Family Traveler

We finally have booked our plane tickets for 12 days around Easter. We're a large family traveling together, from ages 70 to age 4. Kids' ages are 13, 11, and 4yr old twins. We'll be renting two mini-vans for transportation. What advice can you give us for things to see and do? The adults have all been to Europe before (but only on escorted tours), but this is the first trip for the kids.

BOB THE NAVIGATOR

Where do you arrive and depart? Twelve days is not much and your itinerary will be determined by geography.

Family Traveler

We are flying in and out of Zurich. <BR> <BR>

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Just reposting for any more info??

Diane Moll

My, you are very ambitious! I guess the first thing to think about is just what will tend to please some of the people some of the time, or is there a common adventure everyone would like to do, such as easy walks in the mountains, and concentrate on that? Do you have accomodations? We have found over the years that renting an apartment is the best (some will rent for as little as 3 days) - and the price is based on the apartment, not the number of people, and you can save a lot of money, and have all the comforts of home, including kitchen and usually laundry facilities, plus you are not packing and unpacking every day. If you would like to tell me of more specific areas of interest, I will be glad to respond. I could probably provide you with apartment/must sees in Switzerland or Austria more so than Germany. Diane Moll.

Joel

I am an exchange student living in Koblenz, a beautiful city in the heart of Rheinland. Koblenz is right where the Rhein and Mosel rivers meet. There are tons of beautiful castles along the river here, there is 'Fortress Ehrenbreitstein'-a very old military fortress, and there are wineries all over. If you are here, you may want to visit 'Winningen', a beautiful wine dorf about 10 minutes outside of Koblenz, on the Mosel. You can eat a reasonably-priced lunch at a 'weinstube' there. <BR>There is some tourism, but it is not taken over with tourism like some cities in this area (Frankfurt, Heidelberg). Bonn is ok, but I wouldn't waste my time on it. If you can, I would spend a day in Cologne. You need to visit the gigantic 'Kölner Dom' catholic church, and visit the older part of the city. You can climb all the way to the top of the church, which I believe is the largest church in Germany. <BR>I would say that in this part of Germany food shouldn't be so expensive for a big group. In Koblenz, they have a lot of German restaurants with simple, cheap food. You can eat the all-popular Turkish specialty here, 'Döne'-DM 5 ($2.50) for a really big sandwich. And there is also the all-important McDonald's. <BR>If you have any more questions, just write. <BR>I hope you have a great trip!