Europe Travel - Options for a Family

Megatron on 12/12/2024 - 13:11
Last edited 12/12/2024 - 15:49 by 1 other user

Hi all, looking for some guide as we are wanting to visit Europe next Apr-May for 6 weeks and finding it a daunting task to plan due to so many places to see.

We are a family of three with a toddler. On our list we have France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Spain, Netherlands and probably London for a couple of days (and anything in between we can do).

I have been looking and have found wealth of information which has derailed me a little more as there are so many options.

I then stumbled upon Europe group tour packages. They seem to cover a large part of what we are planning and have a tour guide, however they also are for larger groups and appear very fast paced. Wondering if anyone has done one of those tour packages? If yes, how was your experience and which one would you recommed?

We arent a fan of cruises, so not wanting any cruise travel.

Other questions we have are -

  1. If not a tour package, then is there a set itinary someone used?
  2. How hard is driving a rental car to multiple countries?
  3. What would generally put as a budget excluding flights per week?
  4. Any specific things we should know?
Travel Europe

Comments

  • Ocker on 12/12/2024 - 13:20
    +1

    Could start here:
    https://www.europamundo.com/eng/brochure.aspx

  • MITM on 12/12/2024 - 13:35
    +1

    Maybe get a 1 month rail pass. Trains take you right into the heart of the cities. There are also some great secondary lines off the trunk lines for scenic routes. Try going from France-Switzerland-Italy over the alps on the Bernina Express . Also use the overnight sleepers to save on accommodation occasionally. Use www.eurail.com for inspiration and www.Tripadvsior.com for advice and recommendations. Stay off the tour buses - do your own thing.

    • LVlahov on 12/12/2024 - 14:33

      We did this.. and I think especially with a toddler it would be best to avoid package tours. I haven't been on a packaged tour in Europe but have in Asia & Latin America and while I had a great time on them and found the pace rushed but lots of fun, as a parent of 3 kids all recently through their toddler years I couldn't think of anything worse.

      So many times as a parent with young kids you have to alter plans at the last minute based on your kids mood and they can be kind of unpredictable. Not that we are parents that let our kids call the shots but you know what I mean.. whether it ends up in a meltdown or just your kids tired off their feet sometimes you just need to go and sit in a park for a while, or have a lazy hotel & hotel pool day rather than being pushed to get to the next 3 or 4 activity spots that day with the group.

      Before kids my girlfriend and I spent 3 months touring through Europe and used both a rail-pass and car rentals and both were super easy. I'd work out an itinerary with a bit of flexibility in it. If you need to/are worried about connections between cities perhaps book those, but try to have a 'base' in each country you go to and leave the time within each place less scheduled - have a list of places to go but play it by ear and be prepared not to see everything. Get to a couple of things each day and have the odd day with less and you should be good.

      If it were me:

      • I'd schedule my main dates in each place and perhaps book transfers between them.
      • Within each place I'd do a mix of self-travel.. getting ourselves to destinations via public transport, and others with a paid guide/driver or day trip tour (that way you can have the odd 'big' day where you get to a lot of places without it being a headache to work out transport, without it also being a day in day out thing that will destroy both you and your kid's mood in the end).

      and I'd add to that a single car rental road trip tour that takes in a few sights perhaps regionally within one place or a loop that connects a few places together and takes in a couple of nations. Driving in Europe because they are on the opposite side of the road and the cities are designed differently is both more relaxed and less relaxed than taking a train - you aren't on someone else's timetable which is relaxing, but on the same token you don't emerge feeling as 'relaxed' as you would getting out of a train carriage or taxi, especially when you've had a near accident or spent a few hours struggling to get where you need to.

      Pretty much you can't go wrong with any of the destinations listed, just be prepared to be a little disappointed when you see Europe has been 'third-worldised' in some respects as the people have been encouraged to put the interests of others above their own.

  • this is us on 12/12/2024 - 13:52
    +3

    Don't try to do everything in six weeks. If you are spending one week in each country you mentioned, you won't be able to enjoy much. The same for packages, which I don't usually like as they are quite rushed. I'd recommend you choose 3 or 4 max if you want to get to know these countries. You can easily spent 3 weeks in Spain and 3 weeks in Italy, unless you are jumping from one capital to the other. May starts to be high season there, even if not officially high season. Touristic areas will be crowded already (experience in Spain and Italy in 2023 and 2024, both in May). If you enjoy exploring country side and driving, seeing less crowded areas and beautiful landscapes, you will be fine. If you are planning museums and capitals, be prepared.

    • Megatron on 12/12/2024 - 14:11

      We are thinking to do Spain, France and Italy first (April and start of May).. then the rest.. do you think if those places will still be too crowded mid-Apr to start of May?

      Did you book all your hotels online or was going to hotel and asking for a room as easy?? did you pre-book them? or did you book them as you needed?

