I am planning a 14 day trip from Paris to the south of France and from there to Italy, Switzerland, Germany and back to Paris. I have. 2 kids 13 & 11 they love history and travel. We would like to rent a car, but I got the feeling that a train might be a better option. Please give your input regarding places to stay and visit. We can drive a stick shift car on either side of the road. Would like to stay in villages, not the normal tourist spot. We dont mind to stay in B&B.

You'll have to be more precise to get any relevant advice. The south of France stretches from the Atlantic to the Alps.

If traveling by train, villages and B&Bs are not readily accessible in France.

You may have to limit the geographical area covered in France, perhaps to the Alsace and the Jura region whose mountains form the boundary between France and Switzerland.

Have you looked at any guidebooks? Fodor's and the Michelin Green Guide might be a good place to start. Have the children browse through them to see what would interest them.

Oh my, this is ambitious. IMHO, you would be far better off to stick to a smaller area. You will be spending your entire vacation in a car or waiting for or on a train. Rush here, rush there, no time to enjoy anything. This is more like a two month itinerary if you want to actually visit historic places, see the scenery, meet people, and actually enjoy your trip. Have your kids do some research and figure out what they most want to see. You could spend a week in Italy and see Rome and Florence nicely for fabulous ancient ruins and Renaissance, then take a train to Venice for a few days for a unique experience. You could fly to Paris, or some town in Germany for the last few days. If you already have tickets in and out of Paris, stay in France, maybe spend a few days in Germany or Switzeland. There is so much to see in the places you have named, you would be overwhelmed and frustrated by trying to see too much, and come back from your trip frazzled and exhausted.

Thank you so much for you advice, we are doing more research and will focus on France and Switzerland for now.

I think Jan is right. You should focus on one or two countries. Fodors has a guide called "Exploring France" which has pictures of the various sights you might want to see. Your kids might see places or areas that look appealing. Other guides give different kind of information.

Preface this with - I like to see as much as possible the first time, and then you can come back and spend more time exploring the places you really like.

I am also a big fan of taking the train in Europe - which takes you from city/village center to city/village center - and enjoying the beautiful scenery pass by while having a picnic lunch - or a few libations and leaving the "driving"/guesswork to someone else.

Now that doesn't mean you can't rent a car in Provence/Southern France or elsewhere for a day or two/whatever - but if you check on the various EuroRail type options (say taking the train 5 days during a 30 day period) - you can enjoy the benefits of both.

Biggest tip: Pack light (see the various tips in here, by Arthur Frommer, Rick Steves, etc) so that everybody can pull around their own luggage and lift it when necessary.

Again, pack light, and you can always find stuff over there if you need to your wardrobe, etc. P)

Have a blast and please post more about your plans.

BTW - you can pop on a train and get down to beautiful Lago Como and over to Milan if you want a sample of Italy.

Or - just hang with the family in Switzerland - and I would start checking out the Bernese Oberland area (see - the villges of Murren and Wengen for example - above Interlaken), and we also loved Zermatt - and the nearby Matterhorn. We stayed at the 10,000 foot high Kulm Kornergrat while visiting Zermatt - and had a long horned Chamois casually looking back up at us - and he was standing on a small ledge of a complete drop off.

We came over to Zermatt after staying a few days at beautiful Lake Annecy - and they were both tres beautiful.

http://www.booking.com/hotel/ch/3100...FQgFRQodoXw4UQ

Just to be a bit more clear. After staying in Paris - and taking a brief day trip through the Chateaux in the Loire Valley (want to go back and stay by Blois and rent bicycles to tour around) - we took the TGV/fast train down to Aix and stayed there and at a small, very cute village by Arles (Fontvielle - if I can spell it correctly) and then rented a car and drove around Provence a bit (check out hilltop villages such as Gordes) - and then up to Lake Annecy - where we stayed at The Abbey - on the east side.

From there, it was a combo train/bus (heavy snowfall in May had closed one train route) over to Zermatt - which was amazing - and on down to Lago Como and flew back from Milan.

We previously had been to the Interlaken/Bernease Oberland area - and my wife and sister also on another trip had stayed in the carless village of Murren - perched on the edge of the mountain with a great view of the big 3 - the Monch, Eiger and Jungfrau mountains. All kinds of hiking in the area, with waterfalls, green mopuntain meadows, the like.

