I have been to Paris in 2001 and Luxembourg and Amsterdam this past July. I want to take my wife and two boys (ages 5 and 9) to Europe for 3 weeks this coming April. I wanted to take my boys to LegoLand in Billund, Denmark and my oldest son wants to go to the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy. My wife wants to see Venice. And I just want to see everything I can (Switzerland, Belgium, France, Germany, Prague, etc.). I have found a site 1800flyeurope.com which I can fly us over to Amsterdam for around $350 each from the Carolinas, but I'm not familiar with them. I can also rent a car for around $42 per day through them. Here are my questions...

Traveling on a budget (excluding airfare, car rental and LegoLand), how much should I expect to pay per day to eat, sleep, etc.? (can I get by for $200/day for all of us - we really just want to sight see freebie stuff)

It seems that it is cheaper to rent a car than it is to get a rail pass for 4 of us. Do you agree or is there something I am missing?

Does anyone have any additional advice to help me plan for this?

Thanks

$200/day is indeed a tight budget for 4 people, especially with the dollar being so weak. When you saw this airfare on flyeurope, does that include taxes? That can cost you over $100 pp.

It sounds like you will be doing a lot of driving if you are going from Amsterdam to Denmark to Italy and every place inbetween. Have you taken into account the price of gas in Europe? I was in the UK in June and the price translated to somewhere around $6/gallon. But as we know, the price of oil has risen considerably since then, so the price now will be even higher.

I'm not saying you can't enjoy a budget trip with your family, I'm just throwing a few thoughts at you so you won't be surprised once you get there.

Just now I did a search on flyeurope and the price that is initially displayed does not include taxes or fuel surcharges. If you have not done so already, to back to that web page and hit "select flight" to price it out as if you were about to buy. That will show you the true price with all the charges.

If you really are going to hit all those destinations on one trip, I'd book an open-jaw flight rather than in and out of Amsterdam. Even if it costs a bit more, it probably won't cost as much as the gas to drive from Italy back to the Netherlands.

And before you rent a car from 1800flyeurope, I'd suggest you contact AutoEurope and see if they can beat that price.

Here is my opinion--with a very tight budget that would mostly have you having a pizza equivalent for meals every day, perhaps go for a few days less and relax a bit so that every (weak) dollar spent isn't a worry.

Consider renting an apartment in key cities for a few days or week at a time, and do daytrips by train or car. Having an apt will allow you to prepare your own meals most of the time. You may not cover as many countries but you can see many places in a few regions. Your boys are relatively young; I would think that you won't want to end up spending most of every day in a car or on a train, but with daytrips that are no more than an hour or two away from your base you can go to your destination and see a lot, and then return to a comfortable flat or b&b where you can all chill with some tv. Moving about less will also leave more of an impression and be less of a whirlwind experience. Trying to see a large chunk of a continent is self-defeating, imo.

Websites and message boards like ricksteves.com, slowtrav.com, thorntree, etc are low-budget-minded and may be of more help.

I travel with 3 or 4 children, and usually book 2 hotel rooms - and while we don't slum it, we do try to go as cheaply as possible for the best location. In Paris this means we are looking at 90euros per room per night.

If you are in Venice for at least 3 nights an apartment is MUCH cheaper than even a cheap hotel (and you get so much more space for your money).
Try www.oikosvenice.com

Apartments can also be had for 3 nights plus in most cities too.

Also if you are buying and cooking your own food, you save money.

Another option that has occurred to me although I haven't actually done it - campsites. These are situated all over Europe, and obviously will let 'space' to tourers on a daily basis. But they have lots of fixed caravans/mobile homes and cabins, and April is not high season. You may very well be able to rent a 4-6 berth caravan on a nightly basis at that time of year, again probably cheaper than a hotel.

Talking of cheap hotels, I have found www.activehotels.com very good for accommodation in France. A big plus is that they have a 48hour cancellation policy, and nothing paid upfront, so if you book, and then find a better deal or change your mind, there is no penalty. They also have hotels all over Europe.

Anyway, good luck and have a great trip.

Hi M,

Before you commit to anything, have you looked at the Eurail Flexipasses?

I think that your 5yr old might go fr free.

>I can also rent a car for around $42 per day...<

What car?

I also suggest that you check with www.autoeurope.com and www.novarentacar.com.

A budget trip is much more realistic if you limit the places you visit. Going all over Europe by car will increase your budget significantly. With two kids who are relatively young, I'd stick to two or three places and get apartment rentals (or cheap hotel rooms or hostels) to keep costs in the neighborhood you are talking about.

Often there are family rail passes available that significantly reduce costs. I'm not sure which rail site you are looking at, but the usual sites that sell to Americans usually do not have as cheap rates as buying directly from the European sites (minus a few stellar exceptions).

If indeed that $200/day is to cover lodging, food, gas, road tolls, admission tickets, miscellaneous expenses for all four of you, I honestly don't see how you're going to swing it. I think you could make it work if you cut down the time (2 weeks instead of 3?) and significantly pare down the traveling. Definitely check out the other websites mentioned and good luck.

<b> AutoEurope </b> is the <u>parent company</u> of <b> 1800flyeurope</b>. It's confusing since they maintain two distinct websites (as far as I could see).

