Europe lovers - Help me plan a trip?

[aggieamy]

DH and I want to go to Europe next summer with DD and our niece. They will both be 9 years old then. We are trying to adopt so we might also have another little one between the ages of 6 mos to 1 year old. Our plan is fly into Europe (London maybe?), travel around by train for two weeks, and then fly back to the States. There is just so much cool stuff to see and do that DH and I are having a hard time figuring out where to go and how long to stay. We've got a list of places that we both really want to see but don't know how practical we are being.

 

Places we'd love to go:

 

London - I'm a huge Anglophile and want to see Parliment, Baker Street, Thames, ect

Cardiff - kids are huge Doctor Who fans and there's an exhibit there we'd like to take them to

 

Berlin - I went with my parents a few years ago and LOVED it

Rhine/Mosel River - want to take a one day cruise to see the castles and towns along the river

Fussen - see the castles and Black Forest

Munich - DH wants to see the beer halls

 

What other places are must sees in Europe that we haven't thought about? How long would you recommend staying in any of the above cities if you've been there before? Is this a crazy plan? Any advice?

 

We are prepared to pack as light as possible and we are all very good travelers. We don't want to rent a car and would prefer to stick with public transportation or walking. If we are lucky enough to be traveling with a baby then baby will be in a back or front carrier.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

If those are the things you want to see, I'd recommend one week in England and one week in Germany. You still won't see everything there is to see. You could spend the whole two weeks in London and not run out of things to do. I would plan on seeing the things you know want to see, and leaving some room for unexpected surprises. I really wouldn't want to rush around trying to see more than what you've listed, especially with a baby.

[knit247]

Have you looked into the Rick Steves books? He is huge with the Americans over here and we use his books and guides every time we travel. Go to the Books section and it will help you pick the correct guidebook. I get almost all of them on my iPad so that I have them available as we travel.

[aggieamy]

If those are the things you want to see, I'd recommend one week in England and one week in Germany. You still won't see everything there is to see. You could spend the whole two weeks in London and not run out of things to do. I would plan on seeing the things you know want to see, and leaving some room for unexpected surprises. I really wouldn't want to rush around trying to see more than what you've listed, especially with a baby.

 

What things did you enjoy in London? There is so much there that I'm having a hard time narrowing it down and would love some personal recommendations.

 

Have you looked into the Rick Steves books? He is huge with the Americans over here and we use his books and guides every time we travel. Go to the Books section and it will help you pick the correct guidebook. I get almost all of them on my iPad so that I have them available as we travel.

 

Great suggestion. DH and I used to watch all his travel shows but didn't even think about his books. Off to do some reserving at the library.

[Jane in NC]

Places we'd love to go:

 

London - I'm a huge Anglophile and want to see Parliment, Baker Street, Thames, ect

Cardiff - kids are huge Doctor Who fans and there's an exhibit there we'd like to take them to

 

Berlin - I went with my parents a few years ago and LOVED it

Rhine/Mosel River - want to take a one day cruise to see the castles and towns along the river

Fussen - see the castles and Black Forest

Munich - DH wants to see the beer halls

 

 

 

Fussen is a bit of a distance from the Black Forest. Fussen and Munich are closer.

 

I think that I would either spend the two weeks in Britain or in Germany---not both.

[Melinda in VT]

I'm a big fan of Europe, travel, and traveling with kids, but I personally would not want to take the trip as you've outlined it.

 

Here are some of my concerns.

 

1. In my experience, public transportation works great in big cities but not for smaller towns or sites located outside of towns. (Many of our favorite sites are located in rural areas.) I would say especially if you have a baby with you, rethink the no-rental-car idea.

 

2. Although I have done a wonderful two-nights-here, two-nights-there trip with one child, once we went from one child to three (twins are fun :D) it became a whole lot more work to transition from one sleeping place to the next. We find family travel a lot more fun when we settle in somewhere for a week and take day trips to see nearby sites.

 

We use Rick Steves guides for each trip to a new country, although now that we thumbprint travel we adapt his itineraries quite a bit.

 

Whatever you decide, have a great trip!

[mumto2]

In the UK it can be quite difficult to get a family room for four. We use Premier Inns because of this. I am sure a cot can be added. You have a lot planned. I would consider flying between the UK and Germany. I do think the Eurostar is starting a london to frankfort route next summer. There are several low cost airlines to chose from.

 

For London I would plan on 3 or 4 days at least. To get over your jet lag and to really enjoy the city. The museums are free and in Germany you pay quite a bit. You can also get a pass for the Tower, Hampton Court, Kensington Palace, and a couple of other historical attractions. Great value.

 

Cardiff can probably be done as an overnight.

