Hello all!!
We have nailed down our itinerary for our great family european expereience! I am so excited but have a few questions. We (husband and I) are travelling with our 2 kids (7 year old daughter, 5 year old son) and staying with family for our time in Paris. (actually staying at their house in Maison Laffitte) My question is, what do you think we can reasonably see during our stop over in Normandy and Loire. We are really only there for such a short time. I'm not sure what exactly we can reasonably hope to see. Our kids are great in the car, good about travel overall. (we can typically do 2 things a day which to me is a lot for a kiddo)
April 16 Toronto noon (stop over to see my cousin)
April 17 9pm leave toronto for paris.
April 18 land noon ish in Paris
April 19-21 Paris itself
April 22 Versailles
April 23 day trip to Provins
April 24 Nieces Birthday Party, pick up rental car
April 25th early departure for Normandy (would like to see Juno beach and Beny sur mers, if I had a magic wand Arromanches) stay in Creully hotel (1 night)
April 26th leave for Tours at lunch Sleep between Amboise and tours at gite (2 nights)
April 27th a chateau?
April 28th leave for dordogne stay at holiday rental near Beynac (4 nights)
April 29-May 1st dordogne adventures
May 2nd drive to Narbonne, drop off rental car. Train to Barcelona stay in apartment in Montujk/magic fountain area (2 nights)
May 3rd Sagrada Familia
May 4th early evening flight to seville (5 nights seville)
May 5 -8th Seville and day trips from seville (family from Paris joining us)
May 9th (family leave) we move onto Granada
May 10th Alhambra
May 11th flight from Malaga to Paris (1 night hotel near cdg)
May 12th mid day flight to Keflavik Iceland land 4 pm ish
May 13th Reykjavik
May 14 fly out Keflavik late afternoon/early evening land Toronto 6pm ish local time (1 night)
May 16th home pray our kids sleep schedule isn't too horribly messed up....
As ambitious a trip as this is I think the kids will be able to hack it as long as my husband and I keep our cool and plan on down days ( 1 day in each longer stay location - Paris- Dordogne-Seville)
What do you guys think?
Posted by
Brisbane, Australia
7175 posts
There must be a reason why you have shortchanged Barcelona so severely with just 2 nights ?
Posted by
Chicago, IL, USA
138 posts
I would agree to not shortchange Barcelona, and possibly take one day from Sevilla. Additionally, while in Sevilla, it's a 2 hour drive to Ronda. In my mind, Ronda is a must-see.
Take the following as experience from what I've seen what works for my kids :).
Versailles IS HUGE. The crowds can BE HUGE. If it's a beautiful day they may enjoy the gardens but if it's raining...
Is there family you could leave the kids home with? It would give them a chance to just chill. They can't take quite as much as adults on some of the sight-seeing (especially museum like places where it's crowded). This is just my two cents, from a Mom who has toted my 3 around very often. My kids are older but I have learned to have at least 3-4 days in each location before moving on. Set a base and day-trip it from there. The gite is a great idea and I think at the kids' ages, they will appreciate it more than a chateau.
Again, just IMHO.
Good luck!!!!
Posted by
SF Bay Area, CA
2030 posts
Your kids should love Provins. The day I went, there were several school groups, same ages as your kids, enjoying climbing the tower and the falconry show. There are other medieval shows as well.
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
This strikes me as a thoughtful and creative itinerary, assuming you have the stamina (!) to carry it off.
I do think May 11 and 12, where you return to Paris only to spend the night at the airport, is unfortunate. You have probably wrestled with this but if you could arrange to push on to Reykjavik the same day, you'd have an extra day. I'd spend it in Barcelona, if that is possible given your family plans in Sevilla.
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4051 posts
I strongly recommend Canadians take a guided tour of the Normandy invasion sites which includes Juno Beach and the tank battles near Cannes which had critical Canadian involvement. An informed guide will show you far more than you can see on your own, and help you understand where you have been. However these tours, not cheap, leave early and continue through the afternoon and maybe/probably could be too much for your small children.