We will be taking a Baltic cruise this summer on Holland America. I am taking my three kids (22, 19, 16) early to tour in advance. We will fly into Paris, arriving mid-morning on July 6. We have to be in Copenhagen by mid-afternoon on July 10. We plan to visit Normandy (my kids have already been to Paris twice), Brussels and Amsterdam on our way to Copenhagen. Should we rent a car to drive the entire distance? If so, how does that work with renting one place and dropping off at another? If not, do you have any suggestions as to travel plans if going by train?

Visit Normandy and drop the car off in northern France, perhaps Lille. Take the train to Brussels and then Amsterdam. From there, the train ride is long and probably expensive (we went overnight from Brussels to Copenhagen) and you might want to find a cheap flight--check out www.whichbudget.com.

That's an awful lot of territory to cover in only a couple of days. Have you looked up the distances/times on Via Michelin? I'm not at all sure its realistically doable by car - you could certainly drive it - but I don;t think you would have the time to stop and see anything.

Also - drop off charges for cars in Scandinavia - when rented elsewhere - tend to be especially high - often over $1000.

I think you need to rethink the # of places you will cover - and try for either overnight train or el cheapo plane to get you to copenhagen if you're going to see much of anything beforehand.

I apologize for my absence. We've been remodeling, and I've been without an office for some time. Now that I'm catching back up to your posts, I realize how ambitious this journey appears. I might need to re-think my plan. Sometimes it's difficult to weigh the travel opportunities. Normandy beaches v. Van Gogh paintings in Amsterdam or a tour of Brussels. Tough choices must be made. Thanks for your input.