Planning Ideas for a European Vacation
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Our family just got back from a 3-day road trip. While we had a fabulous time out of Dodge, we are tired and happy to be home. Our kids are pretty good travelers, packing their stuff and loading the car in pretty short order. We love the idea of traveling with our big family.
As happens when we’re away from home, we start talking about our trip to Europe, tentatively planned for this fall. While we have some vague ideas about what we want to do, nothing is in stone. It’s been so long since we were in France for our honeymoon, we know that much has probably changed in European travel.
I suggested to FishPapa that he and I could do a recon trip by ourselves for a week, but he wasn’t buying that.
My follow up suggestion was that we ask you.
I did this years ago when we were planning our first Disneyland trip with kids. I can’t tell you how immensely helpful your suggestions were back then! I benefitted so much from your hard-earned wisdom. So, today, I’m turning the mic over to you as concerns European travel with children.
How would YOU plan a European vacation?
Feel free to plan my family’s European vacation. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Who: Two parents, Six kids, ages 6 to 17
Our kids have never left the country. They will be ages 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, and 17 when we go.
Where: Europe
The boundary lines are wide open. We were initially just set on France, and then France and England. For this exercise, we’re entertaining all ports.
When: Fall, after summer vacations end, for up to 5 weeks
We’ve heard this is the best time to go. Since we homeschool, we can make our own calendar.
How: Budget travel
Let’s say you have about $25,000 to cover transportation and travel expenses for eight people.
Feel free to leave me links, book recommendations, travel spots, things to pack, tips, etc.
When my husband and I went 14 years ago (without kids!), we found Rick Steve’s Europe Through the Backdoor to be really helpful. I am not sure if there is an updated version. . .
His recommendations for lodging were all good and economical.
You’re the third person to suggest his books, so I guess that’s a go. Thanks!
For part of your trip you might want to consider a cruise. Children sail free under age 17 as 3rd and 4th guest on NCL in the fall. You may have to get 2 rooms/pay full price for 4 ppl but it is still a money saver for a family of 8. You’ll get to see more ports. You can book your own excursions through companies online rather than through the ship.
We spent 3 extra days before the cruise in Barcelona to see the sites since the ship departed from there. Took a 7 day cruise to Rome, Naples, Florence etc. After the cruise we flew to Venice for 2 days and then Paris for 2 days. Paris def needs at least 3-5 days–so much to see but we were strapped for time. We skipped London b/c of cost and we only had approx 2 weeks.
Thanks for the suggestion! It’s easy to forget the cruise lines since we’ve never done one stateside.
I studied abroad in England for four months, traveling all around Europe. This last summer my husband and I went and we had to condense all we wanted to see into under two weeks, but we had so much fun. We both agreed the pace would need to be slower with kids, but I have some tips that may be helpful:
1.) Check and see if flying into London is cheaper, because I’ve oftentimes found that’s the hub they first send you to from Southern Cal. If you want to fly into London and out of Paris, call the airlines to book the ticket, we did this and they charged us something like $75 dollars but took over a thousand dollars off what the price would have been for two people. It also allowed us to customize our travel times a bit more.
2.) If you can, take a red eye so the kids can sleep. Try and make sure they aren’t putting you on too many layover flights, which takes the experience from luxurious to comically awful. The way there we had a huge plane, tons of in-flight movies, and so much food. Kids would love the service, and within a couple hours they’d be asleep and then pretty soon you’re awake, they serve you breakfast and you’re there. With a layover, you are often in a smaller plane, no TV, there was vomit on my in-flight blanket because the planes were doing so many trips they were cleaned less, and you are at-risk for missing your connecting flight. Also, bring the kids a blanket, because sometimes they don’t give you enough and being cold is the worst on a plane (also some are gross!), socks and slippers so they feel like they’re transitioning into bedtime and to help with swelling feet, and Dramamine or something of the like if it’s needed you’ll want it.
3.) Push everyone to make it to at least 7 P.M. without sleeping the day you arrive. It will hurt, but it will set you up.
