I am going absolutely crazy trying to decide where to go in Europe. We will be flying into Paris on March 19th and will spend our last 3 nights(March 31-April 3) in Munich. My husband has business there. I know I want to spend time in Paris. Of course the kids want to see the Eiffel tower and Mona Lisa. I have considered flying to Rome or Venice and make our way up via train. Also have considered Bruges for a couple of days and then flying to Koln and renting a car and driving down. When my husband and I were in Munich last time, we drove south and spent time in the mountains which we loved. I don't know how driving conditions would be at that time of year. My children are 10 and 12. I don't really want to spend countless hours in museums with them due to boredom. Any information and advice would be appreciated!

why not get a car in paris and drive over to belgium and then work you way down through germany finishing up in munich...there are tons of great places in germany: the mosel area, the rhine area, heidleburg, rothenberg o.b. tauber 9 a really nice place for a day or two), the romantic road, the castles in the south at fussen, berteschgaden, saltzburg.....
there will be some snow of course in the high elevations but driving will be very easy....

to save money on the car, you might take the train to belgium and then on to say koln and rent a car there so the drop off would be in country and thus no drop off charge probably...

Surely you will want to spend 3-4 days in Paris, so that really leaves you with just 8 days.

Although this is quite out of character for me, I would propose NOT renting a car - - I think that your plan to fly to Italy is a good one. You could travel to Brussels if you wish, and fly from there, or I think there are some cheap flights now from Paris to one or more destinations in Italy (Volare to Venice? and/or a Paris-Rome option also, perhaps?)

From Venice, plan on a few days in Salzburg en route to Munich. All very do-able by train.

Car would indeed probably be cheaper, but I think it is a long way in the car to get TO Germany, then drive into Italy and back in to Munich.

And your kids will love Rome and Venice.

Best wishes,

Rex

I would also try to include Italy rather than Belgium/Cologne. Much more interesting if you have never been there (and I live in Belgium). There is a very good Rome-with-children trip report on here from Grinisa; try to search for that. If you really want to go to Belgium and Cologne, there is the Thalys train from Paris to Brussels and then from Brussels to Cologne.

I suggest 5 days in Paris and the rest in Italy. Italy is the greatest and, besides, you might as well go for the place with the best weather in March.

mamc makes a good point about weather. The southern route may be best. You may want to consider a "spring break" and do Paris as planned but simply spend the rest of your time on a beach...head south to the cote d'azur or Spain, plane, train or car.....might be fun and less stressfull for you....

Your real challenge is how to entertain kids 10 and 12. This despite any itenerary. In another Fodors post a family is planning a possible trip to Scandinavia with kids ages 13 & 16 who like history and museums, so that is quite another matter. We did lots of travel with our young kids in the U.S., camping and concentrating on scenery and historic sites, and poking fun at the TTs.

What I recommend is getting the kids involved from the beginning and using some travel guides which mention places for youngsters. Better not be too ambitious and thus try not to take in too much so that you don't have rebellious kids on your hand! They may prefer just to mess around in some hotel pool or arcade. But how fortunate that your children might enjoy a trip to Europe!

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You might try this.

Friday to Tuesday 19 to 23 March in Paris
Tuesday 23rd Paris Gare du Nord 1058, Lille Flanders 1202 to 1306, Bruges 1429. Hotel night
Wednesday 24th Bruges 1531, Lille Flanders 1654, Lille Europe 1829, supper in the buffet car, Dijon 2119 to 2150, sleeper
Friday 25th Breakfast in the restaurant car with views of the Appennines, Rome Termini 1042
Tuesday 30th Rome Termini 0754 , Munich 1828, restaurant car train with great views of the Alps
Tuesday 30 March to Saturday 3 April in Munich.

Please write if I can help further, for example to include Venice. I have a note on file on Paris for children, and ahall gladly e mail it to you if you ask me to.

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Thanks so much to everyone for your replys. Ben, I would love to have your file on Paris with kids. I have purchased the book by fodors on what to do with your kids in Paris and it gives a lot of great ideas. I have discovered that trains from Paris to Italy are fairly expensive. It seems to be much more affordable for us to fly. What I have come up with, given everyones suggestions, is this: Paris March 19-24;Fly to Rome March 24-27;train to Venice March 27-29;train to Salzburg March 29-31;train to Munich. I figure we'll get nice scenery enroute to Salzburg. Does this sound fairly ok? Thanks again to all!

Hi jewell,

Your trip sounds very nice.

Have you checked the train schedules to Salzburg? It looks as if you have to make at least one change.

We've spent two weeks with our boys in europe the past two years. first trip was munich/rome and we drove between the two. last summer was paris/normandy and we had the again to drive rather than take the train. found that flying between cities in europe was very expensive but you could always check the routings for Go, Ryanair, etc. that might limit your options but would be fairly cheap. Before going to any museum in Paris, we scoped out specific works we wanted to see and what wing or floor they were on and then went straight for them - meandered on the way out to see a bit more and were able to keep kids happy. You could do a full day at Versailles without boring anyone. We toured the olympic park, BMW museum(a real yawner), Berteschgarden and Dachau while in Munich - all very good; took a basic bus tour which included Nymphenbourg Schloss as well. Wandered through old munich, went to the open market, saw a garten gruppe parade, the glocknspiel, etc. Don't confine yourself too much or overplan with too many cities and connections - part of the fun is soaking in the ambiance of the place. Our week in Rome went way too fast. With 11 days before Munich, I'd do maybe 4 in paris and then spend a week in Rome with an overnight train to Munich from there (fly to rome from paris on a cheap airline).

We did this trip in reverse a few years ago, starting in Munich, renting a car to see some of the castles in So. Germany, and then driving to Rotenburg on der Tauber, driving to Brussels, leaving the car in Brussels and taking the high speed Thylas (sp?) train to Paris. This might be a good itinerary with kids as the castles and medival Rotenburg might appeal to them. Rotenburg also has a fun nightwatchman's tour and a torture museum that kids (especially boys) might like. The BMW museum in Munich would also be appealing for kids, especially boys.

another thought - are your children into sports at all? We went to Roland Garros stadium for a quick tour (I have a tennis fiend) and could have gotten some court time with a little advance planning. Also, the olypmic pool in Munich is open for public swimming - our other son swims competitively and thought it was very cool to swim in the same pool and lane as Mark Spitz! Cost about 2e per person. You might also still be able to ski at Zugspitze that time of year. Keep in mind the amount of packing, unpacking and repacking you want to do when planning this - multiple locations with one or two nights in each might sound fun until you start the packing routine.