We are planning a 14 day trip to Europe this summer with our two sons, 17 and 19. We are staying with a family in the western part of Germany (near Cologne) for the second week but are trying to plan the first week on our own. We have never been to Europe before and are not sure how easy it would be to drive or take the train. We were thinking about going to Prague and working our way back to our friends, or maybe seeing Switzerland and Northern Italy. Any suggestions on what we could fit in in one week, and the easiest method of travel? Should we book hotels ahead of time? My husband is not afraid to attempt driving but we do not know the language AT ALL so that scares me somewhat.

Going in the summer creates its own problems with the normal summer travel season in europe. It has been 15 years since I drove in europe and will be doing it again in about 2 months. The language should not be a problem. Buy a few phrase books. Look at this site, Rick Steves site and the tourist sites for each country you want to visit. Plan your trip on what your family want to see. The riveria in the summer is a no-no. Too many people, that is why I am going in late april early may.
I would only drive in western europe, take the train in eastern europe. Try Autoeurope for a rental car. I travel to europe every 2-3 years for a few weeks.
Traveling is an adventure, enjoy it.

What area is considered the riviera? Don't mean to sound dumb but I am not well versed in European travel.

I suggest an arrival in Munich, renting a car and working on an itinerary that, generally speaking, takes you into the Bavarian Alps, then along the 'Romantic Road' and on up to the Neckar, Rhein and Mosel before turning in the car in Cologne. This would be an easy-to-do all-German trip and a most enjoyable one too!

Some good travel resources i always like to recommend to novices planning such trips, especially by train, which if a typical itinerary has you going mainly to large cities, where cars are useless and a liability in my opinion. 1- www.ricksteves.com has lots of railpasses, which you should consider, and rail travel and the free European Planning & Rail guide, available at: www.budgeteuropetravel.com. This guide covers lots of non-rail stuff but is great for planning a rail trip with its travel times, rail maps for each countriy, itinerary planner, etc. Of course Fodorites are the very best source i've seen so just ask questions to get usually excellent advice from experience.

The French Riviera is the southeast coast of France along the Mediterranean. There's also the Italian Riviera, which is the northwest Italian coast, just around the corner from the French Riviera.

If you want to combine the French Riviera with your other plans, look into cheap flights at www.whichbudget.com. It's quite a distance to drive.

To minimize your travel time, you might consider starting in Amsterdam and working your way to Cologne through Belgium. Your sons would love Amsterdam.

It would also be relatively easy to get around in (both car and public transportation) and there shouldn't be too much trouble with the language barrier.

If possible try to fit in a short visit to Paris and or Rome. Driving in Western Europe ,does not present too many problems,although my American friends find the speed that we Europeans( particularly in Italy) drive, a little disturbing,I think I would avoid driving in Eastern Europe. Car Rental is expensive compared to US rates. We have very good train network and you can probably arrange an itinerary with Duesches Bahn. Have a great time

yes www.bahn.de, the official site of German Railways, contains schedules for all of Europe and is the easiest one i've seen to use: www.bahn.de.

Since you mentioned Prague and Switzerland as your possible interests, I'll address those. Prague would be tough, I think, for a first-time Europe traveler, particularly if you only speak English. Switzerland, on the other hand, is very "user-friendly", and I have yet to meet a teenager who doesn't love it there (great food, scenery, sports like mountain biking, hiking, paragliding, summer luge. . .) Traveling by train and cable-cars is very easy, and I think it's the way to go. You would need to book hotels (or apartments) ahead, but if you decide on Switzerland there is plenty of help available here.

Perhaps you could fly into Zürich, spend 3 or 4 days in the Alps, then work your way up through southern Germany to Köln.

Thanks for everyone's input. We have decided to eliminate Prague (don't think our teenagers would enjoy it) and are thinking about flying into Munich. We would stay in Munich for two days then rent a car and drive to Salzburg, Innsbruck, Luzern then up into Germany, ending up at our final destination near Cologne. Our trip will last two weeks and we want to spend at least a week with our friends. Is this doable or do we have too many cities in our itinerary? We would be travelling by car. I've read some bad reviews on Luzerne. Maybe we could skip it. Appreciate anyone's feedback.

Bad reviews on Lucerne? Well to me Lucerne is visually one of the finest most neat looking cities in Europe - lovingly set on a fjord-like Alpine lake girdled by mountains - kids would love one of the lake steamer boat rides (covered by railpasses in full)

and the city has a river roaring thru it and its world-famous wooden bridges.

I suppose there may not be much to do in Lucerne itself but i'd say include this, one of Europe's most gorgeous cities, for at least a quick look.

We where in almost the exact situation as you. First timers, with teenage kids, little knowledge of languages (although my kids have both learned German now). We chose to basically go back roads and small towns to take the stress off. It is very easy (once you figure out how to buy gas) to drive in Europe. Since you have only a week, I would keep the driving to a minimum. We have really enjoyed going to the small town of Meersburg on Lake Constance. You can swim in the lake, take walks along the lake and through vineyards, visit a old castle, take ferries over to an almost tropical island, or just enjoy doing nothing. It is very good place for letting the kids roam on thier own. We have also enjoyed Malcesine, Italy on Lake Garda, which is a fun half-day drive through the mountains from Meersburg. There is swimming, hiking, and lazing around activities there, again very "safe", yet fun. German is spoke heavily there and we've never had trouble with English either. Another neat place that is a cross between Switzerland and Italy is Ascona on one of the Italian lakes. It is a neat town with a great beach, music, and golf right in town. We also went a little up the river where my kids really liked place where the river flows over big rocks and warms it up enough to make a great swimming hole. Also of these towns are small, easy to get to, and low stress for first timers, yet have a lot to do around them. These are just some of the places I love. None of these are heavy with American tourists, although Engish is widely spoken. You could also see all three or maybe two of them in one week. We also have falen in love with Piran, Slovenia, but that's another story.