Richard Grusin

We are beginning to plan for a family vacation to Europe next summer, for as long as a month. Our children will be nearly 15 (girl) and nearly 12 (boy). Two years ago we spent two weeks in the UK--Edinburgh, Wales, London--and Amsterdam (vagaries of frequent flier openings).<BR><BR>Our initial thoughts are to get Eurail passes and try to see quite a bit--France, Spain, Italy, and Germany for sure, with the desire to get up to Scandinavia. <BR><BR>Any advice on this plan, or alternate suggestions, or reports on your experiences, would be greatly appreciated.<BR><BR>Thanks in advance.

BOB THE NAVIGATOR

Richard, You will see more of those venues if you drive. The Renault and Peugeot lease program makes that feasible. With 4 of you, you are better off in a car.

greg

We were in summer also with our teenagers. We went back and forth between driving and Eurail. They hated cooped up in a car and liked better in trains. They sat away by themselves when they don't feel like being with parents (us). While we wanted to goto Spain or Italy, we dropped them quickly when we found out just how hot these places get in summer. <BR><BR>Also I noticed you want to go to Italy, Germany, and Frace but not Switzerland? It is a relief from the hot muggy weather staying high up in the Alps and so beautiful.

Pat Klontz

We traveled for three weeks in early June with our two teens of roughly the same age as yours and another family who also had children about that age. After much debate, we opted to do a mix of car and train travel which worked out well. We had the flexibility of a car for about ten days of the trip but took a train for long distances. Granted we missed lots of great territory when we took the train, but that gives us a reason to go back and kept us from extended drives. The kids played cards when we road the train and also learned about how to find the right train in a European station, etc. We also loved having a car when we arrived at a given point and had things we wanted to see within about a 50 mile radius. Consider doing your driving in the countryside instead of the large cities. We used a combined car and rail pass. I don't know that it was the cheapest option available, but it was not outrageous either. PJK

pamb

We, too, took our 12-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter in June for 2-1/2 weeks in France, Italy and London (flew into Paris; rented car, drove to Beaune, Chamonix, all around northern and central Italy and dropped car off when we got to Rome; flew Ryanair from Rome to London).<BR> We found it was cheaper to rent a car than take the trains to all these places, plus we liked the freedom to go when we wanted where we wanted. Driving on the autostrade was a breeze, although the tolls are bad. We had a VW Passat diesel; rented from Hertz, which gave us a cheaper rate than AutoEurope.<BR>I posted a mini trip report when we returned June 19. I think it was called family trip report from France, Italy and London.<BR>Any questions, e-mail me. This forum really helped me plan our trip!<BR>Pam B.<BR>

ingrid

In my opinion, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Scandinavia in 4 weeks is way too ambitious. You'll be travelling a lot without having enough time to enjoy the experience.