My wife and two kids ( girl 11, boy 9 ) will travel with me on our first trip to Europe this July. I have to be in Rome on the 15th of July and we have extened the front end of our trip. We will arrive in Paris on the 9th of July. We would like to set an agenda that allows us to see as much of the contries as possible but doesn't kill us trying. I've read that train travel is the way to go but I have little experience with trains, can you sleep comfortably overnight and wake up in another city to explore? If anyone has ideas for itineraries to slowly stumble down to Rome from Paris would greatly appreciated. thanks in advance!

sunpop: What is the total length of your trip? How many days in Paris, how many in Rome?

hi sunpop,

it will be difficult to "slowly" make your way from Paris to Rome. We are doing the same route in 18 days, and it still seems like we're rushing.
Our itinerary (though it seems to be changing constantly), is as follows:
5 nights Paris, 1 night Beaune, 3 nights Nice, 2 nights Florence, 3 nights Montalcino, and 3 nights Rome. I feel like we're rushing, but we are young with teenagers and have lots of energy. Plus florence and rome we've visited before.

If I only hadd 6 days, I would do 3 in Paris, 3 in Rome, flying from one place to the next.
Flying in Europe is often cheapaer than train travel, which can get really expensive for 4 people. This is why we are renting a car, but we have more time than you do.

Too bad you can't to Paris earlier...
Good luck planning!
Dina

Just realized you have 6 days BEFORE Rome.
Still rushed, but you could do all 6 in Paris.
Or do 3 in Paris, fly to Venice for 3 days, then off to rome.
Your kids would LOVE Venice.
Another idea is to do Nice or some other place in the Cote d'Azur, if you want some beach time in your vacation.
I still would fly from place to place in order to save time.
Have fun planning!
Dina

I would do all 6 days in Paris (the first will be kost to jet lag) and youcan do one or two days trips if you want. If you must do another city fly in between - perhaps Venice or Florence - and you can then train on to Rome.

But realize that if you do the latter you will be giving both places short shrift. (I have been to Paris at least a dozen times, the first for a full week - and there is always more to see and do. The major sights take at least 3/4 days at a minimum.)

I agree, especially with two kids, stay the entire six nights in Paris. There is so much to do there, you can't possibly get bored, and even if you did, there are many options for daytrips. Then fly to Rome.

It's a long way from Paris to Rome, you can't "slowly stumble down" to Rome in six days, and presumably you wouldn't actually have six days, as you would spend some of them in Paris anyway.

One of the problems in stumbling down to Rome is that Italian train travel is spotty, in both punctuality and comfort.

Since it's July, and your first inclination was not to spend all six days in Paris, I would recommend giving some consideration to going to Switzerland. A couple of days in Paris, a couple in Switzerland, whose marvelous trains will easily get you into the mountains and fantastic sites. I would consider basing yourself in Spiez, with its kid-friendly boat rides on the lake. But there are any number of destinations.

To leave Switzerland for Rome, the Swiss trains will whisk you to the airports for a flight. You can also be whisked to Italy, where the trains aren't as spiff. But Milan to Rome is a very doable 5 hour trip. (Maybe you could overnight in Stresa after Switzerland.)

If your kids are tolerant of hot sticky weather, they might very well love Venice in July. But Rome might be enough Italy for them.

Staying in Paris, with day trips, might turn out to be your best option.

Those are just some thoughts.

You can sleep comfortably on overnight trains if you book a private sleeper cabin (in my experience).

But as with others above, I'd spend the 6 days in Paris then go to the airport to get to Rome.