Hi !
We are planing a road trip in central Europe next summer (30-40 night between july 1 and august 20) . We are 2 adults and 2 teens and we are from Montréal.
It would be our sith trip in Europe with kids. We have seen : France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Slovenia and Croatia. We also have seen Belgium, Netherlands, Poland and Czech Republic in 2004 and 2006 before having kids.

The plan for now (flight arrival can change) Is
- Arrival in Venice (for now it the cheapest we can find from Montreal). We already seen Venice twice so dont feel the need to go back again. And rent a car. From there we would do:
- maybe one -two night stop in the DOlomites which we already seen
- Austria (Mountains, Hallstta, Vienna...we already seen Slazbourg) for around one week.
- Krakow (that we already seen in 2006, but want to go back with the teens) for 3-4 nights
- Southern Poland for mountains (or northern Slovakia) 3-4 nights
- Slovakia (Maybe we would do Bratislava from Vienna) 5-6 nights
- Budapest and Hungary for 6-7 nights
- Travel back to Venice .

Of course we woul need to make our plan more precise and plan daily stop, but what do you think about that plan ?

Munich would seem to be a better arrival choice given what you want to see.

Take a look at my Poland trip reports which covers Krakow, a car trip through SE Poland, and Krakow.

Trip Report: Car tour of SE Poland, May 2012

Trip Report: Wroclaw, May 2012

Trip Report: Krakow, May 2012

Of course Munich would be better, but it’s 500$ more per ticket

Keep your options open and search for tickets in January/February for summer 2025. Re-reading your itinerary, Vienna might be a better hub.

You're going all the way to Poland for mountains? The ones in Italy,Switzerland, Austria,Slovenia etc aren't enough?

You haven't really given any idea about interests. Right now you're just driving around looking at mountains. Is that your goal?

I wonder how much basic research you've done this time, tostaky. I know that very generous Fodorites have spent a LOT of time over the years giving you input -- only to find that you didn't realize how expensive a destination would be, or how long the flights, or how otherwise unsuited to your needs. I sincerely hope that you have actually checked into some of those things this time!

true that last year my mind changed a couple of time and I’m sorry for that. We have around 15 000 euros for this summer so I guess It will be fine.

We would like to make flight reservation as early as possible, that way we would be able to get more options for our airbnb.

No, we are going in Poland for Krakow (and Auschwitz and Wieliczka salt mine), but since we love mountains and that we also want to go in Slovakia we would like to take some time in the Tatras.
our goal is always the same in our european trips. Try to make a mix of vibrant cities, quaint villages and naural wonders. We are history fan (well I am !) , foodies and craft beer lovers. Our teens are not into beaches, but they sometimes like to take a small swim, so access to a lake here and there is soemthing we also looking for.

The good thing is, you have time to plan and work out logistics. I would suggest tracking flights on Google flights either an open jaw or roundtrip from cities that are CLOSER to where you want to go and be. Tracking flights will show you fluctuations in price and since you are not going until next summer, you will see that they change often, routes may even change too. Venice may be cheaper "now," but may not be later when you actually book the tickets.

Flying roundtrip into Venice does nothing to help you here. It is farther away from where you are planning, which means you need to spend time and money getting to where you want to go - even though you are planning this to be a road trip, you still should NOT drive upon landing as you will be crossing multiple time zones and should wait at least 24 hours upon landing to begin the road portion. This will mean either lodging in the Venice area or a train trip to your actual planned starting point - those "savings" you just got, just went out the window.

I have been to Krakow and Malapolska, including Zakopane and Mala Fatra National Park on the Slovakian side. It's a different culture with different mountains, and it seems a bit bizarre to me to say that traveling there is inferior to Switzerland, etc. The time I spent there is very precious to me.

I also find some of the other places you mention wildly expensive. A family of four would spend a ton more money in those places.

For the OP, I took in a lot of sites with traditional crafts including the unique wooden architecture, the smokehouses producing oszypek and mountain huts and teahouses serving fresh kielbasa and kompot. I like the food better than in Switzerland.

Zakopane, an easy drive from Krakow is at the base of the Tatra Mountains.

The cost of renting a car and driving half way across Europe will be the biggest blow to the budget.

well we would do it on foot but our guess is that it wouldn’t be as much pratical than by car.

Personally, I think you're trying to do too much in the time you have. Lots of time driving, little time to actually see or experience the places you will be glancing from your windows.

PLEASE do not try to drive within the first 24 or 36 hours of landing. Flying after crossing multiple time zones is MUCH more dangerous than most people realize. You will be putting yourselves and everyone else on the road in danger.

You're planning a 30-40 day trip where much of your current plan has you in cities quite a bit, too. While I know you want the car for the countryside - that is perfectly fine. But on days you are going to be in a city, having a car in some car park while you may explore a town or city adds to the overall expense - especially when it is not being used it is just racking up days and expense. More so if you have to pay for parking...

With the amount of times you have mentioned how expensive things are and what is "cheapest," you also have not throught through the details where you are planning on spending money unnecessarily. Car rental rates, along with everything else has skyrocketed in post-Covid.

Just food for thought... sometimes point to point train tickets make sense with a car supplement depending on other plans (i.e. mountains and such).

It's not just the car rental. There is fuel. In some countries tolls. Or the need to buy a vignette. You may end up paying for parking.

Gasoline in Italy right now is about €1.80 per litre self service. Diesel is less but not much less. A R/T Venice to Krakow with a highly fuel efficient car is going to likely cost €200 just in fuel. But four people plus luggage you'll want something bigger. Add 50%? I guess. Just for the fuel.

NB that's driving direct not making a bunch of detours. You might spend more in fuel than the train tickets.

I'm not sure that's true. I just came back from a driving trip and I think lodging in the Swiss and Italian Alps for four people in Summer could easily top car rental as an expense.

" We are history fan (well I am !) , foodies and craft beer lovers"

You Tube

You Tube

We never drive after a long flight, dont worry. It seems to be too much, and we will have to refine our itinerary, but a 3000km road trip over 35 days it's fine for us.