marketridge

My son who is aware we are travelling through Northern Italy and South West Germany during Easter/April is very keen to get any advice on "fun stuff" for kids...not museums and stuff (his words!) etc...
Any advice very much appreciated. (he is 11 yrs old and his sister is 9). cheers!

ira

Hi M,

Can you give us a more specific itinerary?

marketridge

The tentative itinerary is...
1. Fly into Zurich (stay 2 nights)
2. Drive Zurich to Innsbruck (2 nights)
3. Drive Innsbruck to Venice (3 nights)
4. Drive Venice to Parma (5 nights - use as a base for day trips to Florence, Pisa, La Spezia, Portofino)
5. Drive Parma to Lucerne (1 night)
6. Drive Lucerne to Europa Park (2 nights)
7. Drive Europa Park to Wurzburg (1 night)
8. Drive Romantic Road (3 days/nights)
9. Drive Fussen to Zurich and stay overnight at Zurich
10. Fly out from Zurich.

cheers

mindylt1

Look for a sommerrodelbahn. These are basically small wheeled cars that you can ride down luge-like tracks that are set into the side of a hill/mountain. Some tracks are quite long, and you can go very fast. We have done this while vacationing in the Black Forest and in the Alps and our kids always have so much fun.

I don't have personal experience with a rodelbahn where you're traveling, but I googled it and came up with this website:

http://www.allgaeu-abc.de/rodelbahn_tegelberg.html

Have fun!

marketridge

Thanks for the tips!

staying in a castle in Germany has been suggested as an experience worth doing.....Does anyone have any particular recommendations?
Cheers

marketridge

Hi again...any further advice on northern Italy for kids?????

Cheers

Aramis

There is a criminal museum in Rothenburg that my kids LOVED. You might be able to find other such places along the route.

You have been wise to include Europa park, and you kids are lucky that you would include this type of thing for hthem during the trip, so don't feel under too much pressure to find endless things for them to do. Since it is near the end of your trip you can use it as the carrot to encourage patience for the non fun stuff you want to do.

I think your challenge will be in Italy, outside of Venice (gondola's traghetto's), I can't really think of anything I saw there that would be pure kidly.

Sometimes the tourism sites for cities/regions have specific "family" sections that reveal kid things. If not, you could email them and aks for a list of possibilities.

As a last resort, swimming pools/water parks never fail in a pinch and thatmight be what you need to sourve out in Italy.

Good Luck

Steve_James

Hi MR - If you do the 'Dolomites' route (- via Cortina) on the Innsbruck-Venice drive you could stop off for a cable-car/ chairlift ride en route - or hire a boat on a Dolomite lake.

Have you got time to overnight in the Dolomites? There are lots of options for activities in this area ...

Steve

enzian

Remember, this trip is early April. Sommerrodelbahns are not likely to be open, and many hotels and lifts in the Dolomites are closed as well.

MarkvonKramer

For a castle stay, look into

www.burg-colmberg.de

Near the Romantic road, since you have a car, should be simple to do.

Good luck parking in Wuerzberg.

MvK

travelatte

Not sure if your schedule allows, but my boys thought the Ice Mummy museum in Bolzano, Italy was cool. They were 9Yr and 6yr at the time. (summer '05). I know it's a museum, but hey it's a cool ice mummy.

Have a great trip.
Travelatte

capxxx

Another vote for visiting the Ice Man in Bolzano. He is in the museum of archeology there. Both my boys (10 and 15 at the time) thought the display was amazing. This is the bronze-age man they found in a glacier a few years back, with all his clothes and stuff preserved.

There is a cool old castle outside of Bolzano -- Castelrotto, I think.

Before going to Venice, read The Silent Gondolier. It is laugh-out-loud funny -- there is a map in the book and you can visit sites mentioned (like the tight `final exam' corner for gondolier school.)

In Venice, climb up where the horses are on top of St Mark's. The Doge's dungeon tour is cool. We took a coin-flipping tour (each time you come to an intersection, toss a coin to decide which way to go next) to get totally lost, and then let the boys lead us back to the hotel.

Innsbruck has a cable car ride up the mountain -- halfway up it stops in a small but nice zoo, then you can go all the way up to the top.

Florence -- climb the campinille, climb the duomo, go inside the duomo and explore the excavated underground part.

The town of Vinci is between Florence and Pisa (closer to Florence). There is a museum where they have built working models of daVinci's sketchbook gadgets -- flying machines, power saws, etc. You can turn the cranks and work all the machines.

Of course they boy needs to conduct a survey to find the best gelato in Italy.

tomboy

The 11 year old boy may not be interested in "museums and stuff", but he might find the suits of armor for both man and horse interesting. These can be found in a number of the German castle/museums (for want of a better term) found in towns throughout the Romantic Road region. One would be in Bad Mergentheim, but there's an even better one 20-30 miles ESE of there, the name of which town I can't remember. Otherwise, it's still YOUR trip; he has a lifetime ahead of him.

marketridge

Thanks again for the expert advice! Just counting down now to early April.
cheers

marketridge

Hello, we're a week away from heading off on the trip and we've booked some of the accom over the internet (Thanks to the advice from people on this forum!)
One thing I am trying to work out is leaving Northern Italy and heading to South West Germany.

We intend to stay in the Lucca region (North of Lucca - Aulla) and then were going to consider driving to Lucerne for a "stopover" before heading onto Rust in Germany (Europapark)...
This would mean a 5 hr trip from Aulla to Lucerne and then a 2 and half hour trip to Rust.

Does anyone have any advice on a better alternative? Such as a stopover in North Italy (lake Como? for example)..
Cheers

hausfrau

marketridge, I can't help with Italy, but did you decide to stay at Burg Colmberg? I just wanted to put in another vote for it but then saw that you are very close to your departure. If you are going to stay there, your kids will love it!

Many people recommend the night watchman's tour in Rothenburg - I haven't done it and am not sure if it is kid-oriented, but it sounds like fun!

Another good castle for kids on the Romantic Road is Schloss Harburg. Our tour guide was a very kind older woman who directed many of her stories about medieval life towards the kids in our group.

http://www.fuerst-wallerstein.de/eng...urg/index.html

Have a great trip!

skatedancer

don't know how much time they'll have in Lucerne with the one-night stay, but some great kid stuff there. Although you said not museums, there is a transportation museum which is perfect for kids. Also, on Mt. Pilatus there is a fabulous ropes course and an alpine slide. Also, taking the ferry around the lake is wonderful, too.

marketridge

This is it, final post before we set off on the trip.....Still working out the Lucerne leg....Does anyone have a recommend (in terms of accommodation) for family of 4 in Lucerne??? advice from this forum has been fantastic and I look forward to writing up the trip in a month's time.....
all the best & cheers