consider a cruise,
We know we can not see all of the countries we are interested in. Would like opinions about what countries to visit and whether to take a tour or not, Our budget is moderate. In addition, would consider a cruise,
Dec 21st, 2013, 01:25 PM
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If you want to see a little bit of port cities in several countries, then a cruise would be a good way to do it. (FWIW, I enjoy cruises.) But if you want to see a country in depth or want to visit sights in the interior, then a cruise would not be the best way to go.
With 7-10 days, I'd be tempted to choose just one country. I would not attempt to visit more than 2 countries in that amount of time. Your choices are all good and lend themselves well to self-touring. You could easily plan and execute your own tour using guidebooks and the internet. I see no reason to do an organized tour which I think you would find restrictive, especially with two college-aged children.
With 7-10 days, I'd be tempted to choose just one country. I would not attempt to visit more than 2 countries in that amount of time. Your choices are all good and lend themselves well to self-touring. You could easily plan and execute your own tour using guidebooks and the internet. I see no reason to do an organized tour which I think you would find restrictive, especially with two college-aged children.
Dec 21st, 2013, 01:28 PM
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With only 7 to 10 days you will have to cut down on your choices. I would suggest a choice of two locations. Maybe London (or Amsterdam) and Rome, taking day trips from both cities. That would fill up a week to ten days. Use one of the low-cost airlines to travel between the two and an open jaw option for the transatlantic flights.
Dec 21st, 2013, 01:33 PM
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Kind of all over the map here - it's your daughter's graduation present so where does she want to go would be my arbiter of where to go perhaps.
where to go how to go - pretty general questions that will be hard to answer.
For one thing I'd try to do two weeks minimum if you are going to pay all that air fare- now well over a grand usually at that time of year and actually be able to visit a few different countries.
And consider flying open jaw - into one city and out of another - fly into London - spend a few days there hop the Eurostar trains that go under the Channel via the Channel Rail Tunnel to Amsterdam (currently have to change in Brussels but soon there will be, maybe, direct London to Amsterdam trains - about as quick as flying and you'll see bits of France, Belgium and The Netherlands en route and not just airports and tarmacs.
Then get a cheap flight to Italy - spend the rest of your time there and fly home from say Rome. Use trains to go between say Venice, Florence and Rome
But in 7-10 days you'd have to do at most I think two places - land in London, fly to Venice and depart from Rome.
For lots of good info on European trains and the Eurostar trains I always spotlight these IMO superb sources - www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.
as for tours they are great for what they offer but the European rail system is so fantastic - trains going up to nearly 200 mph - it is easy to get around on your own - you can pre-book on various sites (www.eurostar.com for Eurostar trains from London; www.trenitalia.com for Italian trains - early birds get discounted tickets if book way in advance.
You did not mention Paris but a London to Paris (Eurostar) then night train later to Venice from Paris and then Florence and Rome could work if you say have two weeks - otherwise stick to London and Paris or Amsterdam or London and fly to Italy.
where to go how to go - pretty general questions that will be hard to answer.
For one thing I'd try to do two weeks minimum if you are going to pay all that air fare- now well over a grand usually at that time of year and actually be able to visit a few different countries.
And consider flying open jaw - into one city and out of another - fly into London - spend a few days there hop the Eurostar trains that go under the Channel via the Channel Rail Tunnel to Amsterdam (currently have to change in Brussels but soon there will be, maybe, direct London to Amsterdam trains - about as quick as flying and you'll see bits of France, Belgium and The Netherlands en route and not just airports and tarmacs.
Then get a cheap flight to Italy - spend the rest of your time there and fly home from say Rome. Use trains to go between say Venice, Florence and Rome
But in 7-10 days you'd have to do at most I think two places - land in London, fly to Venice and depart from Rome.
For lots of good info on European trains and the Eurostar trains I always spotlight these IMO superb sources - www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.
as for tours they are great for what they offer but the European rail system is so fantastic - trains going up to nearly 200 mph - it is easy to get around on your own - you can pre-book on various sites (www.eurostar.com for Eurostar trains from London; www.trenitalia.com for Italian trains - early birds get discounted tickets if book way in advance.
You did not mention Paris but a London to Paris (Eurostar) then night train later to Venice from Paris and then Florence and Rome could work if you say have two weeks - otherwise stick to London and Paris or Amsterdam or London and fly to Italy.