4.) Heathrow airport security is a nightmare. Make sure you have NOTHING in your carry-on that could go off in security, they are way stricter, and it would take hours for them to search all your families bags. Paris is more relaxed but less so than what I’ve experienced in US security (except for the shoes).
5.) Bring tons of snacks! But you’d already do this. It really does save so much money and get eaten.
6.) For places: The Lake District in England is where I want to spend the rest of my life. It is everything English storybooks are made of. You can stay on farms, walk through pastures of sheep, and enjoy seeing where Beatrix Potter and Wordsworth lived (but don’t spend the money on going inside). I think kids would benefit from hiking, seeing farms, and the quaint wonderland. It’s way better than always being in a city. Take a train from London to Windermere, then you’re there. From there take a bus to get to your accommodations. If you want to see Wales (this is more complicated), take a train to Hereford, then take a bus to Hay on Wye — a town of nothing but used books. It’s awesome. Then I’d do London, there’s an outdoor theater in Regent’s Park I might look into sitting on the grass and bringing a picnic. Then of course all the usual attractions. There are Flat Tire Bike Tours that a lot of kids were on, and gives you the brief history of the city. It would add up with eight, but there are coupons and kids may love the bikes. I personally thought it was a bit overwhelming to bike through the hoards of people and prefer to wander on my own. Then take a train from London to Paris. Do all the usual things in Paris and fly home. So Heathrow – London – Windermere – Hay on Wye – London – Paris – any side trips in Paris – Paris. Just some ideas. Also, Versailles ended up being awful for my husband and I, expensive and the line was days, and the crowds are littered with pick pockets. I loved it in college, though. For museums, look into the Museum Pass in Paris. Musee d’ Orsay is a kid friendly area I’ve heard. Eat tons of ice cream and pastries, and lastly, be careful where you picnic, there’s a lot of drunks and people peeing on sidewalks. They’re harmless, but still.
7.) Accommodations: Apartments in Paris and London and in the English Countryside negotiate the price to pennies for those B & B’s. You also get a full breakfast. I had better experiences with hostels in less urban areas. London was terrifying, but other people feel very differently, so it depends on how casual you are in sleeping in a room of 20 people, men and women, it smells sweaty, some have drunk a lot, and not a lot of air. You can, however, get private rooms sometimes which are like a budget hotels and would be great for kids. You can chalk any bad places up to adventure in the end.
8.) For food troll food blogs, picnic, and bring stuff.
9.) Rent apartments and get train tickets early, hotels can be more favorable last min.
10.) Walk everywhere and when you can’t take it use cheap public transportation.
Have fun! It’s so special that your family is doing this, and your kids will learn so much about food, culture, history, and travel. It’s expensive, but the memories really do last a lifetime. (And sorry this is SO long! I never comment, but I couldn’t help myself. I love travel.)
I’m so glad you did. Keep the good ideas coming!
Coming back to read this again. Do you thin we would find enough variety between England and France to keep things exciting for a month?
