our first europe trip am soo exited .We are traveling with our kid (8months now)).
total 15 days (june 27-july 11) excluding travel time from dubai
amsterdam
paris
germany
switzerland
italy
i would like to get some ideas and suggestions for
traveling (train or flight or ferry or campervans)
best places to visit
any festivals at those time
best foods to try


Hope to get some replies soon so that it will help us to plan well and make our trip a memorable one.

with regards

Zarah

You filed this under trip report. You're going to want to change that else you won't get many replies.

2 cities and 3 countries in 15 days seems a bit hectic.

What do you want to see/do/eat? For example, if you're vegetarian (or even worse, vegan), I'll suggest steering clear of Bavaria.

What do you want to avoid?

Budget will help steer transportation into a reasonable direction.

Why would you want a campervan over a hire car? Are you planning on living in it?

non vegetarian
yes planning to take campervan from paris to germany (black forest) so we can drive .

If you have 15 days and a small child I would cut way back on your itinerary. Are you planning on camping in the camper van? Why are you choosing this mode of travel? Camper vans are large and difficult to negotiate through the small streets of many European towns and cities. When I camped in Europe, we often stayed on the outskirts of a town and took public transportation into town which works well if you have a lengthy amount of time to visit but is not great if you only have a few days in each location.

If you really want to camp, I would reduce your plans and pick two or three locations at most.

I fear you are setting yourself up for something that would in no way be construed as a vacation. Trying to travel to that many places (and two of the places you list are whole countries) in so little time in a camper van with an infant sounds like hell to me.

Are you committed to going via campervan? This will make things more difficult, as KTravel points out. Even having a rental car in much of Europe is inconvenient at best. Cities and small towns all have big zones where you are not allowed to drive. If you stray into one of these zones inadvertently, you'll get an expensive traffic ticket a couple of month later. Parking is terribly expensive - and that's just for a car.

I'd suggest that for 15 full days in Europe you choose just three places (not whole countries) you want to see. Each time you change location, one typically loses a half a day in transit - with a camper van and finding parking, you'll likely lose most of a day each time.

hi
Please have a look at a map.
Your selection covers half Europe.
You need to select some places and come back for advice.

Contrary to what a lot of people will say I consider a 8 months old is very easy to travel with.

But I would limit myself in several places. And spend about 3 days in each.
With Paris and Amsterdam it would make 6 days + one for travel. You have 8 days left - about 2 locations.

Your plan is incredibly sketchy at best. Please find a map of Europe and study it. You can't traverse half a continent in such a short amount of time. You really can't do 5 countries in 15 days. A campervan is likely a terrible idea, as it's un-drivable in many places. If you are planning to rent this campervan, picking it up in one country and dropping it off in another will cost you a fortune. Campgrounds get booked up well in advance with repeat customers, too, so if you don't have reservations in advance you may spend precious time wandering around looking for a place to spend the night. Personally, I would abandon the idea of the campervan. If you're only interested in big cities, travel by train. If you want to explore countryside, rent a car. All this needs to be taken care of asap, as you've already about to miss out on, for example, cheap train fares.

It is way too soon to be concerned about what to eat and festivals. You need to come up with a sensible plan just to get yourselves around. Pare the list down to 2 or 3 places. "Best places" are outlined in the guidebooks to every country and on the internet sites of all cities an towns. We can't possibly guess what would appeal to you, as we don't know you.

If you are set on a campervan you will need a child seat for it. You may or may not be able to hire one with the camper.
You will have almost certainly have to return to it your starting depot
For places to stay in the camper look at www.campercontact.com.
There is a camper site just across the river from Centraal Station in Amsterdam, with a free ferry to to the city, where you can stay in a secure environment.
With 15 days I would spend time without a camper in Paris then pick up the camper and head towards Alsace and Germany and then up to Amsterdam and back to Paris.

What sort of festivals are you looking for? July is festival season, but the big pop/rock and house/dance type festivals will already be sold out I suspect.

I take the opposite view regarding campervans. I have traveled in Europe twice that way and never had a problem going anywhere. People seem to think you're planning to drive a large class A American monstrosity. Parking a van size vehicle is no big deal. The only time I was stymied was with a high roof van that wouldn't fit any parking garages in Monaco.

That second trip was with a 2 year old and the van was great as it was perfect for diaper changes or afternoon naps. We'd stay in the van one or two nights then a night in a hotel.

With just 2 weeks you'll need to limit the countries you plan on though.

Well for those type places trains are by far the best to do - especially on a quick trip to several different places - to get a fix on the European rail system and ideas of rail travel check www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.seat61.com.

I too have never had any problems with camper vans - cities like Paris and Amsterdam have campsites for them with easy access from autoroutes - Amsterdam has a new one right on the banks of the Ijs or Harbor that faces the town center - just roll your camper van into a spot.

And camping vans would be great for your kiddo to sleep anytime, etc. And you can with discretion find places to park on streets too for one night free.

am not planning to see the whole country in one go.
am going to pick only very few places.
then campervan plan is only for black forest .i will be extending my trip days if needed.
remaing places i have decided to take flights and train.

Train will be easier, also with a child that age. You might want to travel first class. Doesn't cost heaps more than second, and gives you more space, fewer people etc.

<i>Train will be easier, also with a child that age. </i>

That really depends on what kind of luggage they are lugging around. I can think of few things more inconvenient than two adults trying to get on/off a train with suitcases, purses, baby bags, a stroller, and a small child who can't even walk let alone carry its own stuff.

Anyway if training it go first class as menachem says - more empty seats and less congested -more room for baggage.

thank you i am gonna experience train services .yes i do think thats th best.

does anyone know any wine festivals happening there at those time????

If not on a tight budget first-time travelers on the trip of a lifetime IME will greatly prefer being in first class with fewer seats in the same-size train car and often many empty seats IME - easier to stow luggage - discounted tickets also come in first class.

If taking several longer train trips in first class and you want total flexibility to hop any train anytime look at the Eurail Select Saverpass (though in France and Italy on fast trains you do need to make a seat reservation before hopping on) - but this option is if not on a low budget - the cheapest way would be several discounted tickets but you have to use different booking sites to do that and some of those are not user-friendly and may take tons of time - but that would be your cheapest way depending on if you booked way early in stone too to get the cheapest discounted tickets.

a Eurailpass is a splurge but the benefits are no time spent tracking down discounted tickets and chosing which trains to take when when you are there - kids that age always go free as long as they do not occupy their own seat. To do that they need to buy a child's ticket.

sparkchaser, there's one thing we regretted about traveling and that was that we didn't do more of it before our son started crawling.

"And camping vans would be great for your kiddo to sleep anytime, etc."

Kiddos still have to or should have to be strapped in a car seat--and our "kiddos" don't have any problem sleeping in a car seat, through the teenage years.

Zarah, if you didn't mean for this to be "all in one go" why didn't you say so. And I still wonder why the Black Forest warrants the renting a campervan.

If you want to know about festivals of any kind, just Google the official tourist website for the town or region you want to visit.
Here's an example, most have translation options at top of page:
http://www.tourisme-alsace.pro/