Dec 21st, 2013, 08:36 PM
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Agree with PalenQ. Try hard to have two weeks. You are spending so much money just to get there. Every day you can add cuts the total cost per day of the trip.
Also agree you have to cut. You do not want to spent all your time traveling once you are in Europe. You want as much time as possible sight seeing, eating, etc.
Go in Spring. Weather is more pleasant for walking, perhaps sitting outside to eat and the days are longer, more hours to see things.
Any major city in Europe can take a week or more, but two cities can work with only 7 days (do hope you do more) depending on the cities and connections. These pair nicely:
London and Paris
Venice and Rome
Florence and Rome
With 10 days:
You could just add some great day trips. If you still wanted more places, you could pair
London, Paris & Amsterdam
Venice, Florence & Rome.
Rome and the Amalfi Coast (Pompeii, Capri, etc.)
Logistically, those are reasonable, though you could make other combinations work.
The nice thing about London and Paris is the easy Eurostar in between and in Italy, cheap trains connect nearly everything.
You mentioned cruises.
It would not be my choice of a first trip to Europe, because evenings are spent on the ship and a lovely thing about being in European cities is walking around in the evening. At night, Rome glows and Paris sparkles - wonderful.
A cruise is not a good way to see much of Europe because, while some coastal and port cities are lovely, many places are too far inland to be easily visited from cruise ports. If you enjoy the cruise experience and just want a taste of a few ports, it is OK. However, I would not do a cruise to any of the places on your list except the Med. and only in nice weather. As a matter of fact many cruises do not go in winter anyway.
The other issue is time. Even if the cruise is 7 days, you would need at least one extra day at the beginning in addition to your flights. You do not want a delayed flight to make you miss the cruise and it is a shame to start a cruise with jet lag. So IMHO, a 7 day cruise in the Med really requires a minimum of 10 days.
One thing many people do is spend two or three days sight seeing before the cruise and/or a few days at the end, giving more in-depth sightseeing in at least two places. If you can do that (add days at the beginning and end), and you are quite interested in the Med, a cruise that begins in either Venice or Rome and ends in Athens (or visa-versa) with stops at various islands, is great. That way, you have time in two great cities as well as the cruise and islands, but you need two weeks.
Also agree you have to cut. You do not want to spent all your time traveling once you are in Europe. You want as much time as possible sight seeing, eating, etc.
Go in Spring. Weather is more pleasant for walking, perhaps sitting outside to eat and the days are longer, more hours to see things.
Any major city in Europe can take a week or more, but two cities can work with only 7 days (do hope you do more) depending on the cities and connections. These pair nicely:
London and Paris
Venice and Rome
Florence and Rome
With 10 days:
You could just add some great day trips. If you still wanted more places, you could pair
London, Paris & Amsterdam
Venice, Florence & Rome.
Rome and the Amalfi Coast (Pompeii, Capri, etc.)
Logistically, those are reasonable, though you could make other combinations work.
The nice thing about London and Paris is the easy Eurostar in between and in Italy, cheap trains connect nearly everything.
You mentioned cruises.
It would not be my choice of a first trip to Europe, because evenings are spent on the ship and a lovely thing about being in European cities is walking around in the evening. At night, Rome glows and Paris sparkles - wonderful.
A cruise is not a good way to see much of Europe because, while some coastal and port cities are lovely, many places are too far inland to be easily visited from cruise ports. If you enjoy the cruise experience and just want a taste of a few ports, it is OK. However, I would not do a cruise to any of the places on your list except the Med. and only in nice weather. As a matter of fact many cruises do not go in winter anyway.
The other issue is time. Even if the cruise is 7 days, you would need at least one extra day at the beginning in addition to your flights. You do not want a delayed flight to make you miss the cruise and it is a shame to start a cruise with jet lag. So IMHO, a 7 day cruise in the Med really requires a minimum of 10 days.
One thing many people do is spend two or three days sight seeing before the cruise and/or a few days at the end, giving more in-depth sightseeing in at least two places. If you can do that (add days at the beginning and end), and you are quite interested in the Med, a cruise that begins in either Venice or Rome and ends in Athens (or visa-versa) with stops at various islands, is great. That way, you have time in two great cities as well as the cruise and islands, but you need two weeks.