I think so, but it depends on where you decide to go. I personally like a mix of city and countryside when traveling, it’s easier financially and gives me a better view of the country. I also like to fit in a lot of places, which isn’t everyone’s style. For even more variety I would suggest flying into Edinburgh, Scotland (that’s what we did), it’s a very festive and fun city because it has a mix of history, city, and gorgeous countryside. We hiked King Arthur’s Seat and toured the palace and a castle in one day and walked everywhere! You can take a bus from the airport and it will drop you off downtown, so try and find accommodations within a couple blocks of the bus stop, and ideally also close to Waverly train stain for when you leave. I’ve also been to Loch Ness in the Scottish highlands which was gorgeous. From Edinburgh, you are even closer to parts of the English countryside than you would be in London. You could easily take a train from Edinburgh to Windermere (in the Lake District), then you can go to where I suggested in Wales (Hay-on-Wye), and then other parts of the English countryside such as York, Stonehenge, the Cotswold’s, and/or Oxford. Then go to London and Paris – any trips around France – and fly home out of Paris or Nice. An example is: a 1/2 week in Scotland (I’d add in Ireland also and make it a full week), 6 days or so in the English Countryside, seven days in London, seven days in Paris (10 days would be plenty for Paris/London I think, but renting apartments in major cities often requires a weeks stay), and that leaves you with maybe a day or two to side trip in France. Brussels is also an easy train ride from London and Bruges looks lovely. Or, if you want to go at a quicker pace, you could always fly out of Paris to another European country, like Italy or take an overnight train to Switzerland or Germany, spending a handful of days there, then flying home. Flights are cheap within Europe, but taxes and finding some airports can be a nightmare. Probably Edinburgh to the English countryside to London to Paris would be cheapest, and can all very easily be done by trains. Belgium might be easy to fit in, too. Let me know if you have any other questions! You are going to have SO much fun! 😉
I’m ready to have you plan the trip for us! 😉 Everything you name sounds great. I would add a least 7 to 10 days in Paris and a few days in the south (Pyrenees Orientales) since my French family lives there.
Have not been in France in about 25 years either. I do recall my sister and ex-brother-in-law rented chateaus in France (again this was about 20 years ago). This was much cheaper for them than staying in a hotel. http://www.homeaway.com has chateaus listed. I used this same site to rent our townhouse for Disney World. I have not used it to rent outside the US.
Thanks for the tip!
I’m living vicariously! Love this planned trip- I’m a nomad at heart- would love to just pack up and homeschool on the road. 🙂
I went to Paris after college with my parents in 2010. We bought ‘Paris Pass’ or whatever its called in Paris– where you pay for so many days (2, 3, 5, 7 — we did 5) and you can get into any of the 30+ places covered by the pass for those days. this was a great deal — my dad was disappointed we couldn’t get one on the other part of our trip. I know you homeschool so it might be different type of proof but for younger students, my understanding was it was free for them even for non EU kids. Your kids are very lucky.
They are pretty great kids, so I hope we can make this a good experience for them. I feel rather clueless and unsure of myself at the moment, and the clock is ticking on the planning.
I would gather more ideas by going to http://www.expatsblog.com. They have a directory of blogs written by expats all over the world and their directory has then broken down by country (click on expats blog on the top to see the list). France, for example, has over 100. If you click on France you can read the intros and select blogs that best align to your interests. For Germany I like Thrify Travel Mama as she details traveling around Europe with 3 little boys and places that have worked for them. She also has several entries on traveling with kids in Paris that might be of interest. Good luck and have fun!
Another tip I got is to search familienhotels – these are places that are especially set up to accommodate families with separate dining areas, working farms and other attractions that are designed for kids to enjoy.
Also search “fun forests” these are areas in forested areas that have rappelling and zip-lining adventures and are very reasonably priced for when you want to take a break from city sightseeing.
We are actually moving to Europe this summer for at least 2 years – I can’t wait to take advantage of all the travel!!! Hope you blog about your adventures so we all can see what you ended up doing. Have fun!
What great suggestions! I’ve added that blog to my feedly. The boys would love to zipline through a European forest. Fun!
This sounds like so much fun! I’m anxious to see how it unfolds. It’s been almost 10 years (WOW) since I’ve been to Europe, but every time we come back from a family trip (with kids almost 5 and 7 now) I see us getting a bit closer to international travel!!
When we last went to Europe, we used Rick Steves’ guides and they were incredibly helpful at finding really good but inexpensive accommodations, food, etc. But I would second other commenters and try to rent an apartment – I’m guessing that would be the best value.
You could possibly divide your trip up by weeks with a different base city for each week (i.e. Week 1 London, Week 2 Rome, Week 3 Madrid, Week 4 Bern, Week 5 Paris) and make day trips as necessary from there with the idea that the week 5 city would have good access back to (or be) where you need to fly from. This is of course predicated on the idea that your destinations are more city-related. I’ve heard agro-tourism is really fun way to experience the culture, particularly in Italy. That said, while food is probably more expensive in the cities, transportation is cheaper … and there’s a lot to do and see.
