eureka_16

Hi

My kids and I will be accompanying my mom back to her homeland, Innsbruck, Austria this summer. We plan to go for three weeks. We plan to spend 4-5 days in Austria with her, then my kids and I will be travelling around Europe a bit. This will be their first trip outside the US, I visited Austria once with my Mom when I was in high school, but didn't travel around Europe then. They have mentioned they would like to see the Colosseum, Pompeii, and the Eiffel Tower. Here is what I was thinking for an itinerary and am looking for advice.

4 days/3nights in Rome (would plan to do day trip to Pompeii)
2 days/1 night in Venice
3 days/2nights in Paris

Am I crazy, is this too much? I'd love to see the Sistine Chapel and the Louvre, but they haven't shown much interest in those places.

Any and all advice is appreciated.
Thanks

Sassafrass

You get a better idea of logistics if you lay it out with travel included. Usually, things work the opposite of what you have. Two nights in a place equates to 1&1/2 days at best, so you can't really have 4 days with 3 nts or 2 days with 1 nt.

Day 1 arrive Innsbruck
Days 2-5 Innsbruck
Day 6 travel to Rome (most of day?)
Days 7-9 Rome
Day 10 train to Venice (about a half day)
Days 11-12 Venice
Days 13 fly to Paris (at least a half day or more)
Days 14-16 Paris
Day 17 home or back to Innsbruck

This comes to
5 nts (4 days) Innsbruck
4 nts (3 days) Rome
3 nts (2&1/2 days Venice
4 nts (3&1/2 days) Paris

A day trip to Pompeii from Rome is long and it will be hot in summer, but if your kids are really, really interested, it might be worth it.

Just throwing out an idea. . . Rather than a day trip, if you can get a cheap flight from Innsbruck to Naples, consider starting with Pompeii. Fly into Naples. Stay in Naples (if you don't mind big, gritty, but interesting cities) or take the bus from the airport directly to Sorrento (just because it might be easier for the kids than Naples). Stay the night. The next day, take the train to Pompeii (there is luggage storage), tour Pompeii and go on to Rome.

The cost of the flights might be about the same as to Rome. You would get to Rome late the first day anyway and use a day for the trip to Naples anyway. You would have a one nighter, but I would prefer it to such a long day trip. Toss up because some people would prefer the very long day trip and hate the one nighter.

Naples is a neat city, but some don't like it. However, if you just stayed in Naples, you could probably check out, but leave luggage at your hotel and take the train to Pompeii and back. Time would be about the same.

fourfortravel

Sassafras, we were in Rome with our children when they were 7 and 11, and opted for a day trip to Ostia Antica. Both are good travelers and will tour pretty much everything, but even we felt a long, hot day trip to Pompeii wasn't a great idea. Ostia Antica was a short train ride away, and we had a beautiful sunny day to enjoy the ruins. We hired a private guide for the four of us for the Forum and Coliseum tour, and that was money well spent. Conversely, we were cattle-herded through a tour of the Sistine Chapel, and it didn't rank highly on any of our "favorite" lists.

With the Louvre, one possibility is to have them each identify something they'd be interested in. The year we took our children to Paris, our daughter was studying Ancient Egypt in school, so those galleries were her choice. Alternatively, as your children are older, would sending them to a different museum be an option while you tour the Louvre? They may like Natural History instead.

Sassafrass

Fourfortravel, Eureka_16 is the OP, but perhaps you were just agreeing with me about Pompeii being such a long day trip. Your suggestion of Ostia Antica is a great one.

The OP's trip is tight as it is. There is plenty to do in Rome, but I would even suggest stopping in Florence for the afternoon on the way to Venice or a day trip to Orvieto rather than the long one to Pompeii. I also think kids that age would enjoy taking boats around Venice and out to Burano.

When we took our kids to Paris, we spent lots of time talking about what pictures/artists they would see. They each picked some and we had a treasure hunt. So, they loved the Louvre. Perhaps, however, the OP and her kids would all enjoy the d'Orsay rather than the Louvre. Even though they will be rushed, I would take them to Versailles. Kids that age seem to love it.

I never take tours of museums anyway, but the Sistine is more crowded every time I go. It was an absolute crush of people last time, took at east 90 minutes just to get in, after we had tickts. The first time I went (in olden days) there were perhaps 25-30 people, no wait for tickets, quick walk through other galleries if you had no interest. If you get to go to Rome again, try the Borghese - beautiful place and nice to have timed entrance.

DebitNM

Make sure you bring signed, notarized letter from their father giving you permission to take the kids out of the U.S.

DebitNM

http://www.myfamilytravels.com/how/a...th-Minors.html

fourfortravel

Yes, yes. I was agreeing with you Sassafrass, and I did intend the suggestions for the OP. The d'Orsay is another good suggestion; both of our children enjoyed that museum, too; plus, I think it is more easy to manage than the Louvre. And, funny enough, but the children were not too old to enjoy pushing sailboats in the Tuileries.

On our scheduled day for the Borghese, the weather was delightful and we opted not to get tickets and instead rented a Quattro Proti bicycle and rambled through the park. That certainly created some memories! There's always a next time, I guess, for all the things we missed.

Sassafrass

OMG, Fourfortravel, nearly 40 years ago, we bought little wooden boats for our girls in Paris to play with in a big pond. It has been so long. Is the Tuileries the park with a big round pond where lots of little kids play with boats? We spent a whole afternoon there. Still have the boats, though in need of repair.

cathies

It's the Jardin du Luxembourg that has the toy boats for hire. I love to sit there and imagine the generations of children who have hired those boats.

Sassafrass

Cathies, That is so sweet. It was summer of 1975. My girls were 6 & 8. We spent a whole afternoon there. People are always saying how they want to meet locals. That is exactly what happened as my little ones met other children while chasing after their boats and we chatted with a Grandfather out for the afternoon with his little GD. It was a highlight of Paris.

nytraveler

I think the original itinerary is way too squashed. You either need to add days or to delete destinations - or you will be spending way too much of your time getting from one place to another.

As for what to see/do - set you kids to research this - they are certainly old enough to be able to help pick out what they want to see (this worked very well with our then 11 and 14 years old) - but we did 7 days each in London and Paris. And thy enjoyed exploring some teen/.tween favorites on their own (Covent Garden) while we looked t galleries they weren;t esp interested in.

dugi_otok

I would not say crazy, but your plan is too much.Venice, Rome, Paris in six nights plus travel,a day trip to Pompei,would not be enjoyable.

I would recommend 4 nights Rome(day trip to Pompeii),2 nights Venice, 4 nights Paris(day trip to Versailles).

Day 1. Train Innsbruck to Venice(5 hours)
Day 2. Venice
Day 3. Train Venice to Rome(6 hours)
Day 4,5,6 Rome
Day 7. Fly from Rome to Paris
Day 8,9,10 Paris
Day 11. Fly home