      • this is us on 12/12/2024 - 14:29
        +1

        April and start of May is already much better than May and start of June as I did. Places like Amalfi Coast and Rome will probably be packed already. I was in Naples and then travelled South, which was much better (far from touristic areas, not crowded, amazing food, not expensive).
        I pre-booked accommodation as we were a big family group, but you might be able to find accommodation for three more easily. I'm not sure I'd do that in high season as it's too risky, but maybe in April is still possible if you are flexible re location, and not picky.

  • Muffinman01 on 12/12/2024 - 14:03
    +2

    I did a European tour package thing a few years ago, because I too was overwhelmed at the amount of options for a Euro trip and thought a tour would just make it easier. It was a mistake doing the tour (for what I wanted) and I regret not organising a trip myself instead.

    The tours are very rushed, and depending on the type of tour and where it stops, you may not actually have much free time in a destination. The tour I took was a bus tour which was on average 2 nights in a destination. A typical itinerary would be wake up and be on the bus at 7am, drive most of the day along highways, so you're not experiencing stunning scenery or anything. You would stop for lunch at a roadside servo or truckstop, then get to the next destination around 3-4pm in the afternoon (on average).

    It would then be a group dinner/walking tour of some description after which you would most likely call it a day because you were tired. You would then have (potentially) a free day the next day (though some days there were group activities) and that day would be the only time you had to see as much of the destination as you wanted.

    For some people who just want the highlights, this might be perfectly suitable.

    For me, it was rushed and not at all the experience I want to have when travelling somewhere and I wouldn't do a tour again for that reason.

    • Megatron on 12/12/2024 - 14:13
      +1

      This is great.. I mean not great but great that you have shared your experience. My wife did think that the couple we looked at were very rushed and we could end up spending more time on the road than in a location we wanted to see. Thank you so much.

      I think I might start looking at some itenaries and plan that way as we will have 4 odd months to plan :)

      • Shadowsfury on 12/12/2024 - 14:23

        Just chuck the itineraries into google maps to get an idea of how long each one is going to take on the road - will quickly see how much time is lost.

  • wallet72 on 12/12/2024 - 14:24

    would it be worth doing one of the whirlwind 'taster' tours and then planning to go back and visit the favourite destinations? Looking at options now, I want to see all the things at all the places! ;)

  • altomic on 12/12/2024 - 14:49
    +1

    10 years ago I did Europe for 6 weeks with my family (3 kids under 9).
    arrived in Paris, stayed for 5 nights - rented a roof top apartment - tres magnificent!
    we caught the eurostar to london and spent a few days there (both myself and my wife used to live in London) and then returned to paris and collected a rental car (diesel peugot) at Gar De Nord station and then did a clockwise-ish journey of europe over the next 4 weeks

    Paris —> cologne —> prague —> vienna —> St Anton (austria) —> venice —> Nice —>Barcelona —> south france (random town) —> Charles De Gaule airport to fly out.

    most places we spent 3 or 4 nights , but barcelona we did a week in the Gothic quarter (it was cool).

    we did airbnbs mostly. but used what ever website was the least expensive.

    driving was easy - mostly expressways/highways/autobahns.

    driving allowed us to do what we wanted and when we wanted - we could stop where we wanted "that shop looks interesting" , or go "over there cos it looks interesting' , etc.

    I've never done a tour in my life (except a couple of city walking tours for a few hours).

    french roadhouses/truck stops are awesome. the few I stopped at had wine on tap <—awesome.. the food was half decent too.

    the thing with europe is there is so much to do. so don't bother planning in detail too much. keep it relatively chill as new ideas pop up as you go.

    like , one day in Paris we walked to the Moulin Rouge - 5 blocks from our appartment- and then down a side street I saw a large cemetary (Montmartre Cemetery) which I assumed would be the resting place of Jim Morrison (just because) , so then I spent 5 minutes talking to some local and trying to explain in year 8 french from 30 years ago that I wanted to find the grave site of Jim Morrison, upon the Parisians understanding my gibberish search spiel they explained that I should go to Cimetière du Père-Lachaise. but memories.

    if you drive in Italy - try to get your fuel outside - they have a huge fuel excise.

  • sumyungguy on 12/12/2024 - 15:02

    1 Your itinerary will depend on what you're personally interested in seeing & doing. Start with a list and go forward from there. Six weeks is a good amount of time. For first time Europe consider max 14 places averaging 72-hours in each: London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Reykjavik, Lisbon, Barcelona, Berlin, Paris, Zermatt, Vienna, Prague, Venice, Rome, Amalfi Coast.
    2 Rental car: beware of congestion zones and fines, lack of parking, one-way drop fees. You can do Western Europe without a car.
    3 My last trip as a family of 4 was 2018, around $800 per day.