We’ve overall had great luck traveling by shopping for at least one meal/day at a grocery store. Even when we have just a hotel we’ll stop by a market and grab some granola bars, lunch meat and cheese to hand out in the car rather than paying for a hotel breakfast or driving thru McDonalds. Some of our best meals in Europe were a few staples from the store (Orangina and goat cheese with crackers) and I will never dismiss street food as an option!
Good luck with everything.
I’m thinking we may do the UK, France, and Spain. Not sure that we’ll get farther East. Sounds like a lot of mileage to me. Am I being a wimp?
We are taking our homeschooling family of 5 to Europe this September for 3 weeks. Our girls are 8, 10, 11 and we are planning for Paris for a week, Germany for a time, Prague, Budapest and Salzburg. We have been able to find apartments in every city we are staying in for substantially less than hotels, plus we will be able to cook meals there. We plan to eat in a lot since eating out can be so expensive in Europe. My husband has found that the majority of the museums kids under 12 (some places 18) are free so that helps save. We are planning to only take a few outfits each because the apartments we have chosen all have washing machines. Also on Trip Advisor, my husband has found lots of private tour guides that are much cheaper than going with a big bus tour plus they can accomodate exactly what we would like to see, so we have chosen to do that in a couple of the places. We try to find the tours that take us to things that would be hard for us to see on our own – like a farm tour, glass blowing factory, etc. Let me know if you want any more details about what we have found…my husband is the travel research hound! 🙂
Gah! Now I think I’m really behind in the planning. Does your husband want to send us his notes?!
we are hoping to take our two grandchildren to Paris and London this summer as well. I started looking at various intergenerational holiday sites for inspiritation. then we realized that we could duplicate a lot ourselves. we went ourselves in 2008 with only our backpacks on wheels. start by washing your undies and see which ones dry over night, take those. wash other clothes too and see what dries the quickest. if you are travelling between towns, you can wear the same clothes over and over, no one will notice. you can take the train from Paris out to Giverny and to Versaille, the city bus tours give you a reasonable guided glimpse of the size of the city.did you know that there is a Roman Amphitheatre in Paris? Also a zoological park is nearby. we didnt go in but were able to see a few animals on the other side of the fence. also there are a lot of city museums such as Carnevalet Musee which has history of the city , it is free, You must go and visit “Shakespeare and Company” a book store selling English written books near Notre Dame on the other side of the river. Started by an American George Whitman, now deceased and currently operated by his daughter. A MUST SEE. for sure. look for the quotes painted over a doorway e.g “Be not inhospitable to strangers, lest they be Angels in disguise ” he would offer free lodging to aspiring writers while they worked at the store for Mr Whitman. a visit to Paris wouldnt be complete without visiting this store.
have a great vacation
I went to that bookstore as a college student, but was underwhelmed. Enlighten me now that I’m more mature. What was the “must see” part for you?
I thought that the history of the bookstore and the relationship that owner had with the students was important. if one is expecting a coffee lounge and free wi fi, one would be disappointed. I was surprised to see the Quote”Be not hospitable” painted over a door jamb and took a photo of the quote and I found that quite inspiring. finding little cots topped up with books during the day and realizing that someone might have had the opportunity to sleep there was intriguing to me as well. we bought a pop up book for our grandchildren on that trip. I didnt want to drag too much back on a plane, so it was a 1/2 hr visit with the past. after all in the day, this was THE English print book store in Paris. it reminded me of a real Harry Potter dust filled repository of Books, old and new, and there might have been a treasure there, if only I had stayed long enough to search through the stacks.
I should add that I was in college 20+ years ago. I imagine that it would be different for me now in many of the ways you describe, especially now that “real” bookstores are so hard to find. Thanks for showing me through your eyes. 🙂