Regarding Tomd's advice:

1.You never want to rent a car for just "a day or two." It's not cost-effective at all.

2. You probably don't want to even look at Rail Europe for the trip you are contemplating. Use the individual country rail sites like SNCF for France and Trenitalia for Italy (lots of information on how to do that here on Fodors).

I'd stick to two countries and rent a car. You won't be able to enjoy "villages" unless you do that or avail yourself of sparse public transportation options. Consider getting open-jaw tickets (flying into one city and departing from another), though one thing you don't want to do is pick up a rental car in one country and drop it off in another (major drop-off fees).

Good luck.

villages and rural areas rent a car

cities like Paris, Florence, Rome and obviously Venice cars are useless and a liability IME - large areas of those towns have been closed off the privatte vehicles (well Italian towns at least) and parking can be hard and you never want to leave valuables in your car - trains are great and with kids that age a first-class railpass will give you plenty of empty seats often IME to spread out in - and there is a Rail and Drive Pass where you can rent a car a day here at a train station, drive it thru countryside to another station return car and hop back on train.

Anyway for lots of great info on trains I always spotlight these fine IMO sites - www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.rikcsteves.com and www.seat61.com (click on this link's commercial link to RailEurope for current railpass prices - passes not sold at most European stations since European residents now allowed to use Eurailpasses. If doing all 3 countries - quite a stretch IMO in that short a time look at a Eurail Select Saverpass (11 yr old pay 50%) or for just France and Italy the Franc-Italy railpass. You can also book far in advance online discounts for tickets that however cannot often be changed nor refunded but can be very cheap if you know exactly what train you want to take weeks in advance (sold in limited numbers and can quickly sell out months in advance) - pass can be used on any train anytime though in France and Italy seat reservations are mandated and cost a little extra even with a pass.

Thanks PalenQ: The Saverpass concept is what I was thinking of, and you can even include car-rental days in that kind of reservation, and I think you can independently rent cars for a day or two in various places that are not that expensive.

We rented a car for 4 days in Provence (don't try it during noon - as they take very long lunches/siestas - and turned it in by Chaminoix (Cruze was it?) - and it wasn't that expensive at all.

And Seat61 or the man in seat61 is just the best there is when it comes to train travel info. He used to work for a railroad in the UK I believe it was - and has traveled all over - and is pleasantly responsive when you email him.

Here is his page/info on rail-passes - and also - go to your local bookstore and there are several rail guides - by Frommer's, etc. http://www.seat61.com/Railpass-and-E...pass-guide.htm

Paris to the south of France and from there to Italy, Switzerland, Germany and back to Paris
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OK that's 6 places in 14 days. If you haven't included your "to and from" travel days, that's 6 places in 12 days. If it only takes 1/2 day to move from one city to another, that's even less than 2 days in each place.

If it's possible, fly into Paris and out of your final destination so you don't have to double back. And then see what you could edit out so you'd have an average of 4 days in each place (with Paris garnering more than that if poss, IMO). Also, see what could be a day trip rather than an overnight and add to your main cities accordingly.

Tomsd, I forget how many days you had for your trip. Similar to OP?

BTW - if you are going to spend most of your time in France - you might price out a one week French Rail pass - and don't activate it until you leave Paris. You could then zip around to say the Loire Valley - down to Provence/Avignon/Arlex/Aix and also get to the Swiss or Italian Borders - and from there use point to point tix - or check the two country pass - even three country? - as suggested by PalenQ.

BTW - in Paris - check out a Metro pass (single or multiday) - or buying a carte/10 ticket package to get around more easily with a group such as yours. Between walking and taking the Metro - whose tickets are also good on the bus - you can easily navigate your way around beautiful Paris, my favorite city in the World. (Although for large cities - have to include Rome).

TDu: We did have 17 days - and had been there before - so we knew how to get around (with one suitcase each!!!), make the train reservations when necessary - when/where to rent a car, etc.

