two weeks with kids--long enough to do London, Paris, Madrid???
 

We will be traveling with our two grandchildren, ages 10 and 13 during summer 2013. Do we have enough time to enjoy London, Paris, and Madrid or Barcelona and travel by train in between, or should we limit ourselves to just London and Paris? The kids seem especially keen on doing London. Any other words of advice would be welcome. Also, their parents will be coming, too. We are all rookies at traveling in Europe.

I have not been to either Madrid or Barcelona, so this comment is just based on my experience traveling with my kids (now 8 and 13). There are so many things to do both in and near London and Paris that you could very easily spend a week in both places. The kids will have a better time IMO if you build in some "down time" and don't try to pack too much into a single day. Getting down to Spain will be an overnight trip on a train (or maybe a flight?) - definitely possible, but cramming a lot into a two-week trip. If you have your heart set on Madrid/Barcelona you could think about flying in and out of different cities to save yourself some back-tracking. However, my suggestion would be to stick with London/Paris and possibly take a day trip or two outside either city.

I think children would find Barcelona more interesting than Madrid since the best tourist features Of Madrid are the world class museums and easy trips to many worthwhile nearby towns.

Remember with three cities you will be unpacking and packing, checking in and out, etc. with two kids.

I agree with Barbara,,I have travelled with my 11 yr old and 13 year old.
You can take the Eurostar between Paris and London, its only 2.5 hours and tickets can be very cheap IF you book the tickets 3 months in advance. Book on the Eurostar website,,rather then RailEurope.
In both London and Paris there is alot to see and do, plus both cities offer the opportunity for wonderful daytrips .My 13 yr old son loved the daytrip to Warwick Castle. ( I preferred Bath, but kids don't usually read alot of Jane Austen, lol ) In the same vein both my kids enjoyed Versailles, ( but they did know abit about the revolution and Marie Antionette etc) and Provins ( google it) is a fun day plus the shows while in french need no words( they have knights and weapon shows, eagles and prey shows etc).
In London the Victoria and Albert Museum is great,, and right across the street is the Natural History Museum and its pretty amazing! Kids in Paris generally like visiting the Eiffel Tower and the Towers of Notre Dame. In London the Tower of London is great, the Beefeaters do a tour included in the admission and its humorous ,, kids learn and enjoy from it usually.
In Paris the Catacombs are fascinating, my 13 yr old loved them,but my 11 yr old chose not to visit them.. have the kids decide.

To make the trip fun you and parents need to do some research.. and your kids do too!! My 11 yr old and 13 yr old were told they had to do some "homework" and find three sites they wanted to see in each city!Kids are computer whizzes nowadays and perfectly capable of contributing to the trip,,there is less whining if they take some ownership of the holiday.

With the size of your group, you may want to consider renting apartments. We tend to book apartments early as the ones with the amenities we like (elevator, air-conditioning, larger beds)book up very early.

Hi HR,

>should we limit ourselves to just London and Paris?

Yes.
Decidedly, Yes
Absolutely, Yes

Enjoy your visit.

I agree that also including Madrid would limit your time in all of the cities you mentioned, and possibly make your trip more rushed than you'd want it to be.

If you would like another destination, consider some time outside of the big cities of London and Paris. Maybe 3 nights or so in the Loire Valley, visiting castles, or some time in a rural location outside of London. It will give you a break from the hustle and bustle of the cities, and a different view and perspective of life in those countries.

Paris and Barcelona.

Always wonder what "do" means. You can certainly visit all three, but having a good vacation in the compressed timeframe is a stretch.

Staying a week in each place = do what Judy said and rent an apartment.

London and Paris is easier. London is hobbit heaven - Hampton Court Palace, the Tower, Windsor Castle, Cabinet War Rooms, Imperial War Museum, Natural History Museum, double-deck buses, Harry Potter stuff, easy day trips like Dover (for the Castle - a blast for the monkeys and not a fairytale commercialized structure like Warwick), and plenty to do at night for the parents so they can dump the monsters on you and gramps (or you and gran). Plus, the kids will be able to speak a close equivalent of the same language to the Brits.

Paris is also good for the halflings: Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Pere Lachaise to visit the famous stiffs, and a reputable travel book publisher has a list of things to do in Paris with the future generation: http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/f...ure_30005.html

You can also do Fat Tire Bike Tours in both Paris and London (and Barcelona) to orient yourselves and have an active day out for everyone.

If you go to Spain, Barcelona > Madrid. Much more amusing for kids (Parc Guell, Parc de la Ciutadella, Gaudi architecture, beach, modern art that the kids will think they can do better and they're likely right) than Madrid (museums, museums, museums, palace).

With 6 people, including two kids I would try to enjoy London and paris (making sure the kids have input on the sights to be visited) and plan 1 or possibly 2 day trips from each. Hampton Court is esp good from London since there are many docents conducting activities of the period - making it come alive - versus than just walking through and looking at walls and furniture with an audio guide.

Two cities is more than enough for such a trip.

I would limit it to just London and Paris and as mentioned plan some day trips to areas where you can get a break from city touring which can be exhausting anytime especially in summer.

Hey (fellow) Hoosier,

More is sometimes less and I would focus on 2 cities like London and Paris. Try to fly open jaw (into one, out of the other) and using London as a first stop is a good way to acclimate to Europe.

Also recommend the apartments and the space is very helpful.

You can see our trip to Paris with kids and a shorter (separate) stay in London here:

http://ukfrey.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/paris.html

http://ukfrey.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/london.html

Madrid in the summer is just way too hot!
As others have suggested,London and Paris w/side trips will be enough and easy to do/enjoy!

Well, thank you for your quick responses! I trust you as it sounds like you know far more about this than I do!

I would also vote for Paris and London only. We've done those (with kids) and they are great! I will try and find trip reports....

I do want to point out that Provins,,is not pretend fairy tale set up,,yes it is a living museum so there are staff in era costumes and the shows, but Provins is a registered World Heritage Site,,the ramparts are medieval and very well preserved!
And kids love Warwick,the catapault show was awesome too,, my 13 yr old son loved that!

I am currently traveling through Europe with 3 kids - take all the advice above! Do 2 cities well, possibly 3, definitely not 4. You lose too much time in getting places. My order of preference is London, Paris , Barcelona. Kids can get bored/ tired/ overloaded when you least expect it so it's good to have 'spare time' when all can chill if need be. Apartment staying is great - more space and the possibility to eat in when restaurants and cafes lose their appeal.

I have a trip report from London and Paris from last year. We took our 3 kids. We loved our apts too. I may have the links to them on the report. It is very detailed with the exception of not getting to the last day :-) We were there for 11 or 12 nights. There is plenty to do and the kids will love it. I wouldn't do an overnight anywhere by train. The only option I would even consider adding is a few nights in a different location in france before Paris, then fly out of Paris, or head onto Belgium or the Netherlands for a few nights to see another country within a few hours and fly out of there.

Well with two weeks I would think you could do 3 but for sure it would be best to arrive in one city (London?) and depart from another. And as others have voted, Barcelona beats Madrid hands down for the young 'uns. Personally I think an overnight train from Paris to Barcelona would be fun for the group. So in the end you need to decide if you want to move the group once or twice but I think Barcelona is a super-neat city for kids that age.

If you decide to get an apartment be aware that space can be pretty tight - even if an apartment says it sleeps 6, pay attention to square footage. My daughter and I rented an apartment that supposedly slept 6 - that would have been very uncomfortable.