First visit to Europe - mother with 2 teenagers - in Dec/Jan

Hi Nicola. So you have 10 extra days after London and Paris? Wow. I'm jealous! Might I suggest, if you can handle the cold, Berlin and Prague, or elsewhere in Germany. Christmas is Germany's bread and butter, with Christkindl markets in most towns, warm gluhwein, and hearty food to keep you toasty! Both cities are reasonable in price (Berlin even more so than Prague) and accomodations. Both cities are also a short distance from concentration camps, which are certainly not museums and your children should probably see. You could also fit Dresden into the itinerary for a day or two as it is between the cities. If your kids have read Slaughterhouse-Five it will make it that much more interesting! Happy planning!
Emily

You guys are going to have such a BLAST! Some of my best memories ever are of my sweet sixteen trip to England with my mother. :-) Anywhere you travel in Europe you should be in time for Christmas markets. We go to Paris every year just for "les fetes" - the Champs Elysses lined with adorable white chalet-style booths selling gifts and food, lights everywhere, music, ice skating - it's amazing! Just about every big town will have one, and these days, all you need to do is check out the websites! London gussies itself up for Christmas, too, and is just lovely. For places other than churches and traditional indoors/lots-of-paintings museums, why not try outdoor museums - living history museums? For instance Roskilde, Denmark has an AMAZING Viking ship museum that is awesome for adults and perfect for teens. You could combine that with a trip to Copenhagen to see the Christmas decorations at Tivoli! And teens would enjoy a jaunt to Freetown Christiania, as well. I believe they have their own website, and I recall there being a lot of outdoor concerts, as well. (Please someone else correct me if I am out of my mind!) For clean, budget accommodations, I suggest hostels. That's what my mother and I did, and it worked very well for both of us. It's especially fun for teenagers, since there will be plenty of "insta friends" of all nationalities for them to meet and hang with. Of course, that applies to adults, too. :-)

From Paris you could take a side trip to Normandy. I took my 15 year old grandson there last Nov. and we loved it. We also did the Christmas Markets in Germany and Austria and had a wonderful road trip. We spent a week in Paris and Normandy then flew to Frankfrut...picked up a car and just roamed around southern Germany and Salzburg. We also spent a bit of time in Heidelberg and Frankfurt and were fortunate enough to meet up with Jo from Frankfurt who posts here. It was great fun and we had a wonderful time. Be sure to make sure the kids fill out a travel log/journal. I always make the grandkids do this and they are really happy they have this record of their trip. Even if we forget one day they realize how easy it is to forget as we can hardly remember what we did the day before. I made up a 'fill in the blank' sort of trip log just so they would have the highlights documented. You will have a wonderful time. Food from the street vendors at the markets was amazing. It was so much fun.

Hi Nicola-if you and the kids would like a White Christmas with lots of activity, I would suggest a small village in Switzerland named Kandersteg: http://www.kandersteg.ch/en/page.cfm/erlebnisse/winter This is just about the halfway point on the journey by train from Paris to Venice, so it is right on your way! There is a small ski area there for beginners, but it is not an expensive ski resort. Other activities include Nordic skiing, winter walking, snow-shoeing, sledging, and ice skating. What could be more fun? This village is on the main train line heading south from Basel, and is about 5.25 hours from Paris. Kandersteg is home to the International Scouting Center and they offer budget accommodation in the facility year-round. The Kander-Lodge and the Chalet both have rooms that would suit your family, with or without ensuite bathrooms. the price for the 3 of you would be around 100 CHF, which is very low for Switzerland. www.kisc.ch There are of course hotels and self-catering apartments in the town as well. It is in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains. The elevation is low enough that it is not as cold as the major ski resorts. Since this is right on your way between Paris and Venice, you could st0p for 3 or 4 days, and give yourselves a snowy treat. From Kandersteg you would proceed south on the main train line via Brig to Milan, where you would catch the Eurostar train straight to Venice, 6 hours away.

For apartments in Paris ( cheaper than hotels) a good reliable companynis Vacation In Paris www.vacationinparis.com

It is unlikely to provide a white Christmas, but Rome is lovely in Dec/Jan. The crowds should be gone in Jan, and the Christmas creches will still be up until well into Jan. The Colliseum/Forum/etc would provide non-museum places for teens to explore. In Italy, convents/monasteries offer very cost-effective options, although many may be closed to guests at Christmas. Last Sept, I stayed in a convent just across the Grand Canal from San Marco for 50E/night, including breakfast, while the hotel 20 feet away started at 450E/night. Monastery Stays website makes it easy to book, although they do charge a small fee for the service. Otherwise, you can find the convents and book by e-mail yourself. One caution: Little or no English is typically spoken in convents, although I've been able to work around that with a little creativity. Communities of men seem to be a little more likely to have someone who knows some English.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions everyone. There are just so many places which all sound interesting. I'll do a bit more research on the ones you mention and ask my kids what sounds good to them. I like the idea of the Viking Museum - it sounds a bit different! All of us seem to like things which are out of the ordinary. It's also great to hear about the accommodation - I wouldn't have considered hostels - it sounds like they are a higher standard in Europe than in Australia. I've never stayed in a hostel - I guess they are cost effective, but can someone please also tell me what are the drawbacks of them so I can work out whether we would be comfortable there?
Thanks for the website mentioned for accommodation - is it generally safe to book on the web like that site (and expect that there will actually be a bed ready for you when you arrive?) - is there any advice about booking accommodation I should know? We only speak English so it could be difficult if we arrive somewhere and then don't have the accommodation we thought we booked, and have to find somewhere. We are going to be flexible on what we visit on any day, but I want to know for sure where I will be staying each night! Does anyone have any suggestions for a good place to stay in London which has good access to the subway to get to all the tourist attractions?

Keep in mind as you go farther north, like Copenhagen, the days are very short.

I stayed in many hostels in Australia and many in Europe. Australia has far better hostels than Europe, hands down. Hostels have pros and cons no matter where they are located. Often, the price for a family room is similar to a budget hotel room. Even if you stayed in a shared dorm room, you are paying per person and typically that's about 20-35 euro for each of you. You have to read reviews and make sure it's not a party hostel. The cleanliness of shared bathrooms sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. If you book when a school group is there, you may find it noisy with teens running up and down the hall (your kids will enjoy the chance to meet other people their age). It's nice to have some of the amenities a hostel provides (kitchen access to cook a simple meal, laundry facilities). Some European universities rent dorm rooms to tourists during holidays or summer. You get similar amenities and more privacy as they usually offer a range of rooms from singles to studio apartments.

We had great luck renting through VRBO for apartment in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Edinburgh, Paris. We never paid more than 100 us dollars and each apartment was great, we loved being able to have our own breakfast, packing our lunches and saved a lot of money that way. Each place had two bedrooms and some had 2 bathrooms. try them. My sister stays in hostels with her children and some can be great and some awful. Good luck.

Thanks so much for all for the suggestions on accommodations and the feedback on the hostels. I will aim to try all the types of accommodation during our trip, including the monastery if I can. That will all be part of our holiday experience! My daughter is very keen on the monastery now I mentioned it, so I hope I can find one near one of the cities we visit. It is so great for you all to help people like me who just aren't aware there are so many options. I originally thought that the only reliable way of organising accommodation for our holiday would be via a travel agent (don't laugh please! the people I know who have travelled have just done it that way). But since you have all told me about good experiences organising the accommodation through all these other different ways, I'm going to do that.