Planning first trip to Europe - Feedback requested
 

Hi all. So first of all, thanks to each and every one of you that are on this site giving advice day in and day out. We went to Peru last year and I don't know what I would have done w/o the people on this site. I need to start watching the Peru board and start "giving back".

Anyway, this year we're hoping to make it to Europe (waiting to see what our budget will be). Here's what I know so far...

When. 3 weeks in late June, July or early August
Who: My family (wife and 4 kids) and maybe my aunt
Preferences: We aren't into art but do enjoy going to a few museums. We love architecture and just checking places out, sitting in cafe's and enjoying a nice meal. We are very low maintenance.
Budget: Shoe string. We try and make it last!! Looking at (gasp) $15k with airfare...

Below is the very preliminary itinerary. I don't know when we'll make it back to Europe so we're trying to get the most/best bang for our buck. We plan to lease a mini-van and drive between locations. This is mostly because we really enjoy getting off of the beaten path and checking things out at our own pace... We'll likely be staying at Hostels, that's what we did in Peru and for the most part worked out nicely. We plan to be flexible. If we like a place we'll stay longer and cut time somewhere else. If we don't like a place we'll get out of there early...

Day 1-3 Madrid (or Barcelona, depending on airfare)
Day 4-5 Drive to Paris (take our time and enjoy the scenery, stop along the way)
Day 6-9 Paris
Day 10-11 Drive to Tuscany (again, take our time and enjoy sites along the way)
Day 12-14 Tuscany
Day 15 Drive to Rome
Day 16-19 Rome
Day 20, fly out...

It looks like a great family adventure!

I think June would be best. August is a heavy travel month in Europe. It also will be hot, a/c would be a big plus. Accommodations book up that time of the year so not pre-booking could be a headache, especially when looking for accommodations for 6 (which is hard any time). Even the hostels book up, especially the better ones. In Rome, convent accommodations may also work. Also apartments, although they may have minimum stays during the summer months.

Thanks for the positive feedback and the note about staying in the convents. I'll do some research.

When we went to Peru we made reservations in advance and then just called to say we're coming in early or staying longer. It worked out but I think that sort of thing fits in well w/ the South American spirit (not sure about Europe - yet!).

Renting a car/van for your group with pick-up in Spain and drop-off in Italy will be quite expensive, mainly due to the one-way fee. You will probably be looking at a rental price of ~$2,000+ for a 3-week rental.

Try autoeurope.com so you will have an idea how much car rental costs in Europe. They do have a buy back program, but you need to rent for 21 days+.

Renting a van for that many people may also be a hassle. A 7-person van doesn't hold much luggage - people will have to travel extremely light! A 9-person van, which is your only other option, can be a pain to park and maneuver on narrow European streets and alleys.

Thanks for the info guys. Originally we had planned on a 21 day trip, which we're having to reduce down due to budget concerns. So I won't be able to lease as planned... More thought required there, thanks for the reminder!

Regarding the size. We pack very light and are used to a mini-van w/ a small group. we'll make it work!

Sounds like a great starting point. One thought, though. Have you considered traveling by train instead of car? I guess the main concern would be having to deal with a car in the cities. While I can see the attraction of being able to make stops along the way, there's a lot of overhead with having a car, and you can wind up spending a lot of extra time in the car. It wouldn't surprise me if rail winds up costing less once you factor rent/lease, insurance, parking, fuel, etc... Having to deal with a car will certainly add to the complexity of your trip. And, there's something to be said for rail travel.

Also, for Paris, look into apartment rental options. With 6 or 7 people, an apartment may let you all stay together. You can also make a lot of your own meals, plus many apartments have some laundry options. I used vacationinparis.com last Summer and was very happy with the results.

If you are shortening the duration of the trip, would you consider leaving Spain for a later date? It might save a lot of expense if you were to fly into Paris, train to Florence or thereabouts, rent a vehicle for touring around Tuscany and transport to Rome (having the vehicle only half the trip and dropping off in the same country will make a huge difference).
It sounds like you'll have a great adventure whatever you decide.

The problem might be that you will not want to use the vehicle inside city limits, and parking could be expensive.

So a city visit, followed by a car for the countryside....drop off car..go to another country via train, visit city, rent another car for countryside...

