50 day European Road trip with baby and toddler

So, you already leased the car so you know the cost of that including the drop off fee. If it were a rental it would be 3000 to maybe 3500 euro for the car.

If you includ the Amafi Coast:
Then you will have 500 to 600 euros in fuel costs and maybe 150 euro in tolls.
And a wild guess of 1250 euro in parking fees.
You will have not less than 46 hours of driving which if you only drive every fourth day will be 3 to 4 hours of driving every four days.

Having said that, sure, I would do it.

When I see an idea like this I always get interested when thinking about trips for myself. For that I thank you. Unfortunately your trip isnt through anything i know much about. But thats part of why it interests me. Sorry I cant help. But again, thank you for getting me thinking.

WItha 5-month-old baby and a two-year-old! - Good luck with that.

You are going from Frankfurt to Lisbon and wish to visit smaller cities and countryside. A wise choice with two little ones. Children under 3 and museums don't go together will.

Switzerland is one of the most expensive countries in Europe, you will be cheaper in Spain and Portugal and even France is not so bad (outside of Paris).

I love Italy, but that is way out of the way if you are going from Frankfurt to Lisbon. Still, you have five months. The Amalfi Coast is nice, but generally crowded with tourists and finding parking can be a royal pain.

Some great out of the way places, not near big cities in Italy are Siena a bit south of Florence. You can use Siena to explore much of Tuscany. Also, Spoleto, Assisi and Orvieto are in Umbria and wonderful places to visit.

Not sure if you plan to visit Venice, but consider staying in Mestre outside of Venice and taking the train into the city.
Ravenna is another great city to visit not real far from Venice.

On your way from Frankfurt down to Switzerland, recommend taking in Heidelberg, then Strasbourg, France (not a small city, but not huge). It is near the Black Forest in Southwestern Germany. Triberg or Friberg would be great in the Black Forest.

Interlakken, Switzerland is great in the middle of the country and a small city, but reserve hotels early.

The South of France is great, but loads of tourists, Arles is a smaller city and nice.

Heading down to Spain and Portugal, you have two choices, Barcelona on the Med or head to the Atlantic and visit the wonderful Basque region of Spain (Bilbao is wonderful, it is not small, but great, also, San Sebastian). On the way to the Basque region, you should stop at Carcarassonne, France. A small city with a magnificent medieval fortress and walled city. It is not heavily touristed. Then on to the Bordeaux region of France (fantastic wines).

I suggest that you go west to the Atlantic. If you wish to see Barcelona, then do it after the Basque region.

After the Basque region head to Madrid and take in Toledo (a must see) and Segovia, then to Barcelona or if you skip it then down south to Cordoba, Granada and Seville. After this proceed to Portugal.

Lisbon is a large city but not like Paris or Rome, but if you wish to skip it, consider cities near it like Evora, west of Lisbon, or Cascais. Obidos is a very small city with an ancient Roman wall that has a nice hotel.

If you have more time, proceed to Porto and explore the beautiful Douro River Valley. Spend a few days in Porto it is special. There is a wonderful BnB there called the InPatio Guesthouse that only had five rooms, so book early.

Presumably the trip is this October?

If the 2 year old is not already potty trained, do that now.

When I think back to what it took to take our kids at that age to the grandparents for Sunday dinner, my (slightly) tongue in cheek remark is, "if you are not crazy now, you will be by December" :-)

There is an interesting discussion here --
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/switzerland/traveling-to-switzerland-with-a-6-month-old-for-10-days-tips-opinion-welcome

--- about the affects of high altitudes on infants. If you haven't already done so you may want to discuss with your doctor. Both for the flight and where in Switzerland you choose to go.

I plugged into google maps Frankfurt-Naples-Lisbon, just to get a rough idea of the travel. Straight line its over 2500 miles. google had the optimism to suggest one would average 64 mph !!! In your planning I would space out your destinations to be not more than 4 'google hours' apart, as you will quite likely need more, especially considering stops the kids will need.

Good luck & happy travels

PS come back and write us a 'Christmas card' letter of how it went when you get home

Thank you so much to all who have replied so far! We will be scraping the Amalfi from our list, and are looking forward to adding some of your excellent suggestions to the itinerary.

jess,
I concur with miuccia about the Amalfi coast. Stairs and twisty roads are fine for two fit teens or adults, but you will really get tired of schlepping 2 little ones up and down the hilly street or steps from where you will probably need to park your car, to your lodging. When I was there at the age of 30, I got tired of all the stairs and hills. (Capri was the same, a long walk to the top...and back down.)
The suggestions to stop every 2 hours or so is a good one. Plan for picnics, windy roads in places, smiles from the locals for your children, and definitely learn all the rules for the different countries you will drive in! Make sure your car rental company allows you to drive in every country you plan to visit. And car seat rules for kids ar strictly enforced everywhere.

Bonne chance!

From my observation of parents who have done something like this -- including some I'm related to -- you have to be willing to be very flexible and put the children's needs above your own, even if this means missing something you're waited years to see.

You also have to be comfortable living in the inevitable chaos that will ensure and envelop much of the trip, If you're OK with this -- my family members who camped across Europe with a one-year old thrive on mess and chaos so it worked great for them -- then go ahead.

Also, don't fool yourself into thinking that this will any kind of educational or beneficial experience for your kids that they couldn't have gotten spending the same amount of time with you at home. Children are famously not impressed by historical monuments and art museums. The world is brand new to a 5-month old and a 2-year old. Seeing La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is no more impressive than seeing the new gas station down the block.