I learned this recently when I booked tix on 1800flyeurope and they offered me a discount on a car rental which turned out to be with AE.

Merlix, if you decide to book w/1800, I found them to be efficient, espcially since they confirmed the ariline/flight #s for me before I booked which was helpful in my case. Good luck.

I just went to 800flyeurope and &quot;tested&quot; it. Nonstop DFW-CDG came to a low of $755 to over $1,000 for a connecting flight, two months in advance. Not cheap.

We paid $623 DFW-CDG 6 weeks in advance for nonstop on AA. It's even cheaper now, about $550.

So do your homework Merlix! I'm sure if you're creative and flexible you can manage a decent trip for your family.

I find that &quot;Discount sites&quot; such as 800flyeurope, Expedia, Orbitz, etc, are not neccessarily cheaper for hotels or airfares. I've found our best deals working directly with hotels and airlines.

Best wishes,
mom

I called 1800FlyEurope and the taxes are going to be around $150 per person for the airfare.

Three more questions

What do you guys (gals too) seem to think a reasonable per day cost would be?

I have checked out some of the airlines like RyanAir.com and EasyJet.com and they show amazing rates to get from one country to another. Rates seem to average around 25&euro;. This sounds ridiculously low. Is this really what it costs?

Lastly, I have heard about the hostels. Are these something that I should consider? Are they safe for my kids?

Thanks everyone for all of your input. I really appreciate your guidance.

Some hostels will be fine with kids and some won't. I found the best reviews for my purposes to be

http://www.bugeurope.com

I'm a grandmother and I enjoy staying in hostels because of the easy going chitchat at breakfast and in the evening (grannies and parents of young kids don't get out a lot at night).

merlix,

i think you need to re-adjust your expectations. it is not cheap to move around europe. i have no idea on the cost from your home to europe but within europe, $200/day is nowhere near enough considering all the places you wish to see. trains are quite expensive and discount airlines, while appearing cheap at first look are usually nowhere near the bargain they appear. often you must add taxes and fees to the charge, they often fly out of distant airports, and any time you would want to fly is usually more expensive than the &quot;from&quot; rates that are advertised. a car may be a good option but add the insurance and petrol and this is not cheap either...and can be a hassle and add stress.

you have named the places where each person in the family wants to go...it is really nice to see such excitement from everyone but you need some comprimise with that budget.

you have some good advice here...elaine's apartment/house idea is a great one. but i would not shorten the time...travel from the US is the greatest expense...if you have three weeks, take three weeks. staying in one place in an apartmentfor the extra week would be relatively cheap. it is fun to cook your own meals from the great local produce. i would pick two places...perhaps italy and france and rent an apartment or, as someone suggested, a caravan site (european families on a budget do this all the time). i would not consider hostels as there are much better options for budget family accomodations.

Many urban hostels might not be ideal, although some have family rooms (booking well in advance is often very necessary). But some in small towns or rural areas can include castles and other historic buildings, with special family rooms, kitchens, laundry rooms, and so forth. Kids would be as safe there as in a hotel. You wouldn't leave them to wander around a hotel on their own presumably, nor would you leave them to wander around a hostel. In Italy, agriturismos might be good.

definately stay in B&amp;B's or guesthouses...nice and cheap, plus get a nice breakfast.

Friends, that have traveled with 2 kids to Germany since they were babies, always rent a car and stay in guesthouses, and it seems to work for them (they go on the cheap)

Denmark is expensive...may want to stay in a small town in northern Germany and day trip it (that is what they have done)

Kids will probably just eat fries and ice-cream...so that's cheap.

We stayed outside of Venice and took the train in...saved money and it was a bonus when we saw those sad people trying to drag big luggage through venice. (found very nice place to stay near station...kids would probably love the train!)

matter of fact...if you stay in smaller towns and daytrip to cities...cheaper (car would make it easy)

friend's kids seem to enjoy salzburg and salt mine trip and of course all of the castles all over!

may want to check out taking rental car from country to country... denmark, germany, france, italy should be fine, but don't know about prague (may be another destination to train/fly to)

in three whirlwind weeks we traveled all over Germany dipped into Italy to go to Venice and returned via Salzburg...it was a lot and we move fast (usually 1 night stays, which might be hard on a family)

(on another trip) loved prague...but just didn't seem like best destination for kids...don't know why...just a feeling
but prague was one of the cheapest places...may be changing now

I think that Germany, Austria, and Italy would give you a lot of variety and kid friendly sights

I just remembered that I did stay at a good, reasonably priced hostel -- City Sleep-In -- that included family accommodation in Aarhus, near Legoland, (and I suspect Aarhus' other hostel would also be good for families). Aarhus would be as good a base as any for Legoland.

WillTravel, thanks for the tip about Sleep-Inn in Aarhus. This is the link: http://www.citysleep-in.dk/.

According to www.mappy.com, it's in the city center and Legoland is about 5 miles away. Has a pool, laundry facilities, neat stuff.

Have you priced using rail passes and then travelling at night? Night busses?

Mary_Fran, City Sleep-in has a games room where you can play pool, but it doesn't have a pool . The kitchen facilities are very useful for budget travelers.