That sounds good but all of those car rentals are almost the same price as a three week lease... I'll do some more digging.

another vote for making it early,

1) the whole world goes on holiday in August (in particular the french and the Italians)
2) Everyone else goes on holiday in July (to avoid the French and the Italians)

June will still be warm but not scorchio

I'm with Kayd...forgo Spain if you can...seems out of the way to visit one city. You could very easily spend an enjoyable week in Paris (day trips if you want to get out)...fly to Rome (budget airline options) for a week and spend a week in Tuscany....definitely with a car. You'd only need the car for your time in Tuscany. Can't do a week in each location, drop a night or two.

We have a similar itinerary for our next trip....we're spending two weeks in France and because we love Italy so much, returning there for two weeks. I'm looking at flying from Paris to Rome - training (1 hr) to Orvieto (picking up car rental there)for a return to Tuscany. We loved Tuscany so much, missed so much, that we want to return. Drop the car, head for your departure city and final destination - Rome!

Have a wonderful trip!

Good advice guys. I was really in love with the idea of a European road trip, maybe getting a car in Tuscany will take care of that desire. More searching more reading.. Love it!

Jack

We've done two road trips to Europe,one last year and one in 2006. We managed to keep it simple and kept the cost at about $150 a day. This does not include the car lease or airfare. Our trips were 7 and 6 weeks so the lease made more sense for us. Here are links to my blog and the trip reports for both trips. I've included cost and ways to cut corners. We pretty much stayed in B&B's. avoided large cities and traveled in May and June.

2010 Trip

http://gassawaysadventures.blogspot....1_archive.html
2006 Trip

http://gassawaysadventures.blogspot....spring_12.html

In the hot summertime, I'll recommend you start in wonderful Barcelona with great city beaches. This is the place to go for architecture (Gaudí), laid-back cafés and the best food. Perhaps stay in the popular El Born area, close to "everything" and a ten mins walk to the Barceloneta beach. http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.c...s/el-born.html

The Picasso museum and the Ciutadella park with the lake and the zoo, among many other things, woud be on your doorstep. And I can recommend going for some fabulous basque pintxos at easy-going Euskal Etxea in the heart of El Born. http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.c...kal-etxea.html
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...Catalonia.html

About the Ciutadela Park: http://www.aviewoncities.com/barcelo...ciutadella.htm

And the Boquería food market, perhaps the best in all of Europe. Also some excellent and very popular tapas bars in here, serving the freshest food: http://www.boqueria.info/index.php?lang=en

It does seem like a waste of money to have (and park) a car in the city, when you'll get no use out of it. So the idea of spending time in the cities w/o the car is a good one.

Also, I would seriously consider looking into apartments rather than hostels. That would provide some further savings because you could prepare some of your own meals.

So, as a possible shortened itinerary:

Paris for 3 or 4 days.
Drive to tuscany; stay for 3 or 4 days.
Drive to Rome, drop off vehicle, stay for 3 or 4 days.
Fly out of Rome.

Hi all. I'm not ignoring you, I'm reading links like a mad man :). dgassa, love the blog! I'm going to look into B&Bs more, they sound great. In Peru we were able to do two rooms, one for mom and dad, another for the kids (we stacked them like firewood - jk). Reading reading reading - what a great thing to read about!

While I have you all here, here's what I'm working on for a budget. Now mind you, people have all sorts of preferences on travel. As I said before, we're low maintenance. We'd like a reasonably clean and very simple place to stay (B&B sounds great!), simple breakfast/lunch (picnic in the square) and a nice sit down dinner with some wine. We don't drink soda, will buy bottled water @ the grocery store, etc.

Anyway, here's the prelim numbers...

Hotel: $100/night ($50 per room x2)
Food: (3 squares, snacks come out of entertainment) $175/day
Entertainment: $75/day

At that budget, I think you have to look at hostels. Even if it weren't high season, that's a tough accommodation budget.

Your hotel budget of $100 is only ~€70 (in today's ever increasing rate) for the 6 of you. That will probably be hard to achieve especially in the cities. Is there a way for you to increase that figure a bit?

Outside of the cities, try campgrounds. You do have to stay for a week but you can do them for as little as €80-90/day.

Good Luck!