 

Berlin we have done as a really full day. Zoo plus Brandenburg Gate area.

 

Munich is lovely. We went to Salsburg from there. The castles too. Worked really well but we rented a car.

 

Rick Stevens books are really good. He also has Dvds. We have watched him on Pbs too.

 

I hope you have a great time!

[Bootsie]

We have traveled to Europe with kids ranging in age from 2 months old through high school. Our favorite place is Austria. We have rented apartments in the Innsbruck area at reasonable rates. We have found that having a homebase for a longer period of time and traveling from there works best for us. Innsbruck is two hours be train to Munich and Salzburg and three hours to Zurich. Italy is only 30 minutes to the south. Fussen is not far. There are many family friendly activities and outdoor activites for a wide-range of ages.

[Harriet Vane]

I have traveled pretty extensively with children--Switzerland, England, Scotland, Mexico, and Guatemala besides assorted places in the US.

 

I would NOT try to cover tons of ground with children. Pick a home base (or two) and do day trips from there. The trip you have described will leave you all exhausted and bug-eyed.

 

It's easy to do public transportation in an urban center, and much harder other places. My dh has done just fine with an international license. We hate driving in a big city like London (VERY overwhelming) but it's been fine to do so other places. We usually take a train from the urban center (like London) to whatever small town or village we are interested in, then rent a car there.

 

Consider a B&B. We had a lovely one in Dartmouth--it was a farm with large rooms and private bathrooms, and cost less than our London accommodations.

 

When you go, pack 3 outfits and wear one. That's it. Everyone is in charge of their own, rolling suitcase. Plan to wash at a laundromat once mid-week. Bring rain gear also.

 

Rick Steves is a GREAT source of advice and recommendations generally, but especially for traveling with kids.

[OrganicAnn]

When planning your trip don't forget about jet-lag. It can take a 1 or even 2 days for some people to recover. Also be careful about fit too much in. Give yourself a day or half day to rest. Especially kids need this. Also you might only plan a couple of hours at the British Museum and then find you want to spend a whole day there. So be flexible. You can easily fill up a whole week with London and not see everything.

 

Does anyone in your family speak German? It helps if you do. It helps with all kinds of little things. That is why London is such a good choice, since you don't have to worry so much about language.

 

You could also spend another week traveling around Great Britian - Wales, Scotland etc.

[Melinda in VT]

I should add one important caveat about Rick Steves: mere mortals can't fit as much stuff into one day as his daily itineraries indicate. Even less so if they are traveling with kids.

 

We find we travel happier if we schedule one or two big things a day.

[The Governess]

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[thescrappyhomeschooler]

What things did you enjoy in London? There is so much there that I'm having a hard time narrowing it down and would love some personal recommendations.

 

I personally haven't been to London. My sister and my best friend have both been, though, and say a week is just enough to dip your feet in the pool of things to do in London.

 

I've been to Ireland, Spain, Germany, Austria, Italy & Belgium. I also lived in France as an undergrad and for a longer period of time as a grad student. My advice was based on general travel in Europe. If you really want to do both England and Germany, you're going to have to narrow down to specific things you want to see and specific places you want to go. I've spent two trips of 3 days each in Belgium, and was able to accomplish and incredible amount of sightseeing in those 3 day chunks. With kids, that will be much harder. If you fly into London, you can get around with out a car, but you might want to rent a car in Germany, because you have so many different places in mind. If I were doing this trip, I would plan two places in Germany to visit. I would spend half the week in each place. One day could be for exploring the local area, one day could be a short road trip, one day could be shopping and resting for each main spot.

[shann]

We've done two European trips. First was Germany/Paris and then London Paris. I would recommend picking two places, maybe Munich-London or Berlin London. We took the over night train from Munich to Paris and the train from London to Paris but I think for Germany-London you'll need to take a plane? Note that the transfer between countries, packing up, slogging through the airports and tube/metro was the hardest part of both of our trips. So be prepared to spend the rest of that travel day relaxing!

We found Germany very child friendly. We went to a few beer garden's, they had ice cream sundaes for the kids. Stay away from the beer garden touristy areas at night though, it can get extremely crowded.

In London our favorite spots were Stonehenge (easy to find via train/bus tour and it was so nice to get out of the city) and surprisingly Shakespeare's globe was a big hit. Also the whole family loved going out for afternoon tea and strolling through the parks, Kensington and Hyde. London is also very kid friendly, Paris not so much. Oh I almost forgot, the natural history museum in London was a lot of fun. They have Explorer backpacks for kids that include a list of objects to search for and binoculars.

