4 Countries in 6 WEEKS???

Well Randi, I'm visiting 7 countries in 6 weeks this summer! I could do it differently, but this is what I want. when I was first planning I hadn't found this board yet. I posted my planned itinerary on a board I won't name and people were so rude, telling me I was crazy, would hate my trip, that I HAD to change it. I listened to a point, cut out a couple cities, but ultimately decided that these are the cities I want to see, if I waste some time traveling, ok by me! I'll have 4-5 nights in each city and I'm seeing all the places I've always dreamed of! My advice is to do what you guys want and be happy about it. If you really want to see all those countries, pick maybe 8 cities overall max (or fewer if you'd rather stay in each city longer) - I think that's doable in 6 weeks. People can give you all kinds of advice, but do what will make you happy. Then once you have decided what places suit your interests, come back and get more specific help (TripAdvisor boards also quite helpful)!

If we were to cut out a country, which one would you suggest Greece or Portugal? Thanks -
Randi

My husband and I did a 5 week trip with our then 11 year old son. We didn't hit Spain, Portugal or Greece though. There are a few books out on doing Europe with kids. I found they had some helpful ideas - like getting your son to be involved in the planning - allowing him to make a few of the decisions on where to eat etc. The other thing I did was to look at where the Rick Steves family tours were going and what kinds of things they were doing. We actually ended up staying at the same place near Reutte with one of the family tours. It was my son's favortie place as they had a trampoline and really nice play area - not to mention the other kids to play with! One thing I would definately recommend is taking a vacation from your vacation maybe in Cinque Terra?

It seems to me doing those countries in that amount of time should be totally doable. We covered quite a bit of ground on our trip. My son loved riding on the trains. HAVE FUN!

You're probably asking the wrong person - #1 I haven't been to either yet (going to Lisbon in August on my cuckoo trip described above), and #2 I will tell you to go for it all if that is what you guys want because I am an idealist and I say, if you want it to happen, you can make it happen. I mean, these 4 countries are at least in a geographical progression - start at one and finish at the other and fly home from there so you are not backtracking (I fly into London and home from Rome). Follow your dreams. Will you get to see every last wonderful nook and cranny of all 4? no of course not. But if it is your dream to see them all, don't deny yourself. 6 weeks is plenty of time to get a great taste. If you guys are the type who like to stay a long time and savor, then cut one (I'd personally cut greece but I have no real reason to say that, I just want to visit the other 3 more lol). It's really all up to you guys and your traveling style and your goals and dreams :)

The vacation from the vacation idea is already on the plan! That is why I asked about a week in Sardinia (which I have heard is AWESOME and a little bit "undiscovered") or a week in a beach town of Spain. Has anyone heard of a great spot for a week off from traveling in Italy or Spain? CT is already on the agenda for appx. 3 days.

Randi, I'm so jealous! I've taken my son to Europe a number of time since he was 1 and each was an adventure, not because he was there, but because WE were there. We have't tried quite that long of a trip (our longest was 5 weeks) but my suggestion for a little time off is to find your own back door location. We have stumbled on a number of places purely by accident and they are some of my favorites, but they aren't in the countries you mentioned. One was a small town in Hungary and the other a resort town in eastern England that is frequented by the Brits, but not by Americans. We relaxed, played, and were the hit of the town since were the strangers. Do some adventuring, don't plan too much and you will find somewhere that everyone will agree is a good place to chill for a few days.

I would say that your itinerary is doable with 8 weeks. The only change I would suggest is to maybe have shorter, but more frequent "vacations from your vacation". An entire week of just beach time could get boring. Remember that you'll need to take time out to do laundry. We try to schedule laundry days around our "vacation" days. This gives us a chance to relax without chewing up too much sight-seeing time. FYI, in Greece, on the island of Naxos we came across quite a few European families with kids, so that might be a good Greek destination to look into.