Some lease programs do not have high drop off fees. Hopefully you got one of those.

Look on google maps and just start clicking on towns and see what they have to offer. There easily 2 dozen towns in Germany that I have found this way and want to visit.

In Germany and Austria, look at staying in vacation apartments - ferienwohnung. Less expensive, more room. Some require a weeks stay but most don.’t. In France, try a gite ( google gites de france ). I think more of them require a week’s stay. but not all

I completely disagree with Joe32F about potty training. I can think of nothing more stressful than trying to locate bathrooms throughout Europe for a newly trained 2 year old. Diapers and perhaps a travel potty for the car are the best. Toilets aren’t just readily available everywhere and trying to find one at the opportune time can be difficult. We were in France in April and we were always happy to see Golden Arches otherwise we had some pretty bathroom crazy experiences.

I wouldn't make too many advance reservations, just get a general idea of a route to meander. When you get someplace you like, just stay longer.

You've been given a route as far as Menton. So here are some suggestions from there: you can stay on the coast or go into the mountains. Two examples, Antibes on the coast, La Turbie on top of the mountain, but really there are plenty of places, including Cassis outside Marseille, and on west to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie and into Provence, through the Camargue with its horse and bull ranches, Montpellier or one of its seafront towns, Sète with the largest French seaport on the Mediterranean, Narbonne, Collioure, (you could try tourist-draw Carcassonne but it's crowded for you and your children are too young), and onto the Catalonia Spanish coast with plenty of seaside and mountain towns, the Dali towns.
Someone else will have to pick up from here across Spain and into Portugal.

My generation did this but in old VW vans that also served as housing. Obviously, you need to get away and want to do this now before the little ones have only school vacations free. In the parts of Europe you are going, you'll see that even 2 year olds have some independence. In addition to the stroller, you may end up getting the two year-old a little scooter to ride along next to you while you are walking.
Bonne chance and bonne route.

All kids are different and only you know your kids. We traveled with our two sons and now travel with our two grandchildren, also I was a baby and toddler daycare teacher and took children that age on many field trips. Our oldest son was extremely easy and flexible and a great traveler. Our younger son was a regular easy kid except for his frequent ear infections, but also a good traveler. Our granddaughter went to Italy with us when she was 5 months old and even obliged us by sleeping through long Italian lunches in restaurants. Our grandson was almost four on that trip to Italy and really enjoyed most of it, including the lunches, but his mood was very dependent on sticking to his normal nap and bed times, and we would not have dreamed of taking him into any museum, church, or art gallery --- he's 10 now and we still wouldn't. He would have been a nightmare to travel with at 5 months old or 2 years old. I am guessing that your kids are already really good to travel with or you wouldn't be planning this trip, and that people who are appalled by the idea know kids who would not be so easy.

Italy is the only country besides England that I know well, and have taken kids there at various ages, so I can thoroughly recommend it as a child-friendly place. So many towns with pedestrian-only streets and piazze and wonderful food markets and outdoor dining and interesting spaces for a toddler without going indoors. Padua stands out to me as a place to settle down in with kids. So does the whole region of Puglia in late fall or early spring (i.e. NOT summer). Liguria, both seaside and in the hills, is lovely (but I would avoid the very popular Cinque Terre based on what people say on the Italy forum here). Really, stay almost anywhere in Italy that is not crammed with tourists. I would be a fan of living in one location for at least a week or two, taking day trips if you want to, and then driving to the next location, rather than trying to stop along the way to see and do things. I would stay in apartments with a washing machine and, ideally, already equipped with baby equipment and near the edge of the historic centers of town so that you can park your car near by. We used backpacks rather than strollers with our sons, but our granddaughter had a car seat that clicked onto stroller wheels when she was a baby --- that turned out to be very handy for travel.

So, yeah, in my opinion your sanity is intact and I admire your ambition and would love to read your trip report when you return!

Traveling in France, we used to stay in family-run hotels with restaurants, such as the Logis group https://www.logishotels.com/en/

We'd feed the little one, put him to sleep, and go downstairs to eat, checking on him every half hour. In today's world you have those walkie-talkie things or even cameras, so I think you can go one floor down and enjoy a dinner as long as the children are asleep in beds that they can't climb escape and injure themselves

And I agree that if you are staying in rentals, those need to be reserved in advance. This time of year, you'll have some flexibility with hotels for one or more nights.

Jess,

What a fun family adventure! I’m a bit jealous!

We took our son to Amsterdam, Bruges, and various spots in Germany and France when he was 20 months old. He was toddling all over the castle ruins. Highlights for him included a Rhine River boat ride, the SCNF train museum in Mulhouse, France, and bubbles in the town square in Bruges. People were so kind to us with him in tow- waitresses would carry him around restaurants and bring him extra treats.

This summer we took our now crew of three (that first baby is 9!) to Switzerland and Germany for 10 days. Switzerland is lovely for children. There are many different trains, cable cars, boats, and fun transportation options in the mountains. There are easygoing restaurants with playgrounds right next door for the littles to play on. And yes, most accommodated even the littlest toddler. My favorite part of Switzerland with my kids was Appenzell- a bit more laid back than other areas with spectacular mountain scenery and fun adventures.

So I won’t comment on your sanity, but just say go, enjoy, make memories of your family in these wonderful places. My husband and I are always a tiny bit happier if we have a spot to put the kids to sleep and then enjoy a glass of wine together, recapping the day’s adventures!

-Katherine