Rosie

My husband and I will be traveling to Europe this summer with our 5 kids ages 16-23. We will be staying in Munich, Venice, Rome, Biel in Switzerland, Paris and Barcelona. We are staying a month. Because there are 7 of us and we will be traveling from the Pacific Northwestern United States (costs a lot to travel from more remote areas), finding accomodations that are reasonable are a must. We will purchase Europasses to travel between the cities, probably a 10 day Flexipass,and hopefully do 3 night trains on our longer legs. I figure we will need 25 nights of lodging divided between these cities. We are looking for areas to stay in the cities that will be convenient and offer a diverse group of activities to interest all. Are there accomodations that cater to larger families that are affordable? We don't need very fancy places, but a bathroom in room for myself is a must. Clean and safe are also considerations for us. Anyone who has traveled with families this size knows the challenges. Any suggestions will be appreciated and any websites that you are familiar with that can help will be appreciated. Hope to hear from lots of you. Thank you for your help. Rosie

Kathy

Good luck! We traveled to London last summer and Madrid the summer before with our four children. We used the Fodor's, Frommer's, Rick Steves, Madridman, and every other website we could find to get ideas for lodging. I would also suggest getting some of the budget travel books and start looking in them. I found that even a lot of inexpensive hotels have websites. I know in our search we found places with family rooms for up to four persons (a few for five) but some will put in an extra bed. A lot of people try to stay in university lodging. If you seach that on the forum you may come up with some ideas. With that many people I would recommend getting reservations ahead of time for all rooms.

Russ

You sound like people who really know what you want to do, so I feel a bit funny suggesting this, but I think I will anyway. You've chosen megacities that will be pretty pricey since you're probably looking at 3 rooms (most less expensive places won't have room for more than one extra bed.) You might find it far less expensive to arrange to stay outside town at one or two of your destinations and get a peek at small-town life between trips into the city. Diessen, for example, is an attractive town outside Munich on Ammersee Lake. You can train into Munich either from the town itself or by ferrying across the lake and proceeding by train from there. There are biking and walking trails around the lake, Andechs Monastery/brewery just across the lake, and beautiful scenery all around. A place like this could be very welcome after a couple of big cities, which, although they provide lots of opportunities, can also pressure-cook family relationships. The place at this web page has two equipped apartments and some double rooms as well; you'd probably spend about $100 per day for everyone here. There are a lot of places like this in Germany and in small towns near Munich; perhaps others would know about rentals in suburbs in other countries. I've heard there are also apartments you can rent in places like Paris, but I imagine they're quite a bit more expensive. <BR> <BR>http://www.diessen.net/gastronomie/zimmer/ziese.htm

Roberta

I agree with Russ; staying in smaller towns is much cheaper and you get much more of the true local ambience than you do in the touristy cities; you can take day trips into the big city sites from your small town base; you'll find the people more friendly, the food more local, the area, more intimate. Have a nice trip.

elvira

There are 7-10 of us (women) who travel together. We have found that renting a house or apartment is the least expensive, when you take into consideration savings on food (buying a 12-pak of soda at the grocery store is cheaper than 12 sodas from the minibar or room service). It also affords a sitting room separate from the bedroom, and a real dining table for meals (vs sitting on the bed and eating off the nightstand). For 7 adults, you'll probably find larger accommodations in outlying areas, or as others have suggested, in small towns adjacent to the large cities. <BR> <BR>Have you all traveled together since the children have become adults (I know, technically the 16yr old isn't an adult, but s/he believes s/he is)?

gb

Our family of four found leasing a car to be very economical. We found good prices at the Holiday Inn Express outside of Venice. Using our frequent flyer hotel benefit, we only paid $45 a night for a room. And in Rome, we stayed a very clean convent, walking distance from the Vatican for $60 a night for 4. (But there is a curfew).