  • Excelsior on 12/12/2024 - 16:27

    Slightly off topic but how old is your toddler? Travelling with a toddler (much less Europe) is no easy feat, what with all the flying/commuting, timezone and climate adjustments, time pressure (ie. get them to bed by a certain time) etc. We just took our 2 year old to Japan and even then that was hectic.

    We wouldn't even dare to think about bringing our kiddo to Europe at this age but yours might be different so who knows!

    • Megatron on 12/12/2024 - 18:20

      Sorry I should have said pre-school as she is now 4 and an easy kid mostly.

  • dogboy on 12/12/2024 - 17:17

    Good luck travelling Europe with a toddler! I am not that brave..

    • Megatron on 12/12/2024 - 18:22

      Yeah I can understand though all kids are different. We have done a couple of trips (Fiji and Nz) while she was 9 months and 20 months. Had no issues. But I guess you do have a point as Europe involves a lot more travel. For us, it is either next year or not for many years due to a other factors, so we think we will take the minor risk and in worst case we might not be able to do all places that we want to.

  • stickingly on 12/12/2024 - 17:32
    +1

    We did 5 weeks in Europe over winter 2 years ago - adult and 2 teenage kids. The trip cost just under $20,000 all up, including flights, staying in budget 1-2 star hotels / hostels, and eating quite frugally (eg buying food from supermarkets where possible)

    European trains are awesome and so much easier than flying. We bought Eurail passes (with 20% off), which didn't save money, but gave a lot of flexibility. The train tickets get really expensive the closer you get to the travel date. We missed one train, would have cost hundreds of dollars to get tickets for the next one, but with our Eurail passes it cost $0 extra

    I would recommend minimum 3 nights in each place. Need to allow for some downtime as well with kids so that it doesn't become an endurance test. We kept it chilled, didn't set alarm clocks and just set out each day when we were ready

    • Megatron on 12/12/2024 - 18:23

      thanks mate.. does the Eurail pass cover all main cities in the countries I have listed? and is it really unlimited?

      • stickingly on 13/12/2024 - 08:37

        There are lots of different types of Eurail passes, and lots of information on the net. How to get the most out of a Eurail ticket is a complex beast, and their app is terrible to use.

        We bought 7 days in one month, which gave unlimited travel on 7 days. In some countries you have to pay an additional fee to book a seat (and in others it is optional, but you may want to do this anyway if it is busy). This can be quite expensive, eg on the Eurostar. You don't have to select your days in advance, you do it on their app when you board the train

        You can get the tickets cheaper but need to book well in advance so you lose the flexibility

        https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a-eurail-pass.htm

    • timmof on 12/12/2024 - 20:19
      +1

      This.

      I’m having breakfast in Brussels right now with two teenagers.
      Man do they get shitty when they’re hungry. Day trip yesterday to Brugge. Today is a very chill day just to reset.

      • stickingly on 13/12/2024 - 08:42
        +2

        Yes, keeping teenage eating machines fed in Europe was a challenge! Also, getting them out of bed earlier than what they deemed natural, so I decided to avoid that except where absolutely necessary,

        I found breakfast buffets were a winner, when I could find cheap ones for 10 euros or less

  • sonicentropy on 12/12/2024 - 19:40

    My wife and I did eurorail pass 28 day nearly 10 years ago with our baby the trains were comftable and gave us a break. the uk was excluded back then so the only out of pocket was was eurostar to london and Barcelona to paris on ryanair because our pass ran out ( spain was way too much fun.) Planning on doing it again next year or 2026.

    • sumyungguy on 12/12/2024 - 22:35

      A reason to delay until 2026: the spires of Basilica de la Sagrada Familia are on track for completion on the centenary of Gaudi's death. I'd love to see it again in that notionally completed state but it may not be 100% complete until 2040.

  • Sunfish on 13/12/2024 - 08:24
    +2

    It is also Jubilee year next year in Italy and it is expected that tourist numbers are going to be massive so take that into account for your trip it was busy this year but next year is expected to be insane with triple the amount of visitors.

  • dtc on 13/12/2024 - 09:25
    +1

    Over 42 days I suggest you have no more than 15 actual places you will be stopping/staying. For larger cities it might be 4 to 5 days, for any smaller places it might only be a night or two. So pick the key places you want to stay (for example, perhaps its Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Rome*, London) and map those out with the most efficient route (usually trains). Then look at anything in between or close by to add to the itinerary (eg Barcelona to Paris you can go through Aix en Provence, Avignon, Grenoble etc fairly easily).

    *Rome - as others have mentioned, its the Jubilee year in Rome, honestly I would avoid Rome and probably all of Italy (despite it being one of my favourite countries in the world)

    Dont do a tour. For various cities/locations, you can do a day tour or a 'free' tour (tips only) and these can be great/efficient and worthwhile.

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