Toral

We are travelling to Paris on 27th july and flying out from Amsterdam on 4th august morning. We are travelling with 2 children aged 9 and aged 1.5years. We are thinking of spending 3 days in Paris and the last 2 days in Amsterdam. We are still not sure of the places that we would like to travel to for the balance 3 days in between. Should we do Belgium for 2 days and extend our stay in Amsterdam by a day? Or can we do Stuttgart or Heidelberg for the balance 3 days. What would be more enjoyable for my 9 year old boy? Are the car museums in Stuttgart worth the visit? or would Belgium be a preferred option?
Or should we just do 4 days in Paris and 4 days in Amsterdam and visit Belgium as a day trip from Amsterdam? Also, being Vegetarians, would any of the mentioned places be tough to get Veg food (no egg, meat or fish) thank u all.

Russ

With only 8 days I would spend them all in Germany but since you've got 3 in Paris for sure (that's not much) and 2 in A'dam - and since you have to travel between these two as well - a superficial "We went to Germany" journey that eats up ground travel hours seems misguided. You may have jet lag issues - spend another day in Paris. There's more to do in the Netherlands than A'dam alone - take a daytrip out to Zaanse Schans, for example, a nice spot for families. You might be able to spend half a day or so in Belgium somewhere - Gent and Antwerp are interesting cities, and Brussels can be fun for a brief look-around - but the logistics of doing this with an infant seem a bit daunting to me.

hetismij2

I'd stick with Paris and Amsterdam. You can do day trips to places like Muiderslot castle for your son. Also Nemo is worth taking him to, and Artis too, perhaps.
Certainly in Amsterdam you will have no problem finding vegetarian restaurants or vegetarian options on menus.

mamcalice

WIth 8 days, stay in Paris and Amsterdam. It isn't easy to travel with children and especially infants. Your pace will be slower and 5 days in Paris and 3 in Amsterdam will allow you to see the sights and spend time with the kids in parks.

Toral

Thank you all for your response. That was my guess too. However, I just had a feedback that Belgium and Netherlands are destinations more for adults rather than as family. So keeping 3 days of Paris fixed, would it still make sense to do Paris + part of Germany for balance 5 nights and take a connection to Amsterdam and fly out without any sight seeing in Netherlands? I am asking this question again probably as we can do our next Europe trip only after 4-5 years as we travel all the way from Asia and would want to make the best of this trip for my 9 year old boy!

bilboburgler

"I just had a feedback that Belgium and Netherlands are destinations more for adults rather than as family"

Sorry Toral, I'm not sure how that could be.

In Belgium and Netherlands you can hire bikes and (kiddy towing bike trailers) and go all over the place. Plus

http://www.holland.com/us/tourism/ac...ttractions.htm

http://www.visitbelgium.com/?page=family

are two links Google found me with less than 1 minutes work.

Toral

Thank you for those links. Really helpful. As regards to hiring bikes, our only hitch is we don't drive! Am sure the public transport works for most!

Toral

oh! ok . thanks ... we generally refer to motorised bikes as bikes. Got it! Yes bicycles should work!!!

bilboburgler

Sorry Toral should have seen the possible confusion. You will find the Dutch even moving their much loved pets in these towing trailers and smaller kids just dose off.

Bikes in these two countries is the way to travel though public transport is very good, if you want stuff on this then http://www.mybikeguide.co.uk/Holland_Maps.php is not a bad place to start, Belgium is a tad harder as they have this two language/culture issue but

http://www.fietsroute.org/indexuk.php
http://ravel.wallonie.be/opencms/opencms/fr
http://www.velo-ravel.net/luc.html
http://voiescyclables.free.fr/belgiquevelo.html

should all help

Russ

"So keeping 3 days of Paris fixed, would it still make sense to do Paris + part of Germany for balance 5 nights and take a connection to Amsterdam and fly out without any sight seeing in Netherlands?"

A very possible alternative, absolutely.

I'd suggest extreme western Germany to keep ground time down. Lucky for you, this is one of Germany's best areas to visit.

And I'd suggest Cochem on the Mosel River - the most charming old-world town in this part of Germany, probably. Reichsburg Castle towers above old town - see birds of prey in free flight there too:

http://www.cochem.de/tourismus/en_index.php
http://www.reichsburg-cochem.de/
http://www.falknerei-reichsburg-cochem.de/fotobuch.htm

Rent an apartment for your family:
http://www.ferienland-cochem.de/next...?lang=en&e1=-1

Moselbad waterpark is nice for families, even toddlers.

http://www.moselbad.de/erlebnisbad.html
http://www.moselbad.de/kinderland.html

Outings from there to Trier (Germany's oldest city) and other villages are easy by car or by train (use inexpensive and flexible daypasses, 20-26€/day for your family depending on destinations.)

If you mean a train connection to A'dam... leave Cochem Aug. 3 at 14:58, arrive A'dam 21:16. Ticket for 2 adults and 2 kids at the German Railways site currently priced at 78€ total; price will rise as tickets sell:

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Toral

Thanks a lot for all the links.

telcontar

You could easily spend the whole time in Paris and not feel like you've missed a thing, there are also lots of parks and kids stuff that your 9 year old will love (including Disneyland). but since you fly out of Amsterdam and must want to see that, I would also recommend the best option being to take a little detour and go to Western Germany. The easiest being Cologne. it's about 4 hours from Paris via Brussels and even if you just spend one full day there it will seem worthwhile. There is the magnificent cathedral, lots of restaurants and cafes along the Rhine and a generally open and cheerful atmosphere that is not so easy to find in Germany. From there you can head North to Amsterdam. I think it's only about 4 hours more by train.