If they wanted a semi-whirlwind tour - (again - different strokes for different folks - and I like to see as much as possible the first time - a survey type trip vis a vis kicking back/more in depth review of a few areas) - I would start in Paris - for 3 days (hold on - that's assuming they have to fly back out of Paris - so they could have another day there at the end - or it's certainly not a crime to spend a 4th day in Paris ).

Also if you do decide to spend 4 nights in Paris - in addition to taking a half day trip (with picnic lunch?) to Versailles - you could, if interested, also spend a day going through the Loire Valley - taking the train to Tours, across to Blois, then on to Orleans and back to Paris - or just use Tours as your one day base to see a Castle/Chateaux or two. The girls might like that - and the big girls could read the history of Chencenou is it - where the Queen kicked out the King's mistress after he died.

Would then from Paris take the TGV/fast train down to Avignon (3 hrs?) for two nights - using that as a base to see some of Provence. There are even the dreaded tour buses for getting out to see say Gordes or Rouissolon (sp) if you didn't want to rent a car, worry about driving.

From Avignon - I would take the train all the way to Florence (yes, a long day - but enjoy the scenery - and take a nice picnic lunch - or use the dining car) - and after a couple/three of days there - head up to Switzerland and kick back there and fly back from say Zurich - or zip back to Paris. One could also keep the same room in Florence - and get up early for a qzip down (hour and a half fast train) to Rome and see a few of the sights - and then get back to your room in Florence - without having to pack up and move.

Here is more of a Swiss RR site - and you can check for the various trips/schedules. http://www.raileurope.com/train-faq/...sbb/index.html

It's all a question of how you feel - and what you want to see (especially the first time) - and travel energizes moi.

My point was that a 1- or 2-day car rental is often as much as a 3-day rental; a 4-day rental isn't what I was referring to.

And my other point was that if you rent a car in one COUNTRY and drop it off in another COUNTRY, you get hit with huge fees. Generally not an issue dropping off in another location within the same country.

Actually - here is a better webpage for checking from point to point and I think this is from Avignon to Florence/Firence - and you can leave early - 8:30 or so - and be in Florence (change or two of trains) by 4:30 or so.

http://fahrplan.sbb.ch/bin/query.exe/en

Fiddeely Foo: Guess it didn't copy. See if this does and you can leave Avignon at 7:30 and be in Florence by 4:30.

Station/Stop Date Time Duration Chg. Travel with Occupancy Fare
Connection 11Show details for connection 1 Local area map: Avignon TGV Avignon TGV Fr, 02.03.12 dep 07:15 9:15 3 TGV, RE, ES Fare/Buy
Local area map: Firenze S. M. N. Firenze S. M. N. arr 16:30

Connection 22Show details for connection 2 Local area map: Avignon Ville Avignon Ville Fr, 02.03.12 dep 08:57 10:33 2 TGV, ES Fare/Buy
Local area map: Firenze S. M. N. Firenze S. M. N. arr 19:30

Connection 33Show details for connection 3 Local area map: Avignon TGV Avignon TGV Fr, 02.03.12 dep 09:51 9:39 3 TGV, RE, ES Fare/Buy
Local area map: Firenze S. M. N. Firenze S. M. N. arr 19:30

Connection 44Show details for connection 4 Local area map: Avignon TGV Avignon TGV Fr, 02.03.12 dep 10:11 10:49 3 TGV, RE, IC, ES

And you can leave Florence around 8:55 and be in Interlaken by early afternoon (2:23 PM), enjoying some majestic Alp scenery along the way.

Firenze S. M. N. Fr, 02.03.12 dep 08:55 5:28 2 ES, EC, R Fare/Buy
Local area map: Interlaken West Interlaken West arr 14:23

Connection 22Show details for connection 2 Local area map: Firenze S. M. N. Firenze S. M. N.

StC: Understand - but for a first time trip - if you have to spend a little more on a one or two day rental - I think that's acceptable.

For more frequent travel - do agree with you.

And also agree to check the individual country's railroad sites - and price out the best options. I will try to find Rick Steve's shorthand page - which gives the approximate price of point to point tickets, v. buying a pass, etc. Note - the prices are for 2nd class - which is acceptable for shorter distances - clean, etc - but you might want to use first class for the longer rides.

http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/comparetickets.htm