Netherlands & Germany with 4 children
 

My family and I have been living in Ireland. For our last "big fling" before we move back to the U.S., we want to take a 10-14 day trip in mid-October to see a little bit more of Europe. <BR> <BR>We have 4 children, ages 12, 10, 5, 1 1/2. Do any of you have any suggestions on sites that would be particularly interesting or fun for them in the Netherlands or Germany? How is the easiest way to travel with children to these places--by train or renting a car? Any family-friendly, budget-friendly hotel suggestions? <BR> <BR>Also, we are considering trying to visit Italy for a few days. Would this be too much to try to fit in such a short time period? If not, would the best way to get there be by train or by flying? <BR> <BR>Any suggestions or advise would be sincerely appreciated! <BR>Jill

Whew!! I love the Netherlands and Germany, but I have not traveled there with small children. I'll move this to the top for you, maybe someone else has better experiance. <BR>

Someone else recently did a 3-piece trip report on a family trip to the Netherlands. Just a few pages back or do a "Netherlands" search. <BR>

Jill, <BR> I am the one who posted the 3-part trip report about our trip to the Netherlands with our 12 and 7 year olds. What a great country to visit with kids! The whole country is kid friendly. Every restaurant we went to had a kid's menu ( fish sticks, or chicken nuggets, or a sausage of some kind). Please feel free to e-mail any specific questions I can help you with. Overall, I would bet your kids would enjoy KinderKookKafe, Six-Flags Netherlands or De Efteling amusement parks, biking on the Wadden Islands ( there are kid sized rentals as well as adult bikes with baby seats), any of the many open air museums such as Openlucht Museum in Arhem or Archeon outside of Leiden, Madurodam miniature village in Den Hague, and Apenhuel money park in Apeldoorn. There is an aquarium in Scheveningen and a Dolphinarim that we didn't get to but looked like fun too. Have a great trip!

We traveled in the Netherlands and Belgium earlier this year w/our 6 month old. I posted very summarily regarding that trip. My advice may not apply directly to you, b/c my child was younger. However, I would concur that the Netherlands are kid-friendly. In fact, it was all of the baby carriages/prams I saw in Amsterdam during our first trip there that encouraged me to take our baby with us. <BR>

You could go to Cologne, which isn't far from the Netherlands. The chocolate museum is really nice and I guess that children would love it. It's sponsored by a large local company and features information about the production and history of chocolate and a wide array of products. The roman-german museum is also interesting for children. <BR> <BR>