laura_pugliese_566

Our family summer vacation this year will be very open to suggestions as we have no set itinerary. We will arrive in Barcelona on June 22 and depart from Munich on July 8th. Everything and anything in between will be determined as we go. Would love suggestion on must see spots, cities and cute B&Bs. We are traveling with our small daughters - child friendly suggestions would be a plus
Thank so much!
Laura

madamtrashheap

If you can give a little more information on how old your daughters are, if you have any specific interests, how you plan to travel (train, drive, fly), accommodation budget, then suggestions will flow!

You essentially have 14 nights, so the trick will be to not try to cram too much in, however tempting it might be. One thing I will suggest is that you allow 2-3 full days in Munich, one of which can be a day trip to Neuschwanstein/Linderhof/Hohenschwangau castles (or just one if the girls are very young). Something for all the family to enjoy and easily done as a self-drive or as part of a day tour group.

laura_pugliese_566

Thank you very much for your reply. My girls are almost 5 and 6. We will rent a car and just go with the flow. We have done this once before through the French and Italian riviera and it worked well for us. But this route we have never done and don't really anyone that has done it either.

I have hear of the castles you mentioned, so that is in my must do list.

Don't really have any specific interest, but I would love to see the wonderful flower meadows by the Swiss alps, I think that would be amazing.
For lodging, we normally arrive to a city and if we like it we look for a place, but if there is a most see location the a nice B&BS would be wonderful.

Thank you again for your tips and suggestions.

ribeirasacra

Drop off fees are going to be high with a one way rental.
The area around Lyon should be worth a day or 2:
http://www.en.lyon-france.com/

BigRuss

Did you do the rent and flow trip you describe above with the girls or just you and the hubby? If you've never done a trip like this with the girls, don't start now.

First, the drop charge on a one-way rental from Spain to Germany will be more than four one-way flight tickets on a cheapo airline and there may be drop charges for the kiddie seats too.

Second, dragging the kids around via car every day will start to suck.

Third, tolls are very high in France (we had a sub-two hour drive that cost $22 in tolls) and you're covering a lot more ground than Nice to Genoa.

Fourth, if your trip even touches the smallest part of a road in Switzerland, Czech Republic or Austria, you'll have to buy vignettes.

Fifth, you do realize that petrol prices in Europe suck, right? More than $8/gallon in France ($7/gallon for diesel).

Reconsider a hub-and-spoke plan with short flights or train rides between 2-3 main destinations and see surrounding areas by day trip.

ribeirasacra

Big Russ, what dollars are you talking about?

BigRuss

<<Big Russ, what dollars are you talking about?>>

WTH does this mean?

Assuming the OP is Canadian or American (which is a 90% safe assumption on this board when someone inquires about B&Bs - a term not used generally by non-Anglophone Europeans and which has specific meaning to UK residents), they think in DOLLARS. Given the basic parity between AUD, Loonies and USD, dollars is an equivalent value for Aussies, Canadians and Americans. Considering the OP is only planning a two-week trip, the OP is likely from US or Canada.

Now, Ribeira, what is your point?

ribeirasacra

Big Russ why the attack? I asked a for simple explanation/clarification.


It is wrong to assume anything. You never know where the poster is from and looking at the OPs profile suggests and only suggest they could be Australian.

In Spain and the majority of Europe we just happen to use the Euro as our currency. I happen to think in Euros. Please can you remember that this is a world wide forum which just happens to be in the English language. A language which is not spoken all over Europe natively. ;-)

Christina

I think it is very confusing to quote European prices in "dollars", I agree. No one knows what that means, and the prices aren't in dollars, so why do it. I'm American but do not think in dollars when thinking about prices in Europe because they are not set in dollars. So it would be more complicated to try to convert a euro to a USD and quote in dollars. Besides, no one knows what dollars you mean and the fact is, there are quite a few people on Fodors who don't understand the difference and write dollars when they mean euro.