First time European traveler

Yes, you can do it on your own, and in my view you will have a much better family experience. Many of us here on this board started out doing it on our own and have never taken a tour. People here can help you with where to say in London, what to don there, travel to Paris ( the Eurostar train is great), etc. Depending on how much time you have in total and whether you want to see intermediate places (Switzerland?) you may wish to fly to Rome. You will want to book open jaw flights, into London and back from Rome. You will also want to time your trip to avoid the London Olympics, starting in late July.

Denise, With a family, it would be much more cost effective to travel on your own. A tour for a family is going to be expensive. If you "do your homework" and plan well, you'll have a great time. As this is your first trip to Europe, I'd highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door before you get too far in your planning, as that has a lot of good information on "how" to travel in Europe. Touring within cities can be planned using the country or city-specific Guidebooks. Click the "Books" tab at the top of this page for more information. It would help to have some idea of the time frame and budget that you're working with. Are there any locations that you'd like to see other than the ones you mentioned? The group here is very "well travelled" so will be able to provide lots of good information to help you work out the details. Good luck with your planning!

yes you can do it on your own but for a trip this summer you better get busy! Do you have travel dates in mind? I assume you are aware of Olympics in London this summer. How much time will you have?

How long are you going? It will make a difference on how you get between London and Rome (a lot of kms for a short trip). I usually start with transportation. Use a multi city search at Kayak, or similar search engine, for rates into London and out of Rome, or vice versa. Try different dates and nearby airports and choose the best deal you can find. If you have limited time, fly into London, train to Paris, fly to Rome and fly home from there (or opposite). Ideally you will have plenty of time to make stops at both big and little towns along the way.
You don't say how many are in your family; if it's two kids or more, you may want to drive rather than train between Paris and Rome, check out a lease vs. rental option. Pick up in/near Paris and drop in/near Rome. Once you have transportation worked out, it's not that much different than traveling here - just a lot more history. English is widely, if not universally, spoken/understood and you can book hotels as you go (if nothing else the Tourist Information offices will book you a room) though many people here prefer traveling with all their lodging worked out in advance.

Fly open jawed into London and out of Rome. You can catch a bargain European flight from Paris to Romeas a cost savings. Open jaw flying is often no more expensive than flying two ways to and from the same place. Let us know your dates, and you'll get so much more advice from this website. Tours are convenient, but not so much fun for teenagers. And, they're expensive.

We used Gray Line tours in Rome, London and Paris. Some of the tours are half day, some are full day tours. You can book them online at Gray Line.com. They are based in the U.S.

Denise, If you only have three nights left after Paris, I'd suggest going directly to Rome. The easiest and quickest travel method would be a budget flight from Paris to Rome ( EasyJet would be my suggestion). When travelling with budget airlines, early booking usually gets the best prices, and you'll have to be careful with luggage limits. It's better to pay for overweight luggage at the time of booking, rather than at the gate. Also, usually only ONE carry-on item is allowed, of the approved size. WHEN "this summer" will this trip be taking place? Accommodations in London won't be cheap this year, and according to some reports I've seen, prices for accommodations in London have doubled! You might want to check your local Library to see if they have copies of the London, Paris and Rome Guidebooks, as those provide LOTS of information for hotels, restaurants, sightseeing and transportation. Good luck with your planning!

Thanks for all your help!! We've decided to book it ourselves rather than a tour. Here's what I have booked so far: we have an open jaw out of San Antonio to London and then from Rome back home. We are in London three nights and then take the train to Paris. My plan was to go to Venice and then on to Rome or should we just go straight to Rome since we'd only have three nights left? Or instead of Venice should we take the train to Zurich and then on to Rome??

Yes, three nights is too little to add anything but Rome. Too bad, Venice is magic. You will just have to plan another trip.