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21 Day BOE Teen/Tween Appropriate?

Considering the 21 Day BOE Tour, is it teen/tween appropriate? We are planning to spend three weeks in Europe next summer with our 15 and 12 year old daughters. If yes, what will be the best aspects of this tour? If not, what tour would be more appropriate?

Posted by
4637 posts

It depends. I am sure there are some 15 and 12 year old who would enjoy it, on the other hand there are some who would be thoroughly bored. Because I don't know your daughters I don't feel qualified to give a negative or positive answer. What do you think; would they enjoy it? If you are not sure take a shorter tour which has a lot of breaks with opportunities for play, swimming in lakes and sea, etc.

Posted by
11507 posts

I think in the summer months the BOE tour gets more families.. so I imagine your kids would be fine..
I took my daughter on a Family Tour.. (Family 14 day Europe) and she loved it.. she was 11 at that time and there were 14 kids on that tour mostly between ages 10-17... We met a BOE tour at a rest stop and there was a family with teen boys on that tour.. so older kids do take them.. but obviously not as many kids as a family tour or shorter tour..

Rick Steves tours are fun for anyone with an open mind.. but for a child. .I would try and check if they have a tour date with other kids already signed up..

If not.. take the Family Tours. they really are wonderful..

Posted by
13809 posts

I did the 21BOE at the end of August in 2014 and since it was after most schools had started there were no kids. I will say this is the most strenuous tour of the 7 I've done. There were some days we did 10-14 miles walking (Amsterdam and Rome) and while anyone can cut out any time it seemed like no one wanted to miss a minute.

There is a short walk thru the Red Light district in Amsterdam. My guide is Belgian and was just so matter of fact about cultural differences. There was also a short walk by the red light district (really I think it was just one house) in Haarlem along with a discussion about coffee houses where you can get marijuana. If you live in CO or WA this will be no big deal. The funny thing about the Haarlem red light window was that we had stopped a little way down the street for the guide to talk and realized she was taking pictures of us with her phone. We all turned and waved and she laughed and waved back. Very funny.

I would definitely consider the 21 BOE but If you have exactly 3 weeks, then I might consider one of the family tours as Pat suggests and add days on in the beginning and ending cities or another big city. If you do the 21 BOE you will want to get there at least 2 days ahead so everyone can adjust to the time change.

Best aspects?? My guide was fabulous, the group was wonderful, and I thoroughly enjoyed every single day. Before I took it I was talking to another RS guide who said he had gone along as an assistant and had really enjoyed himself and loved the fact that you had blockbuster sights every single day. I loved that there was a nice combo of big cities, smaller villages and some countryside.

If it won't bore you, here is my Trip Report.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/21-day-best-of-europe-8-26-14

My favorite day was the full day in Switzerland. Oh my word. It was just gorgeous, and I live near the mountains so it's not like I had never seen peaks. The Lauterbrunnen Valley took my breath away. In fact I am taking the Germany, Austria, Switzerland tour this fall because it spends 3 nights in the area.