 

Also since you are Dr. Who fans ( we are as well but didn't have time to visit Cardiff) there is a great Dr Who shop on The Strand and there is a Blue phone box outside of the Earl's court tube stop :D

Edited April 29, 2012 by shann

[Jane in NC]

I personally haven't been to London. My sister and my best friend have both been, though, and say a week is just enough to dip your feet in the pool of things to do in London.

 

 

 

I love London but it is expensive. A few well planned days there might include the British Museum, a walking tour of Westminster, and seeing a play at the Globe. There are some very famous fossils at the Natural History Museum. I enjoyed listening to a lunch time concert at St. Martin in the Fields followed by lunch in the crypt. There is just so much to do in London that it is hard to choose.

 

We did a Shakespearean walking tour which started with a boat ride along the Thames and then into Southwark. This was followed by standing stage side as groundlings during a performance at the Globe. It was my favorite day in London.

[TammyinTN]

If you were driving and sort of knew your way around...I would say it's doable. In Germany the autobahn is your friend as long as you don't hit a stau. You could certainly do Fussen and Munich in 2 days but it would be rushed and both places are awesome. We drove to all the castles on the Mosel/Rhine cruise and enjoyed driving very much. Honestly if I were you...I would spend either 2 weeks in London or Germany. I could fill my days with day trips in either place. Gosh...now I want to go back really bad. Sorry I'm sure I was not help.;)

[TX6]

The train is hard with kids and luggage. The longest trip I took was 6hrs by myself with 3 kids ages 8yrs, 4yrs, and 1. It is hard! I highly recommend driving or flying. There are cheap airlines that fly all over Europe. Although, I wouldn't recommend Ryanair.

 

I spent summers in Austria as a child, and I lived in Germany for 4.5 years.

I am a little partial to both places.:lol: I think you should try to make it to Vienna. My kids and I had a great time there. There are many family friendly activities.

 

You could stay in Garmisch, Germany. It is very relaxing and only a short drive to Munich and Austria. You could also head down to Italy.

[TammyinTN]

Strasbourg France was an interesting place to visit.

 

I agree...just beautiful!

[Hoggirl]

Just a little tip, but let your kids do a brass rubbing somewhere!! I think they do them at Westminster Abbey, but I am sure there are other places, too. A wonderful souvenier (sp??) to have. Flat paper is easy to bring home and you can frame them when you return. We might have done ours in Scotland somewhere.

 

I would base myself in London for a about eight or nine days but do some day trips via rail. You could take them to Legoland! I know it's not typically Brit, but after many museums and cathedrals, your girls might want a break. I have a bias for Cambridge - an easy day trip and you could go punting (flat boat steered with a long pole) on the Cam while there. Leeds Castle (not in Leeds) is also an easy day trip. I would intersperse the day trips among your time within London.

 

You could then work your way north and spend a couple of nights in York and then go on to Edinburgh. I would probably spend the entire two weeks in the UK. I do think it's the best place to get your feet wet if you have not done much international traveling.

 

Have fun!

[Maus]

There are a lot of cool places you haven't thought of ;), but what you have listed is a pretty full trip. (I'm partial to Austria myself.) Definitely look at Rick Steves' books.

 

If I were trying to schedule what you have listed with kids, I'd do something like this:

 

Pick a home base near/in London for a week, and another near/in Munich for a week. Daytrip out from there. It's easier to get kids to settle for the night if you aren't changing hotels every day or two. Consider a B&B or a vacation apartment (Ferienwohnung). Fly into London and use public transportation there. See your other UK sites. Take an overnight train (reserve a sleeping compartment) to Munich. (Gains you a site-seeing day.) Pick up a rental car there. (The rental car gets you places faster, on your schedule, and is usually cheaper if you have two or more travelers than intercity train travel.) See the sites there. Consider driving the route of the Rhine cruise, or drop off the rental car near the start point. Spend the last day or two in Berlin and fly home from there

 

Munich to Fussen is a pretty doable daytrip. Probably quickest by car via the autobahn. The rest stops in Germany/Austria usually have restaurants, by-the-way, and those restaurants usually have kid menus. Consider crossing the border into Austria near there. The town of Reutte, Austria has some ruined castles they are in the process of restoring. It's a pretty hike up, with spectacular views down into the valley when you get there.

 

Salzburg, Austria is only about two or two and half hours from Munich by Autobahn with great Mozart sites and Sound of Music sites. (Check Rick Steves' book for a list, because they filmed all over town.)

 

A couple of sites in the Munich area that we saw:

 

The Deutsches Museum in Munich. Kind of a German Smithsonian. Really big. They had a schedule of live events. (We saw a glass blowing demo.)

 

The Bavarian Movie Studio. One of the biggest in German, like their Hollywood. The luck dragon from Neverending Story was there and the sub from Das Boot.