Hi,

We are going with our 2 kids (11 & 14) and have 16 days. Is it possible to see these in this time. We only are going to spend 1 day in Venice to show the kids. Concentrate on the other 2 with a train to rome via venice or innsbruck.

More time in Salzburg than Venice? What are your plans for all those days in Salzburg?

We are going to see Munich Science Museum, Neuscwanstein Castle area, salt mines/Halstatt,

we have been to venice as a couple and our kids are very outdoor sort of kids. They loved Prague last year and that sort of thing.

Neuschwanstein is quite a long drive from Salzburg. You might want to consider Herrenchiemsee, one of Ludwig's other palaces instead. It is a much shorter trip
Burghausen, a huge castle complex in Germany along the Austrian border is also a good trip from Salzburg
The trip up the Wendelstein is spectacular in good weather

When are you going? Rome is wonderful but hot in summer

I think I'd skip both Venice and Rome on this trip. You'll lose essentially two of your 16 days to long train rides. It's 6-8 hours from Salzburg to Venice, and 4-5 hours from Venice to Rome. If you skip Venice, it's 11-12 hours from Salzburg to Rome.

So you're using Salzburg as a base to see Munich and Neuschwanstein? Doesn't make sense. Yes, if you were just doing a daytrip to Munich, but....

Kids love Venice; they like the canals and bridges and getting lost.

What was it about Prague that your kids loved? It doesn't seem to be a particularly outdoorsy city.

If outdoor activities are a requirement, maybe you ought to drop Italy and go to Switzerland instead. The Bernese Oberland has lots of outdoor activities.

Was just reading on another thread how kids like staying in one spot and becoming part of a neighborhood.

We have firends with kids that did Neuscwanstein in a day trip from slazburg with kids and they said it was great. Long but great. maybe skip Venice and take a night train to Rome?

We leave this Friday. We live in CA northern and think nothing of driving 3 hours for a day trip and our kids are great travelers. Tghey love walking around and seeing things..hence Rome. They have already been to Salzburg for 4 days prior and we wanted to recap and add Italy in this time.

soccermommy - what are you asking for?

I travel with a clan generally and have been pulling my own hair out planning a 5 week trip with my dd from London through Belguim, Amsterdam, Germany, Italy and Austria.

I do not think you mentioned the Ice Caves outside of Salzburg - those look very interesting to me.

Wow - we did a day trip to Neuschwanstein from Munich and it was a long day. Can't imagine adding the extra time to/from Salzburg.

But - hope you have a good trip. We're heading to Prague in a couple of weeks, so I'm busy getting that one finalized.

6 hours driving to see Neuschwanstein would not be worth it to me but I know many people really want to see that castle.

If you have been in Salzburg before you have probably already seen Schloss Helbrunn--the trick fountains were a big hit with our younger son when we spent a few weeks in southern Bavaria

The Deutsches Museum is great for kids of all ages.

There is another thread going on Kids in Rome that you might want to check for ideas. I would probably skip the one-day Venice detour and head right there