a little bit of everything
 

Hi it will be 4 of us traveling myself, husband and 2 daughters age 17 and 13 years old we are experienced travelers but have never been to europe. We have aprox. 10 weeks to travel June 20th 2011 thru August 20th 2011. I would like to book my flights before we leave and maybe our first 3 destinations hotels train tickets ect the other parts of the trip i can book along the way. we want to visit alot of places just trying to figure out the order and the amount of nights in each place.
London
Brussels
Disneyland Paris
Paris area
Venice
Florence
Rome
Barceloma Spain
Madrid Spain
portugal lisbon
A down fall is we dont want to do alot of flying we prefer the train but we know that takes time but we are ok with it. Where should we start/end and everything in between any suggestions would help

oops i meant June 5th 2011- to August 20th 2011

Booking as you go with 4 people (unless you want 2 rooms) at that time of year i a recipe for disaster. It is most crowded and the best deals will be gone long since. Not so bad if you trvel be car and can move on to the next town if you can;t find lodging - but can be a real problem if traveling by train. Unless you have unlimited budget - and even then some places will be an issues you get to late July and August.

Read some of the posts here. People are trying to reserve hotels for this summer and finding them already booked (esp at budget ranges). I would never head out in high season without reservations - esp with 4 people.

Sorry - I wold start in the south an head north to avoid the worst of the summer heat in Spain and italy.

10 weeks sounds wonderful and you have enough time for your wishlist with a week in each city but I'd spend fewer days in Brussels, Florence, Venice and Madrid. Maybe 4 days in each of these. I might add a couple of extra Italian towns though!

Booking apartments in each major city would work well for you but I'd recommend doing so in advance. Summer is a popular and busy time to travel within Europe.

I'd fly into London for a week at least and then take the Eurostar train to Brussels or Paris.
Stay at least a week in Paris and Disneyland Paris can be a day trip or an overnight stay at the end of your time in Paris.
Next train to Brussels (4 days would be enough for me here).

Do consider flying between countries say Belgium or Paris to Spain and Spain to Italy.
There are low cost European airlines that will save time and $$. The flights will be short!
If you must take the train maybe include a stay in Switzerland to break up the train travel to Italy.

Save Italy till the end where it's easy to get around by train and fly home from Rome

nytraveler mentions budget ... I'd assumed rightly or wrongly that a family traveling in Europe for 10 weeks had a very generous budget! Train ticket costs go up the closer to the date of travel by surprisingly large amounts so again advance booking is key if you have a tight budget!

"<i> I'd assumed rightly or wrongly that a family traveling in Europe for 10 weeks had a very generous budget! </i>"

I sure hope so -- Travel between places will really add up because walk up/last minute fares can be VERY expensive. Discounted train/plane tix can sell out in a few days (and w/i a few hours in some cases).

Finding rooms for 4 at the last minute in popular destinations can mean either not finding anything - or paying top dollar. Renting apartments is a fabulous way for families to see most of those cities -- but apartments/villas/cottages must be booked ahead.

If you were traveling in the early Spring or late Fall - leaving things to the last minute would be easier. But some of the places you want to visit -- are already pretty much booked up.

ok..tomorrow am i am breaking out the money to book..plan and pay any quick suggestions on the way we should end and start trip
to be honest from each place train/fly has not been determined yet but trying to get the plan down:
i am thinking:

flying into Portugal lisbon for 5 nights (need more or less)
Madrid spain 4 nights (need more or less)
barceloma spain 4 nights (need more or less)

now should we go to london ?? next or should i start in london

london 7 nights (more or less)
brussels 2 nights (more or less)
Paris 7 nights (more or less)
venice 4 nights (more or less)
Florence 2 nights (more or less) or should we skip
rome 5 nights (more or less)

should we add any other place to visit

is there somewhere we could stay longer to avoid unpacking and packing and do day trips from a central location for instance staying longer in london and doing brussels a day trip or is it worth actually going and stay in brussels
any ideas would help thanks
money is always a concern we do budget but my grandparents have left my daughters a genours amount to travel to europe for graduation presents high school and 8th grade.. so theres the money :)

You are visiting a lot of cities during warm/hot weather. You might want to eliminate a city or two and spend some time relaxing in the countryside (with a pool) or coastal small towns.

zoecat that is exactly what i have been telling my kids and husband and they say lets just add more nights to each spot i knon my girls have traveled for long periods before but this will be the longest im just scared of home sick we went to australia for a month but thanks
i was actuallly thinking of dropping portugal,spain what do you think but im also on search for visiting some beaches we love beaches any great suggestions

ditto what zoecat says.

Do you really want to spend 10 weeks inside very large cities?

And why Brussels period?

I'd book an apartment in the countryside for an entire week at least twice, if not 3 weeks of your trip. With 10 weeks you have time for you and your daughters to slow down and enjoy where you are rather than zipping around.

Especially towards the end of your trip you will want to either double or halve the time you spend any particular place. Here's why I say double or halve. You (or at least your teenage daughters) won't have the desire to get up and go every day to see another historic building, church, museum, or church. There will be some days when they'll just want to hang out and read, use facebook, watch a movie on netflix.com, sleep late, stay up late, or whatever.

There will be some destinations you'll get to and it'll look exactly like the last 4 places you stayed. Large, old, stone buildings. Hot crowded buses, lines of tourists waiting to get into that museum, historic building, or church. That cute little shop will look the same as the last 4 you browsed. You may find that you're late for the town gates shortly after you arrive & unpack. Who wants to see another Caravaggio or Klempt anyway.

The website www.slowtrav.com is dedicated to slow travel, which is nothing more than longer stays in few destinations.

With 10 weeks you may even want to rent an apartment for 2 or 3 or 4 weeks in one location. I've rented for a month in the Alps before and it was one of the best family trips we've had.

I'm in the J52 camp, dittoing too. A week or more in a gite/cottage/villa, maybe with a pool, along with a rental car to explore local sites if desired, would work really well alternated with weeks in a few of the great cities. People get crankier on forced marches.

How about Provence? I agree--"why Brussels at all".
London and Paris definitely--be sure to get AC in Paris, and a week is NOT too long.
Rome is among my most unfavorite places for a lot of reasons, but I would not say don't go--but see the sites/sights and get thee onward. And it WILL be HOT! Florence yes--maybe not Venice or a pass through.
Personally, I might give Portugal a pass, some Spain, but you have completely bypassed Switzerland even for a pass through.
There is the Normandy area--beaches and seaside, and history to be seen all in one.
It's a grand tour and opportunity. We did 3 weeks with 3 children approximately the same age span. I will tell you that eventually you will have to find an American breakfast. And you need to include the children in the planning--our agreement was that we would see some cathedrals and we would see some nice shops. Pretty soon the kids were dragging US to the next cathedral.
You can't see everything, but you can see some really wonderful things--we hit a lot of Roman ruins because our kids were Latin students at the time. This is just to give you an idea for a "theme".
BUT I see you are just about to leave. HOpe it works out. We did travel without reservations and used the tourist offices at the train stations for reservations. But it was a while ago.