Europe with Teens
 

I am planning a family trip to Europe. My children are 15 and 12 and this will be their first time abroad. We will travel during summer break in June or July. We would like to visit London, Paris, and Italy. I'm looking for advice on timing. Also, should I consider a cruise to see several cities in Italy?

Any help is much appreciated!

Kelly

How long of a trip are you planning? If it's 2 weeks or less, I'd concentrate on no more than 2 places. I find that when traveling with teens, it works best to stay in one place for a week at a time and use it as a "home base" from which to explore the surrounding area. In fact, I highly recommend renting an apartment. You'll find that most hotel rooms in Europe are for 2 people, and an apartment can be less expensive and larger (and typically w/ a kitchen for use for breakfasts, snacks, beverages, etc. and a washer/dryer). You can sometime find "family rooms" in hotels, but you'll all be confined to a small space.

As to a cruise, while I've not done that in Europe, I understand that it's mostly hopping from place to place and not really getting a chance to explore an area. Also, the ports are typically not close to city centers, so access is time consuming. You can defintely do it well on your own.

Susan

Kelly,

I'm not sure what you mean by timing. Do you mean how long should you stay in each location? How long a vacation are you planning?

We did a family trip two summers ago with our then 10 and 13 year olds. They loved it and talk about returning all the time. We also went to London, Paris, and Italy with a brief side trip into Switzerland. In Italy we stayed in Rome, Siena, Venice and Bellagio.

We were gone for four weeks and were at a pretty busy pace. I have to say we were all pretty tired by week four but part of that may have been due to the terrible heat wave Europe experienced that summer. I do believe in more relaxed trips in theory, but was not sure we would be able to return as a family for many years.

I don't know about taking a cruise but imagine that would depend on which cities in Italy you wish to see. We rented a car as we left Rome and drove it through Italy, Switzerland and France. From Paris, we took the Eurostar directly into London.

Have you been to Europe before? What highlights interest you? What do you think would excite your children? My ten year old son who protested loudly at the thought of visiting museums and eating "strange" food ended up loving art and expanding his palate greatly.

I would highly recommend air-conditioned hotels just in case of another hot summer. I had known enough to plan for them in Italy (although our guidebook was wrong about that amenity in our Venice hotel) but hadn't thought it necessary for France and certainly not in London. We lived to regret that decision in Paris!

Hope this helps!

Another thought:

If your trip is a fairly long one, a place with a washer/dryer would be a big plus (unless you are OK with the cost of sending laundry out.)

Hi, what fun!
I have taken my kids to Europe 3 times . First time they were 11 and 14 .
Two of our trips were the last week June -mid July , our last trip was over April vacation .

how long are you taking for your trip?
If it is 2 weeks, you may want to drop a stop (do Italy and London :))

All of this is so subjective. But I have found that my kids usually tolerate staying in three places per trip at the most .

Because it is summer, how about starting out in London, then going somewhere in Italy to the beach , a lake or the countryside for 4-5 days, and then finish off in Rome.

It will be very hot in Italy. London may be cooler.

Hi Kelly,

Late to mid-June would be better than July.

>We would like to visit London, Paris, and Italy.<

The first two are cities, the third is a country.

>should I consider a cruise...?<

NO

>Any help is much appreciated!<

Send the kids to Summer Camp and go to London and Paris on your own.

I agree, with children (of any age) it is best to have a "home base" and do day trips from a city or town, and do one week per "base." When we were in England and Scotland this summer, our 13 year old did not like the congestion of London or Edinburgh and was more comfortable in York and Northumbria. She also needed more "down time" than us adults - watching T.V., swimming etc. We had to find an indoor pool in London one afternoon so that she and her brother could swim. So work some sports or another of their favorite activities into the travel plans. Some friends of ours took a soccer ball along and their kids played soccer in parks each evening. They even met some local kids that way!

I just read Ira's response. He hasn't had the fun experience of finding a swimming pool in an out-of-the-way suburb of London and chatting with 'real" Londoners or skipping stones on Loch Lomond. And I bet he has never heard his kids discussing their favorite Egyptian mummies in the British museum or the relative merits of different castle defenses (Warwick Castle vs. Alnwick Castle vs. Tower of London vs. Edinburgh Castle). Those are lessons they will never forget.

Dear Marsha,

They don'thave a smiley for "tongue in cheek".

Actually, ira, I think this smiley might be the one you're looking for :-"

Kelly,
your kids are old enough for Europe. Do not take seriously the post above about sending them to summer camp.

It is a good age for Europe. All these cities you mentioned are good for kids, you just need to figure our slowly pace. Maybe just Italy trip , or London+Paris. We started taking our kid when he was 10, started from London, he has great memories. Italy is easy, since many monuments like in Florence are outside. Italians are very friendly. You can chill out in Tuscan villa and then spend few nughts in Florence or commute to Florence. Any kid will love Venice. See our trip reports http://emcoinc.com/travel/html/Europe/TripReports.htm
for London and Italy. We also took our kid to Spain and it was a lot's of fun.
He traveled without us for one year to UK and Ireland with "People and People program" which is very interesting and kids get to meet government officials and stay with local people. They study destination before they go. You might want to consider for them (but you will not share experience!)
Now my son is first year in college and his first college break he is going to Europe without us visiting his European friends. Our older son graduated from Grenada medical school in Caribbean so both kids are international travelers.

Thank you so much for all the info! It looks like the first 2 weeks in June are going to work the best. It sounds like we all might enjoy the experience more if we break it into 2 trips . . .it's just so hard to get away as a family these days!

Just so you know, my kids have been to Paris, northern Italy, Switzerland, London and York. While they really enjoyed all the places they've visited, they love London most of all.

You might want to do London and Paris on this trip and then make a separate trip to Italy some other time. You could fly into one city, take the Eurostar to the other, and fly out from the second city. (It's much easier if you don't backtrack.)

Have fun planning! There are tons of posts on this board for you to search about where to stay and what to do.

Susan

When in London, see if you can stay in Dolphin Square; they have apartments, and an indoor pool. It's right by the Thames, not far from Victoria Station.

Thank you, bellairegirl.

Hi Kelly,

For 2 weeks with 2 teens, I suggest a week in London followed by a week in Paris.

Fly into London, take the Eurostar to Paris (cheapest way is to buy a one-day RT) and fly home from Paris.

We are taking our boys who will be 17 & 13 at the time to Venice, Naples (for Pompeii) and Rome - we are all looking forward to it.

We were going to incorporate London but just was not enough time so we decided to stick to Italy this time around.

No matter what you choose as long as you incorporate their likes and dislikes you will have a wonderful time.

Kelly - we've done 2 trips of a little less than 2 weeks each with our 2 teenaged boys :) the first was to Munich/Rome. We flew into Munich, saw a number of sites there and then drove to Rome. Went thru the lake country and Innsbruck on our way. We then spent a week in Rome and flew home from there. The second trip spent with 5 days in paris and 5 days in Normandy. Our third and probably final family trip will be this spring to Spain where we will have about 10 days in madrid, Seville and Malaga. The boys have both studied spanish for many years so that is the main driver for this trip. our older son will be off to college in the fall of 2005 so this will be the last hurrah! If you'd like more details on our trips, what we saw, stayed, etc., just let me know.

Okay, two weeks, early June. Ordinarily I'd say the whole time in Italy, because the weather is warmer and less iffy than London or Paris.

But one of the other posters had a point on going to Europe for the first time, and London really is a good starting point, since they speak the same language (sort of).

So, unless your kids have issues with weather and need warm, dry climates, I'd say one week in London, and the second in Paris.